Luckily for Nyx, the stairway was in the shape of a U, bending back on itself halfway down, so when she hit the wall on the opposite side, she didn't have too far to break her fall.

Smashing into the marble steps below, Nyx sucked in a mouthful of air before tumbling down the remaining flight of stairs due to the rebounding energy from when she crashed into the wall.

The feeling that maybe this wasn't one of her best ideas rattled in her mind as she finally rolled to a stop, coughing violently as her body screamed in protest.

The pain came along with a weird numbness, letting Nyx know that it was unlikely she was going to be able to walk away this time.

The fall had torn even more of her robe, making it appear to be nothing more than a blanket wrapped around her thin, frame and, with new cuts and grazes bleeding profusely, Nyx was in a very sorry state.

Remembering that she was being chased, the pain having temporarily driven the thought away, Nyx started to lift roll to her side, intending to move to her front before attempting to get up. Yet, even before she had raised her back off the floor, a heavy, metal hand pushed down on her chest, locking her in place.

Releasing a scream of frustration, knowing that she had pretty much expended all her energy and options, Nyx lashed out with her left arm and legs, trying to attack the armoured giant that was now kneeling beside her.

Subconsciously, she knew this was the final burst of energy before her body started to shut down, but even still, Nyx refused to give up.

Her feeble attacks bounced off the metal armour, not even scratching its surface, but it didn't surprise her. Let alone Nyx's weak attacks; not even a gem realm would be able to damage power armour with kicks and punches.

Still, pinned to the floor, the token gesture of resistance made Nyx feel better.

She had fallen into the habit of always giving it her all, no matter what. It was so that when she died, Nyx didn't feel any regret or the what-ifs that had plagued her existence at the start.

Releasing a shriek, like a crazed banshee Nyx stopped attacking and tried to wiggle out from under the armoured hand, only to feel more hands latching onto her arm and legs.

Strangely, it seemed that those pinning her down had already realised that her right arm was severely injured and hadn't felt the need to restrain it.

"Settle down girl," the gruff voice from before, attempted to calm Nyx, believing the woman had gone hysterical. "It's OK; you're safe now."

To the warriors, Nyx's actions weren't that surprising, especially catching glimpses of her scar covered body from between her tattered robes. They had already been briefed about the states of the girls that had been returned after the ransom had been paid and actually felt that Nyx's reactions were better than what they expected to find.

However, what had shocked them was Nyx's evasive skills and almost berserker-like attitude. If she were at their level, she would have been an opponent that, if they survived the confrontation, would give them nightmares.

From her previous actions, as well as the fresh wounds that could be seen through the missing parts of her robe, the woman before them didn't seem to feel pain, destroying her body at the mere possibility of being able to escape.

"I said, settle down." Seeing his words did not affect the struggling princess, her actions only becoming sluggish due to the apparent strain and exhaustion she was under, the man couldn't help but shout.

He wanted to shock her into listening to him; however just as he was about to open his mouth, he was interrupted.

"Boss, it's no good," came a feminine voice just behind, the individual it emanated from currently pinning Nyx's legs.

While the voice sounded feminine, she was wearing the same armour as the rest, making her indistinguishable amongst them. "Look a the blood around her ears. She must have been in one of the rooms we flashed."

Rolling his eyes at his own stupidy, wondering why he hadn't thought of the possibility that Nyx couldn't hear him, the man used his free hand, the one not pinning Nyx's chest, to unclasp his helmet.

While it wasn't as easy using one hand, he finally managed to take it off, letting his helmet drop to the floor beside him.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The man wasn't worried about being attacked, the rest of his men had secured the area and, now they had obtained their target, sweeping the house and surroundings for anything they might have missed.

Using his armoured hand to grasp Nyx's delicate, fragile looking chin, he forced her to look at him.

Dark blue eyes, seemingly without thought or emotion, locked onto his own, momentarily stunning him with their intensity.

"Princess," the man made sure to say his words slowly, trying to move his mouth in a way that it would be easy to understand. "We mean you no harm. We are here to rescue you. Please relax."

Nyx had no clue what the man was trying to say, but it was clear he was trying to communicate with her and so, much to the relief of her body, she slowly stopped struggling.

It wasn't like she had much choice.

The edges of her peripheral had already started to become hazy, and the intense pain she felt was slowly diminishing.

It was a feeling she was accustomed to having experienced it many times before. She knew that she was dying.

As Nyx relaxed, she started to cough again, however this time, a large amount of bright red blood erupted from her mouth, covering her face.

"Medic!" bellowed the man, weirdly enough at the exact same time as the three warriors around him. Their combined shout reaching every corner of the mansion and nearby woodland.

They hadn't paid too much attention to Nyx's condition as they pinned her down.

They subconsciously thought that as she had the strength and ability to dodge past them, even as a mortal, a little fall down the stairs wouldn't have hurt her. In fact, they had all seen her starting to roll over to get up so had thought she was fine.

Without meaning to, they had started treating her like one of their own and not the fragile, mortal princess that she was. As such, they had only been concerned with calming her down so they could extract her back to their own country.

Seeing the woman before them coughing blood, the veterans instantly realised their mistake and changed their priorities. While those holding her limbs still held her down, the man quickly removed his hand from her chest and started to remove his armoured gloves as they were too cumbersome to provide any aid.

Moments later, a man in black leather armour skidded to the ground beside Nyx, instantly putting his hands on each side of her head and releasing his internal energy.

He knew that his brothers and sisters wouldn't have called him unless it was absolutely necessary and so, immediately started to analyse and treat the patient.

Warm, comforting energy quickly flowed through Nyx's body, slightly numbing the pain, however, while Nyx's features relaxed somewhat, the medic's face paled.

The warm energy, like the waves crashing the shore, or rain gently hitting glass started to coax Nyx into a dream-like state.

Her worries and concerns slowly started to fall away as darkness wrapped around her like a comforting blanket.

With her last thought about how she could still stand proud, having giving it her all, Nyx slowly closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

"Prepare the teleportation array now," bellowed the medic as he quickly ripped open the tattered remains of Nyx's robe, exposing her upper torso. "And by now, I mean five minutes ago. The target has gone critical."

Not even reacting to the scars that had left the other speechless, the medic placed his hand between Nyx's breasts, slightly to the right, as he started pouring his magical essence into her body at an unsustainable rate. "What the fuck are you staring at. Move god damn it."

While the commander's words on the battlefield were law, the orders of the medic were absolute, snapping those that had been shocked by the abuse Nyx's body had suffered, awake.

Without missing a heartbeat, orders were shouted out, and people started rushing in and out of the room. Most of them in power armour but a surprising amount of support troops were dressed similarly to the medic, making it obvious that this had been a large-scale operation.

Within minutes, a broad, complex array had been created on the floor nearby, many expensive materials and ingredients placed in various places as the runic lines hummed with energy.

Like an army of ants, the warriors worked ceaselessly, often cursing as others got in their way, as the medic who was keeping Nyx's heart beating had turned a deathly white.

Sweat soaked his leather clothes, and his eyes had become bloodshot, but he couldn't relax in the slightest.

While it was well known that the human consciousnesses placed limits on the body, shutting down and stopping it from damaging itself to the point of death, it seemed the princess before had bypassed every single one.

Having used his energy to analyse the state of Nyx's body, ignoring the old injuries that littered her body, what he had discovered terrified him.

The princess' muscles were in tatters, having being forced well beyond their limits and her organs were barely operating due to the strain being placed upon them.

Not only that but she had a horrendously broken arm, and amongst her many cracked ribs, one had even snapped and pierced her left lung, slowly filling it with blood.

If that wasn't enough, she had a burning fever, caused both by an infection on her arm, and blood poisoning.

The medic knew, that without a doubt if he stopped providing energy to her heart, enabling her to feed oxygen and nutrients to her brain and other critical areas, the princess would be dead within the hour.

How she had survived so long, he couldn't even imagine but as she was his patient, he gave it his all as he attempted to save her life.

However, even if he did this, he was just a field medic and couldn't treat all of these fatal conditions in the field. They needed to get the princess to the royal hospital in the capital as soon as possible.

To return the way they came, by airship, would take too long and so, without even worrying about the copious amounts of paperwork he would have to fill, he had ordered the usage of the teleportation array. Something that should only be used when there was no other choice.

With a blinding light, a circle of light exploded into existence, rapidly stabilising and displaying an image that was not the wall behind it.

Without moving Nyx to the stretcher that had been placed by her side, with his hand still over her heart, the medic scooped Nyx's body up in his arms and ran towards the portal as if his life depended on it.