You will...do what?
The air inside the Ohrn tree burned, and a crisp singe burned Iye's back.
"You heard me clown"
She took a pace back, hiding her labored breaths with distance.
'I don't have haggle equipped. So I have got about two uses before the recoil is too much, if only I wasn't pressed for time'
Due to being rushed. Most of her equipment that Iye wore and cared for like they were her own children. Had been left behind, rotting away as collections.
Teeth gritted against each other, screeching like nails on a chalkboard. Blood along with saliva trickled from the Oksi's mouth, dropping to the floor with its acid peeling off of the skin of the roots.
The arrogant Oksi looked to his left to glance at Am. Am nodded to him, as if in secret agreement.
Pry open an opening, she's too cautious for me to get the upper hand
Treading forward with those words, the Oksi flexed his legs, at the end, a prickling thorn made itself visible. However, it was so small that it could barely be seen, camouflaged with the body completely.
It was poison, not the paralytic kind its saliva holds, but the kind of poison that 'ignites' the blood in the target and 'burns' it, making the prey feel as if they were bathed in molten lava, even though they have not stepped in anything remotely warm.
Whilst the Oksi walked forward. In Am's mind, a document of the past conjured back, one given to him by a priest of Tierre.
[Insight: Singe (Penalty-Based)]
[Known Information: Changes the properties of all expendable poison the individual produces within their body into one that tricks the target into 'thinking' they are burning, most deaths caused by this specific insight is heart attacks]
[Penalty: all 'poison' within the target's body burns him when using the specified insight]
An incredible ability that even Am found difficulty in handling if it were injected into his system.
'As long as he lands a clean hit, it will definitely slow her to a halt and allow for a counterattack'
No matter how strong Iye was with her insight, it meant nothing if constant pain were to be inflicted on her the entire time.
'I'll be able to easily kill her if I just let the poison do its thing'
This was the plan, poison her and stall with whatever means came to mind.
Am would not fight at all and be sidelined, he didn't know what exactly was Iye's insight after all.
'My brother surviving would somewhat ease me of my guilt, but I can't be that optimistic with an enemy like this in front'
Sacrifices had to be made to survive, and Am could not be the one to die here.
"I thought you would come together and fight me off with the power of friendship or whatever, guess not?"
Iye stood in front of the Oksi, careless and wide open for an attack.
You, are you even taking your situation seriously?
It was baffling to the Oksi that Iye's fear refused to show on her face.
"I do"
...I don't believe you
Chuckling. Iye responded back.
"Why would you? I'm the enemy for your information"
The Oksi chuckled back in kind, his claws flexed and his body lowered, ready to pounce.
Eyes still remained on Am that slowly circled around, waiting for some sort of opening to appear.
'I'll play along-'
Swoosh!
The warm wind was sliced apart, the Oksi was closing the distance, and fast. Each stride it took rocked against the floor, feet like springs accelerated the Oksi towards Iye even more, till her invisible feet were barely visible in its peripheral vision.
Its left foot slapped and stuck to the floor, it shifted slightly to the side. The Oksi's right leg was raised upwards, into a kick. Hips shifted and increased the leg's power by even more than before, the thorn became fully visible and it poked out enough to be noticeable to anyone who would first glance at it.
The thorn moved to kiss skin, but in its line of trajectory... it was nowhere to be found? Like going to a wedding and expecting the bride with a veil that hid her face to come out in her full beauty for the groom that awaited her, only to find that she had left long before the wedding started.
Thud!
Cloth blocked and recoiled the shin away, in one single second-no, in just 0.5 seconds. Iye, instead of trying to run away, she stood her ground and closed in deeper, narrowly missing the thorn.
Her arm, blocking the full force of the shin, staying locked and stunned for a moment or two. The Oksi yelped in surprise and immediately withdrew the extended leg. Realizing the fatal mistake it brought upon itself, which Iye obviously exploited.
Before the leg could withdraw itself from enemy territory, the arm that blocked it. Like a snake, slithered onto the freshly caught leg, slithering into a spiral, her armpit locked the leg dead in its tracks.
In a desperate attempt to fight her off, another leg with the same thorn embedded into it was raised, the moment it lifted off. Both started to slowly fall to the ground, but the thorn.
'It's over!'
Was lined directly at Iye's stomach, though due to her being so close the power of the kick was significantly lowered. This however did not matter in the slightest.
'As long as I poison her!'
It didn't matter the gruesome death he would experience, just getting the poison injected would be enough. Then, Am would take care of everything else.
Tok
A soft tap on its knee was all it took, to drain its fighting spirit completely.
Iye, was already airborne. Having already thrown her body at him, locking the leg only momentarily to implant a psychological impatience onto the Oksi. Hastening the decision of wanting to inject the poison no matter what, in the end. Causing a meaningless loss without anything being achieved.
Tuk
Softly, they both landed, with the difference of Iye having a cushion. Her hand hovered around the neck of the Oksi. Ready to snap it clean off.
"You couldn't have made it more obvious, could you?"
Her voice flowed with mockery etched deep inside, though no face could be seen under the invisible veil, it didn't take a genius to find out that she had an amused face marred onto her.
"Seriously, are you just that dumb?"
The Oksi, gripped by a certain silent fear, remained motionless and couldn't move an inch.
"You were so focused on poisoning me that you forgot you had whips for arms?"
?!
"Starting off with a kick wasn't too bad, oh well I did catch it so it was a bad move I guess?"
She began lecturing the Oksi, pointing out the flaws that caused the quick and boring defeat.
"But I am more surprised that you tried to kick me again in that position instead of using those arms of yours. Truly, it was a lost opportunity and a shame to you"
The defeat was so quick that even Iye felt astonished by their stupidity.
'Let's not take any chances'
Her wooly hand hovered above the neck prepared to snatch away and snuff out another life.
Wait
But a voice rang out, coming from a direction where Iye was not pleased with whatsoever.
She glanced back, this time she gripped tightly at the neck of the Oksi. It choked under the immense pressure that exerted itself on the neck.
Let go of my brother and I will also let your partner go.
Cale's cold body enveloped the claw that held onto him.
'I see'
Am knew exactly what was going on. From the lack of heat in him, Am could summarize what happened.
'This must be her mate'
Immediately however. Am was completely wrong.
'Because of how reckless her mate was, this man protected her when an evil villain attacked and aimed for her life'
He was so dead wrong that second-hand embarrassment couldn't help but surface among the author.
'Thus! Why was he injured!'
The voice in his internal misunderstandings turned solemn and a tinge of sadness accompanied it.
'But alas, even the strongest cannot handle critical injuries for long'
This is true, even the strongest human cannot go for more than a month with a critical injury without going to a hospital to get it treated.
'So that lady-no. That aristocrat who held a forbidden love for this man must have traversed and endured this harsh forest all for her love. But in the end, he couldn't hold on any longer and died...'
Kuh..
Am's body shook, laughter escaped and shattered the solemn look he had moments prior.
'Such a pure and wholesome love'
'Holy shit he's creepy!'
Iye was still holding onto the Oksi, it remained deadly still, not wanting to provoke any more than it already did. It watched Iye's internal struggle of whether or not his brother was a creep or a freak.
Laughter soon died, and with it. The lashing outside the tree came to a stop.
'Let go of my brother, and I will let go of your partner' Is what I said right? Do you want to see a claw shoved into him?
"Do it then, noble of the aristocrats 'Am'"
The claw pointing at Cale shook along with Am's slit pupils.
How did-!
"Zip it hostage"
The Oksi wimped and grew smaller.
Am stared at Iye, still in shock. He opened his gaping maw to ask, but Iye cut him to it.
"Wanna know what gave it away?"
Hesitation filled him for a few moments, but he still felt the need to ask
Yes...
Iye sneered, her gloved hand loosened around the neck of the Oksi.
"Oksi don't have names"
....
Silence pressed tightly, only the faint humming of the tree resumed.
"They have titles"
'Well, that isn't the only thing that gave it away'
The level of strength and growth in their insight was critical in this.
From a certain point and onwards, 'insight' no matter what kind of power you hold reveals a certain 'truth' that only the user of said insight could see in themselves.
"Well, it doesn't change the situation much, does it now?"
It doesn't..
"So what do you wanna do, make a trade...make a bet or whatever fancies your aristocrat?"
After saying what needed to be said, Iye and Am stood silent.
Am couldn't move due to his brother potentially being killed, his other brother had already been killed, he couldn't allow his other brother to die just to keep a dead hostage, if giving the corpse meant saving his brother, the action would be executed in a heartbeat.
Iye held similar thoughts to this. She couldn't allow more physical damage to be dealt upon Cale as it would disrupt the resurrection and he would be 'cleaned' at a faster rate than before. Making her short journey end in utter nonsense.
'It's like those quests in games where you have to protect a carriage or something similar to it'
And Iye was on the verge of failing that sort of quest right now.
'If I could give this guy in exchange for Cale, I would do it in a heartbeat, but the problems that come afterwards are troubling'
Showing interest in Cale the hostage, would be like revealing the contents of Pandora's box to the whole world.
Absolute disaster would surely follow suit.
Tump
Everything seemed paused and glitched. The moment that soft beast's step rustled against the leaves that fell on the ground, had also been the moment every living being in the vicinity had turned silent.
Am didn't dare turn, he couldn't even find the strength to point his claw at Cale anymore. Iye was the same in this regard and let the Oksi she restrained go.
The Oksi was about to cough but Iye shut its mouth closed and whispered.
"You make a sound"
She traced her thumb across her neck, the Oksi's arrogance plummeted and shrank lower than the economy. An incredible feat for anyone.
Time stretched, soft thumps were heard all in the vicinity. However, not one individual moved during that time. They all remained frozen in place. Am feeling tired, had slowly returned Cale to the wall he first rested against.
None of them knew, nor saw what the creature that walked looked like, they just knew and had a feeling. One, that it was obviously a Platys or a Veva, one of the two. And the second one being.
'It's on the Ohrn tree'
All three thought about this at the same time. Whatever had climbed up the tree, it was to avoid the fog and to also do what its maternal instinct tells it to.
To chase.
[Hel-Help me!]
And to hunt for the thrill.