Chapter 209: Fighting Besides Daisy

The twenty men charged across the sandy field with their weapons raised.

Kalon did not wait for them to close the distance.

He stepped forward and used Photon Slash once. A line of light cut through the first rank and dropped four of them before their boots finished kicking up dust.

Daisy moved at the same time. Her gun snapped up, Force locking the barrel steady, and the first shot punched clean through a helmet, splattering blood everywhere. Fire trailed the second bullet and blew another man off his feet.

Two more came at Kalon from the left. He raised earth under their path and crushed it shut around their legs, then finished them by creating a coffin of earth around their bodies and crushing it shut.

Another managed to dodge the coffin and tried to crawl away. Kalon put him down with a small burst of darkness that erased his heart.

Daisy reloaded without looking at him and kept firing. Every shot landed. Every body that got close enough for a blade never reached her.

A spearman broke from the right and went straight for her back. Kalon cut the weapon in half with a narrow band of light, then kicked the man into Daisy’s next shot. The shot took him through the chest and dropped him on his back in the sand.

Kalon watched her while he fought.

Her stance was good. Blood and sand stuck to the black armour on her arms, but none of it slowed her down. When another man tried to flank her, she turned, put a Force-weighted round through his chest, and stepped over the body without breaking stride.

「War Commander Daisy Seduction +4」

Seduction Stage Five: 54%

Kalon noticed something strange. Her seduction towards him was growing even stronger.

She was not looking at him with open desire. Not fully. But something in the fight was feeding it. The fact that he had stayed. The fact that he was cutting her enemies down beside her instead of vanishing after his usual games. The fact he was so powerful, unlike the other men she often found herself working with.

Another group tried to form a line and attack.

But when they stepped into range, they felt deep sea pressure lowering their attributes, making them slower and weaker.

Their boots sank heavier into the sand. Their swings came late. Kalon walked into that opening, broke their formation with a small burst from Ninefold Sunbreaker, then used darkness to erase the sword arm of the man who still tried to reach him.

The body fell hard. Daisy fired past his shoulder and dropped the last of that group with two clean shots, one into a knee, one into the throat.

「War Commander Daisy Seduction +3」

Seduction Stage Five: 57%

There were only a handful left now.

One of them shouted about reinforcements and tried to run.

Daisy shot him in the back without hesitation.

Another lunged at Kalon with a spear.

Kalon snapped the shaft, stepped inside the man’s guard, and drove his fist up under his jaw.

A third came in swinging a heavy axe.

Kalon caught the handle with a short wall of earth, locked it in place, and burned the man where he stood with a miniature orb of fire.

The final two hesitated when they saw the others go down so quickly. That alone was enough.

Daisy put one down with a round through the heart. Kalon took the last man’s legs out from under him with a sweep of earth, before creating a crater for the man to fall into, and sealing the top with more dirt and earth.

Then the field was quiet again.

Twenty fresh corpses joined the ones already cooling in the sand. Smoke drifted off a few of the bodies. Blood soaked dark patches into the ground around their boots.

Kalon let his skills fade. Daisy lowered her gun and scanned the field once more out of habit. She checked the left ridge, then the open sand behind them. There was nothing left moving.

「War Commander Daisy Seduction +5」

Seduction Stage Five: 62%

Kalon looked over at her properly.

She was still flushed under the pale skin.

Pink gems across her scalp glowed faintly.

Her breathing had steadied, but her eyes kept drifting back to him whether she meant them to or not.

Blood marked the edge of her jaw and the side of one gauntlet. None of it made her look less attractive. If anything, it made her look even prettier.

They stood among the corpses in silence for a moment.

Kalon stepped closer.

"Not bad," he said. "For a first fight as partners."

Daisy glanced at the bodies, then at him. "They were weak."

"Compared to us, perhaps. But anyone else would have been killed."

He looked at her with a small smile.

"We should celebrate."

Daisy blinked. "Celebrate?"

"Our new alliance. And the victory." His eyes moved over her blood-spattered armour, then back to her face. "Unless you plan on pretending this was nothing."

Her cheeks coloured at once.

"You keep saying things like that," she muttered.

"Why not?" He shrugged.

Daisy’s jaw tightened. "You think you can talk to a War Commander however you want just because we—"

"Because I pinned you down in your own tent and made you finish so hard you could barely stand?" Kalon said. "Yes."

The blush spread harder across her pale face. The pink gems on her skull brightened with it. She tried to hold his gaze and failed for half a second before forcing her eyes back to him.

"That was different," she said.

"Was it?"

Kalon stepped into her space. Daisy did not move back. Her grip shifted on the gun, then loosened.

"You fought well," Kalon said. "You looked good doing it. And you are still thinking about the last time I had you."

"I am not—"

"You are. I’m certain."

Daisy’s mouth opened, then closed again.

Whatever sharp reply she wanted would not come out.

Kalon reached up and wiped a smear of blood from the edge of her jaw with his thumb. She flinched at the contact, but she still did not step away.

"Celebrate with me," he said.

For a long moment Daisy only stood there, breathing harder than the fight had required.

Her fingers flexed once against the gun, then went still.

Then her shoulders dropped. Her body relaxed as she decided to stop fighting her urges.

"...Fine," she said quietly.