Maria von Hohenzollern
Thankfully for Maria and Atisha it appeared that the other female knight, Tani, had arrived to reinforce their fight against the dreaded master of the blade. With the three of them, surely there was no sort of being that would be able to completely deflect the battle maidens’ ability.
Surely there was no one who would want to fight against three skilled knights. And Maria was right within this regard.
Unfortunately for Tani, who had been attempting to climb up the building to where the two female knights were fighting against Mithral Blackblood, her arrival was met by her momentary distraction, which allowed for the assailant to utilize her as a makeshift springboard to catapult himself across the lamppost illuminated streets of the Lugnican residential area allowing for a rather clean escape.
Maria wished to jump over the street to confront her opponent.
She wished to put to justice this man who had killed. Who had performed acts against the people she was sworn to protect.
...but…
At that instant, Mithril’s murderous intent made Maria forget how to breath. He had taken his stance; unlike the other which he had taken this one appeared to be free of contempt. His sword is toward the ground and only his gaze pierced Maria.
It was as if the man was saying “I will use my finishing attack now”.
He was an enemy that Maria would have to defeat sooner or later, so it only made sense that the beginning of the final attack would begin.
A thorn-like chill filled the roof.
The air froze.
Not as a metaphor, but the air literally froze, as if stagnated by the man’s draw of power. The mana in the air stood still, as if there was something preventing its movement. As if something was taking the prana en masse.
The only person allowed to breath in this frozen air is the warrior across from the trio on the roof.
“I’ll be beaten. I know not what sort of attack this will end up being, but I know that i will be beaten if I chase this man. If I stand still, I shall be eliminated without a trace left of me. That was the only thought running through Maria’s head. It’s implausible because this is the first time Maria had felt such a feeling before, but it was an unmistakable understanding more primal than glorious.
An understanding...
...that the moment the man speaks, “fate” itself was determined. The man’s next move was a literal embodiment of death. An attack so powerful that it would not allow any it tackled to continue to be under the designation "alive".
Seconds became minutes. Minutes hours.- She couldn’t tell how long she had stood there, but it couldn’t have been more than a moment. Perhaps not even a second had passed. But in her mind, that single second could have been as mentally straining as decades of living experience. It wasn’t fear that caused the courageous female knight to stagnate in her movement, but rather, an idea that formed within Maira’s head. Her surroundings must be studied to their fullest. And thankfully, her sight didn’t fail her. A bundle of hay was laid in the streets likely used for the land dragons that roamed the streets during the more busy times of the day. Perhaps fortune was smiling on Maria?
No. Even into a pile of hay Maria would suffer likely a broken bone or even death. But if there was even a .000001% chance of survival, then the odds were better than the “0” chance she understood at a fundamental level she had if the party were to remain on the roof.
“Get off the roof! Land on the hay!” Maria shouted at her comrades before doing just that.
With as much poise and grace as she could, Maria attempted her best to land in a way that would harm her the least. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
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