They were stuck there, unable to speak in retaliation, their words stuck in their throats, looking down, be it indignation at this joke, or in admonishing themselves at getting caught.
None showing an ounce of regret for what they had done or allowed to transpire.
"We have only one person to thank for what has happened tonight."
Xander turned back, ignoring them, and faced the man next to him, while also pulling something from his pocket.
"This honor goes to Dua, as he had bested the strongest of Alexda's men in the dead of night inside the forest, leaving the mayor defenseless for us to finally strike without fear of failure."
Be it the crowd, the two sides, they lifted their heads to watch as Xander place something on the man's chest.
Dark bronze, circular, edges patterned like weaved fabric, in the center, laid an engraving, multiple swords from above, pointing at single one below, in opposition, pointing back.
Before voices of confusion, be it from what such an item means, to why does he deserve that one in particular recognition, Xander smiled mischievously as he continued.
"As the head of the town's adventuring guild, I award the "Odd's Breaker" medal, as Dua had faced exactly that, odds pushing him down, and rising instead of falling in the face of such a weight placed on him, facing the 12 guards... all...at...once.
As he revealed it, their faces went from understanding to shock, amongst other things; their heads snapping towards the man in front of them.
Some in surprise for recognizing him as the town butcher, pride for the ones who have been resisting for all this time against the mayor, for having someone on their side be so strong, and fear, laced with suspicion, amidst those with the mayor.
However, before any of them can voice any of it, Xander wrapped it up.
"That is everything, meeting dismissed, you all may return to your homes and rest in ease, tomorrow we assort the valuables that were taken along with giving back the funds he has illegally taken."
Clapping his hands, multiple guards had suddenly appeared around the mayor's group, from a duo off wayside of them between the buildings, another few from behind some barrels, three even jumped from a rooftop, one with a smile on his face.
Sounds of swords sharply leaving their scabbards made themselves known, glints of the points of maces, spears, were revealed in the moonlight, and leather armor fluttered in their rushed movements with the cool breeze.
Surrounded by a couple of guards, they were stunned, part of those among them drawing their weapons in response.
Walking over there slowly, with the crowd still watching intently, Xander, Dua, along with the two guards holding Alexda made their way just behind the encirclement of their forces.
Other hurried footsteps sounded out; Xander's faction was following up behind him, the other armed fighters reinforcing the entrapment.
Not stopping it or taking action, Alexda's group stayed, observing, they recognized the squeeze they were in, for a few, it was quite literal as they entered a tight formation, the non-combatants in the middle, talking with each other imminently on realizing their plight.
"Did you ever think on why our group was smaller than before?"
Hearing that, the ones in the center hushed and looked up, in distain of the voice even more than before.
"You really thought I would allow you all a chance to run? You're trusting my words way too much for an enemy."
Revealing his own weapon strung on his back, a large two-handed hammer was revealed, black cloth wrapped near the end of the long handle, metal underneath a dark purple leather stretching over the shaft in a diagonal pattern, a pointed pommel, the head's sides patterned like rows of bricks.
The flat ends stirred dust as it hit the ground, causing a wave of air to push the dry grass outward, showcasing his control over the destructive weapon as the weight somehow avoided making a dent in the earth.
"Now...I'm going to say this once, and you better listen."
Xander put on his most domineering face possible, his hand strengthening its grip, still on the weapon handle, ready to be picked up at a moment's notice.
"Put down your weapons, give any amount of resistance, and you'll stay down there as long as the mayor does."
Hearing that, they were even further incentivized, the guards bringing their weapons closer.
At that moment, a mace hit the earth.
Looking into their group, they saw one of the guards walking out the formation.
"What are you doin-"
"You think we stand a chance?!", the warrior screamed back suddenly.
Bewildered, he only stared as the guard ranted.
"Even if we escape, and that would be with casualties, where would we go? The forest? We could end up lost, or worse, find our way right back here even! By then, our faces would be plastered on the boards for everyone to see!
It's easier to give up, as long as I can live and go free..."
Going silent, he continued walked up to Xander, he kneeled, lowering his head, not saying another word.
After some stillness, one by one, all the fighters surrendered.
Their weapons fell to the ground; lining together, some kneeled just like the first, others simply stood, their eyes astray.
With no more fighters, the rest had nothing between them and the weapons aimed towards their heads, eyes, heart, and legs.
Their cold sweat began to drip, dirtying their clothes, wetting the earth, letting their fear be known.
Some accepted their loss, others looking left and right, looking for a way out, saw none, and had to join the others, they all shared their collective animosity.
Only one saw differently.
A WAY OUT.
The last of the group was walking forward, her face no different than the rest, if not just sweating a little more than the regular one.
However, instead of getting down like the rest, she walked past them.
Getting confused looks, even from Alexda, one of the guards stepped out from the surrounding formation to stop him.
"What are you doing?"
Before he could reach out his hand to place on her shoulder-
~FWISH~
Feeling something slice at his neck, all he could do is fall to his knees, grasping his neck as blood began to flow, escaping through his grasp.
"SHE'S MAKING A RUN FOR IT."
Running with everything in her the split second everyone's eyes were on the man gasping for breath, she sprinted away from the group, some rushing to the injured's side, others following slowly in their metal armor, only to stop as she made ground.
Bloodied dagger in hand, from where, who knows.
Those that gave up saw hope in her gambit, a few even begun to rise to give their shot in the midst of the disformed formation, yet blades aimed at their head halted their growing confidence, frowning in disappointment, they got back on the ground.
Just as Xander was going to give chase, a hand grabbed his shoulder.
Looking in surprise, he saw it was Dua.
"Why?"
"That."
He pointed at her direction, that being the forest.
Upon seeing what exactly what he pointed at, he was nonplussed at what he saw, unconsciously recalling what Dua had told him on returning, to which even he doubted despite Dua's words.
A rabbit sat on the top of the hill, that led into the forest, close to the size of a young child, grey smooth skin, too smooth, ears with a exposed fleshy-concentric pattern leading into the center of each thin ear, the ends tampering off, it's head shaped like a multi-faceted gem, cold dark grey, reflective of the moons light like a metal, with reddish-pink straps stretching to the back of the head from the sides of its forehead and the two large spikes slanted towards the left and right downward slightly from where the mouth should've been.
Only two facets besides those spikes were larger than normal, betraying the pattern of the dice, and in them, were two white lights, that even from the distance, could be seen to be made of some jell like material, a strange luster escaping from within.
Before he could confirm with Dua, the runner made it up the hill, towards it.
Before she could properly recognize what was in front of her as her face met it in exhaustion and the shadow off to its side, something silver came rushing at her from the shadow's side.
~Shick~
Only for pain to come flooding in its way, making muscles twitch, her body to shake, vision to grow fuzzy, besides those things is the cold feeling of metal against the insides of her flesh, in spite of all that, she did her best to look downward, something obstructing her ability to move her head.
Within the blur of the situation, the pain clawing into her mind, gasping for any amount of air, she saw the broadside of a sword, plunged into her neck.
Unable to understand how fast it happened, she looked at the figure holding the blade.
A lone knight, wearing the silver armor of the common soldiers of their town, paid off.
Reaching for the sword, she wanted to pull it out.
Before she could, she felt the pull of the sword lifting her up, off the ground.
The pain tripled.
Eyes going to the back of her head from the nerves being shot, pain all she can feel, think, see, her consciousness fading, but the pain keeping her there.
As the dark closed in, slashed muscles began to wane.
~Shhhsnap~
Tendons doing their best to hold, just until she passed.
~Chi-k~ ~Flwp~ ~Thump~
As something heavy fell, something else flew into the air.
Finally moving, the bunny's legs tensed, before launching itself into the sky.
Grabbing the head that was launched into the night sky.
As the bunny fell, head in hand, eyes seeming to finally grasp what's in front of it as the last timbers of consciousness fades, the moon started to retreat into the clouds, almost as if in disgust to this thing's actions.
The extra light receding with it, making the crystalline sources of light in the lamps giving orange illumination strewn across the town all the more important.
Seeing all of what occurred, some didn't react in kind.
Parents horrified; kids' eyes covered by their parents...few forgetting to grant their kids such a mercy.
Dua's stoic face remaining, only a glimpse of insight passing in his eyes, while Xander's showed a frown, the guards confused.
However, he didn't have time to think on what happened, or Dua's word.
Stepping off to the side, where the guard who was injured was placed.
"Is he stable?"
"He's lost too much blood, she hit him in just the right spot, hitting right where the blood goes towards the brain... I don't think-"
"Take him up the hill."
Dua interjected.
Baffled, the one treating him spoke in astonishment.
"You mean to- whatever those...things are? If we do that, his death is all but assured, he won't make it to the to-"
~Wshiiiiiish~
Hearing the sound that could only be described as a large amount of dust being kicked up, they looked towards the source, already knowing where.
An armored hand reached down, laid on the head in the rabbit's paws as it lifted the head, in a peculiar synchrony, and it began to evaporate into gray dust, all with a white light glimmering within.
Droplets of blood, be it from the blade, or on the ground where they stood, joined together as it floated into the air, seemingly drying up as it ascended, leaving only a particle of dust behind before it joining into small clouds.
As it flew into the air, above both of their heads, the two suddenly stopped moving, freezing like statues, and dust seemed to grow livelier in an instant.
Bursting down the hill, collecting the smaller clouds, and making a break for the injured man.
"The ****?!"
The doctor jumped back as it collected around the man's neck, spreading along the body, cutting the 'doctor's' ability to observe almost entirely.
"What is it!?"
Before he could at all interfere, it had already begun to shrink.
Seeing within, he was as surprised as he was shocked.
The previous blood was gone, and in the wound's place, was that dust filling the wound entirely, the blood flow was cut off, no longer pouring out, although it was bulging sometimes, almost in tune to his pulse.
'Weird.'
Seeing where the rest of the dust moved, he saw it moving around, collecting smaller balls of dust near the ground.
'Were those...?'
There wasn't a speck of blood left from when he was first injured on the ground.
They recollected into the small encapsulation, and it began to shrink quickly, the cut changed from dust to the normal white color of his flesh.
Upon the dust being nearly depleted, the light within gone, the gash was closed, and imminently, it's job complete, the remains returned from where it left, back up the hill.
The small amount hovering over the two, they suddenly regained their movement, although they looked more strained than before in their movement, the dust suddenly losing its bounce of energy.
Sheathing its weapon, clean of any blood, it turned around, grabbing the headless corpse of the girl that was partially leaning against a dead tree by the arm, and returned to the forest, blood trail in tow.
Not before looking back towards the town and petting the rabbit between the ears.
Disappearing between the folds of the trees, into its shadows, the bunny followed, hopping after it.
Seeing the knight go away, a few who didn't even know they were holding their breath sighed in relief of it being gone, only some confusion was left inside the people...and tiredness.
Only three had thought differently.
Dua watched the two walk away.
'The rabbit changed...I should ask Ixa about that when I see him.'
Xander was cautious, thinking for the town, and of what Dua had said being proven.
'I need to talk to Dua again, I need to know more about what happened in that forest.'
Alexda thinking never ceased the moment he saw the knight.
'Did one of my men betray me? No, but that would explain why he had a chance to survive, but what it just did, healed his injury-!'
Realizing a certain possibility, he stared back towards Dua.
'Just what did you find...Dua?'
Seeing that things were finally over, people didn't know what to think, but considering the nighttime, and their kids yawning and shivering, they began to filter back towards their homes, while quietly talking about the knight and rabbit they just saw.
While they walked away, Xander resolved their punishment.
"Bring them into the dungeon, make sure none of them are armed."
As they were escorted away, Xander looked from them to the hill, to the quiet street and podium.
'At least things will calm down from here, we can finally enjoy some peace.'
Not realizing his own jinx on the situation, he smiled, and spoke out.
"Dua, you never finished telling me what happened, and after seeing all that confirming what you said, I feel you have a lot more to tell me."
"I can only tell you so much, I already mentioned I cannot reveal much more about them than I already have, at most I can tell you of my trip back, I promised, you know how much I value my word."
"You like this guy that much?"
"Not like, indebted, I don't know nearly enough about them to where even I can say I know how I feel about them saving my life twice, I need time to rest to find out.
"Rest comes, just finish what you were telling me."
Walking towards where the building holding all those malnourished from their time in the dungeon, Dua began to recount his experience from where he left off, waking up after he passed out from the corpses explosion.
• • • • • •
"That was...a lot."
Dropping the corpse, Ixa felt tired enough to where he felt he needed to physically rest, in both bodies, and he barely felt anything through them at all!
As he reached the edge of the forest before, on the hill, he saw the gathering crowd below, and decided to listen in.
'These ears seem rather strong', considering he could hear from all the way on top of the hill, mostly due to the man on the podium raising his voice too.
Hearing everything, he was not only disgusted, but glad.
"Those 'guards' deserved death with what they did."
He didn't indulge on such nasty thoughts, but considering everything of what they have done, and how it impacted the people of this town, he felt it was rather justified.
'Some will forget and heal, some it will take ample time, while for others it may haunt them for their lives, casting a shadow they cannot escape on their own.'
Not to even mention the physical things, like capturing and taking their belongings, to secretly sending their loved ones to starve.
'Despicable.
Wish I could kill him myself.'
This he allowed himself to feel and believe.
Considering how he could make him die a painful death right here and now, he thought to try it, however...
Seeing all the people's face, transition from fear, incensed, to concern, he saw his own thoughts reflected in them, and so he reflected.
'They want justice, and him dying randomly won't allow them to have it, while for me, it's only a sense of justice, or revenge?
Which is it? Both?'
Continuing to listen, watching the families leave, going to where they are injured.
'Can I heal that? Malnutrition isn't damage more so than just a lack of the stuff to preserve life...maybe.'
Finally, to seeing Dua getting awarded, and the surprise the man had in store for the other group, Ixa was the one to cackle in his mind this time.
'This guy is one smart...guy, man, mind blanked for a second.'
Looking behind him, he saw what he had felt, the knight's body had finally made it.
The metal boots a little dirtied from the constant trekking in the watery grounds, to him staring at himself from two perspectives in two different manners, it created a rather nauseating effect.
'This is going to need some getting used to if really want to...adapt.'
Looking back to see the commotion, a woman escaped the encirclement, another injured and holding his throat as red escaped it.
'Mmmmm.'
Ixa would frown if he could, considering what these people did, he believed they deserved more than simply time in the dungeon, but the same experience, not getting enough food, depraved of nutrients and energy, feeling the absolute worse.
Seeing someone wanting to escape such a fate, much less in his direction, not seeing him, he had an idea.
'You want an out? I'll give you an out."
The knight pulled the sword from his sheath.
The rest was said and done, from the cruel death he gave her, to utilizing the torn piece of her to heal the man, to 'collecting' the spare necrotic essence material.
That pat on the head to himself was for maintaining an air of mystery, he still needed to keep himself in disguise, their matching pace really making things seem too odd for his liking, even if it already was.
He had made things a little difficult for Dua, contacting him to make sure no one down there messed with the healing process, and that was after saying for him to bring the man up here, only to realize he could probably heal him from the hill.
The range of his abilities truly was rather absurd, although he felt he had massively pushed it as he was feeling a mountain of exhaustion compared to the usual 'nothing'.
Looking up at the necrotic essence material in the air, Ixa in the body of the knight smiled.
"Although, I didn't expect it to be so tiring, it felt exponentially more exhausting than before."
[ I think I can explain that bit.]