Bab 57: 10.1 Gatekeeper

200 F.Y.

⬛⬛⬛

"COME AND GET SOME!"

Lise?

*WHOOSH!*

The gust of wind shooting past me was the last thing I felt as I watched Lise shoot straight toward the bulk of the enemy forces. I never even had a chance to stop her as she shot forward, sporting a surprisingly familiar stance that I was pretty sure I haven't taught her yet.

*CLANG! CLANG! SLASH! SLASH!*

The sounds of battle echoed from my sister's position as I watched her cut a swath through the enemy forces like a hot knife through butter. The soldiers in front of me weren't even looking at me anymore, their attention all focused solely on the one-woman army making short work of their fellow compatriots.

*SLASH! SLASH! CLANG!*

Lise, in all of her lonesome, managed to cut down four Dezimals in two strikes, her shortsword managing to go through two suits of armor with each swing before deftly blocking a strike meant to capitalize on the short opening that her offensive twirl presented. I furrowed my brows in confusion as I recognized the move that she just used, having recalled Mother teaching me the same move years ago.

*CLANG! STAB! STAB!*

With what looked to be practiced skill and precision, I watched Lise masterfully deflect a halberd coming right at her back, before then returning the favor with two quick stabs that looked way too easy at first glance. It was mesmerizing. Here she was doing a move that required a certain amount of power and finesse with ease and far too much style. And to see it being done by someone that I was positively sure was only fairly above average in terms of skill level? Again, I was pretty sure I haven't taught her anything that advanced yet, let alone something that I was also struggling to master myself. Did she see me do it during one of my self-practice sessions once and managed to copy it from sight alone? If so, then I guess my little sister was just that much of a prodigy at fighting. Although, I couldn't remember ever seeing her practice those moves like, ever.

Actually, since when was Lise this good at fighting?

"S-Should we..."

"They're just Dirt Eaters..."

My ears perked up as the whispers of our enemies filtered through the air, adding despair and hopelessness into the mixture of gore and violence on the battlefield. Well, their side of the battlefield, seeing as Lise was darting left, right, and center through their ranks like her own version of a murder-blender. If she was this skilled at fighting, then why didn't she make a move sooner? Was she afraid of over-extending? I know I would've run headfirst into a pile of enemies Leroy Jenkins-style if I was that good. Then again, we were in a life-or-death situation where any kind of mistake could kill us.

*CLANG! SLASH! SLASH!*

The carnage continued unabated as I returned my attention to my enemies, all of them now hesitating to attack me as everyone that did so before them all met a swift end from my pointy katana. I might not be able to cut through them, but I could pierce through anything that they could ever throw at me.

"A-Attack!"

"Are you kidding, me? Have you seen Dame Blutmond spar we these two?!"

*CLANG! CLANG! SLASH! SLASH!*

I grinned as I heard them cowering at the fruitless prospect of trying to fight me. Behind me, Lise was still going strong in her own bout of murder-blendering as the sounds of shredded metal reverberated from the distance. This was good! Was their morale this badly shaken already?!

"H-HOLD THEM OFF!"

I craned my head as the announcer blared to life once more. I couldn't help but smirk. The guy's message was clearly laced with fear instead of his usual zeal and weird fanaticism. Now that was just the cherry on top that would assuredly break these tin cans' resolve and get them to run away from us.

"Su-Surrender, Nenner!" a no-name Dezimal bravely shouted out, his halberd shaking in his grip as he leveled it against my head. "We have you surrounded!"

I blinked as the empty threat echoed awkwardly around us. I could tell that he had absolutely no faith in taking us down despite their superior numbers. With a small twirl of my sword, I threw my head back and gazed at the black, orange sky of the Furnace, my confidence rising as I felt my blood sing with the occasion.

"Hehe... Haha..."

This was ridiculous. We should've lost ages ago, and yet Lise's going off on her own in blatant disregard for her own safety, killing any fool that was unlucky enough to stand in her way. I had a feeling this would work, but this wasn't supposed to work this well!

How were we still alive?!

"Hah... Hahahaha!!!"

Were we that skilled enough to manage to hold off an entire army of supposedly skilled Imperial Dezimals? I didn't think so, but somehow, a part of me couldn't help but think that I could've soloed this entire army myself.

*CLANG! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!*

Looking toward Lise's prospective kill radius, I could still hear her constant barrage of attacks as I turned my back on my would-be attackers. I felt that they were too scared to even attempt to try and launch an attack on me, though I could still be wrong in that regard.

"F-Face retribution, Nenner!"

Yep. Definitely afraid to even sensibly try to hit me while my guard was down.

I ignored the clearly scared batch of soldiers around me in favor of lowering my body toward the ground, my left hand touching the soot-covered floor as I primed my legs and feet for a rush of my own. It was stupid. I knew it was stupid, and yet... How could I let my little sister do all the work?

*CLANG! CLANG! SLASH!*

The sounds of fighting seemed to echo farther and farther as Lise probably started doing her stuff all the way toward the backline of the army. It was dangerous, but I could see the appeal. Still, I couldn't just leave her out there without backup.

With a smirk, I rid myself of the doubts and sensibilities that would normally keep me alive in situations such as these. Instead, I let my gut instincts do the thinking for once, and they were saying that I should follow Lise out there to keep her safe.

Like taking an exam made purely out of multiple-choice questions, the luck of the draw would probably keep me safe from this sudden bout of stupidity. Like Lise, I too should be able to throw caution to the wind. With the way we were dealing with their ranks, I could see us thoroughly breaking their metaphorical backs hard enough that we could make them retreat maybe seconds before the rest of our cavalry got here.

"Still... this is so dumb!"

I felt my legs twitch in anticipation, a sudden burst of energy coursing through my body that I felt my earlier fatigue start to fade in favor of the jitteriness that a burst of adrenaline usually provided. This was so stupid! I didn't know how or why my little sister was doing her own thing when we could've easily defended ourselves in our quaint little formation with far more efficiency and safety. But if this was what my sister wanted to do... Hell, if we could destroy this entire army with just the two of us...

Then I might as well join in the fray.

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛