We stopped in our tracks when we saw the English-style fortress in front of us. The fortress wasn't grand, but it was richly decorated with vegetation, and in its gardens, the warriors and the son of the fire god were indeed chatting happily.
The boys split up to go clean up the fortress, Doc telling Rexia to stay here. Azumi, Jane, and I prepared for our entrance.
—Please… Let me fight the son of the fire god… I won't kill him to fulfill your plan… But at least allow me to fight him. —Azumi murmured.
-Of course.
We jumped and landed in front of the warriors who quickly positioned themselves and gave us arrogant looks. We didn't need an introduction, nor did we need a chat.
Our attack had begun. The warriors looked different from traditional soldiers, with their swords sheathed on their backs, different medals on their lapels, and their attire different from the traditional ones. Rain was about to pour from the black clouds, yet there was no need to speak. Sharp gazes cut through the threads of voices that didn't yet exist.
Jane as if she were a wolf that had just come out to hunt, pounced with terrifying speed slitting the throats of the warriors in front of her, there I began to understand what a difference in skill meant. Well, it wasn't that they weren't strong, they would have easily defeated several of my soldiers, but they were nothing to Jane, it was my turn but before I looked at Azumi, I nodded, allowing her to attack, I also pounced wielding my katana. although she didn't kill right and left with style like Jane. She dispatched my opponents quickly without major problems. Azumi on the other hand had her prey from the start and didn't wait, she lunged at the son of the fire god quickly, brandishing her Naginata, and with her eyes full of anger they clashed weapons, the roar was heard above all of us.
—You and I have something unsettled, I, Daederos, swear that I will kill you right here. — The son of the fire god was ready for his revenge.
At that, Daederos used his speed and strength imbuing his katana, but this time I stopped him in his tracks, without any kind of pain running through my body, without any kind of repercussions. The blade of my katana had a faint glow from the dragon energy, Daederos's katana went out, in horror he took a few steps back. Just then, Azumi launched herself at him, he tried to cover but couldn't, and was punished with a not very deep cut on his chest. Azumi jumped up to the sky to fall into a dive and I lunged at Daederos, my slash was blocked, but it immediately made him start to tremble.
But I could not continue the siege of Daederos, a warrior rushed towards me to offer his support to his leader, the warrior was skillful, and kept up with me.
Azumi growled like a cat, gritted her teeth tightly, and snapped her naginata, from her back she pulled out naginata blades, which she began to play with her fingers, she took a position on all fours, and at a speed once again terrifying even for my current state, she lunged at Daederos, who quickly counterattacked with a slash, but she had gained much more speed than his katana. She dodged gracefully by passing right under it, and with a naginata blade she cut his shoulder.
But I couldn't keep watching, I had my own fight, the warrior now had reinforcements, I focused the energy on my katana, their confident faces disappeared as soon as they felt the difference in power, at the clash of the blades I stared at them, while now it was me who pounced, without the confidence of before, they were no longer even the shadow of what they had managed to stop me.
However, a piercing noise was heard nearby. I turned my head to see it and stared in horror: Azumi was screaming in pain. A fire arrow was lodged in her left eye, which was bleeding and burning. Daederos swooped in to finish the job, while Azumi remained dazed with pain.
But before they were even close, the growl returned. Azumi lunged at Daederos, the arrow simply vanished, and they clashed weapons once more. Azumi's eye glowed, her tail and ears were glowing, while small electrical threads shot out from them.
I protected Azumi from any warrior who interfered with her fight. Azumi staggered, probably from the pain in her eye, but she didn't stop. Attack after attack, she displayed a combat display that seemed choreographed like a dance; she avoided the strong attacks.
"You destroyed everything that was important to me! You murdered my sister! I just want you dead, you damn bastard!" the cat said, growling and attacking nonstop with the blades of her naginatas, with which she swiped at Daederos' attacks.
He simply managed a smile, a smile that annoyed her even more.
Azumi made small cuts on Daederos's limbs, cuts that slowly accumulated, she was slowly winning, when Daederos dealt her an attack imbued with fire she destroyed him with the blades imbued with what seemed to me to be electrical magic. She stabbed one of the blades in his shoulder but she was careless and Daederos dealt her a strong blow to the cheek, in that brief exchange, I myself trembled, looking perplexed with my eyes wide open, Daederos had recovered a good dueling distance and had pierced his chest with the katana. Not caring about my own opponents, using a prudent amount of magic to get there as quickly as possible, I had left a small crater where I had jumped, clutching my katana.
Azumi could do nothing to deflect the attack, she glared at Daederos in rage, still growling, her magic could be felt in the air, she refused to lose, so she walked forward worsening the cut, with the blades on her knuckles, she delivered one last attack on his cheek, leaving claw-shaped cuts and several threads of blood gushed from them.
She had to stop him from finishing the job. Azumi's chest was impaled on the katana, trickles of blood dripping from the wound. Even with the blade inside her chest, Azumi growled angrily, as if gathering whatever strength she had left.
Daederos aggravated the cut by twisting the katana and kicking Azumi away, causing her to fall backward. I saw out of the corner of my eye as Doc's assistant emerged from her hiding place to administer first aid.
"No! Hide, hide, Rexia!" I shouted loudly.
Adrenaline pumping, I slashed, so focused that my katana glowed blue. Something caught my attention for a brief moment: there was another color, red. The two trails were trying to intertwine to form purple. It was Jane, who had also lunged at Daederos. The trail of our blades glowed beautifully, the red and blue dancing with each other.
The blow was so strong that his sword couldn't hold and broke. In a clean, synchronized cut, we positioned ourselves behind him, seamlessly passing through his knees. We both looked at each other.
—It's... Impossible... How could you... Get stronger... In such a short time... —he asked while writhing and looking at me in horror.
"Because my goal is to kill your father, kid," I replied, and knocked him unconscious with a blow to the back of his head with the handle of the katana.
But before I could react I was attacked from behind, I could barely dodge the attack, I adopted my combat stance, but another heart-rending scream caught my attention, I looked towards Azumi's direction in horror, Rexia was holding a knife in her hand, but her posture was broken by the pain caused by the loss of her left hand.
"You should be more aware of your enemy," said a new warrior, with several eagle medals on her lapel.
My opponent spits at me with disgust at a terrifyingly short distance. I prevented her attack and made a back maneuver, I took the attack position that Jane taught me, my katana was bathed in blue energy and I lunged at that woman, our clash of swords was strong enough to stop the wind that whipped us, her katana could not withstand the blow, the blade broke, she looked at me in horror one last time, in her eyes I felt that she did not want to die, and with all her strength she tried to create a shield with her hands, but it was totally useless, I pierced her heart, a tear came out of her right eye as she looked at me wanting to say a few words, and taking me by the hand that wielded the katana.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked.
But at that moment I didn't want to answer him. Rage dominated me, and I gripped the katana so tightly that my hands burned.
"If you had given up, you would still be alive," I spat out hatefully as I ran to help Rexia.
—Did... you... give... me... the... opportunity... Tuni... Dad? —With his last strength he completed that sentence.
Leave his corpse lying on the ground.
Jane was lost in rage, having avenged the poor girl. With her red katana completely covered in blood, her eyes showing a sadistic look and a terrifying smile on her face, when they realized the danger she posed, they realized her arrogance. The remaining warriors tried to flee, except for the most determined, who approached with a firm stride. Sadly, Jane not only managed to kill the fleeing soldiers who begged for mercy, but she defeated them with terrifying ease.
I knelt down to check on Rexia and Azumi. She'd managed to keep Azumi from bleeding to death, which was a very good thing, but I'd arrived too late. Her heart had stopped beating, and there was a very deep cut in her chest. I closed her eyes with my fingers and let her rest on the ground…
It took me a while to understand what lay before me. My heart ached and pounded so hard I could hear every beat. But this wasn't unfamiliar to me.
Rexia had died. She sacrificed her life to save Azumi. She could have healed first. Still, I think Azumi's life was more important than hers.
The one who had dealt Rexia the fatal blow now begged an enraged Jane, pure hatred reflected in his red eyes. "Please don't kill me! I beg you, please! I have children, I have a wife!" The warrior trembled with fear as he sobbed his heart out.
Jane only deigned to burst out laughing as he made his slash, and I would have killed him if it weren't for the other six decorated warriors; the seventh walked toward me, his gaze bathed in rage. I did the same, preparing for a fight that would be mentally demanding.
—Thank you, my lords!
The poor man tried to flee, but the second he stood up, Jane, displaying skill and dexterity trained over a century, easily slit the throats of the two generals who stood in her way. She slashed the man's abdomen, fatally wounding him. Jane didn't finish him off because she had to answer the other generals rushing toward her, and her response was death.
It wasn't that they were unskilled, it wasn't that they had little magic, it was simply that Jane was superior, she predicted all the movements even before they were made, with the strength and determination of an animal, she began to frighten these decorated warriors.
Then, all my attention was taken by a bloodthirsty Jane. She was left with only two warriors trembling with fear. It was the wolf watching two rabbits, the eagle watching its prey, the hungry dragon watching its dinner.
Unfortunately for them, they had already lost the psychological battle and couldn't react quickly enough. Jane knew they wouldn't be able to do anything to her. Instead of finishing everything quickly, she grabbed one of them by the neck, digging her nails in like claws. I ran to stop her, as both warriors were already begging for mercy.
—Stop, Jane, they begged for mercy.
Jane looks at me sadistically even with the man between her fingers.
"So what?" He snapped her neck with his bare hand. "They showed no mercy, not to Rexia or Azumi, or to any of their victims!" she screamed hysterically.
When she lunged at the poor warrior who had fallen in his terrified flight, it was I who stopped her with my katana.
Fighting her while she was in this state was strange, although it seemed that all her movements were perfect from the outside, her movements were anything but perfect, she was totally gone with rage, and maybe that was why I was able to quickly defeat her and knock her to the ground, with a simple trick, something that Jane normally wouldn't let me do.
He had Jane by the neck on the ground, but like a cornered wolf his rage spiraled out of control.
"If you're going to kill me, do it now!" He tried his best to get out of my grasp.
I brought my face closer to hers, my gaze fixed on her eyes.
— Jane, this will be punished.
Jane, hearing this, surrendered. Her body reacted very quickly; her face had changed to absolute panic, and her entire body was shaking with fear. She had me so scared that I was almost in tears when I let go of her.
—Jane, pull yourself together, we'll talk later!
Jane looked at her bloody katana and then at me, bathed in fear. Now, this didn't make sense, it didn't make any sense at all, she was too unstable.
I approached the trembling decorated warrior, as I did many warriors who had managed to hide from Jane's wrath knelt before me.
—Sir, we will serve you with our lives. Please forgive us, we had no choice.
I whistled, and one of the boys quickly arrived. They had already finished the job.
Doc, seeing the scene, ran towards Azumi and the lifeless body of her assistant. Her blond hair had been stained with her own blood, which now lay spilled on the floor.
His gaze was somber, but he didn't speak; his words had caught in his throat. His emotions pooled in his eyes. The pain slowly building inside his body was suffocating him.
Tech had moved closer as if to comfort him, but Grayson silently stopped him.
I walked over, grabbed his head, and butted my forehead against his.
"Doc, I need you. Look at me, this isn't the time to cry. This is the time to make sure his death isn't in vain," I said.
Doc held onto my arms tightly, small tears welling up in his eyes, but he gave me a look of determination as he regained his composure.
I walked away from him and headed toward the fortress entrance. I didn't know the girl. I've seen so many people die that I simply can't feel a sense of sadness at seeing a stranger die. Even though he was a soldier in my army, all I can do is respect what became of his life and his legacy.
It wasn't a bad idea to have someone help Doc. This mission was supposed to be easy. Azumi's downfall was hers alone, but I'm the leader. I should have done something different; it was my decision that could have saved her life. It was my decision that killed her.
Sorry Doc.