"Ah, so annoying..." With a grunt, Elsa moved back through the dense smoke cautiously, her eyes glancing warily towards the direction where the bolt came from, which is the roof of the chapel, but she couldn't see clearly inside the smoke and couldn't tell if the one who shot the bolt is still up there.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine used this chance to disengage as she leaped back, pressing herself against the wall of the chapel as she raised her left hand up for a few seconds before a small pouch with a long string attached to it was dropped from above into her palm by her friend Saruda, who wore a black cloak and held the string with his hand.
The ape-faced man had been hiding on the roof since the beginning of the battle because his combat power is weak in a frontal confrontation, so he could only play a supporter role to Ghislaine, or otherwise he would probably be dead just a few seconds into the fight, literally disarmed and disemboweled by the Bowel Hunter.
Feeling the pouch in her hand, Ghislaine quickly tore the pouch open with her teeth and threw the pouch back to Saruda on the roof after she picked up a vial with red liquid inside it.
Then the feline woman drank the bittersweet health potion swiftly as the magic potion began taking effect almost instantly, numbing the pain and healing the wound in her side and the other minor wounds slowly while she kept her eyes on the thick smoke, where Elsa's silhouette could be seen moving around faintly.
Then suddenly Ghislaine caught the moment when the smoke shifted as something small flew through the smoke with great speed towards her chest before she immediately twisted her body out of the way instinctively, but the flying object still grazed her arm and cut the sleeve of her jacket as she saw a glimpse of a long, throwing needle stuck in the brick wall behind her.
"Tch..." The feline woman clicked her tongue, realizing Elsa had already decided to continue the fight faster than expected. Ghislaine's glowing golden eye pulsed with magic energy again, scanning the dissipating smoke until she spotted Elsa already lunging at her with knives raised, lips curled into an amused grin.
Ghislaine barely had time to react before Elsa was upon her, blades moving in a frenzy of slashes as the feline woman managed to deflect the first strike and twisted away from the second, but the third grazed her cheekbone, drawing a thin line of blood.
"Hah!" Then Ghislaine retaliated with a sharp elbow to Elsa's ribs when she regained some room to maneuver back after parrying the fourth slash, hearing the satisfying crack of bone, but the Bowel Hunter just laughed uncaringly, her ribs already fixing themselves back together.
"Feisty cat...!" Elsa lunged at her again, knives clashing with Ghislaine's crimson sword inside the fading smoke.
"Lunatic...!" Ghislaine met her head-on, her sword deflecting one knife while Elsa used the other kukri knife to slice a shallow line across the feline woman's thigh, but she didn't flinch. Pain was irrelevant, but her muscles burned with the strain of matching Elsa's speed, which was showing no sign of slowing down, unlike her.
Then, as Elsa twisted for another strike, Ghislaine's golden eye flared. She saw it, the flicker of a flaw in the assassin's regeneration magic, a lag in the flow of magic energy sustaining her absurd regeneration, so the Sword King cleverly feinted left, deliberately leaving her flank open.
Elsa recklessly took the bait, knives darting inward like biting vipers. But Ghislaine was already moving, her blade unexpectedly arcing upward in a fast crescent that severed Elsa's right hand at the wrist. The severed hand flew and hit the ground, fingers gripping tight around the knife hilt, but Elsa barely reacted as she continued her attack as they continued their deadly exchange.
Ghislaine made her resolve to stake her life on this moment, her sword flashing in a series of calculated fast strikes that strained her muscles a lot, as she was not going for the kill immediately but to disrupt the opponent's rhythm and the flow of magic energy that she could see with her magic eye.
As the fight goes on, Ghislaine takes every chance to attack: a slash to the tendons, a stab through the thigh, knee strikes, elbow smacks, and a headbutt—whatever she could get in. Each wound that she inflicted accumulated faster than Elsa could heal completely.
Ghislaine, of course, didn't get off lightly, as every successful attack was exchanged with an equally grave injury from her equally relentless opponent.
The feline woman's arms were now bleeding from multiple deep cuts Elsa had managed to inflict in those deadly exchanges; her left thigh suffered a deep stab wound as well, and on the tip part of her left ear, a chunk was missing where Elsa's blade had gotten too close to her head when the feline woman just barely managed to dodge it.
Despite her injuries, Ghislaine gritted her teeth and continued the high-speed clash with Elsa as she finally saw the first sign of trouble in the regeneration magic with her magic eye from the way the Bowel Hunter's healing rate was slowing down.
The assassin's movements were still fast, but her regeneration wasn't as fast as before since the feline woman kept disrupting the energy that was fueling the magic to heal and regenerate the wounds with her attacks.
"Huh, how come...?" The Bowel Hunter noticed it too, and her unhinged smile faltered for a second when she saw that her severed wrist wasn't regrowing a hand yet as she grimaced at a slow, twitching stump of half-formed muscle and bones regenerating noticeably slower than usual.
Then eventually came the mistake during such an intense clash as Elsa got impatient and overextended when she lunged for Ghislaine's throat, her blade slicing air instead of flesh as the feline woman dodged and pivoted on her injured leg with a snarl. Ghislaine's sword flashed horizontally, cleaving through Elsa's abdomen with a splash of blood.
This time, the wound didn't seal instantly. Blood gushed out as Elsa staggered back, her expression almost perplexed as she stared at the gaping red line across her stomach.
"Oh my, how did you interfere with my regeneration magic...?" Elsa murmured, her voice light despite the blood pooling beneath her bare feet. Her intestines slithered from the wound, yet she made no move to catch them, only staring at Ghislaine with fascination that the Sword King managed to slow down her regeneration.
"..." The feline woman didn't answer, her golden eye twitching erratically, overused and strained, but her grip on her sword never wavered even if her arms felt nothing now.
"I would be happy if you answered, though..." Elsa giggled weakly, pressing her hand against her wound on her stomach as her legs trembled slightly. The magic energy sustaining her regeneration speed flickered erratically now.
"Well, it doesn't matter since I do not hate such thrilling fights..." The Bowel Hunter's expression turns oddly serene as she raises her Kukri knife and levels it at the Sword King, still eager for battle despite her wounds healing at different speeds across her body. "It makes the fight more meaningful after all..."
"Damn, they might actually end up taking each other out at this rate..." At the same time, on top of the chapel, Saruda gritted his teeth while hurrying to reload his crossbow with trembling hands, as down below he could see Ghislaine standing with her sword raised, her breathing ragged while Elsa was walking slowly toward her. The Bowel Hunter's once-pristine skin was now decorated with sluggishly healing wounds as her regeneration magic faltered because of Ghislaine.
While planning his next action, Saruda never noticed the shadowy figures sneakily converging around him as they were silently creeping up on him until cold steel pressed against his throat, making the ape-faced man freeze in place with wide eyes.
"Drop the weapon... now." A low, raspy voice in monotone commanded from behind him as three more figures already positioned around Saruda on the chapel rooftop as pure white-skinned men clad in black hooded cloaks with their glowing green eyes behind veiled faces, giving no hint of emotion whatsoever, grabbed Saruda's arms and shoulders tightly.
Their movements had been silent, perfectly synchronized with each other, as if they had been practicing for this their entire life.
"What—who?" Saruda's grip on his crossbow loosened as the blade at his throat pressed deeper, drawing a thin line of blood. He could only do as they say.
Below, Ghislaine's golden eye flickered upward to the chapel rooftop for the briefest moment as she noticed the lack of support, and Elsa seized the opening with a laugh as she lunged, her kukri knife aimed straight for Ghislaine's heart.
"Kuh...!" The feline woman barely twisted aside, the blade grazing her ribs instead, but the distraction cost her even more as Elsa's knee slammed into her wounded side, sending her staggering back against the chapel wall.
Back at the rooftop, the homunculi captured and disarmed Saruda quickly while another homunculus forcefully pressed a damp cloth over his mouth and nose. His movement weakened instantly, limbs going limp as the special powerful chemical took effect and put his body in a paralyzed state from neck down.
Seeing their target secured, one of the homunculi stepped out from the group to the roof's edge, observing the battle below with his emotionless glowing green eyes as he pulled out two throwing knives from beneath his black cloak.
"Hahaha!" Meanwhile, Elsa pressed her advantage with a deranged laugh, pinning Ghislaine against the chapel wall with a flurry of strikes.
"Kuh...!" The Sword King blocked each one desperately as her sword arm trembled under the assault and her golden eye dimly glowed with overuse. Blood trickled from her nose as she started to have a headache. She has to hold on, as she only needs an opening, just one, to turn this around.
"...!" Then she caught a glint in her peripheral vision. A throwing knife whistled through the air from the rooftop, aimed at Elsa's neck.
"Hm?" The Bowel Hunter noticed the projectile as she immediately twisted to the side while the blade grazed her shoulder instead of her neck.
"Damn...!" She didn't flinch as usual, but the distraction was enough for Ghislaine's sword to flash upward, severing Elsa's remaining hand that was holding the knife at the wrist, but then another throwing knife followed after, embedding itself deep into Ghislaine's hand that was holding the sword.
"Grrr...!" The feline woman snarled as her grip faltered, her crimson sword clattering to the ground.
The two women stop their battle and glance toward the chapel rooftop, where a black-cloaked figure stands motionless as the homunculus stares down at them with his eerie green glowing eyes before he lowers his empty hand from throwing position.
"It's one of them..." Ghislaine recognizes the glowing green-eyed, pure-white-skinned man instantly as Kars' homunculus, but before she can do anything, more homunculi in black cloaks suddenly appear as they walk into the alleyway, surrounding them in silence like a bunch of ghosts.
"What's the meaning of this?" Ghislaine asked in a low, dangerous tone, her eyes tracking the dozen black-cloaked homunculi just standing there looking at them, with even more showing up as the time goes by.
"Fufufu, looks like we've been interrupted," Elsa chuckled, clutching her bleeding stump with her new hand that had finally finished regenerating while her smile widened slightly as she noticed that they didn't immediately attack just yet as she turned to give the feline woman a teasing look. "You got lucky they showed up, huh?"
"..." Ghislaine bared her teeth, showing her sharp canines as she glared at the assassin with her muscles tense despite her injuries. She doesn't agree with that statement at all.
After the homunculi formed a perfect circle around them, one of them stepped forward.
"Stand ready for the boss' arrival!" The homunculus declared before he moved to the side to reveal the green portal, tearing the space open into existence with a howling of magic energy in the air, its edges glowing bright like a green vortex. The oppressive feeling coming from the portal filled the alleyway, overpowering even the thick metallic stench of blood.
"Oh?" Elsa tilted her head, intrigued rather than alarmed, as her several wounds' regeneration speed was getting back to normal. She has heard some rumors about Kars and wonders if she is going to see him right now.
"..." Ghislaine's golden eye is now dim as she reaches her limit while the feline woman crouches down slowly to pick up the crimson sword on the ground, though her injuries make the movement pretty stiff, and she becomes quite surprised when no homunculi react to her action, and she actually feels insulted by that.
Then through the portal, Kars stepped out of the green vortex with a flash of light; his black boots crushed a wrist of the dead bounty hunter on the ground like twigs. His amber gaze swept through the alleyway, seeing the blood-soaked, half-naked Elsa and Ghislaine's battered form before he settled his gaze on the homunculus who announced his arrival.
"And the other guy?" Kars asked but without much actual interest in Saruda, pushing off the long-dead corpse under him with his foot while the homunculus he just asked inclined his head toward the chapel rooftop where Saruda slumped, paralyzed between two other homunculi who carried him by his arms as Kars hummed before turning his gaze toward the two women. "Well then..."
"Let's talk business..." Kars smirks, stepping over severed limbs and scattered bodies on the ground without glancing down while the air seems to thicken unnaturally with his oppressive presence, pressing against Elsa and Ghislaine like some giant hands gripping them softly...