The boom of the cell door being kicked in reverberated through the stone walls, making Leo's right eye flicker like a faulty monitor screen, distorting the two torch-bearing guards into an abstract painting. "Bloody hell..." he muttered under his breath, the damn visual bug still not patched?
A split second later, Ada moved.
No warning, no wind-up. She coalesced from the shadows like solid darkness given form, lunging forward. Her target was clear – the short knife at the left guard's hip. His curse was still forming when she was upon him. No fancy moves. Her right hand found the knife's grip, but her leverage was brutal and precise – she didn't draw the blade. Instead, using her whole body's torque, she slammed the knife, still sheathed, like a hammer, driving the pommel end deep into the soft, unarmored flesh beneath the guard's ribs.
"Urgh—!" The guard's roar choked into a sharp, breathless gasp. His face went sheet-white, body crumpling like a puppet with its strings cut. His halberd clattered uselessly to the floor.
"Christ..." Leo winced, phantom pain lancing his own ribs. "She fights dirty..."
Almost simultaneously, his right eye flared hot. Jagged, flickering text, like brands seared onto his optic nerve, appeared at the edge of his vision:
-> Strike Effective: Diaphragm Trauma.
-> Target: Respiratory Arrest, Balance Compromised.
-> (Note: Target may possess 'Explosive Liver' trait)
"Trait my arse!" Leo cursed internally. The bloody prompts were always timely and utterly useless!
The other guard finally snapped out of his shock. Rage and fear twisted his features as he roared, swinging his halberd in a wide, whistling arc towards Ada.
"Right! Big one! Sweeping!" Leo yelled, his voice cracking with fear.
Ada reacted with inhuman speed, ducking almost under the whistling blade. But as she moved, chaos erupted! The first guard, crippled but not out, let out a bestial howl of pain and fury. With his uninjured hand, he clawed desperately at Ada's exposed ankle as she crouched!
Ada's reflexes were razor-sharp. Her calf muscle tensed, pulling her foot back just in time. The grasping hand missed. But that tiny disruption shattered her perfect dodge, introducing a fatal fraction of a second's delay.
That delay was enough. The halberd-wielding guard saw his chance. Eyes blazing with malice, fueled by the unnatural speed and strength granted by the sickly white light, he twisted his swing mid-motion! The heavy wooden haft of the halberd, driven by centrifugal force, slammed like a club into Ada's hastily raised forearm with a sickening THUD!
"Ungh!" Ada grunted, the impact staggering her sideways. Her knife hand visibly trembled, and for the first time, a flicker of pain crossed her stony face.
Leo's heart leapt into his throat! "Shit! She's hit!" Panic flooded him, obliterating tactics and skills. Pure instinct took over. He desperately focused, screaming internally, "Stop him! Do something!" The familiar, draining sensation surged through him, locking him rigidly in place once more.
His right eye burned:
- > WARNING: Target [Ada] Struck! Arm Trauma! Grip Strength Reduced!
-> Enemy Unit Utilized Environment/Weapon Trait for Modified Attack!
- > (Note: Combat isn't turn-based, you pillock
"Tell me something I don't bloody know?!" Leo screamed inside his head, cold sweat drenching him.
The glowing guard, seeing his advantage, advanced with a cruel grin. He raised his halberd high for a devastating overhead chop, putting all his enhanced might behind it! Ada gritted her teeth, trying to brace and bring her knife up to block, but her injured arm was clearly sluggish.
At the critical moment— "Your necklace! It's flashing! Overheating? Gonna blow?!" Leo shrieked, his voice warped by terror. Utter nonsense, born of sheer panic. Yet, the words triggered an infinitesimal, almost reflexive hesitation in the guard – his eyes flickered down for a split second, checking the source of his power.
For a fighter like Ada, a split second was everything.
She didn't try to block the crushing blow. Instead, using his momentary distraction and forward momentum, she did the unexpected – she rolled forward and towards him, diving inside his guard! The deadly chop whistled past her back, smashing into the stone floor with a spray of chips. Ada was already at his feet. Her injured hand braced her, her good leg snapped out like a scorpion's sting, her heel crashing viciously into the side of his supporting knee!
CRACK!
A sound like snapping kindling. The guard's triumphant grin vanished, replaced by an agonized shriek. His knee buckled sideways at a grotesque angle. He crashed to the ground like a felled tree, the sickly white light flaring wildly before snuffing out completely. He curled around his ruined leg, wailing, utterly defeated.
The remaining guard, who had just managed to hop up on one foot, witnessed the brutal scene. Terror seized him. He turned, limping desperately for the door. Ada, still halfway to her feet, didn't hesitate. She reversed her grip and hurled the short knife like a javelin! THWACK! It sank deep into the fleeing man's thigh. He screamed and collapsed.
Silence descended, thick and heavy. Broken only by ragged breathing – mostly Leo's – and the cloying stench of blood.
Ada stood still, chest rising and falling steadily, her composure unnerving after the life-or-death struggle. She walked over to the twitching, formerly-glowing guard, planted a boot on his wrist as he fumbled for a weapon, and yanked her knife free with brutal efficiency. She wiped the blade clean on his tunic with cold indifference. Then, her grey eyes swept over the two incapacitated threats before finally landing on Leo, still plastered against the wall, face pale, legs trembling uncontrollably.
She raised an eyebrow, the scar twisting slightly.
"Lip service..." she rasped, her voice still rough, but carrying a faint, ambiguous trace – maybe approval, maybe disdain. "...is quicker than your limbs."
Leo opened his mouth, but his throat was desert-dry. Not a sound emerged. He managed a painful swallow. He didn't even have the energy to roll his eyes.
"Move it, rookie." Ada bent down, snatching a key ring from a guard's belt, her tone brooking no argument. "Made enough racket to wake the whole bloody garrison. The real trouble'll be sniffing us out any minute."
Leo stared at the groaning guards, then at his own trembling hands, finally meeting Ada's cold, weary, yet intensely alert eyes.
He'd used his ability. Ended up rooted like an idiot.
He'd been in a real fight. Contributed mostly by yelling.
He was... alive.
The cost? He felt utterly drained, his bladder was staging a protest, and the visual static in his right eye was now throwing a full-blown rave, celebrating his survival.
"FML..." he muttered, hauling himself off the wall with monumental effort. Dragging his protesting legs, he stumbled after Ada's retreating back.
This bloody "debugging run" of a life had barely finished its boot sequence.