Hello Scrolls and Followers of Justice, Mr.Bones traces the new chapter of my fanfic.
Here we will have the Solution confrontation, I have no experience in describing fights, or anything else after all this is my first fanfic, please comment so I can improve.
With you
The One Who Came Back
Chapter 08: Between alleys and sewers
'Now I remember who Solution looked like!' – thought the Overlord in his bed – 'she had the appearance of that crazy girl I killed during the invasion of the dead in E-Rantel. I hope it doesn't cause any problems for Solution'.
A few days earlier, inside a private room in the capital of the Slane Theocracy, a meeting between the cardinals began with bad news.
"We have received disturbing information about guards disappearing from their posts, and there's a rumor in the streets that some informants and prostitutes are also disappearing", said Cardinal Raymond.
"I don't know why you think this is relevant", interrupted Cardinal Dominic, who was chairing the meeting, scornfully, "second-class citizens and a few guards shouldn't be a concern for us to consider".
"I bring this up here because, according to witnesses, someone or something caught them in the alleys, while others say they saw a certain person in the city, she can be described as young, short hair, blonde, and wearing a… provocative outfit".
"By the blood of the Six, you've got to be kidding, she couldn't have come back, could she?", asked a rather startled Cardinal Genedine.
"Yes, I think Clementine has returned to town, the description fits".
"Okay, but why do you think it could be her, Raymond?"
"Because, Dominic, there are many doubts about her supposed death by the dark hero Momon. We sent a team to recover the body, but as you already know, it was gone, we don't know who recovered it, if it was Zurrernorn, the Eight Fingers or an unknown faction, we don't even know if she really died by Momon's hand or if what he said was true! Maybe she had a resurrection item, or another companion did, there are too many gaps open to assume she's just dead".
"And you, Raymond, do you think she might have come back here to get what? Revenge, espionage, cut loose ends, steal more items?"
"One of those alternatives, Dominic, if not all. She's too dangerous for us to pass up, we need to send one of the scriptures after her".
"We can mobilize Windflower Scripture to track her, but only Holocaust Scripture can handle her, even if she lost levels after being resurrected, that is if she really died", Dominic said confidently.
"She is mine", uttered the female voice of someone that the cardinals only now noticed had entered the meeting room.
"Zesshi Zetsumei, you were not called here", Cardinal Ivon said with a frown.
"Now I'm sorry, I don't think I received the notice not to attend, but since I'm here, I wanted to contribute a little, after all I think I'm the best option to deal with the traitor", replied the half-elf in the most sarcastic way possible.
"Enough Zesshi, but you're right. The Windflower will track and you'll intercept this spy. If it really is Clementine, kill her quickly, then we can try to resurrect her and interrogate her".
Zesshi left without even looking at Cardinal Dominic, she didn't like him. This chance to get out of the treasure room where she kept permanent guard couldn't be wasted.
It took a week for the Scripture to track and locate the invader, now it was Zesshi's turn.
"So Clementine, aren't you going to say hello?"
Solution kept her back to the attacker, she doesn't need her eyes to see, the maid can just use her intention and focus in one direction to see around her. As a slime, her entire body functions as a visual receptor, so she moved the fingers of one hand out of the cover and "looked" through them.
'An elf, no, half-elf, powerful, probably the extra seat of the Scriptures, godkin no doubt, stronger than me', she analyzed quickly, 'I shouldn't expose myself, maybe I can use this confusion as a cover, I need to escape'.
Solution was prepared to pose as an adventurer, a rogue in fact, so she was well supplied with throwing blades. With one swift movement, two knives were thrown towards Zesshi's eyes.
With impressive ease, she dodged the blades, doing exactly what Solution wanted, so she didn't see the low attack coming her way.
But Zesshi was fast, very fast, she recovered her position and blocked the attack with her scythe. With the momentum, she spun around and hit Solution in the stomach, launching her meters away.
"Do you think I'm not prepared for your fighting style? I know very well how you like to stab people and watch them bleed".
If only Solution knew who she was talking about, it would be easier to try to mimic Clementine's combat technique. She didn't even remember when Nabe ran into the assassin during their first adventures, as she ignored any mention of humans, it was like hearing that Narberal Gamma had been playing with the food.
But now the little information she got would be helpful, she already knew Clementine was a sadist, check, used blades, check, attacked at close range, check, was a wanted criminal, check, needed to be killed, check.
Solution couldn't keep up the charade for long, it all had to end soon. Now she was trapped at the end of the alley, exactly where she wanted to be.
Again, using the blades to distract Zesshi's attention, Solution launched herself into the air at dizzying speed, and once again the half-elf dodged the attack. Using a spin, she slashed towards "Clementine", imagining that she would dodge it with a spin and try to stab her in the flank, where she would be prepared to defend, but it wasn't what happened.
What Zesshi saw was the hooded head leap into the air after being hit by the scythe, "Clementine's" body hit the wall at the far end of the alley and fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut, her head rolled back a few meters from where she was.
The half-elf huffed, "that was easy, you must have lost more levels than you expected, Clementine. Even before, you were no match for me and now your head will grace the city walls".
But before Zesshi could approach the body, someone yelled at her from the alley entrance.
"STOP! Stop in the name of His Holiness!", shouted the patrol chief who was passing by, "get away from the body and approach with your hands in the air".
Zesshi sometimes hated going out into the city, as no one really knew her and the guards mistook her for some runaway elf. She didn't want to kill anyone for no reason, so she put away her scythe as she approached the patrol.
"I'm Zesshi Zetsumei, extra seat of the Black Scripture, I'm on a special mission, I've just eliminated a spy".
"Sorry to bother you, but could you come closer to the light? We need to identify you. You two go to the end of the alley and check out the body, shouted the guard before turning back to the half-elf, "Miss Zesshi, I recognize you, I've seen you once before, so don't worry, but we have information about strange disappearances on the streets, so be extra careful".
Zesshi would just ignore all this attention when she heard the screams of the guards at the end of the alley. It sounded like the scream of children being attacked by demi-humans.
Everyone rushed to the location where the screams came from and found one of the guards thrown against the wall, one leg was missing and he was crying profusely, the other one had disappeared, along with Clementine's body.
"NO!", cursed Zesshi, "Where did the body go? What happened?", 'did she come back to life again?', thought the half-elf.
"S-Something, something got him! It took my leg, everything burns, burns, burns…", sanity seemed to disappear from the guard's mind.
Zesshi approached and saw the burn, the slimy marks on the floor and the bent sewer grates.
A creature came out of the sewer and took Clementine's body, attacked the guards and fled downwards, that was the only explanation from Zesshi's point of view. Only some kind of very large slime could have done such a thing so quickly, it must be the creature that was attacking in the alleys, so Clementine being here was just a coincidence?
"Damn it!", swore Zesshi as she bent down and grabbed the sewer grates. She needs to find the creature, she needs Clementine's body. The half-elf then rips off the grates with ease and throws herself into the darkness of the hole, cursing, "Dammit, damn, damn it!"