"There's no f.u.c.king way I do that!"

As Lux, Iris and Terra with Lilly had come under simuntainus attack Terra had judged the best approach to deal with their particularly tough opponent by escaping from direct contact and wait for reinforcements. With Lilly being paralyzed from some sort of poison she had become unable to fight or run so Terra carried her as she ran through the busy streets of Rochdale. As Terra ran through the busy streets by nearly running on the walls a message came through her and Lilly's earpieces

[COMMAND CONFIRMS TROUGH EAGLE EYE-1: SPLASH 2 PRIMARY TARGETS, 34 SECONDARY. CONDITION BLACK STILL IN EFFECT.]

"Why the h.e.l.l does it have to be that cryptic all the time?"

Lilly however didn't appear to understand the message, leading Terra to translate it as she avoided some sort of funeral gathering by jumping over a series of coffins being carried through the main street.

"That's not cryptic at all, it says one of us killed 2 of them and 34 guards. It was most likely Lux, but since she hasn't been in direct contact with us I a.s.sume that she's heading over to help Iris."

"Then why doesn't it just say that?"

"Because protocol."

Ending the conversation there as if stating there was nothing more to disqus Terra collapsed her stance and slit a few meters on her knee pads and avoided an arrow laced with green poison.

"Tch, he caught up already.. Lilly can you stand?"

Thinking on her feet Terra ran into a plaza with a large church of the archangels situated at the opposing end as she asked about Lilly's condition.

"Not sure, but I can crawl if needed."

Examining the state of her shaking legs Lilly showed a smug smile that indicated her pride would never actually allow her to crawl away from the fight.

"I swear that att.i.tude of yours will be the end of you some day."

Not really feeling like she wanted to ague at such a time Terra showed a smile like it couldn't be helped before she threw Lilly a few meters where she landed in a hay pile at the end of the plaza.

"Then stay put there until I'm done dealing with this annoyance!"

Speaking confident words as if hyping herself up Terra drew her sword and turned to the As'li mercenary that appeared behind her.

"So you want to fight here? Interesting, but ultimately foolish."

Slowing down to a relaxed walking pace the As'li seemed to be smiling somewhere under his scarf and helmet as he drew his peculiar shortsword with a wide handguard in one hand while spinning up a bola in the other. As both the fighters drew their weapons the nearby crowd quickly dispersed, with most fleeing to safety while a few stayed behind at a safe distance to watch the fighting that was about to unfold.

"Ladies first."

Speaking in a slightly mocking tone the As'li did a slight bow after closing to a range that could be covered in about 10 steps where he turned slightly in towards Terra and hid the spinning bola behind his back as he beckoned Terra closer. In response Terra slowly started closing the distance, she knew that trying to shoot the mercenary with her Guardian 332 PDW would simply open her up for a potentially fatal counter and therefore figured she would draw out the fighting for as long as possible while waiting for reinforcements or finding a gap to open up the distance once more. This time Terra opted to fight not like she had been taught by the Rangers she been trained as what seemed like a lifetime ago, but using the style Dax and Lux had started drilling into her body. Gripping her trusted sword with only her left hand she kept her right hand free as she turned that side away from her opponent and slightly bent her knees as she spread her weight out over the stone tiles she stood on as if they were thin ice. After lowering her posture and spreading out her weight she dug her toes into the ground as if loading her achilles tendon up like a spring she slowly inched closer to her opponent that she felt had stopped smiling under his helmet a while ago as he no longer had the leeway. At this point the air was so loaded with tension that not even the spectators hoping to get a few cheap laughs dared even move or breathe too loud and the only sound of that now echoed out form the formerly vibrand plaza was the eerie sound of the mercenary's bola that quietly cut the air as it spun around ready to be used. Terra slowly closed the gap between her and her opponent to 5 steps as her pulse neared 300 beats per minute and her bright red pupil's darted around probing for weakspots. With time seeming to come to a complete halt it was the sudden sound of a bell form the church indicating evening prayer shock violently through the completely silent plaza Terra sprung into action as she completely emptied her lungs with a short and sharp breath. Cracking the stone tiles beneath her feet she launched herself forward with the power of her greatly enhanced legs and moved close to the ground half the distance between her and the As'li in an instant. The mercenary reacted to the sudden acceleration by letting his bola fly in the path of his opponent as he lowered his center of ma.s.s and prepared to counter with a kick after he had blocked the first strike.

(Too slow!)

With solid footing beneath her Terra could take full advantage of her strengthened body while the extreme amount of adrenaline moving through her body pushed her mind to its limits. Meeting the bola head on instead of dodging it or blocking it with her sword like the As'li had expected Terra rapidly switched her sword to a reverse grip as she used that arm to support her she turned like a breakdancer and caught one of the bola's b.a.l.l.s with her empty hand and launched it back towards her opponent adding her own momentum to its speed. Being flinged at such speeds the bola didn't rotate anymore, but that didn't make it any less potent as a weapon as the treat now was the metal spheres used as counterbalance to make it rotate was outright deadly on their own. In a split second Daniel a.s.sessed that being hit by the bloa would be bad for his combat effectiveness and took half a step to the side and changed his strike plan from a counter to a outright killing blow by stabbing the low postured Terra through the gap in her armor and rips at her collarbone, but Terra had seen that coming as she s.h.i.+fted her weight to the side and short off her almost crawling position, completely shattering the stone tiles below, and sliced at the mercenary's neck with all her strength. Landing on the side of a 3 story building Terra lept of that and landed back in the plaza where she immediately charged the As'li once more, but stopped realizing something was wrong.

"What's your name?"

Suddenly the As'li spoke out to her, his voice that was filled with confidence and scorn now only sounded sincere, making Terra answer it before she even questioned why she should.

"... It's Terra."

In response the As'li turned to face Terra as he dropped his prized sword and fell to his knees holding his neck that seemed to pour out endless amount of blood.

"Terra, huh? I was Daniel proud pract.i.tioner of the As'li style of hand to hand combat, to what school do you belong?"

Looking at the amount of blood that poured out from Daniel's neck even as he tried instinctually to block it, Terra took his question as the last request of a dying man and answered.

"It is Qiton close range anti personal martial art. Being a novice I require solid ground to bring out the full potential."

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"I see…. So that's why I underestimated you so. Terra of the Qiton school of martial art, do you know of the As'li ways?"

As Daniel's arms both fell limp he started coughing up blood Terra could feel a determined look form under his helmet.

"I do."

"Then finish it."

"With pleasure."

Turing her sword to a normal grip Terra took it in both her hands as she walked up to Daniel and swung the sword down as she quietly muttered.

"Splash 1 primary target."