Chapter 382 The Deciding Night [Part 5]
The air grew thick with tension, like the suffocating stillness before a thunderstorm.
Annette's muscles coiled, ready to unleash devastation upon the army that stood between her and her target.
Her vermillion eyes blazed with a fury that could melt steel, fixed on the smug face of the blue-eyed man on the balcony.
Jeci and Ellis softly walked towards her back, both wearing tight expressions of suppressed fear mixed with resolve.
Even for Jeci, so many troops and just the three of them seemed like too much.
She glanced at Annette, and somehow no words needed to be said about the way forward.
She could tell where this was going. Annette was not going to back down.
Without turning her head to Annette, she said:
"I am glad you don't plan to retreat now that they have the numbers on their side."
Annette scoffed, "Doesn't make it a sensible move though. This is a troop of drifters waiting to rain down on us."
Jeci, at this point, turned her head and glared into Annette's face.
"If they were ordinary humans with no powers, how would this battle turn out?"
Annette looked at the troops again, all their fierce and stony expressions threatened to intimidate her, but when compared with her vermillion gaze—it was like a sparrow contending with a Phoenix.
Annette grinned and responded to her.
"I guess it'd be no different than stomping my way through a bunch of ants."
Jeci smiled and nodded,
"That is exactly what will be happening."
The moment she spoke, Annette realized something that made her brows rise a little bit, then took a deep breath, savoring the calm before the chaos.
She flexed her fingers, feeling the raw power thrumming through her veins. A sardonic smile played at the corners of her lips as she addressed the troops.
"Last chance, boys. Step aside, or share the fate of your precious gate."
A ripple of unease passed through the front ranks, but discipline held firm.
Shields locked tighter, spears lowered to form a bristling wall of points.
From the balcony, Braham's voice rang out, dripping with condescension.
"Now, now, Annette. Is that any way to greet old friends? Perhaps you'd like to come up and discuss things civilly?"
Annette's reply was a snarl of pure contempt.
In a blur of motion almost too fast to follow, she launched herself at the nearest cluster of soldiers.
The sound of her fist connecting with the lead warrior's shield was like a thunderclap, the reverberations sending nearby troops staggering.
And just like that, the battle erupted.
Jeci's eyes narrowed, assessing the situation.
She shoved Ellis roughly behind a chunk of fallen masonry. "Stay down," she hissed, before leaping into the fray herself, a dervish of deadly grace.
The night air filled with the clash of steel, the thud of bodies hitting the ground, and the primal roar of Annette's rage.
She tore through the ranks like a force of nature, each punch shattering bones and sundering armor.
Soldiers flew through the air like broken dolls, their cries of pain lost in the cacophony of battle.
The battle seemed too easy, in fact, that it made her doubt if it was happening. The soldiers were thrown into discord as each person tried to launch at Annette with their abilities, but it was to no avail.
These were people who had molded every one of their strengths and did not think it would ever be possible for them not to use it.
The existence of Jeci's type of ability had never been taken into account. Even if it had been, these ones were not blessed with such foresight to see it coming.
Jeci herself was a whirlwind of destruction amidst them, her crimson spear was like a bloodthirsty rod, created to bring nothing but cold, cruel havoc.
Her movements were sleek and smooth, fast and precise. She jumped onto one, gouged his eyes out with her fingers, simultaneously swinging her spear to slash across the chest of another.
As she jumped off, she plunged her spear right into the head of that other and quickly bounced off again to take the legs off the former.
Before another could close in, she was onto them, swinging her spear with an austere yet admirable show of skill.
She slashed upward, splitting one with ease from his abdomen, easily twisted and spun, slashing downwards and cutting through her opponent.
Without a moment of respite, she darted forward like an air surge, spinning her spear on both sides and spilling blood in crude aesthetic arcs.
Annette's fists were like meteors, each impact leaving craters of broken bodies and shattered armor.
She moved with a fluid grace that belied her raw power, weaving through the throng of soldiers as if they were mere shadows.
Her vermillion eyes burned with an intensity that made even the bravest warriors falter.
One foolhardy soldier, emboldened by the sheer numbers surrounding her, lunged forward with his sword raised high.
Annette's lips curled into a sneer.
Before the boy could bring down his sword, he was pressed together by an invisible force, flattened. He exploded with a burst of blood.
Fear gripped the hearts of many that were around, but they still glared like bloodthirsty animals and lunged at her.
She side-stepped one's blade with ease, grabbed the man's wrist, and twisted.
The sickening crack of bones breaking was drowned out by his agonized scream.
Without missing a beat, she used the unfortunate soul as a human flail, swinging him in a wide arc that sent a dozen of his comrades flying.
"Is this the best you've got? If this is all you have to offer me, then I am very disappointed!!" she roared, her voice carrying over the din of battle. "I expected better from the great betrayer and his friends!!"
The blue-eyed man on the balcony—Zephyr, felt a chill run down his spine despite the bravado he maintained.
This was not going according to plan. His gaze flickered to the dark-haired man beside him, a silent command passing between them.
The man nodded, "I'll take care of her."
A cruel smile played on his lips as he vaulted over the balcony railing.
He fell like a comet and landed with an impact that shook the very ground.
"Hey!!!" he called out, his voice dripping with false cheer. "It's been far too long. Shall we dance?"
Annette's eyes narrowed as she recognized the newcomer. "Shade!" she spat, the name tasting like poison on her tongue.
"I wonder what was so big of a motivation that made you leave your leader in the South all for me."
"Keep fooling yourself!"
The two of them dashed towards each other and collided.
Beside Zephyr's right was a lady, who leaned on the balcony and narrowed her eyes.
"Hey, Zeph…"
"What?"
"Isn't what that lady wearing Luinngard Empire uniform…"
Zephyr focused on the lady with a spear and narrowed his eyes.
He looked around at the other soldiers, concern wafting across his face for a short while.
"Doesn't matter, go and deal with her, Shila."
The lady, with her hair covering most of her face to reveal her small mouth, grinned and also launched herself down.
Now, all that were left on the balcony were Braham and Zephyr.