Ishihara // ATEEZ ✔

20 Ambush

"It's so scary how someone can change their loyalty in a flash," she comments, earning no response from them. "Well, I can't expect any less from Lucida."

They are waiting for each other to initiate the attack, and when she bends down to reach for her dagger, the one nearest to her charges at her. She locks eyes with him, letting him thrust his sword forward but she twists her body to avoid it, carefully slicing her way through his shin with her dagger. He lets out a grunt, but it doesn't slow him down. Instead, he reaches his free hand to grab her hair, exposing her neck. Taking no chances, she uses his body as leverage before putting all of her weight against him, knocking him to the ground and his sword out of his hand. His head crashes against the solid earth, and she uses his moment of disorientation to steal his sword. He doesn't have the strength to get up again, and she uses the sword he lost grip on to stab its own owner. She then turns to the rest of the troop.

"I will damn show you why I am the general," she announces, but she knows it is just her trying to bluff her way through. She knows it has been a losing fight from the start.

As soon as another two charge at her, all of them are caught by surprise - an arrow flew from behind them, hitting one of them directly in the chest. He drops immediately, leaving only eight men available to fight. They turn to see the source, and Akira can't hide her surprise as she sees Seonghwa plucking another arrow, ready to aim again from a distance. He stretches his bow string, but doesn't release it - not before Jongho appears by his side, shouting to Akira, "I'm guessing you can use another sword, since one won't be enough to kill all of them." He then proceeds to launch the sword he's been holding, with Akira catching it by the handle.

She nods a brief thank you as Seonghwa launches another arrow and Jongho dismounts his horse. She takes the two to her right, thrusting her right sword into the first's chest and bringing the other down into the second's shoulder. The first man manages to avoid her direct attack, but it does graze the right side of his torso slightly, tearing open his top. With his shoulder hurt, the second man drops his sword on the ground, to which Akira purposefully kicks it far away, making sure she keeps an eye on the first. Defenseless, the second man tries to use his bare hands, but Akira knows this person - he's not good in bare-handed fights. Without his sword, he is as good as dead.

"Give it up, Heo Junseo. I did not train you to be this weak. If the queen is disappointed in me, I'm disappointed in you." With her left sword, she draws a line on the man's body, drawing blood. He shouts in pain before dropping to the ground, and he looks up, his body slightly shaking as he sees Akira approaching. Akira presses her foot down on the man's hurt shoulder as he cries out, too painful to bear. She grips the handle of the sword slightly, hesitating for a split second but she follows her subconscious mind - no mercy for the traitor. She aims for the chest, with the man's body jerking as it passes through his heart, a small crunch emanating from the puncture, blood pouring out and his lifeless body coming next. His face bears his last mixed emotions - regret, fear, apologetic.

She doesn't forget about the first man - the one that she has opened a wound for on his right side of the body. She hears him approaching from behind, and without turning around, she spins the sword around, letting the tip face behind. It doesn't take long for the tip to find a surface, the sharp edge penetrating the body of the man. She guesses that she had hit a vital organ and as she turns around, her guess proves correct. The man falls backwards, the sword still stuck in his upper right-hand of his abdomen. His liver. He convulses as she pulls out the sword, wipes the blood against her pants before plunging it again into the man, ending his life with his eyes wide open. She closes them up, a feeling of sentimental creeping up on her.

She cannot believe that she is killing her own men.

She steps back from the two corpses to assess the situation. Jongho is fighting 3 men at once, looking like he knows what he's doing but obviously getting progressively tired. Seonghwa has dismounted his horse, his steps matching the momentum at which he fires his arrows. Akira observes his stance - she can conclude that he's a good archer and he's aiming for the non-vital organs first. In fact, he's planting several arrows in every man, causing each of them to stagger backwards, unable to even get close to him. Akira lets him be, and instead aims to take the men surrounding Jongho down.