15 Amari's Stone Heart

'What the hell is wrong with me?' Amari cleaved Gigas through a nearby boulder at the base of a large hill on the outskirts of the town.

'I went and accepted her before, knowing that she wasn't my real sister, and yet...' She sheathed her sword and started walking toward a known monster den, maybe killing some monsters and blowing off some steam would help.

'Why did I say those things? The look on her face when I left.' She clenched her teeth.

'Whatever, but it was true, that's not my sister, Aiya is...' Amari drew her sword once more and slashed through the air, flicking her wrist midswing, sending a shockwave that ripped a stalking beast in half. '...dead.'

Walking past her target, she stopped and stared at the dead level 6 Dire Bear lying on the ground, she looked at her arm holding the sword and flexed her toned muscles.

'Still, I got this strong just to protect Aiya. The hell am I supposed to do now.'

Amari approached the location that the guild had marked on her map. In front of her was a poorly hidden cave entrance, sticks, stones, and leaves covered the entrance with a small carving on a nearby rock.

'Goblins, this would be good practice for Ai.' She shook her head. 'No, stop thinking about her. I'll just finish this mission and head back to the village, they should still be packing up.'

Amari kicked in the makeshift cover as arrows flew out of the newly formed hole. She blurred as the arrows went through her afterimage.

*PUSHI*

In a single swing of her blade, she cut four goblins in half, their bodies fell limply to the ground as Amari walked further into the cave with a cold expression on her face.

"[Fireball]!" One of the little green bastards donning a short set of leather robes launched a ball of intense heat at Amari.

"Useless..." Amari muttered coldly as she grabbed the fireball in her hand and squeezed.

*BOOM*

The fireball erupted into an explosion, causing parts of the cavern to collapse, killing many goblins in the area. The goblin shaman stood with a green barrier surrounding itself, meanwhile, Amari dusted off her shoulder and started to walk toward the shaman.

"Ugah! You no continue! Mud-Sack will stop intruder!" The shaman shouted out.

"Mud sack, huh? Guess you get to know my name too, little guy." She aimed the tip of her massive sword at the shaman. "My name is Amari, known as the Barbarian Queen of the Stoneheart Tribe."

The goblins entire face contorted in fear, even amongst monster tribes, the Barbarian Queen was known and feared by all.

Amari disappeared from her spot and reappeared several feet behind the shaman.

"U-ugah." The goblin's body split in half and fell apart in different directions.

Her now amber eyes looked around at the walls, Amari could see several other forms of life within the walls.

"Tch, I don't have the patience for this right now." Reaching her hand up and touching the low ceiling, the entire cave collapsed, engulfing Amari and the remaining goblins within the cavern.

In a blur, Amari arrived outside the entrance of the cave, the hill had collapsed when the cave was destroyed. 'I need to get the hell away from here.'

Amari started to make her way to the town again when she saw another woman walking towards the town.

"S-sis?" Amari watched on as the woman in a grey tattered dress turned her completely silver covered head towards her, a grin appeared on her face as her ruby eyes locked on to Amari's silver ones.

The woman's body turned unnaturally to face Amari and her grin grew to an unnatural, sadistic smile.

Sensing danger, Amari drew her sword and barely managed to block the woman's strike as she suddenly appeared in front of her, even faster than she could see.

*CRACK*

The woman's hand went limp as the bones broke, but the shattered hand vibrated as the bones forcefully went back into place. Amari blurred as she retreated back as quickly as her [Flash Step] would allow her to, but the woman was already there, sending out another punch.

*CRACK*

The other fist shattered but also left a noticeable crack along Gigas' core. 'Shit!' Amari blurred repeatedly, now trying to dodge out of the way, she barely managed to dodge dozens of barrages until.

*PUSHI*

A fist finally caught her shoulder, piercing through, leaving the arm barely hanging on by bits of flesh. 'Fuck! I'm gonna die at this rate, who is this woman and why does she look like...'

"AMARI! RUN!" Ai screamed out as she held her sword to her chest, she thrust out as the blades separated and shot out towards the woman in a blur.

*PUSHI*

The blade entered through the woman's back and out of her chest as Ai retracted the blade, the V-shaped blades pulling large chunks of flesh with it as it retracted back into a sword.

[Agony: Blade-Whip Mode | INT-Based]

The woman's head turned around completely with a sickening snap as she stared at Ai with a look of sadistic excitement, her ruby eyes started to glow. "I~ Found~ You~" Shivers went down Ai's and Amari's spine hearing the woman speak as her vocal cords were constricted from her neck being completely twisted.

Grabbing her loose arm to make sure she didn't lose it, Amari sent out a powerful kick, sending the woman flying and shattering her arms and ribs.

"Si- Ai, who the fuck is that?" Amari yelled out to Ai.

"It's her! Andromeda! You need to get away, NOW!" Ai yelled out as she coiled her arms again, preparing to thrust Agony's blade whip form again.

Amari's eyes widened in shock before changing to a look of determination. "Not a chance in hell, this is my sis' killer, right? I'm gonna destroy her!"

"Tch." Lowering her sword, she aimed out her open palm toward Amari. "Number 67!"

Ai suddenly appeared in the air in front of Amari, her legs coiled up, she unleashed a powerful double kick to Amari's chest, sending her flying through an open portal into a familiar forest.

"No!" Dashing to the portal, Amari crashed into a tree just as the portal closed. She stared at the words carved on the now leaning tree as tears began to well up in her eyes.

'Ai and Amari, Sisters Forever.' were the words carved on the tree, surrounded by protective magic runes and the number 67 written in the arcane code.

Amari recognized this tree, this is where they had their 'talk', she looked up to the area where Ai had made those fireworks when she was trying to prove that she remembered.

'...that she remembered. Sis...' The tears could no longer be held back.

'No, no, no, no, no.' Amari grabbed a dagger she had hanging from her side and jammed it into her shoulder, pinning her now purple arm to her body, she shot out her senses to get a feel for Ai's direction.

'There.' She honed in on Ai's signature and dashed forth, crashing through trees, roots, and boulders, moving as fast as she could possibly move.

"AAAAAIIIII!"

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