The atmosphere inside the loot cellar had become solid, almost tactile. Elsa Granhiert didn't just walk; she glided through space as if the laws of friction didn't apply to her. Her presence was a real threat in an environment that, until a moment ago, I thought I had under control.
"What eyes full of life," Elsa murmured, her voice caressing the air with a sensuality that triggered all my internal alarms. "I wonder if your insides will be just as vibrant."
[Hostility Detection: Maximum Alert Level]
In my vision, the world didn't fill with code, but with a frigid clarity. My new skill didn't tell me what to do, but it gave me the exact location of the epicenter of danger. Elsa wasn't a fighter; she was a force of nature.
"Emilia, move to the left. Now!" my voice cut the air like a whip.
There was no time for explanations. Elsa lunged. It wasn't a run; it was a blink. One of her curved blades traced an arc of silver toward Emilia's neck. Thanks to my warning and her own instincts, the half-elf managed to leafy an instantaneous ice wall. The sound of steel clashing against magic crystal echoed throughout the warehouse, releasing a blast of frigid air.
"Oh, what lovely reflexes," Elsa laughed, backing away with an impossible pirouette as her cloak fluttered like raven wings.
I positioned myself between Felt and the secondary exit, my body vibrating with an adrenaline my mind tried to dominate. My senses were working at full power; I felt every muscle, every tendon, ready for an explosive response. My experience had taught me to read body language, but this was on another level. Elsa didn't have obvious openings; she was a perfect sequence of movements.
"Old Man Rom, we need firepower, not negotiations," I said, without taking my eyes off the assassin.
The giant didn't need more. He roared, swinging his huge club at Elsa with a force that would have pulverized any normal human. The impact against the ground made the shelves tremble, kicking up a cloud of dust and splinters. But Elsa was no longer there. She was in the air, spinning on herself, her blades seeking vital points.
"Felt, get out of here!" Rom shouted, his voice turbulent.
"I can't leave you like this!" the girl replied, her hand clutching the insignia with desperation.
"If you die, the insignia is worth nothing," I intervened, measuring our chances. "Felt, run. Emilia and I will buy time."
Emilia didn't waste a second. She launched a flurry of ice stakes that Elsa deflected with a speed that defied physics. The assassin moved with a fluidity that made the combat look like a macabre dance. Every time Emilia launched an attack, Elsa used it as momentum to get one step closer.
My [Hostility Detection] vibrated violently. Behind me.
I pivoted on my axis, feeling the air sliced by a blade that passed millimeters from my stomach. Elsa had moved so fast that my eye could barely register the transition. I didn't try to hit her; I knew it would be useless. Instead, I used my weight to ram her, looking for a full-body impact that would break her rhythm.
The clash was like hitting a steel wall covered in silk. Elsa stumbled just enough for Emilia to launch a circle of frost under her feet.
"Interesting," Elsa looked directly at me, a spark of genuine curiosity in her dark violet eyes. "You have no magic, nor a worthy weapon... but your movements... they are curiously efficient. As if you knew where I was going to be before I did."
"It's called observation, Elsa. Something you forget when you're too busy admiring the blood," I replied, my breathing becoming heavy.
The combat continued for several minutes that felt like hours. Rom tried to strike with his club, but Elsa used it as an obstacle to cover herself from Emilia's attacks. I moved on the periphery, intervening only when the assassin was about to land a lethal blow. I used the environment: boxes, beams, anything to alter her trajectory.
But exhaustion was beginning to take its toll. My Subaru body, though strengthened, didn't have the infinite stamina of a supernatural being like Elsa. My muscles burned and my reflexes, though sharp thanks to the passive skill, were beginning to slow down by critical milliseconds.
"You're running out of time, my dears," Elsa paused for a moment, her tongue running across the edge of her blade, now stained with a thread of Rom's blood. "Your resistance has been... refreshing. But I've already grown tired of the game."
She crouched, accumulating an energy that made the shadows around her writhe. It was her final technique. My [Hostility Detection] didn't just alert; it collapsed. Danger was everywhere.
"Emilia, create a total shield! No—!"
It was too late. Elsa became a black blur. Rom was the first to fall; a deep cut on his leg forced him to kneel. Then she went for Emilia. The ice shield fragmented like glass under a hydraulic press.
I lunged forward, not out of heroism, but because I needed her to make it out of this alive. I felt the cold of the steel enter my shoulder, a sharp pain that tried to shut down my brain. But I didn't stop. I grabbed Elsa's arm with a strength born of desperation, allowing Emilia to launch a final and desperate attack that pushed the assassin back.
Silence returned to the warehouse, broken only by our ragged breathing and the drip of blood onto the wood. Elsa was still standing, barely disheveled, though her cloak was torn in several places by Emilia's ice. We, on the other hand, were on the brink of collapse.
"You've saved her life in exchange for your shoulder," Elsa smiled at me, a predator's satisfied smile. "A fair exchange. But tell me, Subaru... how much more can you offer before you're empty?"
I looked at my arm, which hung inert at my side. Blood soaked my tracksuit jacket. But my mind, thanks to that strange connection with the System and my analytical nature, stayed cold.
[Soul Essence: 20][Critical Status: Hemorrhage Detected]
"I still have enough strength for one last effort," I murmured to myself, as Emilia approached me, her face pale with terror and gratitude.
Elsa prepared for the final blow. But at that moment, a new presence was felt at the warehouse door. It wasn't hostile, at least not to us. It was something pure, something that made Elsa frown for the first time all night.
A moonbeam entered through the hole in the ceiling, illuminating a figure I knew well. The knight of knights. Reinhard van Astrea.
"It seems I have arrived just in time to avoid a tragedy," said the crimson-haired young man, his hand resting with total calm on the hilt of his sword.
Elsa let out a low laugh, a mixture of excitement and frustration.
"The Sword Saint... The night becomes more delicious by the moment."
I let myself fall against a pile of boxes, feeling the world begin to spin. We had survived. Not by luck, nor by fate, but by my own sheer stubbornness and a bit of divine help.
I looked at Emilia. She was safe. The first major hurdle had been cleared, but the scars on my shoulder and Elsa's gaze before retreating reminded me that this was only the warm-up.
"Subaru..." Emilia's voice was the last thing I heard before exhaustion claimed me. "Thank you."
I closed my eyes with a small smile. I had saved Emilia on the first attempt. The future, for once, seemed to be in my hands.