Chapter 146: Chapter 132 – Clashing Blades

"It was far from uncommon for remnants of defeated armies to devolve into banditry. For some, it was because they feared punishments for having fought on the wrong side. Others were simply left with little option to survive. But yet others found that they enjoyed banditry in itself. The last sort tend to be the ones who formed the most dangerous bands of bandits unless they were exterminated early on." - Garth Wainwrought, Professor of Socioeconomy from the Levain Institute of Higher Learning, circa 602 FP.

Despite his brutish appearance, the ogre lookalike moved with surprising alacrity. Even the way he stomped his foot as he ran was an act, as he moved with surprising swiftness quietly as he got close. Clearly someone who purposely cultivated his brutish looks and demeanor and used it to catch people off guard in battle, then.

 

Aideen was not fooled, however. The martial arts she learned places an emphasis on how to read an opponent's movement just as they started to move. She was accustomed to it, and paid attention to the way her opponent's muscles twitched, something most people would not be perceptive about.

 

When the large man barreled in towards her and swung his cleaver-like blade sideways, she leaned her body far back, and the blade only managed to slice through her tunic without even touching her skin.

 

Her opponent noticed his failure though, and when Aideen whirled her staff from below he deflected it with a forceful strike with the back of his blade. Both of them took a step back as they reevaluated the opponent before them, even as other bandits, emboldened by their leader, rushed from the sides towards the line of guards behind Aideen.

 

The next couple of swings from the bandit was more tentative, as he probed her defenses rather than commit himself into a serious blow. Aideen had just considered if she should bait him when her ears caught footsteps that rushed at her from behind.

 

A glance behind her back showed that one of the bandits had turned around and rushed at her instead of the line of guards. She whirled around and swatted the overeager man away. Her staff shattered his sword with ease, even though it was swung at its full extension, and carried onwards to cave in the man's skull.

 

Quite naturally, her opponent, the brutish bandit, had not missed the opening, as he rushed at her. He held his cleaver high above his head with both hands before he brought it down with all his strength. The blade descended towards Aideen even as she dealt with the bandit that had snuck in from behind her.

 

As it was, Aideen only barely managed to block the blow, as she raised her staff to meet it, her grip wide apart as the brute force of the blow itself forced her to hold herself steady.

 

The cleaver-like blade of the bandit clashed against the middle of her staff, and a small chip flew off the blade as it met with unyielding adamant. The bandit capitalized on his height and strength as he tried to push the blade down towards Aideen.

 

She had not chosen to meet force with force. With practiced movements, her staff split into its three-sectioned form, while the blades built into it sprung out from its ends. The sudden give from the slack length of chains caught the bandit by surprise, and Aideen whirled around in that short moment.

 

Aideen caught her opponent's blade between the blades of her right-hand stave, and pushed it aside as she whirled around. Her left hand swung low as she whirled, as the blade she held scythed through the back of the bandit's right ankle and hamstrung the man.

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Even as the bandit collapsed to one knee, Aideen whirled her body the other way around, almost as if it was a dance, and the blades on her weapon struck the man near his elbows. The way his arms drooped down showed that she had hit the nerves she aimed for, and she kicked the man in the chest for good measure, which made him fall flat on his back.

 

Aideen hamstrung the man's other leg before she turned around. The defense line held by the guards still held, though some of them were hurt and bleeding. At least five more of the bandits had died or were incapacitated by them, and both groups were too busy to pay attention to her fight.

 

It was an opportunity she abused as she swung her weapon out at its full length. The sharp adamant blade on its end carved through flesh and parted bone before it returned to her and she deftly caught it by the stave. Four bandits toppled down as their necks were severed halfway from behind. They never knew what had hit them.

 

The sudden death of those bandits surprised those who stood close to them, but by then, Aideen had charged them from behind. She went straight through the bandit group as they tried to push past the guards. Her weapon whirled around in her hands as she deftly used it. Its blades severed flesh and parted bone, and those struck by the heavy staves instead had their flesh pulverized and bones shattered.

 

Aideen reaped lives wherever she walked by, as one bandit after another fell like stalks of wheat before a scythe. By now the bandits that remained noticed the trouble they were in. Some faltered and were slain by the guards. Others turned tail and fled instead. Or rather, they tried to.

 

When Aideen whirled her weapon around and decapitated the first two bandits that had fled, the few remaining ones weighed their options. Moments later they threw down their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

 

Some of the guards quickly secured those bandits, while Aideen took a quick moment to heal up the two guards who took some relatively serious injuries. Artair only had some minor cuts and bruises, so she left him be.

 

"There was one that looked like a leader of sorts, I left him alive back there," said Aideen as she finished up her healing quickly, the worst of the injuries dealt with. It would need further treatment, but that could wait until later. "Can you secure him along with the other captives? I'll be going to help Zoya out."

 

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