Part 17
Waking up tomorrow was not easy. She had stayed up way too late, sparring with the demon. Jess was complex and it showed, leading Cyeen to think she would probably learn more about this demon in the upcoming days. She saw Zoen squat down in front of her tent, seeing if she was awake. Cyeen did a thumbs up directed at him. Her opinion of Zoen had changed quite a lot over the past month. On the other hand, Jess was barely managing to gain some worth in Cyeen's eye.
The noble picked up her bag from inside her tent. Shouldn't I have been on shift last night? It was a miracle they hadn't been robbed last night if that was the case. With the help of the siblings, she dismantled the tent and loaded it onto her horse. In the blink of an eye, they were on their way. They wouldn't eat breakfast until they got away from their current location for safety.
"So Cyeen, why didn't you wake me up when it was my turn to take over?" asked Zoen.
A drop of sweat appeared on her forehead.
"Uh well... Actually it was because-"
"WAIT YA FORGOT YAR SHIFT?" yelled Jess from behind.
"Yes, yes I did! It wasn't my fault though, you kept me up fighting!" She yelled back in response.
"Ya were the one thad asked! It's yar fault!" Jess yelled again.
Cyeen clenched her teeth. It's not my fault. I wouldn't make a mistake like this otherwise.
Zoen butted in to soften the air.
"Alright alright, calm down Jess. It's her first time keeping guard, it's normal for her to make mistakes. And Cyeen, I don't want to see a repeat of this, we were really lucky no one found us this time around but luck eventually runs out."
Cyeen and Jess both averted their eyes and said something under their breaths before looking straight forward. Zoen was successful, not expecting it being this easy. They rode their horses in silence for a while until Zoen decided it was enough.
"Let's stop here, tie your horses to a tree so we can eat."
No one had any objections to that, they were all hungry. Jess lit a campfire before Zoen took out the meat. Immediately, Cyeen started complaining about it being rabbit meat. It was the only meat they ate ever since they set out on their way, both to and from Bami. Jess had nothing to say about this as she would recall her past each time they were eating.
Jess started munching on the rabbit after Zoen barely managed to settle Cyeen down. It didn't matter if she ate the same thing for Jess. She had her fill of bad meals, it was better to let someone experienced do the cooking instead. Zoen nudged Cyeen gently.
"Flameberg, I was wondering something. What did you do after ditching me in the auction house?"
Cyeen jerked her head back, surprised by the random mention of her surname.
"Oh well, as you know, summer is right around the corner so I stopped by a tailor to commission something breatheable for myself. I picked it up when we were getting ready to hop onto our horses."
Zoen lifted his eyebrows.
"Really? Can we see it?"
Cyeen was quick to respond.
"No, I'm quite comfortable in these clothes right now."
Jess burst out laughing at her brother's request being immediately rejected. A rock gracefully flew directly to her head. But it only made her laugh harder.
"Excuse me Cyeen, I gotta go beat my sister up."
Jess barely managed to say: "Wait, wait." in between the punches she received. It still wasn't enough to stop her from laughing though. Cyeen watched them like animals in a cage. Siblings are always the same I guess. Jess sat up after Zoen was done with the punches. She looked at Cyeen before opening her mouth.
"Go on idiot, show uz what atrocious thing ya have boughd."
"Maybe later, I can't be bothered to open my bag right now."
Jess scoffed.
"Lazy fuck."
Cyeen's eyebrow twitched. A demon. It was the only reason she held herself from pouncing on Jess. She realised they were wasting too much time here.
"Be quicker, we shouldn't waste too much time here."
Zoen turned towards his sister.
"See? Even she learned not to waste time and you still haven't!"
Cyeen placed a hand on her chest in offense.
"Even? Excuse me? Where do you think you're lumping me in?"
Jess had started yelling at him as well. The poor guy now had the wrath of both the girls on her. More of this and his eardrums would give up.
They got back on their horses when the two stopped yelling at Zoen. This time, Jess and Cyeen were riding their horses side by side like they were the victims here. At least they had calmed down, for now.
"Fellas, our next destination is a small village. We'll buy some ingredients there since Cyeen here can't appreciate eating some juicy meat everyday."
"Hey it's not me only, ask Jess as well!"
The demon decided to use her right to remain silent, making Cyeen look like a total fool. The noble muttered "traitor" under her breath. She'd remember this. Zoen sighed, maybe it was a mistake to make that comment.
"Anyway, do we have any other requests?"
Cyeen took the word.
"Can we visit somewhere with a toilet there?"
Jess smirked.
"Tailet? Just go behint some bush to handle yar job."
The noble sent a deadly glare her way. And they are back at it again. Thought Zoen. It was going to be unbearable to travel with these two. They would mess with each other whenever one of them got bored. How am I supposed to make her listen to you like this, Cyeen? He thought.
***
The trio finally arrived at the village Zoen mentioned. They all went their own ways after tying their horses. Zoen to the spice and vegetable shop, Jess to the nearest place she could gamble and Cyeen to the place with the cleanest toilet. They promised to meet back here in half an hour.
It was enough time for Jess to either lose all or double her money, enough time to pick out ingredients for Zoen and enough time for Cyeen to be done with her job.
First one to arrive was Cyeen at exactly half an hour. Then came Zoen, who was late by three minutes. And finally Jess, who was late by a whopping fifteen minutes but the happiest one out of them by far.
"Double!!!! I doubeled it!!!" she said in happiness. Her luck had been crazy in her latest gambles.
While receiving judging looks from both Cyeen and Zoen, she untied her horse and signaled at them to do the same before setting out on their way once again. It was quiet except Jess not shutting up about the mind games she played on the other people on the table. It was overall an empty day. There was no action that was happening, just trusting Zoen blindly on where they were going. There was something missing. Cyeen was missing something. But what? But what?
But what?
Right, the voice. It had been gone for a minute. Do you have anything to tell me? She asked, not expecting an answer in return.
Jess, that demon. Don't become her enemy. She is by far the scariest person you've faced.
Cyeen shook her head. Her? She's not that scary. Dog tamer was leagues above her. I couldn't even hit her whereas I managed to land a few hits on Jess. Thought Cyeen, trying to communicate with the voice.
Very well, just heed my warning.
Cyeen scoffed. You're not helping. She knew she'd be able to beat Jess as soon as she got comfortable with her new essence. How could she be a proper twicen otherwise? If she couldn't bring order to one person how would she bring order to the whole world? She heard the faintest sigh come from the voice.
"Halt, you two. We have direct orders to engage you if we ever crossed paths. Jess, Devil's Sword and Zoen, The Devil's Right Hand."
She looked up to see a high ranking officer with two lower ranked officeres next to him and they looked to have recognized the pirate siblings. Zoen has a cool nickname. Cyeen got handed the leashes of both horses by the siblings in an instant. The noble quickly tied all three horses to a tree nearby and looked back at the officer.
Zoen had drawn his sword already.
"You're in our way."
Jess sneaked a look at Cyeen and signaled her to draw her soul weapon too. The noble was at a crossroads, the claymore or the scythe? She hesitantly summoned her violet scythe.
Cyeen closed her eye and focused on the positions of the officers by their essence alone. A small hint of essence appeared next to her. While opening her eye, she immediately swung her scythe towards that location. It was a hit. So that's how you guess someone's teleport. Thanks Jess. A mess of a battlefield had suddenly appeared where the siblings last stood. Tons of red swords of all kinds were flying around, hitting whatever dared cross their way.
Cyeen decided on focusing on her own fight. The woman in front of her was a highly trained person like her. That means she doesn't stand a change against me. Great. A smirk appeared on the face of the noble just as quickly as her violet strings wrapped around her own arms. The woman rushed at Cyeen with an orange dagger that appeared to be her soul weapon. Cyeen quickly tried a punch to bait her into defending before clicking her fingers, summoning twenty blasters behind the low-ranked officer. With the shock of being blasted, she let her guard down, allowing the violet haired girl to grab her by the neck and wrap the violet strings around it.
Cyeen had a smile on her face. Is this it? Is this who they send to defeat me? The noble grabbed the end of the strings and slammed her to the ground.
A click, followed by countless little sharp edges piercing Cyeen's back. She can still fight like that? She thought before being sent flying by the officer. A few dark red swords stopped her in her track, not allowing the noble to be knocked back any further.
"Ya idiat! Yar fightin' like a barbarian!"
That sentence flipped a lever in her brain. I see. Cyeen dismissed the scythe, holding onto a string with each hand. She swung them both like whips towards the officer and right before they hit she teleported far behind her to create an impossible to block attack. Cyeen caught the dagger aimed at her eye by it's blade and tilted her head.
"Give up, you're weak."
Cyeen dashed forward, closing the distance. She stopped when the woman was in kicking distance. Cyeen applied a few combos she tried on Jess before, breaking the stance of the officer who was still trying to use her daggers.
"I see how you play now." Said the woman.
Her attacks suddenly became more aggressive than before, always managing to find openings in Cyeen's defense. The noble was not standing like a lamb waiting to be eaten though. She was assessing her opponent, searching for a weak structure she had. That's it, her left leg is way too in the front of her.
Cyeen suddenly swept the officers leg, making her stumble forward. The woman was met with an elbow to her face after the stumble followed by a scythe swing to send her left. Cyeen teleported where she thought the woman would land but had miscalculated, leading to her losing the tempo of the fight.
At that moment, the noble saw the highest ranking officer clashing swords with Jess. Cyeen quickly sent her strings from underground to bind the officers limbs for a second, allowing Jess to land a sweet combo.
Letting your guard down while in a fight was never good and Cyeen was about to learn this the hard way. The woman on the ground grabbed her left leg.
The officer looked frenzied.
"I'mweak?"
A circle with a body and dagger pattern inside it appeared right in front of her eyes. The noble clenched her teeth, readying herself for the upcoming attack. More than hundreds of daggers dig into her flesh in an instant. It seemed like the orange daggers attacking her originated from the noble's very own shield, the shield that just broke into pieces.
Cyeen now had two seconds of invincibility to work with otherwise it was lights out. The noble stepped on the arm grabbing her leg. Click. The whole battlefield was lit up by the countless violet knives summoned in the sky. Click. A scream was heard throughout the forest. The shield of the woman on the ground was broken now. With a teleport, she appeared behind Cyeen, trying to stab her in the back with a dagger. The officer ate a claymore straight to her face though her invincibility hadn't worn off yet making her only receive the pain of it. A white dagger appeared in the hand of Cyeen, exactly the same type as the officer. Both of them had exhausted their essence reserves.
Cyeen charged at the woman, not letting her take the momentum again. All of the noble's attacks were parried. The officer did a fake slash towards Cyeen's face, making her block high. Cyeen saw the clouds. Huh? The officer had swept her feet off the ground. No way. The woman got on top of her, lifting her orange dagger. Cyeen reached her left hand out to it, attempting to block the attack. First stab, blood dripped onto her face. Second stab, there was a river od blood coming out of her hand. Third stab, she could see the orange dagger come out on the other side. Her arm fell graciously. Fourth stab, she couldn't block this one, there was no fight left in her. I lost? She thought, not even caring about the dagger that rapidly approached her neck.
A whirring sound was followed by a loud thump. Cyeen opened the eye she didn't know she had closed. The officer with the orange essence was laying on the ground next to her with dark red broadswords all over her back. Jess wiped the blood off of her forehead and held the same bloody hand out to Cyeen.
She had an expression Cyeen knew well on her face.
"I'm disappointed."
The noble had no choice but to accept the hand reaching out to her, with the hand that wasn't actively bleeding of course.