The rain had slowed to a mist once again; however, the dark clouds overhead remained. Lightning streaked through the sky, and the rumble of thunder shook the plaza.
The three Holy Knights began to spread out encircling Xenia as they gripped their heavy broadswords with both hands tightly.
Xenia laughed as they assumed a serious demeanor and offensive position, “It’s someone’s funeral. Of that we can be certain.”
The leader of the Holy Knights ignored her commentary and thrust his sword forward lunging into a head-on attack.
Xenia gracefully sidestepped the lunging attack only to be met with a horizontal slash from the second knight. She backflipped over the blade as it swung horizontally. She landed her backflip and had nary a second before the third knight was on top of her preparing an overhead downward swing with all of his might.
She looked up at him and whispered, “Too slow. Much too slow.” She slipped to the side without effort and faced the three men with a smile on her face.
“The empire’s finest. Protectorates of St. Michael. Has the Holy Knight Empire really become so weak?” Xenia smirked at the three men who were unphased by her taunting. They spread out in a fan formation once again and began a second wave of attacks, this time with more unison, synchrony, and coordination.
Xenia danced through their attacks with footwork that amazed the three men. It was obvious to see she was toying with them as she dodged their attacks without even trying to counter attack, without even trying to escape striking distance.
“Those are some very heavy broadswords you three are swinging around. Don’t get tired on me just yet.” Xenia once again smirked at her opponents.
“Holy Knights do not tire. It is you who should fear fatigue for there are three of us and yet just one of you.” The leader spoke with confidence.
The lead knight infused his sword with ki causing his arms and blade to glow a bright yellow. The other two knights followed suit, and the dancing of blades began once again. This time, the sword blades moved faster and with more force. However, this time, Xenia fought back.
She dodged their strikes while also delivering precision strikes of her own with her sword. Each of her strikes landed on a vital part of the knight’s bodies; however, there armor and their layer of ki all but rendered her attacks useless.
The three knights were all stunned as they realized they would be dead had they been fighting an opponent of her caliber who could also wield ki.
One of the knights quietly said, “She must be using ki to accelerate her movements. Or maybe to detect our movements quicker.”
The leader shook his head, “No. She really is just that talented in martial arts.”
He then called out to her, “A talent like you could join our ranks. Even without powerful offensive ki abilities, your martial art skills are top notch. Your talent could help us cleanse this empire of filth and evil.”
She scoffed, “A talent like mine could rule this world. A talent like mine would never stoop so low as to be an enforcer for a weakling such as St. Michael.” She then held her gaze in a sneer at the lead knight.
He softly said, “She’s a cocky one isn’t she boys?”
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“Mhmm. Sure to be her fatal flaw.” The other two knights laughed behind their leader.
Xenia laughed with them, “Fatal flaw? I’m just having fun darlings. But let me know when you’re ready to die. We’ll see who has the fatal flaw? Won’t we?”
The leader cocked his head, “I guess play time is over then boys and girls. Let’s power up!”
The three knights began to collect a large amount of ki surrounding and protecting their bodies which also infused into their swords. They lunged forward moving with more speed and more force than previously.
Xenia parried their attacks with her sword which caused a painful reverberation in her arms as she blocked three successive sword strikes in a row.
In a moment of brief pause following their initial onslaught, Xenia threw her sword to the ground and held her gun up, “Fine. If you insist on ganging up on a girl then I won’t play fair either.”
The men looked at each other with smirks which soon turned to wide smiles as they burst out laughing, “A gun?! You plan to use a firearm against us?”
Another knight quipped, “Look, we feel sorry for you, so let us just tell you… that gun couldn’t harm us in a thousand years. Stick to your martial arts.”
Xenia grit her teeth, “You have mocked me for the last time.”
She charged them with her full speed and agility catching them off guard, and she quickly somersaulted between the knights firing her pistol directly underneath the chin of one of the knights. She then came out of her somersault as she fired her pistol again at a second knight directly in the temple of his head.
The lead knight hadn’t moved as she somersaulted past him with blazing fast speed. He only heard two gunshots, then silence, then two thuds against the ground.
He turned to see his fellow knights dead on the ground with mangled and disfigured heads. Blood was beginning to pool as it crept over to his feet.
He then looked to her as she blew the smoke from the top of her barrel, “You…” His voice now had a tremble in it, “You… those are nightmare ki bullets? You. You serve Ashrok of the Ru-Shai-Ra?”
She smiled at him and shook her head, “No darling. Quite the contrary. Ashrok serves me.”
“You’re the leader of the Ru-Shai-Ra? Ashrok serves no one though.” The lead knight was beyond confused.
“Ashrok is a Blood Wraith.” Xenia had a very serious tone and demeanor as she spoke of Ashrok’s Blood Wraith status.
The knight began to tremble from head to toe as he muttered to himself, “But the empress is dead.”
“Oh, come now. Surely you’ve figured this out. Or do you really have such a thick skull?” Xenia raised her pistol and pointed it at the knight.
The knight suddenly had a realization as he thought to himself, “This. This is Xenia BloodStar. Empress of the BloodStar Empire!” He fell to his knees in shock knowing that he was nothing before the Great Xenia BloodStar. Her name alone had turned a once brave warrior hopeless in an instant. He looked up from his knees saying, “But. But you’re dead too.”
She smiled down at him, “Yes, I’ve had my funeral. This is yours.”
She pulled the trigger firing her gun at the knight. The bullet hit him square between the eyes killing him instantly.
Xenia blew the smoke from the barrel and dropped the gun to the ground where it seemingly vanished. She began her walk back into the bank with a pleased smile on her face as she said to herself, “Finally, I can crack this vault and reap my prize.”
Her walk turned to an upbeat skip as she began to skip back into the bank frolicking with happiness. She knew her slaughter had gained the attention of St. Michael if he had gone so far as to send Holy Knights. She also knew the death of his knights would infuriate him into putting pressure on General Curtis to clean this mess up. And General Curtis would in turn put pressure on Detective Fincher to finally help him eliminate Xenia… or else he would face the wrath of Michael against Scorched Shadow for their failures.
With her plan coming to fruition, she skipped into the bank to find the bank manager standing by an opened outer door of the vault. She clasped her hands together in excitement, “You did it! Good boy.”
She pushed him into the vault and closed the outer door behind them. She then pushed him into a chair against the wall and sat in his lap as she began to kiss him, “I don’t want anyone coming in and interrupting us. Do you?”
The man was shocked as she felt his body up and kissed him as she straddled him on the chair. She kissed his neck as she said, “St. Michael is likely on his way soon. I need this vault door open before he gets here.”
The manager began to stutter, “I told you- I can’t- I really cannot open this inner vault door. It is likely the most secure vault door in the world.”
Xenia summoned a large black duffel bag from a void portal which crashed to the ground with the clanging of metal, “You watch. I’ll work.”