All that Lycan could do was continue to charge full speed like a bull at a toreador and hope he'd get lucky and she would slip up on the dodge. But no such thing had occurred as Zesshi was too disciplined for such a mistake and he now found himself in an utter debacle on death's doorstep.
Damn, I underestimated her. A being like her wasn't supposed to exist. Am I going to die like this? Here? After being born without a purpose now I'm going to die in a place like this? My berserker mode has long been broken. What do I do now?
Lycan truly at wits end, tried to once again approach Zesshi. He was still searching for the last amount of strength, the last attack, something so he could bring her down with him. Falling in battle after having killed a foe strong enough for even Nazarick to consider her a threat was the greatest of honors. Even Lycan who was a servant without a purpose, he still respected Ainz deeply and would die smiling if he could be of service to him by laying down his life. But after having lost so much blood, so much strength…
"Pointless"
Zesshi having noticed his final struggles could not help but mock his petty last effort.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you anymore. The higher-ups will probably have a lot of questions for such a strange beast suddenly appearing in the capital. Though come to think of it, the things they'll most likely do to you will be even worse than getting killed by me, so maybe worrying is a good idea after all huhuhuhu…."
"Even if I die your fate still is sealed, you have no idea of what kind of enemy you have provoked… idiot brat"
As Lycan spoke those last words he felt the last of his strength leave his body as he fell over like a puppet with its strings cut and hit the now sullied ground with a very loud bang. If it wasn't for Zesshi's illusion barrier keeping the sound still out everyone who lived around the square would have been woken up from hearing the noise of the werewolf falling down.
Not long after his fall his body started to shrink rapidly as the crimson fur started to retract once again. The monstrous face of the mighty werewolf was no more. All that lay on the ground now was a red-haired young man covered in wounds.
"Oi… weren't you listening? I just said I'm not going to kill you. Well looks like he's out cold…
Zesshi looked around deciding what her next step should be in getting Lycan to headquarters while muttering to herself.
"Well first things first, I should dispel the barrier."
After closing her eyes and focusing her magic for a second she felt that sound had returned to the square. She heard the noises of carriages moving through the city far away and street dogs howling in the distance. The barrier had been dispelled.
"Now I should just call some guards and have them take this thing into custody ah but first I should make sure he doesn't bleed to death or escapes while I'm gone that would be troubles…."
Zesshi's muttering ceased immediately. After having trained so hard in her life she had developed a warrior's instincts as well as a hunter's instincts. She had hunted magical beasts in the forests of the Theocracy since she was little and thus she knew the feeling she felt right now very well.
A predator was watching her and death was very close. So close it caused her hairs to stand on end in an instant forcing her to sharpen her senses to the limit as she prepared for battle.
Be it through luck or instinct but she took a battle stance with a very low center of gravity that caused her to shift the initial position of her body and head quite a bit from where it was initially.
She felt it. Something flew passed her head at incredible speed. Faster than an arrow fired from either bow or crossbow, it was clearly imbedded with magic and Zesshi somehow knew it would have pierced straight through her if it had hit.
Magic arrow? No too fast and too small. What kind of attack was that just now? Did they use some kind of acceleration spell on an object? No more importantly can I dodge it again?
"Who's there?!"
Zesshi shouted angrily in the direction from which the attack had come. She expected to see her attacker standing on one of the rooftops of the houses surrounding the square.
However…
No one? I'm sure I got the direction right! Could it be… did it come from much further away?
Zesshi focused her vision and wrecked her memory to try and find from where the attack had come. After a short moment it dawned on her.
… One of the cathedrals?
The capital had six large cathedrals that were a testament to the inhabitants' faith and reverence towards the six great gods and as such they had been built with very high towers from which one would have a very good viewpoint. But to be able to hit her from that far was beyond absurd. Not even a magic caster could accurately hit spells from that far away.
That's a joke right? You could assassinate an entire monarchy if u could hit them from that far away.
As the night went one things started getting more and more ridiculous for her. First fighting a monstrously strong werewolf and then having to deal with an absurdly long range magic attack… too ridiculous.
Just as Zesshi was about to charge over she felt it once more. She cursed her own foolishness as this should never have happened. To allow this to happen to her twice in the same night was beyond shameful.
To allow an opponent to attack her from behind to her was the greatest shame. A hidden presence had sneaked up on her while she was distracted from the long range attack. Zesshi could feel the killing intent oozing from the attacker.
Zesshi, being caught off guard tried to salvage the situation and turn around in a desperate attempt to block the incoming. But…
"Gyaaah"
With only being able to turn her head around, the impact of something incredibly hard and sharp traveled through her cheek all the way to her skull and the rest of the skeleton as the blow reverberated through her entire body while she was sent flying for the second time.
What had she been hit with? Even whilst being thrown to the ground by her opponent she could not help but wonder what ridiculous weapon had been used. To do both blunt and sharp damage to her could only have been a mace or spiked hammer.
Zesshi got up to look at this soon to be dead man who dared to hit her from behind and damage her face.
She saw a hooded figure standing before her, it wore a black mantle to hide both its face and physical appearance. The only thing visible was a pair of spiked gauntlets sticking out from beneath the sleeves of mantle.
Zesshi felt a stream of blood starting to flow from above her eyes where one of the spikes had pierced her. This only fueled the now burning hatred she felt.
"Who the hell do you think you are? No doesn't matter, what use is knowing the names of corpses?"
Zesshi prepared to charge. Her scythe in hand she would close the distance and slice her opponent in half instantly. The fact that he had resorted to attacking her from behind meant that her enemy wasn't strong enough to take her head on. No that was obvious, no humanoid being on the continent could take her on.
She made the first step towards her foe to start the dash and then…
"Aarghrg"
A painful cry erupted from Zesshi, she thought that she would be able to sense the attack as she had done the first time. But she had only been able to do so because she was able to sense herself being in mortal danger. The attack just now hadn't been aimed at her life but instead…
"My leg!"
Having come here heavily armored in her magic equipment she had few unguarded spots on her body. None the less there was a slight opening of skin in her armor in between her kneecaps and her armored boots. But to be able to actually hit that spot in battle would be quite an impressive feat.