Ixa shivered; despite his sense of touch being close to non-existent, the thick, immense level of killing intent was π¬ππ’π₯π₯ overwhelming, and it wasn't even directed at him.
He looked over to the man who was now behind him, standing near his actual body, sweating profusely, yet, he looked composed, as he tightly gripped the hilt of his sword, still in its sheath, as the people all slowly filtered into the small area.
"Dua~, Dua~, Dua~, why are you so scared? Hahahaha, did this forest give you the creeps?"
A man came out of the crowd, a tad shorter than everyone else, his features as sharp as the shortsword he wielded in his left hand, waving it in the air as he spoke, this gave out a feeling of arrogance, yet his smile spoke of someone kind, charming, and gentle...but that smile both looked and felt devilish to Dua.
'That's his name? Ouch, seems like his parents didn't love him much...'
Despite the joking thoughts, Ixa wasn't sure what to do in this situation except watch, as no-one in this new, unexpected group paid him any heed as they focused on Dua, and considering the murderous vibe and drawn weapons...
'Maybe I don't need to worry, if these people kill him, I won't be discovered and will be forgotten in the crevices of the ensuing fight, and my existence will stay hidden away...right?'
"What are the mayor's guards doing here?"
Despite sweating like a pig, Dua held his ground, but his rough face looked grim, Dua had an awful feeling that he already knew the answer.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about it, as I'm sure you know π―ππ«π² well why we're here."
Dua's face turned for the worse, looking down in contemplation, shadows covering the upper half of his face, a frown only visible.
'Okay, something really weird is going on here, 'mayor's guards'? What has this guy done to get on his bad side and send close to a dozen people just to off him, he doesn't look like the type to do evil deeds, while these people seem like the worse of the worse, especially that shorty...something is going on... mmmmmmmmh, now this is really putting me in a bind, I'm not sure if they'll even ignore me, and they could be even worse than whatever 'Guild' Dua belongs to, I don't even know what a guild is! And that's not even mentioning the moral dilemma... I just want to guarantee my safety, is that seriously too much to ask!!!'
Ixa took a moment to calm down, close his(the rabbit's) eyes, and reflect, does he want to murder to guarantee his safety, no. Does he have to... maybe? His current predicament can go in any direction, and he was not even given a moment to breath and get himself together...literally and figuratively.
'No matter what, someone is going to get out of here, with the chance to report me and make my presence here known, and even if everyone here were to die, that'll raise so much suspicion, and I'd still be in danger of being discovered again regardless, so I might as well make the best of the current situation and at least have a chance of convincing the most likely one here to listen to me & not reveal my existence.'
He decided to be on Dua's side and try and help him get out of this predicament, as he seems the most levelheaded and... not insane? As this group seemed to be plain just too happy to murder this one man, and they didn't seem like ones to listen & be convinced, besides, he'd have to somehow win over the entire group, and trying to convince a group of crazies sounds like a part of some ridiculous phrase, like 'Trying to persuade you is like trying to get a group of lunatics to become sane' or something of the like, not to even mention the possibility of one of them ratting him out anyways...
'Welp, here goes nothing.'
Ixa started moving backwards towards Dua, and only now does the new group notice the rabbit.
"... pfffft, HAHAHA! Dua, did you make friends with a little rabbit?! Oh-h my god, that's priceless, hahha, just- the plain irony of it! To think such a small creature has taken a liking to πππ of all people: A butcher... I just can't..."
He was hugging his stomach with a tear in his eye, while the others were as still as a rock, they didn't even pay any attention to the rabbit that their leader was talking about, they were too busy staring at Dua with nothing but sheer π¨ππ¬ππ¬π¬π’π¨π§ in their eyes; some were pricking the ends of their fingers with their blades, others were holding their weapons in a death grip while their hands just couldn't stay still, it was apparent that they are barely holding themselves from jumping the man in front of them with an immense lust for bloodshed.
This didn't escape Dua's sight, but he currently had his attention on the bunny that was now in front of him, staring, as if trying to convey something...
Once their gazes met again, the peculiar bunny hopped over to the strange root, and, with its body standing on its two hindlegs, it pointed with one of its paws towards one of the pointy edges of the root.
He was surprised, it, evidently, had awareness, and it...
"You want me to...?"
It showed one paw towards him while placing another horizontally on top of it.
"Prick my hand on its edge?"
The bunny shook its head up and down.
Dua looked at the root again, questionably, before looking back at the rabbit, then the crowd that is supposed to 'help' him meet his end.
By this point, the short man finally noticed the peculiar rabbit's eyes, or lack thereof.
"What the **** is wrong with its eyes!?"
The group behind the leader still didn't pay either of them any mind as Ixa listened to his system.
[Direct contact, especially through the flesh of another is necessary for direct communication, while without it, at most, you can share 'intent', like danger, what you want to do, etc, by focusing what you want, to who you want.]
"Wait, does this mean I can also share this 'intent' with the crazies?"
[Yes.]
'That gives me an idea... and oh boy, they better wish it doesn't work...'
At that moment, Dua felt something intrude into his mind, at first, his face spoke of shock and plain confusion, but then he controlled himself and looked at what this feeling was directing to, which was, again, that pointy edge of the root...
He looked at that root, then at the bunny one more time, Dua didn't have much of a choice at this point, as his chances of survival on his own was abysmal, and he had no ideas whatsoever on how to get past this alive.
Whatever was in his head, was assuring him to do it, it even felt... cooperative? And all of these things were pointing to this one thing, the root.
The unknown was supposed to be feared, as it is the strongest of fears, the most primordial of them, but if this 'unknown' wants to help him... then he might as well give it a chance, as it just might get him out of this alive...
With that thought process, and a simple gait to close the gap between himself and the root, he punctured his right index finger over the root.
Blood dripped down the sharp point, it flowed along the furrows of the root's honed tip, it collected into a small puddle, just below the floating orb, in the concave it had there...
The group finally noticed the weird root, the weird, reflective shine to it, along with its floating bead...
"Is that some treasure... Dua, don't you try anything and just go quietly..."
He signaled to the people behind him, and they started approaching, with wicked smiles on their faces as they held their daggers, swords, and even a few maces.
"Hey Carl, what was the most important thing our parents taught us at a young age?"
"Huh? What does that matter now? Guys, just end him, even if that thing is a treasure, he has no idea how to use it."
Carl's subordinates finally stopped holding back and all rushed at him with crazed looks in their eyes & faces, ready to make this man into minced meat, some even laughing like madmen.
The dark clouds in the night sky parted, allowing the moonlight to shine down towards the dark forest, making the area glow a bit brighter, and things came into view more clearly, from the mirror image of the floating bead in the small puddle of blood, to the root's entire body refracting the light, making it appear all the more peculiar.
Sprinting towards him, the first few at the front of the group were about to close the gap between them with blades ready & poised, he gave the answer...
"It is to always fear the unknown."
~ππππππ~
-π π ππ° ππ¨π¦ππ§ππ¬ ππππ¨π«ππ‘ππ§π-
"Hello, I am Ixa."
"What the!? What...who are you?!"
In the moment Dua pricked his hand, Ixa was able to speak with him in his head, and so could he, which he did as his true thoughts accidentally leaked to him.
"I just told you, my name is Ixa, and right now is not really the best time for questions, so you better listen closely: I'll help you in this fight, I'll be that thing you feel in your head, if you want to make it out of this situation alive, you gotta fully trust me and that feeling, got it?"
Dua, who was still confused, dropped it as the voice was right about it not exactly being the right time for questions, he refocused on what lied ahead.
"... okay, I'll put my life in your... hands? Paws? Roots?"
"..."
[Pft.]
'Shut it.'
This all was in that short span of time between their first contact, and before the group of maniacs started their assault.
-ππ¨π° ππππ€ ππ¨ ππ‘π π©π«ππ¬ππ§π-
~ππππππ~
A harsh buzzing echoed in the minds of everyone, instantly spreading like an odd presence throughout their body, forcing them to clutch their heads, dropping their weapons, all but one...
'Attack!'
Following the thought from Ixa, Dua immediately pulled out his sword from his sheath with his left hand and rushed the closest one, immediately slicing at their neck.
~Whish~ ~shick~
With that, a head fell onto the ground with a splotch, followed by its body with an audible thump, blood spurting onto the dry and rough dirt, some ending up splashing on Dua's shoes; this marked the first dead.
The three at the front immediately noticed their fallen comrade and harshly forced away the gnawing confusion in their head and bodies with the corresponding fit of rage and immediately rushed their enemy.
"Bastard!", one of the female warriors with a mace yelled with fury.
'One down, 11 to go.'
Ixa could only focus on spreading his conflicting 'intent' for so long amongst the entire group and suffer the apparent negative feedback, so he gave up on it and started focusing on those around Dua.
As those who were still recovering from the shock got their act together, they were shocked again upon seeing Dua putting up with 3 in front of him.
One contended with Dua's swordplay in the front while the other two tried to forcibly overwhelm him by both stabbing and slashing where he was open, with their main goal of getting behind him to completely surround & finish him, but they met unexpected resistance with his skill.
'How in the world is he handling all of us?'
'He's a retired soldier, he shouldn't be this good!'
They had these thoughts as Dua managed to move his sword to counter each stab and slash like he knew exactly when and where each one was without even looking, dodging the ones that he couldn't block, as if he had three eyes to watch the each of them, but in fact...
'Stab aiming for your stomach from the right, slash aiming to maim your left arm at the shoulder from the left.'
Ixa wasn't saying these things, but communicated them through 'intent', meaning he didn't need to be absolutely specific as they are implied like a thought to Dua, from a stab from the right or the slash across his arm from the left, all of it was communicated, and with his skill being just enough, Dua is managing to hold his ground as he pushed himself and his wits to keep this going, but that wouldn't be enough.
Even with managing all that, he was still getting hurt, as it was just plain impossible to not get hit once when it was three against one, also from the inherent hesitation on Dua's part, only learning to follow Ixa's guidance to the letter upon nearly being maimed across the waist; his armor only taking shallow hits while getting nicks and small wounds at his exposed parts, be it a cut on the face, neck, arms, or legs; even if he managed to handle it all, his stamina won't last for long with all the moving he was doing, as he started to lose his ground and having to back up.
'He needs to deal with them NOW, or else the others will fully recover and completely surround him.'
Ixa was busy enough just trying to watch their movements through the bunny, but it was not just that simple; he is also watching their positions from his actual body, which he discovered in the moment is like a natural radar for the life and death preserved in their bodies, and by focusing on both ways of 'seeing', he's able watch over all of their positions and actions through his applicable senses.
However, he needed to actively feel for their presences using his actual body, tracking the small, individual movements with the bunny's eyes, and constantly move the rabbit's body to get the new angles as they fought and moved, his body's 'radar' makes all of it a tad lenient, but it is straining enough just to do it, much less share the information with Dua through intent.
It was a completely other thing to keep up the conflicting intent being transmitted to the guards to keep up the gnawing confusion in their mind to keep them a tad duller in the fight; any mistake on his part will result in Dua getting injured or, in the worst case, die, and he can't have that, especially now as he brought their attention to himself as a 'treasure' now.
'Auhghhhhh...euhgh, I... have to...do...more, shoot, they are getting up, okay, time to do something drastic.'
The others were on the verge of fully recovering, but just in the nick of time, a chance presented itself when the trio were tired of the stalemate they were in and one of them slipped up.
'An opportunity!'
The female guard facing Dua made a mistake, with her mace now pointing towards the sky from receiving a heavy strike, and now, he was going in for the killing blow with a stab to the throat, but the other two were waiting for this exact moment as they both had timed their strikes in tune with one another, he was going to be skewered with steel in an instant!
'I'm going to attack the ribs-'
'I'm going to attack the arm-'
'THE LEGS!'
They both swiped at his legs with their swords, swift & uniform like a guillotine's blade, and there was an orange hue to the blades in that moment, aimed right at his kneecaps, but Dua unexpectedly, instead of stabbing at the guard's throat and ending her, he tackled her forward to the ground, just narrowly avoiding their attempt at making him disabled as they only managed to create gashes on the sides of his legs.
They were both confused at what just happened, they were clearly going for different targets initially, but then for some reason, they had an invasive thought of attacking the legs and thus did so in the heat of the moment.
'It worked!'
By reading their intent, as in watching them wind up for the attack, and anticipate for the perfect moment, he inputted his own intent, and in that small second of indecision, they mistaken Ixa's thought for their own, in simpler terms, he tricked them and made them do what he wanted!
With Dua's blade poised and ready from before he made his mad dash, ignoring the pain in his legs the best he can, he plunged it into the guard's throat as he and the guard hit the dirt, it punctured through,, slightly hitting the bone before escaping out the nape, digging slightly into the dirt.
From kicking and trying to shove him off, the guard grew weaker and weaker, until her life came to an end, her hands which fought so hard to get her killer off, fell to the ground, her eyes filled with life didn't even last for a moment before fading to a dull, marking the second dead in the group of 12.
The two remained where they were, shocked and still confused at what just happened, only as Dua turned to face them did they realize they still haven't retrieved their weapons from the ground, however, when they pulled on them, the guards found they were stuck!
The move they used earlier that made their weapons take on an orange hue was called
If they had aimed any higher like their original intention, this would have been an impossible outcome and Dua would have been forced to move back with no possibility of moving forward, but thanks to Ixa's gamble, he managed to get Dua to both dodge their move AND claim one of their enemies' lives, not to mention disarm these two.
The moment the two realized they were without weapons, they were scared ****less, sweating like pigs, even more so than Dua previously, and before they could even attempt to pull out their swords again or beg for their lives, they found that they were falling to the ground, and before they could recognize what was happening, they had already welcomed the ever growing darkness and its accompanying slumber that would be everlasting, dying before even getting to touch the ground.
As their heads hit the ground, two more thumps sounded out, of their heavy bodies' falling, still weakly grasping their weapons before letting go as they couldn't hold any longer, marking the third and fourth DEAD.
The amount of blood on Dua's sword almost drenched it, even after flicking his sword, only some of the blood got off, but it was going to covered even more than before with eight still to go.
Roughly two minutes has passed and already a third of their group was dead, Carl was shocked as he was the last to recover only to find 4 corpses around Dua, blood clearly on his leather armor, and some on his cheek, unsure if that's his own or from the bodies, that in itself scared Carl.
Dua had used one of his own skills,
Dua was near the center of the clearing, with Ixa a few feet away to his side, and the group of now 8 were only a couple more couple more meters away.
"This is why you should fear the unknown!"