(36.2) Bleed
Aki limbos back even before the Gift guides her, avoiding a drilling tail stab aimed at her head by such a wide margin as it shatters the ground and sprays rubble everywhere.
With the ground destroyed, overactive dodges, and her vision blurring again, Aki loses her footing and falls behind a broken wall, luckily blocking Fremont from seeing her as the dust settles.
"My reflexes are getting in the way of my powers." Aki squeezes a hand over her eyes, trying to shake away the numerous windows that invade her vision.
The minor lightheadedness from having forcibly acquired magic earlier is starting to blur her vision.
Making matters worse, in the corner of her vision is a red minimised window that vibrates every half second and is growing exponentially larger, obscuring ⅕ of her vision now.
Murmurs and mutterings echoing through her bones also call for her to summon the Dominator's Flame and wield it properly.
She squeezes her head in pain.
"Just stop!"
"Allow me, poppet."
Fremont whips through the rubble, slamming Aki in the side with a heavy blow.
The sound is closer to a dull explosion as her body bends at a sharp angle from the impact.
Aki's passive defences break and her eyes widen from the blow, creating a miniature shockwave as she rockets into a distant wall. The impact shakes the stones, cratering her into the wall.
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Aki Title: Witch
LE: 62/72 HP: 170/290
MP: 289/390
SP: 47/65
[Stunned: 25% to be Knocked Out within 90 seconds]
[Blood loss: MP, SP, and HP recovery reduced by 25%]
[Blurred Vision: Temporary effect. If not healed, eyes will permanently worsen]
More: ⟲
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"That hit my LE directly even though I still have HP?" Aki gasps for air, struggling to breathe and struggling to see. "But how? It wasn't a special attack, was it?"
Aki spins her pendulum, but the daze from Fremont's attack is exacerbated by the stabbing pain shooting up her body.
Something wet sticks to her thighs.
Blood, she realises.
"Did he nick something important?" Aki scrambles back trying to gain distance and look for injuries.
She freezes; partly from pain, partly from realisation.
It was only recently that she had returned to a healthy level but even then, survival dominated her mind to such a degree, she had forgotten her monthly misfortune.
There could be no worse timing for her body to work again to this level.
Fremont retakes his humanoid shape and stands over her with a taunting expression. His arm forms into the claws of a mole he clacks together threateningly.
"I think I'll dig your brain out through your eye socket. What do you think, acolyte?"
He clacks the claws together once more and strikes…
CLANG!
Only to be deflected by a shield gauntlet worn by a very large man in what looks like gladiatorial garb.
The recoil makes Fremont stagger back, right into an awaiting blade that slices Fremont's claws to pieces.
"GRAAAAGGH!!"
Fremont shifts rapidly, lashing out at his surroundings to create some space between himself and the new attackers.
"I heard there was a shifter in the back alleys recently." A sweet voice rings clearly from behind Aki. "But it's actually a changeling? That's rare!"
"You!" Fremont growls, glaring at the gladiator then at the speaker and freezes. "No…."
Looking back, Aki sees a young woman with long braided twintails and wearing a dark dress decorated by two white doves steps over the rubble. She stops at the top to look down at the scene with a good vantage point.
The gladiator steps to this woman's right side and a rabbit narithe with a colourful, light outfit appears on the left, spinning her twinblade threateningly.
Fremont shifts rapidly, destroying the immediate environment before any more actions can be taken against him, and obscures himself with clouds of dust and rubble.
"Served by an abe-vian arena fighter and a narithe blade dancer… you're the Hawk Troupe's boss. Thousand Faces, Neha."
"Wo-wow," The serious demeanour the one called Neha has immediately falls as she gets flustered and waves her hands frantically. "That's a bit excessive, right? I mean, where'd a title like that even come from? It's really embarrassing!"
Meanwhile, her allies approach the dust cloud.
"Reaver take you and your luck, acolyte." With a whoosh, Fremont's presence vanishes, leaving the four alone in the alley.
The arena fighter swipes the dust away with a wave of his arm but there's nothing to see aside from the busted brick wall and street. Mana from a broken enchantment placed on the bricks leaks faintly into the air, obscuring whatever trace Fremont might have left.
"That didn't go the way that I pictured. " Aki squeezes her eyes shut, the incessant demands of the red window beating in time with the stabbing pain in her lower abdomen.
"Goodness, I couldn't even say anything." Neha has regained her composure now and inspects the scene with a curious look.
Her chartreuse eyes flash as she glances down at Aki.
"Oh my! You're bleeding! Where –?" Neha stoops down to check Aki for injuries upon noticing bloodstains on her legs but stops in realisation.
"I, urgh." Without any sort of adrenaline driving her urgency anymore, the dull pains she was already feeling get amplified.
"Sylus, carry her. Mala, let me borrow your vest for a while. Let's get back quickly."
The arena fighter and blade dancer quickly carry out their respective orders and the next thing Aki knows, she has her arms wrapped around the arena fighter Sylus' broad shoulders and leaning side-saddled against his firmly defined back.
Meanwhile, Neha has adjusted Aki's cloak in a way to block her lower body from view by any angle and the blade dancer Mala pushes a colourful and warm bundle into Aki's arms, instructing her to hold it tightly against her body.
"Oh, uh, thank you? But I got separated from a friend and was supposed to meet up with him." Aki manages to say while being ushered along on top of Sylus and his chiseled bare back.
"Also, uh, I don't know you guys but Hawk Troupe doesn't… uhm, inspire trust."
Neha pokes and prods at Aki while they make their way through the backstreets, heading to whatever unknown destination.
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Aki Title: Witch
LE: 62/72 HP: 150/290
MP: 289/390
SP: 47/65
[Blood loss: MP, SP, and HP recovery reduced by 25%]
[Blurred Vision: Temporary effect. If not healed, eyes will permanently worsen]
[Cycle: Applied temporary status effect Volatile]
[Volatile: Random chance to trigger mana surge or self-damage to Status]
More: ⟲
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"I promise we mean no harm, but the streets here aren't safe – especially right now – and you're in no good condition to be going around on your own." Neha explains quickly but gently.
"They did help me but… just to be safe. Sorry."
Aki represses the shine of her mana and focuses her swimming vision on Neha.
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[Gift Activated: Empath]
[Crown Ability: Eyes of the Heart Lv. 0]
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Neha's emotions are true and soft, almost tangibly sweet, that Aki's certain even without the effects of the Crown Ability letting her see the light of the soul, Neha would be glowing.
There is a light scattering of freckles on her smooth, sunkissed skin. Her eyes shine like a pair of beautiful jewels so mesmerizing it's like they suck in any who gaze into them. Her button nose and chin shaped to perfection above anything even magic could ever hope to attain; and the corners of Neha's lips shyly rising into dazzling smile punctuated by the reddening of her cheeks.
If any person could look at features like hers and not immediately be completely captivated, there could only be something missing in their head.
Of course; Aki too would have fallen, especially with the bonus bokeh glow from her gifts, had she not already seen one other person with this level of unreachable beauty.
"Uhm, you're staring awfully hard at me." Neha nervously tugs at her hair. "Oh no, did I overstep, did we overstep? I'm sorry, I thought you were in need of help and just stepped in."
Aki bites her tongue to shake herself out of the trance. "No! It's okay. Just, an I ask where we're going, exactly?"
"Oh!" Neha chuckles.
She turns down a short alley and stops in front of a plain brick wall.
"The Hawk Troupe's hideout! Promise you'll keep it secret, kay?" Neha puts a finger to her smiling lips and winks.
Behind her, the brick wall ripples away, transforming into a swirling pool similar to the portal entry of the Space Gates.
***
Even during the day, the only natural light that reaches the inhabitants of Deika's multilayered undercity – from the dual seaports up to the massive walls of the surface city – are the thin rays of sunlight that manage to break through the thick, obscuring fog that gives the city its name.
One solace, however, is that the further one steps away from the cold, misty air into the damp, cold underground air is the greater visibility granted by artificial light both magical and technical.
Though even that is in short order since the underground appears to swallow most of the light.
Any stranger would be in awe of the environment, be they otherworlder or native. Either way, it would paint them an easy target for criminal activity.
"Where are you Aki? And where are the Old Guard? The city should be full of them."
In a side alley, just off a busy street on a lower level, Dent holds up a mantis demisect mugger by the neck and stands on the unconscious bodies of twelve other muggers of various races
Their shattered weapons lay scattered around.
"I-I-I-I dun know, brother. I dun know no Ahi!"
"Did I ask you a question?" Dent squeezes the mugger's throat, slowly crushing his esophagus. "I'm already frustrated for reasons I can't pinpoint. Do not shorten my temper, mantis."
"Wait, wait!" The mugger chokes out. "I saw Old Guard! I saw them!"
"That so?" Dent squeezes harder. "But I'm not looking for just any Old Guard. I'm looking for something… particular."
"Ah, ah, AH!" The mugger nods vehemently. "Ah– Hunter! Red cloak!
Dent slackens his grip on the mugger's throat, letting him fall to his knees.
The mantis mugger gasps loudly, sucking in air with desperate and aggressive breaths.
"Corner bar a block right below us. Open air. The red cloak of the Hunters and a big tiger narithe made it a spectacle. Can't miss it."
Dent nods and turns away, glad he has at least one lead to his search.
"Naive."
The mantis lunges the moment his head clears, unfurling the scythes on his arms in a flash.
… And promptly, the 2.5 metre tall demisect is sliced to ribbons. Every drop of blood and entrails are neatly redirected away from the alley opening and Dent himself, leaving the mess to fall only on the muggers.
Dent wipes the bloodless blade clean along his arm and sheathes it as he leaves.
"They never choose to run."