The chimera charged at Yukito, and once again he dove out of the way. Scorpina, the woman who had sicked this monster on him, stood back cackling so hard that she was nearly doubling over. Just you keep laughing, bitch. I'm going to wipe that smug look right off your face, just as soon as I take care of your friend here. At least, I hope I can take care of this thing.
The monster stopped in place and the goat head spewed flames in his direction once more. This time, he was able to dodge it completely and he charged toward the thing. This is stupid! This is idiotic! I'm the biggest dumb-ass in the world! Just as he got within striking distance of the monster, the snake head came flying out of nowhere and tried to bite him. He only escaped by a hair, but it was enough for him to be positioned for a counter strike; he swung his blade in a quick, overhead blow and sliced the head off the snake.
Green blood spewed everywhere as the beast screamed in pain and what was left of the tail whipped around violently. Yukito knew that this wouldn't be enough to take the thing down, however, and was going to strike it again. Unfortunately, he was too slow and the chimera spun around and smashed its giant fore-paw squarely into his chest. He went flying through the air for several feet before tumbling to the ground and skidding to a stop. For the second time in just a short while, he was seeing stars. God damn it, that hurt so freaking much! he struggled to regain his breath and let out a groan as tried to get back to his feet.
The chimera had no intention of letting him do what he wanted, and as he looked up, he saw it charging directly towards him. Only a couple minutes had passed since the fight started, but he had to try again anyway; he attempted to activate his power. Blinding pain emanated from his head just as before. Fuck! he shook his head trying to rid himself of the feedback from the failed attempt. I need to move. He rolled to the side just as the beast pounced on the spot where he had been. He held onto his sword with everything he had and got to his feet.
The lion head roared again as it turned its body back toward him once more. The goat head shot fire again and followed him as he evaded. Yukito just realized that the lion portion of the body didn't move when the goat was casting. He continued running from the flames and got close enough to strike. The goat head abruptly stopped shooting fire and the lion portion of the chimera's body began to move again, but it was too late. He stabbed his blade into the lion's face and yanked it free, jumping a short distance to the side. More green blood spurted out at him and the legs of the creature fell limp. It fell to the ground and the goat head squealed in pain. Time to end this.
Yukito gripped his sword hard in his hand and prepared to deliver the coup de grace to the goat head. Just as he went to stab the thing, Scorpina appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the blade of his sword with her gauntleted hand. He struggled with all his might to pull the blade free, but she was inhumanely strong. She delivered a swift kick to his stomach, he lost the grip he had on his weapon, and went flying nearly as far as he had when the chimera had landed that blow earlier.
He coughed up a small amount of blood and groaned, trying with everything he had to get back up. Scorpina just stood next to her creature and fixed him with an angry stare. "Look what you've done! My poor little creature. You will suffer for this!" she dropped his sword next to the dying chimera and proceeded to stalk toward him angrily.
Pull yourself together! You're going to die if you can't make yourself move! In his dazed state he noticed something odd about the woman, or rather her weapon, the steady yellow glow that the gem had emitted earlier had been reduced to a flicker. Her eyes were also glowing less strongly. I wonder if she's somehow linked to that chimera.
Struggling, he got to his hands and knees. She was only a few feet away now. Get up, damn it! He wasn't fast enough. She kicked him in the stomach once more and he flew another short distance through the air before crashing onto the hard cobblestone road. Blinding pain was the only thing that he could think of at this point. He had nothing left to give. I'm sorry Celeste... if only I had been stronger...
Scorpina approached him again and lifted him by his collar. "You heroes aren't anything special. I don't know why they even bother wasting resources to summon you." She pulled back her armored fist and was prepared to slam it into him again when Celeste once again made her presence known. He saw her moving over the woman's shoulder and saw that she had his sword in her hands. She was next to the dying chimera and stabbed the goat head with it.
The yellow glow in Scorpina's eyes disappeared instantly and Yukito hit the ground with a thud; the small woman no longer possessed the strength to hold him aloft. He spat out another gob of blood and smiled despite the pain he was now in. Celeste, you're the freaking best!
Scorpina turned back to her deceased pet and realized what had just happened. "No!" she screamed.
Yukito didn't waste this opportunity and using the last little bit of power that he could muster, punched the woman as hard as he could in her stomach. She doubled over in pain with her hands on her middle. "It's my turn, bitch." He spat again before slamming his other fist into the side of her face from a crouched position.
She fell to the ground and he finally managed to get all the way to his feet; albeit he was a little wobbly. He reached down and yanked the gauntlet off of the stunned woman's hand and in a quick motion stabbed the pointy ends into her throat. The light went out of her eyes and her story was now over forever. Yukito collapsed a moment later and lay on the ground gasping for breath. His mouth was filled with the taste of blood and he just stared up at the moon. I did it! It was mostly thanks to Celeste, but I fucking killed that bitch! He began laughing like a maniac and a few seconds later Celeste was standing over him.
"Are you okay, Yukito?" She bent down and gently prodded at his ribs. By some miracle, it seemed that nothing was broken. She pulled up his shirt and he looked down to see that he was completely covered in dark purple bruises. "You're not going to be able to do any more fighting for a while in that condition. We're going to have to find a healer in the next town, but I have something that will help a little."
Celeste took a small container of salve out of her pack and rubbed it over his wounds. Sweet relief began to wash over him the moment she started. He could literally see that the bruises were getting much lighter and in some cases disappearing completely. After a couple minutes, even though it still hurt like hell, he could now sit up. "What was that stuff?"
"It's a salve that has been infused with magic. It's pretty common to see things like this in Neverenthia, but they don't come cheap. Here in Cyrulenthia, this small container of salve cost my grandfather 400 Vin, and it isn't even close to the highest quality available, either. Some potions can bring a person back to full health even if they are suffering from mortal wounds." Celeste placed the empty container back into her pack and stood up. "Are you okay to move? We can't stay here, they'll send more soldiers once they realize these have failed. Believe it or not, she was actually the weakest of the elite soldiers stationed here in the capital."
Yukito processed the horror of that statement before nodding that he understood. He got back up onto his feet and looked over toward the large building next to them. "I don't think Coronero is going to help us, those thugs will probably stay inside their hideout for the rest of the night after seeing all those soldiers. Let's head out the gate. I can take out the soldiers if they're still there so long as they aren't spread out too far." He reached down and grabbed the bloody gauntlet. He handed it over to Celeste for safekeeping and after a little bit of convincing, she agreed to go for the gate in the slums.
They crept along the streets at a much slower pace than before, and after a short while they were once again in a position where they could see their gateway to freedom. There were only four soldiers standing next to gate now. Yukito was grateful to whatever gods existed in this world that the large group that had been there earlier must've went out on patrol or something. "You ready?" he whispered.
"If I never see this place again, I'll die a happy woman," she replied.
On that note they moved closer and when they no longer had any shadows to hide behind, he activated his power. He now had 30 seconds to silence those men and he ran toward them as fast as he could with his weapon drawn. Within fifteen seconds he had reached the first two guards and quickly dispatched them. There were only about five seconds remaining, however, but he managed to take care of one more guard. The world returned to normal speed and his victims dropped simultaneously in bloody heaps. The fourth guard became pale as a ghost when he saw this. He tried to run, but Yukito dashed over to him and stabbed him clean through the back. A foot of steel protruded from the man's chest and Yukito pushed the man off his blade with his foot.
"Let's get out of here," he said wearily. I need to get some rest sometime soon. I hope we can find a bush to hide behind out there or something. He sighed and yanked the large key off the last man's belt, placing it into the gate before pushing it open. The next few steps he took felt like the greatest thing in the world. A cool breeze touched his cheeks and he looked out onto a beautiful meadow that stretched before him lit by the pale green moonlight.
It was clear that the city had cleared this area in order to create a no-man's land in the event of a siege, but he could see that just a ways down the road there was a dense looking forest. He had stopped moving and was staring at the scenery, but Celeste grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the present. "If we can make it to the Amber Forest, then we can find a place to hide and rest. We need to stick fairly close to the road for now, but who knows how long we have before they find those guards and send more people after us. They won't want to let you get away."
Great... I don't think I'll ever get to rest at this rate. It looked like the moon was almost at the horizon, which meant that they had spent almost the entire night running around the city. The two of them followed the dirt road at a brisk pace and for the first time since he had been tossed into the gutter, he found, to his great surprise, that he was excited to explore this new world.
