Lar leaped into the air and sent her fauchard into a vertical arc towards the hooded figure. The warrior sent their curved sword sliding against the shaft of Lar’s fauchard and then sent their foot flying towards Juna's face. She narrowly avoided it as he immediately followed up with his curved sword hurdling forward right after kicking his leg.
This guy moves quickly. He utilized acrobatics preventing them from having much of an opening to work with.
Their combat style was far different than the kind Asum utilized against him during their training sessions. Theirs was far more eloquent and purposeful. This style was in many ways unpredictable and quick enough to cause him to hesitate. He hesitated no longer following up on Lar’s defensive maneuvering. He sent his sword towards the fighter who then noticed his attempt to strike him.
They twisted their body avoiding Kiran’s sword from penetrating through their thin black attire, skin, muscle, and bone. Their arm flashed before his eyes sending their curved sword up against his sword. Sparks flew out and then the fighter made a quick maneuver to purposely fall. Their opponent’s body spun around as they were on the ground causing Kiran’s legs to betray him. The sudden maneuver sent him to the ground as well while the acrobatic hooded warrior stood up nearly instantaneously to begin a more critical strike towards him.
With his body on the ground, the man’s curved sword nearly went straight through his heart only to be stopped by Lar’s fauchard slamming against their sword harshly.
The man whose face was still well hidden by their hood motioned back away from them to reposition themselves and take up a defensive stance.
“Had enough?” Lar said mockingly lending out a hand to Kiran to help him get up. He couldn’t help but think that in times like these, it would be nice if Lar was wearing clothes. Because they shifted from their cat form into their human form to fight, and because they didn’t bring any clothes that they could wear, they had no choice but to fight naked. At least it didn’t affect their fighting performance. If anything maybe it even helped against fighting this warrior.
“Hmph. I think not.” Their body went flying towards them all at once. In a horizontal strike, they tried hitting them all at the same time.
He managed to block their curved sword’s strike with his sword feeling their immense strength pushing up against it. While he blocked their strike, Juna sent her dagger flying towards the hooded fighter. They managed to hit the dagger mid-flight preventing it from going into their body. However, as if planned from the start, the dagger’s direction landed onto the ground beneath their feet with the tip sticking into the ground planting it firmly there. The tip was enhanced by Juna’s mana similarly to how he could enhance the penetration power of his own summoned sword if he wanted to. The enhanced tip allowed it to go through the ground a bit to keep it standing up straight.
This guy’s pretty good going up against us three at the same time. He fought fearlessly and with all of his being. Unfortunately for him, Juna’s dagger had landed in an opportune location.
Right as he raised his curved sword to send it vertically down towards them, Their mouth fell open and they let out a pained moan. Their curved sword fell out of their hands. The blade hit the floor sharply and the hooded figure went to one knee.
Juna’s mystic dagger cast a ward-like projection around the space he stood at. Once it had hit the ground, it had begun carrying out the spell Juna had fashioned for him. It was the same spell that she used against Lar during their duel a while ago. Juna certainly proved that she was more than capable of utilizing this trick more than one time.
While in this stunned state, the hooded figure tried to fight against it. With every bit of power he could muster, he tried with all his being to stand back up. No matter how hard he tried, his knee was forced to the ground ensuring that their fight against them was over.
Lar pointed the bladed part of their fauchard directly at them with the desire to kill them. However, because this person was now unarmed and unable to fight back, he did not like the idea of killing them now.
“Shall I kill him?” Lar simply asked.
“No,” he said. “I wouldn’t have us spill blood over someone incapacitated.”
She pulled the fauchard back to her side and put the unsharpened end directly to the floor with a loud thud.
“Juna, can you go free Laphy from those chains and that apparatus?” Kiran asked.
“Sure thing!”
As she went to retrieve Laphy, Kiran kicked the curved sword away from the fighter whose veins were popping out of their head. They managed to grip Kiran’s ankle but their grip was so weak, all he had to do was pull away. The magical ward surrounded their entire body. They would not be able to fight against it unless they were unfathomably strong. And to make matters worse for them, this ward like projection would last for up to thirty minutes or more unless Juna pulled the dagger out of the ground personally. The warrior tried pulling it out himself, but his hand was forced away the instant he attempted it. Bright lights burst alight from the dagger and they grimaced as their hand appeared noticeably damaged from attempting to pull the mystical dagger out of the ground. This is one nasty spell.
Juna went up to the raised platform where Laphy was chained to. She cut the chains with her other magically enhanced mystical dagger which connected to his legs and wrists. All she had left was to free him from the apparatus that surrounded their neck. But it appeared that she struggled to do so.
“I can’t get this off his neck,” she said from a bit away. “And it’s too dangerous to try cutting it with my dagger.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Laphy replied with a deep and smooth voice. “We’ll need to find a particularly talented sorcerer to rid me of this damnable thing. Luckily we have one within the coalition that ought to be able to.”
He could at least flee with them even with that apparatus around them. It didn’t look particularly comfortable however as it surrounded his neck. But if he had to have it on him during their escape, it sure beat staying around here any longer.
Laphy approached them and shook his hand. “Thank you all for coming to my aid.” The man was for all intents and purposes a familiar, but he felt and looked as real as any human at least right now. He took on the form of a man who was in their thirties with a few bits of gray in their long beard and long tattered hair. They still appeared muscular and in good shape despite being held in captivity for so long. That was one of the benefits of being a familiar. A normal human would wither away and begin to lose their muscles while a familiar could retain that shape in the same period of time.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
That darkness from earlier that he had seen in their eyes returned. It was like the light itself was shoved out so that it could be replaced with an empty presence. Laphy motioned over towards the curved sword that Kiran had kicked away earlier. He picked it up from the ground gripping it to the point that the veins on their hand popped out. Before Kiran could tell them to stop, the curved sword that Laphy wielded flew towards the warrior they defeated and currently couldn’t do anything but remain still as the ward kept them forcefully bound to Juna’s will.
Their eyes widened as their sword went through their heart. Blood ran down the blade that jutted out of their back. The man whose heart had been pierced raised their hands to their own curved sword. Laphy stared into those wide eyes of his in a cold and uncaring way.
This was not the way he wanted things to be. While in combat, he was fine with the thought of having to kill an opponent, but when they were no longer capable or able to, he did not desire to carry out such violence. He’d rather have them incapacitated and hands bound to be dealt with in a less violent manner.
But at the same time, he did not speak up for the man who lay there on one knee staring out widely as he died. Laphy had carried out his own sense of justice upon this man whose purpose was to prevent them from reaching freedom. They acted as a guard separating Laphy from being truly free. It was not so surprising that he would not hesitate to end their life. He at least was being given a quick death without having to suffer for long.
The intensity of the dying man’s gaze faded. With their life fully taken from them, Laphy pulled the sword out and allowed the fighter to collapse over and onto the ground. The blood spilled out of the freshly made wound. It filled the ground eventually reaching the edge of the mystical dagger that jutted out creating the ward. The ward died as the last remaining bit of life within them faded away.
Death was never a pleasant sight to behold. Even to one who had moments ago attacked and intended to kill them. He felt sorry that things had to get to the point where this was to be their fate. At the same time, that was the fate of those who pick up a sword and were willing to die by it. In some way, even someone like them could perhaps be glad about that.
“We should go,” Laphy stated to the three of them. “But not before we free the other familiars here.”
“How many others are there?” he asked.
“At least three others that I know of,” he said. “At least there were that many of us when I was first taken to this place. One of them also just so happens to be my wife.”
Without spending much time in this chamber, they headed back to where they came from. When they reached the chamber with the staircase leading out of here, he and Lar kept guard while Laphy and Juna went to go find the other familiars that were locked away in different areas.
After a few minutes, Juna and Laphy returned with another familiar who also had a metal apparatus around their neck.
The other familiar was of a woman with scars and other unsightly bruises scattered all over her body.
“Are there any other familiars waiting to be taken away from here?” Lar asked.
“My wife Aini is the last one I’m afraid. The others have all died.” Laphy was noticeably upset with that fact. He kept an arm around Aini’s tortured gaze which was fixated towards the floor.
Judging by how she looked, the ones who kept her down here had tortured her. They most definitely tortured Laphy as well, but he didn’t appear as damaged by it. He stood tall and proud being the kind of man who could practically take on anything no matter how bad things got for them. His wife, on the other hand, didn’t appear as capable which was perfectly understandable. Very few people out there in the world could ever reasonably tolerate torture and come out of it with their head on straight afterward. Laphy was one such person judging by their demeanor.
“How long did they have you all held in captivity?”
“Quite a while,” Laphy said. “This Marthus Einfeld had somehow uncovered my whereabouts along with my subordinates while we hid after an important mission. We tried fighting back when they stormed us all of a sudden, but they used certain countermeasures to ensure their victory against us. I expected I would be killed thereafter but instead they dragged us here and tortured us. But now that I am free all I want is to kill that man. I want him to regret not simply having me killed.” A grin erupted from his cracked dry lips.
“You’ll have to wait to do that another day,” Lar said eager to flee.
“You will not tell me what I am allowed to do. I intend to confront them now and fulfill my revenge.”
“We can’t risk it. We were tasked to retrieve you and get out of here.” Kiran tried to persuade the noticeably angry familiar that wanted nothing more than to satiate their blood lust. “I realize you want your revenge but you must make it out alive.”
“You may need me for your own selfish reasons, but I have my own desires that I wish to see fulfilled before the day is over.”
“Then delay those desires until you’re given an even better opportunity to fulfill them. I can tell you are not in the best condition. It would be better to wait until you’re stronger to give yourself the best chances.” He was noticeably worn down after being held captive for months. Even familiars were weakened as humans were. Maybe not to the same extent or to the same degree, but they weren’t perfect beings incapable of experiencing weakness.
“What is your name human?”
“Kiran.”
“I don’t recognize you.” He looked towards Juna briefly. “I do recognize you, however.” His eyes went back to Kiran. “I assume you must be relatively new.”
“That’s right.”
“I see. Am I to assume then that you were given demands to solely get me out of here alive and not kill Marthus?”
He nodded his head and saw the fire in their eyes die out.
“Fine. I would not disappoint our dear leader in the coalition if this is what they desire, even if I am adamant about killing that man. I’ll take heed to your words Kiran, but know that I do not make this decision lightly. I will have my revenge one of these days even if it must be delayed.”
He felt relieved hearing him say that. The last thing he needed was for him to run off to kill Marthus when their only goal was to get out and flee before Marthus or their subordinates became aware that they were even at their mansion. Dealing with the large man himself can wait. For now, we should just focus on escaping.
They all began to go up the darkened stairway. When they reached the top, they exited the room and strode through the aura-infused lit hallway taking a route to escape the mansion unseen.
As they attempted to make their way out of the mansion through this route however, all of the aura-infused lighting around them suddenly went dark.
By being surrounded by this sudden darkness, he struggled to see until a bright light appeared far away down the hallway they had begun to wander down. A dark shadowy figure eventually appeared as the light wrapped all around them. The light became wild as it intensified and grew more and more ready to be used against them somehow.
Several seconds later, that same bright light began flying towards them. In that moment, he felt as if his life began to flash before his eyes as it flew so quickly towards them, he had no way of dodging it in time.