Chapter 95: Meet Up
The narrow alleyway behind Lu Han’s bar was bathed in dim moonlight as Marie and Joseph moved through the shadows.
Marie’s white blouse caught the faint light, a stark contrast to Joseph’s all-black attire. They had barely reached the halfway point of the passage when Marie smirked.
Drasil Step.
Without warning, the world around her began to slow down extremely. The droplets of water from a leaking pipe hung frozen in mid-air, and the distant sounds of nightlife became nothing.
In this slowed reality, Marie turned around and sprinted back the way they’d come.
Once she came close to the alleyway, she then leaped high. Her figure soared over six figures who had been closing in from behind, their bodies frozen.
As she landed on the opposite side, time returned to normal as Longinus materialized in her hand.
A crimson-white spear that she gripped tightly while her left foot slid back, her hips rotated, her shoulders aligned, and her right arm drew the spear back until the weapon was parallel with the ground.
She then hurled it with all of her strength, leading a gust of wind to stir up.
The spear became a crimson-white streak, leaving a trail of light. It rushed toward the cluster of people who were just now realizing their prey had somehow gotten behind them.
A man with green hair and wearing all black clothing reacted swiftly. His body twisted as his muscles grew beneath his clothes before golden scales erupted from his skin like cracks on a window.
Patches of golden fur sprouted between the scales, and his entire back was filled with golden scales.
Then Longnius arrived as the man flexed his back after turning.
The spear crashed into the man’s back, leading to an ear-splitting sound to ring out.
The impact point exploded with sparks of crimson and gold. The spear struggled for a second before being flung upward and spinning end over end as it carved a spiraling path through the air.
Marie’s hand rose lazily and caught the returning weapon. A soft hum of amusement escaped her throat, as if she’d just witnessed something mildly entertaining.
"You know." The scaled man said, his transformation receding as he turned to face her fully, his emerald eyes gleaming with an inner fire. "It isn’t good to randomly attack people."
Marie’s lips began to curve into a response, but the words never came.
Instead, a cry rang out from above. "Neither is stalking someone, you creeps!"
A figure came down from the rooftop, plummeting towards the people below. She had long purple hair whipped behind her with wine-colored eyes that shined with joy.
As she fell, her right hand swept downward, and crimson-purple energy gathered into a spear. The weapon materialized fully just as she brought it down in a devastating overhead strike.
The green-haired man’s body moved before his mind caught up, stepping forward into the attack rather than away.
His arms rose, scales spreading across them as the crimson-purple spear reached it.
The collision sent shockwaves rippling outward. The ground beneath the impact point didn’t just crack, a small crater was formed, sending chunks of cobblestone flying.
But through it all, the man held firm, his scaled arms absorbing the devastating blow.
The woman’s grin widened while showing her teeth, and she said. "Good! You aren’t complete trash then!"
Then, in one fluid motion, she released her spear completely before grabbing onto the man’s left arm. She pulled her body towards the man as she pulled her feet close to her chest, and once she was close.
She lashed out with both legs that landed firmly on the chest of the man after letting go of his arm, and then a loud noise rang out.
The man’s feet left the ground entirely as his body folded around her two feet for a split second before the force sent him flying backward. He carved a path through the air, sailing past his startled companions and out into the open street beyond.
His body tumbled end over end before crashing into an abandoned cart, reducing it to splinters.
The woman snatched her falling spear from the air without looking and immediately gave chase, her black attire making her look like a shadow pursuing prey into the night.
"Classic Scath." Marie laughed, giving Longinus an appreciative twirl. "And since she’s here, then-"
The night sky seemed to rain warriors.
A woman in a grey dress fell down from the rooftop, her golden eyes surveyed the scene with detached interest. Beside her, another woman landed with an impact that cracked stone, her red hair swayed from the wind as her laughter echoed through the alleyway.
And then a man touched down last, his knees barely bending to absorb the three-story drop while his hand moved to adjust his glasses.
"Roana, Nikki, and Gran!" Marie called them out with a smile and a wave.
Roana’s golden eyes found Marie’s, and the faintest smile graced her otherwise serene features. "We’ll talk fully after we take care of them."
The remaining five ambushers exchanged glances, realizing they’d gone from being the hunters to being the hunted. They rushed out of the alleyway, knowing it would be foolish to try to fight here with the others rushing after them.
...
"That might not be a bad Beast Spirit." Scath says as he saw the golden scales no longer just covering parts of the green-haired man.
But they formed an interconnected armor that caught the light like countless diamonds. Each scale overlapped perfectly with the others, making Scath narrow her eyes.
While she spun her spear in a figure-eight pattern, the weapon left trails of purple light in the air.
The man launched him forward with such force that the ground cracked beneath his starting point.
His right fist drew back, scales along his arm brightening as he blasted out with a fist that glowed golden.
Scath smirked as her spear began to change mid-spin. The weapon grew as its head expanded into a massive point while the shaft shortened and reinforced.
The weapon had changed from a spear into a warhammer. As before, Scath gripped the weapon and swung it towards the green-haired man.
The collision of fist and hammer created a shockwave that stirred up another gust of wind around the area. While the pavement beneath them buckled and cracked in a spider web pattern extending outward for meters.
The man’s confidence grew as he smirked and said. "So you’re a close combat fighter? This isn’t your lucky day."
"Because I can’t breach that armor? Now, now. How would you know if we haven’t tried?" Scath says as she widens before she continues. "Multiply."
The air around her shimmered, and suddenly six identical war hammers appeared in a floating orbit around her body. Each one shined with the same crimson-purple energy as the original, leading the man’s eyes to widen.
The hammers moved like they had minds of their own.
The first came from his left, forcing him to turn around and block it with his arms. The second swept in low from the right towards the man’s knees.
He jumped, but the third was already descending from above, forcing him to cross his arms overhead. The impact drove him to one knee, cratering the ground beneath him.
But the assault had only begun. The remaining hammers circled like predatory birds before diving in. One struck his ribs, another his shoulder, and the third his lower back.
Each impact pushed him further off balance, his defensive stance crumbling under the omnidirectional assault. The hammers moved in perfect coordination, never interfering with each other, and always striking from different angles.
The man roared as golden fur erupted between his scales, and his muscles bulged with newfound strength. He grabbed one hammer mid-swing, his scaled hand closing around its shaft.
Then with a bestial snarl, he swung it like a club, batting aside two others.
Scath laughed with joy as she said. "Good, don’t be destroyed by just that now."
As the hammers dissolved into motes of light, her original weapon began another transformation.
The war hammer changed again as it became thinned, segments appearing along its length until she held a chain whip. She snapped it forward, the weighted end moving faster than anything.
The man raised his arm to block, but the chain wrapped around it instead. With a sharp pull, she yanked him off balance. As he stumbled forward, the chain released and began to reform.
By the time he’d recovered his footing, she stood before him with brass knuckles on both hands, each one glowing with golden-crimson light.
"Come on now, let’s go!" Scath roared with a beastial grin as she smashed her fist into the green-haired man’s face.
The man’s head snapped back before he glared at her and bashed out with his own fist. The exchange that followed was brutal.
Scath weaved between his strikes as she sidestepped, ducked, and leaned from his golden-scale fists within an inch.
Before her fists found every gap in his defense, a strike to his kidney that made him grunt, an uppercut to his stomach that drove the air from his lungs, and a fist to his jaw that made him bloodied.
The green-haired man swung wildly as his fist blasted through the air. But Scath ducked under it, grabbed his extended arm, and used his own momentum against him.
Her foot swept his ankle while she pulled, sending him tumbling as he fell. Scath spun around before bringing her knee up into the green-haired man’s descending face.
The man’s face was slightly caved in by the knee before he was lifted up into the air. Then Scath grabbed his shirt before spinning him again and hurled him into the wall.