Tear A Path 179 Persisten

Thirteen was already panting very hard from the initial exchange. Her forte was an instant kill after all, if they weren't able to regenerate they'd all be be dead several strikes ago. Just the fact that she had to continuously battle 5 of them was draining her stamina very quickly. Additionally, since they weren't made of flesh, she had to exert more strength in each attack to even wound them while they regenerated in a few seconds.

The only thing she had going for her was technique and speed which none of these things had, allowing her to stay safe by avoiding their movements in the very final moment. This however just kept either side at a stalemate. Just by considering the numbers alone, Thirteen was at a disadvantage if the fight dragged on.

But as a person in her former line of work, her ability to escape tough predicaments would rival if not surpa.s.s her fighting capability as they were required to escape at a moments notice if something smelled bad.

Looking at their formation, they gave off the air of a mob. Not that there was anything wrong with it, she'd found herself in a predicament or two while facing an angry mob, which in their own unorganized way actually made them harder to deal with than actual army ranks which had clear strengths and weaknesses

If she was honest the worst feeling she'd ever felt was having a blow landed on her by a mob character. It was another thing if it was done by someone skilled, but she'd been hit purely by luck and because the opponent was so untrained that the attacks had no rational pattern to follow. Though, there was nothing like getting hit by a weaker opponent to hurt the ego so badly.

She was about to rush them to escape from their formation, one of them shouted. "Wait! we don't want to fight, just hear us out" She spoke, "Then if you decide you still want to waste your energy you can cut us up as many times as you want."

Thirteen didn't answer, instead giving them a sharp glare that made them gulp and step back a little. The one who spoke before decided to represent the group and stepped forward, causing Thirteen to tighten her grip on her dagger. Seeing this the lady raised her hands to show she meant no harm.

"Who are you? or more like what are you?" Thirteen asked.

"For starters my name is Gwen, I'm sorry that I'll have to skip the pleasantries but we'll have plenty of times for questions later, first we have to get out of here." She replied trying to speak as softly as possible so Thirteen wouldn't decide to cut her again, "But first..." She turned her head, her eyes a looked a little troubled. "Would you mind calling off your pets?"

In the other room, Panda and Myra were absolutely dominating their opponents, continuously crushing each and everyone of them before they could fully regenerate. Panda as usual, moved around them room like a pinball, tearing off heads, arms and legs here and there which seemed much more effective as they'd first look for their missing piece before attaching them again to start the regeneration process. Around her every type of extremity was strewn about until some of the opponents were just torso stumps.

Thirteen's characteristic frown curved a little higher at the thought of losing to a rabbit. Myra did similarly well as she continued dumping one or two of the opponents on top of the rest of them. Before long, the group of women turned into a pile of twitching hands and legs, too burdened by their comrades weighing on them to put up a fight.

Thirteen came forward but she stayed silent as she watched the cute furries continue their rampage. One minute, two... "Are you going to stop them any time soon?"

"Meh..." Thirteen decided to watch a little longer.

"Why don't you want to stop them?" Gren asked.

"Cause they look like you." Thirteen spoke remorselessly.

"And you want to hurt me why?" She looked at the little psychopath incredulously.

"You're annoying."

"Because....?"

"You kept coming back after I stabbed you, I admire the persistence you put into your efforts but I much prefer a match who stays down after they get cut." Myra explained, evidently becoming more miffed as she continued to speak.

"So your definition of amiable is what? Drop dead instantly when you stab us?" Gren spoke through gritted teeth, a hint of aggression in her voice, almost daring the little brat to make a move.

"Hm..." Thirteen pondered for a moment before answering, "Yes, that would make our relationship much more pleasant, though I would like to extend a similar sentiment to those 4 comrades of yours who were equally stubborn about greeting the afterlife." As soon as she said so she moved forward to call Myra and Panda off while behind her, a furious Gren was being held back by her teammates.

Once the rest gathered their pieces and reattached themselves, they began to move through the building which was structured like a maze on the inside. Thirteen was given a cloak and clothing that reached down to the floor to cover her tail, moving along the rest off the group with Panda in her arms.

In this short journey through the place, Thirteen's view of the world was changed. Despite not looking very big from the outside, she found the place was actually bustling with activity. The paths were frequently used, with several of those clones at every several meters with something in their hands and going every which way.

She'd barely caught a glimpse into some of the rooms whose doors opened for just a moment, but gave peeks to people working a hot piece of steel over a sweltering fire or holding little flasks with sinister predilections. This place was like one big busy factory, she couldn't help but compare Dracas to this machine. With such a large s.p.a.ce and population, she doubted if her people could seem even half as productive as all these workers.

But there was something that bugged her about all this, something about the way they endlessly trudged forward towards their next job that made them seem less compliant about their current state.

At some point the members of the group had dispersed into different paths with Thirteen only following one or two people at a time. But regularly, somewhere in front, their group would b.u.mp into some of the other followers who would then take charge of guiding her until they meet the next person. Like this, the cycle continued until they finally reached their destination.