The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 168: Flames of Resilience

All this time, she had been taking her friends' strength for granted. She knew this. It was why she decided to take up the sword herself, but she still was no match for him.

Calista gritted her teeth to hold herself back as Yona sank to the floor but lost the battle against herself and ended up blurting out, "HIS FEET!!"

A hand was slapped over her mouth the next second and the burly man on her right snarled in her ear.

"You better shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you." He threatened darkly, cold steel stark against her heated skin emphasizing his point and Calista glared at him as best as she could without aggravating him further.

But even though her instruction was muffled towards the end, Yona still heard. Taking her advice in a heartbeat without allowing for her opponent to get away, she rolled out from under him and spun, sweeping her leg at his feet.

He landed hard on the ground and Yona scrambled back, chest heaving in exertion, and whispered something to Lili that no one else could hear.

And when Lili looked up, something simmering in her teary eyes, Calista saw her chance.

What happened next occurred in the blink of an eye.

The hand gripping her left arm slackened just the barest bit and without a second thought, Calista seized the opportunity. Kicking him away from her, she flicked her wrist and blocked the knife at her neck with a slim blade she snatched from her waistband earlier. Keeping it from cutting her any deeper, she pushed him off and elbowed the burly man on the right hard in the stomach.

He doubled over in pain and finally free of her captors, she sprinted towards Yona faster than any other of Hiyou's minions could grab her.

Calista reached the princess' side in four strides and shielded her from the front, smirking at the flabbergasted men and the furious drug lord.

A collective cry of outraged confusion sounded from the four guards remaining. "H-How?!"

But they bit their tongues and each took a fearful step back, save for their leader, as a murderous aura emitted from the seething underground fighter standing protectively in front of the red-haired girl as she caught her second wind.

Calista laughed, the hollow sound bouncing off of the paper thin walls surrounding them. Swiping a thumb across her neck, an angry red streak was left in its wake as she smeared the blood carelessly, not even flinching once at the harsh sting. She lifted her chin defiantly and grinned.

"You didn't really think you had the upper hand, did you?" She mocked, planting a hand on her hip as her silver eyes hardened.

She was too quick, too smart to get captured like that. It was to give Yona and Lili an opening to escape, which of course the stubborn princess refused to take. Classic strong willed Yona.

But Calista didn't give up. She watched and waited. She read Yona's body language like the back of her hand and the silent hints at what the princess wanted her to do, the two of them playing the men as expertly as Jae-ha played his erhu.

They trusted each other. And outwitted them completely.

"You incompetent idiots!!" Hiyou shouted, veins popping out of his forehead as he grabbed his men by the collar and throttled them as realization hit him that he had been played. "Get her and kill all of them!! RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

Calista rolled her eyes at his complaining. He could whine on his own time but right now, he was wasting hers. "Alright, I've had enough of this. Your orders, Red?"

Everyone froze as Yona stood up behind her, gaze unwavering with conviction. Her left hand balled into a fist and her mouth pressed in a determined line.