Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Several arrows sunk into her opponent's back in rapid succession causing him to falter in his swing. Taking advantage, Kalliope bashed his chin upwards with her shield before sinking her sword into his belly.

She glanced over and saw Lucius crackling from a thin veil of lightning surround his body, the man on the ground in front of him was spurting blood from a gash in his neck, and Lucius was not even breaking a sweat.

"Next." She whispered. She couldn't help but smile in appreciation for her new comrade's prowess.

She still could not place what about him seemed so familiar, but even if she never found out, she wanted to keep spending time with this boy. He was a powerful warrior and that excited her.

Occasional bursts of cold blasted in her direction. Several feet away, two of the humans were trading blows with the Spearman with an enchanted weapon. It clearly had a cold enchantment, and based on it's activation with every swing, it simply imbued his attacks with ice magic.

That meant that they were safe from any hidden spells that it might have had. The dangerous thing about enchanted items is that you never knew for sure what they were enchanted with unless you made it, bought it, or fought it.

In the past Kalliope had seen powerful warriors lose fights to weaklings because the weakling had an enchanted dagger that could cast a much higher rank spell.

Shaking her head clear of these thoughts she turned to the next target. There were two more Advance Rank fighters on the field. Her best bet was to at least hold him off until she got support.

"No…" She mumbled. "If he can do it, I can too. [Lux: Enhance Speed], [Lux: Enhance Strength]!"

Mana surged through her muscles and legs. Her body felt lighter, faster, and stronger. Kicking up a cloud of dust, she rushed towards a swordsman that was attempting to hound the humans from behind while they were distracted by the Spearman.

The swordsman barely managed to block her strike, but the force of her impact sent them both skidding several feet. It wasn't an impressive distance, but it was enough to stop him from breaking off and hitting her allies.

"Nice hit girl, but you aren't ready for this! [Sword Arts: Heavy Slash]"

Mana glowed in his blade and he slashed from the left, instead of the typical overhead strike that was used with the Art. Thanks to her enhanced speed, Kalliope was able to duck beneath the swing and also made an attempt to sweep the man's feet.

He jumped back out of her reach and both of them huffed with neither attack landing. He roared and charged at her, swinging from the left, then right in rapid succession.

Kalliope deflected blow after blow with her shield, waiting for an opening. She felt as her shield began to weaken and cursed herself for not having attempted to replace it before heading out. Though they did fight more battles than she had anticipated.

"[Shield Arts: Shatter]"

This skill was not one that was really recommended to be used, because it destroyed the shield being wielded as the price. Mana surged into the metal and wood, causing it to swell before it exploded into pieces, sending shrapnel straight at the enemy's face.

He cried out in pain as metal and wood shards peppered his face and chest. It was not a deadly skill, but it helped.

"[Dagger Arts: Phantom Blade]"

Kalliope swiftly followed up with a throw of one of her daggers with her left hand. Mana surrounded the weapon and suddenly four more appeared around it, looking as though she threw five daggers at once.

The swordsman was unable to tell which was real and jumped far to his left, straight into the path of Kalliope's real attack.

"[Sword Arts: Heavy Slash]!"

She mimicked using the skill as a sideways slash instead of an overhand one and felt her blade sink deep into the man's side. Blood sputtered out of his lips, but he held on long enough to land a punch right in the center of Kalliope's face.

Tears filled her eyes out of reflex and her nose and lips felt wet. She instinctively staggered backward and felt as her sword was wrenched from her hand. The moment the metal was no longer in her grasp, she jumped away from the enemy so he could not immediately hit her.

Unfortunately it did not work, because he had anticipated the direction she went and immediately followed up. Kalliope could only tell that he was a blur, but she could see that he was still basically on top of her.

"[Beast Arts: Savage Fang]!"

Instead of continuing her retreat, she unexpectedly moved closer into his range. Kalliope felt her teeth sharpen and grow as every tooth in her mouth turned into veritable daggers of their own. She sunk her teeth into the swordsman's neck and bit before yanking her head away.

Coppery wetness became the dominant sensation in her mouth aside from the dusty, grittiness of sand. She spat out the chunk of flesh she had torn away and watched as the swordsman gasped for breath through the additional hole in his neck.

That particular skill was not one that beastmen liked to use because it was disgusting and dangerous, but Kalliope had no choice. Her opponent fell to the ground and twitched repeatedly while she extracted her sword which was still stuck in his side.

No doubt her sword strike would have been his death, but he had enough strength to keep fighting after taking the hit to at least try and take her with him.

Kalliope swiftly looked around and saw that the battlefield was still. The weaker soldiers were all dead or dying from spells and arrows, a few of well-placed slashes across their necks.

Lucius was standing over yet another corpse, still looking as relaxed as ever. Where the Spearman was, there were two bodies. One belonged to the Spearman himself, and the other was a young woman with a sand-colored cloak draped over her.

Another woman stood over the deceased one with a stone-faced expression. The warrior human had tears streaking down his face. It seemed their battle, though a success was costly.

Kalliope approached Lucius who was standing a few feet away.

"Sorry for your loss. She was a strong warrior." Kalliope whispered.

"Hm?" the boy looked confused.

"Your friend? They died?"

"Oh! That… well it happens. You should never get in a fight if you don't expect someone to die."

"You are a heartless bastard aren't you?"

Kalliope locked eyes with the boy. There was no sign of guilt, remorse, or even concern.

"Hm. I've heard similar things in the past. Kalliope, if we are to work together you should know something about me."

"What's that?"

"Grief for the dead, does nothing for the living."

Kalliope mulled over his words. He was cold and heartless, that much was true. She could not agree with his methods, or his wording either… but he was right. This was war, and people die. If she spent every moment weeping over a comrade, then she would suffer unnecessarily.

"The time for grief comes after then." Kalliope said, thinking she realized the truth of what he was saying.

"Um, sure."

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