Isdis stood, staring at her golden ring with a smug smile. She looked at Arad, "This concludes the ceremony here,"
Arad nodded, "Yeah, Baltos have a party prepared in the palace. A fancy wagon should be waiting outside."
He then blinked, drawing Zephyr's attention, "What's wrong?" She asked, and everyone looked at him.
"A few bandits are trying to sneak through the eastern gates as the guards are busy here with the ceremony," He turned, "They knocked one of the remaining guards with poison and are trying to silently kill the rest and get the keys. I'll quickly deal with them,"
"Stop," Nina looked at him, "Let's leave this to the guards, just notify the ones here,"
"I can blast them with a spell," Merlin waved her hand, "Where are they exactly?"
Arad looked at Nina, "It'll just be simpler if I dealt with them," He didn't want anything interrupting the wedding, but sadly, bandits are still thinking humans, and they won't miss such an opportunity to slip in.
"I did want to move a bit," Zephyr's body started glowing green as she grew into the side of a human, standing as tall as Aella. "Arad, give me a long sword with its sheath, and a belt to tie it to my back as well,"
Arad waved his hand, pulling what she asked for out of nowhere, "Here you go, but do you intend to fight melee?"
"I'll limit my speed and strength and test some moves on the bandits. I'm sure I'll need to weaken Vlad with physical combat before blasting him away," She smiled, tying the blade to her back and sheathing it. "I'll scale the moves later," BAM! She lunged forward, running toward the door.
With a green shimmer, Zephyr's body phased through the door like air, slipping between the cracks in a gust of wind and reforming behind it.
"Baron Arad," The head guard approached, "What's happening?" He asked.
"Bandits trying to slip through the eastern gate. She'll deal with them," Arad replied with a passive face.
"WHAT?" He cried, "We need to mobilize the guards at once,"
"What guards would you mobilize? Carry on with the wedding as planned. The one going after them is an even bigger monster than you can imagine," Arad turned toward the priest.
"He's right," The priest put his hands together, "We pray to the goddess of the sun, the goddess of the harvest and renewal. But we never forget the spirits blessing those lands, the one who keeps the balance."
The nuns stopped moving, lining after him, "The golden rays of the glorious sunshine send down a blood-red light, forcing devils and evil to retreat to the shadows. Arid winds across the mountains, moving life throughout the lands, and after humans came to transform the ground." The priest said, looking at the crowd.
"When the wind is slow, and the sun is down, the monsters wait to see what comes. When the air blows through with a brisk attack, the evil gets ripped apart. It's how nature balances itself,"
Zephyr ran through the street, refraining from using any power above what an average human would. She expects Vlad to be almost three times stronger and faster than her physically while overpowering him in magic and range by a landslide.
She took the first turn in the street, running so low to the ground she almost looked to be running on all fours. She lifted her hand up, touching the hilt of the sword on her back.
To mimic such conditions, she dropped her physical powers to a third of that of an average man, while limiting her magic to twice what a normal person could unleash. Everyone's goal was to get rid of the bandits as soon as possible to go to Arad's wedding, but she had a different mind.
Zephyr could see the eastern gate where the bandits were. She rushed in, jumping through the window.
^I can crush him with one pressure spell,^ Zephyr thought, but smiled as she saw one of the bandits' face twist in panic as she jumped in. ^No, I can't be too careful, I can't be too prepared. Simulate the fight, and wash the rust away,^ She thrust the sword, stabbing the bandit in the groin.
The bandit screamed, bending forward in agony, but that was his ticket to getting his throat sliced as Zephyr swiftly pulled the sword and swung up.
CRACK! Two bandits rushed out of the next room, one pointed his crossbow at her while the other threw a bottle of wine at her face.
Zephyr wanted to hide behind the bandit's corpse, but there was no such wall when fighting Vlad, she took a step forward, lifting the blade up and forming a thick gust of wind around the sword.
PEW! The violent wind shifted the bolt's direction a bit, causing it to barely miss Zephyr's face, scratching her cheek. She then quickly ducked to dodge the much slower wine bottle.
As she dodged out of the way, she saw the wine bandit rushing at her, swinging a long sword, ^I can't dodge in time, I don't have the speed.^
The sword went right through her neck, chopping her head, but not a single drop of blood was spilled.
The bandit's eyes opened wide as he saw the inside of Zephyr's neck being hollow like a ball.
Zephyr's arm moved, grabbing the bandit by the groin, "When fighting men, always go for the balls when underpowered." She clenched her fist, ripping them off with her long nails.
As the bandit rolled on the ground, howling in pain, Zephyr's head reattacked, "I do not keep my nails long or paint them green for looks. I already stopped caring about that, I keep them long to rip stuff apart, and the green pain is a poison that stops blood from coagulating and increases pain sensitivity."
She swung her hand, splashing the blood back on the bandit as she turned to face the crossbow one, her eyes glowing green.
"GGYYY!" The bandit gasped, his knees shaking as he saw her take a step toward him, hunched forward, "GIVE ME YOUR BALLS!"
He turned around, crying as he tried to run away.
Zephyr threw the sword at him, stabbing him in the back. He stopped, seeing the blade poking out of his chest. Lifting his hands, he thought about pushing the sword back out, but soon felt a hand on his groin, "I said, give them to me,"
With a swift pull, she ripped his treasure off.
As the bandit rolled on the ground in agony, others started showing up upon hearing the screams.
"AH! I remember now," Zephyr smiled, staring at the ceiling, "I didn't use to go for the groin to beat those stronger than me, but I went for them since it's a fate worse than death," She looked at the bandits with a smile.
"Rip their balls to break their bloodline, crippling their whole lineage, and watch them suffer for the rest of their lives."
The bandits stared at the bloodied ground, noticing the pattern, "What's in the hell?" One gasped.
"What did I do for women though?" She stared at them, "Well, I'll remember soon enough, it's been a few centuries,"