"It's not blind, it looks like this because I used spiritual energy to stop the blood from obscuring my vision."Kitty shrugged, her hands cradling her broken ribs.
"You're so weak, even in your mortal form," Zoe uttered with provocative intent. To her disappointment though, kitty shrugged her comment off.
"At least I didn't plop down and get depressed after being trashed by a mortal," Kitty said and went towards Zoe, she offered her hand to get up.
"I was following instructions, if not, would have destroyed the whole place." Zoe defended.
"Yeah, yeah."
Zoe took her hand and groaned from the pain in her left leg, but kitty was suffering more. Zoe was putting all her weight on her and she wasn't in the right shape to bear such a burden.
"Idiot walk on your own, I'm injured too you know."Kitty gruntled as Zoe used her shoulder to uphold her weight, sending waves of smarting pain to Kitty's chest.
"Shut up, will you? And stop whining we need to leave."Zoe feigned emergency with her voice to make kitty yield.
Kitty only sighed and said softly "We need to start acting mature..."
Her voice worked like a magic as what she said seemed to have touched Zoe a little. Her expression softened and she looked at kitty or to be precise, her chest.
Kitty who saw Zoe's gaze couldn't help but have veins popping on her neck. She was starting to get the perverse vibes that she so hated from Zoe again.
"I see your breasts in a new light now, they're—"Zoe said with a smile, but that irritated kitty to the core of her spirit.
"Shut up! You half-wit!"Kitty almost pushed Zoe away as they walked towards the exit of the auction hall. To say chaos had erupted among the merchants that attended would be an understatement.
But amidst all the chaos, they treaded without any care. Nor did anyone care about them, as they were busy mourning over their lost valuables.
As they reached the exit, a red light flashed and a gush of air followed, then Loki's figure appeared.
"Loki!"Zoe and Kitty exclaimed in sync, with the former appearing to be indifferent and the latter angry but also worried "You entered your spirit dimension?"
Loki didn't reply but shrugged as if saying [It was just for a few moments]
"You don't know how to control it. Even as an immortal, you suffer backlashes. Going that fast in a mortal form will destroy your body slowly and eventually, your mind."Zoe said blankly and matter-of-factly.
Hearing this Loki didn't react, his stoic face just moved to the side and just a side was visible. This made kitty suspicious and she quickly came over to him, making Zoe who had completely rested her weight on her fall.
"Ugh... You crazy little..."Zoe cursed as she hit the ground.
Kitty cradled Loki's face in her hands and forcefully turned his head to see the right side of his face. Seeing how the layer of skin has brutally torn off boggled her mind.
She gasped and she knew, even though Loki wore the form-shifting armor, he would still be injured in other parts of his body. It's not like anything could save him from the rampaging bolts of lightning in his spiritual dimension anyway.
"Didn't father warn against it? You'll hurt yourself, you're fast enough without the Spirit Dimension."Kitty worriedly said to Loki, who just inclined his head and said nothing, but his eyes were hard.
Even kitty could tell that he was feeling much more bloodlust than before but he made sure to constrain it.
"Enough with the sentiments, let's leave."Zoe urged, opened the door, and exited. The two followed and they were met with the tavern's first floor.
They went up the stairs and on entering the apartment which they rented, Loki headed straight to the boys' room. While the girls went to their designated rooms.
"We don't have healing pills, elixirs all with Father," Kitty said as she took off her armor suit, gruntling in between.
"But he said elixirs will do us no good as we are immortals in mortal form, it'll force out our immortal forms and we don't want that, do we?"Zoe said, her form-shifting armor suit had long receded from her body.
Truly convenient and Kitty couldn't help but feel envious.
"Honestly I want that," Kitty muttered to herself.
"We just have to endure the pain and wait till he comes back, It's not every day you get stabbed with poisoned-tipped knives anyway, I can learn a lot from this experience," Kitty said and continued taking off the suit. Her fractured ribs pierced and ached and she feared was piercing her lungs already due to the difficulty she was now having in breathing.
She sighed and weakly went to lie on the bed. It was incredibly velvety. The feeling of her back sinking in slightly refreshed her mind and for a moment there, she felt like she was sleeping on a cloud.
...
Kramdery Forest...
Conan looked around, and he saw people rising whilst trees fell. The trees were doomed on this night.
They had all suffered the full brunt of his sudden attack, but they didn't look hurt at all. in front of him was a group of people clad in full-body, bronze-black knight armor. A bowl covered their heads and visors on their faces, leaving just their lower faces exposed. Each piece of their armor was articulated on exquisite fabric to facilitate swift movements.
The texture of the material in itself was greatly pliant that one would mistake it for high-quality leather, albeit, it was metal. The apparel spoke of nothing but integrity. Each armor piece with golden accents.
A black cloak was pinned to their cuirass by the pallettes and draped on their shoulders. They look utterly heroic judging from their stance and demeanor. And they were five in number—Three men, Two women.
Their genders could be easily identified, due to the sensuality of the women's armor that omitted some parts, such as the cuisses. Their thighs would have been left exposed if not for the skirt they wore underneath the armor which covered them.
But those skirts weren't doing great against the wind that swayed them, but that only made the feminine but strong features of the knights more distinguishable from the men.
These were the Night Knights and due to the trees collapsing and the noise they produced in the still silence of the night, it attracted their attention to this spot.
So they split up and sent three of the group dashed toward the explosion site and the rest came here, which they deduced will be more troublesome.
Conan looked apprehensively and scrutinizingly but then sensed movements behind him. He looked and saw menacing, monstrous figures, snarling aggressively as they recovered from his sudden attack.
These were donned in mantles that obscured their appearance in pure darkness, except for the outline of their absurdly long, back-edged, and pointy claws extending from their fingerless gloves, coupled with their predatory but lifeless crimson eyes.
All four, growled at him especially as if hungry to tear him apart. Just like the Knights, these monstrosities had followed the sounds of trees collapsing but not just that. They also followed the smell of blood.
The blood Arness took from him attracted these monsters—to be precise, their leader.
"Captain, who is this guy? He dresses just like the draconic guy we spotted earlier and his eyes..."One of the lady knights spoke. She appeared young and her voice brimmed with youthful timbre. Even in the night, Conan could see a black mole on the left side of her upper lip.
"They appear draconic but way tinier, just like monsters with serpentine bloodlines."One of the men said, his voice was thick and resonant. His hand tightened on the shaft of his poleaxe, ready to swing and cleave.
"Perhaps, he's a serpent? Just like the dragon said he was a dragon and we proved it right through his eyes, even though his strength seemed to lack. But this, it's not a dragon, it's a serpent."The other lady knight said. Her silver glaive seemed to be glinting even in the dark and her posture screamed of gallantry and skillfulness.
"Oh we know that's nonsense! Serpents are just myths!"The lady knight with a mole on her upper lip debated.
"But monsters with serpentine bloodlines are not?"The older lady knight refuted. Her word struck a realization into the latter's mind. She was left wondering.
"This is not the time to start pointless arguments, Young lady Mag!"The poleaxe-wielding Knight reprimanded the lady knight with a mole on her upper lip.
"Sorry..."The Lady knight softly said with a deadpan.
Not taking the little banter into account, the one Conan assumed to be the captain kept looking at him, directly into his eyes.
He had a claymore on his back. The two-handed, golden hilt and the crossguard with black accents were enough to tell him basic things he needed to know about the captain.
"Who are you?"The Captain asked. His voice oozed with so much confidence.
"I'm an ancestor of your ancestors..."Conan shrugged and caused utter silence to befall the land as everyone who heard his brazen statement was rendered speechless.
He spoke with so much confidence that they almost believed him, instinctively.
"Well then, I guess we'll have to get the answer out of you in another way."The Captain of the Knights said and brandished his claymore elegantly.
The other knights were the same, All readied their weapons to fight, but Conan was uncannily calm. He laughed and stuck his thumb out over his shoulders, pointing at the back, and said;
"Aren't you forgetting about them?"