The Blade Of Thieves -Part 2-
Chapter 26
The impact hurled Hoku to the ground, driving the air from his lungs.
He tried to rise, but a sharp pain flared across his ribs, keeping him pinned.
Then, it abruptly dissipated and gave way to a strange pressure.
It crawled beneath his skin, eventually spreading along his right side like boiled liquid.
He pushed himself up and wrapped an arm around his ribs.
The creature shifted, and its tendrils grew more discordant with every passing moment.
Even more troubling, they moved in tandem now, leaving Hoku barely room to maneuver.
Another tendril lashed out, and Hoku threw himself to the side.
His palms scraped against the stone, the motion rough but effective.
Ollie's guttural voice reverberated, furiously "You run like prey. Shall I teach you to kneel?"
Hoku clutched his shoulder as he staggered.
"Teach me?" Hoku snarled. "You're not doing much teaching for something that can barely hold its shape."
The tendril froze mid-air, quivering as though the taunt had struck a nerve, before slithering back into the dark puddle below.
The liquid churned violently, flinging water across the air.
Hoku's gaze swept across his surroundings, probing for an opening or cover, but none were visible apart from the fallen pillars and rubble.
'I believe she mentioned some sort of shield, but how much effect would it pose against an enormous creature?' he pondered, apprehensive.
He returned his attention to the creature still thrashing under the water.
Hoku's body coiled back, and he slowly retreated, taking deliberate steps off the foundation.
Lamb moved closer to the monster, as her patient gaze held it in place.
The tremors in his body reached his legs as he carefully set each heel behind the other.
Suddenly, a blackened human arm burst from the puddle, its skin slick with moisture.
It clawed the air, making obscure motions with its wrist.
Hoku stumbled, taking ragged breaths as he tried to steady himself.
Lamb bent her knees and caught the arm in a firm grip and the fingers twitched before curling around her forearm like grasping roots.
She braced her leg against the water and drew the arm toward her.
The black mass quivered, then rose, expanding as it tore apart like a fragile membrane.
A brittle crack followed as the shell peeled away, and revealed a slim, humanoid figure.
Its head was shapeless, obscured by a writhing layer of sludge that clung to its edges, and swayed like film.
Lamb's hand settled on the figure's shoulder. She leaned close and spoke in a murmur that dissolved between them.
The sludge continued to thin, splitting into strands that clung together before cascading down like damp, uneven locks of hair, and settling a little below ear length.
Then, the contours of its neck emerged. Its shoulders sharpened, the hollowed angles of its collarbones faintly visible.
His eyes tracked the slender shifting anatomy.
The sludge now receded in thin streams, sinking into the figure's skin and revealing an unmistakably feminine form.
Hoku uttered under his breath, "Juno…"
His gaze stared at the woman's face with disbelief, and his heart skipped.
She didn't meet his eyes, though her expression appeared drawn and tired.
The way her eyes shifted, the imperceptible tremor in her fingers, it was familiar, but there was no mistaking that this was not her.
Her hand jerked forward, and her fingers bent as a dark tendril snaked from beneath her side.
The tendril's tip formed a tight coil, sliding into her palm.
It released a sphere that seemed almost too small for the grotesque reach of the appendage.
She clenched the object, her knuckles paling as it gave off a—
'Pop!'
Suddenly, veins bulged from her palm, crawling over the back of her hand.
In seconds, a fan appeared in her hand with an audible snap.
Hoku swiftly detected the thin lines that spidered across its front, reverberating faintly like exposed nerves.
The sight alone was enough to churn his stomach.
However, the feeling splintered as Juno lunged, and carved a sharp arc through the air with her fan.
The motion sent a flurry of glowing petals cascading toward him.
He was lucky to react quickly, as he ducked, plunging his hands into the water.
As Lamb observed she raised a hand to her face and pressed her cheek into her fingers.
"Juno!" he shouted in a panic, before briskly pushing himself onto his feet.
The petals had wilted into a brown matter upon falling into the water.
She turned her wrist, releasing showers of petals.
He gritted his teeth as one grazed his arm, leaving a shallow cut.
Suddenly, he felt a warmth drip onto his collarbone.
Upon peering down, he immediately noticed a dark stain soaking into the fabric of the robe.
Hoku then felt a rumble beneath his feet, but, before he could even turn to face it, something jabbed into the sole of his boot.
He leaped back, barely catching his footing on the slick rocks, as a branch with spuds burst from the water.
The pain in his shoulder gradually returned, gnawing deeper with every movement.
He grimaced, yanking away his robe's fold, and peeking under the clothing.
His expression stiffened.
A deep gash tore through his shoulder, sending rivulets of blood sliding down his chest.
'F*ck! How did this happen?'
"Accept the trial, or bleed out where you stand," Lamb's voice came from behind him and the monster.
The strikes from Juno's elixir grew more ruthless, even from a distance.
Hoku dove behind the thick branch, but it failed to shield him—petals still sliced through his arms, leaving trails of searing pain.
The agony eventually pushed him to his knees.
He gripped his arms tightly, feeling the skin rupture further.
With a trembling hand, he pulled back his sleeve, and his pupils contracted in horror.
The cuts were turning a sickly shade of purple, and veins visibly bulged beneath the skin.
Lamb whistled an abrupt signal and Juno's fan stilled.
Petals slipped into the water as the branch withdrew.
Lamb caught up to Juno and discreetly brushed the back of her shoulder with her hand.
"You've done well enough," she said, striding in front of her.
"But survival isn't just about dodging death."
Juno exhaled, tracing her finger along the ridge of her fan.
Hoku acknowledged the motion and looked directly at Lamb before asking, "The petals… they're not wilting. They're forcing the decay onto me, aren't they?"
Lamb nodded faintly.
"Be not afraid. Your fear causes you to overthink in such dire situations," Lamb acknowledged from beside her.
"How do I counter without a defense?" He asked.
Lamb didn't answer and merely gestured toward where he had stood.
"Stand over the mechanism if you want your injuries to be mended."
Hoku let his arms fall and desperately drew toward the foundation.
'Mechanism?'
He looked around until his eyes locked on the star at the center.
He moved toward it, as his legs jerked beneath him.
The moment his foot struck the symbol, a familiar warmth surged back.
He tensed, and then his eyes returned down to his arms.
To his disbelief, his skin began to knit back together, the blotches shrinking into faint marks before disappearing entirely.
"This isn't just heat," he muttered. "It's a protective buffer."
Lamb spoke softly from behind him.
"You haven't earned their protection because the stars demand your acknowledgment first,"
Hoku flinched, tilting his head upward to glance at the glowing web.
"Acknowledgment?" The question escaped him, low and sharp.
However, the stars responded before Hoku could.
Their light flared, converging into a single point before a beam shot down, and a white lance rippled through the air.
Boom!
. . .
Fleur moved through the fractured remnants of the mural.
The rock chunks, still broken, had slowly begun to revert to their original place as if nothing had happened.
"You were supposed to aid him in that trial, why were you standing away from the passage?' Her anger was evident.
Li kept his eyes forward, and shoulder turned.
"If I had helped him, I'd have had to drag him into the second trial. You know the conditions there. He'd stand a better chance than in the first. At least Oliverou and that doll provide defense," he said, with a dismissive one.
Fleur pressed a fist against her side, trembling with the urge to summon her arrow.
"If he dies, I'll kill you," she warned, though her voice was barely above a whisper.
Li finally turned an eye, with one brow slightly raised.
His hand rose to the hilt of his sword, but he didn't draw.
Rather, tapped the pommel lightly, sending a wordless counter to her threat.
"And what if it's you who causes it?" he asked. "Juno may be faster, but we both know your elixir is stronger."
Her scowl faltered.
Before she could gather herself, the mural's rightmost star flared, and both their gazes shifted involuntarily, drawn by the light.
Li hummed curiously under his breath. "So soon?"
He strode over to it, and with a smooth motion, he unsheathed his sword and slammed its tip into the rhombus-shaped fragment.
The atmosphere tensed as cracks splintered outward.
The mural trembled, and light spilled through the fractures.
Juno looked toward Li before approaching, her heels clicking softly against the ground.
She remained silent, but her presence was steeped in a subtle pressure.
Li turned his head to the side.
His expression was composed, yet impenetrable.
"I hope you've remembered that there is only one way out of the trial, even after all five have been terminated."
Fleur stared at the mural, acknowledging the character that had appeared after its shape returned.
'Thief'
The ground splintered under Li's feet, but he continued with spite, "One person is to remain trapped in the recess so that the trials can be guided. Just like them."
To be continued…
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「 VI ◼XXI ◼ MD◼◼◼◼◼◼◼」
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