Kim couldn't help but start to get worried. Her sword was starting to get slick from the sweat on her palm. If she didn't have her shield, she was sure that she'd have been killed a while ago. She hadn't been able o land any actual blows on either of the doppelgangers facing her, not that she let that bother her. Sometimes the first time her sword makes contact with an opponent is the last. As such she merely needed to bide her time while she waited for an opening.
Assuming she lived that long. She wasn't sure how the doppelganger had managed to slip past her in order to attack her from the other side, all she knew was that there had been two on one side of her, then suddenly there was one on each side of her. Which was also cutting of any chance for escape, but all she could say about it was that when they moved, they moved fast. As it is, she wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep this up. If it was just one of them she had to face at a time, then maybe she'd be able to handle them, but with the changes here, she wasn't optimistic about her chances.
She could already feel her body start to slow down from being tired. Perhaps if she hadn't had to expend so much stamina when she'd been trying to get through the front doors, then maybe she wouldn't be so tired right now.
Not that she could imagine any other course of action at that time. She hadn' realized how much of a death trap that route had been. All she could have been sure of was that she didn't want whoever was in charge to think that she was going to try another route and send people around to try and intercept her.
Kim felt her breath catch in her throat as she barely blocked a swing from the doppelganger on her right. She wished she could face them from the same direction, so she didn't have to fight from this awkward position. Her shield was primarily dealing with whatever attacks the doppelganger on her left sent her way, though she was confident that only using her shied in that manner was a stop-gap measure at best. If she didn't deal with the doppelganger on her right soon, she was sure the other doppelganger was going to figure out how to get past her shield. Once that happened, she knew her end would be quick.
Suddenly the doppelganger to her right stumbled. Or maybe staggered would be the right word, Kim mused as she saw the opening that the circumstances opened up for her. Her blade swung towards the doppelganger's chest, though Kim had to distance herself from the fact that it was currently copying her, which in a way meant she was swinging her sword at her own chest.
If she allowed that thought to persist, she knew it would wear her down mentally faster than her stamina was being depleted. As such, she had to continually remind herself that it wasn't her that she was fighting, but rather doppelgangers. Or if she wanted to take a Dune perspective, she could imagine that she was fighting Tleilaxu face dancers. It didn't really help, but it at least distracted her mind a little from seeing her own image one her opponent's faces.
Her blade started to bite through the breastplate of the doppelganger's armor, when it regained its balance and raised its sword to stop Kim's strike from going any deeper. Yet, Kim was sure the damage had already been done.
Blood was flowing out of the wound, much more freely than it would be if it was merely a cut that would require stitches. Kim doubted that her strike had reached the lung, but she couldn't say how close it had come.
However, now the doppelganger was moving much slower, more openings were clear and Kim was sure she wouldn't have to take long before she was able to deal the coup de grace on it. Her only worry was that the other doppelganger would see this as well and redouble its efforts to find a way past Kim's shield. If that's what happened, then she couldn't say for sure how it would turn out.
Regardless, she swung at the wounded doppelganger's leg, which she was happy to catch it off guard. The leg wasn't a vital area, as in what could kill an opponent right away, but it was a critical area where the loss of it would significantly reduce their mobility, which in turn would reduce their ability to dodge any subsequent attacks.
While she couldn't quickly deal the final blow just yet, she was satisfied with eliminating its ability to avoid her attacks. Although, she couldn't say for how long her opponent would be able to stay conscious with the amount of blood flowing out of the wounds, but she was confident that doppelganger's life had neared its end already.
Kim was so focused on the faltering opponent that she was startled to see the other doppelganger stumble in the same manner as the first. The look of alarm, shock, and confusion that crossed the doppelganger's face when it happened, told Kim that there was someone or something that was helping her. She wasn't going to complain, though she would like to know who it was, but at the moment she had other matters to attend to.
The other doppelganger was still an issue for Kim, but she wanted to first finish the one that was closer to death. Otherwise she couldn't say that it wouldn't kill her just before it died as well. She wouldn't care for that sort of irony.
While she wouldn't be upset that these doppelgangers wouldn't be able to get to Elin, she also knew that she'd be unable to get back to Elin herself. She would love to have the girl in her arms at the moment, but until she finished off these doppelgangers she would need to keep those kinds of thoughts out of her head. Especially, with Elin. They were just too distracting at the moment.
When the doppelganger to her right started to have trouble remaining standing, Kim swung her sword at its chest again, but perhaps it was the built up fatigue in her arm or something else, but her swing went too low to hit the chest of the doppelganger. Instead, it bit into the abdomen, slicing deep into the doppelganger.
While she knew she reached the intestines of the doppelganger, she felt her sword bite something else that caused a flash of either pain or panic in the doppelganger before it fell to its knees, its eyes already starting to cloud over as its life seeped out through the wounds that were still bleeding freely.
Kim paused only a moment to make sure the doppelganger wasn't going to be able to make another strike at her before turning herself bodily towards the remaining doppelganger. She was now confident that she was not only going to survive this, but she was going to end this quickly from here. Whatever happened to allow her this opportunity, she wasn't going to complain. She suspected Jonas was behind it, which gave her comfort in that she knew the rest of her team was nearby.
She couldn't be sure how far away Elmo and Elin were, but she would expect that Jonas wouldn't have come back if they weren't with him. Just that knowledge gave her a boost to her morale and she suddenly felt like her body was full of energy again. That she'd be able to keep doing all day if that became necessary.
However, she had to acknowledge that the sensation was only temporary, brought on by a sudden surge or adrenaline that in turn came from the realization that Jonas was there assisting her, even though she couldn't see him. She wanted to get through this as quickly as she could at that particular moment the end was indeed near. Either for the batter or these two doppelgangers.
Kim blocked a desperate swing from her remaining opponent that had been aiming for her either head or neck. Either would have been fatal at the power the swing was coming in at, but Kim intercepted it with her shield before slashing the arm that held the sword, forcing the doppelganger to drop the sword. Then before the doppelganger could think of how to react to the sudden change of things, Kim swung her sword upward, slicing through the doppelganger's belly and up to its chest. A fountain of blood following a moment later. Kim wasn't that bothered by the blood. She would accept it as a natural consequence of what had just happened.
Moments later, the other doppelganger fell to the floor as its eyes glazed over, its death having occurred before it started to fall. Though, Kim's body kept an alert posture for a few minutes after, partly from needing to calm down after the battle and partly from the possibility that other enemies would appear around her in the dim light from the lamps held on the walls of the corridor.
"Looks like you were able to handle them better than last time," Jonas remarked as he emerged from the shadows about ten feet in front of Kim
She wasn't bothered by Jonas appearing from a distance. If he had been right next to her, she wouldn't have been surprised to attack him out of sheer reflex than from anything else.
"Yeah, but I noticed you helped anyway," Kim remarked, her tone more playful than serious.
She couldn't say why, but she felt herself relaxing more than she had in the past. She couldn't say if it had anything to do with anyone from her team, but rather that trying to dissect it and figure out all the details of why she felt that way, she merely let it wash over her. If nothing else, she welcomed the sensation.
Maybe she was more tired than she realized, but at the moment she didn't care. She was fine with taking it easy for the rest of the night if she could. This battle for her was over. She wouldn't be surprised if she had trouble dealing with a soldier who hadn't finished their training at the moment.
All she really wanted right then was to have Elin in her arms where she could just bask in Elin's scent and warmth.