Chapter 7: Humbled

It was a risk. 

I didn’t know for sure whether or not the ShArc Republic had the same dilemma as Yenia but I was willing to gamble. 

A high reward for a high risk. 

If so, then me and Akechi are completely off the mark and our suspect can’t be the High Priest. I mean, who worships Topaz and blows up their own Topaz mines in the same motion? 

And if I was wrong, then no harm done, I’d just be corrected. 

Laying in the royal garden with a broken rib must be one of my rewards. Too bad I didn’t have enough time to flip my body or brace myself for the impact. 

But it did confirm my inferences. 

I’m guessing he doesn’t want me to repeat that statement. Because the Republic’s neutral, no one but the natives knows about the country’s inner workings, and even then, I’m sure public information is limited. 

I grunt, sitting up while plucking twigs out of my back.  A broken rib and a dislocated shoulder all in the span of one day? This can’t be real. 

Mika-El hops down from the balcony two stories to the ground like he’s jumping down a staircase. 

There goes being low-key. This guy’s bad news. 

If it wasn’t bad enough that I still don’t know what his enhancement is, his lackeys rush to his side at the sound of the commotion.

“Your Holiness, are you alright? What happened?” They chatter away.

Why ask him? He’s not the one contemplating a will right now.

“This woman insults me,” he hisses, turning to the king who has now walked out to see us. 

Shit.

“Is this how you command your subjects to treat foreign dignitaries, Your Majesty?”

“My deepest apologies, Your Holiness. You may discipline her as you see fit. I hope you will not let the actions of one child spoil your perspective of my kingdom’s allure.” That old man dips to Mika before turning tail. 

I knew he wouldn’t help out, but I didn’t expect him to be that nonchalant about whether this man kills me or not. I can’t say that I wasn’t warned that I’d be treated like the bad guy.

Boss is avoiding my gaze when I look at her, she wants no part of this, and she’ll just guilt trip me later if I involve her. 

Last but not least, Akechi. The nervous sweat dripping down the side of his temple lets me know he wants to step in and lend me a hand. But his chances of being king would be all but zero if he acted against his father’s wishes now. 

So he stays still, head lowered in shame.

It’s fine. Boss is unfortunate, but it’s not like having an omniaudient prince would be actually useful in a battle against a cult full of mostly other Physicals. And why would I need Akechi for that when directing my heart’s blood to my ears could achieve the same effect?

When I finally turn my eyes back to my adversaries, I see Phoenix squawking loudly at Mika before digging his talons deep into his raised arm. 

Damned bird. 

He doesn’t bother swatting him away, he’s too focused on me. One of the Topaz lackeys cocks back an arm aimed at my bird. I launch myself at Phoenix, cradling him in my arms mid-air and then hauling ass to the hedge maze as soon as I hit the ground. 

I can’t let all these people watching know that I can use multiple enhancements, they all assume I’m just a Mental cyborg. I wait until I’m well behind the veil of the leaves before pumping gemmed blood into my legs. 

Having the High Priest himself observe my heresy would be tantamount to signing my death warrant. 

If they even considered me human enough to be able to die, not just disassembled.

Maybe I can convince them that we’re on the same side before they break anything else. 

The stabbing pain in my side is making me wheeze. I slow to a halt then keel over in one of the maze’s lesser-known dead ends. 

One of the few advantages I have here is my terrain; I grew up weaving my way through mazes just like these. It was good combat practice with the general who trained me; it also helped me run away from things I found to be tiresome. 

I look at Phoenix in my arms; he’s curled up like I’m going to rock him to sleep. Maybe later, bird; I need you to be my eyes right now. I set him down and bolt away from where he’s going to fly up so he doesn’t give away my location. 

Boss made some alterations to the Topaz orb in Phoenix’s eye earlier. Let’s see if this works now. 

Nope, nothing. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. Guess I’m sort of on my own. 

Let’s try to remember, how many lackeys did I see? Ten? Eleven? Small for the entire religious flock but quite large for a delegacy. More than enough to kill this woman. Ok so, let’s go with eleven including the High Priest, that makes twelve. Twelve people in a hedge maze trying to gang up on me. Where are you guys’ consciences?

My first course of action is plucking off the weakest links. These are the worshippers traveling in pairs. They either don’t have enough confidence in their own skills to scout alone or their role is that of a supporter to another fighter. There are two pairs in the maze making a total of four people. I know for a fact that one of the pairs just passed me on the other side of the hedge. Should I follow them and take them both out at once? This would risk running into another group but would at least ensure that one group’s down. 

A high reward for a high risk.

I trail the duo, lagging several feet behind them. 

I’ll pick off the scrawny one; I can tell she’s weaker from the way she’s frolicking behind the larger guy. 

He seems like a problem, though. If the two colossal axes on his back weren’t indication enough of his raw power, I watch him leap over a hedge with the woman in tow. 

These hedges are taller than me, standing at a whopping six feet. It’s unreal. Just what kinds of people is that priest converting? Yeah, no amount of trickery or stealth could save me from that monster. Trained Northuns are all fine and dandy but the most I’d be able to do is run away from that ogre.

 If even that. 

He most likely has a leg enhancement if he can jump over such tall structures in a single bound. I feel sick to my stomach imagining that guy chasing after me; his footsteps probably cause small earthquakes. Yeah, better to be a living coward than a dead hero. 

Stop. Instead of focusing on what I can’t do, I should focus on what I can. Getting rid of the woman’s still an option. 

I weave through the shrubbery and witness them trotting along once again. 

I sneak up behind her, placing her in a chokehold and diving immediately through the nearby hedges. 

She could barely muffle in the tightness of my grip but her thrashing around is creating a lot of excess noise. 

I tip us over before throwing my legs around her waist, pinning her arms to the sides of her body. This should keep her from clawing at me as well as the bushes. 

My cuts sting from the thorns and spiky leaves we just wade through as we struggle on the ground. 

Does it usually take this long for someone to pass out from asphyxiation? 

Whatever her enhancement is, it doesn’t do her any good as her movements finally slow to a halt several seconds later. 

The monster man has been calling out for my victim, apparently named Lu, for a while now; I’m fortunate he didn’t find me. 

I start to head for where I saw the other pair at the beginning of the maze when I feel a burly hand on my arm. 

Shit. 

I immediately spin into a roundhouse kick towards the axeman’s face. He tries to dodge but not quickly enough, I manage to break his nose. 

Shit, shit, shit. 

There’s no doubt the others heard him searching for Lu just then and are probably on their way now. I need to deal with this quickly. 

The twin axes he’s now clenching are gonna be especially difficult for me to dodge with this broken rib of mine. 

Fortunately for me, he’s slower than I thought because of all that muscle weight he’s carrying. 

Let’s just go all out while aiming for the head. 

He swings at me horizontally right as I drop into a roll below his weapons’ range and position my back directly underneath his held-out arms, planting my hands on both sides of my head. With one quick thrust, I shove my feet upwards in a handstand-like kick, unhinging his jaw with the force of my legs and knocking him out in one fell swoop.

Damn, I’m good. I may win this just yet.

“I’ll be taking these, thank you very much.” I oblige as I confiscate my second victim’s axes and hobble into the hedge to wait for his friends.

Two down, ten to go. 

The first to arrive is a round man with daggers adorning his waist. He didn’t even have the chance to draw his weapon before I bore down hard on his head with the butt of the ax handle. The following three minions met the same fate after entering my kill box. The last two, the pair I spotted at the entrance, were smarter; they suspected a trap and immediately armed themselves. 

No matter. 

I throw one of my axes at the taller woman while getting the jump on the other, choking her. This one must have an arm enhancement because she elbows me with the force of a mammoth right in my ribcage. I bite my tongue to keep from screeching. 

Don’t let go, I urge myself to maintain the chokehold. 

She fights it but she does pass out like little Miss Lu and I roll over, gasping for air. My aim must be godly because the taller one didn’t even get back up. 

Stand up, I’m not done yet. 

There are still four left, one of which is the High Priest. I struggle to my feet, leaning on one of the axes as a crutch. The High Priest with two followers on his heels strut onto the scene a couple of seconds later as if they heard me coaching myself. Perfect timing. 

So it actually was ten, what a welcome surprise.

“You have incapacitated my retinue,” Mika-El states, seething.

“They…are only unconscious, Your Holiness. I made sure to go easy on them because I figured you wouldn’t give me the opportunity to converse with you if I killed your henchmen,” I smile cordially. 

I try to mask the fact that I’m fully worn out. Also, I don’t exactly know whether or not the tall woman’s breathing. I hope so, for my sake.

Phoenix decides that now is a good time to start showing me blotches of his vision. Wow, Phoe, how considerate.

“We have nothing to talk about. Those without a tongue know not how to speak,” he threatens.

 I would call his bluff, but in my state, he could carry it out without so much as a rebuttal from me. 

That’s a lie, I know that if this man tried to finish me, I’d fight him tooth and nail, broken rib or not. That sounds like the likely end to this conversation anyways. Who knows, fortune may smile down upon me and grant me victory; I’ve made it this far.

“I mean you no harm. I made an assumption-”

“Wait,” He interrupts, he gives a wave to the two henchmen left standing. 

He whispers something to them before they turn, giving me one last glare, and march off to what I can only assume is to be towards the event hall. 

I guess even the High Priest hides things from those who are loyal to him.

“Continue.”

“I made an assumption about your mine. Though your reaction confirmed my suspicions. Ours are being targeted as well. I think we can help each other out,” I offer.

He contemplates for a moment, allowing one of his hands to run through his mane. Long and dark, Mika’s hair juxtaposes the spiritual atmosphere he radiates, devilishly curling down his waist to imply the seductive nature of his backside. I look back up at him quickly, hoping that he didn’t see me admiring his bum. He didn’t.

“Alright,” he says after much deliberation, “I do hope you can forgive me for causing a commotion and sending my people after you. I’ll see what I can do about your injuries.”

“Don’t worry, Mika,” I wink at him, “it didn’t even hurt. Perhaps you should work on your swing.”

He laughs before offering me his hand. I ignore it and stand up on my own. 

I won’t let my guard down. 

Phoenix stops circling the garden to land on my shoulder.

“I think the talon marks on my arm might hinder my training,” he counters, unfazed by my actions, “do you have any suspects at the moment?”

“Other than you, we suspected high ranking nobility with TB. I believe we should check in the North as well.” I contemplate.

“We? Does your bird help you interrogate them?” he jokes, “I can see the appeal, you two are quite the intimidating duo.”

“No, ‘we’ as in Prince Akechi and I. We can make do, but our chances of finding the perpetrators increase exponentially if we have the High Priest and his assets to help out.” I reason, minding my grammar.

The expression on Mika’s face is so blank it’s nearly comical. He must not know who Akechi is. I was going to further elaborate on him, but he speaks first.

“Then it would be best to not waste any more time. Let’s return to the ballroom. By the blessings of the Topaz, the nobility in the know has not scattered.”

I nod, filing in beside him, staggering.

“I will warn you now though because we are allies, for the time being, Miss JJ,” I don’t even have time to react as he grabs a hold of my collar, “If you ever intentionally harm my devotees again, you’ll suffer worse than a broken rib,” he asserts.

“Noted.” I squeak. 

After defeating his minions, who I considered to be on the strong end, I recognize that this priest’s power trumps them all. If anything, he should be protecting them. 

I had already lost to him when he got the jump on me on the balcony, even without my wound. Not to mention the fact that I still don’t know his enhancement. I can only hope that the gap in our abilities will close sooner rather than later.

Nothing’s more humbling than losing to a saint.