"My, my..." The man laughed nervously at the quiet that responded to his greeting.
"You have to forgive me for this..." he gestured to the chaos around him. "I seldom make a flashy entrance but..." his eyes turned hard as they landed on Trice.
"Desparate times call for desperate measures."
Many teams inched further back at those words. The care-free look had now turned dead serious.
"Unfortunate as it may seem, I can't have any witnesses around so..." his hands delved beneath the folds of his cloak.
"I need you to die right here and now."
Just as suddenly as he'd landed, 7 more figures landed behind him dressed in a similar apparel. They wore cloth masks over their faces leaving only their eyes, which shone with cold intent, visible.
CRACK!
It was like the sound of thunder striking. A lasso of water hovered between them and the enemies.
Trice. Ready to take on any enemy that stood before her.
However this was not an act of kindness towards the other prisoners, but an act of self defence. Should anyone get in her way, they would be cut down.
3 of the enemies advanced upon her. The lasso was so quick that they barely had time to dodge. It slammed two of them square in the side and threw them against a wall. The third, was lucky. He jumped back just in time to avoid it hitting him.
Actually, he jumped way back than was possible for a normal human.
'A bender.'
The other 5 became wary of Trice and circled her but they did not come close. They instinctively knew that they couldn't take her on and hope to win.
The whips of water lashed out towards the enemies but they were all evaded. Though they were wary, they were faster than most seasoned fighters who had faced Trice and been soundly beaten. They actually held their own and dodged all of Trice's attacks.
However they could not attack themselves either so they were playing a battle of attrition. Whoever ran out of stamina first would lose.
And Ronin knew who'd lose without a second thought.
"Ahh...." It was the man who'd spoken to them. "I was told you'd be difficult, but to think you could actually hold your own against 'The mambas' is quite a remarkable feat.
" No wonder they want you. Heck, I want you to! They said this would help so I guess..."
Hs took out a small device about the size of a standard remote, held it up to the sky and pressed it.
It made no sound. Nothing happened. But...
Trice suddenly collapsed unto the ground, convulsing. She looked like she was having a seizure as she rolled on the ground. Her limbs stretched as far as possible. Almost as if they wanted to be separated from the main body. Her nails dug into the ground as she writhed.
Her eyes seemed to glaze over as they went behind her skull. Even her breathing became turbulent...
"H... H... H..."
The sound of whimpering escaped from her lips. The first sign of weakness Ronin had ever seen Trice display.
"Well that worked out better than I thought." The man scoffed as he stared at the shaking Trice.
"Kill them all!"
His lackeys advanced on the dumbfounded prisoners who barely had time to react in time to defend themselves.
WHOOOSH!! A cold wind suddenly blew across the arena.
An enraged Trice stood up shakily. And she was angry. It wasn't the normal anger that Trice showed her foes. This was "I'll rip you limb from limb" kinda anger. Water swirled around her feet and her eyes locked unto the man with the strange device.
"Guess this won't be so—" he suddenly leaped back as the vision of an icicle filled his vision. It grazed his head leaving a line of blood. Standing where he stood just a second ago was Trice, completely livid.
Her face resembled something like that of a tortured animal that had finally broken free from it's prison and was looking for revenge.
She grimaced as her body shook violently but she stood her ground. She fought through intense pain as she faced her enemy.
"Bad... Bad... Bad dog." The assassin whispered. "Know your place!"
His thumb squeezed the remote again.
Trice went ballistic. A wave of water exploded beneath her pushing everyone back.
"Kuock!"
A spray of blood shot out of a prisoners chest as he fell. Over him was Trice. Her face contorted into the most hideous expression of rage and pain anyone could imagine.
"Eek!" An inmate suddenly had his torso filled with bloody ice.
She attacked any and everything that moved, breathed or made a sound. Foam frothed at her mouth. Her pupils had slid behind her eyes and their whites were a strange tint of blue.
"AAAAHHHH!"
An agonizing cry escaped her mouth. In her torment, she destroyed.
Ronin watched in disconnected disbelief. His grip slipping.
'I'm gonna...'
CLANG!! CLANG!!
His metal staff had slipped from his grasp.
A shadow suddenly impeded the light from above from reaching him. All he saw was...
"Get outta there!"
Slash!
He found himself on the floor the next moment. Peering through the dust to where he last stood he saw... His blood ran cold.
'Huh?'
The world seemed to lose all sound at that point. Even time seemed to have slown down. Nothing else mattered. He didn't care. The slow drip of blood coming out of the back of a prisoner was all he could see.
The wounded inmate clasped his hands shakily along the shoulders of Trice and drew her near towards himself. Another pike speared him through his chest causing him to cough up blood. But he still drew her near.
Head now beside hers, his lips mouthed unintelligible words into her ear. His grip slackened.
He fell unto his knees as the pikes were retracted from his chest. The light in his eyes slowly began to die out. Arms wrapped around his neck and drew his head close. She knelt on the ground with him, quietly embracing.
The pain was evident on her face but it was shadowed by a new emotion.
Grief.
Spent, she closed her eyes and collapsed in Lucas's shoulders.
Sound slowly began to return to Ronin. The carnage, the fire, the screams, the smell of blood, and the fiery, rapidly rising anger that came from deep within his soul.
He stared at the body of Lucas and the collapsed Trice as they embraced in a kneel. Then...
Rage that he had never felt before, rage so vast, so black, so deep, so absolute, exploded out of him.