*Bang!*
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
As she let out a pained cry and rolled away only to stop thanks to her short swords that she stabbed into the ground, Anetta was embarrassed.
Her clothes were shredded all over, her face bruised and grimy with dirt. Her right side bled heavily and yet she had, not once, laid a finger or any part of her weapon on her opponent's body.
'It's like she's an indomitable wall. She feels invincible. The only time I've ever had this feeling was... when I faced the Hernan in spars... who...?'
"Who are you?" Anetta asked as she got on one knee. She popped a mending pill into her mouth to take care of her wounds. This was the fifth time she had swallowed those pills and they were the only reasons she had not yet died. That and the fact that her opponent did not seem in too much of a hurry.
It was like... She was waiting for something.
Astrid WAS waiting for something or someone and for that, she welcomed the conversation.
"My name is Astrid," she said, "What's yours?"
"Anetta. So you're a Verlice Lieutenant huh? Hurts my pride a bit," Anetta let out with an embarrassed chuckle,
"Are everyone else on that side like you? Nah, that's silly. If they were, our camp would be wiped out by now.
I'll guess that you're close to your Commander. They hold you in high regard and it's why you have been trusted with this dangerous mission. Only you could ever have the chance of succeeding at it... I think."
Astrid let Anetta go on her tirade and once it reached what she assumed was the end, she smiled,
"That's a heavy praise."
A minute of silence passed and then Anetta sighed,
"I'm no fool. I can see I'm fighting a losing battle here—"
"Oh, don't sell yourself short," Astrid said with a smile, "You're weak but you're smart. Not to worry, Reinforcements will be here soon. You'll have the support you've been holding out for."
"What--" Anetta's first instinct was to deny such for fear that Astrid stopped holding back and ended her life but the loud sounds of advancing troops shut her up.
"Ah, and here they are!" Astrid said and indeed, they had arrived.
For this Expedition to break through the Verlice Kingdom's fortress barrier, the Arkadeas had appointed Eighteen Lieutenants who all led battalions filled with at least five Captains.
When they arrived at this Forest region and clashed with the native monsters who had made it their homes/hideouts, that number swelled to Twenty-Four with the addition of representatives; The stronger members of the Lithe Monster races.
Of the original Eighteen Lieutenants, two had met their ends at Astrid's hand and the remaining Sixteen, banded with the Dogon and Goblin Representatives, were determined not to let any more lives be lost.
Besides the Monster Representatives, none of the Lieutenants was below the Seventh Step of the Sixth Order and the one who stood front and center of it all stood proudly at the First Step of the Seventh Order.
He was Vernon. Along with the dead Keron and the struggling Anetta, he was the closest to the Arkadae Force Commander but he wasn't just close because of relation but rather a mutual respect as the second strongest of the entire force.
To showcase this importance, this power, Lieutenant Vernon began to levitate. He floated Twelve feet above ground in a show of ability only available to those who had crossed the threshold of the Sixth Order and had stepped into the Seventh; The ability of flight was purely by will.
A sword made of Spiritual energy of such purity, it seemed to bless all who saw it, formed in mid-air. It carried a commanding glory as though it would grant its conjurer victory no matter what. As though no obstacle could successfully stand between it and its target.
That was exactly the case.
Vernon tried to move but failed.
It was as though every bit of Spiritual energy in his body had been seized and forced to remain dormant. As though his powers had taken a break and doomed him to die.
"Fuck!" He yelled. Just a minute ago, he was proudly declaring his victory and now he was powerless.
Evian had succeeded in killing the Ranged Goblin Representative. It had been even simpler than killing the Dogon Representative. All he really had to do was get close and his impressive Arsenal of spells did the rest. He had just devoured the Goblin's soul and gotten himself a wonderful sum of 100,000 Soul Points when he began to view Astrid in action.
"What sort of cheat is she?" Evian could not help but ask himself.
This was another level of power display from Astrid that trumped all that she had shown so far and his body shook and his skin got goosebumps at the sight. His heart beat so fast and his stomach churned in a way he did not understand.
What he did know was that— he was fascinated.
Meanwhile, just as Lieutenant Vernon inched towards sure death, a strange field surrounded Astrid's glorious sword spell and the field collapsed with such an intense reverse theory that the Sword shattered and dissipated into tiny flecks of beautiful golden light.
"What—?" Vernon let out in surprise that he still lived.
Astrid's brows furrowed in confusion but the Lieutenants all reacted quickly by condensing their Spiritual energy into their weapons and sending them out to strike and bring Astrid down from the air.
Astrid evaded them all with an angelic grace following which she twirled her sword and created twelve pillars of light that shot down explosive attacks that struck the ground like rockets.
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BOOOOMMMMM!!!*
*BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!*
The Lieutenants ran for cover but then realized there were conical shields above their heads keeping the attacks from striking their bodies directly.
This time, Astrid did not furrow her brows. She knew who had interfered these two times.
Finally!
As suddenly as she realized, HE was there.
Standing calmly, dressed in his impeccable robes. He gestured towards Astrid and she obliged by landing softly on the ground about Ten feet away from him.
"Such power that resonates almost all over the region. You are powerful. The Verlice Kingdom can not be so great and with such foresight as to send one like you here as a simple Lieutenant. You are a Commander just like myself... I can sense already that we have an unspoken understanding.
I am Hernan Vron.
It's nice to finally meet the one so ostentatiously named, 'The Golden Child'."