Fowlhunter [GL]

“I don’t believe you,” Jemi lowered her dagger. “How can it be? Beasts are hunting me? Ying and Asha are being chased in my stead?”

“Believe whatever you wish,” Ennanis said, taking the moment to move her bleeding chin away from the point. “But you know I’ve only ever been honest.”

Jemi opened her mouth to reply. But before she could say anything, Ennanis roughly shoved her aside.

“Hey!” Jemi spluttered indignantly—before a red-hot beam slammed into the concrete where she’d been with a thunderous CRACK! The mildew on the concrete steamed.

Jemi glanced upwards to see another flock of birds flying overhead. Only, as she quickly realised: those weren’t birds.

Pure-white robes fanning out around them, no less than nine angel Wardens swooped from the sky, descending in V-formation. Crackling filled the air; their luminarial gold weapons were sparking with Soleki. Concentrated sunlight danced down their blades as feathery wings spanned on each side of them, beating the hot air into smouldering winds.

Nine pairs of slitted eyes locked on the angel and human standing below the bridge.

The rose-haired angel just looked tired as she drew her ring from her finger, the spear of Lienna forming in her right-hand grip. “Looks like they found us again.”

“What do you mean, again?!” Jemi spat. “Why didn’t you lose them?”

“It’s not exactly easy trying to fend off nine attackers while carrying a grown woman, okay? Not to mention they're Wardens!” Ennanis took off, corkscrewing through a barrage of fire, spear spinning like a cane as she deflected whizzing Soleki beams. Some went flying into the bridge, sending shrieking squalls of pigeons fleeing from their gutter nests. The Wardens’ attacks seemed to focus solely on the angel, leaving Jemi alone. To them, she probably just looked like a random human woman.

“Are they trying to kill you?” Jemi yelled.

“Sure doesn’t look like they’re here for tea!”

“And you didn’t think to mention this earlier?”

“Uh, if you recall, princess, you were a little busy pointing knives at me!”

Jemi exhaled. Watching Ennanis, it was clear that the angel was not just outnumbered but also vastly outclassed. Angel Wardens made up the Royal Division, the cream of Prometheus’ crop: these were some of the most powerful angels in all of history. Each of them undoubtedly had something like hundreds of years of experience under their golden belts. Ennanis, as prodigious as she was, simply could not compare. Currently, Ennanis was fighting a losing battle; she was scarcely keeping herself aloft, let alone retaliating.

She needed help.

Jemi’s eyes drifted to the pigeons flocking from the bridge, but she knew she could not reach them now, who were too panicked to listen to her. Only one way to go, then.

She dipped her hand into her cloak, withdrawing a handful of throwing stars. Jemi then jumped, left arm wheeling and flinging in quick succession. With deadly precise aim, the stars fanned out, and their blades struck true—three Wardens were had in various places, while one caught it in the skull.

“Hey, ya overgrown turkeys!” Jemi cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered. “Quit bullying my junior!”

Half the Wardens turned heads towards her. With an unamused expression, the Warden who’d gotten stabbed in the head pulled the blade from his hair, dropping it into the canal. He looked more annoyed than in pain. Stubborn roaches.

Soleki beams whammed into the concrete by Jemi’s boots. Dodging for her life, Jemi ducked under the shelter of the bridge, drawing out a bow and arrow to aim at them with. But Jemi had merely gotten lucky with that first shot, thanks to the element of surprise. With that gone now, even her tiptop accuracy was hardly enough to graze them. At least, she posed enough of a hindrance that three Wardens came down to the ground, dashing under the bridge to weed her out. Jemi welcomed them with her daggers.

“Ganging up on a human woman? Really? Have you no shame?” she crooned when the first of them got within earshot.

“......” The Warden she was facing didn’t reply. Neither did the other two, who strayed a little behind to give their tanker space, while they delivered a cover of Soleki fire. They were trained not to talk, lest they give away valuable secrets. But Jemi wouldn’t give up. As she and the tank exchanged blows, Jemi continued to speak:

“Do you seriously keep this quiet all the time? Can your mouth even open? Surely, if you go for too long without speaking, you’ll forget how to,” Jemi quipped, dancing between another flurry of blows. “Do you have a significant other, Mister Warden?”

The Warden’s brows were screwed together. He was clearly confused by how a mere human was holding up against him for this long. He didn’t notice the way Jemi was using Lunaki to subtly influence her speed. Ennanis would have noticed it. Calmly, Jemi twisted between the slices of his blade, keeping a close distance so she could swipe with her dagger, and also so she could maintain the conversation.

“Ohhh, I see. It’s not like Wardens are monks, sworn to celibacy. Are you too ashamed to admit you don’t?” she said, giggling. “No worries, sir, I could already tell. No one would be attracted to a mug as ugly as yours. Maybe your other assets are lacking, too. Did you become a Warden just to compensate for something else?”

The Warden didn’t reply, but his psyche was clearly prodded. Jemi began to find more openings in his attacks. Jemi forced him until they were under the lowest part of the bridge, where it opened into a tunnel similar to the one Jemi’d been in, and the angel’s taller height made him have to crouch down awkwardly to fight.

“And if you can’t even open your mouth, what love can you even make? You’re just gonna kiss like that? Mm-mm-mm? That’s how you’re going to eat her out?”

Finally, Jemi heard a noise from him. Her heart swooped with delight.

The Warden opened his mouth and said crossly, “A young maiden like you shouldn’t be speaking in such a crass manner.”

A swift success—Jemi grinned. It wasn’t nearly as easy to rile Ennanis, who would listen to all sorts of nonsense spew from the Cockatrice’s mouth with a blank face.

“Do you think a young maiden like me gives a shit about what you old sacks of feathers think?” With that, she jumped out of the way of the two rocketing Soleki beams that came at her back. Distracted, the Warden was less lucky, catching his comrades’ fire one in his wings, the other in his shoulder. He let out a pained hiss, squeezing his eyes into teary slivers. An angel Warden’s firepower was no joke, and being struck square by their attacks the way he had been… a normal reaction to have. They really hadn’t been planning to go easy on Jemi, even when they thought she was human.

Well, Jemi had always believed you should treat others the way they treated you. So Jemi wouldn’t go easy on them, either.

She took the opportunity to slam her dagger into his neck. She twisted, severing his jugular, and he fell. She stooped to reach for his sleeves, but a movement in the corner of her eyes distracted her.