Free Web NovelChapter 22: The beginning of the fight
Everyone was scared; no one expected this to happen.
It was an unexpected, swift, and crushing blow that shook the entire city. Bit by bit, people began coming out of their houses out of curiosity and, of course, horror at what was happening.
What is it? War? The end of the world?
All people were tormented by such questions, but some were concerned with something entirely different.
"Ruth...less?" Princess Celestia’s voice was heard, not loud at all, in a shocked tone.
Even now, she was looking not at the stone itself, but at the blood that would not stop flowing and flowing...
"I certainly didn’t expect this," said the professor, scratching her head, not knowing what to do now because the target was destroyed, and her mission was simply to bring him.
In any case, it wasn’t her fault the mission had failed, so she wasn’t very nervous and didn’t think much about it. Since it had all ended this way, there was no point in staying here; moreover, other people, including guards, would soon arrive, so she had to hurry.
But at that same second, just as the professor was about to leave with her group, a very serious voice was heard from behind.
"Where are you planning to go? Having killed the person who became my first friend and became dear to me, you just walk away as if nothing happened?" the princess asked. There wasn’t a drop of emotion on her face; only in her eyes could one see that predatory gaze of a killer who only wants to eliminate the target.
"Well, it’s a pity he died, of course; he would have been very useful to us, but it’s not my fault, so there’s no point in speaking to me like that," the professor replied with an equally serious tone.
"And you think I will believe your words?" the princess asked again.
"In general, I don’t give a damn whether you believe me or not," she said, but now her voice sounded a bit mocking.
"That’s fine then. In any case, I wouldn’t have believed you, and that means you have committed a crime, which gives me the freedom to punish you - or more accurately, to kill you!" the princess began to shout, speaking these words with aggression, her eyes becoming sharp and her body fully ready for combat.
"Hey, hey, you might be strong, but do you really think you can defeat us? With our numbers, we’ll simply kill you," the professor said; it was clear she was saying this with a smile.
"Since you think so, you can all attack at the same time," she said and began walking slowly toward the professor.
Step by step, she slowly grew faster and faster.
The battle began!
A dash forward and a sword strike! The princess aimed a sword blow directly at the professor’s throat.
A miss.
The professor dodged by performing two backflips.
From behind! Two other girls attacked simultaneously. Helga’s short blade whistled from the right. Clara attacked from the left, aiming precisely under the shoulder blade. Synchronized. Fast. Ruthless. They were no amateurs - this was the work of professional liquidators.
But Celestia didn’t even turn around.
"Small fry."
A swing of the fiery blade. The S-rank sword traced a perfect arc of light in the night air. The flaming aura erupted in all directions with a circular strike, shattering the night darkness. Too powerful. Too destructive.
A metallic clang rang out followed by two simultaneous cries. The attackers’ weapons turned red-hot in a fraction of a second. Celestia’s striking force was so extreme that Clara and Helga were simply blown back. They flew several meters, crashing heavily onto the asphalt and struggling to catch their breath. Their palms were burnt to blood from the red-hot hilts.
Professor Valerian Sterling, having barely landed after the flip, instantly assessed the situation. Her intelligence allowed her to think quickly. The gap in power was immense. Celestia was a monster.
"Scatter! Surround her! Elsa, Mara - hold the front!" the professor commanded sharply, activating her Path of the Actor.
Her silhouette blurred for a moment, creating a false illusion of moving to the left, while she herself, silently as a true Thief, flanked her.
But Celestia didn’t care about tricks. Rage had completely burned the fear out of her. In her head, only one thought pulsed: ’They took away my first friend. They must die.’
The ground beneath her feet cracked. A dash!
Celestia practically dissolved in the air from extreme speed, turning into pure kinetic energy. Elsa Thorne barely had time to raise her twin daggers before a blinding crimson reflection of the sword appeared before her face.
"Too slow," the princess’s icy, dead voice hissed in her ear.
Crunch.
The flaming S-rank blade easily sliced through the steel of the daggers and cut deep into Elsa’s chest. The girl choked on her own scream, falling to the ground. A crimson stream gushed onto the cracked soil, mixing with the dust.
The remaining four women froze in pure, primal horror. Professor Sterling’s group, which a minute ago had confidently declared a numerical advantage, now realized: they were trapped in a cage with a literal predator.
And Celestia, without even looking at the wounded girl, slowly turned her head toward Valeriana. Her eyes glowed with a primal, murderous light.
"Who is next?" she asked quietly, taking another step forward. The hilt of her sword was smoking from the magic overflowing within it.
The organization’s counterattack faltered in the very first seconds.
But this did not mean defeat for them.
At least not now, when they held their trump cards in hand.
"Leader, use the stone that the boss gave!" one of the women shouted that it was time to use it.
"Are you in your right mind! Our boss said this is for extreme cases!" the professor replied sharply.
"What is the situation right now, damn it!" another one shouted.
"Damn it!"
Saying this, she took a stone out of her pocket.
Green and small.
The princess, seeing this, became more aggressive.
"Weaklings, using this..."
The stone shattered.
A green mist began to surround the princess.
Nothing was visible to her eyes.
In that same second, skeletons began to emerge from the ground.
They had swords in their hands.
Seeing the princess, they began to run toward her in mass with the goal to kill.
There were very many of them.
The princess made a sweep with the sword that looked like a ring.
In that same second, dozens of skeletons evaporated.
But now twenty more appeared.
’There are very many of them. Every stone has a limit; I just need to keep killing.’
She raised her sword and began to hack them all at once.
Crunch! Crack! Fragments of bone flew in all directions.
The flaming S-rank blade moved with such speed that it turned into a solid crimson dome. Every movement of Celestia’s mowed down the walking dead by the dozens. Fiery waves burned away the green mist, but the professor’s cursed artifact worked without stopping—in place of one shattered skull, three new ones immediately burst from the ground with a dull thud.
The skeletons knew no fear, felt no pain, and thoughtlessly went to the slaughter, burying the princess under their bodies. Their rusty swords clashed with her ranked weapon with a ring.
’They are trying to exhaust my magic and catch the moment when I run out of breath,’ Celestia calculated instantly. In her eyes there was no panic. Only a cold, predatory focus.
The princess hacked and hacked... She didn’t know the word "stop."
In her eyes there was only aggression and the desire to erase.
But biology didn’t give a damn about her desire.
The princess was tired, but she still held the sword in her trembling hand.
Her breathing could be heard even from a distance.
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.
"Ah... ah... ah... there are many of them."
The princess decided to use defense, making her skin like steel.
But the skeletons dealt sword strikes without mercy.
One wound. Two wounds. Five....
Wounds began to appear on the princess’s body...
She was covered in blood.
Blood that was mixed with Ruthless’s blood.
The stone’s power ran out, and it seems the stone worked perfectly from the professor’s point of view.
"Well, what now? Understood the difference in our power?" the professor asked with a smirk.
The princess sat completely wounded and in blood, leaning on that very stone. Her gaze was directed at the ground, and one eye was completely closed because of the wound.
Celestia smirked.
"Why are you grinning?" the professor asked, looking at the princess and not understanding why she was doing that.
The crowd was already large. Everyone watched, not understanding what or how anything was happening at all.
"Get on the ground!" saying this, the guards arrived.
"Really? It’s you who should get on the ground if you don’t want me to kill her," saying these words, she pressed a sword to her throat.
"Alright, alright... Everyone get down!" said one of the guards; it was clear she was the commander-in-chief.
"Ah, I didn’t think this little mission would turn into something this big," the professor said, looking around.
"You used your trump card, didn’t you?" the princess asked, but her tone was serious.
"Yes, and you lost," the professor said, looking down from above.
"Then let me use my trump card too..." having said this, the princess cold-bloodedly uttered one word aloud.
"What, no way!" saying this, the professor immediately stepped back.
