Chapter 17 - One-sided Fights

Chapter 17 - One-sided Fights

10 minutes earlier…

Footsteps resounded repetitively in an alleyway as another reverberated from the rooftops.

In spite of the ever so pitch-dark path, the silhouette of a person can be seen by his brilliant uniform, while the second individual who's wearing a knight suit, is being shown by the bright moonlight, revealing her blonde hair.

—Fwoosh!

That's right. The Imperial Knights' Commander, Somnus and Hermes are on their way, pursuing the kidnappers!

Dashing across the series of projectiles from above, Somnus used his surroundings as a cover by leaping off the walls, sliding beneath objects, and blocking the arrows with items lying on the ground, while also returning the favor by parrying the attacks right back at the culprits.

Rather than taking care of his enemies, he ignored them completely without bulging an eye. It was as if he was more focused on his objective than a minor setback.

—FWISH!

As quick as lightning, necks were snapped from behind the attackers, displaying a scene of falling corpses in the alleyway while the enemies fell short of noticing the danger at their backs.

"What the..! UACK!!"

"You..!"

After witnessing their fallen comrade's neck get penetrated by their own dagger, the enemies stood frozen on their feet; stunned by the dazzling hair that wavered under the moonlight.

Once a silhouette of a woman swung her dagger to remove it from her foe's blood, the identity of this culprit was uncovered immediately by her voice alone.

"There isn't sufficient time for chitchat, is there? So I would prefer it if you came to me at once." With the moonlight casting on her face for her opponents to recognize instantly, she made her voice known to them.

—Clink!

"Darn you, Hermes!!"

"Get her!"

—CLATTER!

Enemies swarmed Hermes in haste with coordinated attacks that could leave the noblewoman in a predicament! As a response, Hermes targeted the weakest link of her opponents before deciding on slamming her dagger into her opponent's skull without mercy!

A relentless action to strike fear in her enemies which prompted a desirable situation for her when one of them faltered, presenting her with an opportunity to plunge her other dagger into their hip.

Releasing her hand from the unremovable dagger in the skull, Hermes thrust the fresh corpse at her foes after evading some attacks being launched at her.

Her swift movements provided her with an advantage to land an attack behind her opponent's blindspots. And with her combat prowess, she struck the enemies' hands to catch them off guard, which unarmed them in the process!

Even though some didn't fall for this trick, Hermes managed to cripple a few of the enemies by bending their arms and legs in ways one can feel discomfort from a glance!

Truly, a merciless fighter!

'Somnus, I'll leave a couple alive for you to interrogate later on.' Hermes ponders amidst a fight.

—RUMBLE!

At a different location, blaring noises were overheard from the left side of Somnus, prompting him towards that direction!

With a leap, once Somnus climbs up to a two-story building to gain the upper hand, he holds his steps and unsheathes his sword in silence.

Even if Somnus looked out of the window for only a split second, there was already a sight filled with scattering body parts all over the ground; a gory massacre!

The scene of his supposed enemies engaging in a battle against two unknown individuals was a sight to behold. The moment it came into view, Somnus' eyes wandered off to the person fleeing after leaving behind their comrades to handle the rest.

In spite of the uninvited guests, the Commander of the Imperial Knight has only one goal, and it's to retrieve someone.

—STAB!

"ACK!"

Rather than eliminating the foes who were preoccupied with a fight, Somnus' priority kicked in for him to sneak up on the retreating man who's carrying the kidnappee, Caissa!

"Who..?! You!" The person who was penetrated by a sword to his shin, bellowed in rage before knocking his elbow towards Somnus' hand!

In no time at all, Somnus removed his hand from his blade and backed off from the attack!

While taking a step back, the Somnus knocked his opponent back as hard as possible to force him into dropping Caissa!

A close call was made when the Commander jumped in to recover Caissa from the fall. A few seconds after that, Somnus took off to the nearest building to protect the teenager from the kidnapper.

In order to safeguard the girl, the knight diligently locks his line of sight onto her, which will prevent another kidnapping from enacting again.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

Not a moment to react, the man was instantaneously met with an agonizing pain where his bones suffered from being broken in multiple places! Even though his arm was being bent out of shape, his ribs weren't freed from the torture of being stomped on by Somnus!

"URKK—!"

Crushing the ribs and wrenching the arm rendered the man into a state of paralysis as his outcry of affliction suddenly stopped working from within his impaired internals!

—CLING!

However, his prayers were heard by his comrades! In the blink of an eye, Somnus was seen clashing against daggers, wielding his sheath in one hand while the sword was unceasingly inflicting more wounds onto the man!

—SLASH!

"You're already here?" The leader mumbles while his two comrades try to make a run for it in front of the two unknown individuals!

At that moment, Somnus parried the daggers away before extending his sword towards his enemy, intending to stab him!

Instead of dodging to the right, the leader is evading towards the left where the direction towards Caissa is! With a strong kick to the floor, the kidnapper launched off towards the building after tossing throwable knives at Somnus, who was pursuing the former!

"Your sacrifices will be worthwhile." A mumbling voice resounds in the alleyway when the unprecedented flare of flame rushes to fill the scene!

In the blink of an eye, the fire came without notice as it emerged from the cracks of the flooring, building walls of flame that resembled the ones in the Olympic Stadium!

Nothing was safe from the element. From the barrels beside the buildings to the corpses on the floors, those are acting as fuels and are setting the fire ablaze, spreading farther than one might expect!

Wild in nature; the flame flickers at its highest intensity to the point where someone may fall from overheating!

"..How unsightly." Somnus stood with no fright towards the rising temperature and was instead wiping his sword spotless!

"Euk! Get him!"

—WHOOSH!

"What do you think you're doing?" An unfamiliar yet antagonistic voice echoes behind the flaming wall to instill fear into the Imperial Knight's Commander without any success in doing so.

With no time to witness what was happening behind the flame, the Commander immediately became preoccupied with something else, taking a stance where he could withdraw his weapon in an instant!

—SWOOSH!

'How come she is the slowest when she's the fastest?' Somnus sighs as an image of a certain blonde lady in question appears inside his mind.

—CLING! CLINK!

—CRASSSH!

Blade against arrows; the sword's edge made a clean cut of arrows piercing from all sides! Split arrows dropped to the ground constantly, while there was no end to the volley of arrows!

Those broken projectiles soon came into contact with the fire, igniting to cause a burst of flames from the piles and surrounding Somnus to the point where his movements were being restricted by fire!

From Somnus' viewpoint, the roofs are being occupied by reinforcements from the kidnapper's side; with archers who are aiming to penetrate through the Imperial Knights' Commander's defenses!

Yet, under the surface, Somnus had already noticed their attempt to lend their leader a chance to escape with Caissa, their main priority!

Because the wall of flame is obstructing Somnus's line of sight from his rear, including the archers', none of them know whether the leader has escaped, which makes it difficult for both parties to pinpoint that person.

But, for some unknown reason, Somnus wasn't at all concerned…?

—SLASH!

"AUK!"

"GARH!"

"Fall back! Fall ba—UAK!"

—THUD!

All of a sudden, the marksmen's bodies tumble down to the ground with a splatter of blood upon impact!

"What's the status?" Appearing at the right timing, Hermes' entrance gave rise to the fall of nearly fatal wounded foes!

"Caissa is behind the fire with the enemy's leader."

"Understood."

Before the flame got to the enemies, Somnus landed atrocious kicks on each of the enemies that fell, handing them over to safety upon toppling down onto the untouched area of the flame, so as not to add fuel to the burning blaze!

However, the knight didn't spare all of them..

—SHRIEEEEK!

"His Blessing is presumed to be of the 'Elemental' category."

Unaffected by their screeching, Somnus caused a few lives to be lost by cutting them open to put out the flame with their blood; not even the splash of blood on his face could alter his indifference!

As a result, the flame died down seconds by seconds before Hermes jumped down from the rooftops to take a look at the situation.

"Tch." The discontent in her grunt tells everything.

A quick glimpse of the scene provided both Somnus and Hermes with their failure in securing their main duty. Not only has the leader of their enemies disappeared amidst the field of boiling blood, Caissa is nowhere to be seen!

"The enemy's status?" Hermes promptly asks.

"Upon arrival, 7 enemies were spotted with 3 immediately disposed of once engaged in combat. One is gravely injured."

"Then those marksmen were the Resistance's reinforcements. Are you fortunate to have me by your side?"

"Lady Hermes, please refrain from your flirtatious attempts."

"Haven't I informed you that I'm merely teasing you?"

"No, you haven't." Somnus lied blatantly.

For a moment, Hermes figures it out and simply chuckles it out as a way to ignore the Commander's attempt at lying. Afterward, solemnity creeps its way through her expression.

'The entrances to the Capital are spread out far from each other, which implies I'll be heading over one at a time.'

'Putting my speed into consideration, I'll circle the whole place in 10 to 20 minutes with no obstacles blocking my path.'

'Thankfully, knights are already stationed at the gateways as per my orders, which leaves Somnus to survey the surrounding areas.'

'In order not to be spotted or be conspicuous with their movements, these kidnappers must be hiding somewhere close in reach.'

'Somnus will seek them out if they're within my expectations. However, the Resistance wouldn't be ignorant enough to allow their forces to infiltrate the Olympic Stadium without an escape plan.'

'They must understand there'll be guards at the gateways and the Empire's defensive walls which leave only…'

'The sewerage.'

Within a few seconds of contemplation, Hermes managed to put herself in her enemy's shoes before coming up with a quick solution to the problem!

And most shocking of all, not needing a word from Hermes, Somnus had already grasped the dilemma and understood what the next course of action was.

—SWIISH!

A swift nod of a head from Hermes towards Somnus provided him with confirmation of his colleague's thought process, prompting him to turn around and take a look at the piles of wounded enemies in front of him.

"..." Somnus narrowed his eyes.

—Step…