This major revision brings you a humongous cut of something that no longer needs to exist, replaced with more character development and stuff like that.

Church had almost thought that his luck had turned around. He had almost thought that things were finally looking up. But it was not to be. As always, his luck was absolute shit. Brigands, rockslides, standing on the wrong part of the wall, and now this blonde woman that wanted to kill him in likely the most horrendous and horrifying way possible. And of course, this was the second time he was encountering her. Why was this happening to him? Why couldn't his luck have continued along the lines of meeting powerful, beautiful women?

Not eager to get involved with someone that was scary in all the worst ways possible (She outclassed Echidna which was saying something), Church backed away from the company of Vance troops and their sadistic leader, fully preparing for a hasty retreat. His flame-wielding companion, on the other hand, had the exact opposite in mind. Nyx actually edged forward a little, with her grip tightening in fury on her staff.

"Y-y-you…"

With a flip of her golden locks, the girl Nyx approached dismissed her presence entirely. "Move aside peasant. You're in my way."

With a snarl of rage, Nyx responded to the tormentor of her past and her troops with a massive fireball considerably larger than any of the ones Church had witnessed thus far. The sphere of flame arced towards the enemy with deadly speed, and the entire Vance unit scrambled out of the way as fast as they could, moving most gracelessly as they did whatever they could to escape incineration.

The fiery attack splashed along the ground where the soldiers had once stood, exploding outwards in a wave of heat and licking flames. The radius of the splash damage was so large that nearly half the troops targeted caught some amount of fire that radiated outward from the impact. Some were better off than others, although a fair number of the soldiers were badly scorched and a handful of them were killed almost instantly.

Church almost let out an appreciative whistle at the sight of the impressive attack, but he felt it would have been wrong to do so considering how many people had just died due to its fatal fury.

When the flames cleared away, Church and Nyx were treated to the sight of the accosted troops gathering their bearings and recovering from the pyrotechnic attack, but the woman who had lead them was nowhere in sight. Nyx scanned for said target in order to attack her again: Church did the same just out of caution. It almost seemed to him that the blonde beast had been disintegrated, but he knew that there was no way Nyx's flames could have been hot enough to accomplish such a feat. At most, there would have been a smoldering corpse.

But the woman in question was neither vaporized nor burnt to a crisp. Rather she had deftly evaded the flaming assault and dived into an alley, which she had navigated until she reached the perfect position to surprise Nyx from the side.

Pouncing from in-between the buildings to Nyx's left, she pinned her assailant to the ground, and her talon-tipped gauntlet quickly found its way around Nyx's neck. The expression on her face was absolutely livid.

"How dare a commoner like you attack me! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

Nyx struggled to kick the woman off of her, but she didn't have physical strength equal to the blonde that restrained her. "I know exactly who you are, you bitch! That's why I'm going to kill you!"

Being addressed in such a derogatory way served only to further aggravate the woman that pinned Nyx to the dusty ground. As if to reprimand the fire-wielding magician below her, the predatorial blonde dug the tips of her gauntlet into the soft skin of Nyx's neck, eliciting a cry of pain from the woman and a tiny smirk of pleasure from the aggressor.

Church turned his attention to the soldiers that his feminine ally had attacked a couple of moments ago, wondering if he had enough time to step in for Nyx before they fell upon him with swords, spears, and who knew what else.

Fortunately, the professional, disciplined soldiers were holding back, awaiting orders from their commander. Seeing as there was at least ten feet between himself and the soldiers, Church decided he'd be able to cut into Nyx's struggle with her opponent before one of the soldiers managed to stop him.

Church sprinted towards the two grappling women, planning to plant his foot in the blonde's face while she was distracted with her current prey. A handful of the soldiers on the side bolted forward to try and intercept him, but they wouldn't be able to cut Church off before he reached his goal.

Unfortunately, Church didn't realize that his target was fully aware of his presence until he was halfway through the air in an improvised karate kick. He should have known better than to believe that a skilled warrior would forget about a second threat even while dealing with the first, but it was a little late to have realized that.

With a look of annoyance, the girl Church had hoped to hit took her hand off of Nyx for a split second in order to catch Church's outstretched foot by the ankle. A quick twist served to spin Church around and plant him on the ground next to the two girls, with nothing but a painful sprain to show for his effort.

But although the amateurish attack had seemed futile, it served more of a purpose than Church realized. His enemy had her unarmored hand occupied with the task of holding her spear, so she was forced to remove her clawed gauntlet from Nyx's neck in order to deflect Church. It only took her a moment or two, but it was enough time for Nyx to send a blast of flame up into the blonde's face.

With cat-like reflexes, the woman on top of Nyx's body whipped her head back in time to avoid losing most of the skin on her face, but nevertheless, her golden hair and eyebrows singed and blackened around the edges.

Taking advantage of his position and his enemy's instability from the dodge, Church flung his leg back and slammed the toe of his tennis shoe into the back of the woman's head. The awkward movement caused a pretty good deal of pain to Church as well, and it no doubt further damaged his already frayed, stained, and falling apart footwear.

Church's awkward position didn't allow him to put too much force into the kick, but either way, the attack caused his target to flinch forward in pain, and Nyx found it the perfect opportunity to shove the woman off of her.

This whole minuscule melee took no longer than a few seconds, but it was enough time for the enemy soldiers to reach the spot it took place and gather around their wincing commander.

"Captain Elina, are you alright?!"

Elina clutched the back of her head in discomfort, her response little more than an irritated mutter. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine… secure the town! I'll handle these two myself!"

A few of the soldiers looked at their commander with uncertainty. Needless to say leaving their commander alone to face the enemy was not standard protocol. "Are you sure, Captain? Maybe we should stay with-!"

The soldier's suggestion was cut off by an angry reaffirmation of Elina's command. "I said I'll handle them! Go do what I told you to do, dammit!"

With hurried nods and quite a few glances of distaste for their temporary leader, the contingent of Vance soldiers hurried off in the direction of the scuffle in the market, leaving Church, Nyx, and Elina to themselves.

For a moment, Church wondered if he had misconstrued Elina's character. It was possible that she was sending her troops away because she didn't want them to be injured fighting a deadly foe. What he didn't know was that Elina just wasn't eager to return to Claudette with over half of the general's troops slain. If it weren't for that she definitely would have kept them around to fight.

Either way, Church got to his feet alongside Nyx, who was massaging her neck where Elina had gripped it with her talon-tipped fingers.

The trio of combatants were now in more or less of a triangular two-on-one standoff. Elina's many soldiers were spreading out to secure the town, making sure there weren't any other cohorts assisting Nyx and Church in their escapade, and generally just staying out of Elina's way as per her design.

Elina's gaze of fury at having actually been assailed by common rabble was more than evident, but her vehement blue eyes seemed to hold a personal distaste for Church. Why this was he had no idea, but he really wished it didn't exist. Of course, Church noticed that Nyx's own gaze of hatred far outclassed Elina's own. The fury in the pyromancer's eyes was a promise of destruction and suffering and pain, something very misplaced on her usually gentle face.

This pause in battle didn't last long. No words were spoken, as both Nyx and her opponent were eager to get back at each others' throats as soon as they had recovered.

Church's ally launched another fire bolt at their mutual enemy, who gracefully leaped over it with ease. Nyx tried to follow her target through the air with a gout of flame, but it trailed behind the blond woman instead of burning her. They just didn't move fast enough, and Nyx wasn't leading her attack to actually make contact.

Having completely avoided the flames, Elina planted her feet back on the dirt ground between Church and Nyx, swiping her claw at the voluptuous fire-flinging woman now near her. Nyx stumbled backwards in an attempt to dodge it, and she mostly succeeded, although the tips of Elina's fingers tore off the front end of her scarlet dress.

Church did absolutely everything in his power, everything he could within Heaven, Hell, and the Earth in-between to remain focused on the fight and stay professional, but he knew it was a lost cause. What red blooded man could possibly ignore the way Nyx's breasts bounced once their restraints had been so forcefully released? Certainly not him.

Surprisingly, Nyx was so focused on the heat of the battle that she didn't even notice Church's ogling. Or, even if she did, she didn't care enough to cover herself in the midst of her fight.

Instead she snarled in rage and swung her hand in an arc before her, orange flames trailing behind it. The sweeping fire lashed out at Elina, and unfortunately obscured Church's view of Nyx's bountiful bosom. On the other hand, the break in his view brought him back to the reality of their situation.

Elina back-flipped away from the scorching flames, but seemed to forget that Church was behind her. She nearly landed right in Church's arms, who proceeded to wrap them around the girl in his best impression of a full nelson in an effort to subdue her. He didn't really realize how bad of an idea that was until she flipped over him as well, using his own grip on her arms as leverage to slam the modern soldier into the hard ground.

With a grunt of pain, Church tried to get back to his feet, but the cat-like girl above him pinned him to the ground and punched him the face with a flurry of vicious blows. Church tried to raise his arms in defense, but he was only mildly successful. He managed to keep the painful attacks from his nose, at the very least.

The assault only lasted for a few moments, as it was interrupted when Nyx practically tackled Elina off of Church. The two women rolled around in the dirt, clawing at each other like animals. It dawned on Church that this was more of a catfight than a legitimate engagement, although he couldn't really complain about two women roughhousing with hardly any clothes on (Especially in Nyx's case).

The squirming purple staff Nyx wielded was knocked out of her grasp, and it rolled to the side. Church had half a mind to return it to its owner, but he was loath to touch the thing for any reason. Needless to say it hardly looked like a pleasant thing to get involved with for any reason whatsoever.

Instead Church wiped away the blood trickling from his face, and rose to his feet to watch the scuffle with interest. He wasn't really in the mood to join the two women, (oh, he would have been glad to join them, but not fight in the intense grapple going on), as he knew there was little he could do to make a difference anyway.

So instead he watched with intense focus as Elina and Nyx tumbled along the ground, tearing and ripping at each others' clothes. One of the purple plumes that came out of Nyx's dress was shredded, and part of Elina's breastplate was dislodged, revealing just a bit of her decent sized breasts.

A tiny voice called out from the alleyway to the side, drawing Church's attention away from the erotic yet equally brutal spectacle in the street. "Mr. Church!"

Church easily recognized the voice of the little girl who had helped him earlier, instantly making him feel guilty for thinking of such impure things as he ran over to her. "Mirim? Why are you still here? It's dangerous out in the town right now and you were supposed to leave hours ago!"

Young Mirim, with her shoulder-length viridian hair, puffed out her cheeks in dismay. "I had to buy some stuff to bring back to the farm. Mr. Church, don't tell me you're all wrapped up in this? I thought you were going to stay out of trouble!"

Church resisted the urge to roll his eyes in exasperation, if only because Mirim wasn't really deserving of that. "To be fair Mirim, the only reason this trouble started was because... well, I wish I could say it was because I was trying to help someone, but I guess all of the stuff happening now was just a stroke of God awful luck. But that means I didn't really do anything. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

For some reason Mirim gave him a frown, as though she didn't believe him outright.

"Hey, why are you giving me that look? I really didn't do anything you know. Beautiful, unstable women are just attracted to me. Can't be blamed for that, right?"

"I think you can."

Church shrugged off the deflection of his boasts, seeing as how he had been joking anyway. "Most girls seem to think that..."

A screech of anger from the street cut into Church and Mirim's short conversation, and Church decided that getting as far away from that fray as possible was in his best interest. No, he didn't really want to abandon Nyx, but it was obvious that she would risk just about anything to drop the hurt on the blonde she was tangling with, and chances were that Church would be unable to convince her to just cut and run while the going was still good.

After all, this situation was hopeless. The town was swarming with soldiers, and it would only be a minute or two before the gate was closed behind them, thwarting any attempt at an easy escape. The only viable option right now was to retreat.

Still, he couldn't in good conscious just cut and run on the woman that had saved him from prison. He had to at least give her an opportunity to escape. If she decided to stick around and keep fighting after that, well, that would be her problem. Having come to this decision, Church turned to Mirim in their alley hideaway.

"Alright Mirim: I'm getting out of here before some undesirables remember that I'm still around. Promise me that you'll stay here and out of the way. And if anyone asks, you had nothing to do with me, alright?"

Mirim gave a small nod, causing her short dark viridian bangs to swish. She seemed a little sad to see Church go, but she offered no argument. "I promise I'll stay out of trouble. But in return you'll have to come visit me at my new house sometime!"

Church refrained from pointing out that he would never know where Mirim and her family moved to, for the sake of a happy parting.

"Sure thing. But you'd better have some good food waiting for me when I get there. That's part of the promise."

Mirim giggled and started to push Church out of the alley. Even she understood that he needed to get going as soon as possible. "Alright, I'll make sure my mom makes one of her signature dishes for you! But it won't happen if you get caught again, so get going already!"

Church gave the girl one last pat on the head before turning to dash towards the melee that was Elina and Nyx. He made sure to reiterate his promise before getting out of earshot.

"Thanks for everything Mirim! When I come to visit, I'll be sure to tell your mom how amazing you are! Have a nice move!"

Mirim gave a little goodbye wave in response. She couldn't help but think about what a strange man her new friend was, even as she scolded herself for thinking something sort of offensive about him as they parted ways.

As for Church. he decided that he was going to get in, help Nyx, and get out as quickly as possible. He wanted to help her, but only if she were going to be reasonable about it.

So this time he took advantage of the fact that Elina really didn't see him coming as she pinned Nyx to the ground a second time. Church needed to get the blonde of his ally, while stunning her long enough for the pyromancer to hopefully get smart and run away. Thankfully this was simple enough, as Church decided to treat Elina's stomach as a soccer ball.

Sprinting up to her while her attention was elsewhere, Church kicked his target in the gut as hard as he could, knocking the wind out of her and more importantly sending her right off of Nyx and skidding a few feet away. Even a trained warrior like Elina wasn't about to immediately get up without some recovery.

Church took advantage of his small window of opportunity to give Nyx a pleading look. "Look, I don't know what grudge you have with her, but if you keep fighting here you won't beat her. Just run! There will always be another opportunity, but only if you survive!"

Knowing that there was little time for anything else, Church turned on his heel and fled towards the open gate to the town. Nyx made to follow him, but by the time she was getting to her own feet Elina had already done the same. With the blonde between them, Nyx knew there was no chance of getting past her if she tried. And as much as she would have absolutely loved to go after Church and stay with him, she was even more keen on staying alive so she could find a way to kill Elina later.

Right now though wasn't the time. With the town flooded with soldiers and Elina on top of that, Nyx had to run if she wanted to survive the day. And that's what she did, fleeing back into the alleys of the town while Elina decided to give chase to the one that had been present at her home when it had been infiltrated.

Church was bolting for the town gates as fast as he could, but by the time he reached it he could already hear sprinting footsteps not far behind him. While it could have been Nyx, Church got the distinct feeling that he would not be so lucky.

He turned to face what was likely another threat, and was not surprised in the least when he was forcibly pinned to the stone wall of the gate by Elina. The strength she put behind the charge slammed Church into the hard surface hard enough to knock the wind out of him, and gave testament to how bent out of shape his adversary was.

"Dammit, why are you so hellbent on hurting me?"

In a downright killer mood all things considered, Elina glared at her prey with fury that was, at least in Church's opinion, completely unwarranted. He also briefly noted that her eyes were a very similar shade to his own, but he quickly buried the useless detail in some miscellaneous locker in his mind. Although something like that may not have been as useless as he thought…

Exhausted, pinned, and subject to a deathly glare that told of impending suffering, Church was very low on options. But he was a firm believer in the 'there's always an answer' paradigm. He just had to run through his options before Elina decided to gut him with that metal gauntlet of hers.

Church didn't really have any hope of overpowering her in his current state. In fact, even if he weren't tired as hell and suffering from a painful throbbing in his knee, he still probably couldn't have beaten her in a close fight. It was also unlikely that he could talk his way out of his predicament. The angry vixen before him didn't seem like the type to be talked down.

His only other option was to distract or stun his opponent long enough for him to escape, but Church couldn't really see a way to do that… although he could feel one up.

Debating over the ethics of his upcoming tactics all the while, Church quickly formulated an escape plan that would have gotten him killed had his sister been there to see it. And he finished working out all of the details just in time: Elina's anger was just about to boil over.

Regardless of what Church thought of his move ethically, he knew he had no choice if he wished to escape this cat-like woman unscathed. Just in time to keep Elina from smashing his face in, Church raised his knee upward, pressing it into a very, very sensitive spot. Even though he barely brushed the girl with the movement, Elina responded as he had expected her to, reflexively shoving one of her hands in-between her legs to protect her body from its molester.

With only one hand holding Church down, he had enough breathing room to enact the step that would free him completely. He pushed himself forward as far as he could, and planted a French kiss right on Elina's lips. He wasn't overly eager to lose his first kiss to this psycho, but he knew nothing startled and stunned a girl like a surprise kiss attack.

And he was right. Elina pulled back in surprise, her other hand flying to her defiled lips. A deep scarlet blush came over her cheeks, but it was clear that half of the cause of it was actually fury rather than embarrassment. Taking advantage of her stunned and startled state, Church grabbed Elina by the shoulders, this time employing a far less risqué technique. With no hope of outrunning the blonde once she recovered her composure, he had to put her out of commission for a while. It was just unfortunate that he would probably daze himself as well.

Church yanked Elina forward and slammed his forehead into hers, careful to avoid the cat ear head ornament she wore. A resounding crack bounced off of the stone walls, and Elina tumbled backwards, this time with both of her hands flying towards her head.

Fortunately for Church, the cybernetic implants of the Legion once again saved him from serious injury. Just like the time when he had miraculously survived the rock slide that had brought him to the Elven forest, his technologically hardened skeleton reduced the amount of pain he received from the double-edged attack.

Still, it wasn't like his bones were made of steel or anything, and Church still doubled over in pain himself. "Holy shit... that was a terrible idea! Why didn't I just punch you?! Fuck I'm an idiot sometimes..."

Either way, Church managed to rub some of the pain out of his head within a few moments, but Elina was not so lucky. Just as Church's significantly hardened skull protected him from serious harm, it did extra damage to Elina, who had blood trickling down her forehead as she squirmed in pain on the ground.

Not even sure that the poor girl would hear him in her suffering, Church still felt obliged to apologize for using such dirty tactics before making himself scarce.

"I'm really sorry about that! I just hate having to actually fight pretty girls!"

He kinda figured he should apologize specifically for molesting her to some extent, but he eyed some soldiers that had seen the incident approaching to check on their commander, and it was time for him to get lost.

Church said sorry one last time before running out onto the countryside roads as fast as he could, leaving behind Mirim, Nyx, a crazy bitch, and a town that was far more trouble than the small meal he had gotten out of it was worth. Needless to say, the seething, furious blonde he left behind glared after his retreating form with unabashed malice, even though his compliment was not entirely lost on her.

I bet no one saw that coming… hell, I didn't even see that coming, it didn't hit me until I was 75% of the way through this chapter. Anyway, I guess that ended up being like… a mini-Nyx arc? Don't worry; she'll get some more show time later. I never actually intended for that God-forsaken town to be the setting for four damn chapters, but I guess my on-a-whim writing style gives birth to unexpected tangents.

Now, I know someone somewhere is definitely going to have something to say about this chapter, so c'mon, don't keep it to yourself. Feedback may not be necessary, but it is certainly encouraging and beneficial to future updates.