"Where did they come from?" Maria asked, terrified as she loaded an arrow into her bow and the prisoners started walking towards them, and both her and Xavier backed away slowly.
"They have been following us a while after we entered the south side." Xavier said and Maria looked at him in shock. Xavier had heard the sound of a twig being snapped a bit after they entered this side of the forest. At first, he thought it might have been a wolf, but he thought it was nothing after they didn't attack for a while. But, after walking for fifteen minutes, he was sure that something, or more precisely someone, was following them. He didn't attack because he had no idea how many their were or what their intention was....and he was still not as open to the idea of killing people as Mickey was.
'I wish Mickey was here. This would have been far easier.' Xavier thought as the woman grinned at him. They were all armed with swords, but they looked a bit different from the ordinary copper weapon, for one, they were of a darker red.
"Maria get out of here." Xavier said
"But-" Maria tried to protest, but Xavier shut her down with a look.
"You are not good at close combat and I can't protect you and fight these guys. So go." He said, and she nodded her head sadly, before rushing into the forest.
"Let her go, we can take care of her later. Something tells me we are gonna need everything to take care of this guy." The woman said, stopping one of the men from rushing after Maria.
"You overestimate me, I'm not that strong. Besides as you said I'm pretty exhausted of both stamina and points. You won't get anything for killing me." Xavier said and the woman chuckled. He had guessed that the points the person had before they are killed, are transferred to their killer after death.
"I'd beg to differ. We killed quite a number of prisoners, and a few of them used up their points like you to buy weapons or increase their atrributes, but we still got a few points from them. I'm not sure about the reason, and I don't really care either." The woman said and Xavier gritted his teeth.
'Stigma Window, what determines the amount of points we get from killing a member of our own species?' Xavier asked
"Points are awarded to the slayer of their own species based on the amount of points the victim has, plus the amount they invested in their attributes."
'Fuck.' Xavier thought, and dismissed the Stigma Window, as the second woman in the group lunged at him. She was fast, not as fast as he was on a full tank, but almost as fast as him in his exhausted state. Xavier blocked the sword strike with his daggers and filled the air as the weapons rubbed against each other and he was pushed back. Two of the men came rushing towards him from the side, swinging their swords, forcing him to jump back. The third man in the group appeared behind him, and he ducked under the blade and performed a sweeping kick that caused him to fall to the ground. The first woman came flying from the air, with an overhead swing, and he quickly rolled out of the way, where the other woman was waiting. He was forced to block another strike, and he was sent rolling across the ground.
'I guess we're going old school.' Xavier said with a glint in his eyes as his dagger was cut in two, making them useless. The two men came running in again, and Xavier ducked under the first ones blade and quickly blocked with his hands as the second one kicked him.
"Argh." Xavier grunted as the kick packed quite a bit of power. He was sent sliding across the ground, getting covered in blood, and he quickly rolled again as the third man came in with an overhead swing. He was barely on his feet when the second woman ran towards him again, but this time, he was ready for her. He spun around, splashing droplets of blood in her eyes, causing her to scream and blind her temporarily. Xavier caught her sword hand under his arm and elbowed her twice in the face, causing her to stagger, and he grabbed her arm, and pulled it forward into the trajectory of the blade of one of the men.
"ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH." The woman screamed in pain, as her arm was severed and all of their eyes widened in shock. Xavier hurriedly kicked the man in the chin, and put some space between him and his assailants. He was exhausted, his entire body ached and the only thing keeping him moving was adrenalin.
'My future is looking pretty bleak, but then again, when has it hadn't.' Xavuer thought with a chuckle
"Darla!! You bastard!!" The other woman said, as she tried to stop her friend's bleeding stump of a hand to no avail.
"Still think it was worth attacking me." Xavier said, and they all glared at him angrily. The three men ran towards him, and as Xavier prepared to fight them, an arrow came flying through the air, piercing through one of the men's chest, forcing all of them to stop, and Xavier to smile.