> Perspective:Kaiser
> Time:2:45 AM
> Location: Campfire Clearing — Deep Mountain Woods, Celestine Realm
The 1st ice spear shot past my left ear, close enough that the frozen air stung my jaw.
I ducked, pivoting on the heel of my boot as 3 more shattered against the frost-covered earth behind me, spraying shards across the moss.
My sword hummed in my left grip.
I need to think more clearly...
Step back. You are only an E-rank adventurer with a chipped sword. You cannot trade hits with 2 elemental mages.
Act like you are struggling... That is natural.
I unfastened the top clasp of my wool coat, letting it hang loose, showing the pale blue frost-weave cloth lined beneath. The fabric absorbed the cold draft, but I kept my stance tight, breathing hard through my teeth to make the effort look desperate.
Kiel stood 15 paces away, his severed right arm scorched black, but his dark eyes glowed with chilling blue light. His gaze didn't stay on me.
It flicked past my shoulder.
He isn't aiming at me...
The remaining 6 ice spears curved in mid-air. They turned sharply, accelerating straight toward Celia where she stood behind the spruce log.
"Kaiser!" she shouted, throwing her hands up to cover her face.
Before I took 2 steps, the ground rumbled beneath the clearing.
Ronan lunged from the shadows to my right. He slammed both of his flaming daggers into the frozen dirt, roaring a guttural incantation. A massive wall of roaring orange fire erupted from the moss, encircling Celia in a 10-foot ring of blinding heat.
How coordinated of them. Reminds of old married couples.
The superheated air warped the dark. Inside the ring, Celia dropped to her knees, screaming as the furnace air scorched her forearms and tore at her dress. Above her, the 6 ice spears angled down into the flames, locked onto her head.
I pulled the iron throwing dagger from my left hip and snapped my wrist forward.
The blade cut through the smoke, driving straight at Ronan's throat. Ronan jerked his head back in panic. The dagger clipped his cheek, drawing a line of red, but the sudden flinch broke his focus.
The wall of fire dipped by 3 feet.
That was all the opening I needed.
I drove my boots into the turf, leaped over the dying flame wall, and threw my body across Celia's kneeling frame. I clamped my left arm around her neck, buried her head against my chest, and held my sword flat across our backs.
The crossfire landed all at once.
The 1st spear shattered against my blade. The 2nd struck my inner sleeve and glanced off in a burst of white mist. But the 3rd, thicker than the others, punched straight through my left shoulder. The jagged tip erupted through my back, tearing muscle and grating against ribs before locking my body to the frozen soil.
At the exact same instant, Ronan's dying fire ring exploded outward in a concussive shockwave. A blistering wave of flame washed across the right side of my face.
UGH... My vision flared pure white, then collapsed into pitch blackness on my right side.
Hot blood poured down my neck, steaming against the ice needles in the mud.
Thankfully... Not 1 drop or frozen splinter touched Celia's skin.
Silence fell over the clearing, broken only by the crackle of burning pine branches.
Celia opened her eyes against my torn coat. She looked up at my face, and the breath died in her throat.
"Kaiser..." she whispered, her voice shattering on the word.
Her burnt hands reached up, trembling violently, touching the edge of my jaw.
"Your eye... Kaiser, your eye is bleeding... your side—"
"Told you already," I muttered, coughing up a mouthful of copper that splashed the dirt between our knees.
"Just a scratch."
Look at that. You wanted to think like a weakling, and now your right eye is completely dead. Outstanding acting, Kaiser~
Kiel is grinning over there. The idiot lost his entire arm 5 minutes ago and thinks he won a war because he hit a npc.
Though, her hands are burnt raw...
I should've just killed them both from the start. I am done playing.
Across the smoking clearing, Kiel stepped forward. He kicked a charred branch out of his path, his remaining left hand trembling with exhaustion, but a cruel smirk spread across his bloodied lips.
"Look at him, Stella," Kiel sneered, his voice echoing through the trees.
"The great savior. Pinned to the mud like a dog. Bleeding his guts out over your shoes."
Ronan wiped the blood from his cut cheek, stepping up beside Kiel with a vicious grin.
"I told you he was trash," Ronan spat.
"He jumped right into the fire like a complete fool."
Celia didn't look down. She wiped the soot from her cheeks with the back of her wrist, planted both feet into the dirt, and stepped directly in front of my kneeling body.
Her burnt hands clenched into tight fists. Her crimson eyes locked onto Kiel, burning with pure fury.
"Don't you dare step closer, Kiel!" she cried out, her voice ringing clear and steady across the clearing.
Kiel laughed, raising his glowing left hand.
"And what are you going to do, Stella? You have zero magic. You can't even lift a sword."
"I don't need a sword to face a coward!" she screamed, stepping forward another pace to block his view of me.
"You talk about power, but you treat others like trash! You betrayed your childhood friend for money!"
"500 gold is life changing for people like us in Celestine," Kiel snapped, his face darkening with rage.
"And your corpse is my ticket out of this life!"
"Then come and take it!" Celia shouted, her fists trembling with defiance.
"Burn me if you want, Kiel! I am not running! I will stand here and fight for Kaiser with my bare hands!"
"You'll die for a stranger?!" Ronan barked.
"He is not a stranger!" she roared back, tears cutting lines through the soot on her cheeks.
"He looked at someone everyone called an ugly curse and treated me like a human being! He gave me a name! He gave me Celia!"
"You're the only monster here, Kiel!"
The words hit the clearing like a blinding flash of lightning.
Kiel and Ronan froze. For few seconds, neither mage moved, stunned by the sheer venom coming from a girl who had spent years running in terror.
Behind her, I reached out my right hand, catching her hip through the torn fabric of her dress.
"Step back, Celia," I murmured.
Ughh my chest feels too cold...
She turned her head, her eyes wide with fear and hope.
"Kaiser... you can't move—"
"I said step back," I told her gently, my fingers giving her hip a firm, reassuring press.
"You did your part. Now sit down and watch."
She hesitated, then stepped back 2 paces behind the log, her hands pressed against her chest.
I gripped the thick ice shaft protruding from my left side with my bare right hand. I braced my boots against the stone and snapped the frozen spear in half with a dull, wet crunch.
Pain spiked through my gut, sharp and searing, but my face didn't move.
I stood up.
I reached up to my collar, undid the final clasp of my scorched wool coat, and let the heavy garment slide off my shoulders. It fell into the dark mud with a soft thud.
My light leather armor held firm. I reached into my belt pouch, pulled out my last glass vial of red healing liquid, and swallowed it in 1 gulp.
The healing mana reparing my skin from the deep wounds.
With smooth, practiced motions, I pulled a strip of clean linen from my pouch and wrapped my left hand tight, binding the frost-bitten knuckles until the grip on my sword felt solid again.
Eyes fixed on Kiel.
Kiel's smirk vanished. His jaw went slack as he watched me finish wrapping my knuckles, his eyes darting to the broken ice shaft lying in the bloodied snow.
"That... that's impossible," Ronan stammered, his daggers lowering an inch.
"He took a direct spear to the body. How is he standing?!"
"You had 10 spears and a ring of fire," I said, my tone completely empty of emotion.
I raised my steel sword, leveling the gleaming tip straight at Kiel's throat.
"And you couldn't even kill an E-rank."
Kiel's face went white. A shudder ran through his remaining shoulder, the sudden realization of what stood in front of him breaking through his arrogance.
"Kill him, Ronan!" Kiel shrieked, backing away 2 steps into the smoke.
"Burn him now!"
"Come on," I murmured, stepping forward over the shattered ice.
"Show me what else you've got."