"You are one sly fucking minx, you know that?"
Clicking my tongue and cracking my neck, I raised a brow at Erdene as she leapt back as well, the minx sneering at me as she tightened her grip on both of her new daggers; she had come from practically nowhere and tried to stab me in the neck, so obviously I was less than pleased...
"You won't catch me off guard this time, Rhefia."
The way she spat my name made me smirk at her, earning myself a growl and the slightest movement as she barely managed to hold herself back from throwing herself at me in 'retaliation', proving to me that she was just as bad at controlling herself as Altan.
By the skin of their teeth they were both just barely able to hold back from doing something stupid, so I think I was more than capable of just egging them on until they make a big enough mistake for me to capitalize on... though until that happens I was left in a bit of limbo.
"I didn't really catch you off guard now did I? It was Aethisia back there... y'know, the weaker, less experienced and not as handsome Deerkin. You fought against her and lost, I just made sure you didn't do something stupid..."
Grinding her teeth and clenching her fists around her blades until her knuckles went paper white, Erdene seemed quite pissed over the facts I presented to her, and as such Altan growled "Erdene, go help the other weaklings... you'll just get in my way..."
"But Altan, I-!"
"GO!"
The snarl and glare from her leader sent a shock through the minx as she looked between me and her a few times, until eventually she reluctantly skirted around me and went for Aethisia, securing herself a rematch against the one who quite enjoyed her throat...
"You are... irritating."
"Many people tell me that~! I just speak my mind and am unapologetically me, so... sorry not sorry. Now, how'd you like the feeling of my spear inside of you~? Did it hurt or are you used to getting penetrated by sharp, strong things~?"
The Bearkin let out a low growl at that, glaring at me with some hatred now as she just rolled out her shoulders and tried to stop her arms from trembling thanks to the attack she had blocked; I took her silence to mean that she was perhaps accustomed to it a little, and as such I prepared myself another innuendo only to have to sadly shelve it for now.
Dashing to the side and avoiding a dual hammer strike, I felt the vibrations from her attack travel up my legs even though I was a few feet away, and the sheer power within them was still just so horrifying...
Just because the hammers were cratered in the ground didn't mean she was open to another attack though, something she displayed quite well as she spun herself around and started spinning, those hammers forming a wall of flaming metal that was just impervious to strikes.
Obviously though I just needed to stay out of reach and wait her out, but before I could just feel good about myself and look down at her for such a novice technique, the flames began to grow as she spun faster and faster, wreathing her in fire and making her an actual threat now...
~~~
Aethisia PoV
Batting aside a longsword and steeling myself yet again, I whacked the butt of my spear into the ribs of the mercenary before slamming the butt upwards into their skull, shattering it and causing them to crumple to the ground as bits of pink oozed onto the ground.
Yet another life cut short because of this, yet I had no time to think on it as another mercenary rushed at me, screaming and trying to skewer me with their own spear, all while another mercenary attempted to creep up behind me and plunge a sword into my back.
Spinning my spear around and slicing open the other spear wielders throat, I got rid of the first threat and bought myself the second I needed to spin around and slash the other's stomach, catching them before they got too close.
A single movement and I ended two lives... but again I had no time at all, though this time the threat was very real as I felt something coming towards me quite quickly; a tingling on my side warned me of where I was in danger from, so I rolled away and barely managed to dodge the twin daggers of the woman I had just recently been using to drain my balls.
Her eyes were alight with a myriad of emotions as she glared at me, those blades already wrapped in a gale that promised only pain as she gave me that second to prepare myself, making sure I saw her before she 'disappeared' again.
Flooding my veins with Lightning Mana, I felt that tingling all over before it sharpened itself on the small of my back, so I took a few steps forwards and spun around, sweeping my spear across the area I had just occupied.
Barely avoiding the retaliatory swing, Erdene snarled at me and redoubled her efforts as she rushed me straight from the front, fueling the winds around her blades and attempting to cut off the area around me as she sent out sizable, wide arcs that were crashing in on me.
With one blade high and the other low, she was trying to chop me into pieces and cut off as many ways for me to escape as possible, yet as more mana entered my blood I felt everything slow slightly.
That tingling continued to grow, to the point that my entire body hurt while my joints screamed at me in protest when I moved, yet the only other option was severe wounds and or death, so I ignored it for now.
I slipped around the attack and sent the butt of my spear towards her midriff, almost catching her off guard and earning a shocked gasp from Erdene as she barely managed to avoid it; she rushed away and maintained some space between us as she breathed heavily, realizing she had been milliseconds away from being defeated yet again.