Chapter 1 - Blankface
Crackling and sizzling sounds were everything that opposed the silence of a forest at night. A small campfire, made by the one sitting close to it, had been lit there, to provide warmth and light – something that was rare to people like her in those days.
The sight that person gave was nothing out of the ordinary to people who knew where to find people of her kind. Other might have been curios about who lightheartedly settled down in a forest alone to camp, but would soon have come to the conclusion that there was only one kind of people around who would do so while still being sane. If they could be called that, of course.
All around were Yoma, the predators of humankind. They were humanoid monsters with great strength and speed and, what was worst, with the ability to disguise themselves as humans. Being able to even copy the personality of the ones they possessed perfectly, even the close friends and relatives of the befallen one had no means of telling, the he or she actually was a Yoma.
The people of that time and age were living in constant fear of someone close to them or even themselves being turned into or eaten by a Yoma. However, there were people capable of finding and slaying them. A weapon created by an Organization that officially had the purpose of helping those threatened by a Yoma. By merging the flesh and blood of a fallen Yoma with the living body of a human they created a half-Yoma, half-human existence with the capability of sensing the predators of humankind, finding them and slaying them. Due to the weapons they carried to do so, a double edged broadsword of about a meters length, the people just called them Claymore.
Those Claymore, female warriors who had forfeited being human to slay Yoma, were the only hope for common people to deal with their demonic predators. Still, being partly Yoma themselves, the humans feared them just as much as they feared Yoma. That was another reason for them to mostly stay deep in a forest, late at night, all on their own, just being accompanied by a claymore and a campfire.
Jacqueline was one of them. Right then she did, what most of her comrades also did after finishing a job: sitting in front of a campfire, their blade impaled to the ground, leaning against it and waiting. Waiting for a certain man, a so called handler, member of the Organization, to assign a new job to them.
Not much was to do during their time waiting. As a non-human being they had very few need for things like food, water and sleep. Doing without them for several days was way more than enough. So all they mostly did, while waiting for their handlers, was, in essence, waiting.
To Jacqueline, however, that was nothing worth complaining about. She got her jobs, she did her jobs, and waited for new ones. That was all she had been doing for about five years then. This routine was engraved into her like the symbol on her sword – the only thing to certainly identify her when worst came to worst.
At that evening her head was, even though her face would never have suggested it, with thoughts and emotions of all coleur. While absentmindedly staring into the campfires dancing flames, she remembered missions she had had, people she had saved, comrades she had met – just to figure out how boring, ingrate and distant all of them were.
Being alone and feared by the townspeople did not concern her in the slightest, but the former, her jobs and their easiness, had steadily gotten on her nerves. It was always the same: sense Yoma, effortlessly kill Yoma, not improving in the slightest.
Whenever she met other warriors, it sounded "has been promoted," "died on a job," "has dragged me out of hell" and the like. She never had had experiences like that. Not that she exactly wanted to die, that wouldn't have solved matters, either, but still she had never before encountered an actually dangerous mission. She always kept asking herself how exactly it was possible to die on simple Yoma hunts. From her point of view, of course.
The rustling of some leaves got her attention. Knowing, who was approaching her, she didn't care to look. A man, fully dressed in black, had come close to the campfire. He considered sitting down for a moment, but then decided to remain standing.
After a moment of silence between them, he broke it: "Back uninjured again, as I see."
Jacqueline remained silent and kept staring into the campfires warming light.
It took the man just a mere look to see, that he had her attention. If anyone, he could see the close to unnoticeable changes in Jacqueline's firm expression. He had known her for five years, after all.
"I fear that there is something else I have to bother you with, Jacqueline. Half a days walk to the north you will find the town of Kron. It lies atop a hill and is open to all sides, you should not be able to miss it. They have send a request to exterminate a Yoma. Please take care of it."
"So it's a normal job as always, I suggest?" the warrior asked her handler.
The man in black directed his gaze to the campfire that Jacqueline had made about an hour before.
"I see" she said, taking his silence as a yes. "If that is the case," she continued, "I will be on my way with the sun's rise."
Her handler mustered his warrior for a bit. For five years he had been in charge of her and through all those years she always wore the same face. It stuck out amongst all the other warriors, way more than the fact that her hair still had a raven color. Being turned into a half-human, half-Yoma existence optically changed three viewable things about a human. The first was a scar on the stomach, a scar so disgusting to scare nearly every man away from a warrior, no matter, how beautiful she was. The second was their eyes' color that changed to silver, the thing the Claymore got their nickname, Silver-Eyed Witches, from. The third one was their hair, it usually turned into a pale blond if not even white color. Not for Jacqueline, however.
That fact made the Organization think of her as a failed experiment, a warrior of no real use. Still, at the time Jacqueline actually had finished her training, what earned her something like a praise from Marco, their trainer, the Organization was in dire need for capable warriors. They had no time to care about things like a warrior's hair having remained black. They just took everything they could get and stuffed it into the ranks that were to fill.
Just weeks before her final test, the Number 1 at that time, Luciela, awakened. A Number 1, supposedly the strongest of all warriors alive, surpassing her human limits – and therefore turning into a monster far beyond everything most warriors could even imagine. Half of the Organization's forces, including trainees, were killed due to that incident. Jacqueline had been there, too, but was unable to move. Until she saw a certain warrior fearlessly going against that monster, that was. She was not able to do much, either, but at least she didn't die like a fly. Sooner or later, Luciela had left, for reasons unknown.
Afterwards, Jacqueline had gotten the rank of Number 40, one of the weakest amongst the warriors. At that day, she still had the same rank. She had done all her jobs flawlessly, but was still considered as a failed experiment. To the Organization, she was good enough to go around and chop Yoma to bits. Nothing more, nothing less.
'It's a shame, truly,' her handler thought, 'to have such a woman go to waste.'
And he was right. Of course, Jacqueline did not look anything special. Though she was rather tall with being nearly two meters, she had a fragile look, like all the other warriors. However, don't judge a book by its cover. Jacqueline was neither strong nor very fast, but her fighting style had no needs for things like brawny arms or a sturdy body.
"Rubel," Jacqueline broke the silence once again, not letting her gaze leave the campfire, "that monster we were fighting back then, it killed many warriors without effort. Still, there was a sole woman, who could fight it, even though to no effect. Neerie was her name, if I remember. That monster and she clearly showed me, that there has to be way more to our world than just hunting Yoma. There has to be more... for me."
For a moment Rubel wondered about why it had taken Jacqueline that long to want to talk about that topic. However, she didn't know anything about Awakened Beings, despite she had been very close to one of the strongest of them. But still, all she had ever done was hunting Yoma or small groups of them despite being fit to go against Awakened Beings. Sadly, there weren't that many requests at that time. In addition to that, the Organization still had not acknowledged the fact that Jacqueline was more than a mere Number 40. Way more.
'They think in patterns too much," he thought. 'Failed experiment? Useless. Such stupid people.'
However, the Man in Black found it was time to tell that promising woman a bit more about the world she lived on: "I see, so you're not only using your head but letting the world know of the results sometimes, huh?"
She didn't react at all and just kept staring into the fire, having her usual empty, silver eyes and emotionless face.
"We need people like Neerie because there are monsters out there that someone like you could not handle yourself" he explained. 'Well, most likely you can,' he added in his thoughts.
That caused Jacqueline to have a short look over to him before staring at the campfire again. Mustering that man's face was futile: He always wore darkened glasses and a black hat that he had pulled deep into his face. All she could see in his face was the campfire that was reflecting in his glasses.
Knowing that Jacqueline wasn't the one to look at the people that talked to her, the man continued: "You know that when a warrior passes her limits she turns into a Yoma, right? Well, that's at least what you've been told during your training."
Already believing to have understood what her handler wanted to tell her, she answered: "I see. We are stronger than Yoma, turning into something weaker when we use our Yoki too much never made sense to me anyways. So I guess the real strong warriors amongst us are the ones that go after those who couldn't send out their Black Card soon enough. Or am I assuming to much here, Rubel?"
The man in black was not that surprised that Jacqueline was able to figure out that much herself. She was one of the sharpest warriors he had ever met after all. He found that her special ability, the excelling reading, sensing and manipulating of Yoki totally befitted her intelligence.
"When you pass your limits and lose your human mind that is what we call Awakening. The result is an insanely strong monster, called Awakened Being. Those are the ones we send the Single Digits and a few lower ranked warriors after" he affirmed the tall warriors assumption.
Just at this moment another thing came to his mind, a request that had been made just a few hours before. He considered sending Jacqueline to that job, too. He told her to meet up with him in the forest west of her current destination after her job was finished. Then he took his leave.
'It would be a shame to have this woman's potential wasted on Yoma hunting jobs forever. She either does great, like I think she will, or she dies. Either way is fine but if the former is the case she could be of use in the future' he thought while having his usual smile on his face.
###
Everyone was shivering in fear as they saw the Silver Eyed Witchwalking towards the town's gates. They knew that they could do nothing but to rely on one of those Claymores but still they feared them due to them being half-human and half-yoma beings. They also knew that it was strictly forbidden to a Claymore to kill a human. If she would have broken that rule that would have led to her execution but still trusting them was hard.
Some of the townspeople came to the gates as soon es they heard that the Silver Eyed Witch was arriving but as soon as she came too close to them they stepped back opening a path for her to pass. She already knew where her target was but was a bit surprised as he gave away his cover himself. One of the people she passed seemed not to be feared and mocked about the Organization sending a failed experiment.
The moment Jacqueline heard that she stopped and turned her head to the man that just spoke. The people around said man instantly got away from him because they were afraid that he'd have angered the Claymore.
"She'll kill him, she'll kill him!" they panicked.
"You're no fun," Jacqueline said to that man. "I wanted to play a bit by letting you think I didn't notice you but you killjoy just blew up your cover by using a term that a human wouldn't know. Stupid!" she complained, drew her claymore and threw it straight through the man's head before he even could react. Well, that's not quite true. He wanted to react, but something kept him from dodging.
The people panicked even more. They feared, that the Silver Eyed Witch was mad and would go after them too. However, the panicking soon turned into pure surprise as they saw that the dead man's body had turned into that of a Yoma. While Jacqueline pulled out her sword of the wall it had gotten stuck in the chief of the town slowly approached her. With him he carried a bag full of Beras.
He stuttered some thanks and wanted to hand over the money, as Jacqueline while shaking the blood off of her claymore clarified to him: "I'm not taking the money. Later a suspicious looking man in black will come here to get the money. Don't give the money to the wrong person by accident. That could be disadvantageous for you."
Without saying another word Jacqueline left the town heading to the west where she would meet up with her handler.
###
She eventually met up with him about half an hour later. Rubel gave her no welcome and just asked how it went.
"I'm back unharmed" was all that the tall warrior answered.
"I see" Rubel said. "I wonder... how long are you wearing that suit of yours now? Is it already a year?"
Jacqueline gave it a little thought and then said that that was about the case. No warrior before had ever worn a suit that long without having it even scratched. Having that in mind Rubel had a chat with the elders of the Organization the day before...
###
"Ah, Rubel, there is one more thing..." Rimuto said just before Rubel was about to leave the hall.
He turned back around and asked, what that might be.
"It's about that failure you're always so proudly spouting about" the elder derogatorily commented.
"Oh?" the handler answered, playing the surprised one.
"Is she dead or something?" Rimuto asked, giving reasons for his question directly afterwards: "She hasn't asked for a set of clothes or any money for a whole year."
Rubel just shrugged his shoulders, calmly stating that she was alive and well and that her clothing was in nearly new condition. Rimuto then asked if Rubel was about to say that she had accomplished every single job she had had that year without even getting scratched. Rubel just nodded.
###
"Great job as always, Jacqueline. I'm sorry to have to bother you with a job again, but there has been another request just recently. I thought it would be fitting you quite well. You'll go west from here to the town of Arnea. There will be warriors waiting for you. They'll explain everything else to you. Got any complaints or questions?"
Jacqueline had heard and memorized every word Rubel said. And as always, she had neither questions nor complaints. At last, it was her job to kill any being that opposed humankind. To her there was nothing wrong about that.
"Alright," she said, "since the sun hasn't set yet I'll get walking right now."
Saying not one word more she started heading west to reach her destination as soon as possible. Rubel stood there for a while, seeing the black haired warrior walk into the sunset, having just his usual smile on his face.
###
The atmosphere was tense in the town of Arnea. Two days before three Claymore had entered the town at once.
"Why so many?" the townspeople had asked each other. "Is this really necessary?" they kept asking their chief. But he just kept saying that the Organization would know what they were doing. Still, he didn't like it. Even having one of them around gave him the chills.
Then, close to noon, a fourth warrior was arriving. The mothers dragged their children into their houses, the men and women closed their doors and windows and everyone avoided getting close to the black haired warrior that had just entered the town.
Everyone was scared because rumors had spread that the Yoma due they sent the request to was not a normal Yoma but a Voracious Eater. That at least was the term the Organization used when talking about Awakened Beings to the public. Having had the people know that their weapons, the Claymore, would eventually turn into those monster would have been bad for business.
Although Jacqueline already knew that normal people didn't like the Organization's warriors that much it seemed to be different at that time. But to her it still was a job she had to do so she didn't really care about how everyone reacted to seeing her. Soon after she entered the town a Man in Black led her to an alley and pointed towards a door that she should enter.
Behind that door was just a small dark room with benches and a table. Around said table three other warriors were sitting.
Just after closing the door from inside Jacqueline got lectured for being late by the short-haired woman sitting at the left side of the table: "There you are finally! Making us wait for two whole days... got any explanation?"
Jacqueline didn't respond but gave cold greetings to her fellow warriors. Then she leaned against a wall and waited for the one supposed to be the leader of that party to speak up.
The warrior with braided hair who sat at the opposite of the door arose and said: "Then we are all here finally."
She directed her view towards Jacqueline and told her not to take Short Hair too seriously since they had already known that the fourth warrior would arrive a little later than themselves.
Then, speaking to everyone, she said: "My name is Anna. As the Organizations number 9 I will be the leader of this party. What we will be hunting is an Awakened Being. Please tell me your names, ranks and if you have experience in fighting Awakened Beings so far. I for my self have taken part in nine Awakened Being Hunts."
So it was finally something stronger for Jacqueline to hunt. She stood totally calm and waited for the other two to introduce themselves.
The second one to speak was the short haired warrior: "Me is Maria, currently the Organization's number 19." It was hard for her to admit and she was a bit ashamed of it, but she added that her experiences in fighting Awakened Beings were being cut down in no time and therefore were to be considered zero.
The next one was the woman to the right. She seemed way too excited for the thing that they were going to do but it didn't matter much to Jacqueline.
Cheerfully the pig-tailed woman said: "I am Liara, the Organization's number 23 and I am looking forward to this job as I always do when I get to slay an Awakened Being!"
After hearing that Jacqueline was kind of disgusted and got a feeling that this warrior would be troublesome.
Since she was the only one left also Jacqueline introduced herself: "I am Jacqueline. I have not faced an Awakened Being so far. My rank in the Organization is number 40 as of now."
Everyone stood quiet, each of them for their own reasons.
Suddenly Maria started to laugh wildly: "A ha ha, they wanna get rid of ya, what? Sending an amateur to a job like this – they absolutely want ya dead! Ha ha ha!"
Liara didn't comment on that, but, having a kind of creepy smile on her face, thought, that it would be fun to play with the tall one afterwards. Jacqueline just ignored Maria. At least she hadn't been cut down in no time ever. She felt that the loudmouth would get her judgement – sooner or later. And she thought that her hair was way more beautiful than the fluff that Short Hair most likely considered a hairstyle.
Anna, completely ignoring Maria's childish behavior, wondered about if Jacqueline could be that warrior she heard of and told the group what exactly she had heard: "Jacqueline was it, right? Just three days ago I overheard a conversation between a man in black and elder Rimuto. It was about a failure who had not asked for a new suit in a year. According to the man in black's reaction to Rimuto's question said warrior had been on jobs for a whole year without getting scratched. May it be..."
Jacqueline interrupted her: "So it actually has been a whole year?"
Everyone was quiet again, even Maria had stopped laughing.
After a pause that felt like hours Anna spoke up again: "So that's how it is. We will go on the hunt tomorrow. Liara, Maria, please find a place to stay. I'm going to have a little chat with our number 40."
Even though Liara was a bit disappointed that she'd have to wait until the next day, the both of them agreed and left to room.
###
About fifteen minutes afterwards Anna and Jacqueline were standing on a field close to the town. Both of them had their blades drawn.
Anna took a deep breath and then told Jacqueline again what they were going to do: "There has to be a reason for you to finish all your jobs unharmed. The first thing I thought of after seeing your hair was that you were the one the men in black talked about. Liara and Maria most probably didn't notice because it was so dark. I want to fight you to find out why you are so successful. That will be sparring, of course."
Jacqueline said that she had no problem with that and so the two started to cross blades.
###
From afar Liara and Maria were watching Anna and Jacqueline sparring. They abandoned Anna's request to find a room because they were more interested in how crappy Forty actually was. Both of them had skeptical looks on their face. Very skeptical looks.
After watching the both of them for a while Maria judged what she was seeing: "There is one thing that kinda surprises me and one thing that shocks me to the mark. The thing that's surprising me is number forty. She's really good for her rank – and her hair color! Just judging from her technique I'd say she'd be fit to be in the twenties." Liara nodded in accordance.
"But there is still the thing that shocks me to the bone. How... I mean, really, how... is someone as bad at fighting as that a Single Digit?" Liara nodded in accordance.
"With the four of us – can we even defeat an Awakened Being?" Liara nodded in accordance.
"Stop nodding every time I say something." Liara nodded in accordance.
With a really mad face Maria complained: "Author, this stops being funny." Liara nodded in accordance.
###
'What is with this woman? She may be far better than her rank makes you think but why can I barely keep up with her strength, speed and technique? I normally am far better than that! Is this her doing? Maybe... I should go to ten percent?' was what Anna was thinking.
Her opponent really puzzled her a lot since she was not getting what Jacqueline did to her. So she decided to release enough Yoki to change her eye color from silver to yellow. But that was exactly what Jacqueline had waited for: The more Yoki her opponent released the better she would be able to control her.
As the fight continued Anna more and more got why Jacqueline was able to keep up with her. Well, that was not exactly right. It was more like Jacqueline kept Anna down on her own level! Not just that, if she would have wanted to, Jacqueline could have created many chances to kill Anna. She realized that in a real battle with Jacqueline she most likely would have died.
'So,' Anna concluded, 'she's controlling my Yoki. And she is actually doing it well enough to keep us on par! And she could most likely do better... What a magnificent ability! So that is the reason why no Yoma is able to even scratch her. To expect something like that of someone whose hair has not even changed – what a rare... no, rare is not the right word... what an inimitable thing to see!'
The Single Digit thought of suddenly rising her Yoki level to heights near her limit to suddenly overpower her sparring partner. So she did and smashed Jacqueline's blade out of her hand in an instant.
The tall warrior, surprised for a moment, realized that the sparring was over and retrieved her claymore while saying: "I thought that you'd figure out how to defeat me around that time. And you should tell our spectators that you looking so weak was my doing. Otherwise they'll get scared and run away or something."
While slowly dropping her Yoki level Anna smiled at her. They both decided to go back to town. On their way they eventually met the other two and told them what was going on.
After Anna berated Maria and Liara for not finding an inn to stay as they were directed to the four of them found themselves a place to stay for the night. 'So that is what this woman is like. I was totally under her control – like a puppet is under the control of a puppet player.'
###
"I can't sense it anymore!" Anna said puzzled.
Until the day before she was able to sense the Awakened Being's presence clearly, but the day the hunt should take place it suddenly was gone. Jacqueline, who had just woken up, walked to the window Anna was standing at and asked her, what the matter was. She got told that Anna couldn't sense the Awakened Being anymore.
Jacqueline also tried to sense it and felt a very faint Yoki around five miles south of Arnea.
'Hiding won't help you against me, stupid' she thought and plainly said that the target is south of them and that she'd wait at the town's gates. She left the room to head for the gates were she was going to wait for her comrades. Anna was astounded: 'I... can't sense it. At all!'
###
The party was heading south with Jacqueline as the guide since she was the only one who could feel the target's presence. Maria whispered to Anna and asked how it came that Jacqueline wasn't the Organization's eye. Anna had no knowledge about that, but assumed that the Organization most likely didn't know about Jacqueline's abilities and just judged her by her looks – as a failure.
"It's approaching us" Jacqueline suddenly said.
The others were about to get ready for battle as Jacqueline told them not to be hasty: "It most likely thinks we haven't noticed it and that it has the moment of surprise on its side. So it's best if we act as we didn't notice it yet."
Liara was surprised about Jacqueline being such a tactician and thought that she would really be a fun opponent. After having seen her abilities in her sparring with Anna Liara got even more aroused by the curiosity of how she would do against her.
A few Minutes later a lone warrior came in sight, heading towards the party.
"It's her" Jacqueline whispered.
Maria's eyes widened and a big smile appeared on her face. "Dummy, it can't be her, that's Emily!" she joyfully said as she started to run towards her with wide open arms. "Long time no..." she cheered as suddenly a swift movement of Emily's sword cut off her left arm.
Everyone except Jacqueline was stunned. "Huh?" Emily wondered, "I wanted to split your head. Am I retarded or something?"
Before she could strike another time Jacqueline was already close to her and they started to cross blades. Anna was shocked the most because she knew who that warrior once was: A former Single Digit, Emily, the Organizations Number 6. Liara joyfully joined the battle, shouting that Jacqueline mustn't have all the fun on her own. Maria stuttered Emily's name, quietly asking why.
Jacqueline realized really fast that this fight would not be easy since their enemy was suppressing her Yoki very well. Even though she could read Emily she couldn't manipulate her like she was used to. She criticized herself for not having been able to keep Maria uninjured but was still glad that she could prevent her from dying.
Emily was a lot faster than her and Liara and therefore easily was able to dodge and parry the attacks of both of them. Suddenly Jacqueline saw a brief opening and used it to kick Emily's stomach what led to her flying away a few meters.
Liara closed in to Emily as fast as possible to use the chance Jacqueline created to kill her while the latter turned around and with a mad look shouted: "What are you fools doing? Get your asses over here!"
That got Anna back to her senses and she joined the battle as well. Maria however was not able to move and could only stare at the battle.
"Why, Emily, why?" she kept whispering to herself. She was totally desperate and started to shake. Why had her best friend turned into a monster and attacked her? Why would she have to kill her?
###
Storms of striking claws pattered down on her like rain. This Awakened Being was different from the others, no matter how she looked at it. Two of her comrades were killed instantly, the other one lay just a few steps behind her, being unable to move. She couldn't defeat it, she was sure about that. But her senses told her, that she just had to hold out – a fellow warrior was heading towards them.
But hell, that thing was fast. Even though she used a skill of superior speed that surpassed even that of the Top Five at that time the Awakened One was still able to cut her now and then.
'Is... is my... Stormcutter... to slow?' she thought, not being able to comprehend it. Up until then she always was the fastest, no matter who or what she faced. She was just Rank 11, but she couldn't be that weak. That was what she told herself, but in the end it didn't help her at all. 'Hurry, dammit, hurry!' she inwardly shouted out to the warrior that was approaching them.
The one lying behind her was Maria. It happened within a split second that she suddenly couldn't stand anymore, fell down and caught blood. She hadn't even seen what it was and the pain of getting cut her back came several seconds later due to the shock. Her vision was blurry, she could barely see what her fellow warrior Hitomi and the Awakened One were doing, not to speak of sensing the warrior who was coming closer.
The Awakened being had grown tired of clashing with the warrior in front of her. She was fast enough to parry most of the Awakened's attacks. Most of them. One scratch after another showed up on the warrior's skin. But the Awakened Being couldn't land a serious hit so it calculated the risk of stopping its attacks for a second to launch a stronger blow.
Faster done than thought it interrupted its storm of attacks and, suffering many hits from Hitomi's Stormcutter, made a fast dash towards her to land a good blow on her chest and pulled back immediately.
Hitomi's attacks had stopped. Five deep wounds were on her chest, two of them damaged her right lung and one missed her hearth by a hair.
Still holding the shaft of her sheathed claymore with her right hand her face was in shock. She knew she was defeated. Fighting like that wouldn't be possible.
'So this is the extend of my ability. Not fast enough to keep up with her, not strong enough to defeat her. I am... despicable!'
She fell to her knees and then onto her right side. It was over.
###
'And then you appeared' were Maria's thoughts. 'You came... to save us. The both of us only are alive because of you. How can you... how can you...'
"HOW CAN YOU DEMAND OF ME TO KILL YOU?" were the worlds that sounded over the battlefield.
For a moment everything was quiet, every movement stopped. Something suddenly changed about Emily's attitude. Did she know that person?
But Jacqueline didn't giver her much time to think. Of the three warriors Emily was fighting she was the most persistent. Anna, too, was a formidable warrior to her. About Liara she didn't care that much. But even though the latter had a lot of openings, Emily couldn't cut her.
'That idiot.' Jacqueline thought. 'If she'd fight in a less offensive way I wouldn't have to alter that monsters movements so much. It's damn hard since she isn't emitting enough Yoki, dammit!'
Emily decided to unleash all her Yoki and turn into her awakened form: a dark blue skinned, tall succubus with long, black hair and bat wings with a span of more then six meters. Her sharp claws and both horns seemed to be excellent killing tools. Since she thought that she wouldn't need it anymore Emily throw her sword away. Now her victory was assured.
In an instant she disappeared just to reappear behind Liara and slice through her neck. But she missed her completely! Liara instantly got away from her as she noticed that she had been very lucky just then. Anna moved back from Emily, too. She hadn't seen her move just then at all.
'We could have won if she had stood in her human form... but now even Jacqueline shouldn't be able to handle that mass of Yoki...' Anna feared.
Emily wondered why she had missed. Just what was going on?
"This fight is over" Jacqueline said, leaving Anna surprised and Liara very nosy about what would happen then.
Emily turned towards the tall warrior and asked her how she came to that conclusion.
"Haven't you wondered?" Jacqueline asked, "why both of your attempts to kill didn't work the way you planned?"
Emily spat on the ground "Ts, I just had no real fight for some time. I got rusty."
Jacqueline sheathed her claymore and started to slowly walk towards Emily. The latter didn't move an inch and everyone watched with tension.
'What is going on? Why can she be so calm? Don't tell me she actually can...' Anna's thoughts got interrupted.
"I wonder about that. If I remember your Symbol correctly, you are Emily, the former number six, am I right? Shouldn't a number six be able to kill warriors in the twenties even if she had no fight for some time? I daresay that you can't even kill me, the current number 40" she closed her speech as she stopped right in front of Emily.
The latter wanted to slice through that loudmouth in front of her and started to rapidly attack with her claws. But for some reason she couldn't comprehend Jacqueline evaded every single attack by dodging. And something else felt wrong to Emily: not a single attack turned out in the way she wanted it to. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how much she focused, she just couldn't hit that warrior she was fighting.
Anna and Liara were astounded about how easily number 40 dodged every attack.
'Superb. Truly superb. Her skill of manipulating an opponents Yoki is something else. She, someone comparable to a warrior in the twenties, drags down an awakened Single Digit down to a level where she can dodge all of her attacks with ease. How can the Organization be so blind to rank her so lowly?' were Anna's thoughts at that time.
She said to Liara that getting involved into that battle only would break Jacqueline's concentration. "But" she added, "why isn't she using her blade? How is she planning on killing Emily without a weapon?"
Liara, who had already put away her claymore calmly said that Jacqueline was having fun, leaving a surprised Anna.
Maria had slowly gotten back to her senses and was watching from afar while reattaching her left arm. "Who is that girl?" she asked herself.
After that had continued for a while Emily suddenly stopped attacking and backed down from Jacqueline. She was shaking due to the anger that had built up insider her.
"Why?" she asked and then shouted: "Why can't I hit a number 40? Why?"
Jacqueline walked towards her again and stopped right in front of Emily.
"The reason is simple. You are weak and I am strong, that is all there is to it. I am the natural enemy of every Yoki user. There is no way for the likes of you to ever defeat me. Farewell."
It all was done in an instant: Emily still desperately tried to hit Jacqueline, but failed completely. Bit by bit she got cut down. First her left wing, then her right arm, then her right wing, then the lower part of her right leg. The move that finally made her unable to move cut open her chest and throat.
Making a dull sound her body collapsed face down to the ground. Emily ground her theeth and clenched her remaining fist, but it was over.
Jacqueline pointed the tip of her blade to Emily's neck and then looked over to Maria.
"You seem to have some sort of connection to her. Do you want to kill her yourself?"
###
In the end it was Maria who decapitated Emily who had no chance to even try to fight back because Jacqueline was still keeping her from doing something. Liara left the group as soon as the target was dead. After having seen Jacqueline's true potential she got scared of losing her life by fighting her. But she intended to get stronger – she absolutely wanted to defeat that woman back then. By that day beating Jacqueline became her goal.
After having reattached her left arm Maria buried her friend and used Emily's blade as a gravestone.
"You were close, weren't you?" Anna asked but got a silent answer. After mourning over her lost friend Maria she thanked Jacqueline for letting her kill Emily. "I won't forget this." She added with a sad smile on her face.
Anna was glad that Maria had calmed down. She also was glad that only one of her comrades got injured.
"Good work everyone" she said. "Well," she faced the tall warrior, "even though most of the work was done by you. My word may not count that much, but I will recommend you for a promotion."
Jacqueline gave her thanks and then left Maria and Anna alone, stating, that she had to meet her handler.
After she was gone Anna asked Maria, if she had noticed something about the black haired warrior. Maria didn't know what Anna could have meant.
"During the whole battle... her face nearly always remained the same. As if it was nothing."
That was the day she was first called Blankface.