Guardians

Full story that had to get cut for page limit in actual project |Part 4|

Tyler had been fairly spot on with his estimate. There couldn't have been more than 300 of them, probably less. Which was still a lot, especially for just two people, but it could've been worse. It could've been a thousand, which would've really sucked.
The army, seeing Kai clearly waiting for them, gave up stealth, and with a mighty cry, they rushed towards Kai. The battle had begun.
Kai drew six knives and threw them at the oncoming soldiers, each one hitting their mark. Then he unsheathed his katana and launched towards the closest soldier, cutting him down in a single blow. This continued for a good while, until one of the soldiers managed to knock it out of his hands. He killed that dude, stabbing him with a knife, before drawing the Sharvester. That's when the carnage really started.
The double bladed scythe would've been a deadly weapon even in the hands of a complete amateur. Kai knew what he was doing, and he killed like ten soldiers before even having to move. The Sharvester whirled around in a blur, light flashing on the steel. There would've been a cacophony of clangs, had the soldiers been able to react quick enough to even attempt blocking the deadly curved blades. But they weren't. So they died.
Rose was watching all this unfold, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a movement.
There was a thin trail of trees leading up the slope towards the temple, and it seemed that someone was trying to sneak up through them. He must've been on the outskirts of the army and snuck off while Kai was distracted. That likely wouldn't happen again.
Still, it was her job to take care of him now. She couldn't shoot anything at him, cause he would hide behind the trees. What it came down to was whether she would go to him, or wait for him to come to her. It would be better to fight him away from the doors, but if someone else did get past, and she wasn't there to block their way, then they'd gain easy access to the temple.
She decided she'd meet him halfway. That way, she'd still be close to the door, but far enough that he wouldn't be able to take the fight inside. Who knows what would happen if that were the case. There were a whole lot of fragile items of destruction in there.
She put her staff in a shield bubble, and brought it with her. If she needed it, she could drop the shield, and the staff would fall down to her. Maybe not the safest option, but it was better than leaving it behind.
She launched herself into the air and flew towards him, planning to attack from above, as he came out of the trees. It worked. Her sword landed a good hit on his shoulder, but given the strength of the armor, and the fact that her leverage was kinda trash while in the air, it only knocked him off balance. It would definitely bruise, though. If he left alive, which she'd do her best to make sure he didn't.
She decided that landing to fight him would probably be the best course of action, since it was sort of awkward fighting him from the air, and her strikes wouldn't have much force behind them. So she dropped to the ground, and only just blocked a strike from the side. She swung her sword at the attacker, and they continued to exchange blows. She noticed that his armor looked different from the others, maybe he was a lieutenant or something.
He was a good swordsman, that much was apparent. He was almost on the same level as Kai. But not quite. Rose hadn't given even an inch of ground yet, and she could tell her attacker was getting tired of his constant assault.
But then, during a particularly strong blow, he managed to disarm her of her sword. Well crap. She had to think of something fast, cause dodging his blows was a lot more taxing than blocking them, for some reason. She didn't think she'd be able to catch her staff if she tried to get it, but maybe...
She positioned herself under the shield sphere, knowing he'd follow her. When he lunged forward to strike, she jumped back and released the shield.
The hard wood staff fell, and hit the man right on the head, stunning him. It should've knocked him out, but maybe the helmet had protected him. There was an obvious dent on it though, which made her happy.
Taking her chance, she pulled out her haladie, and stabbed him, right between the plates of armor. Then she whacked him on the head again with the staff.
He was unconscious now, and he'd probably bleed out with that stab wound, but she didn't really care. She had to get back to the doors.
Flying back, she was relieved to see that not only was the entrance exactly how she left it, but Kai had taken down at least two thirds of the army. That was her brother, she thought proudly. She contemplated flying down to help him finish them off, but decided that he had it covered, and that she should stay by the door just in case someone else made it past him. Which probably wouldn't happen again, but you never know.

Kai was ecstatic when she told him of her fight.
"You actually fought someone! I just took down an army! And the temple is totally safe! This day is awesome!" he exclaimed
Tyler had ended up meeting them right inside the door. He'd been watching through his window, and saw Rose fly off to fight the dude, who was apparently actually the leader, so he came down to watch the doors for her. But his injuries prohibited him from going very fast, and she was coming back a few minutes after he got there, so he went back inside.
Everyone was ok, everything was safe, and they'd start cleaning up the bodies tomorrow. And then one of them was going to have to go down to check if any of the guards were alive. Tyler wanted to be the one to do that, but they wouldn't be letting him go anywhere until he healed, and that would take awhile. They didn't want to wait, because the stairs were very much unguarded, and they had no idea how many threads might've been stopped by the guards before reaching them over the years. Plus, who's to say someone wouldn't attack again?
But for now, they would rest.