The Brothers Attack

We'd been careful enough to avoid interference.

Even Finn had been on guard. It was hard to believe the enemy had gotten here this quickly.

"Tch, runnin' errands for some brat. The brothers have really fallen, huh."

"Hmph. If something's useful, use it. Even if it's an outsider."

So these two were following someone's orders.

No sign of reinforcements. Take these two down and we'd be fine.

"Azu, go get Finn."

"Understood. Please be careful."

She'd probably come on her own once she heard the noise, but I wanted us regrouped as soon as possible.

Azu headed for the stairs and went up to the second floor.

With her gone, Alexia and Elza stepped forward to fill the gap.

"One of 'em left. What do we do, bro?"

"Forget her. We just need to bring their heads."

"Right."

The younger brother, the big man, was holding a chain-sickle, while the older brother, the thin man, had a throwing knife in each hand.

Short handles. Those are throwing knives.

The big man gripped the chain of his sickle and began spinning the blade end.

A sharp, shrill sound cut through the room as it whirled.

The wind pressure felt like it could reach us from here.

"You're in the way. Get back."

"Hey, what are you—"

Alexia's left hand grabbed me by the collar.

Then she hurled me backward.

At the same instant, a knife flew through the spot I'd just been standing in.

It buried itself in the wall behind me. I stared at it.

I was nothing but a liability in a fight.

All I could do was stay back and watch.

"Could've been an easy kill."

"Nice women, ain't they? Let's have some fun before we off 'em, bro."

"Idiot. Don't let your guard down. They're stronger than they look. Capture them first or have your fun after they're dead."

"Heheh, sounds good."

The big man released the chain, and the sickle shot toward Alexia.

Alexia deflected it with a one-handed swing of her battle-axe and sighed.

"Haaah. Scum through and through. I don't think anyone would mind if I just killed them."

"If you kill them here, the cleanup's going to be a pain. That said, if we hold back and they get to Master, I'd never forgive myself."

Elza gripped her mace in both hands and invoked a blessing.

"For now, we crush their limbs and they'll behave."

"That's not a very priestess-like thing to say… Well, here we go."

Alexia's dress flared as she charged toward the big man.

He'd already retrieved his chain-sickle and had it spinning again, ready and waiting.

"Hraaaah!"

The sickle launched again.

Its tip had already broken the sound barrier.

Alexia didn't try to react after seeing it. She predicted the timing from experience and the big man's body mechanics.

She sidestepped with minimal movement, dodging the incoming sickle.

A few strands of Alexia's red hair grazed the weapon and drifted through the air.

Closing the distance, Alexia swung her battle-axe.

The big man caught the axe on the remaining length of chain, gripping it in both hands.

"Grrgh, what kind of strength does this woman have?!"

"Is that any way to speak to a lady?"

The taut chain buckled under the pressure.

The big man was forced back, but he grinned defiantly.

He yanked his right arm back hard, pulling the thrown sickle back toward his hand, and toward Alexia.

Without so much as glancing behind her, Alexia shifted her battle-axe to her left hand and bent her left elbow.

The head of the axe swung behind her, deflecting the sickle as it came at her blind spot.

"Dammit!"

The big man flung the weighted end of the chain from his left hand straight at Alexia.

It wasn't spinning, so it lacked the same force, but a direct hit would still crack bone.

Alexia couldn't get her battle-axe up in time.

The big man was sure it would connect.

And then Alexia, of all things, clenched her right fist and punched the weight away.

"No way?!"

"That stung!"

Before the big man could process that "stung" didn't begin to cover it, Alexia's fist slammed into his face.

His body lifted off the ground and crashed into the wall.

More than half of him was embedded in it. He foamed at the mouth and went limp.

Meanwhile, the fight between Elza and the thin man had reached a stalemate.

The thin man clicked his tongue when he saw his younger brother go down.

"Fooled by her looks, was he? I told him not to let his guard down."

"Care to surrender? If you come quietly, I promise it won't hurt."

"Hmph. Don't get cocky, priestess. I'm nothing like my brother."

The thin man held his throwing knives at the ready and edged closer to Elza, step by step.

"Looks like Alexia-chan's finished up too, and I'm getting bored just standing here. I'll come to you, then."

Elza said this and walked forward.

Save for the mace in her hand, she could have been taking a stroll through the park.

The thin man hurled both knives at Elza simultaneously, then drew a blade from his hip, dropped low, and rushed in.

"Hmm."

Elza stopped walking, looking mildly troubled.

At the same time, she caught the incoming knife by the blade with her free left hand.

"You're weak."

Then she brought the mace in her right hand down on the thin man's head as he lunged at her with his knife.

A dull thud, and the thin man went spinning through the air.

He bounced a few times before crumpling to the floor, twitching in small, rapid spasms.

Somehow, he appeared to still be alive.

"That was nothing."

"Finn-chan did say there'd only be small fry."

"That wrapped up quickly."

The fight was over, so I finally stood up and approached them.

In hindsight, we probably hadn't needed to send for Finn at all.

But Azu and the others were taking a while to come back.

Those two should have been here by now.

"Let's head upstairs. Something might have happened on their end too."

The two of them nodded, and together we headed up.