A voice that Severin was familiar with filled the air.
Jade turned his bow to face the enemy that now revealed... herself.
She wore a full-body fitted leather armor. Her face was partially covered, but her eyes burned with hatred and anger as she looked at them. Her voice was flat. "Drop him."
The Headless Knight turned his helmet her way and then spoke in a voice of steel. "You... I know you! You’re the portal girl from Scar! So you’re not dead."
"Scar?" Jade asked grimly, and his hand tightened on his bow. Scar inflicted a trauma so hard he had to join the family business just to get stronger.
Lito didn’t say anything and simply watched them, her purple eyes shining with cold light and deadly aura rolling off her.
There was a slight pause.
Then the Headless carefully put Severin down and turned to Jade. "Take him and get out of here. The package is the most important thing here. Be careful with it."
Jade nodded. He didn’t know if he should feel relieved or not. He bent down to pick Severin up. "Alright."
Severin didn’t like where that was going. He didn’t want to get out of there, but then, there were no issues if he was taken. His second aim for the night had been achieved. Somewhat.
But still.
He needed to reel things up.
"Nice to see you again, Lito, my dear friend. How’s life without your fake make-believe family?" Severin’s voice sounded sarcastic and also contained some kind of joy.
Although Headless and Jade didn’t understand.
They felt the effect as the murderous intent from Lito increased until she was covered in a vivid hazy purple light. "Drop him. I will be the one to inflict pain on him."
"Go back, Lito of the Scar. I won’t fight you here if you turn around and leave now."
Lito didn’t speak. Her next action did.
A rod of spatial energy gathered in her hand and she hurled it. The attack cut the air like an arrow, shooting forward with the speed of a star.
It was meant for the Headless. It was for Jade.
Jade’s eyes widened, and even for that moment where it registered to him that he was getting targeted, his brain and body just couldn’t move fast enough to do anything.
Just the Headless was different. He swung into action almost immediately and was in front of Jade. His hand came down like a hammer and rammed into the energy rod.
Almost immediately though, they knew it was just a distraction.
Lito appeared around Severin and her hand reached down to grab him.
The closest warrior let out a shout and based on pure instincts alone, he tried to stop her.
He didn’t make it.
A whip of energy flickered from her hand and cut him down as easily as a hot knife on butter.
But that little bit of distraction had provided the Headless Knight enough time to swing around again.
Lito disappeared from the place to create more distance between them. Her eyes shone with cold light as they fastened on Severin.
The Headless stood between them. "You... it seems you have gotten stronger. The file we have on you did not describe you being this strong."
Lito smiled without any warmth. "I thank everyone involved. Only they made this possible by making me pay the price with the blood of my family."
Just then a playful voice rose into the air. "Fake family."
Lito’s eyes turned more glazed with coldness. "So it’s you. Severin Reignhart. You lured me here so that two of your enemies can fight, eh?"
Severin snorted. "No. I want to kill you. You two should fight and I’m sure no matter how it’ll end, then the two of you will be heavily wounded. Maybe it’ll give me time to finish you off."
It was a tactic that Severin had watched played out in different books, and he wanted to try it. He was realizing though, that fiction is far different from reality.
For one, he had underestimated Lito’s power. She had improved so much in the aftermath of the clash with the Kareth family that it was scary.
He didn’t know how that would work against the Headless. But then again, Severin was using the night to test out a lot of things, and one of them was to play his enemies against each other.
Before he started the mission for killing Teresa, he knew that it was more likely that he would be kept alive if captured. If only to get information from him or extract the pain powers from him.
So he wanted to know more about his enemies, their stronghold and such. Then he would use Lito to bring it down and cause massive damage to Darius Faulkner.
Unfortunately, he didn’t expect Lito... to be so passionate in catching him that she didn’t even wait.
The WireRats had been investigating Lito’s whereabouts since before Severin went to Sector Delta, and they found out some months ago. So when Severin came back, he had Julius deliver a message.
In short, he made himself into bait, but things were happening much too quickly. He didn’t even get to the enemy’s stronghold. Also, Lito is a loose end he needed to take care of. She’s too dangerous to be left alone.
"Headless Knight, leave here and forget everything that happened here. Then I will let you live," Lito said. Her eyes turned to Severin. "I will take each of their lives from you and let you feel the brutality they felt before their death."
The Headless raised his hand and a glow appeared, turning into a sword. "I’m sorry. But I can’t. My mission is to take the package back safely, and that’s what I will do.
"Jade. Keep an eye on things and escape immediately you see the chance!"
With that, the Headless Knight shot forward, exploding into motion, his sword whinging as it swung through the air with ferocity.
Lito didn’t run or back away.
Purple energy turned into a sword in her hand, and she pushed herself forward to meet her enemy.