The Stamiv Raid (Part 4)

The three continued to stare at one another before Nylanna advanced towards Zaban to land a swift killing strike but Abrik swiftly dashed past him in an attempt to strike at Nylanna's face with his hand. However, Nylanna skillfully evaded the attack and countered with her swift movements of her own, seemingly gaining an advantage over Abrik. Despite this, Abrik maintained a smile on his face and kept his gaze fixed on Zaban while restraining Nylanna.

Abrik then persistently exerts more pressure on Nylanna, who finds herself now in a disadvantageous position during the fight. However, she gradually starts to catch up to his level still, even managing to cause minor injuries to him and nearly executing more fatal strikes, despite suffering from bleeding wounds to her face. Abrik grins in excitement and shock, praising, "My apologies for ever underestimating you! You're quite speedy and adaptable! Say, we trade our names?"

Nylanna grows increasingly aggressive and angry during the fight, ignoring Abrik. Zaban observes and plans the optimal approach to intervene. "[I can't catch up with their speed and I'm unsure how to I will jump in the fun without risking injury. But... That's the fun part of the fight, right? Jumping in knowing you won't leave how you started,]" Zaban thought, having a small nervous yet enthusiastic grin on his face before his tattoo glowed gold and he charged into the fight head first. Abrik had got Nylanna against the floor already and was able to go for the killing blow but he was caught off guard by Zaban's sudden rush as Zaban delivered a backhand swing to his face, sending him crashing through the walls.

Zaban offers a helping hand to Nylanna, who is currently coughing in pain and bleeding. "I fought this guy and I think you know too by now. This guy is out of both our leagues. I think it's our best strategy to team up on him," Zaban says as Nylanna looks at his hand and then his eyes. She grabs her dagger and attempts to stab him in the heart but Zaban moved slightly so he'll only get a small cut on his left chest, now engaging in a brawl with Nylanna where Zaban is on the defensive the entire time due to Nylanna's aggression and speed.

After sustaining multiple wounds and bleeding profusely from various parts of his body, Zaban was compelled to employ his previous fight tactics against Nylanna. He endeavored to force her to stab his hand and subsequently aimed to deliver a front kick to her abdominal area. However, Nylanna adeptly used her knee to shield her abdomen and surprised Zaban by flipping in the air. She then executed her 'Psychi Technique', whirling in the air and channeling a potent wind aura to encompass her right leg. This enabled her to execute a powerful stomp to Zaban's forehead that caused Zaban to be propelled through the ground, creating a sizable hole. Following the attack, she jovially proclaimed "WHIRLWIND CURB-STOMP!" as she jumped off of Zaban and landed outside the hole. While Zaban was momentarily unconscious, he soon reawakened and struggled to stand on his feet amid the deafening ringing in his ears.

Nylanna jumps down with a smirk on her face with no hesitation, and sprints at Zaban, forcing him to yet again be on the defensive again but albeit more weakened due to the damage he got. Nylanna sees Zaban's tattoo glowing more immensely as Zaban hides his eyes but all she sees is Zaban having a large smile on his face, conceiving in thought, "[I've wasted two of my Psychi slots on this guy... Gale Footsteps and Whirlwind Curb-Stomp only take away one... But I only have four in total... If I did it again, I won't be able to use my strongest move... I might need to save it since this idiot is made out of fucking steel to still be standing after that!]" She then goes to the ceiling of the room before storming down to Zaban he simply takes a step back, getting some of his hair strands cut but still manages to let Nylanna crash herself through the floor, yet again using her speed against her.

"She got too carried away... She went to the ceiling for a split second... Easy to predict and counterattack," Zaban chuckles before he leaped down towards Nylanna, only to feel an eerie sensation from behind. He turned to find Abrik's hand poised for a karate chop aimed at his neck. Zaban swiftly retrieved the dagger that Nylanna previously attacked him with and attempted to counterattack but missed. Despite his unsuccessful attempt, Zaban managed to force Abrik to cease his attack and retreat. With Zaban clutching his left arm and tightly gripping the knife, he calmly faced Abrik while Nylanna arose from the ground, visibly disorientated and incensed. Nonetheless, this altercation resulted in all of them assuming their original stances from before, albeit with additional injuries and bruises.

[THE HUMAN FIGHTER]

Simultaneously, within Riversia Village, the entirety of the military personnel have aligned themselves in the hallways to present formal salutes to Ezof, who stands at the forefront of this formation with his prominent staff, while Hosteller stands ahead of him and grasps her rapier tightly with intensely bulging veins, yet maintains a composed and stoic expression.

Corporal Ezof utilizes his stick to produce a sound wave that compels all slack soldiers to rectify their posture and perspire. He proceeds to issue a smile and boisterously declares, "The General has instructed me to gather you all in formation today because it has been confirmed that Zaban's escape did not involve any altercation, thus, she suspects that an individual within the contingent may have had a hand in facilitating his smooth escape! As we have already dealt with the two guards... It is now time to address this potential threat within our ranks." The soldiers appear befuddled, conversing amongst themselves, speculating who could have assisted #4 while #106 nervously bites down on his lip and trembles slightly.

Hosteller emitted an exasperated sigh, thus alerting and startling Ezof to promptly strike his stick on the ground, commanding the immediate cessation of all soldiers' discussions. Commencing a gradual stride down the corridor in her elevated footwear, Hosteller fixed her gaze intently on each soldier, whilst Ezof trailed closely behind, emitting derisive sounds toward all in attendance.

#92 coughs–

Ezof lunges his stick into #92's stomach and yells out, "Huh? What was that?!" #92 fixes his posture and tries to hold his cough in, "N-nothing sir!"

"It sounded like you wanted to say something!"

"No sir!"

"Oh really?! Don't be shy! Spit it out!"

"Sir, I don't have anything to speak out about, sir!"

"C'mon! We're friends right?"

"Yes sir!"

Ezof smashes the stick into this stomach and says, "We're friends right?!"

#92 grunts in pain but continues to stand firm, "Sir yes sir!"

"No, we're not! For you to have that mentality indicates you failed your training, family, the next generation, your ancestors, and your village! Do you want to fail them, maggot?!"

"No sir! I don't!"

"So are we friends?!"

"No sir!"

Ezof all in his face and screams, "Correct answer! I'm your corporal! And as your corporal, I demand you to tell me what you wanted to say!"

"I apologize, sir! It was a cough, sir!"

"Oh! Are you offering an apology to your supposed "friend"?! It appears that 1,000 repetitions of burpees would suffice as punishment, correct "friend"?!" Ezof made this statement, but Hosteller interrupted him with an irritating cough while maintaining eye contact with Ezof. In response, Ezof acknowledged Hosteller's presence with a nod of his head and immediately instructed #92 to begin his burpee repetitions. With that resolved, Ezof resumed following Hosteller.

#106's anxiety and stress increased the more they begin walking down to his position before he immediately fixes himself right, looking brave and stoic as Hosteller passes by. #106 lets out a huge sigh of relief.

"#106," Hosteller says, stopping her walking as soon as she said that. #106 went back to being stoic albeit sweating as Hosteller turned her head slightly so one eye glanced at him, asking, "Your eyes tell more than just fear. Are you ok?"

#106 lifts an eyebrow in confusion, "My eye?"

"You know, eye contact is very important. The eyes can tell more of a story than the mouth does and sometimes, even the entire body," she says, backstepping her tracks and staring directly at him. "Everyone else felt anxious but only that, your eyes tell extra. Anxious, of course, but also... A large sign of guilt, panic, and overthinking," she says, stepping up to his face.

She puts her hand under her chin, saying, "Hmm. I wonder, WHY are your eyes telling me these things, #106?"

#106 starts shaking as Ezof starts to step up to him but Hosteller puts her hand up to stop Ezof's advance. She begins to grab #106 shoulder and lowers him to her size, threatening "Don't worry about the Corporal, #106. I'm interrogating you personally. What happened when you assisted #4 on his desertion?"

"I-I didn't know he'll escape. I thought... He needed to pee."

"Where?"

"In the bathroom..."

"And the bathroom?"

"To... P-pee..."

Hosteller slightly unsheathed her rapier before staring into his eyes. "I see... Thank you for your cooperation," she says, sheathing her rapier as #106 is frozen in fear, having his shirt and pants slashed off him in mere seconds as he covers himself and runs off.

"Shirt for letting #4 breakout. Pants for letting any comrade piss on a tree. That is extraordinarily nasty," she says, as she snaps her fingers to make Ezof bash his stick to alert all the soldiers to go back to their normal routine.

"Ezof."

"Yes ma'am?"

"We'll have to tell Osei. It has been the longest still a soldier escaped. Only the gods can save us from what Osei decides."

Ezof hesitantly nods and sighs, as he begins to walk back to his soldiers turning his head back to Hosteller.

"... General... "

"Yes?"

Ezof pauses, "Nothing. Sorry," he says before continuing as Hosteller shrugs.

Meanwhile, Zaban, Nylanna, and Abrik continue their three-way fight. Abrik is the current clear victor but still getting hit occasionally doing the chaos as they are destroying the mansion from the inside. Nylanna continues to mainly aim for Zaban who has been on the backfoot this entire fight but refuses to retreat as he uses the dagger to stab his hand again and then swings the dagger, splashing blood off the dagger and on her eyes to temporarily blind her so she'll miss her attack and Zaban could land a punch to her head, sending her through the windows but she grabs on the edge, trying to wipe the blood off her eyes as Abrik kicked Zaban through the hallways and engaged a back and forth scuffle with him with both smiling at each other before they managed to hit each other on sync for the same punch, forcing Zaban back but Abrik barely slid back.

"You're holding back," said Zaban, lightly chuckling while exhausted.

Abrik chuckles and responds, "You've just now figured that out, Sir Sodsa? Be a shame to end the fight."

"You feel pleased dragging on fights you know you can win in an instant?"

"It makes the fight more tense but no, not at all. I try."

"Why don't you fight those equal to you?"

"Oh, no Zaban. That's the terrible part," Abrik sighs, frowning as he gets his hands behind his back. "No one is equal to me. No one but one... Unfortunately, he's gone,"

Zaban looks confused at Abrik's comment before Nylanna sprints at Abrik, but he dodges and kicks her into Zaban, who catches her. Abrik then dropkicks both of them, causing a rumble down the hallway.

"We have to team up... It's the only way to have at least a shot at winning..."

"I'm here to kill you and only you! All he's doing is being a nuisance and getting in the way!"

Zaban thinks to himself before he answers, snaps his finger, and says, "But he obviously out-class you. He will kill you and then kill me, all apart from his mission. If you don't want to lose your shot at killing me then we should at least take him down and save our fight, right?"

Nylanna ponders the implications of Zaban's words, finding herself displeased with the notion that he may be correct. Despite her attempts to brush it off, she eventually concedes with a sigh. "The mere thought of collaborating with my objective is unconscionable. I find this situation to be quite mortifying," she declares with a sense of shame and resentment, as Zaban grins and directs his gaze towards Abrik, who leisurely approaches with his hands clasped behind his back.

Abrik chuckles, saying, "Not a triple threat no more? A shame but may I inquire as to how wonderful you think your teamwork skills will be against– NGH!?" Before he can finish his sentence, Zaban throws a punch straight to his nose which Nylanna follows up with a quick slash to the face, and for a full minute, Zaban and Nylanna go back and forth beating Abrik down, not letting him get out a single attack off. After the minute passes, Abrik manages to regain his composure and pushes the attackers off with a gleam in his eyes, visibly impressed. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," he muses, acknowledging their combat talents. "You two complement each other well, even though you are opposites. This may pose a challenge," he smiles, nonchalantly popping his neck and approaching the pair as the two stand and get ready for his retaliation.