Against The Cold ~ Alberose

Chapter 13

"Timaeus!" Kaeya shouted across the roar of the battlefield. "Find Amber! We need another arrow volley!"

The bow-wielding alchemist nodded and rushed off, pausing a few times to fire arrows into the surge of Fatui warriors.

Timaeus brushed past Albedo, who was courageously fighting off a horde of cicin mages with a young knight by the name of Elisie. Gritting his teeth, Albedo lunged back and forth, feeling the powerful shockwaves of electro energy pulsing through the air.

Every part of his body was on fire, but not with pain -- with determination, adrenaline, and diligence. Albedo's hands were clammy and shaking, sweat and blood running down his forehead and cheek. He didn't stop.

He tossed his sword in the air, kicked the cicin mage in the chest, and caught his weapon again, using its hilt to knock the mage unconscious.

This was nothing compared to Kaeya. The cavalry captain was angrily shoving his way through the crowd, mercilessly slicing down mages and skirmishers with no slow in pace. This was what he was built for, this is what he'd trained for over the span of ten-odd years.

And he did it flawlessly.

With barely a scratch on him, Kaeya was still slashing and dodging and spinning around enemies when Albedo heard someone call, "Burn!" Whirling around, the alchemist saw Master Diluc plunging to the ground and scattering enemies with a swing of his overly large sword -- a claymore, Albedo recalled, a weapon known for its heaviness but great damage-dealing capabilities.

"Diluc!" Kaeya called, pausing his relentless sword swinging to give the Dawn Winery owner a delighted grin that lit up his face.

Diluc grunted, swinging his claymore around to hit a blue-clad skirmisher approaching him. "Yeah, it's me. Don't get too excited," he snorted, turning to face Kaeya. "Now, we've got a war to win, have we not?" Kaeya seemed to return to reality at that moment and nodded, taking up a position beside Diluc.

As the two fought their way forward, Albedo noted how the two fought side by side, and then he recalled that the two were brothers, forced apart by some family quarrel that no one seemed to know about too well.

It was evident to Albedo -- the way they both swung their weapons in perfect synchronization, their hardened expressions, even the way they looked at each other before attacking -- that they trained together more times than Albedo would've guessed.

☆: *᯽* :☆

Sucrose rushed across the tent, desperately trying to gather more materials to heal Eula, who'd been given a rather nasty gash on her upper shoulder by a very angry Fatui agent. Her cut had quickly become infected, and Sucrose scrambled to find the right potion to cure it.

"Eula, stay calm, this is going to hurt," Sucrose soothed, pressing a cold cloth to the Spindrift Knight's forehead.

"Just do . . . what you have to . . . ." Eula's head flopped back against the cot, her face beaded with sweat.

Sucrose gently tapped a bit of serum -- thankfully not Lisa's -- onto Eula's shoulder wound. Instantly Eula let out a string of curses, the pain clearly very difficult to bear.

After a moment, Eula stopped breathing so heavily and stopped violently swearing. She sat up and winced, her shoulder still oozing red blood. Sucrose gently wrapped a clean white cloth around the wound.

Eula gritted her teeth. "I will get vengeance for this, you know," the pale blue-haired girl said menacingly.

Sucrose gave a squeak of fright, but another knight on a cot next to Eula let out a hoarse laugh. "Don't get your knickers in a twist," he said. "Eula says that to everyone, and she just means she'll repay you."