Adil had reach the village center stumbling, the child pushed himself to continue moving forward a bit more.
I... have... to... tell... teacher. That was what was driving him, pushing to continue to taking the steps forward.
A wife taking her husband home, spotted him and screamed.
Adil couldn't hold himself up any more, the pain from his back and the blood loss. Made he collapse but he stubbornly held on to consciousness.
I... have... tell... teacher. He knew he had too, the others kids were fighting off the bad people.
He could remember the screams he heard as he was running, as well as the malicious laughter.
Anna after hearing the scream, had turned to see what's going on spotting the small body. She moved running toward the boy, and dropping to her knees, beside him.
She instantly recoginzed his face, Adil was one of her youngest students. Seeing the blood and Adil's eyes slowly closing.
"Herbs. Now!" she barked.
A villager sprinted.
Adil's small body was barely conscious. Three arrows had buried themselves deep into his back. His shirt had been sliced open by clean blade marks, soaked dark with blood.
His injuries were bad, the weak boy tried talking. But his voice was too faint and his speech broken.
Anna's jaw tightened as she assessed the damage.
The supplies arrived. She worked swiftly — stabilizing, sealing bleeding, snapping shafts, applying crushed herbs.
She was about to question him—
Voices echoed from the darkness beyond the firelight.
"I told you you missed. How's a corpse moving if you shot the head?"
"Aye this is a Hidden Nation, idiot. Who knows what weird shit they do?"
"Oh yeah, I heard they're demons here."
"Dumbass do you see demons?"
"How does a demon look like anyway?"
"I don't know, we avoid them don't we?... Wait what were we bumbling about again?
"I forgot too...."
Laughter followed.
The villagers turned.
Men stepped into the light, mismatched clothing. Foreign blades.
Blood still dripping from steel.
Panic rippled through the crowd, some slowly started to back away.
Anna's gaze had slowly went up to them, she inhaled slowly. She counted twelve, annoyance grew as she sensed their cores.
Refined.
Intermediate rank.
She clicked her tongue, her eyes flicked briefly around the square.
No other combatants nearby.
She gently handed Adil to a villager.
"Take him, to old Eza. She will finish the treatment."
She stood.
Removed the ceremonial outer shirt she wore.
Underneath was a plain fitted shirt revealing scars carved across her arms, torso, and neck. A tattoo coiled from her throat down her forearm.
Her body was lean, hardened.
Her dark eyes turned cold.
She picked up the bloodied arrows from the ground and snapped off their heads.
Then she walked toward the invaders.
Alone.
The men shifted, surprised.
"Bold one, ain't she?"
"She's must think she a hero."
They spread into a semicircle, calmly stepping into the center.
She had the advantage, this island had a special environment that would help her in this battle.
Hopefully.
They charged, Anna surged Hashi through her body.
The first saber came.
She sidestepped, grabbed the attacker by the back of the neck yanked him forward and drove a brutal kick into his chin.
He went limp instantly.
A longsword thrust followed, she leaned back just enough, seized the collar, and flipped the man cleanly over her shoulder.
He hit the ground hard, she was about to end him but another lunged.
Anna clicked her tongue, and smoothly stepped in close.
Three arrowheads flashed between her fingers.
She drove one into the side of his throat.
Blood sprayed.
She tore the saber from his hand and turned in the same motion—
A clean horizontal slash.
A head rolled.
Two down.
She didn't slow.
Hashi infused into the remain two arrowheads.
She threw them.
They sliced through the air with terrifying precision passing past bodies without grazing them.
The archer in the back dropped.
One pierced his eye another embedded in his neck.
Anna released the stolen saber.
Three down.
The remaining men hesitated, giving her an opening for her next target.
Anna moved and her target reacted, a blade swung.
She punched the flat of it aside and delivered an Hashi infused uppercut that shattered a jaw with a sickening crack.
She pivoted, kicked the back of another's knee, felt bone snap. As he went down she smoothly snapped his neck.
She twisted away from another thrust, kept the Hashi surge in her body moving swiftly she grabbed his face and drove him headfirst into the stone ground.
Hashi burst, point blank and a head burst into crimson soup on the grass.
Silence.
Seven.
Another attacked from behind.
She turned stepped into him, her hand thrusting forward like a spear.
It pierced into his throat grabbing his pipe.
"YOU FUCKIN BITCH!!"
She ripped him sideways, using his dying body to absorb a blade meant for her. Immediately kicking the knee of the attacker shattering it.
He let out a scream of pain and she let go of her human shield, placing both hands on his head. Channeling a huge amount of Hashi through her hands.
Hashi burst.
His hand exploded, blood and brain matter flying splattering on her, in a crimson shower.
Nine.
The square had become a slaughter.
The remaining invaders stared.
Fear replaced arrogance, they looked at Anna and she looked back. The headless body falling sideways, she looked like the demon they joking about earlier, bathed in crimson.
"Re, Retreat!"
They turned and ran.
Anna stood still, hands bloodied, chest rising steadily.
She had 20% of her Hashi remaining.
She didn't relax until the last of them vanished into the darkness of the forest.
Only then did she exhaled.
The strength drained from her limbs.
She staggered slightly.
A villager rushed forward to steady her.
Anna didn't look proud, "Get Ray and search for the kids i have a bad feeling about this." She said.