The White King

Passage

The lion-like creature's ears perk up at the sound of his voice, but it doesn't turn to face Schwarz.

It was slamming Nua beneath it's paw.

Without hesitation, Schwarz leaps at the beasts hind leg. He might not be able to conjure soul blades that instinctively, but he always had his actual weapon: his bracers.

While bracers were originally designed as armor, you didn't hunt a bear with a little arm protection.

The sound of Nua teleporting reaches his ears, but Schwarz ignores it for the moment to punch the beasts leg.

Obviously, the actual punch bore basically no effect.

But then four blades came out of the front of it, cracking the armor several times over.

It didn't break through to the creatures actual leg, but, as Schwarz wrenches the blades free of the bone-like plating, it rips enough shattered pieces to let him see it.

Unfortunately, it also tore far too much to not alert the thing.

The Hokori throws it's leg back suddenly, easily smashing the limb into Schwarz's chest and sending him flying back.

Slamming into and permanently denting a tree, Schwarz cries out in pain. While he lands on the ground easily enough, his back mimics his anguish with what feels like a misaligned vertebrae.

Nua was already gone- not that Schwarz was really paying that any mind- but the beast was most definitely still here and angry.

It hops around a foot off the ground, its massive form somehow capable of doing a complete turn before it lands.

And then it snarls at him.

Oh for the love of Kos.

"ENTRADA DINÂMICA!" a voice announces from the sky.

Obscured by the sun, a previously unseen figure lands a high speed kick directly onto the lions forehead, the force of which is more than capable of driving the Hokori's head directly into and somewhat through the earth.

Launching himself off it's downed form, the figure properly enters view.

It was someone new.

Nua groans, bracing his chest carefully. Not only did Schwarz interrupt him, but it seems he wasn't going to do much else.

"ENTRADA DINÂMICA!"

Nua doesn't even bother looking up. He could see the humanoid figure blurring towards his opponent from the corner of his eye, and he was patient enough to ask questions later.

Unlike Schwarz.

Nua inhales sharply as he leans back into the tree. Yes, the top of a tree wasn't exactly the safest place to be with a Leo nearby, but it should be occupied.

The sound of the earth being hit with the force of a meteoric impact doesn't make him look up either, though it doesn't perk his ears. It was rare for someone to grow physically strong in this world. Generally, speed was the only thing that could handle magic, and magic was everywhere.

Well, almost everywhere. It seemed the western plains weren't exactly well versed in magic or Hokori.

Speaking of which, Nua couldn't sense any lingering magic from a cast, meaning whoever that man was, he'd gotten into the sky by physical means.

While not impossible, that was certainly impressive.

A growl is followed neatly by sounds of battle, that of metal scraping along bone and of the earth receiving a few more craters.

Looks like they can handle it, Nua acknowledges with a relieved sigh. He might be powerful, but he didn't even have any quality defensive magic, much less healing.

His goal had always been to evade.

If you hit your enemy and they never hit you, you win.

It helped that assassination actually worked on humans. With the possible exception of master soul-mages, there wasn't anything you could really do to stop him from slitting your throat or impaling your skull.

That wasn't exactly true of the Hokori.

Nua turns his head back to the fight, getting a perfect view of the ensuing havoc.

Recognizing the presence of another, Schwarz rises immediately. He'd entered the fight and he'd be damned if he let someone else do all the work for him.

Splaying his weapon at his side, Schwarz dashes towards the rising beast and swings at it's neck.

The armor plating deflects the blow without so much as a scratch, but it brings the creatures focus down.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the new figure launches himself into the air and soars downward, slamming his outstretched leg into the top of the Hokori's head.

He wasn't nearly as high that time, so the force is less, but a visible dent forms in its armor at the point of contact.

Letting out an agitated roar, the lion ignores Schwarz in favor of attacking the new opponent, someone who was clearly a larger threat at the moment.

Lunging at it's foe, the Hokori bites straight at him while slamming it's paws down on either side.

It's attack didn't account for him leaping backwards faster than itself.

Growling dangerously and leveling a stare, the creature starts to glow.

But that's cut off pretty damn quick when it howls in pain, a certain set of four blades impaling themselves into the exposed piece of its leg.

Instinctively, it throws it's leg back and up, successfully dislodging Schwarz from it's flesh.

You know, along with a substantial chunk of it's limb.

Nua smirks, watching Schwarz sail through the sky.

"I should probably save him," he says, standing up atop the tree branch he was lying upon.

Lightly hopping into the air, Nua vanishes from place with the intent of catching Schwarz and teleporting him to the ground.

It doesn't quite work out like that.

The instant he appears in the air, he can tell something was off. Schwarz wasn't panicking over the inevitable fall, nor was he doing anything to stop it from happening.

He flips over in the air with a flourish, ending up completely upside down in relation to the ground.

With a smile Nua could only describe as absolute glee, Schwarz glows a vibrant white.

Just like that, his upward momentum cuts out, Schwarz somehow bracing himself in the sky.

As quickly as he stopped, Schwarz shoots towards the ground as a literal blur, aiming directly towards the Leo.

His aim true, he plows his outstretched arm directly through the lion's upturned head.

It was dead in an instant.