His gloves were gone. Between two breaths, his gloves were simply gone and he was centimeters from her face.
Black fists, devoid of any color, they absorbed almost all light, only letting their silhouette be seen, perhaps the details could've been noticed if everything hadn't been happening so quick.
His eyes were wide open, his bright cyan eyes felt even brighter at the moment.
Xena didn't move, her body hadn't finished understanding what was happening at that instant. Then Karelos hit him from the side like an unmovable wall.
The impact took both of them off their feet and into the moss, Karelos coming down on top, one forearm across Hyde's chest, his other hand braced against the ground.
"What is wrong with you." Karelos's voice was strained as he was struggling to keep Hyde pinned to the ground.
"Get. Away!" Hyde moved his legs into a squatting position, before quickly stretching them, establishing some distance between the two.
Mid-air Karelos tried to align himself with the ground for a cleaning landing. GRRRK-. He landed with his feet, cleanly planted onto the ground, sliding a few centimeters as he landed. "What are you-"
"I'm the Geortarian Prince."
Karelos's gaze flicked upwards to Hyde, who was now standing up, patting the moss off his cloak. His village dialect had noticeable worn down over time, trying to keep the act.
But now it was just gone. His true voice was coming through now.
"Hyde K'onoma." Xena pointed out, taking a step back before freezing in place. He was exactly what I was looking for.
"I killed them. All of them... The king, guards, servants." He took a step forward with each victim. "That woman." His mismatched eyes moved to Karelos's face.
Each stride Hyde took seemed to cover meters, he was faster than what Nopuozhr had presented himself as. Every movement he took was immediate.
Karelos took a swing at Hyde, it landed with a resonant crack of displaced air. It caught him at the shoulder and staggered him.
He took another, this one Hyde managed to deflect, using the opening to dash behind Karelos.
Karelos gave a backward kick, aiming at Hyde's leg, but he overshot and hit him in the ribs, it made a sound loud crack.
But Hyde kept moving. Myrn doesn't only boost physical capabilites, but it also boosts defenses. What would break a Myrn user's bone, only scratched a Myrn user.
Karelos noticed Hyde was avoiding A'cci's grave at all costs. Not daring to risk their fight to ruin the tombstone.
Xena stayed at the edge and watched the battle unfold, looking a way in. She had Myrn after all, if she knew how to use it, she could make it a one versus two.
His hands seem to be his weapon. Hyde's fists never closed, he looked like he was constantly about to grab onto Karelos.
I need to test it out. Karelos gave a swing, forcing Hyde to dash. He acted surprised as if he didn't know exactly where Hyde was.
From the corner of his view he saw Hyde reaching out for him for a fraction of a second.
His hands were wide open, aiming straight at his forearm. Perfect. With a controlled spin kick, he diverted Hyde's left arm into his right.
By continuing the spin kick, he gave a jump, his unused leg, now in the air, hit Hyde right in the face.
However, his body was now in the air as his other leg hadn't landed yet. Hyde used this to his advantage with a side aerial.
He didn't hit my legs therefore... Hyde positioned his legs perfectly around Karelos's airborne leg, locking it with his.
Now I need to balance my body mass accordingly. Hyde fell face flat to the ground when he did a backflip.
Due to the fact his legs had locked with Karelos's leg, he also fell to the ground with a worse impact than Hyde.
Xena covered her mouth and her eyes widened in shock. The two had received a pretty bad fall. I hope Karelos's nose is alright.
Karelos was the first to rise from the ground, drops of crimson blood dripped from his left nostril, but Xena knew he was doing well.
Hyde on the other hand wouldn't stand up, he was completely immobile.
Xena carefully examined Hyde for a moment before deciding to go help Karelos out. "Karelos, are you alright?"
He managed to stand out and stretch his back, raising a thumb to indicate he was fine.
Xena approached Karelos. "We should handcuff him before he wakes up."
"And I'll find something to stop my nosebleed with."
Karelos raised his eyes from Xena's for a moment. The figure of Hyde was looming over her like a predator about to hunt it's prey. Hands wide open, eyes sharp-focused on his target.
He pushed Xena off to the side as hard as he could, but that heroic action had it's consequences.
Hyde's hands found Karelos's throat. A hard constriction around his neck was now present. His black fingers closed around it, none were overlapping, each movement felt as intentional as possible.
Grrgg- Hrrgk-
He raised Karelos from the ground, just enough so his feet couldn't distribute the pressure and help him breathe.
Karelos's hands immediately came up to Hyde's wrist, pulling and scratching with madness. His Myrn spiked at the tips of his fingers at the moment.
Hyde's grip didn't break. Could it be that his Myrn is overpowering mine?
Xena took a step forward. "GET AWAY. DON'T COME NEAR ME." Karelos shouted with all his might, that scream had taken a large amount of his remaining oxygen reserves.
She froze at the moment. She didn't know what to do. If she got near Hyde, she would undoubtedly die instantly.
But she couldn't just watch from the sidelines as her brother was strangled to death.
And not only that.
Drip. Drip.
Small drops of blood fell onto the moss. They weren't coming from Karelos's nose. He gave a groan of pain.
At that moment, the rotten black had begun it's spreading. This was slow thanks to the defensive powers of Myrn flow, but it wasn't harmless. It was a slow inevitable death.
Karelos's airway fully closed as Hyde tightened his grip, his Myrn concentrating at his palms. Karelos tried to focus his Myrn on his neck, but his brain's lack of oxygen was starting to cloud his mind.
He tried to focus on the flow of the Myrn rivers. Their streams. The perfect basin for them. But his mind snapped back to reality when Hyde's grip twitched.
His vision was starting to blur, the edges turning whiter, and whiter...
"Karelos...-"
This is it. Isn't it? The trees outside the capital are lovely. I helped a guy today, and he tried to kill me. Don't worry, Xena, you can still run. Run as far as possible, you can do it. I'll stay here, cause right now...
Everything is too beautiful.
- - -
From the trees, something emerged. A figure hit Hyde at a speed neither of them could handle, taking him entirely off his feet, the grip on Karelos's throat breaking cleanly.
Karelos dropped onto the floor, luckily landing on his side this time, he pulled in air as hard as he could, rolling ninety degrees onto his back, now facing the sky.
Hyde moved to rise and the figure already had him, a knee in his back, both arms completely restrained and controlled. Hyde's black hands were hard pressed into the moss, away from anything they could reach.
His finger made contact with the figure's restraining hands. But Rotten Touch wouldn't do anything.
He tried again. It didn't even flinch or react, not even a small gasp. Hyde went still in defeat.
The figure looked up at Xena and Karelos from the ground, with an unhurried, surprisingly calm look. Like they had deal with such things before.
"Are you two alright?"
The figure let it's face be seen, a full image was now clear. His hair was messy and curly at medium length. A pair of goggles rest on top of their head.
They wore a beige button-up shirt overlaid by a loose green jacket paired with dark green pants with visible purple patches.
Karelos and Xena nodded, the former did so with what little energy he currently had in him. Xena on the other hand was completely surprised, her jaw wouldn't close.
"W-Who are you...?" Xena asked, she seemed as if she was about to head towards Karelos's direction, but he was starting to lift himself up from the ground.
"My name is Vimar Karamild. Nice to meet you."