Three combatants, two against one, Fujiko stares at her opponents from the bottom of the hill. The scent of burnt flesh invades her nostrils, prompting her to survey the area. Some of her men were dead and burned, while the others had fallen into the sea, to cool off their scorched skin. She steps forward, gripping her bloody rapier by its handle. Her breathing has picked up after her encounter with Lucerna, but she is still brimming with an indomitable fighting spirit. 

Despite the two-on-one encounter, she still couldn’t help but wear a confident expression. 

“Another Kotka is nothing out of the ordinary… but a Human?” She asked, curious. 

Fujiko steps forward, trampling over some of Lucerna’s blood. 

“When have you arrived here? What’s your aim?” 

Rhea scoffs, yelling from afar. 

“My aim? You hurt my friend, so I aim to put you in the dirt!” 

“Hmhmhmhm,” Fujiko chuckles. “Alright, aimless one. You want a swift death, and I can grant that, not a problem!”

“Fujiko!” Row interrupts. “You bastard… what’re you showing your face again in Miasto?!” 

Fujiko raises her eyebrow. 

“Again?” She repeats aloud. 

She stares at Row, her eyes guiding her to his face. Upon closer inspection, she can see remnants of her mother imbued in his features. 

“Oh-hoh…! The glare on that pretty face! I remember someone like you! You’re the son of the Craftswoman I killed! She wouldn’t give me what I wanted, so I ended her life! What was her name again? Ah," she shrugs. Not like it matters now! You’ll join her soon enough!”

Row balls his fist so hard his fingernails pierce his palm, causing blood to ooze out of his closed hand. 

“Scum…!”

Row takes a single bound from his position to Fujiko, shocking Rhea. 

“GO TO HELL!” 

Rhea is startled by his sudden leap into combat. She runs down the hill trying to catch up to Fujiko and Row. 

Unlike Lucerna, Row was not adept at combat whatsoever. Sure, he had the same physical attributes as any normal Kotka; claws, strong legs, and decent reflexes, but that could only take him so far against an adroit combatant.  

Fujiko immediately picks up on the difference in skill between Row and Lucerna and instantly starts to play with her opponent. She frolics around his sloppy clawing attacks as if they were childish swings from a novice swordsman. 

“Mmm, I don’t think I’ll be going to hell anytime soon. You’re definitely on a fast track to dying faster than me!”

Row slashes away, falling for the goad of the gang leader.  

“Then try me!” 

Twitch

Fujiko’s ears moved, and out of nowhere, Rhea swiftly arrived. She holds the Trickster’s Staff like a bat and swings it horizontally. Fujiko was surprised by the attack, dumbfounded as to why Rhea would use it in such a barbarous manner after it was just seen casting a fire spell. This inane act catches Fujiko off.  

Wh-what?! Why the hell would she use a Shifting Weapon like that?! Is she stupid?!

Twitch

Her ear twitched again, warning her of an attack behind her, but it was too late. The moment she turns her head, she is met with a hard fist straight to her cheek.  

BAM

Twitch-twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch-twitch-twitch.

Her senses were going haywire trying to predict the next attack, but the two one-on-one assaults were dulling her senses, as she was briefly barraged with an onslaught of various attacks. 

Row is dealing sloppy but hard haymakers across her body, meanwhile, Rhea is whacking the tall woman with her staff, dealing different blows across her tall frame. 

WHACK! BOOM! BAM!

The staff whacks against Fujiko’s stomach, legs, and arms, all appendages Fujiko had done at the last minute or poorly executed guards to minimize damage. Row tried his best to time Rhea’s attacks with his own, but his anger carried him on instinct, allowing him to flow like water; punching, evading, and joining back in when necessary. In the middle of the thrashing, Rhea even discards the staff, tossing it to the side as its metal clangs and rolls beside Lucerna, in favor of exchanging straight fists. 

While Fujiko is getting overwhelmed, her anger contorts into confusion as the pain begins to take over. 

Why…! Why is this happening to me?! Me! Fujiko Yuuma! 

The more she thought about her current situation, her eyebrows furrowed, and her anger began to return to her. 

I am the sixth Captain of Avgrund! I… won’t lose…! I won’t lose to the Kotka nobodies and some piss poor Human! 

Twitch

Finally, after seconds of a one-sided fight, her body adjusts to the pattern of their wild attacks and finds an opening. Rhea and Row throw two fists out at the same time, and Fujiko reacts appropriately, dropping her blade to catch both of them at once. All three combatants are at a standstill, attempting to figure out who could think of the most appropriate move and counterattack in the next second. That move, however, is decided by a third party. 

Woosh!

Twitch

A fireball zooms in her direction. Fujiko sees the spell at the last possible moment, and a thousand different thoughts rush through her head. 

That fireball…! Where did it come from?! Who even…?!

The corner of her sharp eyes sees Lucerna, holding the staff in her hand on her side with her long claw fingernails, smirking confidently. 

“Got yoooou…!”

That bitch! Are you kidding me?! I thought she didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger! 

The spell flies closer, and her thoughts increase in speed. 

What do I do now? I have these pests at my side and fire flying right at me… I… I need to guard!  

In her frantic state, she tosses Row away with one arm.

"AURGH!"

Row goes flying, then rolls to the other side of the pier. She then holds her free arm up to guard the fireball.

The flames engulf her arm. Panicked, she releases Rhea and puts her arm down to put out the fire quickly, and in that split-second moment, Rhea thinks of a maneuver to perform.

 You’re wide open!

Rhea smoothly slides behind Fujiko and crouches. She wraps her arms around her waist and clasps her hands tightly. Fujiko holds her arms up, startled.  

“Wh-what are you doing, Human?!” 

Rhea flexes her muscles, tightening her hold. Fujiko tries to break free, but at this moment, Rhea seems to be showing enough strength to overpower Fujiko.  

While one arm lays limp at her side, she holds up her fencing arm, raising her blade, ready to thrust down. 

“DIE!”

Rhea’s eyes shot open. At that moment, she uses all her strength to deadlift the seven-foot-tall woman off of the ground. 

“W-WAAAH! AAAH!”

Fujiko yelps while her arms flail about. She tries giving herself more weight to force herself on the ground, but the might of Rhea is overwhelming the bunny. 

With all her strength, Rhea uses her strong arms and bulky thighs to carry Fujiko backward.  

“RAAAAAAGH!”

A rallying cry blesses her with untapped remaining strength, allowing her to perform the feat of a bridge suplex, a wrestling move she has seen many times before in her previous life. 

BOOM

The weight of Fujiko’s body and the power of Rhea’s grappling throw plants the tall woman’s torso straight into the wooden pier, leaving her legs dangling in the air. Lucerna is lying on the ground at a loss for words. 

I-Is that the wrestling stuff she was talking about?!

Rhea lifts herself off the ground and runs over to assist Lucerna.

“Are you okay, Lu?” Rhea asked, concerned. 

“Y-yeah…” Lucerna nods. “I-it was just a scratch…”

“A scratch?! There’s a hole in your body!” 

Rhea points at her wound. 

“Then what’s that then?”

Lucerna looks at her wound and grins. 

“There’s been worse…”  

“Y-you,” Rhea shook her head. "Ugh never mind…” 

Rhea and Lucerna engage in some light banter while she lifts the staff off of the ground. The rod was so hot, that even Rhea struggled to hold it in her bare hands. 

Yow… I wonder how hot this thing can get… 

Rhea is reminded of the previous actions performed by Row and Lucerna. 

Row and Lu were able to cast spells with this thing… is it as simple as it looks…?

Row, who was thrown some ways away, lifts himself off the ground. When he lifts his head, he can see Fujiko buried halfway into the peer. While he was initially smirking, his Kotka ears stiffened up when he saw her moving. He beckons to the attention of his allies. 

“RHEA! LU! WE’RE NOT DONE YET!” 

BOOSH

Fujiko pulls herself out of the wooden pier, mad as can be, but quite injured. She looks around, foaming at the mouth, fury in her eyes, mind clouded with rage. Fujiko stares down Rhea from afar, and a chill runs down her spine. 

“MEN!” 

Fujiko calls her henchmen once more. Some of them emerge from the waters, injured, but moving to the sound of their leader’s beck and call. A few henchmen even come out of the ship they arrived on. 

In a crouched, defeated position, Fujiko holds her wounded arm, grinding her teeth, ordering her men with gruff disdain.   

“Kill them!” 

Her demand is met by thunderous roars of murder-happy goons raising their arms and charging forward with reckless abandon. 

Already, Row makes haste, running up the hill.

“C’mon, you two!”

Rhea looks at Lucerna. 

“Can you run?”

“I…” Lucerna is holding her wound. “I can try…”

“No,” Rhea shook her head. “I need you to run. We’re gonna get out of here safe and sound, but I need you to do this one thing for me before we can really rest." 

Lucerna’s eyes widened and her heart was thumping. She was steeling herself, preparing her injured body to exert more energy. She stands upright and nods as confidently as she can to assure Rhea.

“O-okay…” 

Rhea smiles and nods. But before they could take off, Rhea grabbed the staff, ready to cast a spell. Fujiko’s henchmen stagger in place, looking around for cover. 

“The weapon’s about to go off! Take cover!” 

Rhea points the staff outward. 

“TAKE THIS!”

Everyone stopped in their tracks, but the performance was met by a deafening silence. Not a spell was spewed from the tip of the weapon. Rhea, Lucerna, and even Row were shocked into silence. The henchmen gather their bearings and recharge back toward the group.

“Staff’s a dud! Kill ‘em!”

Rhea is staring at the weapon, dumbfounded. 

HOW DOES THIS THING EVEN WORK?!

Lucerna grabs Rhea’s arm, pulling and transitioning her into running while Kotka holds her wound. 

“Why doesn’t this work?! Row used it a second ago!”

“No time to think about that,” Lucerna shook her head, wincing in pain. “We gotta shake these guys!”

Row looks back at his allies trailing behind him. 

“The best way to shake them might be around the Loot Cavern, unfortunately! Let’s go!”