Taki strained her blades against the chains, grunting with the effort, all the while giving the men murderous glares.

“Not that we managed much of a surprise this time either," Theron continued, unperturbed.

“She still would have dodged us if it weren't for these chains. They were worth every gold piece.“ He then smirked at

Taki. "Yeah, I can tell you want to kill me, but your bindings are enchanted. You won't be able to cut through them and they won't release their grip."

Jarvis grimaced as he and Theron continued to brace themselves in opposite directions to keep Taki from moving toward either of them.

“Damn bitch isn't passing out Theron!"

“Course she isn't!" Theron snapped back.

“Those scythes can't cut her free but she did manage to wedge them against the chains so we can't tighten them against her neck or rib cage.”

Taki stilled herself and concentrated. Before anything else she had to confirm Carter was alive. All monsters could sense the spirit energy of their husband at any distance, but having never tried to do more than detect his residual energy before it could take a while to track him properly. Still she could at least tell he still lived.

With that knowledge she now addressed her captors while scanning for possible escape options.

“Who has taken Carter?”

“The errand boy?" the youngest-looking of the trio now spoke, still tensely holding his crossbow but trying his hand at the banter. "Oh I'd say he's well on his way back to Jiro by now, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes."

“Don't answer her questions rookie!" Theron admonished.

“Enough talking, let's just finish the job. If the chains don't work then arrows are best for taking down a mantis. Even with her arms bound those legs can ruin your day, so killing at a distance is safest. Aim for her neck."

“If I wanted to be safe then I wouldn't have become a monster hunter,” the younger man replied in an irritated tone.

"Yeah I know, it's always about the money with you," Theron remarked, a disturbing smile coming to his lips.

“Some of us do this for the love of it."

"Whatever," the rookie dismissed, readying his crossbow and aiming.

Taki acted first, scooping one of the apples on the ground up with her left foot and kicking it into Theron's face. He reeled back in pain, letting go of his chain just as the rookie loosed his arrow. Now semi-free to dodge, Taki bent and moved to the side just enough to avoid the projectile as it shot past her and embedded itself in a tree trunk. She then leaped to headbutt Jarvis in his stomach, in the process wrenching free the rest of Theron's chain that had been wrapped around his arm.

As Jarvis stumbled back with his breath knocked out, Taki could feel the chains loosening. As she had hoped, the magical chains were controlled by the minds of the wielders, it was how they had directed the chains to bind her in the first place, but this also meant the spell lost focus if the mind of the user was seriously jolted, in this case through pain. It was slight and she still couldn't cut through them, but after all her flexibility training it was all she needed.