Mercenaries

Piposhka slowly lowered herself to the ground as Perl and Penina landed beside us.

"Oh? Good choice in fashion," Penina giggled as she took notice of the gauntlet.

"Yeah, smash her face in with that gauntlet!" Perl cheered.

I smiled as I charged for Piposhka.

"Ugh, just so you know, I do ballet and train with the sword at the same time, so uh, I'm kind of strong," Piposhka mumbled as she leaped over me with both legs stretched out.

"Sorry, but I don't know what ballet is," I replied as I went in for another strike.

"Um, it's like... Blini's national dance? Who hasn't heard of it?" Piposhka scoffed as she thrust her sword at me.

"Uh, nobody I know? Hey Ami, you've never heard of it?" I asked as I dodged Piposhka's strikes.

"Most Blintzians know what ballet is. Heck, there's ballet shows put on all over the country," Ami grumbled.

Piposhka let loose a triumphant smirk as she unleashed a fast and powerful thrust at my face.

Got her.

I held my own triumphant smirk in as I quickly blocked my face with my gauntlet hand. Piposhka didn't seem to care as she showed no sign of stopping or diverting her attack, probably confident in it's ability to smash through my gauntlet. But this wasn't an ordinary gauntlet.

Just as the tip of the ice sword was about to touch the gauntlet, it stopped, resulting in Piposhka losing her balance and giving me the opening to swing my other hand right into her face. As she slammed into the ground, I showed her no mercy and unleashed a flurry of punches on her face and stomach until she was out cold.

"My, the court fool sure picked some weak fodder to serve as guards for him if they can be beaten so easily by you," Mariamne scoffed as she tossed the now bloodied and beaten black-haired woman to the ground alongside Piposhka.

"She did unleash some impressive punches," Penina smiled.

"Yeah, she went, WHOOSH! WHOOSH!" Perl grinned as she imitated my punches.

"Oi, meathead, none of us understood what the hell you just said," Ami grumbled.

"Uh, I actually did," I nervously chuckled.

"I see mind-to-mind with you on near everything save for you dubbing people "meatheads"," Mariamne scoffed.

"Oh? So what did Perl just say?"

"'Whoosh! Whoosh!'" Mariamne smirked as she imitated the punches I just did perfectly.

I guess she really wasn't kidding about her ability to learn things quickly.

"And a new move for me, one less for you," Mariamne snickered as she walked right past me.

Thank you for reminding me why I hate you.

"Tch, tie these two up so we don't have to worry about them later," Ami growled as she pulled out her telescope.

"Any sign of Dalphon?" I asked.

"No... THERE!" Ami cried as she grabbed my hand and blasted off through the air with me.

We stylishly weaved between the trees until coming to a clearing where Dalphon was slowly walking towards a dock.

"Ah, witch of the amethyst. Have you come to your senses?" Dalphon chuckled as he turned to face us.

"Yeah, the Death White girl literally said you hired them to protect you as well as attack the coast."

"Why believe the words of a Blinish over a Blintzian's?"

Ami glared as fire began to spark from the tip of her wand. "Because I believe you're a traitor."

Dalphon let loose a chuckle as he slowly tilted his head to the side.

"WATCH OUT!" I cried as I thrust my gauntlet hand out in front of Ami's face, just barely stopping the oncoming icicle from taking her head off.

"Ah, what a shame. I was hoping that would have done you in, Ami," Dalphon sneered.

Suddenly, the lake began to freeze as a group of mercs all began running towards us.

"Seems our timing is impeccable," Mariamne snickered as she appeared along with Perl and Penina.

Smash!

Ami clicked her tongue as another icicle lodged itself in the ground. "I'm getting tired of that sniper. Mariamne, go take him out!"

"Hmm, a fight between Blintz's strongest woman and Blini's strongest man? I couldn't ask for a better day!" Mariamne gushed as she blasted off towards the lake.

Once she was out of sight, Dalphon began to laugh. "Oh, you all fell for it."

"Care to elaborate?" Penina scowled as she readied her paper fan.

Dalphon tilted his head towards a tree where out from behind it stepped a grizzled man with a long rifle made of ice.

Everyone around me went pale.

"It's Vlad Simovich! Why's he here!?" Perl cried.

"I was always here. The me over there... just something I made in my likeness with ice," the man chuckled.

Perl and Penina wasted no time in charging for Vlad, however, the moment their kicks made contact with him, both suddenly were sent blasting off before landing a few feet away bloodied and unconscious.

"What happened!?" I cried.

"Tch, it's the same thing the inquisitor used. It's a high-level barrier spell that repels all oncoming attacks to your body. The castor can't move from where they're standing when it's active, but if anyone tries to land a direct hit on them when it's active, the damage will be tripled back onto them," Ami scowled.

"And now, you are outnumbered, once again," Dalphon chuckled as the mercenaries began to close in.

"Not in your dreams," Ami glared as she raised her wand above her head and summoned a massive fireball.

The sheer heat alone caused the nearby portions of the frozen lake to melt in an instant, sending mercenaries plummeting into the water, and giving them little time to react as Ami sent the fireball hurdling towards them.

"Now, it's 2 on 2," Ami huffed as the screams of the mercenaries rang out.

"What a cruel woman," Dalphon chuckled as fireballs began to flicker on each of his fingers.

Vlad nodded and readied his rifle. "You said if the witch of amethyst shows up, the mission becomes killing her with the reward doubled, right?"

"As expected of a top mercenary. Your memory serves you well. Now, unleash all your power upon Ami!" Dalphon grinned as he blasted out all the fireballs from his fingers.

Ami effortlessly dispelled the fire with her wand, but when Vlad fired off an icicle at her, she struggled a bit to deflect it in time.

"I'll take care of him!" I shouted as I charged for Vlad.

Vlad's eyes bulged as he leaped back and began guarding his face with his free hand.

"Pay no heed to her! Your mission is to kill Ami!" Dalphon shouted as he fired off another round of fireballs.

"Tch, I want ten times the amount," Vlad snarled.

"Done! Now kill Ami!"

"Crazy bastard," Vlad grumbled as he readied his shot.

"Not happening!" I shouted as extended my gauntlet hand and froze the incoming icicle blasts midair.

Vlad was certainly shocked by this, but didn't let it stop him from adjusting his aim and going for another round. I managed to deflect those too, but then Vlad spawned another ice rifle in his other hand and fired off a round too fast for me to counter in time.

"GAH!"

My eyes bulged in horror as I turned to see a streak of blood spewing out of Ami's right arm.