Astoria
"Take this, this, and this," I say as I give my bow, black cylinder, and bag to the bard. He said he still had to come along to guide us to where Kioi is, and since he's just a bard with nothing but a crossbow with him, I gave him my luggage to make it easier for me to fight.
Above the walls is the man in black iron, Casteu. He clears his throat and speaks. "It is that time again for Kioi and his hundred thousand army to attack Bellken once again, but like before, we won't let him do that. For so many of our attempts, we have slowly whittled down his army, and tonight, we finally have a shot at fighting Kioi himself–"
I ignore his usual speech and think to myself, "A hundred thousand...a hundred thousand people were willing to support Kioi and his idea of purging all half-breeds? This world barely has any pure breeds anymore, which means he's practically going to war with the entire world."
"Astoria?" My line of thought was cut off by Freya. "If you don't mind me asking, but why did you ask me to be with you for this fight?" Although ever so slightly, the corners of her mouth quiver. I look up slightly and look at her eyes, only for her to be looking somewhere else. Her eyebrows contract a bit, and she attempts to keep it casual, but it is in vain.
My answer was obvious and simple yet, my gut is telling me to be careful with my words. Before she can open her mouth to presumedly dismiss the question I open my mouth first and spoke, "My mercenary instincts, of course!" I smile. It felt pathetic to smile so wholesomely at her when I could just smile cockily like usual.
"In an era where all pre-void millennia information is gone, your gut is the only thing you can reliably trust." That's why...I smile like this for her, a total stranger who's asking for a meaningful answer. Freya tilts her head slightly, her mouth agape from how fast I responded. "Eh?"
I elaborate my simple reasons as casually as I can. "Paladins tend to go out for religious missions like this one, right? Considering I didn't see you with anyone, that must mean you still don't have a party, so I figured that when you eventually need a party to go with you, my name would be at the top of your list." I reduce my smile to a usual cocky one. "So, don't forget my name, alright? Astoria. A-s-t-o-r-i-a."
I turn my back on her. She smiles slightly and laughs slightly. "I heard you mercenaries were conniving rats willing to do anything for money, guess I'm lucky to have meet you first, huh?" I turn my head and meet her eyes, this time, she meets my gaze. "Heh, right you are Freya." I smile again.
"The following names will accompany me in killing Kioi: Astoria! Freya! Cynthia! Kin! And Alcor!" I focus as I hear my name and see Casteu staring at us. I kind of figured that I'll be fighting Kioi since I joined up with Freya, but to think he himself would know me by name left my stomach with a weird aching yet prideful feeling.
No one objected. Just as Freya said, we are all rats and we would rather fight his army, steal their steel, and sell them to the nearest blacksmith rather than fighting and dying to Kioi. I would be doing the same if I didn't care about killing Kioi.
"Damn, he knows me by name?" Another smile appeared in my face. "Apparently, he knows everyone worth their salt or something. I only heard it from the guards that accompanied me." Freya responded. I look back up to the wall and before Casteu could continue his speech a loud horn resounded. He sighs, "Finally." He goes over the parapet and loudly shouts as the gate opens the soldiers atop the wall draw their bows.
"I don't expect you mercenaries to exactly follow my orders, so I only have two simple orders. One, no goddamn fire, unless you want the druids to wake up the sleeping mountain and crush this city into dust. And two–" He smiles and jumps off; a spell clearly went off, and he lands in front of the opening gate without even an impact. He draws his large greatsword and points it forward as rumbling sounds echo throughout the forest. "–IS TO SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" He shouts, and a volley of arrows flies through the air, hurting the initial wave. Every single mercenary charges out of the city and into the forest, passing Casteu.
"We're following the river, let's go!" He shouts at us. I look back to see Alcor, Kin, and Cythia, who also stayed behind. Kin drags a horse with a saddle bag on each side with his left hand as the party passes us. We follow them and go outside the gate, and the men speak with each other. The bard, appearing to join, surprises Casteu.
Cynthia approaches us. "Astoria, dear, if you can, count your kills; it'll be a shame if you miss out on the free steel from Kioi's army." She doesn't elaborate, as Kin, already riding the horse, helps Cynthia up to the horse.
"Soldiers, ready yourself for the initial siege! Mercenaries cut a path for us at the river!" With one final order, he turns to us. "Let's go. The bard says that there's someone else already fighting Kioi, some noble-looking kid." With a brief statement, I could already guess who it was.
And then, even with a large sword and heavy armor, and runs towards the river and upstream quickly. Alcor breathes in a lot of air, in response, his body grows in size then he runs towards the river as well.
"See ya," Cynthia says to us as Kin lightly kicks the horse, making the horse run towards the river as well. All that's left was me, Freya, and the bard. I take three throwing knives and place them between the fingers of my right hand, and then, I hold a curved dagger with my left hand. I turn to the bard. "Don't lose my things or I'll hunt you down," I say to him.
Freya looks at her staff and hardens her grip. She nods at me with a determined face. "Alright, let's go then." Under my breath, I cast ᎶᏬᏕᏖ, and my body becomes lighter before finally running towards the river as well.
Himura Satō
A large green flame emerges from the commander's weapon which could be seen in the sky. With my right leg extended back to dodge the attack, my gut ached for a moment as this position left in quite defenseless spot.
Through my peripheral vision, I can see trees cut in half, their other half either barely hanging on their roots or lying on the ground. Burn marks could be seen around where the cut was made. I focus closely on the commander's weapon.
Before, it was just a simple greatsword, but now it changed into a long crescent moon-shaped blade, a shotel was its closest resemblance. I jump back then dash back diagonally to the right then once more to left, putting another tree between us.
He reacts quickly and thrusts his weapon towards my face. Its curved blade practically went around the tree, and I pull my head back and narrowly dodge the stab. He dematerializes his curved dagger and with his off-hand, he holds the handle, and a green flame emerges, causing me to almost fall trying to back away from the flame.
Before even a second passes, the commander swings his arms to the left horizontally, slashing the tree between us and two more trees to his left. As the trees fall, that makes it the thirteenth attempt. Clearly, getting his weapon caught so I could attack doesn't work, and that green flame of his can be used without any drawback.
I scan the commander's rugged face. It's rough and dirty yet firm. His eyes stare at me intently, and nothing else. It had conviction, I could see it, and so my teeth, without me even noticing them, began to clench. His level of aggression has not changed, and he always lets me recover and regain my stance.
Because of that, neither of us has gotten hit yet. For a man whose eyes tell me that he will stop at nothing to do what needs to be done, whatever that may be, "You're still holding back!?" was the conclusion I reached, my teeth clenched slightly harder at that.
He could've ended me long ago, and yet his moves are still calculated and cautious. My hands clench harder. Both my sword and gauntlet were starting to show damage, and eventually they will break. "I can't keep parrying and dodging when I don't even get to slash him in return."
I pull my sword to my side and enter a stance before dashing towards him. His off-hand lets go of the handle, and the curved dagger rematerializes. Meanwhile, his main hand rises diagonally and attempts to slash me with his weapon.
I raise my sword and block. Before it could do anything, I immediately raised my sword, getting his caught weapon by the guard, and I raise it just past my head and onto my right side. His curved dagger is already approaching my side but before his left hand moved, I maneuver my sword around his weapon and I slash at his exposed neck.
His left arm shot towards his neck, the curved dagger turns into dust and became solid again but this time, into a flat ingot-shaped steel which wrapped around his leather gauntlet, absorbing my attack. He spins his weapon around and attempts to attack me again, this time fully extending his arm.
My heart beats hard as I dash forward, crashing my shoulders into his chest, and instead of a sharp blade, his arm was the one that hit my shoulder. I put my left foot back and aim for his neck again, but he materializes his curved dagger again and parries it, and jumps back. "Finally, some goddamn progress." There was a hint of pride and satisfaction with that thought. He looks beyond me, and his weapon changes into a gigantic zweihander. So gigantic in fact that he wasn't even holding by the handle, but at the blade itself.
I hear gibberish behind, but I couldn't let my eyes off him. At that moment, there was a feeling in my back. At a part of my spine just above my ribs to be precise. This time I didn't let instinct take over me and this time, I voluntarily turn my body to the side which caused the feeling to disappear.
At the same moment, an arrow flies past me, and the commander blocks it with his gigantic zweihander. I look back to see some familiar and unfamiliar faces. I look at the knife-eared woman and nod to her before looking back at the commander.
No words were needed to be exchanged; we all knew that. The commander scoffs and lights his weapon with his green flame. He finally stops holding back. And at that moment, my teeth clenched slightly. Of course it would, my battle with him stopped mattering when they arrived,
It's only with them that I actually have a chance to kill him. "Because I was too weak..." That thought makes me want to scream in hatred, but I suppress it; too much emotion makes it harder to think properly. I breathe out almost dramatically. "Whatever, just get through this." And with that, we all dash towards him.