Yet, if he could ignore those inconveniences, Dotta was remarkably efficient at taking people’s lives.
“You two…”
The group of assailants had just lost two of their number, but Yubaet Ludmischen was even more confused than they were. Thankfully, his years of training kicked in, and he plunged his sword into the heart of another of his attackers with a quick upward thrust.
“Who are you?” he asked. “You…do not appear to be investigators. Are you military escorts? No, wait…”
Up close, Yubaet looked utterly exhausted, his pale golden locks plastered to his forehead with sweat. There was a bloody wound on his head—perhaps from a blunt weapon. His left arm and left leg were wounded as well.
“Either way, you’ve saved me. Thank you,” he said, gasping. Then he leaned his back against the wall. “It appears I let my guard down. The coexisters sent…Gwen Mohsa assassins… I never thought they’d go this far…”
There seems to be some sort of misunderstanding, thought Dotta, but there was no time to correct him…
“Tsk.”
…because he’d just heard someone behind them click their tongue.
“This filthy little spy called for backup!”
The three remaining assailants lunged forward in unison. A man wearing an eye patch was aiming for Dotta. He was holding two short swords low against his body, each engraved with a sacred seal and a triangular, wedge-shaped insignia.
A chill ran down Dotta’s spine as he watched the blade ignite.
“The light shall wash away your sins!” the man shouted, swinging his flaming daggers. Sparks flew off the blades, casting an eerie glow onto the snow.
Ack.
The blazing blades were sacred seal weapons, much like Patausche’s. Flames curled and twisted like serpents from the blades’ edges as the man charged at Dotta. But Dotta sprang back just in time to dodge the attack.
“Wake up the doll!” the man roared. “Don’t let a single one of ’em escape!”
“I’m on it,” said another attacker. “Get up! It’s time to work!”
At the man’s command, a bell rang, and a massive beast rose to its feet from behind the overturned carriage. Or so it appeared at first. In reality, the creature was probably only a little bigger than Rhyno, and it wasn’t a beast at all. It was more like a crude, humanoid monstrosity cobbled together from scrap metal and wire.
What the hell…?
Dotta couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.
“Giiih. Gih!”
A grinding noise echoed from the creature’s head. Perhaps it was meant to be a war cry.
The man with the eye patch had called it a “doll,” but it didn’t seem very cute to Dotta. Was it also a kind of sacred seal weapon? Or was this some animal from the east or west that Dotta had never seen before?
“Back me up. We’re killin’ the tiny one first.”
The man with the eye patch and the “doll” were both clearly targeting Dotta.
Oh crap.
Dotta tried to call for help, but he knew full well that neither Yubaet nor Rhyno had time to help him.