[1/2 Prince x Legend of Sun Knight] fic: Invincible, that is the Legend - Chapter 10
Title: Invincible, that is the Legend - Chapter 10
Fandom: 1/2 Prince x The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 4,033
Summary: On their way to finish the Dictator, the Execution Squad's "invincible battleship" crashes, separating everyone, landing them on foreign soil in the LSK world. "Those people you killed..." "Does it faze you?"
Notes: Invincible lives. :'D I really thought I'd be able to update this fic sooner, yet it looks like I updated closer to the 1 year mark than I thought... So... Happy 1 year since updating? :'D Despite it being such a long time, I stupidly chose to exclude names from the first half of this chapter, hahaha... Oh, a good thing from taking so long to update is that I now no longer have to worry about working around certain spoilers. Yay! (The translations have gotten far enough along, haha)
Previous chapter: Invincible Curiosity, Insatiable
Chapter 10: Invincible Flying Leaves. Even Leaves Can be Deadly in the Hands of an Assassin
Clunk.
That was the sound of an empty tea cup being placed down on a table in Leafblade's tavern. After a protest began in Leafblade, a small village northeast of the capital of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, the Storm Knight personally paid a visit to the village to participate in the citizens' cry for equal treatment. While in the tavern, Storm Knight crossed eyes with a dark-haired man who was only drinking tea despite being in a tavern more well known for wine.
After the Storm Knight left the tavern, the dark-haired man that had piqued the Storm Knight's interest fished out a few coins and left them on the table.
He then left the tavern as well, the door swinging shut after him.
Outside the tavern, an impromptu fight had broken out, but it was not an interesting one. At least, it was not very interesting for the tea-drinking, dark-haired man who enjoyed the thrill of challenging powerful opponents. A quick survey of the scene told him there were no strong fighters involved in the fight save for the man with long blue hair who was kicking his way through his battles. That person was none other than the only one of the Twelve Holy Knights present at the village, the "carefree" Storm Knight. He moved like the wind, nimble and elusive, whirling into the next person before his opponents could even react.
No one among the villagers and emissaries stood a chance.
That, however, was still not enough to capture the dark-haired man's attention. He'd gotten what he needed from entering the village; it was time for him to take his leave. The fight didn't concern him, so he left without a backward glance, neatly stepping to the side when someone stumbled in his way.
Meanwhile, a towering figure in the forest lifted his head. He could smell the fight in the air. He had been hiding in the forest when a group of knights on horseback passed by some time ago. Were they perhaps the reason why a fight had broken out in the direction they headed in?
The injuries didn't smell severe, but the scent was enough to make him uneasy. He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. This was not the first time that he'd nearly been overwhelmed by the smells that assaulted his nose ever since he woke up here in this world. It took getting used to, having his sense of smell enhanced.
He frowned.
People were getting hurt, yet he was hiding here without doing anything to help. He took a wary glance around his surroundings.
He knew his next course of action to be foolish, but he couldn't help it.
Despite the warnings he had been given, he left the safety of the forest and headed toward the village without any hesitation. He could never leave any injured or sick people alone. He made sure to cover his hands with gloves and to pull his hood up, but there was nothing he could do about his towering height.
By the time he reached the village, the fight was winding down. He knelt down by the side of an injured man and let his hands hover over the wound. The man stared up at him, eyes unfocused. Several of the people caught in the fray looked to be normal, everyday villagers.
After reciting some words, a gentle healing light enveloped the man's injuries. Ever since arriving here, his healing spells had gotten stronger just like his sense of smell. He didn't even need the help of a staff.
"Ouy knaht," the man said.
He nodded, thinking the words were probably words of gratitude, and went off to his next patient, greatly relieved that the injuries were generally not severe. There were several men who had put up magical shields to lessen damage from both sides. They were part of the knights he had seen passing through the forest. It looked like they had been trying to control the brawl somehow. Some other knights appeared to be trying to herd people away from the fight.
They're probably not the ones who started the fight then, he thought to himself.
After healing several of the villagers and helping them to the side, it was inevitable that one of them would stumble and grip his arm for support.
His sleeve got pushed upward. The villager stared with wide eyes and said, "Yriah yrev er'uoy."
Although he didn't understand what had just been said, he was quite sure it was not a good idea to leave his arm on display. He hurriedly smoothed his sleeve down and laughed awkwardly, but he remembered too late that his laughs would sound more like barks.
The villager stared some more. Then, a shaking hand reached out to tug on his cloak. He was much too tall for the villager to reach the top of his hood, but the tug was more than enough for his hood to fall part of the way, leaving his furry ears and snout partially exposed.
"Namtsaeb," the villager whispered.
He held up his hands, hoping it to be a universal sign of meaning no harm. Despite his good intentions, the villager scrambled backwards and bumped into the person behind him. That person turned around, took one look at him, and promptly screamed.
Oh no, he thought. Not again.
After the scream, several knights turned their attention on him. It was time to run.
He pulled his hood back on, intent on beating a hasty retreat out of the village; however, several knights quickly blocked his way. They'd gotten into formation in the blink of an eye. A shout sounded -- were they calling for more backup?
He pivoted and ran in the other direction, his long legs putting distance between him and his pursuers. No one was quick enough to catch up to him. But just as he thought he was going to make it safely out of the village, a blur of blue rammed into his back, knocking the air out of him.
He stumbled, his hood catching on his ears once more. He hastily fixed it and whirled around to be greeted by a man with long blue hair and piercing green eyes and whose foot was tapping on the ground, as if he might rush forward in the very next moment to ram into him again.
Did he kick me? he wondered.
The answer was yes as the man rushed forward and aimed another kick at him. He quickly dodged but still felt the wind from the force of the man's kick. He hastily turned around to continue fleeing, but despite his height on the man, he couldn't seem to shake him off. The man was fast. And that was saying something because he knew a lot of fast people. Like Prince, Kenshin, Cold Fox...
Even though he didn't know much about how this world worked, he didn't think it would be a good idea to be caught by the man, who looked to be some sort of authority, especially since the other knights seemed to be following his command. He had been here long enough to know that people didn't quite appreciate being around someone as... furry as him. He ran through his options. Maybe some kind of spell will keep him at bay? Or I can return his attacks with kicks of my own...
He was fairly proud of his own kicks. The problem would be if he could land them. The man was so fast that he didn't even have the chance to buff himself with spells.
Before he could decide on a course of action, whether it was reciting a spell or depending on his physical prowess to aid him, a sharp leaf whizzed past him, striking the ground. More leaves flew past him, warning his pursuer to stop his pursuit. The blue-haired man had instantly danced out of the way, his actions nimble and graceful, but the man had been caught unaware enough that the leaves had grazed his sleeves.
Just as suddenly as the leaves came flying, a blur of black landed next to him. Sharp eyes glanced up at him. I thought I told you to stay hidden, the gaze seemed to say.
He grinned ruefully, even though his hood hid his expression. Perhaps a good thing, as people might see his sharp teeth and scream even more. He had indeed been told to stay hidden, but he could never help his calling. When there was a patient in need, there was a patient in need. He would always come to their aid.
In fact, that was how they had eventually found each other. He had gotten himself in trouble from trying to offer his healing services to the wrong people. Thankfully, his dark-haired companion had come across him in time to save him.
It looked like he would owe him yet another one. Even though he sometimes felt unsettled by his own companion, it was always reassuring to have him near in such scenarios, especially when they only had each other.
Rubbing his sensitive nose, Ugly Wolf watched as his companion Cold Fox leaped into battle with the blue-haired man. Both were so fast that they were mere blurs to his eyes. The sides of Cold Fox's mouth curved upward ever-so-slightly as he tossed yet another leaf at the other man. His opponent's emerald eyes gleamed, reminding Wolf of Wicked's sharp gaze.
Here we go again, Wolf thought to himself. With Cold Fox present, they could definitely manage to shake their opponent off, but Cold Fox certainly wasn't going to leave without having a taste of the other man's strength first. This wasn't the first time they'd had to fight someone off, and it certainly wasn't the only time they'd had problems because of Wolf's furriness (though Cold Fox did have his share of landing them in trouble too from his dalliance with seeking strong opponents). Wolf was glad that Cold Fox had at least taken his concerns to heart and had started using less lethal weapons.
It really wouldn't do to enrage any of the locals by accidentally killing them.
Wolf watched as another leaf whizzed by, this one opening a rip in the blue-haired man's pant legs. Emerald eyes widened before narrowing.
Wolf gulped, suddenly apprehensive. Surely even Cold Fox isn't deadly enough to kill someone with just leaves?
Wolf's apprehension wasn't unfounded. It all went back to how they ended up traveling together.
When he had first awoken, Li Tian Lang had not thought to hide his visage. He hadn't known that being stuck as Ugly Wolf meant he would not be welcomed in this world. Like Prince and many of the others, he hadn't even known he wasn't in Second Life.
Unlike Prince, that had soon changed when he found himself in trouble. He had not been fortunate enough to land in a secluded location away from the populace, nor had he been fortunate enough to be found by people who were willing to look past his appearance and not shoot on sight. Or well, stab him on sight, considering they didn't have guns. Perhaps he should have expected it, as his appearance was fairly alarming. Only Yu Lian could ever love him for it.
Luckily, the ruckus turned into a blessing, as it drew enough attention for Cold Fox to find him when the men he'd healed had turned on him. They'd stuck together after that, with Wolf staying hidden while Cold Fox went into villages to gather information and earn them some money to survive. Even though neither of them spoke the language, Cold Fox was quite capable of getting by. Wolf greatly admired him for his adaptability. Then again, Cold Fox had never had much use for words in the first place, so perhaps it mattered little to him that the locals didn't speak their language.
"We're not in the game," Wolf had said when they'd regrouped one evening. Cold Fox tossed him some bread and sat down on a log to eat.
"I figured the same," Cold Fox had replied.
"Then, those people you killed..." They're...dead. They're actually dead. Truly and forever gone.
Wolf couldn't imagine having that on his conscience.
Wolf clenched his fists, remembering how Cold Fox had cut those people down. He was fairly sure he would have died if not for Cold Fox's intervention that night, but that didn't mean Wolf didn't feel unsettled from the fate that had befallen the men, even if they were bandits. Even bandits must surely have people waiting for them back home.
Cold Fox's dark eyes flicked up at him, his demeanor as cold as his name implied. "Does it faze you?"
Despite the warm evening breeze, Wolf felt a chill travel up his back. Just who are you, Cold Fox?
He shook himself out of his thoughts. "This isn't a game," Wolf said in utmost seriousness.
"No, it isn't," Cold Fox said tonelessly, eyes still trained on Wolf, watching for his reaction.
Wolf's appetite was gone. He lowered his bread, hands resting in his lap. He didn't want to doubt his comrade, but he felt it necessary to air his concerns if they were to work together for the foreseeable future. "I know I shouldn't blame you," he said quietly, "but how can you stand knowing that you have blood on your hands?"
Not wanting to be responsible for someone's death was part of the reason why he had become a school doctor instead of a doctor at a hospital. At schools, he would be looking after the well being of the student population. A scrape here. A scrape there. A stomachache. A fever. At most, a broken bone or two. It didn't mean that he didn't know how to deal with more serious illnesses or injuries. It just meant he had far less contact with them than if he were practicing elsewhere, and he liked it that way. He didn't like the morbid atmosphere of larger hospitals or the frenzy of emergency rooms. He appreciated putting smiles back on the faces of his students much, much more, making sure that the youngsters in his university would be healthy enough to continue their studies.
He hated trying to treat a patient and not being able to do enough to save that patient's life.
It was impossible to conceive of the other end of the spectrum -- intentionally ending someone's life. He lived to save people, to heal. Never to kill.
One failure had already been one too many. He would never forget...
"No wonder you're a healer," Cold Fox said, breaking him out of his meandering thoughts. "Your heart is too soft."
Wolf chuckled. "It's my calling. I'll always be a doctor. Online, offline, it doesn't matter. I even ended up as a priest in Second Life even though I hadn't planned that."
And if it meant he was too soft, then so be it. He would rather hurt with each injury and death than to have his heart hardened. Despite the fact that he was named after a predator and took on the same name for his online handle, he was far from fierce, entirely unlike Cold Fox whose name suited him completely. Cold Fox was a predator through and through.
It made Wolf wonder once again just what Cold Fox did for a living, for him to have been able to freeze his heart in such a way, not even batting an eye as blood spilled. It still made Wolf shudder to recall Cold Fox standing under the moon, silver moonlight washing over his dark figure. In the dark, even the blood had looked black against his blade as it dripped down onto the ground where the dead men lay.
This wasn't a game. They'd realized it too late, and now Cold Fox had blood on his hands. It was all Wolf's fault.
"So yeah. I'm a doctor. What about you?" Wolf ventured to ask. "It's all right if you don't want to tell me, but I figured it best for us to get to know each other better to see what resources we have available. We'll be depending on each other for quite some time yet."
And, Wolf also thought, it might serve to ground us so that we don't lose ourselves, stuck as we are as our avatars.
Dark eyes gazed at him, and in a nonchalant voice -- no, was that actually amusement that Wolf detected? -- Cold Fox revealed, "I'm an assassin."
Then, without waiting for Wolf's response, Cold Fox returned to eating his bread with his head lowered, no longer scrutinizing Wolf's reactions.
If Wolf had wanted reassurance that reminding Cold Fox of his offline identity would help separate him from bloodshed, then Wolf had placed his hopes in the wrong place. Cold Fox was an assassin through and through. Bloodshed would not faze him.
Truly, there could have been no other profession more vastly different from Wolf's than Cold Fox's.
"An assassin..." Wolf finally managed to close his dropped jaws from the surprising answer Cold Fox had given him. He hadn't really been expecting that answer even though he thought Cold Fox's profession must be something drastic. He had thought him to be a soldier, or perhaps part of the police force. He hadn't thought he would be an assassin...
Following that, Fox seemed to think nothing of having revealed his offline profession, despite the not-so-legal aspect of it. He continued eating his bread and off-handedly reached for a corked flask. He passed it on to Wolf.
"What's this?" Wolf asked. "Is it wine?"
He uncorked it and took a sniff. Ah, tea again. I should have expected it.
"You must really like tea," Wolf commented, thankful for the opportunity for a change of topic.
He didn't think Cold Fox would drop another bombshell. He hadn't been trying to dig for more information about his companion this time, and he hadn't expected...
"I'm not old enough to drink," Cold Fox said with a shrug. When Wolf didn't make any motion to take a drink from the flask, Cold Fox reached over and took the flask back from Wolf's loosened hands.
When the weight of the flask left his hands, Wolf jerked out of his surprise to stare at the dark figure across from him. Cold Fox merely stared back unflinchingly with his black eyes. His cold and steady composure really didn't make him come across as a high-schooler!
Wait?!! Does this mean Cold Fox is possibly even younger than who I think Prince is?
He also didn't know what to think about a teenager who obeyed the laws enough not to drink but had no qualms about killing people.
All of a sudden, Wolf felt a surge of possibly misplaced protectiveness and a need to guide this lone teenager. Cold Fox really should have kept his age to himself. Just as much as he cared about helping patients, Wolf never turned a blind eye to youngsters!
Otherwise, why would he have decided to work at a university?
Cold Fox's opponent dodged in a blur, long blue hair fluttering in the wind.
He's fast, I'll give him that, Cold Fox thought to himself. He pulled another leaf out of his pocket. Wolf had made him adopt some non-lethal weapons, claiming that it would make their lives a lot easier if they didn't make enemies out of the people here by needlessly killing them. What if they accidentally killed someone important? Cold Fox understood where Wolf was coming from, even though it did make things a bit more of a hassle. It wasn't like Cold Fox enjoyed killing. It was just a lot quicker and neater, and sometimes there wasn't much choice.
Wolf was like a nagging older brother, or what Cold Fox thought a nagging older brother would be like, since he didn't actually have one. He supposed it wasn't completely unbearable having someone like that around.
Cold Fox humored Wolf, as he was someone important to Prince, and Prince was important to Kenshin. That, and he wasn't so weak that he had to take such drastic measures as killing off his opponents. The first time had really been because he hadn't figured out in time that their opponents would not turn into beams of light and return back to life. His blade had fallen so quickly that he hadn't even had time to stop, unlike Wicked who had met a similar situation in a completely different location, not that Cold Fox knew that the others were facing similar ordeals. Sunshine too was about to come across a situation where there would be no heading back, and the wrath of the Sun Knight was most definitely nothing to scoff at, but we'll get to that later.
In any case, Cold Fox was of the mind that what was done, was done. To avoid accidentally killing more people, he'd adopted leaves as his makeshift weapon for now. There was no shortage of them in the forest. He'd grabbed another handful when he realized his companion had idiotically run off once again to play healer. These leaves were definitely nothing like the flying daggers he used in real life, but his throwing arm was just as true, and he'd found that he could envelop the leaves with mana -- at least, it was something very similar to mana, whatever it was. The mana-infused leaves were sharp and deadly, able to cut through the air with little resistance. With more practice, they might even become too lethal to pass Wolf's inspection, but Cold Fox would deal with that when the time came.
If Cold Fox were one to grin, he would have had a large grin over his face. Fights like this one made him feel alive. Whenever strong opponents were involved, he could finally experience being pushed to his limits, unlike when his jobs called for him to remain silent and quick, a cold predator in the dead of night. There was no challenge involved, no thrill whenever he slit their throats in secret. Life had become routine. Boring. Then came Second Life when he finally found people stronger than him. Who could challenge him and beat him into the ground, making him sweat and bleed. He'd felt more alive in Second Life than outside of it, and a large part of that was thanks to Kenshin who he could always count on to knock the air out of him.
This current opponent of his was fast, maybe even faster than Kenshin. Cold Fox wasn't grinning outright, but if Kenshin were present, he would have been able to tell the changes in Cold Fox's demeanor. His movements became sharper as excitement ran through him.
"Namtsaeb eht gnitcetorp uoy era yhw? Uoy era ohw?" asked the man, once again dancing out of Cold Fox's leaf projectiles. They were at a standstill, the man unable to close in, evidently a short-ranged attacker with his legs as his main weapon.
Cold Fox was not one for words, and it was not like he understood what the man was saying. He answered by throwing another leaf, forcing the man to step swiftly to the side. The man then vanished in a burst of speed, suddenly appearing right before Cold Fox's eyes.
He was holding back!
Cold Fox inhaled sharply, but before he could dodge, the man kicked him. Thankfully, he had at least been quick enough to bring his arms before him to block the man's kick. It had been a long time since anyone had managed such an attack on him!
Pushed back by the man's attack, Cold Fox finally opened his mouth to speak. If he had done so earlier, perhaps he would have saved them a lot of trouble, but who knew? In any case, all Cold Fox said was, "You're fast."
But those words were enough to make the man's eyebrows rise. He jumped back, eyes raking over Cold Fox in curiosity.
At that moment, with Fox finally still and the man not attacking for some reason, Wolf quickly chanted the incantations for Fleet-Footedness and Impenetrable Wall. Cold Fox knew that his time was up; Wolf had indulged him enough with how long they'd stayed for the fight. With the spells cast on them, they should be quick enough to flee from the man's reach.
However, after hearing Wolf chant the incantations, their opponent seemed to grow even more curious about them. He reached into the folds of his clothes, causing both Cold Fox and Wolf to brace themselves, not knowing what kind of weapon he was about to pull out.
Even Cold Fox could not help from reacting when the man pulled out, not a weapon, but a hair tie that was very familiar -- Kenshin's hair tie.
to be continued
Sorry for the lackluster chapter... OTL. I had so much trouble with it! It was supposed to be Chapter 8 instead of Chapter 10, following right after Storm's chapter, but I had so much trouble with it that I wrote something else for Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 instead when I planned for those chapters to come later. ^^;; Anyway, here it finally is, and I dearly hope it won't take another year for me to write the next chapter.
Oh Cold Fox. I love you dearly, but apparently, I'm terrible at writing you! And I am so sorry to Wolf-dàgē that I very much projected my feelings onto him and have not done his character justice. Still, I hope some of you find it as amusing as I do that "Wolf" and "Fox" landed near each other, a doctor and an assassin. :'D
Haha, that hair tie sure didn't stay out of the story for long, did it?
Oh, also, the legal drinking age in Taiwan is 18. ;) So, by hearing that Cold Fox isn't old enough to drink, Wolf can pretty much figure out that Cold Fox is a teenager and likely to be a high-schooler.
Next chapter: Invincible Competition; Welcome to the Church of the God of Light
Fandom: 1/2 Prince x The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 4,033
Summary: On their way to finish the Dictator, the Execution Squad's "invincible battleship" crashes, separating everyone, landing them on foreign soil in the LSK world. "Those people you killed..." "Does it faze you?"
Notes: Invincible lives. :'D I really thought I'd be able to update this fic sooner, yet it looks like I updated closer to the 1 year mark than I thought... So... Happy 1 year since updating? :'D Despite it being such a long time, I stupidly chose to exclude names from the first half of this chapter, hahaha... Oh, a good thing from taking so long to update is that I now no longer have to worry about working around certain spoilers. Yay! (The translations have gotten far enough along, haha)
Previous chapter: Invincible Curiosity, Insatiable
Chapter 10: Invincible Flying Leaves. Even Leaves Can be Deadly in the Hands of an Assassin
Clunk.
That was the sound of an empty tea cup being placed down on a table in Leafblade's tavern. After a protest began in Leafblade, a small village northeast of the capital of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, the Storm Knight personally paid a visit to the village to participate in the citizens' cry for equal treatment. While in the tavern, Storm Knight crossed eyes with a dark-haired man who was only drinking tea despite being in a tavern more well known for wine.
After the Storm Knight left the tavern, the dark-haired man that had piqued the Storm Knight's interest fished out a few coins and left them on the table.
He then left the tavern as well, the door swinging shut after him.
Outside the tavern, an impromptu fight had broken out, but it was not an interesting one. At least, it was not very interesting for the tea-drinking, dark-haired man who enjoyed the thrill of challenging powerful opponents. A quick survey of the scene told him there were no strong fighters involved in the fight save for the man with long blue hair who was kicking his way through his battles. That person was none other than the only one of the Twelve Holy Knights present at the village, the "carefree" Storm Knight. He moved like the wind, nimble and elusive, whirling into the next person before his opponents could even react.
No one among the villagers and emissaries stood a chance.
That, however, was still not enough to capture the dark-haired man's attention. He'd gotten what he needed from entering the village; it was time for him to take his leave. The fight didn't concern him, so he left without a backward glance, neatly stepping to the side when someone stumbled in his way.
Meanwhile, a towering figure in the forest lifted his head. He could smell the fight in the air. He had been hiding in the forest when a group of knights on horseback passed by some time ago. Were they perhaps the reason why a fight had broken out in the direction they headed in?
The injuries didn't smell severe, but the scent was enough to make him uneasy. He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. This was not the first time that he'd nearly been overwhelmed by the smells that assaulted his nose ever since he woke up here in this world. It took getting used to, having his sense of smell enhanced.
He frowned.
People were getting hurt, yet he was hiding here without doing anything to help. He took a wary glance around his surroundings.
He knew his next course of action to be foolish, but he couldn't help it.
Despite the warnings he had been given, he left the safety of the forest and headed toward the village without any hesitation. He could never leave any injured or sick people alone. He made sure to cover his hands with gloves and to pull his hood up, but there was nothing he could do about his towering height.
By the time he reached the village, the fight was winding down. He knelt down by the side of an injured man and let his hands hover over the wound. The man stared up at him, eyes unfocused. Several of the people caught in the fray looked to be normal, everyday villagers.
After reciting some words, a gentle healing light enveloped the man's injuries. Ever since arriving here, his healing spells had gotten stronger just like his sense of smell. He didn't even need the help of a staff.
"Ouy knaht," the man said.
He nodded, thinking the words were probably words of gratitude, and went off to his next patient, greatly relieved that the injuries were generally not severe. There were several men who had put up magical shields to lessen damage from both sides. They were part of the knights he had seen passing through the forest. It looked like they had been trying to control the brawl somehow. Some other knights appeared to be trying to herd people away from the fight.
They're probably not the ones who started the fight then, he thought to himself.
After healing several of the villagers and helping them to the side, it was inevitable that one of them would stumble and grip his arm for support.
His sleeve got pushed upward. The villager stared with wide eyes and said, "Yriah yrev er'uoy."
Although he didn't understand what had just been said, he was quite sure it was not a good idea to leave his arm on display. He hurriedly smoothed his sleeve down and laughed awkwardly, but he remembered too late that his laughs would sound more like barks.
The villager stared some more. Then, a shaking hand reached out to tug on his cloak. He was much too tall for the villager to reach the top of his hood, but the tug was more than enough for his hood to fall part of the way, leaving his furry ears and snout partially exposed.
"Namtsaeb," the villager whispered.
He held up his hands, hoping it to be a universal sign of meaning no harm. Despite his good intentions, the villager scrambled backwards and bumped into the person behind him. That person turned around, took one look at him, and promptly screamed.
Oh no, he thought. Not again.
After the scream, several knights turned their attention on him. It was time to run.
He pulled his hood back on, intent on beating a hasty retreat out of the village; however, several knights quickly blocked his way. They'd gotten into formation in the blink of an eye. A shout sounded -- were they calling for more backup?
He pivoted and ran in the other direction, his long legs putting distance between him and his pursuers. No one was quick enough to catch up to him. But just as he thought he was going to make it safely out of the village, a blur of blue rammed into his back, knocking the air out of him.
He stumbled, his hood catching on his ears once more. He hastily fixed it and whirled around to be greeted by a man with long blue hair and piercing green eyes and whose foot was tapping on the ground, as if he might rush forward in the very next moment to ram into him again.
Did he kick me? he wondered.
The answer was yes as the man rushed forward and aimed another kick at him. He quickly dodged but still felt the wind from the force of the man's kick. He hastily turned around to continue fleeing, but despite his height on the man, he couldn't seem to shake him off. The man was fast. And that was saying something because he knew a lot of fast people. Like Prince, Kenshin, Cold Fox...
Even though he didn't know much about how this world worked, he didn't think it would be a good idea to be caught by the man, who looked to be some sort of authority, especially since the other knights seemed to be following his command. He had been here long enough to know that people didn't quite appreciate being around someone as... furry as him. He ran through his options. Maybe some kind of spell will keep him at bay? Or I can return his attacks with kicks of my own...
He was fairly proud of his own kicks. The problem would be if he could land them. The man was so fast that he didn't even have the chance to buff himself with spells.
Before he could decide on a course of action, whether it was reciting a spell or depending on his physical prowess to aid him, a sharp leaf whizzed past him, striking the ground. More leaves flew past him, warning his pursuer to stop his pursuit. The blue-haired man had instantly danced out of the way, his actions nimble and graceful, but the man had been caught unaware enough that the leaves had grazed his sleeves.
Just as suddenly as the leaves came flying, a blur of black landed next to him. Sharp eyes glanced up at him. I thought I told you to stay hidden, the gaze seemed to say.
He grinned ruefully, even though his hood hid his expression. Perhaps a good thing, as people might see his sharp teeth and scream even more. He had indeed been told to stay hidden, but he could never help his calling. When there was a patient in need, there was a patient in need. He would always come to their aid.
In fact, that was how they had eventually found each other. He had gotten himself in trouble from trying to offer his healing services to the wrong people. Thankfully, his dark-haired companion had come across him in time to save him.
It looked like he would owe him yet another one. Even though he sometimes felt unsettled by his own companion, it was always reassuring to have him near in such scenarios, especially when they only had each other.
Rubbing his sensitive nose, Ugly Wolf watched as his companion Cold Fox leaped into battle with the blue-haired man. Both were so fast that they were mere blurs to his eyes. The sides of Cold Fox's mouth curved upward ever-so-slightly as he tossed yet another leaf at the other man. His opponent's emerald eyes gleamed, reminding Wolf of Wicked's sharp gaze.
Here we go again, Wolf thought to himself. With Cold Fox present, they could definitely manage to shake their opponent off, but Cold Fox certainly wasn't going to leave without having a taste of the other man's strength first. This wasn't the first time they'd had to fight someone off, and it certainly wasn't the only time they'd had problems because of Wolf's furriness (though Cold Fox did have his share of landing them in trouble too from his dalliance with seeking strong opponents). Wolf was glad that Cold Fox had at least taken his concerns to heart and had started using less lethal weapons.
It really wouldn't do to enrage any of the locals by accidentally killing them.
Wolf watched as another leaf whizzed by, this one opening a rip in the blue-haired man's pant legs. Emerald eyes widened before narrowing.
Wolf gulped, suddenly apprehensive. Surely even Cold Fox isn't deadly enough to kill someone with just leaves?
Wolf's apprehension wasn't unfounded. It all went back to how they ended up traveling together.
When he had first awoken, Li Tian Lang had not thought to hide his visage. He hadn't known that being stuck as Ugly Wolf meant he would not be welcomed in this world. Like Prince and many of the others, he hadn't even known he wasn't in Second Life.
Unlike Prince, that had soon changed when he found himself in trouble. He had not been fortunate enough to land in a secluded location away from the populace, nor had he been fortunate enough to be found by people who were willing to look past his appearance and not shoot on sight. Or well, stab him on sight, considering they didn't have guns. Perhaps he should have expected it, as his appearance was fairly alarming. Only Yu Lian could ever love him for it.
Luckily, the ruckus turned into a blessing, as it drew enough attention for Cold Fox to find him when the men he'd healed had turned on him. They'd stuck together after that, with Wolf staying hidden while Cold Fox went into villages to gather information and earn them some money to survive. Even though neither of them spoke the language, Cold Fox was quite capable of getting by. Wolf greatly admired him for his adaptability. Then again, Cold Fox had never had much use for words in the first place, so perhaps it mattered little to him that the locals didn't speak their language.
"We're not in the game," Wolf had said when they'd regrouped one evening. Cold Fox tossed him some bread and sat down on a log to eat.
"I figured the same," Cold Fox had replied.
"Then, those people you killed..." They're...dead. They're actually dead. Truly and forever gone.
Wolf couldn't imagine having that on his conscience.
Wolf clenched his fists, remembering how Cold Fox had cut those people down. He was fairly sure he would have died if not for Cold Fox's intervention that night, but that didn't mean Wolf didn't feel unsettled from the fate that had befallen the men, even if they were bandits. Even bandits must surely have people waiting for them back home.
Cold Fox's dark eyes flicked up at him, his demeanor as cold as his name implied. "Does it faze you?"
Despite the warm evening breeze, Wolf felt a chill travel up his back. Just who are you, Cold Fox?
He shook himself out of his thoughts. "This isn't a game," Wolf said in utmost seriousness.
"No, it isn't," Cold Fox said tonelessly, eyes still trained on Wolf, watching for his reaction.
Wolf's appetite was gone. He lowered his bread, hands resting in his lap. He didn't want to doubt his comrade, but he felt it necessary to air his concerns if they were to work together for the foreseeable future. "I know I shouldn't blame you," he said quietly, "but how can you stand knowing that you have blood on your hands?"
Not wanting to be responsible for someone's death was part of the reason why he had become a school doctor instead of a doctor at a hospital. At schools, he would be looking after the well being of the student population. A scrape here. A scrape there. A stomachache. A fever. At most, a broken bone or two. It didn't mean that he didn't know how to deal with more serious illnesses or injuries. It just meant he had far less contact with them than if he were practicing elsewhere, and he liked it that way. He didn't like the morbid atmosphere of larger hospitals or the frenzy of emergency rooms. He appreciated putting smiles back on the faces of his students much, much more, making sure that the youngsters in his university would be healthy enough to continue their studies.
He hated trying to treat a patient and not being able to do enough to save that patient's life.
It was impossible to conceive of the other end of the spectrum -- intentionally ending someone's life. He lived to save people, to heal. Never to kill.
One failure had already been one too many. He would never forget...
"No wonder you're a healer," Cold Fox said, breaking him out of his meandering thoughts. "Your heart is too soft."
Wolf chuckled. "It's my calling. I'll always be a doctor. Online, offline, it doesn't matter. I even ended up as a priest in Second Life even though I hadn't planned that."
And if it meant he was too soft, then so be it. He would rather hurt with each injury and death than to have his heart hardened. Despite the fact that he was named after a predator and took on the same name for his online handle, he was far from fierce, entirely unlike Cold Fox whose name suited him completely. Cold Fox was a predator through and through.
It made Wolf wonder once again just what Cold Fox did for a living, for him to have been able to freeze his heart in such a way, not even batting an eye as blood spilled. It still made Wolf shudder to recall Cold Fox standing under the moon, silver moonlight washing over his dark figure. In the dark, even the blood had looked black against his blade as it dripped down onto the ground where the dead men lay.
This wasn't a game. They'd realized it too late, and now Cold Fox had blood on his hands. It was all Wolf's fault.
"So yeah. I'm a doctor. What about you?" Wolf ventured to ask. "It's all right if you don't want to tell me, but I figured it best for us to get to know each other better to see what resources we have available. We'll be depending on each other for quite some time yet."
And, Wolf also thought, it might serve to ground us so that we don't lose ourselves, stuck as we are as our avatars.
Dark eyes gazed at him, and in a nonchalant voice -- no, was that actually amusement that Wolf detected? -- Cold Fox revealed, "I'm an assassin."
Then, without waiting for Wolf's response, Cold Fox returned to eating his bread with his head lowered, no longer scrutinizing Wolf's reactions.
If Wolf had wanted reassurance that reminding Cold Fox of his offline identity would help separate him from bloodshed, then Wolf had placed his hopes in the wrong place. Cold Fox was an assassin through and through. Bloodshed would not faze him.
Truly, there could have been no other profession more vastly different from Wolf's than Cold Fox's.
"An assassin..." Wolf finally managed to close his dropped jaws from the surprising answer Cold Fox had given him. He hadn't really been expecting that answer even though he thought Cold Fox's profession must be something drastic. He had thought him to be a soldier, or perhaps part of the police force. He hadn't thought he would be an assassin...
Following that, Fox seemed to think nothing of having revealed his offline profession, despite the not-so-legal aspect of it. He continued eating his bread and off-handedly reached for a corked flask. He passed it on to Wolf.
"What's this?" Wolf asked. "Is it wine?"
He uncorked it and took a sniff. Ah, tea again. I should have expected it.
"You must really like tea," Wolf commented, thankful for the opportunity for a change of topic.
He didn't think Cold Fox would drop another bombshell. He hadn't been trying to dig for more information about his companion this time, and he hadn't expected...
"I'm not old enough to drink," Cold Fox said with a shrug. When Wolf didn't make any motion to take a drink from the flask, Cold Fox reached over and took the flask back from Wolf's loosened hands.
When the weight of the flask left his hands, Wolf jerked out of his surprise to stare at the dark figure across from him. Cold Fox merely stared back unflinchingly with his black eyes. His cold and steady composure really didn't make him come across as a high-schooler!
Wait?!! Does this mean Cold Fox is possibly even younger than who I think Prince is?
He also didn't know what to think about a teenager who obeyed the laws enough not to drink but had no qualms about killing people.
All of a sudden, Wolf felt a surge of possibly misplaced protectiveness and a need to guide this lone teenager. Cold Fox really should have kept his age to himself. Just as much as he cared about helping patients, Wolf never turned a blind eye to youngsters!
Otherwise, why would he have decided to work at a university?
Cold Fox's opponent dodged in a blur, long blue hair fluttering in the wind.
He's fast, I'll give him that, Cold Fox thought to himself. He pulled another leaf out of his pocket. Wolf had made him adopt some non-lethal weapons, claiming that it would make their lives a lot easier if they didn't make enemies out of the people here by needlessly killing them. What if they accidentally killed someone important? Cold Fox understood where Wolf was coming from, even though it did make things a bit more of a hassle. It wasn't like Cold Fox enjoyed killing. It was just a lot quicker and neater, and sometimes there wasn't much choice.
Wolf was like a nagging older brother, or what Cold Fox thought a nagging older brother would be like, since he didn't actually have one. He supposed it wasn't completely unbearable having someone like that around.
Cold Fox humored Wolf, as he was someone important to Prince, and Prince was important to Kenshin. That, and he wasn't so weak that he had to take such drastic measures as killing off his opponents. The first time had really been because he hadn't figured out in time that their opponents would not turn into beams of light and return back to life. His blade had fallen so quickly that he hadn't even had time to stop, unlike Wicked who had met a similar situation in a completely different location, not that Cold Fox knew that the others were facing similar ordeals. Sunshine too was about to come across a situation where there would be no heading back, and the wrath of the Sun Knight was most definitely nothing to scoff at, but we'll get to that later.
In any case, Cold Fox was of the mind that what was done, was done. To avoid accidentally killing more people, he'd adopted leaves as his makeshift weapon for now. There was no shortage of them in the forest. He'd grabbed another handful when he realized his companion had idiotically run off once again to play healer. These leaves were definitely nothing like the flying daggers he used in real life, but his throwing arm was just as true, and he'd found that he could envelop the leaves with mana -- at least, it was something very similar to mana, whatever it was. The mana-infused leaves were sharp and deadly, able to cut through the air with little resistance. With more practice, they might even become too lethal to pass Wolf's inspection, but Cold Fox would deal with that when the time came.
If Cold Fox were one to grin, he would have had a large grin over his face. Fights like this one made him feel alive. Whenever strong opponents were involved, he could finally experience being pushed to his limits, unlike when his jobs called for him to remain silent and quick, a cold predator in the dead of night. There was no challenge involved, no thrill whenever he slit their throats in secret. Life had become routine. Boring. Then came Second Life when he finally found people stronger than him. Who could challenge him and beat him into the ground, making him sweat and bleed. He'd felt more alive in Second Life than outside of it, and a large part of that was thanks to Kenshin who he could always count on to knock the air out of him.
This current opponent of his was fast, maybe even faster than Kenshin. Cold Fox wasn't grinning outright, but if Kenshin were present, he would have been able to tell the changes in Cold Fox's demeanor. His movements became sharper as excitement ran through him.
"Namtsaeb eht gnitcetorp uoy era yhw? Uoy era ohw?" asked the man, once again dancing out of Cold Fox's leaf projectiles. They were at a standstill, the man unable to close in, evidently a short-ranged attacker with his legs as his main weapon.
Cold Fox was not one for words, and it was not like he understood what the man was saying. He answered by throwing another leaf, forcing the man to step swiftly to the side. The man then vanished in a burst of speed, suddenly appearing right before Cold Fox's eyes.
He was holding back!
Cold Fox inhaled sharply, but before he could dodge, the man kicked him. Thankfully, he had at least been quick enough to bring his arms before him to block the man's kick. It had been a long time since anyone had managed such an attack on him!
Pushed back by the man's attack, Cold Fox finally opened his mouth to speak. If he had done so earlier, perhaps he would have saved them a lot of trouble, but who knew? In any case, all Cold Fox said was, "You're fast."
But those words were enough to make the man's eyebrows rise. He jumped back, eyes raking over Cold Fox in curiosity.
At that moment, with Fox finally still and the man not attacking for some reason, Wolf quickly chanted the incantations for Fleet-Footedness and Impenetrable Wall. Cold Fox knew that his time was up; Wolf had indulged him enough with how long they'd stayed for the fight. With the spells cast on them, they should be quick enough to flee from the man's reach.
However, after hearing Wolf chant the incantations, their opponent seemed to grow even more curious about them. He reached into the folds of his clothes, causing both Cold Fox and Wolf to brace themselves, not knowing what kind of weapon he was about to pull out.
Even Cold Fox could not help from reacting when the man pulled out, not a weapon, but a hair tie that was very familiar -- Kenshin's hair tie.
to be continued
Sorry for the lackluster chapter... OTL. I had so much trouble with it! It was supposed to be Chapter 8 instead of Chapter 10, following right after Storm's chapter, but I had so much trouble with it that I wrote something else for Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 instead when I planned for those chapters to come later. ^^;; Anyway, here it finally is, and I dearly hope it won't take another year for me to write the next chapter.
Oh Cold Fox. I love you dearly, but apparently, I'm terrible at writing you! And I am so sorry to Wolf-dàgē that I very much projected my feelings onto him and have not done his character justice. Still, I hope some of you find it as amusing as I do that "Wolf" and "Fox" landed near each other, a doctor and an assassin. :'D
Haha, that hair tie sure didn't stay out of the story for long, did it?
Oh, also, the legal drinking age in Taiwan is 18. ;) So, by hearing that Cold Fox isn't old enough to drink, Wolf can pretty much figure out that Cold Fox is a teenager and likely to be a high-schooler.
Next chapter: Invincible Competition; Welcome to the Church of the God of Light