"Come now, is it not possible at all for us to reach an agreement? Neither of us needs to risk this, and you have already lost!"
"Already lost?! What fucking drugs are you on?! I'm still alive and well, buck, so nothing has been lost yet!"
Deflecting her blades, I grit my teeth and pushed her away again as I tried to figure out a way to end this without bloodshed, or at the very least unnecessary bloodshed; the rest of her mercenary underlings were all dead, leaving just her and the Leopardkin.
Speaking of, the muscular woman was currently being smacked around as Dama... made a point, I guess, since she had so many opportunities to plunge her spear into the Leopardkin's heart or skull yet she never did.
Why she was doing that was rather obvious of course, but I didn't have the ability to think much of it since the leather clad babe was only getting faster and faster with each strike she tried to land.
I was getting lucky with her anger since she was going for head on attacks, but the moment she cut through that red haze and actually understood that this wasn't working... I might just end up being on the losing side if that happens.
All this power and I wasn't aware of how to use it properly; she wasn't the only one getting angry since I was over here, flooded with adrenaline and electricity that heightened my senses and pushed my abilities to new heights, yet this bitch was running circles around me.
I was pissed, both at her and at myself since this should be over already; a well placed zap had been shrugged off already, and she had quite the high pain tolerance since every single time her weapons became catalysts for my lightning she just pushed through it.
But if the first five or so times hadn't work, surely this next one would be the charm; it was that sort of thinking that I needed to maintain, so with her incredulous reply to my plea for peace I just bit my tongue and swallowed my pride for the time being.
Waiting for her to come at me once again, I focused on her and only her, causing the edge of my vision to quiver and fade as I hyper fixated on the leather clad woman and her twin daggers; as she launched herself closer I dragged in a breath and felt time slow to a crawl.
My frustrations pooled inside of my spear as I aimed it at her, and watching her throw herself forwards to attempt to catch me off guard felt... too easy, and yet she just kept moving forwards, slowly finding herself inching ever closer to my weapon.
I was actually rather confused since she didn't seem to register the movement I had made, and even as I shifted my blade slightly to the side to impale her side instead of her heart I barely saw her expression shift.
Only when she slid down the haft of my spear did she seem to register what had happened, pain twisting her features alongside surprise as she collided with me; her daggers missed me by inches, but it didn't matter since the lightning clad spear in her side was enough to lock her in place as a heavy shock racked through her entire body.
Immobilized thanks to the lightning on my spear, the woman slammed against me and sent me back a few steps as I caught her, though I wasn't trying to since I was just as surprised as she was by this immediate shift in events.
Time had slowed yet now it was back to normal, and I was extremely confused as to what had happened... but it had happened, so I now had to deal with it; sending a little more mana into my weapon, I jolted the woman again and wrapped my arm around her as I said "Well, now you don't have a choice. I'm keeping you alive because you have information I want."
Leaving the weapon in her and walking her over towards Dama, I shouted "I got mine! So go ahead and finish her already!", earning a glance from the Leopardkin as she checked to see if I was lying or not.
Seeing her comrade being held in my arms, she blinked once as shock hit her just as it had us, though she also got hit by Dama as the older Deerkin growled "Don't rush me! I'm making a point here..." after clocking the buff woman in the side of the head.
That sucker punch wasn't that strong, but it served its purpose as she landed a blow that could have very well been a deadly one if she had wanted it to be so; the message it carried was delivered perfectly, and as such she felt assured that she could go forwards without any issue.
As the Leopardkin was reeling from the sucker punch, Dama stepped forwards and slammed her head against the Leopardkin's to further disorient her, giving her the ability to slam the haft of her spear into her gut and double her over.
The instant she was leaned forwards Dama just cracked her knee against her proffered head to knock the Leopardkin out, dropping her to the ground and showing just how strong she was as she did so in just a few seconds.
"Well... damn. Maybe I hit her a little too hard... I didn't want her knocked out..."
Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Dama turned towards me and stared at the stiff woman for a moment before chuckling wryly as she said "Um, Aethisia, if you want to keep her alive you might want to remove the spear and treat the wound. You probably nicked something... or you damaged an organ with your magic."
That filled me with a bit of panic as I rushed to help treat her, though the swift jab Dama sent at the woman shocked me more than it did our still conscious mercenary leader; stopping her from trying to stab me, Dama raised a brow before yanking her off of my spear a bit roughly pushing her to the ground and encasing her limbs in stone.