Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 181: Arc 4, Act I, - 26: Treason
The windows and layered curtains glimmered in moonlight, while the hallways were lit golden. Jotou took a breath and sprinted forward down the northern hallway.
A purplish shadow bounced off the walls and floors, dashing forward with a gleaming purple dagger whilst a flurry of sparking yellow ran behind.
"PFWOOSH!" Caught by the corner of her eye, Jotou noticed a bright orange glow that just went up. Slowing down her pace, she glanced backwards while running.
The entrance to the dining hall was set on fire; or rather, the fire licked up and covered the doors. Her eyes widened. ’Can’t worry about that now, don’t split your focus!’ She pushed any thought out of her mind, regaining her speed.
The staff ran behind the guards before a purple shadow formed behind them and—"Slash!"—cut at the back of their—"Gah!" "AHH!"—ankles as Fumeko knocked over a maid and a butler, before she landed, hunched over on the ground.
Jotou whizzed past her, catching up to the Royal Guard clanking in their plated armour. A Royal Guard, knowing he was about to get caught, turned around with his halberd ready.
Jotou’s eyes sparked up and she bent her knees down, before slashing up around the polearm and slicing it down the pole. The guard instead grappled her form.
Jotou blocked his chin with an elbow, "ZAP!" a surge of lightning energy coerced through her left arm and went up the metal of his helmet, making him spit and spasm before Jotou threw him to the side of the wall and continued her sprint.
The metal under the fabric of the armour conducted the electricity and sent the shocks down his body, causing his entire body to constantly jitter while incapacitated on the ground.
Fumeko blinked ahead, to a group of Royal Guard still running. "ShrrrrRRRRRINK!" The dagger shredded through the plates of armour like paper.
She caught one by the back of the metal, tearing through the fabric of the Cravoltan emblem as it caught onto his spine. Another guard turned with her polearm out to pierce the brunette.
Fumeko lunged back and blinked under the halberd being thrusted and carved her dagger up the guard’s chest—carving through the metal plate like a can opener in the process.
The woman staggered back as the dagger pierced her sternum and blood spurted onto Fumeko’s dagger; the guard she first pierced, panted and gasped on the ground as he held his back.
Jotou ran, leapt over the prone body and eyed the two other Royal Guard who were within the same pack. The two glanced back as fear seeped into their nerves; their hearts if not already unnerved, beat faster now.
They both looked to each other and then to their right. "Crash!" They leapt through the closed window, breaking the glass as they rolled out onto the outer corridor.
"The one time I don’t wear armour, ugh!" Jotou cursed under her breath and winced her eyes. She braced for impact, lining her body with the flat part of her blade before she jumped through the window with glass still dangling.
A cut went across her cheek whilst her boots found footing onto the shattered glass. She groaned forward, watching one trying to run away and one trying to jump off the second story railing.
"Hell," Jotou rushed forward and pushed the guard off of the railing with a spark of her blade. She lost footing and fell from the second story onto the garden paths below, bending and clanking her armour.
"Maybe I’d care if this wasn’t some betrayal!" Jotou shouted looking forward and ran towards the other fleeing guard. And past him, a few other guards were running down the exterior corridor.
She noticed a shadow blinking on the inner corridor going forward. Jotou caught up and slashed her blade across his armour with a spin. "TING!" The sparked blade pierced through the armour and armour alone.
The Royal Guard raised his polearm and—"Shink!"—stabbed into Jotou’s left shoulder as much as she tried to dodge.
"OW! GUHH!! ZAP!" Jotou pierced the sword further into the guard’s gut and coerced lightning to invade his stomach and spread throughout his body; his veins grew, and blood vessels burst and charred.
Not even making a sound, he became a mere thing on the end of her blade which she had to fling off. He coughed up blood and landed onto the floor with a heavy clunk.
Jotou winced as she felt the gash in the front of her shoulder; her vision was clouded in white from the pain, but she refocused onto the enemies ahead.
Strands of her hair lingered loose down her face as she dashed forward all the same. The five Royal Guards ahead gazed back to the woman giving chase and noticed the gash in her arm.
They looked to one another and stopped to swivel around and face her. They held their halberds at the ready and got into formation.
"Ting!" Her sparking blade met the metal of the first spear before another halberd thrusted forward from behind. "Slash!" It hit down her other shoulder, only leaving a scratch as Jotou stepped back in time.
"Ggh!" she grunted and spun around, only for her blade to hit the centre of the metal halberd and dent it enough to pierce and cut it. Her feet swept around to knock the first guard onto his back.
She swirled back around to stand. "Shluck! Ting!" But one halberd from the other guard slashed through her skirt and barely caught her outer thigh, "Geh!" she gritted her teeth, before blocking another halberd with her blade.
She stepped onto the fallen guard, "Zap!" she casted through her boot as the metal conducted the plates on his knees and shocked through his body, causing the metal to clank and spasm beneath.
Without waiting another second, she stabbed under the neck of the armour of the guard who stabbed her and—"Shluck!"—pierced till no sound verbalized other than the vibrational hum of electricity.
"Clukh!" Jotou kicked up the halberd coming for her neck and elbowed the guard away while she unsheathed her sword from the standing corpse’s neck, knocking him back into a stagger.
The other two who were unable to attack from behind the three facing her, shivered lightly and their polearms shook. They flung their weapons aside onto the ground and turned the other way back down the corridor.
Jotou grunted shifting her injured body. She rushed to slam the remaining guard with her right shoulder and caught his neck with her left hand, "Gah!" stretching the bleeding gash she had. "Zap!"
He yelled and spasmed, words only becoming a stutter as his teeth clattered before the lightning took his body as well; nothing more than a limp corpse hanging on the balustrade he was.
Jotou stood up, watching the other two run away; she groaned and ran forward once more. A gap was in between the corridor—a windowless wall before it continued again.
The two guards climbed atop the banister and leapt across to the other railing. One stumbled and—"AHHH!!!" "CrAsH!"—fell into the shrubbery below whilst the other made it onto the other side.
Jotou caught up to the railing as the other guard fled. She peered into the window to see a trail of bodies—some armoured, some not. Some alive with slash marks while others bled out onto the marble.
The blonde sighed. Enduring all the pain, she took several steps back to get a run up as she rushed to the railing and leapt across onto the other side and fell onto her side; not the most graceful landing.
"GAH!!!" she yelped as she rolled off the ground; trickles of her blood stained down the red shirt and black skirt, not really showing. She got up to notice the other guard now turning back, hoping to finish off the blonde in pain.
With no halberd in hand he merely flung a punch, "Idiot," Jotou caught the metal of the arm, "Zap," she panted out as he screamed out loud and jolted onto the floor.
The sound of metal clashing and screams came from her left; another window where three of the Royal Guard fled back. Fumeko ran forward and leapt into a blink, holding her left arm as she disappeared into shadow.
The guards appeared to be the last; the first that ran out of the dining hall. Seeing all of that in barely two seconds, Jotou ran down the outer corridor.
Fumeko on the inner, blinked ahead of those running and landed in front, catching one of the guards by the neck and shredding the metal with her dagger stabbing into his neck.
The other two widened their eyes and turned back- "CRASH!" Only for a blonde to leap from a breaking window and roll onto her feet, several cuts across her attire.
Jotou stood up with her sword aloft and thrusted into the neck of a guard, in between the small gap in the armour to, "Zap," end the guard’s life thoroughly.
Fumeko blinked from behind and stabbed into the back of the neck of the other. Both guards simultaneously clanked onto the floor.
Jotou and Fumeko both stood up, panting and holding their wounds... "Nice work detective," she peered down the hallway of bodies, dead or squirming, "The illusioned cups and this."
Fumeko breathed in and out, gripped her dagger before she stood tall and grinned wide. She placed her hands to her hips and let out a gratified, "Hmph!"
A Few Minutes Earlier_
As Jotou left the dining hall and the guests all panicked in their seats, Archduke Guuraj had shone a light onto the fleeing couple, "Hold it right there!" the archduke threw his hand up.
Golden light wrapped around the count and countess as they felt their bodies freeze in place. The countess’s eyes still shifted, "Let go of us archduke!" her voice still echoed throughout the room though her lips did not move.
Daiyu held the table to steady herself and raised her other foot, seeing all the other fleeing guards and staff. Feyan grabbed her by the shoulder, "Princess! You cannot wreck the palace!"
"OH for crying out loud!" Daiyu shouted. Feyan shook his head and stood in front of her with his hands out. Shadows formed into claws upon his fingers as he guarded her from any assailants.
Seeing the exits being blocked by the Royal Guard still under Arabella’s orders, some of the fleeing staff and guards turned around to run at the guests.
They aimed their weapons, small knives and halberds, at some of the seated guests around. "Not the guests you TWITS!" the countess’s voice projected louder in concern.
"Aegis-Aura!" Hotaru waved her hand as trickles of water formed onto everyone at the front, but it was barely five percent of the guestlist.
"Oh no!" Asobi waved her wand forward to cast blinding light, but instead was blinded herself by a roiling of flame around her, "Woah...?"
"Aegis-Aura," Luciean stood with his arm out to everyone in the room, as a light glow of bright orange flame wrapped around everyone in protection; even atop the layer of bluish aura of Hotaru’s spell.
"Oh, thank you," Hotaru panted over in a panic.
Luciean smirked, before looking at all the exits people were trying to escape through, "I shall do you one better," he raised both his arms as flames caught onto his white gloves, "Barricade!"
All the entrances were engulfed in walls of fire, staggering back those who tried to flee. Those who attempted to grab any of the guests were met with a fire which rebuked the danger; "GAH!" the aura protected them.
Luciean stood upright, patting out all the fire now spreading across his sleeves, completely burning through his gloves. Rather than panicking that he was on fire, he brushed it off like it was dust.
Arabella waved her hands in front of her eyes, removing the dark makeup around it as she slashed them forward with her blade, immobilizing most of the staff and rogue guards with minimal bloodshed.
None were killed as Arabella approached the couple, stunned in place whilst the archduke himself held onto the table, seemingly concentrated on the spell.
Feyan relaxed as the rest of the Royal Guard rounded up the ones who had committed treason. Daiyu sighed as she raised her leg and snapped off the other heel of her shoe, now able to walk properly.
Daiyu went forward while Arabella pushed them onto the floor and wrapped the floating ash around the couple’s wrists behind their backs, akin to handcuffs.
Arabella signed something to the countess whilst the archduke released them from being stunned. "You know what will happen if you resist," Feyan translated with a breath.
"The ash will shred your wrists off, if I have to remind you," Feyan spoke.
Daiyu leaned down, "Finally, you screwed up," she breathed, grinning from ear to ear, "I can’t wait to know what you’ve been up to," she glared and growled...
