Tatiana relocated from one position to another whilst dodging each arrow with diligence.
They raced through the dense forest—Tatina was in the far whilst the archer followed right behind her, sending a barrage of arrows, not allowing her to rest once.
'Just how long is this guy...' Tatiana caught an arrow from an unexpected direction. 'Going to chase me!?'
She scoffed to herself as she turned exactly 180 degrees and attacked the archer head-on. A deafening clang rang through the forest, as her blade made contact with his bow—but was it actually a bow? She took a closer glance and saw a small blade protecting the upper limb of the archer's bow.
Tatiana changed her grip and slid off the surface of the archer's blade, targeting his bow once more.
But just before she could touch a splinter, she knocked herself backwards and threw her blade instead, with the intention of getting him off his guard. But, as annoying as he was, he immediately redirected the blade in just an instant. The archer lowered his grip on his blade and transferred his other hand to the string.
He pulled the string at amazing speeds, his gaze fixated on her. Tatiana, seeing this, threw herself to a far distance trying to escape from his grasp.
The archer, in response, released all the energy that the bow held and fired a powerful shot. The arrow was different from all his other attempts and had more purpose than the last ones. The arrow clung to the same spot where she had been shot first.
Tatiana let out a soft groan, grabbed the arrow by its body, and restrained it from getting deeper into her flesh, creating a large hole that a person could see through from the other side. Blood forced itself to run out of her body, spraying blood like a sprinkler.
Tatiana flew along the arrow's trajectory as a result of holding it off, bumping into and tearing through many trees. Each one couldn't stop her course and only damaged her each time.
Her pace slowly slowed down until the final tree led her to a large open field that had the moon's gaze fixated on it. She landed harshly on the hard snow and rolled painfully as she got closer. She stabilized her center of gravity, placing one knee on the ground as she removed the arrow that had propelled her.
The archer followed her to the open field and launched another arrow. It whistled through the cold air before changing its trajectory back to the sender. The archer widened his eyes before it could even graze his skin.
The archer felt a sudden chill that overpowered the cold; he glared at the arrow before redirecting it back to Tatiana.
Tatiana stood up steadily, keeping a stern expression on him.
The archer glared at the ever-so-still Tatiana, her blood-drenched clothes swaying elegantly with the wind, the quiet crickets in the background highlighting the scene; he stood, watching, and felt as if he were gazing at an unsettling portrait.
As the archer spectated, he felt a sudden force on his upper back; a sharp object had entered his body. He came to look at what it was and saw the arrow from earlier had returned, penetrating his flesh.
Tatiana teleported right above the archer and prepared a downward strike at his crown. The archer, still in a daze, clumsily blocked the attack.
She broke through his defense almost immediately, forcing his small dagger to fly out of his palm. Tatiana didn't hesitate to bring down another attack; this time, he was better prepared for it. He firmly planted his whole body to the ground and took out another small blade to block.
Their blades collided, sending off a massive shockwave through the land. Nearby trees were uprooted and stumbled outward. The archer held on tightly and met her force with his own, until his own leg gave out and planted itself to the ground.
A sense of dread met his eyes, while he watched her blade get closer to his clavicle. He clenched his jaw tightly and sacrificed his bow to slow down the blade. The upper limb snapped in half, while Tatiana's blade forced itself to his collarbone.
The archer groaned; without a second thought, he grabbed the other half of the wood limb and used it as a stake to stab Tatiana. Tatiana grabbed his wrist without effort and stared him down—He was slow, despite knowing where to strike; his delivery was clumsy and awfully slow. He forced his hand to go further, but it was futile; in his current position, he could easily be overpowered.
Tatiana didn't let this opportunity pass by and moved her hand quickly—letting go of his wrist and stealing his weapon. She drove her entire arm, exerting as much force as possible.
The archer rolled to the side, dodging the devastating blow, so devastating that when it made contact with the ground, the whole ground below them crumbled into many large sections. Nearby roots sprouted and splattered everywhere in the field. Tatiana turned to her side, glancing at him.
And just for a second, the light that showed her beauty vanished into darkness while her eyes remained completely visible. She was a monster, inhuman, something he would've never fought if he knew the consequences. But he couldn't escape now, knowing her ability, it was impossible to.
The archer could only see this through and fight, hoping that he could live.
He tried to stand up, but he remained fixed in place. He tried once and again, and no response whatsoever, then again, and again, another try, but his legs were still unresponsive. He realized that the fight ended sooner than he had anticipated, and he took a look down at his legs and saw both of them bleeding and purple.
The archer took a look at Tatiana while he groveled down near the dirt. She stood up, placing her blades back.
She scratched her neck, frustratingly, "You were a pain in the ass to deal with, especially the fact that I had to limit my ability."
"What did you do? I was sure that I was going to beat you until we entered the field. A person like you wouldn't definitely have fought better in the forest, how come you were better here?"
"You want context? You were tricky, but I have my fair share of fighting someone who's trickier; first of all, I was leading you far from the camp to isolate all the chaos that I would unfold to make my life easier. Turns out it was all useless when we changed our plans."
"Second, I was studying you, figuring out your ability, which was easy to guess, especially with an ability like mine. After confirming it, I wanted to test some things and realized that you can only detect a person's movement and not objects, which gave me a huge advantage. Finally, third..."
Tatiana gave him a disgusted look, arrogantly looking down at the archer before continuing.
"You were weak, throughout the entire chase, I held back, keeping distance, didn't you see how I survived your arrow? That should've been your first clue. Even then, I planned out the best way to fight you without using too much of my energy, destroying most of your tendons inside your leg. With the blade in place, all I had to do was force you to one movement only. When you rolled, the blade actually got deeper and connected with your other one."
The archer clawed his hand through the dirt. While she was distracted, he threw it at her eyes. He faced the ground, parallel with his stomach. The archer forced his arms to move, dragging his whole body forward—dirtying his face, clothes, and even pride, all for the will to survive.
Tatiana stomped his hand, crushing his bones; he even heard it cracking as she pressed harder.
Tatiana patted herself, while he kicked his hand away. She didn't even stop and continued, kicking her stomach this time, sending his whole body crashing into the roots of a fallen tree.
The archer forced himself to stand and ran limply in the forest. Tatiana clicked her tongue following behind his trail.
He knew that running was nearly useless, as long as she could teleport, but he persevered anyway. His chances were low but never zero; a miracle, a chance he needed luck to find him and bless him with it. He felt pathetic for running like this, almost degraded. He lost so much blood on the way; pace was slower than a snail; it was a pitiful sight.
Well... Only for those who can see him, but there was none—No one to help him or even acknowledge him, only the endless trees.
His vision began to blur, his center of gravity faltering. The archer's breathing was hoarse—that's when the inevitable happened, he fell. He had no more strength to fight, no more weapons to use, and no more tricks to fool; he only lay down and prepared for his death.
He heard soft, muffled footsteps closing in. He shut his eyes, anticipating a blade getting lodged in his throat or something worse, but nothing came. The footsteps only got stronger, somewhere near his ear, slowly fading; he opened his eyes to see Tatiana walking straight past him.
His eyes flared with anger, drilling his gaze on her back as he watched her ignore him; to her, he didn't need to kill an already dying man, she had already finished what she had done, and she had no intention of doing it properly.
A glorious death? Ha! Think differently, he was going to die with no honour, without getting acknowledged by his enemy. His pride was broken, but he couldn't do anything. He watched her drift into the biome until she disappeared from his vision, leaving him to rot in the dark while getting eaten by bugs and parasites.
***
Tatiana had made her way back to camp, and in the distance, she saw the chaos unfold—Seas of fire, pillars of blood, and visible destruction. By now, everyone in camp was awake, and if they weren't, they were likely dead.
Tatiana searched through the area, finding the other members. That's when she spotted a silhouette emerging from the fire; she teleported near it and was met with a familiar smile. It was Leo.
Tatiana sighed. She should've expected it to be him, after all, he was the most dramatic one of them all. He had this creepy curl on his cheek, and she couldn't help but feel disgusted by it. Leo spotted her immediately, seeing her expression before he burst into laughter.
"How's your fight? Did you kill him?" Leo asked.
"Who cares about him? Did you cause all this mess?"
"I wouldn't call a mess... Something "necessary" is more of the term I'd use. Besides, we have to kill them all anyway, so what's the deal with a tiny bit of climate change?"
They listened to the agonizing screams of the people inside the fire, their sound slowly getting devoured by the merciless flame. Tatiana sat down on a broken, torn-out bed. The tent that had it was in complete shambles; some parts were turned to ash while others were tainted with a tint of charcoal.
"Not to be Mr. obvious, but these people deserved to die anyway. They killed thousands in the fire, and I only wanted them to feel the same thing. Not really the most efficient way to kill them all, but it really is fun being ironic like this—dying to the same fire you killed with."
"What are you, A poet? If you want them to burn alive, at least strengthen the fire."
Leo chuckled before sitting beside Tatiana, "Why so grumpy? Haru only told to kill them all, not kill them all quickly."
"You're the most immature person I've ever met. You really just do what you want, huh?"
Leo looked at her teasingly.
"At least be more supportive, I am your Fiancée after all."