The Hunt for the Royal Runaway

Chapter 6: Fatal Magic Wound

Akisha Diamond’s Point of View:

It took me not more than 5 mundane steps before I successfully shortened the distance between the bully and I. With clenched fists and gritted teeth, I threw daggers of death glares straight to his face with no hint of fear.

I could see that he was stunned by my sudden action too. Given that he’s way taller than me, he looked down with a pair of mocking eyes towards me, belittling my mere existence. I don’t even need bother to know his name. I’m sure it’s sounds rotten as he is. Right now, my only goal is to turn his every bone to nothing but jelly until he begs for forgiveness.

Using my peripheral vision and other sharpened senses, I realized that we are starting to get the crowd’s attention. Whispers of bets and mumbles of shallow biases filled up the atmosphere which almost darkened the whole village’s mood. Some people started climbing up higher places to get a better view of the scene too. I’m not quite enjoying this but my opponent clearly is.

“M-Miss Sol…” At the back of my head, I sensed Carmi’s tremble through his stuttering voice. Out of the three of them, he was the only one who managed to let a voice escape from his fearful throat.

Quickly, I turned my head around and faced the three young enchanters that have journeyed with me this far. And almost automatically, my lips started crooking upwards, revealing a wide smile as I attempted to ease their fright away. By this time, Carmi and Gen’s defensive aura came tearing down and were replaced by worried hearts. Their furrowed eyebrows only revealed their looks of concern for me. While Lita…my poor Lita, was left clutching at the edge of Gen’s sleeves as she shakes in despair.

I took a deep breath.

“Listen to me Gen, Carmi, Lita….I need you to run away as fast and as far away as you could. Seek for help. I will be fine, I promise.” I commanded clearly yet they were nailed to where they stand out of intense fear. If the situation is any different, I already rushed to hug the three of them. But this time, I need to be tougher.

“Go!” I repeated sending them away with quite a louder command for the second time. Successfully, I seemed to have snapped them away from their trance because in a blink of an eye, the three of them started moving the opposite direction from where I stand. Gen forcefully carried Lita’s body while Carmi led the way.

“Very good. I’m so proud of you, three.” I think quite proudly.

“M-Miss Sol! Be careful!” Gen screamed from a distance one last time until their figures slowly disappeared in plain sight. Finally, I will be able to face the disgusting guy.

“Brave little girl. I like you.” He grimaced ominously only to reveal his yellowish set of teeth that almost turned my gut upside down.

“Tell me…what do you want with that girl?” I followed, crossing my arms over my chest to assert dominance. I shifted my attention to the poor enchanter woman panting down the ground just a few steps beside him. Her frail body is weakened and her face is filled with bruises and lip wounds. As her eyes open slowly, she directed the whole of her head to my direction, causing me to have a better glimpse of her face.

Right then, I almost stepped back in surprise and furiousness.

Almost half of her face has been damaged with motion lesions that I find it hard to identify her facial features anymore. Her motion lesions only mean one thing…her injuries aren’t caused by physical forces. She’s been fighting this bully with all her magic and this bastard just couldn’t get enough of hers. That explains why despite her consciousness, she couldn’t run away now.

Suddenly, I remembered my lecture on combination magic. It’s as if Lady Lana’s calming voice echoed inside my head and reminded me that motion lesions are fatal wounds that strong enchanters could cast upon the weaker ones by blowing sprinkles of earth and wind magic when they fight. It is a fatal damage because once the victim would have it, it would drain all her magic away until she would be left with nothing but a cold, motionless corpse.

This is bad news. Her situation is bad news because not only she acquired 1 motion lesions, but 3…if I’m not being wrong.

“How dare you cast motion lesions on her?! It’s going to drain her strength away!” I accused him firmly with my knuckles almost turning white because of tight clenching since earlier.  

“Oh, so you know about motion lesions, huh? I thought you were a peasant? Peasants should never know about those stuff.” He smirked and I gasped. That’s right. Motion lesions are only taught to nobles and royals and I am in disguised as a peasant. If I revealed any more information to him, he’d probably be suspect my identity…not to mention the whole crows since we’re being watched from all angles now.

“W-Well…I’m smart and I’m no ordinary peasant! A-anyway, just take her lesions back before I kick your ass!” I demanded with my voice quite trembling. My heart started beating fast not because I’m afraid of him, but because I’m afraid to be caught.

“Hmmm…you do not only know that it’s fatal…you also know that it is reversible!” He responded before cracking his neck and widening his smirk as if I caught his interest even more.

Just like that, the whispers around us started to intensify. Majority of the enchanters became curious of the motion lesions because of me.

Stupid, Akisha! Stupid! You said you wouldn’t reveal any information at all!

“Huh?” I foolishly responded as I stepped back and part my jaw. I was caught off guard and I couldn’t think of any other excuses in this situation. Judging from his manner of clothing…his robes and a velvet amulet hanging loosely on his neck…I could tell that this man isn’t from here. Just who the hell is he?

“Who are you, girl?” He followed when he realized that I’ve been speechless for quite a while. He started walking towards my direction until he’s only standing about two inches away from me. I didn’t back down. Instead, I tilted my head up and meet his ominous gazes. Secretly, I gulped down my non-existent saliva the moment our eyes met.

Before I could even make a move, he was quick to grab me by the shoulders with his disgusting hands. I trailed the weight over my shoulder with a repelled look in my face, ready to punch his gut. Yet in return, he only responded with the loudest and roudiest laugh.

“HAHHAHAHAHA!” He let out, mouth open and diaphragm moving upside down. I furrowed my eyebrows even further, confused of what he found funny in this situation.

“I can sense so much magic from you, girl….you’re a royalty aren’t you?” He continued but this time, he lowered his head and placed his mouth over my left ear and whispered those statements that only made me pinned down and freeze. It’s as if a cold bucket of water was poured all over my body that I just want to run and get dried. I almost did. But one look at the poor girl over the corner, I was suddenly reminded of my purpose here.

“You….get your disgusting body away from me!” I scowled before grabbing his arms and twisting it forcefully to his back. My move earned an intense reaction from the crowd.

“Aaaaahhhh! Stupid girl!” The bully resorted and it did not took him long before he could flee away from my hold. When he succeeded in widening the gap between us, I instantly motioned my body to position myself in combat mode…arms up in the air, fists clenched, and knees slightly bent with one foot facing forward.

“Sir Randall, please look over me.” I thought in an attempt to motivate myself as I remember Sir Randall’s lectures about combat when I was still in the palace.

I observed my opponent from head to toe and I was delighted to see him shriek in pain. It means that he isn’t that strong enough in physical combat, although I’m not sure about his magic. But whatever he does, I’m going to take this situation in my advantage.

“I wouldn’t want to use nay magic to someone like you…but you’re starting to piss me off.” He said in quite a deeper tone of voice than before which signals me that he is getting serious. So am I.

In an instant, he decided to raise his hands up in the air and attempted to release any magic just as I expected him to do so. Good thing I was trained with situations like this. When a bright ray of aggressive light came shooting from his palms to my direction, I was quick to dodge every one of it. Thank God, he is slow in shooting his magic. I focused on the direction and slight movement of his hands as I run towards him. With every move he makes, I directed my body in defense accordingly. I ducked, roll, twist and summersaulted until my vision sharpened as I my feet make their way to him. Soon enough, he is the only target I could see.

“Y-You…” He started sweating in intimidation. That’s right. He should be afraid of underestimating me.

“Hah!” I let out all my anger by stepping on his stomach and climbing up his shoulder with all my might. This has caused him to stumble a little bit but I’m not done yet. I held his neck up and elbowed him straight through his one eye. Specifically, the right one.

“AAAAAHHHHH! YOU LITTLE s**t!” He shouted in pain as he shut both his eyes out. Immediately, I went down from his body and gave him an aggressive punch in the gut to let him finally lose his balance. He couldn’t see anything right now and I anticipated that he would use his magic as a defense next.

Unlucky him, I wouldn’t let another opening again.

I was unsuccessful in making him fall down the ground, although I did a great job in taking away one of his visions. I smirked. For some reason, I’m starting to feel enthralled by this fight….my first, real fight.

“I can still see you, stupid girl!” He declared helplessly and started shooting rays of blue light towards me again. This time, I dodged it gracefully while encircling his exact spot. I kept running and running in circles until everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The way he attacks is sloppy and careless. He has no defense plan and his shoots are very disorganized. For sure, he is not someone that is trained in combat.

I gave him a bit of time to continue throwing useless rays at me until he got slight tired and dizzy. And in a blink of an eye, I crouched down my body and aimed at his feet. Quickly enough, I stretched out my right foot and slide it aggressively so it would trip his left and muscular ankle down. When it did, I ran towards the side where he’s about to fall down and caught his head facing upwards right straight to my face, only  to be elbowed once again. And this time, I targeted his right eye.

Loud cheers were heard around me as the crowd became excited of what’s happening in plain sight. Some of them clapped and shouted in delight, while the others stood frozen in awe.

“AAHHHHH! GET THE HELL OFF ME!” He hollered helplessly while both his palms press over his bleeding eyes. Now he couldn’t use any magic anymore. But he could still stand up. Immediately, he became more alert of his surroundings but I was quick to let out my last card.

When he was struggling to regain his balance. I took further steps back with a determined eye. I directed my body and positioned my feet to channel strength down my lower limbs. With one last exhale, I ran towards him once again and greeted his covered face with a high kick from my right leg that caused his neck to almost snap in the right side. And to ensure that he wouldn’t have the chance to attack me again, I grabbed his head as I was mid-way up the air and welcomed his chin with my left knee, causing him to involuntarily tilt his head upwards and growl in pain. Finally, I grabbed him down again only to punch him straight to his left cheek where his cheekbone and my knuckles met.

A few moments of silence after, A loud thud was heard and he was finally lying unconscious and bleeding to the ground. At first, the crowd seemed as frozen as statues as all of their eyes became glued at me. When I realized that it was finally over, I let my body fall down with my arms supporting my figure. Panting and sweating like crazy, I reckoned that I wasn’t done yet. Hurriedly, I crawled towards the bully and snatched his velvet pendant away, hoping that it would make the motion lesions he casted upon the girl disappear.

And as if the heaven’s are favoring me today, it did. Slowly, her lesions started lightening in color until it was lifted up out of her skin. It wasn’t long before the other bruises and wounds all over her body started disappearing to. I could tell that it wasn’t only me who’s watching this miracle happen. The eyes that were previously glued on me changed its direction towards the girl. And when the crowd finally noticed that she was healed, loud cheers enveloped the space again.

“Thank goodness!” I mustered quietly as I looked over her with a smile.

The cheers continued until the enchanters made their way to me. Without any hesitation, they lifted my body up and shouted phrases of compliments and glory to me as if I just turned into a hero. And instead of being uncomfortable, I decided to just go with it and giggle in happiness. For the first time in my life, I saved someone in the brink of death.

“Pathetic. That’s what would happen the next time you attack innocent enchanters like us. It doesn’t matter if I’m a royalty or not…Just try to do the same thing and I will not hesitate to take your life the next time.” I warned the unconscious man one everyone calmed down. Quickly, the citizens of the village have tied him up and surrendered him to the knights. When the busy pavement market started to get back to normal, I approached the teenage girl who took the most blow.

“H-Hey…are you okay now?” I asked casually, surveying her arms and face in a friendly gap to look for any bruises and wounds there is.

“I am. Thank you for doing that. You didn’t even know me yet you saved me.” She replied with a bashful pair of eyes.

“What’s your name?” I responded in return with a cheery smile.

“Ashley….My name is Ashley. What about you?” She countered quite monotonously.

“Im Ak—Sol. My name’s Sol and I’m from Sh—“ I felt like I just lost my mind in the fight earlier because I almost revealed my own name and I couldn’t remember the name of this village anymore.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t remem—“ I was about to make an excuse but she was quick to dismiss me.

“Want to come with me? I bet you’re hungry.” She offered such a temptation which I shamelessly accepted.