The two bickered for a few moments before Arthur brought out enough courage to go near her.
She was at a slightly far off distance,a trail of blood splatters thickening as they near her.
He started walking with a cautionary manner,he was not only low on blood but also heavily weakened from the fight in the morning.
He was a good mana user and had a sly mind,enough to catch her off guard while trying dodge her attacks and strike her with the poison,yet it did not mean that he was any strong.
That is why he needs to be sure,although he gained a semblance of assurance from his younger self that she was surely dead,it did not mean that he was completely comforted.
As he walked closer he looked at the scenery of the bloody ground.
The stains of blood ran along the ground discontiuously in an haphazard manner more so like splashes of vermilion paint.
After a while,stains were turned to puddles of red with a shallow depth evident with a glance.
The closer he got,the more repugnant the iron stench of blood became. Making him gag a little,perhaps the fact of it being foreign blood made it worse as he didn't gag this hard when presented with his own blood.
After a several more steps,he got near enough to see a finer level of details of her visage.
Her cloths were stained with blood splatters in an haphazard manner,as if a result of much thrashing.
Her hair,so dark that it seemingly absorbed light like his own,was sprawled onto her In a slight majestic manner,some dipped in the puddle of blood beneath her.
There was a tear at her jacket near her fore arm.
That was the place where he cut her,the wound may be shallow yet the state of her form now was because of such a shallow wound.
Arthur:".....damn."
There were dried streams of red that Originated from her eyes,mouth,ears and nostrils.
It was hauntingly reminiscent of his own state at the morning.
A few steps closer, and another step.
*hfuuu...*
Then he heard a sound,terrifying surprising in nature which promptly made his eyes widen.
No... Way..
The sound of breathing.
Her chest moved in a rhythmic manner,shallow,weak and haggared,undulating softly.
....How the hell...!?
....How the hell...!?
Both the older and younger counter parts exclaimed loudly in their own minds.
Arthur reeled back and began to stagger back quickly in a quiet manner,careful not to wake the assassin.
He stepped and stepped until his back hit a tree trunk and it's crown's shade fell upon him,seemingly separating the unconscious Lady under the noon sun and him under the soft shade.
Arthur:"How the hell is she alive damn it!?"
STOP SCREAMING YOU DUMBASS DO WANT TO GET US KILLED!?
Arthur:"You're screaming louder than me! ".
I'm inside your mind you fool!
.....oh, yeah I forgot.
.....did you become dumber? Is this like.....the debuff? No I guess it's blood loss, but still....
Strangely enough this makes me calmer...
Are you retart—
Can we talk about the assassin that is soon to wake and murder us in cold blood now?
Yeah, yeah we can, stop talking so sarcastically.
That wasn't sarcasm.
I know,it was being literal, you just sounded sarcastic.
OK.....first,HOW THE HELL IS SHE EVEN ALIVE!
although Arthur was being cautious,it did not mean that he doubted the poison,infact,he would have found it more surprising if it didn't work.
Which is what exactly happened.
I see....
So,she healed herself?
She used her mark.
That is the conclusion they had made.
At first,they had thought that she would try to go back and die mid way but after seeing the blood pointing towards her going to the village they had assumed she was aware Of the fact she couldn't make it back so she chose to get herself healed by Selera to gain time,eventually getting back and reporting to the heads.
They had thought she wouldn't make it to the village either.
But none of those happened,instead it seemed that she had healed herself instead.
Which made it even more preposterous.
If she could heal herself tthenshe could have just tried to kill Arthur first,it wasn't too difficult.
Arthur:"Ah..... That makes sense."
The vile berry poison,since she couldn't use the mana due to mana disturbance she had to get herself healed by some one else,even if the poison won't let her be healed completely.
Hold on, wait! How could she even use mana then?
He could have thought of many other reasons for her to get healed,yet he wouldn't thought of her using her own mana.
The mana disturbance caused by the poison was of the highest extent,it was quite the potent mix he had created after all.
The only way he could think of at the moment would be that she was a genius of mana,yet it didn't fit,as he himself was considered a top-notch mage and he could she was just above being a novice.
The only other way he could muster in his mind was.....
No way.....
So, she brute forced it then?
There was a hint of awe and admiration In his tone which soon after took after Arthur himself as he stared at her breathing and bloody form with a shell shocked and impressed look.
Brute forcing it would mean that she forcefully willed the mana inside her to activate her gate.
Normally it would be Okay.
But she was a person who is afflicted by the vile berry poison and had mana disturbance.
When one that is afflicted by mana disturbance try to force fully use their mana....
The mana of their's ravages one's own body from the inside.
Tearing and craning throughout their body, it was a horrid and painful thing to occur for anyone. Some thing many can't last even a moment for.
And she had endured through such a thing until she was able heal herself.
I... How in god's name did she even do that, l-like.....am I dumb for thinking she's cool?
Nah,she's a badass.
Definitely badass.
Arthur couldn't help but be charmed,although she was the one had given him his wound,he couldn't really hate her,he did have a certain hate for every one in his bloodline,even her, but seeing what she did made him lose it.
He some what found her....to be some one to look up to.
He himself was too weak to find a reason to even stitch a small wound.
But she,despite the fact of being poisoned and being unable use mana, on a strict time limit for her death,managed to survive,even if she had to endure excruciating pain,she did it without hesitating.
It was like looking at what he wished to become in the future.
A hint of envy was there.
No, I can't let such a disgusting feeling fester.
But he himself crushed it to rubble.
Though the admiration persisted he attempted to crush it down as well with moderate success.
A lesson he knew told him to do so,if he needed to become stronger he needed to do so for he knew that admiration was the furthest from understanding.
And to become strong,he needed to understand.
Hey, can you stop fan girling got already? It's disgusting.
O-oh yeah, *cough*
With flushed checks he coughed into his fist upon finding out about his childishness.
Don't tell me you have crush already?
She tried to kill me THIS mornin.
Arthur dead panned.
Turning towards her once more he took notice of a black glove on her right had that covered her mark.
It was a common practice to cover one's mark with a glove to hide their mark,it makes others in aware of what their mark can do.
Some even have designs.
And her's was the same.
A golden circular plate was ingrained onto the centre of the glove at the back of her hand,it was slightly thick and had elegant curvative carvings on it that had a darker shade of gold than the un-carved parts.
....She used a spear right?
They had begun to discuss what her mark could be.
Yeah,and after wards she used a healing power, at least that is what I'm thinking,it could be something like poison reduction or purification too.
Yea,that's true.It isn't something that reverts her back to certain state either since the cut I gave her is still there.
Go and check her pulse,it would give us a better idea.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Arthur drew close once more and after checking again if she was awake or not he took her hand checked her pulse.
It's erratic to an extent,but it is safe to say...
She had mark that gave her healing and...
Arthur:"you're basically crippled, temporarily,but you can't use mana or your mark."
She will be unable to do anything for a limited amount of time,how long?
That he couldn't tell perfectly,but he could give a rough guess.
She'll be crippled for more than a month if we leave her like this,the harmful part of the poison in itself is gone but the mana disturbance still slightly lingers,but that's not even the problem,her entire mana system is damaged,if it was just the mana disturbance it would last for at least 3-4 days but the damage to mana system is the problem here.
Even worse,her internal injuries would probably kill her before the month ends, but...
A daunting and grave expression formed on his face.
....we don't have to worry about that though,infact were going to kill her right now.
Yeah.
Her staying alive in itself was a miracle,a miracle she created,but it was more of a curse for the both of them.
She can easily go and report to the head and get herself healed,Which inevitably cause him to be killed.
That is why it is important for them to kill her.
Arthur:"...Unfortunate, sorry but we have to do this."
He took out a sharp,pitch black dagger.
His sword was lost in the morning chase and this was the only he had left that he uses to poison her.
The sad thing is that this would be the first time he had killed a person.