Horus stood still while Randall and Shiv circled him. The sword at his hip felt uncomfortably heavy, urging him to draw it and end this.
But leaving Bloodhaven and killing all his friends were different things.
"Horus, you can negotiate with Lord Thunder," Shiv promised; still the voice of reason even though she was royally pissed. "Whatever the Mundane poisoned you with is a bad idea. She's a fucking terrorist, Horus, are you gonna trust her over us?!"
"Leave it, Shiv." Randall rolled his eyes dramatically. "He made his choice. You might have not gotten the Curse of Servitude if you used your brain instead of your cock to think."
Horus just stood there arms slightly raised. He looked too relaxed, almost careless. Like he wasn't fighting two Inheritors that would have access to their basic Class skills. While he was limited to not using his sword and the skills that came with it.
Normally henwouldn't talk during a fight, it was frankly dumb to him, but this would be the last time they spoke to each other.
"I could have broken your arm there," He told Shiv without looking back at her. "I could draw my sword and kill both of you like lambs."
They both shivered, glancing at the crescent sword on his hip. No one could stay in front of Horus for more than two minutes during their training.
"I don't want to do this." His purple-blue eyes flickered, "But I will if I have to."
He attacked Randall first. Two sharp blows that graze ears. Shiv struck from behind as Randall attacked. Perfectly coordinated. Exactly as they had been taught.
Horus caught Randall's arm, dashing behind him and pulling at the same time. Shiv crashed into him.
Then he heard June's scream downstairs.
"Black blood," He cursed, pouncing on his disoriented friends.
It was a flurry of kicks and punches that would disorient any one watching, fighting two people at once created a confusing tapestry of limbs.
But Horus controlled the flow of battle, never letting them settle, and seeking critical strikes. If both of them weren't inheritors they would have gone down in seconds.
However Shiv was crafty, she saw what he was doing and occasionally conjured blue hands into the air to stop him from finishing Randall.
And Randall didn't need order to fight. His blows and parries came instinctively. He was strong as an ox, and he was using a skill to bolster his endurance.
Separate them.
They both attacked him at the same time. Horus balanced on one leg to dodge both attacks and attack simultaneously. Contorting into a T shape to kick and punch on both sides.
Then he chased after Shiv, focusing his mana to use a skill of his own.
He threw a side kick but one of those blue hands caught his legs, but he smoothly transitioned into a high kick with his second leg.
Shiv moved to catch the second kick with her real hands, but then the foot passed through her hand.
Her eyes widened just as the kick connected with her jaw and sent her spinning back.
"That's…" She murmured before falling to the ground unconscious.
She was gone, but still things didn't go according to plan.
Shiv's conjured blue hand still held his foot, not disappearing like he expected. Shiv tricked him; she only conjured hands for one second to make him believe that was her limit.
This gave Randall an opening. He tackled Horus and they both slammed into the shaky railing of the roof.
The groaning of the metal gave Horus a very bad feeling. He pushed against Randall, matching him in strength but not leverage.
"Im pretty sure I can survive this fall," Randall mocked, pushing towards the shaky railing. "And before you ask, yes, I have the stats to back that up."
Horus wasn't listening; he was focused on what was happening downstairs between Ulrich and June. There were a lot of harsh words said and it seemed like she was safe.
Then he heard ice and the sound of a heavy thud. Both of which didn't sound very good.
Ulrich's voice was faint and venomous. "Those prideful eyes, I'll rip them out."
●——●
Five minutes ago…
Once Shiv's hands left her body, June took off. She glanced back, slightly worried about Horus, but she knew he would be okay.
Please be okay…
Storming down the stairs, she couldn't help but fear the shame she'd feel if Horus was captured and taken back to Fort Thunder.
She wouldn't be able to live with the fact she had run away when he might've needed her. They could execute her for this, so she might have not lived long in general.
But if there was one thing she had it was boldness. Just not in front of Inheritors.
It was a three story building. She was halfway to the stairs on the second floor when she heard the booming steps of someone behind her.
She turned around and Ulrich was already behind her.
He grabbed her arm, through her to the wall. Pain rushed up her shoulder as someone dug into it.
Please don't be a rusty nail.
That would be quite the way to die after all this.
She squinted at Ulrich through the haze of pain. He was tall, not like Horus or Randall, but he loomed over her. His pale white hair framed his furious black eyes.
"What did you do to Horus?"
Huh?
She shook her head rapidly. What did she do? She didn't remember doing anything wrong.
Ulrich grabbed her collar and lifted her like she weighed nothing. "You've done something, to turn him against his friends, to his class. Which of your friends did it? The Equalists or Wheelbreakers."
"Calling me an ally to the Equalist is meh," she said in a choke voice. "But those psychos in the Wheelbreakers are—"
"Shut up!" He pressed her head against the moldy wood of the abandoned house.
Okay, no small talk.
"Who even gives you the gall to taint Horus? Trash like you should never raise your heads in his presence."
The pain mixed with her anger and panic. This guy was out of his mind. She scanned the room looking for something, anything, that could help her.
"I didn't do anything!" She squealed as he pressed his fist into her throat. "We were just talking when you came upstairs."
As she expected, Ulrich's eyes grew unfocused. Her knee slammed into his crotch.
Ulrich groaned, stumbling back. June fell to her knees coughing, scrambling for something solid and heavy.
By the time Ulrich turned, she was standing, hands raised with a jagged piece of a brick. She whipped it against his skull and a painful thud echoed.
Don't stop.
She pushed through her disgust and attacked him, bringing the brick down once more. Her enraged voice shook her body.
"All this anger for what?!"
She savagely brought down the brick again.
Thud
When someone told her Ulrich Belfast was interested in her she was rather flattered even if she didn't like him.
"Why am I not shocked you were psychotic?!"
Thud
"All your steeling Fort bastards!"
Thud
Ulrich raised his hands to protect his head, but she didn't stop
"I always hated you entitled—"
Thud
"Sons' of—"
Ulrich caught the brick.
He looked up through the bloody mess of his white hair. The boundless fury in his eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating gaze.
The gaze of a killer.
Ice erupted over the brick, June jumped back; it was so cold that just a graze burnt her fingers.
She turned and ran without hesitation. She would always be the first to call herself a shameless coward.
Once she got to the ground floor, her eyes zoomed in on the door across the dining room where she entered this damned building. The thought of escape brought a tear to her eye.
She was only halfway across the dining room when the roof collapsed. Diving away from the falling rubble, she let out a blood-curdling scream.
Cold air flooded the room, the flakes of dust mixed with ice, and Ulrich landed on top of the dining table.
She scrambled to her feet, but he was on her before she could blink. His foot slammed into her back, sent her crashing into a wall.
Her head felt like it was split open and filled with fire. She gasped as she felt blood dripping down her face.
"If you don't want to confess, then re-education is needed," He spoke with a more measured, decided tone.
He grabbed her hair and pulled till she was staring at the roof, looming over her with a calm expression.
"Do you remember Kon?"
Her blood turned cold. She remembered the jovial, kind boy. She remembered what John and Ulrich had done to him. She remembered how he had never been the same.
"We left one eye for him," Ulrich explained. "Jot because the worm deserved it, but to show—No, to remind him, that you Mundanes dance in our palms. It's not that we're entitled to it."
He raised a finger and pointed two fingers down towards her right eye.
"It's that we can take whatever we want whenever we want."