With sword intent connecting him with his sword a thin purple glow covers the surface of the blade.
Hearing the steps behind him Zatu pivoted with his sword.
In his eyes two scaled wolves reflect one in the air, one ready to launch.
Following turning the motion his edge meets the creature's neck.
Metallic sounds echo as the two clash and Zatu feels his blade bite the meat under the beast's scales.
As he pulls his sword back and is pushed a step back from the clash his eyes glance at the 'wolf.'
There he sees blood paint around the wounded beast as it struggles to stand back up.
'Should have gone harder.' he feels in his heart as the world around him seems to slow down.
The other scaled wolf is already close to him, this one keeps its scaly body low to the ground.
Its mouth open, the wolf tries to get a hold of Zatu's leg.
Zatu's leg snaps out of the way, the memory engraved from years of his training taking over as his thoughts fill with chaos.
From the corner of his eyes he sees a blur approach his other leg.
Jumping and rolling away he finally gets to see all three beasts in front of him.
Panting he stares with the creatures for a second, as the beasts stare between themselves.
Cunningness shines in their eyes as the two untouched 'wolves' start to circle him once more.
All the while the wounded one raises itself with trembling legs, his eyes cold and predatorial.
As a bead of sweat rolls down his forehead his eyes glance at his sword intent.
[Sword Intent] -- (12 / 14)
Trailing his eyes through the creatures the two still intact almost pop in his vision.
The hairs in the back of his neck rising from the danger present.
'I can't let them get the first jump again.' Zatu concludes in a moment, jumping towards one of the intact ones.
The scaled beast doesn't retreat, instead raising a claw against the young swordsman as rage and spite color its eyes.
Confusion takes over Zatu's face behind his mask, the beast should not confront him directly after what he did to the first one.
So surprised he was he hadn't even imbued his sword intent in his sword.
Claws and blade meet, locking mid air.
Zatu's eyes jump to the second scaled wolf, already closing in on him.
He tries to pull his sword back but finds resistance.
'Fuck fuck fuck fuck.' echoes in the back of his mind, as his body reacts by itself kicking the second 'wolf's' head.
Inside his boots something cracks, but Zatu doesn't even register the pain.
Still his sword keeps locked with the metallic claws.
When his eyes turn to the first beast he sees its jaws opened and advancing towards him.
Time slows down to a crawl as despair and adrenaline flood every vein in his body.
'Fuck fuck fuck fuck.' he cusses again and again till something snaps inside his mind.
In that single moment his heart beats with a speed it shouldn't be able to at his level.
In it every drop of mana spread around his body gathers before shooting towards his sword arm.
His fingers curl tightly around the handle, as mana floods his sword.
The blade starts to hum, its purple glow growing clear, as the lightning intent in it tries to react with the mana.
All the while the beast's jaw grows closer and closer to Zatu's body.
For an instant the lighting intent and mana seem unable to react till Zatu's body sends another energy to his blade, sword intent.
The three energies mix together fusing it all into a lightning intent so strong the sword cries in place.
The purple glow grows stronger, the air around starts to vibrate then…
VOOOOOOM
With a flash of purple the sword passes through the first scaled wolf.
Claws, scales, muscles and bones, nothing stops the glowing blade.
Zatu falls to the ground and his heart screams in pain as every muscle in his body shivers.
At his side the first scaled wolf falls down, dead before it even hits the ground, its pieces separating in two as blood pools down under it.
Gritting his teeth Zatu tries to force himself up, his body barely listening to his commands, but stopping here was not an option inside his head.
For he expected to be attacked by the other beasts at any moment.
As his shaky arms extend under his body and his masked face raises up a dark green figure enters his view, with emerald eyes that stared down into his soul.
"That's enough for today." Illya stated, a bit of respect coming through her tone.
Hearing her words he tries to warn her about the other two beasts, before his eyes look around and he sees the other two scaled wolves unmoving on the ground.
To his surprise, even the wounded one was close to him, having made its way closer before he could even notice.
Seeing them both dead a sigh escapes his lips and his body relaxes back to the ground.
"I must have sounded delusional thinking I could kill all three." Zatu chuckled, a small blush covering his cheeks inside the mask before an acute pain in his chest made him grimace.
"Yeah." She giggles. "To be fair you did way better than I expected, if you had a bit more experience you could've won." She smiles helping him sit up. "Does it hurt anywhere?"
"Everywhere." he grunts, turning his head to her. "Especially my heart."
Illya raises an eyebrow at his boldness in such a moment before her mana senses pick up on his struggling mana core.
"Ah, that's what you meant." She giggles to herself much for Zatu's confusion.
Her hand reaches for her own space pouch, a courtesy she received from her other job…
From it she pulls out a purple potion, its color deep and vibrant.
A potion that could both heal and restore mana was not cheap or easy to get a hold of.
But for this client Illya didn't bat an eye at using it.
For one he paid very well, for others not only was he surprisingly easy to talk to, but he was also fun to play with.
A really rare find for her in people that grew up in the inner city, which were not so coincidentally the ones who could afford her guiding quotas.
Taking the wooden mask off his tired wincing face was illuminated by the afternoon sun.
Illya froze in place for an instant, her eyes tracing every corner of his face.
Those small locks of golden hair stuck to his forehead by the sweat.
That small frown in his brows that trembled trying to not deepen.
Those blue eyes that almost begged for help as his face resisted scrunching up.
Illya couldn't help but bite her lower lip.
'Playing the tough guy huh.' She smiled wildly.
She was way too familiar with pain to not notice the signs.
With one hand she holds his chin up, with her other she pops out the potion's cork.
"Open up big boy." She says with a wink, pressing the potions mouth to his lips.
Zatu's cheeks turn red, he doesn't have a single memory of being this close or touched like this by a woman.
Partly for losing his mother before he could even recall, partly for his relentless pursuit of the blade throughout his early life.
Feeling her soft fingers hold his chin up.
Hearing her teasing caress his ear.
Seeing her smile that shined like the stars or those gorgeous emerald eyes that entranced his mind.
All of it brought a funny and fuzzy feeling in his stomach that somehow lessened the physical pain he felt.
For a moment their eyes lock, silent tension lingers in the air.
And before he even notices his lips part as she gently tilts the magical liquid into his mouth.
Gulp by gulp he feels the magical concoction flow down his throat before dispersing throughout his body.
Slowly the pain in his heart diminishes, then a pain in his foot he hadn't even noticed before both appears and vanishes.
For a moment he feels invigorated before a wave of tiredness hits him hard.
Staring into her attentive eyes he tries to resist it, however he can feel his consciousness slowly falter.
He tries to speak, but his mouth barely moves as his eyelids slowly start to close.
"Rest Zatu, I'll take care of things from here." Illya's soft but steady voice whispers in his ears.
A warm lullaby that pulls him into a deep slumber.
Watching Zatu's body relax, Illya stares for a moment before masking him back again.
With dextrous movements she holds him up in a princess carry, before glancing at her side where Sir Howard side eyes the both of them.
"Stop judging me Howard." She scoffs with a smile, before nodding towards Unbreon. "Guide us back and avoid all beasts."
She orders, knowing his blood skill has way more range and precision than her skills.
After all, fighting a beast with Zatu unconscious while already having used half her man during the Tier 3 fight was both risky and unnecessary.
With serious eyes Sir Howard nod's his little head before taking the lead.
Ears up and tail wagging slowly.