With a sudden dash, Nevesh kicked Aurae out of the meeting room and into the main hall, sending her through the walls that divided them with a roar of exertion.
"How dare you use that filthy mana on someone like me?" Nevesh shouted as she chased after her target, with Elhael and Anwill chasing after her as quickly as they could manage.
Aurae used the odoruki technique to regain her footing, but the damage to her left arm was substantial. Quickly dodging another attack, she imbued her wounded arm with scarlet mana, healing it as much as she could in between Nevesh's attempts at striking her.
She sensed Anwill's presence behind her and trusted him completely to time his attack to her next dodge so she could finish healing her arm. As Nevesh moved in for what might have been a killing blow, Aurae disappeared before her eyes and was quickly replaced by a fully charged attack.
"Sunder," Anwill said, striking downward with all his might. Nevesh brought her talons up in an attempt to catch the attack, but the technique was strong enough to sever her fingers and partially dig into her face, neck, chest, and lower half of her torso.
Not deep enough, Aurae sent him, causing him to click his tongue in frustration.
"Damn you!" she shouted, her voice seemingly coming from every direction at once as it nearly laid waste to his eardrums. She leaned back and pushed her hips upward, aiming a kick at his chin that he managed to narrowly dodge.
Using his abilities honed over centuries, he expertly dodged or deflected each attack away from him. A few chips of his blade began to leave his blade as a result of her barrage, but he did what he could.
She hits with the force of a hundred ochelons, and even that might not be an adequate comparison, he noted, observing another small chip careen into the nearby pillar.
Of course, that brief moment of distraction would cost him, as her next attack landed squarely on his chest. Thankfully, his years of mana manipulation allowed him to reinforce the impacted area enough to not have it kill him, but that didn't mean it hadn't shattered a few ribs.
"Anwill!" Aurae shouted desperately, immediately and accidentally drawing their assailant's attention.
Nevesh turned to search for Aurae while Anwill was still careening toward the back of the hall. She looked up in surprise to find her with an array of blades arcing over the top of her head, with a massive orb just in front of her mouth, her arms tightly clenched at her sides, and her chest puffed out.
Shit, I wasn't told she was this skilled in mana, Nevesh thought, briefly clicking her tongue as she prepared to move out of the way.
A solid beam of scarlet mana erupted from the orb, one that carved deeply into the floor where Nevesh had just stood. Aurae chased her with the beam and did her best to attack Nevesh's position with the array of blades, each one timed almost perfectly to match the next location.
Dash after dash, blade after blade, Nevesh kept up with the beam's movements, but the added blades proved difficult to dodge entirely. One of them struck her in the shoulder, causing her to grunt and accept the pain before moving out of the way of yet another aimed at her neck.
"Damn you, Wraithborn. Always such a nuisance," Nevesh snarled before leaping backward to avoid another section of the beam.
However, her movements were met by Elhael, who'd drawn his blade and infused it with all four elements, as well as encased himself in an impromptu stone armor.
A druid? No, he can't be a druid and the king at the same time. Was he trained by them? Nevesh thought quickly, putting up her guard in preparation for his counterattack.
Elhael unleashed his barrage with uncharacteristic, unbridled rage. He swung diagonally from his right, aiming his attack at her wrist, rather than her torso, and severed her hand entirely. While it began to grow back nearly instantly, he severed her other wrist she'd brought up to protect herself.
Another severed limb, but this time she quickly dashed backward, noticing that Aurae's beam had finally come to a halt.
Too close to your husband, eh? Very well then, Nevesh realized, immediately initiating her counterattack on Elhael with a series of axe and twisting kicks that were difficult to read even at his skill level.
Just as she spun for another backside kick, one of Aurae's blades severed her ankle, sending her bare foot careening across the hall and spraying blood into Elhael's face. He leaned back to make sure he avoided her kick entirely, then rapidly drove his blade forward in an attempt to strike her core.
Noticing this, she twisted her torso just enough so that it only grazed her ribcage, but used the momentum of her twist to launch her toward Aurae, who had just landed a few meters behind her.
Aurae used the odoruki to move out of the way, but Nevesh had seen this coming. With a tendril of mana spawning from her back, she launched it toward Elhael, puncturing a small gap in his stone armor.
No! Aurae thought desperately from a short distance away, sending a pair of blades to shear the tendril that had run him through.
"Hah! I didn't think that would get you to stop running, little mouse," Nevesh spat, moving in to attack Aurae as she stood there in apparent shock. However, as she approached, she noticed a paradigm shift in Aurae's behavior. Her brow wasn't furrowed, but her eyes and set jaw held a maelstrom of rage within them.
Waaait, I know that look, Nevesh realized, a tinge of fear creeping into her core as it reminded her of someone she once knew long ago.
In less time than it took to blink, Aurae vanished from sight and was already behind her assailant, standing there with her back turned and a pair of scarlet blades tightly clenched at her sides. Her hair flowed gently, as if she hadn't moved at all, but it was the only indication, aside from her change in position, that she had at all.
Eh? Eh? Did she cu-... Nevesh's thoughts halted as her jaw, arms, and both legs suddenly slumped to the floor in a heap.
Her upper torso rolled, skidded, and eventually slammed against the wall, smacking the back of her head with enough force to send a crack racing out in a number of directions along with a cloud of dust that nearly filled the entire back half of the hall.
Through the dust, Nevesh could see a pair of glowing, mismatched eyes glaring at her as they approached, with scarlet blades brightening the dust surrounding the menacing silhouette.
I-I can't heal. Is this the reason why Mideia had all those hegraphenes killed? Nevesh thought panickedly, desperately trying to push mana into her limbs and jaw to minimal effect.
"You won't be healing for a while, so why don't we have a little chat?" Aurae asked, glaring down at her imperiously as Nevesh's exposed trachea moved to mimic a scoff, but came out as a mere gurgle.
"Aw, just look at you. You poor, manipulated, slimy, parasitic weasel-shit. What's the matter? Can't you talk? Where did that wretched mouth of yours go, hm? Oh, that's right. You've underestimated your opponent, and now you're going to pay the price," Aurae continued, holding the blade up to rest it where Nevesh's core would be.
"I have seen and killed hundreds of your kind in the days of the Great Partition. You're no different than those devrieseasis-ridden wyrms who followed behind him when we were forced to seek peace through acts of war. Now, tell me with a simple nod or a shake of your head: Was he the one who sent you here?" Aurae asked, twisting the blade a little when a hint of defiance showed in Nevesh's eyes.
"I will warn you only once: Lie, and you will meet your end before you even realize it," she said coldly, her expression stoic and her gaze unwavering. Nevesh felt her impending death upon her, so she did the only thing she could to prolong her meeting with its cold embrace.
Yes, she nodded carefully, spilling some blood on her torso as she did so.
"Did he tell you to come for the Benevolent Ring?" She twisted the blade a little, drawing blood in a similar fashion to what Nevesh did to her husband.
Another nod.
"Are there any other of your allies here with you, or did you come alone?" she asked, increasing the pressure a little more. With the upper parts of her cheeks and slight wrinkles in her eyes, Nevesh seemed to grin at her momentarily. A cough of blood spurted from her trachea, landing squarely in Aurae's eyes.
Ack, you bitch, Aurae flinched and immediately tried to wipe the acidic blood away with her sleeve.
Reflexively, she pressed the blade forward, but it didn't meet the expected resistance. Instead, she found her blade sunken into the wood near where the wall met the floor.
What? How? Aurae wondered, quickly turning to see where she'd gone.
At the far end of the hall, a tall, muscular, and hooded figure stood. Its arms were only half-covered in scales, though the flesh that wasn't had been riddled with scars revealed through the holes in its tattered cloak. In the crook of its left elbow, however, was Nevesh's limbless torso, still holding the same half-smile while more blood began to pool on the floor beneath her jaw.
Aurae held the blade in her left hand out toward it in challenge, but her gaze slipped away from her target and landed on her hand.
It's gone? The Ring is gone? Her eyes widened in fearful realization, but by the time she'd turned her attention back toward the strange figure, they had already vanished.
"Damn it. I've been had," she cursed under a heavy sigh, promptly turning her attention to the others after a shake of her head.