Chapter 56: Tournament Interim (Part 4)

CONTENT WARNING - Click on Spoiler for More Info -

This chapter was hard, Judy makes a mistake near the end of the chapter and dies as well as most, if not all, of the escaped prisoners dying. If you don't wish to read you can skip to the next chapter when it's available.

[Fuck!] - Judy

[Judy! Shit!] - Moon

[Should you be looking away my little kitty? Don't worry about the bunny... It's not like you can help anyways!] - Leathered-up Slut

Judy, taking the blow with her embedded sword was blown backwards, barely holding onto her weapon as she struck the far wall hard a sickening crunch coming from her impact. Up to this point I'd trusted Judy with my back and in the short time we'd known each other she'd proven herself to be a strong and honorable albeit excitable warrior. Basically the exact opposite of myself. I'd always been faster than my peers, my dexterity leaving most of them floundering. In fact it was the reason I was still alive when everyone I'd ever known had died.

Calling out to the slumped over Rabbitkin Amazonian as I dodged a strike that appeared in mid-air I unfortunately got no response from my partner. Dodging yet again the woman's voice once more grated my ears, emanating from the ether with no real source that my sensitive ears could pick up.

[We'll help you leader! Ahh!!!!] - Brave Idiot

[Wait no!] - Moon

Seeing my difficulty, one of the more able-bodied former prisoner's immediately rushed forward whilst brandishing a stolen weapon. Immediately reacting to the fool I attempted to stop him from interfering only to be too late as he was split down the middle, instantly silencing him forever. The rest of the group, mostly made of non-combatant's, backed off hesitantly from the body of their former friend. The matter of his death however peaked my interest immediately, he hadn't died from some kind of weapon. In fact from the way his body fell it was more like he hit something that was suspended in midair.

Distracted by my thoughts but still keeping an eye on my surroundings I nearly missed the telltale flash of movement before the weapon strike that followed it, dodging to the side just barely.

[Hahahaha! Can't have you looking away from the main event kitty cat! Ignore the moron, this is just between the two of us! One on..! Woah there!] - Leathered-up Slut

[W-What was that about One on One you leather-bound bitch?!? Hah... Hah...] - Judy

[Judy! You're okay!] - Moon

Feeling the rush of an invisible weapon and hearing the mocking laugh of the wannabe dominitrix I glared around me in an effort to locate where the sound was coming from only to jerk my head to the side as I heard some quick footsteps, a massive fuck-off sword swinging through a empty space to my right. The wielder of said massive sword, the tomboy Amazonian I'd come to know and love! Breathing hard  as she leaned on her giant sword I briefly noticed the air flickering as the outline of a person jumped into the air. Unfortunately that brief window was gone immediately as she once more vanished into the ether. Rushing over to my muscular friend I quickly helped her to her feet as she wobbled uncertainly.

[That bitch... Hah... Hah... will have to try harder than that! Oh wow that hurts...] - Judy

[Hahaha... Well then why don't you- Woah! -tell me how you- Woop! -found out where the bitch was!] - Moon

[Stay still you rank pussy! I need to skewer you!] - Leathered-up Slut

[Easy! I just- Watch It! -decided to hit everything!] - Judy

[Stop ignoring me and fight dammit!] - Leathered-up Slut

[Okay.] - Moon and Judy

Making sure my Bunny friend was okay and could take care of herself took all of 2 seconds, after which we each took up defensive positions to come up with a plan of attack. Dodging each blow by mere inches I asked about Judy's seeming ability to find the Failed Sadist Bitch only to have her give a surprisingly simple answer to the whole ordeal. If you can't figure out where your enemy is then hit everything and you can't miss.

Smirking to myself at how easy the answer was I readied my various salvaged weapons, I'd taken the lion's share of the fallen guard's daggers and short swords. My body literally covered in a multitude of small bladed weapons. The Bitch, tired of us ignoring her for the most part burst out in anger at how nonchalantly we were dealing with her serious attacks. The two of us, figuring that this was as good a time as any nodded to each other and took on opposite sides of the room.

Judy, swinging her massive sword, swept the entirety of her path with a whirlwind of deadly steel while I took out 10 dagger's, five in each hand, and began to systematically cover every foot of the room on my side with a myriad of embedded weapons. Replenishing my dagger's as I threw them the two of us quickly narrowed down the hiding places in the room until we both came to the same conclusion at once, there were two of them!

Judy, swinging her massive arming sword, and I, swinging a short sword I'd grabbed, came to a rest on two seemingly empty spaces. Staring hard at the area in front of me I noticed a slight flickering in the air and pushed my blade against it harder only for it to give as if it weren't quite solid. Judy, for her part, also kept her attention on her own patch of empty air, only for her sword to grind against something with a gods forsaken squeal of metal on metal.

The two opponents, initially invisible, slowly came into focus, their straining faces visible for the first time. Huh? They both looked exactly the same?

[Twins?] - Judy

[Yeah! You got a problem with that dyke bitch!?!] - Leathered-up Slut #1

[We never said there was only one of us!] - Leathered-up Slut #2

[Tch!] - Judy

Taking advantage of their now visible stated I took in them in their entirety, noticing their strange lack of weapons on their person. That is until I noticed what looked like a spool of thread at each of their waist's full of what looked like metal thread. Ah! So THAT was how they killed that poor fool.

[Watch out Judy, they can control thread's!] - Moon

[Too late!] - Leathered-up Slut #1

[Now die bitch!] - Leathered-up Slut #2

[Too weak.] - Judy

Smirking with confidence at their relaxed opponents the identical women swept up their hands at the same time, the spools of metallic thread on their waist unwinding as the glinting metal swept towards the bored looking Rabbitkin woman. Scared that I'd reacted too late I froze in surprise as the warrior woman lazily swatted the needle sharp thread, disrupting it's flow and forcing it to tangle on the ground. The two twins, confident in their surprise attack were shocked when it not only failed but in such a spectacular fashion hugged each other in fear as they gave up a massive sword at their throats.

[Eeek! We give we give don't kill us! It was all Mona's fault!] - Leathered-up Slut #1

[S-Shut it! It was all Rona's fault anyway! You're the one that wanted to one up that asshole Harris!] - Leathered-up Slut #2

[So you don't have any idea where the kids are? Are you truly telling the truth?!? Dammit! Fuck!] - Moon

[Owu... Are you going to k-kill us?] - Rona

[D-Don't do it! We'll do anything!] - Mona

[Shut it! I don't care about you bitches! I only want my kids!] - Moon

[H-Hey Moon, maybe we should turn these two in. I bet the guards might have an idea of what happened to all the kids these dickheads captured.] - Judy

[I don't know... Hey you two! What do you think you're doing?!?] - Moon

[Fuck you! Like we'll sit around and get arrested! Bleh!] - Rona

[We'll take you down with us!] - Mona

Ranting and raving at the bad news piled on top of bad news I paced back and forth while Judy watched over the twins. The rest of the group, frightened of my anger, had retreated until they filled up the far side of the warehouse. They as well as the leathered-up twins were waiting for a decision from me. The problem was that my only goal had been to find my little ones and hightail it out of the city. I wasn't exactly cut out for the leadership role I'd been thrusted into.

Despite my misgivings however even the Giant Bunnygirl asked for our next move, acting as if I was already the defacto boss of our little group of escaped prisoners. It was then that I noticed the twins inching away from their distracted guard and yelled for them to stop only to be too late as they broke into a run for one of the corners. Judy and I, quickly cutting off any chance they had of escape were surprised when one of them stuck out her tongue in defiance while the other quickly pulled a hidden compartment down and tossed a few round objects out way.

[BOMB!] - Moon

[Shit!] - Judy

Immediately reacting to the bouncing shape I kicked it into the far corner, away from both us and the majority of our companions. Hoping it was far enough away I dove for cover behind a large crate while Judy did the same. The ex-prisoner's, reacting, albeit slowly, to my words, all did the same on their end, diving behind boxes and doors. A moment later an explosion rocked the building, pelting us with debris and sharp wood.

[Kof kof! Is anyone still breathing?!? Kof kof! Hello?] - Moon

[Ugh... Still alive, I think...] - Judy

[I-I'm fine too...] - Foxy Lady

[Of course you are, the twins?] - Moon

[Gone. I'd guess they used the explosion to escape.] - Judy

[Shit, how's everyone else?] - Moon

My ears ringing I shakily checked my body for damage before standing up. Remarkably I'd come out of it relatively unharmed, the explosion sending a massive amount of shrapnel outwards had caused a few cuts and bruises on my body but nothing major. Coughing loudly as I finished checking out my own health the next thing I needed to do was find out the status of everyone else. Silence followed my question but after a few seconds a pile of wood shook as Judy groaned while pulling herself up.

Breathing a sigh of relief at finding my newfound friend intact I turned towards where the group had been previously and saw several of them dusting themselves off while looking around, shell-shocked. The annoying foxgirl from before being the first to recover as she called out her own good health. Snapping lightly at the annoyance I looked around for the instigator's of the explosion only to find nothing, not even blood. Judy confirmed my suspicions moments later.

Deciding to move on from the escaped bitches I quickly turned towards the group, more of whom were beginning to stand up, to see how many of them were still alive and kicking only to find that not everyone had been as lucky. We had several dead bodies.

[Shit! We should've just killed them! Fuck!] - Moon

[Moon... Hmm?!? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I hear multiple people coming up the stairs! Far too many for us to fight!] - Judy

[Shit shit shit! Even more bad news! Do we stand our ground or...?] - Moon

[E-Excuse me! I know a way out of here...] - Foxy Lady

[Hah?!? Well out with it! Quickly!] - Judy

[E-Eek! W-Well this building was used as a warehouse for the upper city in the past, I once used them myself for my mercantile business actually.] - Foxy Lady

[Okay and?!?] - Moon

[W-Well there's a surface entrance on all of these for moving cargo, if we keep going up we'll reach the street eventually. I don't know where though so...] - Foxy Lady

[Good enough! Move! Everyone we're heading upwards!!!] - Moon

[Good job little lady... Seems you were useful afterall...] - Judy

[T-That's right! U-Understand my importance here! Ohohoho!] - Foxy Lady

[Shut up!] - Moon

[Eep!] - Foxy Lady

[I don't see a guard out there, what about you?] - Moon

[Nothing on my end, the guys below us have slowed down as well but they're still making their way up. I hear them down a ways...] - Judy

[Shit! So no time to do this carefully then...] - Moon

Following after the annoyance we'd initially thought she was leading us on a wild goose chase but luckily for all of us it turned out she actually DID know what she was talking about and had led us through the labyrinth of stacked crates and dusty goods until we finally came to a door that led out on the city.

The foxkin, apparently not understanding what situation she was in then proceeded to laugh annoyingly as if she was proving she was better than us. Quickly shutting down her bullshit I once more strained my eyes and ears on the outside road only to once more see and hear nothing abnormal. Judy, her hearing far better than mine, confirmed my suspicions while warning of the approaching group below us. Not exactly the ideal situation but I guess we had no choice in this.

Deciding that we couldn't wait any longer I quickly stepped out onto the abandoned street, being followed by the massive group of prisoner's behind me. It was at this point that both my own and Judy's ears twitched, catching the sounds of scraping metal, the telltale sound of weapons and armor on stone.

[Scatter everyone!] - Moon

[Get em!] - Unknown Guard

[They're attacking the warehouses! Take em down!] - Armored Guard

Reacting quickly to the incoming combatants I yelled out to everyone to run and broke into a sprint towards the thinnest line of soldiers, Judy following behind me as I caught several prisoners breaking through their own blockades, although not all of them as I noticed several being skewered by those they thought were here to save them. Focusing my efforts away from the rest of the group I picked up speed as we quickly approached the line of men ahead of us, their cruel smirks telling me they knew exactly what was going on.

Making the decision to fight I quickly prepared two daggers, one in each hand, and wove through the less agile soldiers. Slashing as I passed by one of the bigger ones I noted that my giant friend was using her massive sword as a bulldozer and barreling through the much smaller foes in front of her. My own tactic, while faster, seemed ridiculously inadequate in comparison.

[D-Did we lose them?] - Foxy Lady

[Seriously?!? How are you still with us?!?] - Moon

[Heheh! I'm much more skilled than... blech... W-What?] - Foxy Lady

Breathing hard as we took a break someone I hadn't expected to keep up with us broke the silence asking if we'd gotten away. Honestly I hadn't expected the weak-looking woman to be able to follow after us so seeing her like this made me exclaim my surprise. The foxkin, for her side, inflated slightly at my surprise, starting to brag about her own physical prowess. Unfortunately she didn't make it far however as her chest suddenly bloomed red, blood coming out of her mouth. The shocked fear in her eyes haunting me with their plea. She fell silent immediately after as her eyes dimmed, falling to the ground, dead.

[Fuck! How do the keep sneaking up on us!?!] - Judy

[I don't know but we have to deal with these dickheads before more show up!] - Moon

[Don't mind if I do!] - Judy

Our opponents, 6 in number, smirked at the two of us. Somehow in the course of our flight we'd left behind every other person with us, except for the unfortunate foxkin now lying dead on the ground. Her killer wiping her blood off with his stained cape. Somehow these fully armored soldiers had consistently snuck up on us without making noise, not once but twice now. The only warning being a muffled sound immediately before attack.

Shaking my head to clear away these thoughts I focused on dealing with the enemies in front of me, while the group from before had been far too large for us to deal with 6 was more than few enough for us to kill in short order. Judy, excited at the prospect of fighting a fair fight, immediately reacted to my order, rushing forward as she grabbed the nearest with one arm while cutting his neighbor in half with her sword.

Not far behind her I sprang into action myself, quickly finding joints and exposed flesh with my daggers as I danced around my opponents. The little niggling doubt in the back of my head about how they were bypassing our senses pushed down by the battle.

[Hahahaha! Is that all you have?!? Bring it on Cowards!] - Judy

[You've had your fun, we need to leave. Finish him off already.] - Moon

[Oh don't be like that it's not like they can... Gurk!] - Judy

Quickly making short work of our opponents I watched momentarily as my friend choked the life out of the last soldier, while repeatedly stabbing another with her giant sword. Annoyed at the exuberance of my barbaric friend I rushed her to finish up so we could get going again, her only reaction being to slightly turn while laughing before falling to the ground with a sword in her back. Fuck! They got Judy too?!? HOW?

Seeing nearly a dozen soldiers round the corner I immediately turned to run, only glancing at the gasping Rabbitkin on the ground briefly before painfully leaving her behind. I wouldn't be able to save her anyway...

Exhaustion. I'd been running now for nearly half and hour and each time I tried to take a breather those bastards hadn't been far behind. I'd left my friend to die, I'd left my fellow prisoner's to die, and now it was my turn, all without saving a single person...

[Hahahahaha! Serves me right... Shit.] - Moon

Laughing hysterically at my hopelessness I once more took off running, still nowhere near anywhere I could actually recognize. Dodging into a side alleyway when I saw the route in front of me being blocked I found myself once more running back towards where I had come from. I was being hunted. Rounded up and chased until I tired myself out. Swearing to myself once more as I evaded yet another patrol I felt a pair of arms suddenly yank me into the darkness of a building, struggling all the while. The voice of my captor however immediately calmed me down.

[Quiet! If you want us both to escape you'll calm down!] - ???