Youth

#52 - Unfortunate Circumstances

"I'd hate for us to fight unfairly," Kori chuckled; "don't you think fighting in here leaves you at a slight disadvantage... what, with those large swords and all," Kori shrugged, "and we'd endanger [Y/n]. I doubt she's going to want to leave." Both males looked down at [Y/n], who seemed to be deep in thought, though did process Kori's words and shook her head to affirm that she was staying. Nyais sighed.

"You mostly fight long-range, Kori," Nyais pointed out - "if you feel disadvantaged, don't try to pretend that it's the other person you speak in the favour of," he muttered, "though if you feel it necessary, I have a space downstairs where you and I can fight."

"Downstairs?" [Y/n] echoed. Never once had Nyais revealed to her that he had a downstairs area.

"I'm afraid you can't come with us, [Y/n]. It's too dangerous for you," Nyais explained.

"I'm staying with you," [Y/n] muttered, "I don't want to lose you again!"

"I can't fight properly if you're there," Nyais said calmly. "Please. Stay here. I trust that Mitzu knows better than to leave yet, anyway. If he tries, he'll lose his legs," Nyais hummed. Though Nyais' voice was not cruel or malicious, Mitzu understood that Nyais wasn't making an empty threat.

"Fine..." [Y/n] tailed off, "but if you die I'll kill you!" she huffed — truly, she was trying to add some light to the situation, but she couldn't really think of many ways to do that. He laughed softly regardless, before beckoning for Kori to follow him. [Y/n] couldn't help but tag along behind at a distance, simply wanting to know where this 'downstairs' was.

He walked to the end of the corridor, straight towards a plain wall. "I'll have to break the wall down. I'd appreciate it if you stepped back a little, Kori," Nyais said monotonously. To his surprise, Kori did step back with a respectful nod of his head. He was taking this oddly seriously for a hate-driven lunatic.

Nyais quite easily kicked the wall down, and it was then that Kori realised something slightly disturbing. For him, at least.

Perhaps this fight was truly out of his league. He and Aytsa had used the element of surprise the first time - the fact that Kori can make himself entirely silent does help, but such a show of brute force... Kori definitely didn't have the strength to kick a wall down first try, and nor did he have weapons that would match against a pair of swords close range. He needed to use strategy, or else this fight could be his last.

The kicked down wall revealed a very dark room - Nyais flicked on a dim light which hung on a cord that was barely a string, flickering now and again. The room below... for starters, it was cold, but Kori also noticed that there was something very sinister about it. It looked as though it may have once been used for storage, but someone had altered it and turned it into a prison-looking room. Kori only hoped the blood splatters here and there had been placed there by a previous tenant.

"Cold feet?" Nyais laughed sarcastically as he waited for Kori at the bottom of the staircase. The boy shook his head, walking down the stairs. Kaist had told him so many times to never underestimate the strength of an elite. Kori assumed he only said that because Kaist wanted to put him off of challenging him, but now Kori wondered if this was what he had meant. He didn't know Nyais' relative strength in comparison to other elites, though he assumed he was stronger than average as he'd mentioned being close friends with King Olli. Kori looked back up the stairs to see the shocked face of [Y/n] peering down into this strange place. He only hoped that this would warp her view of Nyais a bit.

Finally, Kori pulled his shuriken from his pocket. He was also trained with throwing knives and daggers, though he figured this fight would be in need of some creativity on his part. Nyais' weapon was both awkwardly limited and amazingly mouldable, it really depended on skill level. But then Nyais did something that really threw the boy off. He cut a segment of fabric from the jumper he wore and tied it around his eyes.