章 32: The night she stood brave yet broken.
The night was still young. Stars twinkling around the big moon, pampering the ones below with serenity that never ceases to amaze him.
'How did he used to describe it again?' Lili wondered as she gazed at the brilliance above.
'Ah, yes! Like a portrait of a million brilliant fishes surrounding a beautiful mermaid.'
Even as calming as it was, it brought her no peace. Not even a shred of it.
She forced herself to witness him escape death countless times under the clubs of Goblins… Near dying, clutched in the claws of that accursed Kobold, then under the blade of that sickening adventurer. And just when she thought it was over, they'll go home now, she found herself traversing floor 2- a shadowy place crawling with monsters far outclassing him- she then found herself dragging his body riddled with shrapnel, broken bones, and deep gashes; covered in blood and then came the revelation of his body's condition. She saw it all… been at all in the brief span of a single day.
And just when she thought it was finally over, they'll finally get to go home now…
Lili's had enough. She had long surpassed her mental fortitude.
She just wanted to go home.
A sentiment she shared all too well with him.
"Just where did he go?" Lili spoke under her breath, as she stood on top of a 2 story house, forcing her heavy eyelids wide open, scanning, searching for even the slightest clue.
"Well, he wasn't kidding about the Blink Assault…" She sighed, tired.
What happened back at the street once again flashed before her eyes- that desperate yet jubilant grin… How it shattered in an instant by that slap from fate itself. A slap she couldn't be more familiar with.
"Maybe he just needs some time alone," She lulled herself. The eyelids weighed too heavy, so did the bag. The tension slowly left her body as it slid down to the cold hard floor, her eyes closed.
Only to snap open again, "No! The sedatives!" Adrenalin rushed in her system mirroring the frantic pounding of her heart, "His wounds! He doesn't have much time left!"
Her body jumped on its own, breathing ragged, eyes scanning for the tallest structure in sight.
And soon her eyes locked onto a 3 story building a few hundred meters away.
"That'll do…" she growled before bolting off the roof.
Lili may have a Falna, but she wasn't strong enough to jump from building to building- streets were her only option.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she hurled herself into the alleys with a panicked mind and an even desperate heart.
The wide-lit streets became dark-dim alleyways, narrow and… strangely empty.
Each stomp of her feet echoed louder than the last, but her heart still pounded louder in her ears. Even the loud winds swooshing past her ears- all overpowered by a voice looping- every second wasted is another eternity of agony for him, rush before it consumes him.
One dark alley led to another just as her one step led to another- she was getting closer.
Her shoulders crashed on the wall at every agonizing turn. Slowing down was not an option.
Every sharp turn was a jolting reminder that she cannot slow down.
The stings, her pain, suffocation, her burning lungs were all irrelevant- clouded by the single-minded resolve to get to him, wherever he was… however, he was.
The fiery resolve in her heart was scalding her lungs. A small price she'd pay a thousand times over.
Her bruised shoulders, the stalls, and the stones her feet stumbled on were all but a numbing itch.
'I'm not late… he's close-he's close', her mind looped over and over again, fueling the inferno with frenzied adrenalin.
Her resolve- her will- her worries- that flame may not have a limit, but her body did.
Her scalding lungs were now burning too hot to bear, steps were getting sloppy, her mind was losing focus.
The thought of a moment's breath was so tempting… taunting.
[Few more turns… just a few more!] She coaxed herself as she turned right, only for her vision to be blocked by the large silhouette of a hulking man and the kick he hurled her way.
-BAM!
The little air she had in her lungs squeezed out as the metal-plated boot plunged itself into her chest, sending her flying straight back.
Like a lifeless doll, her body skidded on the cold hard floor for a few more meters before coming to a gasping stop as she gasped for the air that never came.
Hugging her chest, she trashed, turned, twitched in misery as she suffocated.
Her legs scrambled, trashed, arched her body up in desperation before slowly going limp, tears not daring to pour out.
Her eyes stretched so wide, so close to death, but it all twisted into a seething rage the second that sneering face of a Raccoon-Person came into view.
Caneo Belway.
Caneo leisurely strolled to the suffocating little girl before shoving his fist down into Lili's gut with no mercy to speak of as he yelled, "That wha'chya get ya'little bitch!"
Maybe a mercy from the gods above she received instead, or just dumb luck- along with pain air returned to Lili's lungs as a spray for blood spurt out of her mouth.
For reasons unclear, Caneo then stepped back, allowing Lili a second of recuperation and the much-needed air.
And she used every last bit of it, gasping, coughing, inhaling in all the air she possibly could through her blood clotted nose and mouth, all the while fighting the crushing pain ravaging her chest with every breath she drew.
[Not the time!] She commanded her shuddering body, but it refused to move an inch.
[Getup!] She demanded again, yet it didn't.
And the very next second, her brain truly registered the catastrophe.
The broken ribs, the splitting headache… Every breath brought a new level of withering misery.
-Cugh-Cough!
Laying on her bag- coughing blood on her chest, Lili's eyes gradually turned to the perpetrator of it all.
Mustering all her power, she asked, "How…" [How'd they see through my disguise?]
With his arms folded, Caneo cackled, "Our Capin's courtesy… He let us in on that lili Magic Item you got… can change how you look, huh. D'ya know hurt he was when I tol'em how your bitch jabbed me… aw that look'o betrayal in his eyes… So the boys decided to teach'ya a lesson with ya'own medicine… Cinder Ella, that Magic Item, eh?"
Helpless-dread clouded Lili's eyes as she gazed at the sickening smirk on his face.
The scenario Argus dreaded the most came true.
The captain took offense.
With one final cough, Lili decreed her body to move.
Little by little, her trembling palms clenched into fists, the broken chest heaved, jaw clenched, her eyes sharpened- all burning in fury and… regret.
If only she hadn't bet it all on her magic.
Caneo gaped a scowl as Lili's small trembling frame slowly stood up, despite the crushing blows.
"Well, then…" Lili's bloodied lips growled and for the first time, she glared at an adventurer directly in the eye, "Tell Zanis, our dear captain… to go screw himself with a jar of Soma's wine! I'm done cowering. You want to kill me? Capture me? Torture and rob me?... Try! I dare you… and even if you do succeed… He will come for you and when he does… he'll be aiming for your head this time."
Caneo's face morphed blank as for the first time, this insect existing solely to be stomped under his boot, retaliated- insulted him, his captain, and his god, and she did so with a grin on her face.
A frenzied rush of madness then rocked his very soul as his jaw clenched and a bestial growl stretched across his face, "Grown a pair, have'ya?"
Lili chuckled wide through her bloodied teeth and said, "What about you? Have you? A new one…"
Caneo's face looked no different from the monster he was ready to pounce on the trembling little girl.
But before he could even take a step…
-BUFFF!
Lili threw a smoke bomb right beside her feet and bolted away.
"AFTER HER!" A man shrieked, followed by tens of footsteps stomping in the shadows, hurling themselves at the fleeing Lili with weapons drawn.
Some hurled knives and stones at her, some shot cross-bow bolts or arrows, but they were all blocked by the enormous bag she hung on her back, but the impact stumbled her feet more than once.
Lili's gut churned with every swish of the blades tearing through the air from behind, but her sprint never slowed.
The streets once again became blurs as she ran away from certain death, clutched to her life through sheer hope and trust.
Between the agonizing huffs she scrammed- she yelled, called the only name that will ever come for her… and never abandon her, "Mast… ARGUS! Help!" she prayed, but not even his shadow came.
She had bet everything, including her life on his name.
On the hope… on the fantasy he ignited that blazed- she's not alone.
[He'll come for me!] Was the only force dragging her through the dark alleys.
Lefts-rights, she had long forgotten how many turns she took- for how long she had been running. The Soma Familia was now just behind her.
From the roof, the shadows, the sharp turns… everywhere she gazed, a Soma Familia member was sprinting at her life.
The merciless rain of metal had long clarified- negotiations are off. They're going to kill her.
-BISSH!
Another turn came, another smoke bomb she dropped hoping to confuse them or at least slow them down, but it was all for naught.
The archers on the rooftops guided the ones below while they shot arrows after arrows at her back.
That enormous bag… her only shield soon became a nest of arrows, bolts, and knives plunged in.
"ARGUS!" She screamed once again only to be replied by howls of the demons chasing her life.
Each passing second- each passing breath was getting increasingly desperate. Her lungs were about to give up, so was her body. She knew she was peaking her absolute limits.
After a left turn, her sweat-stinging eyes darted around their sockets before locking on to a staircase leading to the rooftops.
[Archers will have a hard time there…] she thought, hoping to snatch the advantage of height the snipers had on her, before dropping another smoke bomb and a nade midst its cover.
And it worked. The snipers lost their vantage view and the smoke bombs became much more effective now, permitting her one less thing to worry about.
Lili stomped through the edge of the roof and dropped another smoke bomb right before leaping off the edge, and onto another roof, with strength and agility she never knew she had.
But her worst fear was slowly creeping true- her body had reached its absolute limit. Her desperate calls for Argus died down as well, for she has gotten her answer- he's not coming.
She was all alone.
Her maddened steps involuntarily slowed down to a desperate jog and soon they turned into a deadly halt, allowing the rabid dogs surround her.
One after another they encircled around her, grinning, smirking, growling, laughing at her shivering-tearing face.
Every face she gazed at crushed her withering heart curler.
But still, she held on… cupped that flickering candle, shieling it from the abyss hell-bent on consuming her whole as she let out another cry to the name that gave her this flame, "MASTER ARGUS!!"
But still, he said nothing, not even a whimper.
Instead, what replied to her desperate plea were the laughs and taunts of people of her Familia… her Family.
"Would'ya look at that!" one laughed, mocking, "Mashta Aush~!"
"No one's commin to'ya bitch!"
"Even if he heard'ya yelling… he proly'ran off with his tail tucked close in his legs… aw, anyone would," laughed another as he swung his blade through air.
Taunting, they closed in on the shivering little girl- laughing at her resolve as they smirked. Hurling saliva along with insults too revolting to even mention at the face of her hopes.
For the first time, Lili regretted it.
She regretted every moment- every memory of him.
How he showed her those beautiful fantasies of hope, to fight back, of freedom.
Look where it got her.
What hurt her the most was that- he abandoned her.
He wasn't there when she needed him the most
Those taunts, their laughs, the facts, this harsh reality they shoved into her face- her reality.
Her misty eyes glared at the approaching animals, burning their faces into her very soul with a heart scalding in helplessness… weakness.
"What's the matter lil'bitch!" Caneo laughed as he licked his lips, eyes blazing in unhidden wickedness, "You angry?"
"Hehehah! Just look at'ere she shakin!" They all roared in laughter, while some even hurled pebbles at her.
Her heart begged to stop beating as she stood, surrounded by her worst nightmares, her insecurities, her fears, her misery, her reality- all laughing, taunting, daring her to even give it a try.
"ENOUGH!!" She screamed… no, she roared, loud enough to shut them all to silence, wipe those grins off their faces, 'enough' to this fate- to this cruel world. Some of them even stumbled a step back.
"Not so easy!" she growled at her demons in rebellion to all they stand for.
Her helplessness- her weakness- her misery- her desperation- the pain consuming her body- the blood dripping- their glee- their taunts- her fate- her reality… For the first time, she stood in defiance. All alone she was, yes, but she stood brave.
-If I'm going down tonight… I'm taking every single one of you with me!
"YOU LITTLE-!" came a yell from behind as a man lunged at her in madness.
-KUTCH!
Only to be stabbed in the gut by a glistening red dagger clutched in Lili's hand, and then…
-BOOM!
The man's body exploded in a blazing riot of blood and entrails before he could even utter a single cry, showering her red as they gaped in horror.
As the bloody mist settled, Lili's bloodied-red frame came into view, clutching a Magic item, glimmering in flames.
Her chestnut eyes glared murderously at each and every one of them, and they all trembled a step back without fail.
Resting her glare on the dumb-stun Caneo, Lili raised the Magic-Knife, ready to char him black as she said, "Be gone, Caneo… take your dogs with you and leave me alone."
But the stun on his face soon morphed into a trembling-raging grin as he growled, "You killed him!"
"And you all will share the same fate if you don't leave me alone-"
But the words got stuck in her throat as a slender hand grabbed her raised wrist without her notice.
"Come now, Arde. We're family," spoke a soft voice before-
-CRACK! AHHHA!
Lili's shrill cry pierced through the night sky as the man's grip on her wrist tightened and with a flick of his thumb, he cracked the bones in her wrist with a perverse grin plastered on his face.
Lili's legs trashed and trawled where she stood as the knife fell out of her grasp, only to fall into his hand.
The man then lifted Lili up from her broken wrist then shoved the knife into her back, staining her cloak red before activating the blade's fire magic, but only barely.
-HHAAAAHAH!
Lili's heart-wrenching screams shook the roofs as her legs thrashed in a last fit of desperation but of no avail. The searing-glowing red-fiery blade plunged into her back burned her flesh, no matter how she moved, thrashed, screamed, fought, no matter what she did… the man was too strong to contend.
-PLUCH!
After what seemed like an eternity of infernal torment, he pulled the smoldering blade out of her back and let go of her broken wrist.
Not even blood sprayed out of the little one's back as her trembling frame fell on the floor, helplessly trembling and twitching. Yet her eyes remained unyielding as ever as she snapped her head back to the man who caused it all.
But the rage in her eyes almost shattered the moment her gaze landed on the chiseled face of the specs wearing man, as he stood swirling her Magic Dagger between his fingers, "Captain…"
Zanis Lustra, Captain of the Soma Familia, and a Level-2.
She lost all hope… it was futile.
And Argus was still nowhere to be found.
She was now up against a horde of Level-1s and a Level-2. Helpless, tired, critically injured, trembling, bleak, and all alone, all she had was just her flickering will to forge on.
Crouching before her, Zanis tapped her tear-stained cheek with her own Magic Blade, "Ah! How it calms my heart to know that you still consider me your captain!" he grinned in sadistic hypocrisy, "Now then, Arde… let's go home! We have much to discuss… especially about that Cinder Ella 'Magic Item'."
[Escape… I need to… I need a distraction!] Lili pled, glaring at the monster with gritted teeth and defiance.
And for once, the heavens listened.
"Fire-Bolt!" resounded a war cry, tearing through her desperation, engulfing the roofs in flames and lightning.
[This is it!]
-BUSSH!-BUSSH!
Lili's other hand came alive and a second later, clouds of smoke engulfed the roofs, joining the dance of flames and lightning, as she forced her battered body off the floor and then the roof.
クリエイターの想い 
An_Imperfectionist
An_Imperfectionist Word count: 2938
I figured I'd do some research on fight and action scenes before writing this one, so I hopped on to my go-to youtube channel, {Writing with Jenna Moreci} for some advice on the matter.
She insisted that fighting and action scenes don't need many details, but heart-pounding emotions and stuff.
A thought... A preference I understand, but do not agree with.
So scratching my scalp, I ran to the nearest book store and bought a fantasy novel she wrote {The savior's champoion}, and stormed through the 655 pages book for the next 2 days just to see how effective her claim was, and learn what I can from it.
And to be honest... despite not being detailed, her fight scenes were ridiculously thrilling to read.
Once finished, I went back to my novel, all puffed up and stuff... with a mind mixing and blending a cocktail of 'Detailed' and 'Not Detailed' action scenes.
And man, it was a grueling process!
That's why it took so long, and trust me- this isn't even the full chapter.
This was supposed to be a 6 thousand word chapter, but I figured I'm getting a little too delayed. So I forced my hand to upload this as it was... a 3k word chapter.
So tell me, did you like this one?
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