"What do you want this time?" I sighed irritably.

  "Watch your mouth, I have had enough of your disrespect," Replied the king with a frown.

  "Yeah, well, right back at you, royal pain in my."

  "There is no reason for hostilities, let us get to the matter at hand, shall we?" Interrupted Erhtaph, looking stressed out.

  "I am not the one being hostile, he is-!" The king began to exclaim in reply.

  "Ever consider that maybe you're just an incompetent leader? I mean, I never had so much as a single argument or problem with the previous king, but you've ticked me off time and time again, your people skills suck," I remarked icily.

  "I-incompetent!? How dare you speak to me like this……enough, I shall exile you from the Rustlands, we no longer need you to-!" He yelled, standing up furiously.

  "Do not be so hasty, your majesty, please do not make such decisions while you are not in a calm state of mind," Erhtaph swiftly cut him off in alarm.

  "He's got a point, you don't want me as your enemy," I added with a slight smirk.

  "Are you threatening m-?" He began with a furious look on his face, when he was suddenly interrupted by the doors to the throne room being flung open and a guarding bursting through them with a panicked look on his face.

  "Y-your highness, they're back! The troops of Silvland!" He exclaimed urgently.

  Already? It's only been like five and a half weeks since the last attack. Not good, I need to get out there.

  "Well, guess this conversation is gonna have to wait. I'm gonna go," I remarked, before swiftly taking off before he could respond……

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Rion Xester

  ———————————————————————————


  "Alright, let's chug!" Grinned Rex, downing an entire mug of beer within a few seconds.

  "Damn, how do you do that without gagging?" Inquired Rai with a laugh.

  "Heh, that's what she said," I remarked, causing Rai to choke on his beer and let out a cough.

  "Ow, I think some beer burst out of my nose," Groaned Rai, using a tissue to wipe his face.

  "So, where's Kuro and Az at? They were supposed to join us for drinking today, right?" Inquired Rex, refilling his mug.

  "Yeah, Kuro got called to the castle again, so he'll be a bit late, and Az should be here in like a half hour," Replied Rai, taking a gulp of his beer with a sigh, "So, how come day drinking?"

  "Because it's less crowded," I grinned, munching on some fries.

  "Oh, yeah, good point," He said with a laugh.

  Gotta say, this is the life……I got off to a really rough start in this world, and then things got better when I became a successful test subject for the Karma experiments, but I still felt like something was missing. For a moment, it seemed like things were gonna go wrong again after the Vampires attacked, but then, thanks to Kuro, the Rustlands took us in.

  It was a little uncomfortable at first, suddenly living alongside people whom we'd been enemies with not too long ago, but after I settled in, I found myself enjoying life more than I ever had since reincarnating in this world. I love this place, the people are nice, the food is great and most of all, the freedom is amazing.

  True, I had a fair amount of freedom when I was with The Valaque Empire too, but I still felt restricted somehow……a fact that I didn't realize until recently. I always acted carefree, but deep down, I felt stress and unease……but now, I genuinely feel carefree……well, except during battles and stuff, but those don't count.

  Alright, that's enough deep thinking for one day, time to get into some deep drinking instead! Oh, I'm gonna get so wasted……suddenly, my line of thought was cut off as screams began ringing out outside, along with the sound of metal weapons striking each other……you have got to be kidding me……

  "Don't tell me they're back already," Frowned Rex, standing up with a grimace.

  "Guess drinking is gonna have to wait……I'm just glad that I'm closer to sober than drunk right now," Added Rai wryly, before taking out a Spell Card, "Well, it's a good thing that I carry my scythe with me these days……Extract!"

  "Let's go destroy them so that we can get back to drinking, what do you say, guys?" I inquired, standing up and slamming my fists together.

  "I'm with you on that," Replied Rai affirmatively, though he had a slightly uneasy look on his face.

  Ohh, right, I remember him once mentioning that he's anti-killing……but in this situation, he doesn't have a choice, it's kill or be killed, after all. Well, the thing with killing is that, the more you do it, the more you get used to it……and in a world like this, he'll just have to get used to it.

  "Come on, let's go," I remarked, though Rex was already almost out of the bar.

  "Yeah, I'm right behind you," Responded Rai, following after me as I headed for the exit.

  The moment I stepped out, my eyes were met with a sight of absolute mayhem. There were so many of them……the Rustlands' Volunteers, the regular citizens who had volunteered for Corruption Magic power ups in return for patrolling the streets, were being slaughtered.

  It wasn't a matter of skill, it was a matter of numbers……our side was heavily, heavily outnumbered. And the Silvland troops were yelling out something as they attacked……it was hard to make out exactly what they were saying, but……it seems like they're shouting that Kuro is the reason why they're attacking. That can't be anything good……

  "Shit, this is worse than I thought……we gotta take them out quickly, careful not to strike any of the Volunteers in the process!" Exclaimed Rai with a grim look on his face, after initially reacting with a horrified expression.

  The Volunteers all wore either rust-colored armbands or rust-colored headbands, so they were easy enough to spot. I zipped up using Flight to get a better view, before charging up black flames enhanced by rapidly spinning wind, and then swooping down towards a large group of them, slamming my right fist onto one of their heads as I reached the ground, the force tearing his head clean off of his shoulders.

  Another one sprang up behind me with a yell, lightning charged up in his hands. I swiftly struck his chest with the back of my left fist, sending him flying back and crashing onto a wall, blood bursting out like a ketchup packet, as his ribs tore out through his skin.

  A woman then leapt at me with a sword raised, I reacted by rapidly swinging my right foot out in her direction, which slammed onto her midsection and sent her flying back, crashing onto a few others, a spear piercing through her from behind. I don't see any Volunteers nearby……good.

  I then rapidly flew up as three of them began to close in on me, charging up flames and wind in my hands as fast as I could while using the wind to contain and compress the flames, before diving straight down at top speed, slamming my fists onto the ground as I reached it and releasing the swirling spheres of wind that were holding in the flames.

  The ground broke apart like a pane of glass shattering, the flames bursting outwards along with the shockwave created by my fists, scorching and knocking back all the Silvland troops around me, killing several of them as they fell onto their allies' weapons or landed on their heads or necks at fatal angles. Looks like plenty of 'em are still alive though……

  Meanwhile, Rai and Rex were making good progress too. Rai was jumping around nimbly and cutting them down with his scythe, evading their attacks with ease. Rex was provoking them while staying airborne and then swooping into any openings and slashing at them with his raptor claws……he didn't have his guns on him, too bad, those could've really helped on mowing down the enemies.

  Plenty of the Volunteers are equipped with guns, but it takes some practice to get accurate with those things. Well, I can't worry about what's happening elsewhere, I'll just focus on my here and now, we can move on to a different area after we're done killing the enemies over here.

  Looks like most of the remaining Silvland troops over here were warily keeping their distance from me……and it's obvious that some had run away, the crowd had thinned out quite a bit. But it seems that all the Volunteers that had been in this area were killed. Rai then signaled to Rex and I to regroup, the two of us swiftly converging on his position with our backs to each other, forming an outward-facing circle……or rather, triangle.

  "What's up, is something the matter?" I inquired, as the enemies began to surround us.

  "No, I just thought that it'd be easier to take them out if they surround us……I'll use my lightning, you use your fire and wind……and Rex, throw ice at them or something," He remarked, before forming a dome-shaped barrier around us and firing out a couple of lightning bolts, "It's a one-way barrier, so we should be."

  He was interrupted by a rapid figure striking the top of the barrier with a sharp amount of force, cracking and shattering the top of the dome and entering the barrier, landing in front of Rex.

  "So, you really have betrayed the Rustlands, haven't you, Gela?" Remarked Rex with a grimace.

  "Oh, who cares about that stuff," Came the reply, her tone dripping with a sadistic, bloodthirsty lilt, "Well, come on then, let's tear each other apart!"

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

  Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

  https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP