Chapter 16: Chapter 15 – Cumulonimbus III

Rosaria widens her eyes and puts down her hands. The wind subsides.

When their hairs calm and drop back down they reveal the sight of several spinning rough stones, the size of a foot each and looking as if detached from the rocky ground. They appear suspended in midair above Xlara's head, directed towards her.

Rosaria shakes her head with distaste and with a snap of her fingers, the stones crumble into dust before falling down harmlessly.

A smirk appears on Xlara's face.

「 As I said, I just want to talk,」 she says haughtily.

While things are calming down, Percibell, feeling the slight trickle of blood running down her neck, starts trembling and groaning.

「What nerve! I'm done with you. You come here to strongarm me by taking my Percibell hostage, and now you're threatening me with stupid demands?!」 Rosaria yells with an agitated voice.

「Mh!」 With wide eyes, Percibell jerks and stares Rosaria down upon hearing the words 'my Percibell'.

「Don't worry, I won't do anything as long you behave. Your speed and reach are amazing, but I bet my hands are faster.」

Percibell's skin turns a ghostly white, and she leans back into her perpetrator as if about to pass out from fear.

「State your business already! I don't think I've done anything to warrant someone with a puffed-up title like Shadow Blade to be after me. Is my quiet life a thorn in your side?」

「Quiet life? Please, I'm not stupid,」 Xlara responds calmly, fixing her hold on Percibell. 「You're quite powerful but hiding behind that,」 she nods at the barrier, 「... either you're plotting something rather big or running away from something bigger.」

Rosaria's mouth twitches as she listens to the half-elf's words. She doesn't respond, trying to hide her frustration with trembling arms behind the pillar obscuring her view.

Small rocks scattered around the area on the mossy ground start gently vibrating. Percibell, still firmly within the half-elf's grasp, looks up and notices Xlara shuffle around, eyes darting fast between the ground and Rosaria. She seems to move her legs slightly, digging her heels into the soil.

「Aren't you being too impatient? You really don't care about her, do you?」 she asks with a short pause before continuing,「Puzzling... The gait of a noble, but the wit of a peasant?」

With a bewildered expression on her face, Xlara places her fingernails near the small trickle of blood on Percibell's neck.

「Mmhhhh Mhhhhhh!」 Percibell struggles more frantically, her eyes wide open and body trembling in fear.

Rosaria clenches her teeth, purses her lips, and tries to restrain herself from jumping out behind her cover and assaulting the interloper bare-armed.

「I do not have all day. Get on with it already!」 Rosaria blurts out with clenched fists. 「Are you just looking for a fight?!」

Xlara stares her dead in the eyes, and as if on cue, her face goes back to her usual expressionless state.

「I come with a warning and an offer. I trust you know the treacherousness of Wilderness. It's not just wild beasts and outlaws. You already have the eyes of powerful people on you, watching you. But I represent a potential ally,」 Xlara responds, 「 We can help you survive here - if you help us. Mutual interest.」

Rosaria's eyes widen momentarily before letting out an exhale. All tension from her face dissipates while she judges the half-elf for a few moments.

「Hmph, how foolish」 she scoffs, 「Stop wasting my time. I thought the Kingdom might have sent you, but what... aren't you just one of the church's minions?」

With a look of irritation, she stomps her foot and exclaims, 「How persistent! I already denied your Prosecutors, what makes you think I'll listen to you this time around?」

Xlara opens her mouth to say something but abruptly closes it and instead goes into deep thought, with brows furrowed. A short while passes until she opens it slightly again while blinking twice.

「What did you just say? Prosecutors?」 she asks with an unusually intrigued tone of voice.

「Church Prosecutors, what about them?」 she scoffs as she narrows her piercing eyes.

In an abrupt change, the half-elf's pose seems to stiffen up. She tugs Percibell close and pulls up her head, emphasizing the small slit that had appeared on her captive's white neck.

「Mghghhhh !」 Percibell's struggles furiously, as she attempts to move from side to side. Tears roll down her face, her lanky legs visibly shaking in fear, as she looks at Rosaria with terrified, pleading eyes.

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「Tell me more about them. What do you know?」 Xlara demands.

Rosaria holds her breath and tenses up her body, her arms stretched out with open palms.

「Let a hair fall off her head, and I'll make sure you'll regret it!」 she hisses.

「I asked about the Church Prosecuters, who are they?」 Xlara insists, squeezing Percibell’s neck.

Rosaria grits her teeth in frustration but takes a moment to force herself to calm down. After letting out an exhale, she looks back at her with unyielding eyes.

「If you're not a minion of the church then we both have something we want to know from each other. How about we negotiate? First, tell me about you guys and these oh-so-powerful people who are out for me.」

Xlara stays silent for a moment as if reevaluating the situation as they stare each other down, the subtle grey shifts in her half-elf pupils meeting the greenish glow of Rosaria's. Only the sounds of the wind blowing past and Percibell's loud muffled breaths fill the silence

Finally, Xlara removes the hand covering Percibell's mouth to reach inside her coat's inner pocket.

At this chance, Percibell immediately starts muttering, 「O' goddess of silvery glades—」

Xlara, immediately noticing Percibell's start of an incantation, rushes to take out an emblem with gold carvings and then stops Percibell by covering the mouth using her other arm, 「Mmmmmhhhhhh—!」 the elf whines.

Xlara then puts the round piece of metal on display, turning it towards Rosaria before speaking unhurriedly, 「I'm a Nightslayer... Even as an outsider, you should have at least heard of the name.」

Rosaria sees an emblem with the silhouette of a moon and a dagger shape carved out in the middle.

She scoffs, 「I'm afraid you're completely off the mark!」 as the half-elf's earlier movement had given her enough time to prepare and, with a swift motion, she drops down with her arms to pound the ground.

Xlara, who can only see Rosaria disappear below the raised pillar, flinches and narrows her eyes vigilantly, but in a single breath, before she has time to react, the ground beneath her juts upwards, propelling her and Percibell into the air with incredible force.

「Kyaaaaahhhhh」 a piercing scream reverberates as Percibell, now free from Xlara's grasp, flies danglingly through the air.

She has her eyes closed and her body flails around. Suddenly, a current of air violently hits her in the back, changing her direction of descent. A streak of translucent yellow liquid trails behind her as she descends towards Rosaria, before the wind acts again to slow down her fall. She hits the ground with a soft thud, the liquid splashing just beside her, causing a distinctive smell of pee to waft in the air.

Percibell, now in a W-sitting pose with her butt on the ground and her eyes still closed, leans to the side before collapsing with a thud, seemingly unconscious.

At the same time, on the other side, Xlara, having turned her body in the air, does a somersault before landing gracefully on her two feet. Her long coat flails around, revealing a long and thin sword with a curved end that is somehow strapped to her back. It has intricate decorations on the hilt and the blade is black as ink, as if threatening to suck the color out of everything near it.

In a swift motion, she unsheaths it and shoves it into the ground, steadying herself.

「Are you only human? That's some impressive skill you got there!」 she yells, slightly agitated.

Rosaria responds with a taunting smile. Standing behind the pillar, she turns her head to her side to check on Percibell, who is still lying down a few meters away.

「How stupid I must've looked trying to convince a hot-headed human like you, but it's fine, I've learned my lesson now,」 Xlara continues without emotion as she readies her stance.

Standing with her legs apart, she pulls the sword out of the ground with both hands and swings it behind her, holding it at an angle around thigh level.

Her body tenses up and, after taking a breath, she leaps forward in a dash, covering several meters of distance with each step. She approaches Rosaria in a wide zig-zag pattern, as if ice-skating across the rough ground.

The half-elf reaches the wide-eyed human in almost a blink of an eye, not giving her time to leap back, only enough for her to barely manage a quick, inaudible mutter. Xlara holds her breath on the last step and swings her sword with a swift and wide movement, cutting through the pillar as if it were butter.

With a conjured wind current, Rosaria is violently pushed back, dodging the strike. She then momentarily erects another pillar for separation.

Not waiting even a second for Xlara's reaction, she puts out her arms, making the pillar slide across the ground with sonic speed, aiming straight for the half-elf. With one confident step, Xlara turns the direction of her sword's swing. The blade cuts into the incoming pillar without slicing all the way through. Stuck in the middle, it lets Xlara use the momentum to swivel her body in an arc above and around the moving rock, aiming her body straight at Rosaria. With her hand firmly on the sword's hilt, the force of the motion lets her pull the blade out, the pillar now escaping her reach. She crosses the weapon over and swings at Rosaria's waist. With the half-elf's movement being barely a blur to her, the princess is not even able to gasp in disbelief.

 

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