"No..." muttered Kiyu, who was still lying on the ground next to Laki.

"Don't!" she gasped, startled.

"A nightmare?" she gasped, noticing sweat dripping down her forehead.

She looked around and realized that she was in the park, where she had laid down with Laki. Her nightmare, however, led her back to the marketplace. Back to the place where she had to watch a person being decapitated in front of her eyes and she couldn't do anything about it.

Next to her, Laki stirred , but as it seemed, she had not woken up by the outcry.

'Good thing,' she thought and stood up.

Right by the river, she knelt down and gathered some water in her hands, which she slapped into her face as quietly as possible. Why did she have to dream about this, of all things? But complaining wouldn't do any good, she had realized. It had happened and she could not change it. Now that she felt refreshed again, she would lie down next to Laki again and fall asleep.

"There they are over there!"

The scream alerted her, and she turned around. Several men with lanterns had approached her in a semicircle.

'Shit!' thought Kiyu when she saw all those people.

"'Laki!' Laki wake up!" she shouted to wake up her sister so they could escape.

"Wuaah." Laki, who didn't even realize what was going on yet, yawned in a relaxed manner and stretched.

"What's wrong, Kiki?" she asked, looking into her sister's eyes.

It wasn't until the lights came closer that Kiyu had realized it was already far too late to escape. The men had covered a decent distance and were circling the two.

"Kiki, what's going on?" asked Laki, frightened, running toward her sister.

"Get close behind me and stay there, no matter what." replied Kiyu, getting into fight position.

'Do you maybe have some smart advice for this situation too?' she asked Cheryu, hoping he also had some wisdom for a losing fight.

< Forgive them their mistakes, for they too are only human. > he began. < And.... don't let your anger control you, instead practice restraint. >

Kiyu would have loved to roll her eyes at what Cheryu was sharing with her. At least he hadn't spoken out against fighting back.

A dozen men had now gathered around her and Laki. There was a silent standoff for a moment, and no one had moved toward the other.

"Rah!" one guard started and ran towards Kiyu with his sword raised. Everyone else seemed to just be watching, thinking that one alone should be enough.

Kiyu took a few steps forward so the soldier wouldn't hit Laki. She dodged the downward swing to the right and raised her left hand with which to strike.

"Get out of here!" she shouted and rammed her fist deep into the soldier's face. The nose broke with a loud crack and she hurled the soldier, who was taller than her, back several meters.

'Not quite the restraint Ryu was talking about, but he'll survive.' she thought to herself and readied herself for the next attack.

"Don't get too close, I'm warning you!" she shouted at her attackers. As expected, they ignored the warning. 'The fear toward their master must be enormous.'

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The next two guards came running at her, swinging their swords in such a way that Kiyu could not dodge to either side. All she could do was jump to the side or....

*Clang!*

The two swords met Kiyu's arms, which she had raised for protection, and bounced off them as if she had a steel arm instead out of flesh.

They jumped back.

"Spiritformer!" they shouted, waiting for the others, who were now all approaching.

Before the others had even approached, Kiyu crouched down and then jumped. Strengthened by her Spiritformer powers, she bridged this small distance and rammed a fist into each face.

This time, she kept her fists in the men's face long enough that the men didn't roll back, but crashed to the ground instead.

'Three away, nine to go' she thought to herself and took a deep breath. Her training of her skills had been one thing, but her training was calm.

Here in battle, she was moving in addition and had to use strength. Her fight with Jorgas and Durgo had gone by, and she had never thought that she would involve herself in longer fights.

A mistake, which she regretted now. Again several men came running towards her and swung their swords down on her. They all targeted different points on her body. The first attack she had parried with her hand, in which she held the sword. But right after that came the second attack, which she blocked with her other arm.

"Don't stop attacking her!" yelled a guard who had stayed behind.

She wasn't able to concentrate on him for too long. A third sword crashed against her left shoulder. Like the other attacks, she blocked it, but the sound of metal hitting other metal was absent.

"Ugh," she groaned as the sword hit her body.

Even though the sword did not cut into her body, she felt the pressure that the weapon had exerted.

'Damn! She could not withstand several attacks she was aware of that when the third attack hit her. While a fourth man was still coming at her, she jumped backwards.

"Kiki!" shouted Laki, who watched in horror as she saw Kiyu cornered by these men.

"Stay back!" retorted Kiyu, running forward with momentum.

She feinted a punch with her fist, but switched to a kick from the side at the last moment.

'Four opponents down, eight to go.'

Again and again they tried to hit Kiyu, each time concentrating on different spots. Kiyu had switched from the offensive to the defensive. She dodged several attacks instead of blocking them to save her strength for her attacks.

Only in extreme emergencies, when she could no longer dodge an attack in time, she used it. But with the amount of opponents it was difficult for her to keep an overview.

While she was trying to keep track of the whole situation, she felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder.

"Aah!" her pain-filled scream seemed to affirm her opponents.

She turned her body around and saw the attacker grinning as he jammed his sword into her shoulder. She raised her left hand and drove it deep into his face, causing another nose to crack.

Satisfaction filled her, but gave way to pain in her side, which another guard soldier had cut with his sword.

"Kiki!" cried Laki, wanting to run towards her sister.

"Stay..... where you are!" she cried with a brief pause, panting.

She pushed herself away from an opponent with her arms to put some distance between herself and the opposing group.

"Kiyu, watch out!" yelled Laki.

But it was too late for Kiyu. She jumped back and with it right into the blade of the guard soldier who had led the troop.

The blade pierced through her right shoulder and exited out the front side.

Riddled with pain, Kiyu stretched her body and pulled her head back.

"Gotcha, you little brat!" the man said and pulled his sword out of her shoulder.

Groaning, Kiyu collapsed, wheezing.

"Grab the little girl and the injured and get out of here!", Kiyu heard the guard yell as her eyes grew heavy.

"NO! Kiki! NO!" Laki's scream ran through her marrow and bones, but no matter how hard Kiyu tried, she couldn't move.

Laki's screaming and whimpering died down and became an indistinct sound.

'They gagged her,' thought Kiyu, who had to listen to her sister being kidnapped.

She felt warmth in her shoulder and on the side of her torso and took a while to realize it was her blood.

Just keeping her eyes open became harder with each passing moment. Moving her body seemed impossible.

'Help....me...Ryu' Even forming thoughts involved an effort that cost her a lot of strength. But she had to stay awake at any cost.

Besides the warmth of her blood, she felt another warmth coursing through her body. It was the power of Cheryu.

< Healing you will be an arduous task, but I will try my best to keep you alive, little Kiyu. > he replied.

At least she wouldn't die. But as long as she was lying around, Laki would be in danger. And there was only one she could think of as the driving force behind this assault. Tānlán!

"The coast is clear!" she heard a voice call out not too far away. "Stand guard while I go get her!"

Footsteps approached her as she closed her eyes. The strain became too much, and she just didn't have the strength to keep it open any longer. Instead, she concentrated on what was happening around her.

"They've given you a pretty bad time," she heard the stranger sigh.

'That.... voice!'