5 MINUTES EARLIER
"I think I better go after those horses now," Alloy said.
"Those aren't the horses youngin." Ritta replied.
"How do you know??"
"Because your horses went a different direction." She pointed to their left, "Straight that way."
"Then it might be Damion," she said as she stood up. "I'll be back with him. There's also someone else we're looking for." Leaving Ritta curious about the other person, she begun running after the shouts, she heard more shouts and more clatter. It wasn't long before she heard a crash a couple feet away accompanied with a big dust cloud, the more she ran, the closer she got and the more the cloud dissipated. She saw a girl, getting up from the ground and an opened umbrella landing right next to her. The next thing Alloy saw was a something of a whip figure being swung right in front of the girl, she couldn't see the rest because the walls on the street cut off her view.
She ran, the next thing she saw was the girl yanked to where her weapon was launched. Alloy got to where the debris was and all she heard were thuds and a loud scream, she turned to the sight of a huge man about to surely murder the girl. She didn't even have time to summon her swords, let alone get to her in time. What she did see, however, was a thin object, streamlined, soaring and tearing through the air toward the girl and the enemy. It passed right through the man's elbow, removing the entire lower half of his arm as it flew away. He bellowed in pain, staggering before returning his composure.
Due to the force used to pull the girl toward the man, the distraction caused her to get thrown behind him instead of dying. She was fully conscious, but she was done fighting, with the blood dripping from her nose and her close call, she picked herself up and sat with her back on the wall next to her. Her shoulder was dislocated and she had sprained her leg.
"What was that?!" The man standing next to Damion's now unconscious body shouted as he looked around.
Alloy noticed the voice and looked in that direction. To her surprise, Damion lay there, unconscious, with a streak of blood running down from his mouth. Her eyes narrowed to the source of her friend's pain, the semi-giant sight of a man, shocked at the sight of his comrade's now gone arm. She grit her teeth.
"HEY!!" She shouted.
He looked in her direction and he viewed a shadowy figure.
"Who the hell are you?!?!" He demanded.
"Get away from him." She spoke, her tone lowered enough for a chill in the air to spread.
"What??" He asked… confused from the multiple recent events.
Alloy took his words as sheer ignorance, and she responded accordingly… despite her own ignorance of everything that had just unfolded before she saw Damion. Shadows coiled around her wrists like living mist before solidifying into two sleek katana, their edges gleaming with flickering darkness.
"What are those two sticks?" the man scoffed.
She didn't answer. Instead, she adjusted her stance, settling into a swordswoman's poised precision. Her grip reversed, both hilts clutched tightly with the blades angled downward, crossed just in front of her torso. A breath, steady, controlled. And then she moved.
She was a blur. He saw her only twice… once at his left, once at his right before a sharp, searing pain exploded beneath his chest. Shadowy streaks of impact lingered in the air as his body was sent rocketing backward. The force of the strike slammed him against an uneven brick wall, the sickening crack of both his spine and the brittle stone echoing through the alley. The structure crumbled under the force, dust and debris cascading over his motionless form.
The girl saw this with her mouth wide open in shock. The other guy finally steadied himself, shaking off the shock of what he'd witnessed. He had a perfect opening, Alloy's back was still turned. He took a step forward, preparing to charge.
But she was already ahead of him.
Her sharp, determined eyes locked onto his, and in that instant, fear gripped his chest. Sweat beaded at his temple. His body hesitated, his mind screamed at him to move, but his muscles simply declined.
She did not hesitate.
Pivoting on her heel, she spun in a swift, fluid motion, a perfect 360-degree turn. As she completed the rotation, her blade carved through the air, unleashing a surge of shadowed force. The impact struck the man like a tidal wave, his body lifted off the ground and sent flying through the alley before slamming into the dirt. Unconscious. Hence concluding the fight. She dissolved the swords quickly and headed for Damion to check on him.
"Damion!! Damion!! Are you okay??!! Can you hear me??!!" She urged as she violently shook him.
A few seconds later, Alloy got distracted by the sounds of fleeting foot steps being heard from afar got louder, closer, and finally, a figure arrived.
"He's unconscious, shaking him like that only makes his injuries worse. Let's take them to my inn." Ritta mentioned. Taking a moment to glance at him and smile as she walked toward the small girl's injured body. She picked her up, "Tasue…" she whispered. The sound not loud enough for Alloy to hear her, "Are you okay??"
"Yeah… someone protected me… it… it made me happy." The girl smiled.
Alloy did the same for Damion, she got him on her back and they left the chaotic street, but not without Alloy noticing an elegant bow slung on Ritta's back. The two walked in silence for quite sometime, through people who eyes their injured carry-ons as they ignored them and headed toward the North-western side of the town.