The shorter of the two headbutted Damien with absolutely no hesitation, he stumbled back. The attacker seemed completely unphased, instead shaking their head.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, you can do better. I was promised a good fight!" The attacker shouted, seeming overjoyed with the current situation.
Damien let out a guttural scream before attacking again, each blow, each strike, was dodged by the white haired person. He knew this wasn't working, he needed to think fast, he closed in on them again, keeping a good distance this time but using his height to his advantage.
He swooped his leg under the white haired person, making them topple for a moment, before he tried to strike with his copper pipe once more, but again they blocked with their spear.
"Now this, this is the shit I was talking about," The white haired person smirked as they spoke, they were enjoying this far too much.
"You're fucking crazy!" Damien shouted back.
The other person didn't bother with a response, instead launching another attack, aiming for his shoulder they striked with the tip of the spear. Damien barely dodged, leaving him with a nasty gash across his arm.
He studded his opponent carefully, looking for blind spots, there was one, the left side of their waist had an opening. Just between the end of the spear and their arm, it was small, but just big enough to swing his copper pipe into.
He closed the distance between them once more, immediately swinging for this blind spot, but at the same time as he swung, the other person launched another headbutt. Their attacks hitting each other at the same time, both of them stumbled back.
But Damien didn't have the time to stumble, he had to attack again, so he did, this time kicking the spear out of the attacker's hands. It flew across the grass, just out of reach. If they tried to run for it, they'd leave themself completely open.
Damien was hoping they would run but they didn't instead they ran at him, head first, colliding with his chest. He fell straight onto his back, he was done for. He couldn't pull himself up, all the wind had been knocked clean out of him.
Until May threw her frying pan with great accuracy, hitting the white haired person in the side of the head. It wasn't a very powerful throw, but it distracted them long enough for Max to grab Damien.
While the two idiots were fighting, May was looking for an exit, she found one door with an actual handle, and made her plan known to Max.
Once Max got Damien back up on his feet, the three of them ran towards the door, but the white haired person didn't give chase. May thought this was odd, but didn't linger on the thought, they needed to get out, fast. In only a handful of minutes, they had made it outside, it was like the manor itself had kicked them out. Nothing about this place made any sense.
Once outside they settled in a nearby alley to recap what just happened. "Well clearly Jiahao is in there if they're trying to stop us from getting in there." Damien scoffed, but May and Max were more concerned with the two red marks on his forehead.
"Um, Damien, you look like somebody rammed two tiny tree stumps into your forehead…" Max's voice was quiet, scared that pointing this out would annoy Damien.
Damien rolled his eyes, before standing up, and looking at his reflection in a nearby window. He knew he looked bad, his shoulder was bleeding, he had bruises forming, but he thought the whole red marks on his forehead thing was just a prank. But when he saw them for himself his eyes widened.
"What the fuck?"
Beneath the manor, in the dungeon, laid Jiahao, she had heard the commotion a few moments prior, and got up to investigate when the commotion settled. Not wanting to get involved in whatever was going on, but still curious enough to investigate after the fact. Jiahao had an okay understanding of the layout of the manor, she knew how to get to the courtyard, Arden's room, the kitchen, the dining room, Alice's room ,and the dungeon, but otherwise it felt like the manor was constantly changing.
She walked down the hall leading to the courtyard to see Arden walking in, looking worse for wear. They had a few scratches, and were definitely developing some bruises.
"You okay?" Jiahao raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you should see the other guy. I headbutted him so bad my horn stumps left marks on his forehead." Arden chuckled, seeming weirdly happy for once.
"What happened?" Jiahao tried to pry for more information.
"Nothing much, a group of people broke in, Alice is asleep so I've gotta take care of it. Stupid ginger put up a good fucking fight though." Arden was smiling…? Jiahao couldn't believe her eyes, sure she had only known Arden for a few days, but smiling? This was extremely odd.
"Ginger?" Jiahao's tone was clearly questioning, but Arden didn't elaborate.
"I'm heading to take a bath, so stop bugging me, okay?" Even the way they shooed Jiahao away was a bit more chipper than usual.
Jiahao knew Alice was sleeping, but she had questions, and she was getting fed up. Constantly getting the run around with these people, never a straight answer.
She stormed into Alice's room, to her surprise Alice was wide awake, sitting at her vanity table.
"Did the commotion wake you?" Alice asked with no clear tone, it was a weirdly blunt question.
"Yeah, but I came here to ask you some questions." Jiahao remained firm.
"Hmm, very well, but I can't promise I'll answer them." Alice chuckled, before standing up, and moving over to the large window in her room. The windowsill itself was covered in cushions, turning it into a comfy bench of sorts. But the curtains were closed, ruining the atmosphere. She motioned for Jiahao to sit alongside her on the bench, and she did.
She plopped down with a sigh, and began her questioning. "Why is the manor so difficult to get out of?"
"Well, aren't you brave? Diving straight into the more serious questions." Alice chuckled before gently tapping her slender fingers against her porcelain check.
"I'll tell you this, it's an illusion, with a handful of clever traps here, and there." Jiahao wanted to press this, but she knew Alice wouldn't answer. She just smiled sweetly at Jiahao, and waited for the next question.
"Who did Arden fight?" Jiahao's tone turned more serious.
"I'm not sure." Alice chuckled, she made no effort to hide the fact that she was lying.
"My turn," Alice smirked, "Where are you from?" Alice's question was genuine, but it caught Jiahao off guard. She wasn't expecting Alice to ask something personal.
"I don't know, I grew up in this town at the local orphanage." Jiahao kept her response short, she had more questions, but before she could ask them Alice asked another.
"What's an orphanage like?" She seemed genuinely curious, like she wanted to learn about Jiahao.
"Bad. It's a bunch of parent-less kids being raised by nuns." Jiahao sighed, she hated thinking about the orphanage.
"Ah, so it's like where Arden came from." Alice looked as though this correlation made something click in her brain. Jiahao raised an eyebrow, and Alice decided to elaborate without being prompted.
"A breeding, and raising plant. It's where Arden's kind are bred, and the best of the offspring are selected to be raised, and then sold to the highest bidder." Alice spoke of this system so casually it made a chill run down Jiahao's spine.
"I guess, but not really…" She responded, not even sure how to tackle this subject. Sure, Arden was part goat, but they were mostly human. A breeding and raising plant just sounded cruel.
"Oh, I have another question, what is tea?" Alice tilted her head when she spoke, seeming really interested in whatever Jiahao's response would be.
"It's a drink, made from dried tea leaves, can I ask why you're asking?" Jiahao came here for answers to her questions, but now she was the one being interviewed.
"Arden said humans make it with leaves, and that some of the plants in the courtyard might be able to be turned into tea. I found the concept of drinking plants to be intriguing." Alice explained, her smile never wavering. Jiahao finally thought this was her chance to ask another question of her own, but alas it wasn't.
"Also, why did you come to the manor to begin with?" Alice's smile faltered slightly.
Jiahao sighed, "We thought it was abandoned, we were going to steal some stuff, and sell it for food money."
She felt ashamed admitting this out loud, but Alice didn't press the issue any further, instead moving onto a different question.
"Why fight back against me instead of running?"
Jiahao paused to think, "I don't know, instinct?" She was even unsure of her answer.
Alice giggled, "You're so interesting, too bad you have a very dedicated little family looking for you, or else I'd make you my bride," She giggled once more before continuing, "Joking, of course."
Jiahao didn't laugh, instead focusing on the way Alice's eyes watched her. She felt that maybe, there was more truth to that statement than either of them wanted to admit.