Dorian gritted his teeth. He felt that it wasn’t a good idea at all.

“No matter what, don’t stop! Go straight to the carriage!” Ran urged.

Dorian nodded and charged forward. He didn’t expect Ran to side step and dash around. He gulped down. Kat took an aim and tossed 2 daggers directly to his head. The F! He closed his eyes expecting the worse, even so, he didn’t stop running forward. His heart was throbbing out of his chest and cold sweat drenched his back.

Cling! Cling!

At the sound of colliding metals, his eyes snapped open. Something had deflected the blows. He hissed in relief. It wasn’t the time for him to die yet.

“I’LL SLAUGHTER YOU ALL!” Kat hollered.

She darted to save Kan Yune but was intercepted by Rikku.

“Go! I’ll take care of her!” Rikku yelled as he flew forward to clash with the murderous maid.

Shadow daggers appeared in his hands and a shadowy shield formed in front of him. There was no way he could take her blow head on. Kat’s short sword surged with killing intent and slashed down. His shield exploded under the impact, Rikku raised his daggers to block, yet was sent flying still. His breath caught in his chest and he grimaced in pain. A sword appeared in his hand. He stabbed it deep in the ground in an effort to steady himself and thus managed to stop sliding further. As soon as he found his footing, without missing a beat, he dashed forward with force to counter-attack.

Countless shadow darts rose at his side and threw themselves onto the maid. Rikku didn’t believe that they could injure her, at least, he hoped they could hinder her enough for him to find a gap and strike. Kat flung the darts away. A couple of stray ones managed to graze her smooth skin, leaving shallow trails of blood. One dart had managed to bruise the face she was so proud of. Her face scrunched up in fury, wild magic fluctuations danced around her, cracking the ground here and there. She dashed forward, her short sword replaced by a massive war hammer.

Rikku’s complexion turned dark. Her weapon of choice wasn’t a sword but a war hammer. He would definitely die if he got hit. The difference in level and battle experience was way too great. He dodged and evaded, but he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long. He was feeling the pressure. The pressure of a fight that could cost him his life. Rikku felt goosebumps crawling through the surface of his skin. The shadow of a smile drew itself on his lips. Deep down, he felt something new and odd. A rising feeling that gave him shivers- the thrill of battle.

Kat mumbled, brandished her hand and threw a dagger coated with a spell. Rikku gritted his teeth. He jumped into the air, barely dodging it, but as he was still in midair, a dagger concealed under the previous one, came at him. The dagger went through his shoulder and the recoil made him fly backwards. He plummeted to the ground, with a heavy impact and spat a mouthful of blood.

“ARISE!”

A shadow rose from within and launched itself at Kat. She sneered, she lifted the war hammer over her head while the shadow attacked with a short sword. Kat swung the war hammer down, the shadow side-stepped, dodged the blow and stabbed its sword in her side. Kat barely evaded. Even though the blow didn’t stab her through, it cut deeply. She put some distance between her and the shadow and growled in pain. She never thought that she could be hurt by a low-level like Rikku. She stared at the shadow with hate.

She froze. The shadow. It felt familiar. The silhouette. The way it held its weapon.

“You-”

The shadow struck at her neck. Kat was still frozen solid, and couldn’t believe her eyes. How could this be possible! Out of nowhere, she felt someone grab her arms and whisk her aside. She narrowly dodged the blow and finally snapped out of her daze. Sebas, Nora’s butler, had arrived. Rikku put himself back on his feet while gulping down on a potion. He swore under his breath. As if one wasn’t enough.

Kat tugged at Sebas’s sleeve. “Isn’t that -?”

“We don’t have time for that.” The butler coldly spat out the words before rushing forward.

Kat pursed her lips and glowered at Rikku with deep hatred. She lifted her war hammer and rushed forward as well. Rikku turned around to flee, alas, there were enemies on all sides. Most of the guards were now dead and the number of beasts kept on increasing. The watchdogs had turned into guard dogs and even had their paws full.

Just then, he saw a beast charging onward. Rikku gritted his teeth and could only brace himself in order to receive a blow from behind. He summoned his shadowy shield, enveloping him whole.

Sebas swung down, the edge of his sword glowed. Suddenly, a piercing wind hurled from the side, aiming at Sebas’ head. The butler felt the killing intent and changed the course of his blade. The strike was as fluid and graceful. The blade struck and destroyed the hurling arrow. Sebas stopped and frowned. At some point without him noticing, a massive cloud of dust had appeared nearby. A dark silhouette was making its way out of the cloud at a rapid pace. Another arrow shot out.

A sword strike imbued with lightning retaliated and struck through the dust cloud. The lighting hit the moving silhouette and some dust was blown away. The corpse of a guard that turned into charcoal slumped down on the ground. Sebas harrumphed in contempt and before he could turn his attention back to Rikku, another arrow had shot out.

He nimbly evaded, a bit annoyed when darts, craftly hidden behind the arrow pierced through his body. However, there were only four darts and did not cause much damage. His eyes reddened in fury. He glared straight forward and Ran’s mischievous face was apparent through the dust.

“Bitch!” Sebas shouted as he dashed towards Ran.