Humanity is as much good as it is evil.
Talent is as much as a curse as it is a blessing
______________________________________________
Beneath the moon's ethereal glow, two figures occupied a dimly lit alleyway. One, named Eve, possessed striking red hair that hinted at her lethal intent through an icy aura. Infront of her stood Kordell, a teenage boy whose height was on the short side, and had tousled short brown hair with an unassuming face.
My voice trembled as I questioned, "W..what the hell do you mean you have to eliminate the evidence?"
Eve's cold stare was her only response; then, she vanished from sight, her movement impossible to track. A moment later, a shiver ran down my spine. By sheer instinct, I rolled to the left just in time. A figure crashed where I had stood a split second before.
Eve's voice rang out, flat and unemotional, "So you managed to dodge that, not bad." Mocking tones followed, "I would have preferred to use a gun for a swift kill, but that would attract unwanted attention. So, let's not make this any harder." Terror gripped me.
"Why the fuck is this happening?!" I screamed, my fear palpable. Sensibility took control, and I ran.
Eve's expression shifted from curiosity to mockery as she gave chase. Unlike me, her speed was inconceivable, bordering on teleportation. Suddenly, she materialized in front of me. I dropped my upper body, allowing my left leg to slide further, just in time to avoid her swing aimed at my face. A surge of adrenaline coursed through me.
Adrenaline causes a noticeable increase in strength and performance, as well as heightened awareness, in stressful times. When you have a lot of adrenaline in your blood, you don't feel as much pain, so you can keep running or fighting, even if you are injured. It makes you stronger and allows you to perform better. Self-defense instruction weighs in on adrenaline when analyzing fight or flight. It creates supreme energy, strength, and alertness to reach one's maximum capacity. To run faster and longer. It dulled pain and sharpened focus, a secret weapon of survival. Increasing the probability to be the victor in hand-to-hand combat.
Now, Kordell was in the grip of an adrenaline rush.
Using my left foot as a pivot, I spun and utilized my right leg to execute a powerful spinning heel kick aimed at her head.
Kordell was a skilled fighter among his peers, not the best but skilled. His main disadvantage was how small he is compared to his opponents. No matter how skilled a person is, if they fight someone above their weight and height class it would be almost impossible to win, But against Eve who was around the same height albeit a little taller than Kordell. The disadvantage wouldn't apply here.
Eve staggered after receiving the kick.
Using the momentum from the rotation, my right hand flashed in an arc, ready to deal a backhand blow to her skull.
Though the disadvantage of weight and height difference didn't apply in this battle, there was another more fatal disadvantage Kordell suffered. Eve was a keeper.
I hadn't noticed when she blocked my attack with lightning speed, but something about her demeanor changed.
She looked up at me with a dangerous grin, one filled with Malice, anger and madness. Then she whispered.
"Don't worry I'll make sure to give you a painful death."
She engaged me in a furious battle, no not a battle an execution.
Her strikes her heavy and burning like a hammer fresh out of the furnace, she struck me, the anvil. My bones broke and flesh seared.
Still I continued fighting for dear life.
My swings were futile, most weren't connecting, while everyone of her strikes felt like a heated mace slammed against me.
We continued to exchange blows for another 15 seconds, untill my movement became sloppy.
I threw a left hook at her, which she casually dodged got closer to me and hit me with an upper cut.
My head furiously jerked backwards, and I exploded into a world of pain.
Gritting my teeth, I threw a right jab with the remaining strength I could muster.
She caught my arm with lightning speed, then sliced it off with her second arm.
Before I could make sense of what happened, she vanished completely.
"Shit!"
"If I recall you kicked me."her voice resounded with a cold tone.
Struck by a sudden, intense jolt of terror. In that moment, there was a blunt pain from my left side.
Eve's leg slammed against my torso. A whistling sound filled the air, and I watched her shrink into the distance at a ferocious speed. Soon the whistling gave way to crashing, crunching noises, and the world was full of dancing dumpsters and trash.
'Ah. So this is what it feels like to get knocked into next week.'
Just as this thought flashed through my mind, I slammed into a brick wall, bringing my flight to a halt. The sudden deceleration hit me like a hammer; it felt like all my internal organs had been smashed apart, and my vision began to dim.
A moment or maybe an eternity later, I opened my eyes.
'It seemed I suffered a concussion.'
I couldn't quite remember what happened.
"U-urgh" I spat out blood.
"Good, pain is good. Pain reminds you that you are still alive." A cold feminine voice said.
I heard the steps of footsteps, looking up I saw Eve calmly walking towards me.
'Oh yeah..Eve.'
In her left hand a charred hand cut cleanly from the middle of the forearm.
Meanwhile my right arm felt like it was dipped in warm liquid, I turned to give it a look.
My hand was missing from the mid forearm downwards, while blood was flowing from the
ghastly wound.
'Ah so that was my arm.' My thoughts slow and foggy.
'Yes....s-she sliced it off'
I felt tired and sleepy, my chest hurt. Just breathing felt like torture, I felt a sharp pain everytime I tried to breathe. I was gasping for air like a fish out of water, my sight was blurry.
My body was in horrible shape too, I had numerous cuts and wounds, with some of them being either charred or turning purple with poison. Eve was also generous in her serving of broken bones. Joints dislocated with broken bones.
I felt tired, so tired and sleepy, And my thoughts were slow and incoherent. Like a fog was slowly corroding my mind, seducing it to fall into eternal slumber.
'Ah shit'
And there was Eve. She was radiating cold and ruthless killing intent, but there was also a smug on her face.
The air around her didn't radiate that same icy killing intent. instead it felt like a raging inferno. Wherever she stepped burn marks could be seen on the ground.
Her fingers were elongated, sharp, pointy and dark, Like claws of a terrifying creature.
"Breathing for you would only get difficult, some of my attacks were poisoned and you have sustained fatal injuries." she flatly said.
I stared at her, unable to say a word.
"Well I'll put you out of your misery." She said, her hand reaching towards my neck.
In that exact moment a figure appeared at Eve's right, sending her crashing.
He had a strong build, tall, with pale skin and a tinge of blue and raven black hair. He looked majestic under the pale moonlight
It was Ryt, one of the protectors looking for Eve.