After numerous enemy encounters inside the narrow and burning underground prison, the orbital water serving Hardy and Pinta's shield began to waver. Then, all the same, Pinta had a misstep and fell face forward. Hardy turns around in a nick as he saw the water spell weaved around them burst like a bubble, showering them.
"H-hey!"
Pinta had apparently fainted. The stress of the continuous spells drained her mana.
"Damn it!" he cursed as he put her arms over his shoulder and pushes forward as his other hand carries his axe, "I guess this is up to me now. Don't worry I'll save us both."
Luckily, there was no enemy nearby. No lunatic beastkins to bother them in their weakness. The flames caused by Pinta's tricks were behind them; However, he knows they are not out of the woods yet.
"Just a little further…"
Then as he steps forward furthermore, He saw what appears to be light seething towards them. Its possible location mayhap the exit they sought for. Hardy's hopes got up to the point that adrenaline surges inside him to move faster, even with a deadweight beside him.
*Clang, clang*
But as he heard a clash of steel nearing as he moves, his mood darkens. He knew, trouble has yet to leave them.
"!"
"ROaAAGH!"
And suddenly, something was hurled towards them. With it, an unnerving scream of pain from some, kind of being that was heard by Hardy from not too long ago…
Then it rose up, its head turned towards them. A doggish face, its eyes only have a hue of red, bloodshot, its saliva dripping from its mouth. Another lunatic Beastskin.
"Shite!" He tried to act as quickly as possible that he dropped Pinta to the ground. And held his axe, ready to attack...
…But then, a tip of a one-handed sword suddenly appears protruding on the beastkin's mouth, its eyes look upward before dropping dead. Then, someone pulls out the sword from the recent corpse, someone who was bloodied. However, that someone is a very familiar bully for Hardy; that long elvish hair even dirtied by blood gives away who this person is: Vandaldor
"PINTA!" Vandaldor bellows as he rushed towards her, then his eyes took a quick turn on Hardy, and that eyes as Hardy sees it, was in no doubt, similar to those lunatic beastkins he's been fighting.
"YOU!" He shouted, seething in anger, pointing the bloody blade at him "YOU DAMNABLE ANIMAL! WHAT YOU DID TO HER!"
Hardy eyed him in a baffling manner, "NOTHING!" and replied in equitable angry annoyance, "SHE AND I PROTECTED EACH OTHER! YOU TWAT!"
"I AM NO TWAT! I'm not dumb! I-YOU'RE MAKING A FOOL OF ME AREN'T YOU!?"
"What?" Hardy squinted in annoyance, "WHY WOULD I-"
"THIS IS HOW LOW YOU ARE! Why, I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN I GOT A CHANCE-"
"JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE, FOOL!" Hardy snapped, "THIS IS WHY YOU'RE A FOOL, SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP AND-"
"HAAAAA!" Vandaldor attacked Hardy in a stupendous swing in which the latter evaded quickly enough before the sword goes fatal to him, only wounding him in his chest in a process.
"SON OF A!"
"You should not bother dodging dwarf! You're just prolonging the inevitable!"
"Oh, just you ploughing try yapper," Hardy readies his axe on hand, "or you'll regret never walking again!"
Then a clash of blades ensues. Hardy parries Vandaldor's sword with clear effort as he tries to create distance to him as much as possible. He was quick and nimble, not to mention his aggressiveness reigning over his mind. But then, the latter also was his weakness. It was a general concept for warriors that intelligence acts differently when consumed by rage. Some might harness it with efficiency, but not this guy as shown by his movements. This guy Hardy is facing attacks randomly with no clear pattern. For Hardy, as long as he can tire him or make a space, he will be decisive-
*Clang, Clang*
But that
Then a thought came to him, a thought that will possibly halt his unending assault. He glanced at Pinta, who was unconscious, but then.
"I'm not that low!" he murmured while his focus never wavered as one misstep will be the end of him.
However, no matter how steadfast he is on his defense, Vandaldor shows no sign of slowing down. Also, while he was on the offense, Vandaldor was spewing something to Hardy that the latter doesn't really catch up in what the former was saying. Maybe he was badmouthing, but then, Hardy had no time to understand such things when his life is in imminent danger. After all, this racist attacking him, contrary to his looks, is some kind of a monster this time. He cannot afford to slow down to risk discerning his trash talks!
"Drat!" Hardy clenches his teeth as he could not see a clear opening to Vandaldor's movements. The axe is not his usual. It was heavier than what he usually uses. He fears that if he went unto offense, Vandaldor would cut his body in two and declare checkmate. With that in mind, he tries to move closer to Pinta, step by step as he parries and dodge Vandaldor's blow. His options were too little. He cannot hope to pray for someone to intervene their battle like in the stories he heard and read. Tricky as it is, He was left alone to deal with this Son of House Racist. He doesn't want to do what he had in mind, but other choices do not give him the most survivability than this, which is-
"HAAAAAAA!"
…using Pinta's unconscious body as a deterrence. Before the sword falls unto his helm, Pinta's body was already step behind Hardy. He releases the grip of his axe and jumped sideways, away from harm. It was too close for comfort, but he managed. In uncontrollable force, the blade of the sword almost struck Pinta. His movement stopped as he saw her. It delayed Vandaldor's thoughts, as well as his movements – This is the moment what Hardy was waiting for.
"Time to go!"
He hurriedly pushes his feet upward and his legs forward, not towards Vandaldor, but from whence he came from. Yes, this is the best time to escape. No way he'll battle that racist without weapons and stamina. His small stature allows him to move quickly as expected. If there are any lunatic beastkins on the way, maybe they're already been dealt with by that guy who attacked him. There is no reason to linger. Pinta was the least of his concern now that her lover is here.
"WAIT!" Vandaldor shouted as he turns towards Hardy, but then,
"B…rother…?"
"?!"
Vandaldor heard her voice. He was paralyzed. 'That can't be, she can't be here!' is what he thought,
"Is that you…brother?"
It came from behind him. Fear and anxiety took over within him. His eyes glanced sideways, trying to see what was behind, as it did not work, he slowly turns his head with uneasiness looming over his head.
"…What?" He murmured in disbelief. This can't be happening. It shouldn't be!
"V…an?"
With half of her eyes open, Pinta directed her sight towards Vandaldor. She's the only one behind him. It was her voice that he was hearing. The thought of what they had done together flashes to his mind. The moments, the adventure, the… intercourse. How many times had he done it with her? in any case, is she who he thinks she is?
With his gazed fixed on her, he uttered with trembling voice,
"S-Somiya?"
***
The battle rages on as Ishnaia exits the Utama Balai. She wears her usual attire from the day one on when she somehow came here and met Hardy and Alister. She forcefully asks a beastkin servant who was about to attend to her with a phrase that surmises everything up:
"It's my favorite get-up fucker, where is it? Do you expect me to fight with fucking pajamas!?" while explaining that their head gave her a troublesome assignment that she cannot refuse.
She finds a sigh of relief when she retrieved her favorite get-up. There are bloodstains here and there and signs of slight tear from random places, but that doesn't stop her for wearing it again. She felt more comfortable more than ever now that she had rested and bust some heads of the motherfuckers who tries to harm her peace of mind.
The sight outside was what you may see in a town being raided. There are no burning buildings at sight, but the thing is,
"Die!"
"Haaah!"
"You're going down!"
"RoOAooAGH!"
-are some of the phrases she hears surrounding her. The last one was from a rabid beastkin with wolfish feature who was easily beheaded by Ishnaia using a blade she just picked up from some corpse she had forgotten completely where. From time to time, she saw other knights go toe to toe with these rabid beastkins as their claws clash with the swords. Also, there are those beastkins who fights their own kind, some rabid eats them alive in which she disposes with much haste. On other hand, there are those knights who had wings, the same one she fought before, fighting alongside the hume knights. Crazily enough, there are those sane, who was shouting something about them being Divor or something, killing the same hume knights fighting alongside against the rabid ones. All in all, it was a free for all battle. It was a sight of anarchy and chaos. Ishnaia wondered then about what the fuck she was doing out here.
"Alright, I'm sitting this one out!" Ishnaia declared to herself. She decided to find Alister and Reo and bail them out. She's going to search for them back inside the Utama Balai. She can't help but to feel dumb in this situation. She should had done it from the start!
"I'll just fucking kill those who attacks me." She muttered, then as soon as she turns back towards the Balai, she was attacked behind by some beastkin, whom she had dodged just in the nick of time. She knew of not letting you guard down in this chaotic situation, however, she still found behind her neck slightly bleeding as she felt the tinge of pain. She touches it by her palm and shouted,
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
Then it attacked her again, this time, she did a 360 turn and counters the offensive beastkin. the aggressor was surprised as her greyish coat was caught up by the blade and retreated before her body was split into two. Now, Ishnaia got a clear view on her features: a whitish catlike beastkin from head to toe with an oversized greyish coat, torn with a big cut by her blade. Then the catlike beastkin talked with a female sounding voice,
"What a surprise, a civilian hume who moves like our kin. I guess it's worth mentioning my name to you. I'm Jina of the Yasha Clan. May I know yours?"
"I'm sorry," Ishnaia bellows, "But I'm not in the mood to answer you and your misplaced frustration on me you furry fuck! Why don't you attack anyone else besides myself!?"
"Misplaced?" the catlike beastkin, Jina, replied, "you've just given me a reason to kill you." As she speaks, she moved with speed not like any other she had fought. True to her origin, she sidesteps from random directions, trying to hide her next intentions of movement. Damn this fucker, Ishnaia thought as she dodged the catlike, leaping against her with a knife aiming at her neck by an inch.
"What!? Did I hurt your feelings?!" Ishnaia barks as she hurled her sword towards where she thinks this catlike beastkin will land… but ended up hitting only the empty air.
"Feeling sore?" she continues to yap, "Well, you think I give a fuck you furry ass cunt!"
And with quick movement, Jina threw a knife towards where Ishnaia's heart resides. The latter tries to evade it, but apparently, there was no blade thrown, or even there is to begin with. Addled with surprise, Jina saw this as an opportunity and swiftly stabs Ishnaia at her upper back with the knife thought to be thrown,
"Aargh!" Ishnaia screams in pain and tries to grab Jina behind her, but then, Jina traces the blade downward behind Ishnaia and pulls the blade from her body to make a backstep evasive maneuver. Ishnaia grits her teeth in pain and arches her body backward and forward due to the sharp pain she felt.
"YOU FUCK! Now you've done it!"
Still silent, Jina waited for another opportunity to strike. She waited…observed…But no matter how long, Ishnaia just arched in pain and decided that this will be the final blow. She rushes forward, circles around, moved from left to right in a zig-zag motion, and finally…
"!"
*Sheeek*
She had never had any idea what had just happened.
"…huh?"
It appears that she had been suspended in air, but by what?
"Bleargh!"
Jina coughed blood and turn her eyes downward. Her belly was pierced by some ominous dark glowing object. It was shaped like a sword, ornated even. Where did it come from? Magick? From this wretched lady she tries to destroy?
As if agreeing on that fact, the one who held it on her hand spits on the floor and mockingly said,
"I finally got you, you slippery fuck! I will avenge those fishes you've eaten by grilling your dirty ass fuck!"
Jina never understood any mumbo-jumbo Ishnaia said. She was still in disbelief to make sense of her blunder. She fought mages, wizards even, but never one of them made a sword out of magick in an instant, most of them recite some kind of incantation before doing so.
"…ridiculous."
She blundered because she was not prepared for this. In doing so, forfeiting her life.
Ishnaia lifted Jina with her glowing sword and forcefully pins her downward to the ground. Jina coughed harder than ever by doing so. In a brutal manner, Ishnaia steps on her and said gently,
"YOU FUCK! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUCK OVER ME!" and left the scene, aching over the wound on her back. Left alone, Jina could only stare at the night sky while feeling her strength leaving her body little by little. Then, in just a short while, the glowing blade disappears from her gut, as if it didn't exist over there in the first place, but that doesn't mean she's safe from harm. Her life was already forfeit. After all, lunatic beastkins came near her, their drooling saliva wetting the floor. They've finally noticed her and finally, Jina closes her eyes, murmuring,
"I'm sorry Mors… I…"
…She never even finished what she had to say, as her larynx was ripped from her throat.
On the other hand, Ishnaia then realized what had she done and puts her palm over her forehead, saying to herself,
"Shit, is that who I really am?"