This chapter has now been re-written for the better enjoyment of its readers. If you're wondering what the differences are compared to the old chapter, they're listed at the bottom.

Church flexed his left hand, because his right one was still wrapped up in the sling Alleyne had made for him. This was it: the day of his handicapped duel with Echidna had arrived. Fortunately, it was still early morning, and he still had a few hours before the fight was scheduled to take place. Six in the morning, and Church was wide awake in his nervousness. He felt as though he could sense his impending doom, as he sat motionless on the bed Alleyne had lent to him during his stay here.

He wondered if he should return to sleep, but the premature adrenaline that was coursing through his body prevented Church from feeling drowsy in the slightest. So instead he left the dwelling as quietly as he could, to avoid awakening his gracious hostess, pilfering a bread roll from the pantry as he left. Outside, Church found an outcropping of rough tree root to sit on, crossing his legs and slowly eating his light breakfast as he thought how terrible today would probably be.

His arm was feeling slightly better, thought it did not make much of a difference with his sling on. All in all, Church was in no better shape than he was two days ago, and he was still fretting over how badly he was going to be pummeled. Or mutilated. He really hoped Echidna was not prone to bouts of intense violence.

As he sat chewing on the last of his bread roll, his thoughts once again sunk into a mire of depressing musings. As was his usual bad habit, Church was so engrossed in his own mind that he did not hear the approaching footsteps from behind him. Church was completely oblivious to the presence of another person until they placed a hand on his shoulder, something that was downright appalling for someone that had used to be a sniper, and not even that long in the past.

Startled out of his thoughts, he turned as quickly as he could without twisting his injured arm to face a potential threat, only to be met with Alleyne's serious but ever beautiful face.

"My apologies. I did not mean to startle you."

Church sighed. He was always glad to see the blonde beauty, but Alleyne had nearly given him a heart attack. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up, Alleyne."

The elven captain proceeded to seat herself on the root beside Church before replying. "Actually, I've been awake for awhile now. Probably since before you even: I didn't sleep very well last night."

Church swallowed the last of the bread in his mouth. "Why not? I mean, I know why I couldn't sleep well, but you don't have any reason for concern..."

"Don't I? I have just as much to be nervous about as you do, Church. After all, if a friend of yours was in danger, you would be worried too, would you not?"

This seemed like a logical answer, and Church was glad to hear Alleyne call him a friend. He hadn't been entirely sure that he really considered him one. "Yeah, I suppose I would. Not as much as the friend though."

Alleyne cast her icy blue gaze out into the forest somewhere. "Well that's to be expected. I mean, you are the one who will be in danger."

That sentence seemed to have a sort of finality to it. Church sat in silence as his thoughts returned to what he expected to be a very bad day. The silence between the two early risers persisted for many minutes before his female companion broke it.

"It's not too late, you know."

The sudden statement broke Church's concentration, and he didn't have a response ready: he wasn't sure what Alleyne was talking about anyway. "Huh?"

The blonde woman met her gaze with his, and he noticed an almost pleading look in her eyes. "To run away. It's not too late for you to back down, Church. You could leave the forest and be safe. No one will think any less of you. Or at least, I know Nowa and I won't."

Church wondered why Alleyne had brought this up again. He had made it clear already that he had no intention of running away from this. It was a problem he had gotten himself into, and he would deal with it himself. More importantly, he remembered Echidna saying that Alleyne and Nowa were in some sort of danger and that fighting her was the only way to protect them. As long as that was the case, he wasn't going anywhere.

"Look, I know running would be the wise thing to do, but I can't. I have to do this one way or another."

Alleyne said nothing in response, but the look of regret in her eyes because of his answer caused a pang of guilt in Church, since he was the cause of that sadness. He wondered if she knew something he didn't. Would Echidna really kill him? Was that why she seemed so forlorn? Or was it because she just didn't wish to see him get hurt? Either way, he had no intention of asking, and it seemed like Alleyne had nothing more to say. And so the morning passed in just such a manner, the two of them sitting in silence, dwelling on thoughts they would not confess to the other.

Elder Taowrol observed the dueling ring from the Council room, which had a perfect view of the battlefield. Well, it was more of a circle marked by many spears that had been placed upright in the ground: it wasn't much of a proper ring for a fight. But nevertheless, he smiled devilishly as he thought of the delightful event that would take place in just under an hour. Finally, that vermin would be eliminated from his presence: human filth didn't deserve to be within a hundred miles of him.

Of course, half-breed elves were no better, which led to a different problem. Early this morning, one of their own arrived in the village. Upon closer inspection as to the identity of the traveler, it was found to be Lucas: a boy who had lived here many years ago. Elder Taowrol had been none to happy to see him, as that pest was a hybrid elf just like Alleyne's student. Taowrol wished he could just get rid of both of them: useless mutts had no place here.

Maybe Echidna would do him another favor or two? She certainly seemed to have the spare time to take out the trash. He'd even give her permission to do whatever she pleased to them: after all, anyone who wasn't a full-blood elf was just an animal, and deserved to be put down like one.

The accumulating uproar of a crowd below him disrupted his thoughts. He looked down below to see the majority of the village gathering to watch the upcoming fight: they were eager to watch the legendary mercenary they had all heard about slaughter a pathetic human. Or at least Taowrol saw it that way.

He checked the time for how much longer it would be before the match began. Thirty minutes seemed so far away.

Echidna sat perched on a tree branch far above the designated battle area, awaiting the arrival of her opponent. Of course, it would be more like leading a lamb to a slaughter than an actual fight. She honestly doubted that the man would actually show up, and if he did, the combat would be short and dull. In fact, she'd hardly count it as a fight at all.

Of course, men were pretty stubborn and stupid, and he still had fifteen minutes to be in the ring. Though he did seem like a rather intelligent fellow, so if he showed up Echidna would at least give him the benefit of the doubt: maybe it really was bravery rather than foolishness.

"Hey, the human actually showed up!"

Echidna looked down to the crowd below to see that the onlookers were correct: there was her opponent, blue pants, red jacket, and right arm in a sling.

What a surprise: he actually came. I don't know if I should be impressed with his courage or appalled at his stupidity.

The green haired elf woman jumped down from her perch and landed on the opposite side of the circle that the human was on. He said nothing as he simply stared at her, defiance in his eyes and on his face.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show. You're either very brave or extremely stupid."

The human smirked just slightly as he answered her. "Probably a little of both."

Was that supposed to be a joke? Something about the idea of this human making jokes right now made Echidna very irritable. He should've been far too scared to be cracking jokes at a time like this.

"Oh, you aren't scared? Or are you just putting on a brave face for your audience?"

Seemingly amused, the man winked at her. "But of course. I can't look like a coward in front of a woman like you, now can I?"

Echidna thought that she might have actually liked this man a little bit. He had guts, and at least she could respect that. But she was here to fight, not talk. The only reason she had challenged him to a duel instead of just snapping his neck back at the pool was because he had piqued her interest. She wanted to test him: she could tell that he was no average man, but what made him different? Echidna wanted to know, and a life-or-death struggle was the perfect way to find her answer.

Still, she wasn't one to rush things she could find enjoyable. Truth be told she didn't have high expectations in regards to a real fight. After all, she had several centuries of fighting experience. Even against extremely skilled warriors Echidna was hardly ever truly pressed. If she ever went all out crushing her opponent was usually easy. Boring, but easy.

But there were other things that could impress her. There was a difference in fighting skill and fighting spirit. And Echidna found that the latter was far more to her liking.

"Well, whether it's a lack of smarts or real courage, I guess no one can fairly call you a coward just yet. Still, bravery kills just as many people as stupidity does."

Church flexed his one good arm in preparation for a fight that was probably not going to go his way at all. He knew he was monumentally outclassed here, and at a great disadvantage physically besides. He had training in close quarters fighting, but he doubted it would amount to much against the skill of his current opponent.

"Believe me, I know. And speaking of which, I'm not dumb enough to make the first move. So unless we're going to stand around and chat, which I wouldn't mind really because you do seem truly interesting, you'll have to strike first."

Echidna gave the man credit for being smart enough to react rather than act in his current state. She also had to admit that he seemed like fun. So many people didn't know how to take it easy even when things were serious. It was hard to find people like that.

"I don't mind taking charge. Some men just don't like being dominant."

Rather than get a scowl or a disgusted grimace out of her foe, Echidna's comment actually made him smirk. "To be frank I don't think I'd mind being led around by a woman of your caliber. Still, in this one instance I think I'll have to decline. Just one blow right?"

With a smirk of her own, Echidna held up one finger, cementing the promise she had made to forfeit if Church could land one solid hit on her. "Just one blow."

Hoping that one blow wouldn't be enough to crush the man before her, Echidna closed the distance between them quickly and decided to go the simple route of throwing a straight punch at him. You could tell a lot about a fighter by how they reacted to a mere punch. Those confident in their own strength blocked. Those sure of their own speed dodged. The truly talented realized it was always the best choice to counter.

Apparently Church was one of the latter, ducking under the intentionally telegraphed attack and attempting to sweep Echidna's legs out from under her. Naturally she was far too quick for that, and she made to punish his foolishness as painfully as possible by stomping down on the incoming sweep to stop it in its tracks.

Church resisted the urge to cry out in pain as Echidna's heel dug into his calf, deducing immediately that the woman he was facing wasn't the kind to screw around. She fought brutally, which meant he would have to as well. With that in mind, he attempted to kick Echidna's knee back and break it with his free leg, but she simply stepped out of the way. At the very least that freed his pinned leg from her way too pointy heel.

Even though he was still hurting just from that brief exchange, Church knew he had to press the attack when he could, and since he was already on the ground he rolled forward in pursuit of the retreating woman and made a grab for her legs. A lot of military combat training revolved around grappling, and he was halfway confident that he could possibly defeat Echidna if he could get her on the ground. He only had one arm to really work with, but unless Elves where significantly stronger than humans he was fairly certain he could land at least one hit on her with three limbs.

Unfortunately Elves did seem to be a lot faster than normal humans, and Church's attempts to grab her met nothing but air and a hiss or two from her snake. In fact, his efforts were reciprocated only by that same booted heel that had stomped on him a moment a go to come sailing towards his face. He narrowly dodged that one by scrambling away from it, and Church realized that so far he had spent most of this fight on the ground.

Thankfully Echidna was in no particular rush to pummel him, and she practically stood by and waited for him to get to his feet once he was at a safe distance. She cocked an eyebrow at him as he caught his breath.

"So, you still want me to come first? Just so you know, that literally never happens."

Seeing no reason to be the only one having some small amount of fun in the endeavor, Church gave a suitable answer. "Do you mind if we strike a deal on that instead? I think my odds of getting that out of you are better than they are here."

His cheeky response actually earned a light snicker from his green haired opponent, but it was unfortunately derisive. "Sorry, but it takes a lot more than good looks and some snark to get me in bed."

Ignoring the insulting implications, Church simply smiled. "But you still think I'm good looking?"

"Don't let that go to your head. I've seen worse. I've also seen much better."

Church intentionally left his answer as vague as possible. After all, both Alleyne and Nowa were watching this fight. "I guess that makes one of us."

Unused to anyone actually being clever with her usually because she was too clever for them, Echidna found that she had been completely right about her adversary. He really was a lot of fun. In fact, something about him reminded her of Alleyne in the distant past. At one time the blonde master had been one of the few people to outwit and yet entertain her. It was unfortunate that those times were so far in the past, but Echidna could see now why Alleyne had grown somewhat attached to this man. She'd once been quite like him.

Aware that she was being sidetracked by her own musings, Echidna decided to go first anyway, simply because she knew her opponent would not make the first move. She decided to be less straightforward this time however, having already established how her foe reacted to the obvious. Now it was time to discern how he reacted to being surprised.

She led her assault with a feint this time, going for the same straightforward punch but slipping under the counter Church tried to make with his own hand. Now behind him, Echidna was in her favorite position in a battle. Behind the enemy placed you in nigh full control. And control was one of her favorite things.

She stomped down on his right knee, finding that his leg offered even less resistance than usual. Either way Church found himself kneeling as the woman behind him locked her arms around his throat, immediately tightening her grip enough to choke him. Echinda found that strangling people was a good way to learn how they acted under real pressure.

For Church's part, at least this was something he knew how to deal with. Grappling was a pretty big part of military combatives. The first thing he did was struggle back to his feet, because he needed that leverage to free himself. Unfortunately he only had one arm to reach behind him and grab a hold of Echidna's shoulder pauldron, but he found enough purchase either way to make his move.

With his hold on Echidna's armor and weighing more than her in the first place, Church had little trouble throwing her over his shoulder. Unfortunately Echidna wasn't about to let him slam her into the ground, since that would count as a solid blow and count as defeat. Fortunately she was more than capable of avoiding that outcome.

Church thought he may have actually had a chance at winning with this maneuver, considering that there was little means of escaping it, but he was utterly flabbergasted when Echidna caught herself with her legs. She literally stopped her own impact and held herself up in a position reminiscent of a suplex by catching her own body during the fall and switching her grip from around his neck to the arm he had thrown her with. Needless to say the maneuver earned a lot of applause from the audience, and even Alleyne had to admit that the feat of strength and quick thinking was impressive.

Echinda, gazing at her foe upside down from her unusual position, smirked at the shocked expression of Church's face. "Aw, what's with that look? Surely you aren't scared by this?"

Unwilling to remain shaken even as the two of them pressed against each other's strength, Church smirked back. "Actually it's kind of hot, if you don't mind me saying so."

Unfortunately his misguided praise was met with an even worse grapple than before, as Echidna made use of her strength and agility to lift her legs off the ground and wrap them around the arm Church had her thrown her with. With the weight of her entire body pulling him down, it was Church's turn to be thrown, though he had no such skill as his foe's and could do nothing to stop himself from hitting the dirt with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

There wasn't time to catch his breath though, as he realized what Echidna was going for when her legs were placed across his torso. Apparently the arm-bar was a more ancient technique than he realized. Thankfully this too was a maneuver he knew how to escape from, provided he acted with enough speed. The first order of business was to resist Echidna with enough strength to avoid the main purpose of an arm-bar. Thankfully he was both fit and strong in that regard, even though Echidna was certainly stronger and had two arms to subdue him with.

Still, he managed to resist just long enough to throw his legs back and roll, twisting his arm in the process but nevertheless breaking himself free of Echidna's grasp. He considered the sprain to be worth it.

Truth be told Echidna could have been a lot more thorough in subduing her foe, but she was willing to be a little lax just to see his versatility further. After all, if she defeated him now she wouldn't be able to see any more of what he could do, now could she?

That said she was forced to roll away rather gracelessly when her foe settled for stomping on her now that their elevations had changed. That roll put her back on her feet, and thus the two were evenly at odds once again, relatively speaking.

"You're surprisingly good at this to only have one arm. Most people don't escape grapples like that so quickly."

Church was silently grateful that this was true, but he figured Echidna was smart enough to identify his strengths and avoid making more attempts along that line.

Plus, now both arms were injured. Sure, he still had one surprise in store for his foe, but he would have been a lot better off without the situation being as bad as it was.

As for Echidna, she was starting to get a little bored, taking it easy on her foe. He was handling the bout admirably so far, but how was she supposed to have any fun if she wasn't even taking the fight seriously?

With that in mind her next attack wasn't designed to mess around in any light, instead plowing a fist straight into Church's gut as hard as she could manage. As expected, her victim keeled over her outstretched fist, barely managing to keep the contents of his stomach where they were supposed to be. Unable to recover himself from such a blow in any decent amount of time, Echidna grabbed him by the collar and lifted him back to an upright position, measuring the expression of undiluted pain on his face.

Would this be enough to put an end to his foolishness? Echidna knew from firsthand experience that taking the brunt of an attack like that to the diaphragm often drove out the will to keep fighting. And for that reason she found it a good measure of a person's strength.

"Assuming you can breath enough to even answer, how about surrendering? The only thing you lose by giving up is your dignity."

Despite the lack of air in his lungs, Echidna could see that Church had no intention of taking her advice. Even in pain as he was, his glare only hardened in determination as he fought to command his limbs and continue the battle.

His first attempt came in the form of a hasty hook from his only free arm, but rather than even bother intercepting it, Echidna simply interrupted his maneuver by jabbing her other hand straight into his liver like a hardened knife.

Church's misguided attempt to fight back was stopped cold as excruciating pain exploded throughout his body, sending him crashing to his knees. He'd been hit in the liver before, but never with such precision and force, and certainly never from the front like this. He couldn't help but wonder if Echidna had actually penetrated his body with her damn nails, but he was too blinded by the shock that was taking over his body from the blow to bother checking. On a mental level he knew he would go deeper into shock due to the disrupted blood flow of a shot to the liver, but at the core he knew he now had very little time to feasibly land a blow on Echidna and win. If he didn't hit her before his body crapped out on him there was no chance of winning.

So he mustered what strength he could, finding that it was more willpower than strength really, and dislodged his supposedly incapacitated arm from its sling, hedging all of his bets on surprising his foe and actually landing a hit on her. Unfortunately, he had underestimated just how hard it was to surprise a warrior of this caliber. Halfway through his unexpected punch from his allegedly inoperable arm, Echidna caught the fist in the palm of her hand, looking no more caught off guard than she had the entire fight.

Honestly even Echidna felt kind of bad about assaulting him further, but even so she still took advantage of their position to knee Church in the torso, the steel of her pauldron earning a painful crunching sound from the man's sternum and finally knocking him on his back for good.

As he lay on his back there, Church knew he was completely defeated. Not that he had expected any different, but he had at least hoped to perform better than this. At this exact moment in time his entire existence was pain. Though he had the will to continue fighting, his body simply didn't have the strength, and he could do nothing as Echidna came to stand over him. There was a strange look in her crimson eyes, though it was not contempt or disdain, as Church thought it would be. Instead, she seemed to be contemplating something, as though she were merely curious about a question she had not yet answered.

Or perhaps he was simply misjudging her. She certainly seemed to feel nothing but contempt as she made to step on his chest with her heel and grind down on his extremely recent injury. "Is this all you can do? You expect to keep the people you care about safe with strength as paltry as this?"

In spite of the searing anguish that Echidna's physical exacerbation was causing him, Church managed to glance over at the side of the ring, where the very people he was doing this ridiculous nonsense for were standing. Nowa looked to be on the verge of tears, completely and totally distraught over the sight of a friend suffering so grievously. As for Alleyne, her visage was entirely terrifying. As someone that seemed to be the epitome of calm and collected at any given time, the cold fury she was leveling at Echidna with her icy gaze was truly frightening. Church didn't know how much she valued the notion of self-control, but it was obvious that she was going to put an end to this one way or another very soon if it continued on like this.

To be honest, Church would have been more than happy to let Alleyne come save him, preferably by trouncing this green haired sadist as badly as she had him. But he remembered what Echidna had said to him the day of their ill meeting. If he was defeated, nothing would be solved. If Alleyne saved him he would still have lost, and Echidna's promise to do something about the threats that endangered his Elven friends would be void. So he had no choice but to keep going. Even if his body told him it could not.

Placing his hands on Echidna's boot, Church struggled to lift her heel off of him. It wasn't easy, especially since Echidna didn't seem to be in the mood to let him off easy.

But ultimately he at least lifted the pressure from his torso, and that was all he needed to feel some level of strength return to him. It was just enough to throw his oppressor to the side, which at least forced her to recover for a split second.

It took Church much longer than he would have liked to struggle back to his knees at least, mostly because he felt like he was fighting a war for every single inch of movement. He knew that Echidna could have easily attacked him in the several seconds it took him to struggle just to that position, but for some reason she spared him another assault.

The Veteran Mercenary came to stand before Church again, granting him a look that may have been akin to appreciation. Though Church was too focused on her too care for anything else, looking up would have granted him the view of Taowrol on his treetop pavilion nearly smiling with outright glee. To the left, Alleyne was poised to intervene in a flash if Echidna so much as twitched towards her opponent again.

But Church didn't see any of that. He was focused only on what he had to do right now, and that was land a blow on his foe. He refused to accept defeat, and that was why he threw one more punch at the woman that stood before him.

It was weak. And slow. With the utter lack of strength left in his limbs, Church didn't even manage to put any force into his attack at all. He was essentially limply waving his arm at his foe. It was so slow a drunken oaf could have dodged it, so weak it wouldn't have even knocked over a precarious toddler. And yet, it made contact. With all the force of a feather landing on the ground, his feeble fist landed right on Echidna's midriff.

Utterly shocked at this occurrence, Church glanced up at the woman that had clearly let him hit her, wondering if she would actually count something this utterly weak as a real hit. To his even greater surprise, the only expression she had to offer him was a truly pleased smirk. "Congratulations. You win."

The entire forest fell silent it seemed, even though Church could still hear birds chirping throughout the canopy. "I...I win?"

"Well you did just hit me didn't you?"

"B-but it wasn't even-!"

Echidna cut him off with a minute frown. "Hey, don't ruin the stuff I like about you by proving yourself as an idiot now. You wanna accept my good graces or not?"

Church didn't know if he should laugh in incredulity or cry in relief, but ultimately he settled for an exhausted smile. "Oh no, don't mind me, I'll take it. T... thank you..."

The woman that had essentially surrendered smirked as she glanced around at the crowd. "Oh, don't thank me. You fought hard for it, after all. Also, you still might die."

"Just not by you?"

She nodded emphatically. "Just not by me. Most likely that old fart really."

She pointed one finger to the sky as she said this, indicating the place where Taowrol was watching the fight from high above them. Naturally he was too far away to have heard anything Echidna and Church had said to each other at a normal tone of voice, so he was both confused and irritated by the lack of violence on human garbage being enacted right now.

"What are you doing Echidna? Stop fooling around and continue!"

Not knowing what kind of relationship Echidna had with the man in question, Church hoped it was not one that would spur her to change her mind about mercy. Thankfully her response to Taowrol's orders made it clear that it was not.

"Yeah, I actually did all of my fooling around already. I've done my part; or at least, I've done it as well as I care to."

Needless to say Taowrol did not take this explanation very well. "Would you care to repeat that Echidna? Are you defying me?"

The woman in question rested her hand on the hilt of her blade as she surveyed the crowd. She could tell this situation was about to irreparably escalate. After all, most of the Elves around her couldn't believe that she would possibly defy a member of their Council. And Alleyne, well, there was some of that old frosty fire in her eyes. A reminder of the passion she had used to exude in days centuries past, when she had been, for lack of a better word, the coolest warrior Echidna had ever looked up to. Truth be told she missed the woman she had adventured with in the past.

Still though, it was not lost on Echidna that Alleyne was directing that intensity towards her. There was no doubt in her mind that Alleyne would strike her down without hesitation if Echidna made a move against Church on Taowrol's behalf. And while Echidna liked to tell herself that she was more than a match for the blonde, she knew that the odds were hardly that even. Echidna had five centuries of combat experience. Alleyne had twice that. The entirety of Echidna's was only half of what her blonde counterpart possessed in experience, and that made a world of difference.

The two once upon a time comrades looked into each other's eyes in an attempt to communicate what they were thinking. And although neither would ever admit it, they knew each other well enough to know what the other had on their mind. No words were really needed. Echidna knew that even though it meant exile for her, Alleyne had already dedicated herself to the decision to defend this man, and Alleyne knew that Echidna was not so dishonorable as to break her word, nor foolish enough to be used as a tool by someone else.

With an understanding reached, Echidna broke eye contact with the combat master and returned her gaze to the man above that was downright stupid enough to think he could commander her.

"Don't assume that I'm in league with you. Everything I've done so far I've done for my own reasons. I don't take orders from old geezers like you. I gave my word that all this man had to do was land a single blow. And by my own rules, he did."

The surrounding crowd gasped at the exchange, appalled and stunned by the fact that someone would dare to defy an elder, and in defense of a human no less. As for the elder in question, he seemed genuinely lost at this, with no idea what was transpiring. But instead of trying to convince Echidna to do his dirty work, he made to exercise his authority over Alleyne instead.

"Combat Master! This task falls to you now that this Wild Elf trash has proven useless! Rid Syrinidell of this vermin immediately!"

Unlike Echidna, Alleyne made no attempts to insult Taowrol as she defied him. "I am sorry, Elder. But I cannot follow such an order. You do not have the authority to make such decisions on your own."

Alleyne paused for a moment, before a look of defiance and determination crossed her face. "Besides, I will not allow you to harm this man simply because of your misgivings about his race. If you intend to kill him, you will have to deal with me as well."

The twice defied elder ground his teeth in his intense, yet futile, fury. "You... you! What are you saying?!"

Glad to see some real spark back in the blonde that had once been her possibly closest friend, Echidna smirked in amusement, remembering a time when Alleyne actually used one of the words she herself was about to utter. "I think what's she's trying to say is 'fuck off.'"

Turning nearly crimson with outright rage, Taowrol decided it was time to trust those he knew were loyal to do his bidding. "So be it! I'll be sure to weed out your disloyalty along with the dredges of humanity that stand here now!"

As he finished this statement, several dark robed warriors dropped from the tree canopy above, armed themselves with wicked looking daggers and short swords, and began to form a ring around their targets. The crowd that had been watching the ordeal scattered in fear, lest they get caught in the oncoming struggle.

Echidna drew her curved blade as Alleyne came to stand by her. "Well now, who are these guys supposed to be?"

The platinum blonde shrugged. "Elven warriors dedicated to Taowrol's service, no doubt. I guess they would be similar to the Queen's Fang. Although I doubt they are as lethal as the legendary Death Squad."

Nowa came to stand behind her two senior warriors as Alleyne finished speaking. "Whoa, there are a lot of these guys! Are we gonna fight them all?"

Both Alleyne and Echidna turned to face the girl. Alleyne answered, since the question was directed at her. "We are. You are not."

Nowa replied as defiantly as she could muster, considering she was speaking to her teacher. "I...I won't let you keep me from fighting just because these guys are dangerous! Church is my friend, I have to protect him too!"

Echidna pushed the scantily-clad half-elf away as Taowrol's flunkies slowly moved closer to their prey. "If you really want to protect him, then standing around here isn't the best way to do it. Three of us can't effectively protect one person when we're so heavily outnumbered. Take him and get out of here. That's the best way to keep him safe."

The brunette teenager tried to make some sort of response that would let her stay with the two experienced fighters. "B-but..."

Both of the elder women gave her a withering gaze in response, and Nowa found that they shared more common qualities than they probably admitted to one another.

At the silent synchronized order, Nowa turned her back on her older allies and ran towards Church, who was still on his knees, struggling to remain conscious with all of the crap he had been put through in the past ten minutes or so. Either way he still managed to mutter a very important question.

"So, what's the plan Nowa?"

The questioned half-elf smiled as she bent down to grab the older man's legs. "Well, I'm just gonna take you for a spin around the treetops."

Church blanched as the surprisingly strong teenager slung him over her shoulders firefighter style. Suddenly he wasn't feeling so tired. "W-wait! You mean like jumping in-between the trees!? Like through the air and stuff!? Are you even certified to do that while carrying somebody!?"

Nowa actually gave his comment a brief moment of serious thought. "Well, I don't know about certified but... people say I'm pretty good at it, so there's nothing to worry about, right?"

Church glanced at her incredulously. "What people?"

Nowa smiled sheepishly. "Uh...Ru?"

"Ru's a monkey!"

The girl shrugged. "They say people came from monkeys, so isn't it close enough?"

Church was only halfway through saying that it was definitely not close enough when Nowa proceeded to leap onto the lowest tree branch she could find, cutting him short.

"Don't worry, you're pretty light, I probably won't drop you!"

As the two of them disappeared into the forest, the only thing that could be heard was a angrily yelled, "I'm not baggage, dammit!" from the unhappier of the two escapees. Looking back to where they had left the scene, Alleyne hoped the two of them would be okay. A nudge from Echidna brought Alleyne's attention back to the approaching danger of several dark-garbed assassins moving in for the kill. She was surprised that they hadn't attacked sooner, but supposed they wanted to attack as one.

Alleyne looked over at Echidna to see if she was ready. The warrior was doing the same, and for a moment their eyes met. A meeting of eyes between the two of them spoke volumes about their differences. One was red, and the other blue. One was of an icy, stoic disposition, while the other was fiery and passionate. On one hand they had nothing in common, yet on the other they had trust in each other bred by years of experience by each other's side. Even if those years were many centuries in the past.

The moment was interrupted by the sound of quickening footsteps, the sound of their enemies rushing to meet them. The two elven warriors readied their preferred combat stances, and Echidna made a brief remark before the battle started.

"You think you can handle these guys, Alleyne?"

"Of course, I probably trained most of them."

Echidna smirked at the oncoming wave of attackers. "You know, this kind of reminds me of our little escapade back in Dunin Field, all those years ago..."

"That was a long time ago Echidna. Much longer than I wish to remember."

"Yeah, back then you were actually fun! Not like the old hag you are now."

Alleyne was actually rather glad to hear Echidna's jests about her age. As she prepared herself to meet the oncoming tide of enemies, it served to remind her of simpler times.

Nowa nimbly dodged yet another throwing knife as it buried itself in the bark of the tree she was about to land on. Two of Taowrol's flunkies had broken off from their main force and pursued her, since she was carrying one of their targets. Ru, who had found Nowa running from her pursuers in the forest, hardened to deflect another lethal projectile from cutting into the young girl's back.

Church had lost consciousness a few minutes ago, the stress of being carried through the air at high speeds too much for his battered and exhausted body. Nowa was worried about him, but she had no way of checking on him besides stopping her flight from her pursuers, which wasn't really an option.

So instead she just kept hopping from branch to branch, doing her best to evade the dangerous weapons that were being thrown at her by the men who shadowed her every move. But although Church was indeed lighter than he looked, his weight was still bearing down on Nowa's slender frame, and the half-elf was gradually losing speed and mobility as she tired out from the physical stress that was being exerted on her.

Nowa knew that she would run out of stamina long before the two men chasing her did, as they had no burden to carry as they jumped from branch to branch. So instead of continuing her futile attempt to escape, Nowa leaped down to the ground and rested her precious cargo against the trunk of a nearby tree, before turning to face her opponents with her staff. Her only option was to fight.

The two black veiled assailants landed on the brush covered ground a few feet in front of Nowa. Their faces were hidden under the dark hoods and black cowls that they wore. They both stood silently, arms hidden under their cloaks, as if waiting to see what the girl they faced would do.

Whatever it was they were expecting though, it was certainly not going to happen, though Nowa hadn't really expected it either. Without a word, both assassins fell to the ground, neither of them making the necessary arm movements to keep their faces from impacting the dirt beneath them.

What instead took their place made Nowa's heart skip a beat, half out of fear, and half out of anger. "You! How dare you show your face here after what you tried to do to the forest!"

The ghost maid that had materialized behind the fallen assassins raised the large scythe she wielded in preparation for combat. "I don't have time for you. I'm just here for the man behind you. Stay out of my way and you won't get hurt."

Nowa retreated closer to the tree Church was slumped against. Airi was an unpredictable foe, and she wasn't going to give her any more opportunities than she already had. "There's no way I'm going to hand him over to someone like you! Just try to take him, and I'll send you packing just like last time!"

Airi glared at the girl irritably. "If I recall correctly, I had you all but beaten until the blonde warrior showed up. You're no match for us by yourself."

Nowa only realized too late what the reality of the situation was. A stirring in the branches above her caught her attention just in time to see a pink boot crashing into her face.

Feelings of regret at her own incompetence were the last thing to cross Nowa's mind before she lost consciousness.

What were the biggest changes in this chapter? Most of it was Echidna's thoughts and reactions. She's responded a lot differently to the situation this time, and I think it was for the best. Alleyne also had some dialogue changes, and Airi changed a single line, but that's about it.