Chapter 16 - Subjugate

Chapter 16 - Subjugate

—Rustle..

"Pfft." The Pontiff lets out a laugh.

Deranged laughter breezes throughout the almost pitch-dark alleyway, inciting the atmosphere to follow suit with an eerie feel.

While the ambience alone alerted everyone who was there, it rang repetitively with enough tension to cause tremors.

"A Sister.. She's with him, isn't she?"

"How come the Temple got involved with this?"

With the unanticipated appearance of a short yet formidable girl, it became an unbalanced fight; odds are in the group's favor, whereas the duo, a Sister and a Pontiff, stand upright with no fright in their glance.

A dangerous aura swirled around these individuals; almost daunting to set one's foot forward or backward.

'What are these people's identities?' The leader of the group builds up his guard.

"I'll at least give you mercy if you decide to surrender right now." The unnamed Pontiff spoke with one of his hands extended out, while finding amusement in seeing the petrified looks of his enemies.

"You're daydreaming if you expect us to follow your lead." Undaunted by him, the group's leader stepped forth to display his resistance to this Pontiff's bold assumption.

"Child, if you yield at this moment, your life will be spared. You have a long life to live. Wouldn't it be natural to stray far from unwanted agony?"

"Ha! What a hilarious joke. You expect us to surrender to you, Olympians, after you have invaded our homelands and caused destruction in your wake? Conceding to your words is as revolting as being reminded of your ceaseless conquest! Heck, you think we're stupid enough to comply? It's not as if you listened to us when we wished to be spared!"

Out of the blue, the muscular man who's standing at the far back of the group, bellows his hatred-filled heart for all to hear! To everyone's surprise, apart from the duo's, they weren't anticipating a shout coming from their side; far worse is that their group's identity is slowly but surely being revealed!

"Shut up, Brendanus!" Beside the leader, the robust woman bawls at the impetuous comrade of hers!

"And did I say anything wrong?! We all agree that what Olympus did was revolting and despicable!"

"Are you serious?! Just keep your mouth shut for a sec!"

—Whistle!

"My expectations were wholly crushed. I didn't foresee an internal conflict right off the bat." A high-pitched noise seized and alarmed all the kidnappers' attention, while the sound of footsteps echoed closer and closer, insinuating the Pontiff's advances!

—Clap!

"Brendanus, your words are far too excessive. I don't have any sort of relation to Olympus."

"Like I said, I'm not stupid enough to fall for something like that! Aren't you here because of this girl? Then what happens if I were to kill her?" Brendanus brought out his dagger towards Caissa's neck, who was being carried by him.

The Pontiff smiles innocently.

—CLING!

"Krgh!!"

In the blink of an eye, the quick-witted group's leader reacted with his unsheathed daggers before parrying Pontiff's hand from getting an inch closer to Brendanus.

"Concentrate, Brendanus!"

The enraged yet startled Brendanus returned to his battle position after receiving his orders. On the other hand, the leader was in a pickle after witnessing the changes happening to his dagger!

Erosion of rust spread like a plague, and the blade that should have landed a bleeding wound to the Pontiff's barehand, was instead shattering into pieces upon his clasp!

"..?!"

"Although you may not be my target for today, I hope you pray no mind to the bloodshed you'll be a part of." The Pontiff forms a creepy grin as he seizes the dagger's hilt without its blade.

"!!!"

Without any delay, the Pontiff shoved the man away using brute force before continuing onwards to eliminate his foe!

"Brendanus! Retreat! Don't let him take that girl!" The brawny woman plunges her claymore to the front of Brendanus, prompting him to be safe from the Pontiff's clutches!

"..."

Once a grin on his face becomes overshadowed by a crazed expression, the Pontiff appears to be no longer sane in the eyes of the kidnappers! In fact, the claymore was showing signs of rust by his touch!

"His Blessing requires physical contact! Don't let him near you! Draw a distance between you and him!" The leader identified the cause and took out his crossbow, firing it at the Pontiff!

—CLINK!

"Hmp."

In the arrow's way stood a short girl who was the culprit behind the first death of this group's members!

At her wake, her sword unsheathed with a shimmer before her feet swiftly kicked off from the ground. The distance cut in half by her speed, brought about a disadvantage to her with the constant shooting of arrows towards her side of the field.

Because of this Sister's forward charge towards the kidnappers, the arrows inch closer to her than ever, which prompts her to use her eyes to locate the projectiles before relying on her quick reflexes to slice and dice them!

Amidst the onslaught of attacks, the Pontiff took this opportunity to dodge the claymore that was about to slash his head off! During his evasion, he switched sides and allowed his ally to take care of the well-built woman while he was up against 3 of the group mates!

—Cling!

"What?!" The claymore wielder grasped when she was presented with a torrent of slashes from the short girl!

Shielded by her greatsword, this woman was incapable of landing a strike and was instead focused on defending herself from the sneaky stabs in the numerous slashes!

'In that case!' The woman thought before slamming her weapon to the ground with all of her strength!

—RUMBLLLLEEE!

All of a sudden, the floor, which was flat and rough, turned out to be spikes that sprung out of the ground in order to pierce through the short girl's defense and injure her!

In order to buy sufficient time for her comrades, this woman, who is as sturdy as a mountain amidst the quaking earth, caused an imbalance for the duo by using her powers.

To make the Pontiff and Sister lose their footing, it allows the foes to back away from the area and hurry to the roof.

"Damnit! Margaret, behind you!"

In hopes of inflicting disturbance on the two enemies, the tough woman who is named Margaret, has her predictions shattered when both the short girl and the Pontiff take a leap towards their targets instead!

As a matter of fact, the girl is using the claymore as leverage to jump off! Now, the Sister was in a position where she could unleash a terrifying strike at Margaret!

In no second at all, the young girl dragged herself to her enemy's neck, plummeting her blade into Margaret's throat where the sword was stabbed at an angle to ensure death was inevitable!

Once pulled, Margaret's head slammed to the ground with blood scattering from the freshly cut corpse! In spite of being covered in blood, the short girl, without any hesitation, proceeded to grab the head before throwing it towards the Pontiff's rear where an enemy's dagger could be spotted!

With the dagger out of the way, when the headless body began to fall, the girl took off from it and continued to slash the corpse into parts that could be thrown!

"No way.. Margaret…" Horrified, one of the group mates almost puked.

—SPLATTER!

Despite a flood of blood on the floor and body parts dropping one by one from each slice and dice, she wasn't shredding a humane tear nor a reaction to the blood that found its way to her face and clothes!

Everywhere anyone looked, this innocent-looking girl was nowhere near the border of innocence!

'She's a menace!' The kidnappers thought!

Leaving aside the Sister, the Pontiff is putting the leader in his place by displaying his incompetence.

"Where are you planning to go?" The Pontiff sneers.

Without a window of opportunities to slip away from the Pontiff and help out his comrades who were up against the Sister, the leader was gradually being put in an unfavorable position where he was slashing down his friend's corpses!

One by one, body parts were tossed by the Sister at every chance she got, causing every attack that was being directed at the Pontiff to be blocked, swirling blood and flesh in their footsteps and trading blows as they went later on!

But..

The kidnappers, who weren't permitted a chance to mourn their dead comrade, took a glimpse of what was to come! The Pontiff dashed towards the weakest of them, stretching out his hand to grab hold of them among the chaos in their fight against the Sister!

In response, this person was planning to eliminate the nuisance by trying to sever the Pontiff's hand! The daggers that were inches away from splitting the hand from the wrist, were instead used to cut a leg in the process!

"!!!"

With the short girl's assistance, by holding the leg in the weapon's way after silently rushing to her ally's side, the Pontiff was able to grab hold of his foe's neck! And with that, he was moments away from strangling this person to death!

"..Urkk! Keuk!!!"