The battle raged on, and a sobering clarity had settled in Pepe and Eschell's guts: Despite Anne's wounds not being fatal, she was running on fumes, fighting on sheer willpower alone. So even though the conflict seemed evenly matched on the surface, only Pepe had a marginal upper hand, while Eschell and Anne's conditions slid downhill every passing second.
Their enemies were acutely aware of this. Pepe had attempted several times to sneak a dirty attack on the head honcho amidst the fray, but her own opponent kept interrupting. Reluctantly, Pepe shifted her focus to the enemy at hand, intent on dispatching him posthaste.
Pepe's adversary had already been hit twice by Decay Rays. Alas, he was agile, so the spells only grazed his left hand and right calf, making his movements comical without seriously crimping his style.
After the clatter of weapons against rock, Pepe widened the gap with her next Shadow Step. She mustered Decay energy at her wand's end, aiming for the leader this time.
She pumped nearly five times the usual life force into the following Shadow Step, widening the distance enough that her opponent couldn't stop the next casting.
Seeing her spell nearly ready, the helpless man in black bellowed, "Boss, watch out!"
The leader, locked in an intense exchange with the maid, heard the warning. Unable to think twice, he dropped his guard and squatted just in time.
Pepe's Decay Ray whizzed past where the leader's head had been and instead struck the arm of the man about to slash at Eschell.
His forearm went numb, the dagger clattering from his grip, but he deftly caught it with his left before dancing back to regroup, avoiding Eschell's counterstrike.
Undoubtedly, Eschell was the actual pivot of this entire ordeal. Because of the ray headed her way, the combat froze momentarily, then promptly resumed its brutal dance.
But that brief pause disrupted Anne's fighting rhythm. Running on empty, her movements now visibly trailed behind the leader's.
The masked chief's laughter was cold as ice; he sped up his assault, slyly shifting towards Eschell's direction.
Pepe's third Decay Ray hit her opponent's abdomen, turning the tide of their one-on-one for the last time. Abandoning her hit-and-run tactics, she became the aggressor, waiting to smack him with her wand or a final Soul Shock.
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On the other hand, Eschell was running dry of magic, but still traded blows evenly with her weakened opponent. Anne, retreating while fighting off her reluctance, unwittingly moved closer to Eschell.
The gemstone on her wand went dim as its Sharpness spell wore off, and Anne's defenses faltered.
The chief saw his chance and swung. Midway, he pulled back his blow. Anne, poised to block, knew she'd been played. Then, a swift kick sent her wand flying.
Nearby, a dull thud signaled a body hitting the ground. Pepe was sprinting towards them, charged Decay Ray at the ready, only to be yanked back by the ankle at the last second before shadow shifting.
Ignoring the unarmed maid and her wand tumbling through the air, the leader suddenly lunged a deadly thrust towards Eschell's lower back.
Anne's eyes were a rare picture of panic. An overwhelming sense of duty repeated her silent vow of protection over and over.
Even though the stab was meant to capture, not kill Eschell, even though it should only maim...
Catching a glimpse of Eschell's defenseless back, Anne made a split-second decision.
Miss, you can't avoid it...
Battered and bruised, the maid stretched her hand towards the sky unfocused in her vision while her feet summoned their last ounce of force.
"Thud. Thud."
The soft, muffled sounds of flesh pierced merged into one.
Eschell turned sharply at the sensation, only to witness the tip of a dagger protruding from Anne's abdomen.
Tears surged as the effect of Spectator's Heart wore off. Eschell, now bereft of judgment, barely caught Anne as she fell backward.
Across from Anne, the chief—his throat transpierced by the gemstone wand—was half-shocked, unable to comprehend as blood bubbled from his mouth and nose, his strength fading with the cold spreading across his back.
He turned his gaze towards the last man standing. "Eamon!"
Eschell, her sanity slipping, wailed and drew the last of her magic to heal Anne. All the while, she exposed her unguarded back to Eamon. The last assassin raised his blade for one final strike, but in the next second, Pepe's Soul Shock sent him sprawling unconscious.
Yet, the blade’s energy kept surging on, trivial to Murphy or even Anne on the ground, and something Pepe felt she could tank. But for the unsuspecting Eschell, it was close to fatal.
The energy cut through Eschell's homespun dress and cherished nightgown, scarring her smooth back from left shoulder to the right lower side with a bone-deep gash, blood gushing forth. Yet she remained oblivious, pouring her fading magic into Anne's wounds.
The very moment Eschell crumpled beside Anne from magic depletion and blood loss, Pepe finally got to their side.
Panting, her eyelids twitching, she muttered, "This has turned into a serious mess."
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Publicly available intelligence (strictly confidential):
High-tier monsters: Succubi, Werewolves, Vampires. Their level cap is ninety, but a fair number can exceed this limit with external help, aspiring to loftier heights.
Provided they meet no untimely end, high-tier monsters can live up to a millennium. Contrarily, they often face troubles in reproduction proportional to their lifespan.
Additional note: Due to blood purity and lineage, a vampire turned cannot surpass the level