Point-of-View: Rion Xester

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  "Hey, you're not too bad!" I exclaimed with a grin, as I evaded the swing of her hammer and slashed at her with my axe, grazing her shoulder as she sprang back and got some distance.

  "Be careful, Kyle!" Warned the guy with the sword, wincing in pain as he tried to stand up.

  "Huh……isn't Kyle a boy's name?" I inquired, as she shot towards me and swung her hammer at my face, lightning crackling around it as I ducked backwards to evade it and then used the momentum to backflip, my right foot clipping her chin as I spun back and got some distance.

  "Shut up, I don't owe you my backstory!" She exclaimed in response, as she shot towards me again, with lightning crackling around her hammer.

  Huh? What does her name have to do with her backstory? Well, whatever, it doesn't matter, since I'm going to have to kill her……my original target was the guy with the sword, but she's really strong too, and besides, I'm pretty sure the main reason my target was selected was because of his weapon……so it shouldn't make a difference whether I get the hammer or the sword.

  Oh, wait……how do I retrieve the weapon after killing them? I'm guessing I can't touch it since I already own one of these weapons……well, whatever, I'll figure something out afterwards, I shouldn't get too ahead of myself. I may be stronger than her, but that doesn't mean she can't defeat me, especially if I underestimate her.

  I then fired out a blast of my black flames at her, enhanced by a concentrated burst of wind, which she partially evaded, letting out a hiss of pain as some of the flames licked her right leg, burning her skin.

  She then channeled lightning into her hammer and shot towards me with the weapon raised, thrusting the end of the handle at me with a fierce yell, which I parried with my axe, before quickly springing back as she spun the handle around with a flick of her wrist, the hammer end of it swinging down towards me.

  I blocked it with my axe using both hands, before taking one hand off and firing out a black flame blast at her, which she quickly sprang back and tried to block using her hammer, but couldn't fully block my flames, getting burns on her neck and arms, letting out a stifled cry of pain as she stumbled back.

  I then shot forward and swung my axe across at her horizontally, she quickly blocked with her hammer, raising the handle to get in the way of my slash, but the moment she did, I slightly adjusted my swing, shifting my aim to one of the spots on the handle where her fingers were wrapped around.

  She let out of scream of pain as I struck her, the force sending her flying back and crashing onto the wall of a building with immense force, coughing out blood with a look of agony. She collapsed onto her knees in pain and dropped her hammer, since I ended up chopping off three of the fingers on her right hand, and of the remaining fingers, her right pinky was hanging on by a literal, bloody thread.

  "Damn you……! You goddamn coward……why are you doing this!?" Yelled the sword guy in despair, using his blade as a crutch to hoist himself back onto his feet, but it was all he could do just to stay standing, plus he looked like he was barely hanging onto his consciousness, must be a combination of the pain and blood loss.

  "This is a war, dude, I'm doing what I must, nothing personal. And I know that this is somewhat playing dirty, attacking you guys right after you fended off a large scale battle……but I've done far worse for far less significant stakes, this is nothing in the big picture. It's survival of the fittest in this world, I learned that a long time ago," I remarked seriously, as pointed my axe at him.

  I committed a lot of atrocities under Valaque, and I got accustomed to it pretty quickly, which I think is fair, considering how shitty things had been for me when I first came to this world. Despite that, I was relieved when the Rustlands accepted us after The Valaque Empire fell and I no longer had to do such dirty work.

  That may no longer be the case, but there's a big difference between Tirayze Valaque and Kuro Black……Valaque only did what he did for his own satisfaction, and because I was so pissed off at this world myself, I felt it'd be hypocritical to call him out on it.

  But Kuro's reasons are different……he's doing this out of necessity, to ensure the continued survival of Abyss and its residents. And since that's the case, as unpleasant as this, I don't mind doing it……for me, the end justifies the means.

  Or rather, I understand that you can't always get the outcome you want by playing nice……we're facing two significant enemies in the Rustlands and the Laus Domain, and Kuro's tactics are designed to weaken them while minimizing casualties on our side as much as possible……and there's no way we can accomplish that without playing dirty.

  So, yeah, while I have no particular grudges against these two……I have no problem killing them if it means we can actually accomplish that goal, cruel as it may be, life isn't so convenient that you can get what you want the way you want it. Now, then, I suppose I should wrap this up, I think I've only got about one and a half to two minutes left at this point……

  As the sword guy collapsed onto his knees again with a gasp of pain, Kyle picked up her hammer with her left hand, letting out a stifled whimper as she zapped her right hand with lightning to stop the bleeding from her missing fingers.

  "Time to end this……sorry, but I need you to die. Like I said, it's nothing personal," I remarked, as I flew up and fired down a barrage of wind enhanced fireballs down at her, which she frantically and desperately evaded, a few of the blasts grazing her as she let out hisses of pain.

  As she evaded another but lost her balance as she slipped on a broken chunk of rubble, I rapidly swooped down towards her with my axe raised, swinging it down with all my strength as I closed in on her, she began to spring away but was slow to do so, before letting out an excruciating scream of pain as my axe came down on her right leg, chopping it off from below the knee.

  I then jumped away as a sword came flying towards me, before halting as I evaded it and then flying back in the direction it came from……ohh, I see what happened, the sword guy flung his sword at me.

  "D-damn it……I……I-I'm not letting you……do this……," He muttered weakly, a look of sheer desperation in his eyes, before collapsing to the ground as he lost consciousness……guess the blood loss finally knocked him out.

  Oh, and it looks like Kyle is unconscious too, she must have zapped her bleeding leg with lightning to stop the bleeding, and then I'm guessing the sheer pain of it knocked her the fuck out.

  Huh, so now I can kill both of them, great……and I should be able to do so without them feeling a thing, since they're both out cold. Okay, now I need to figure out how to take their weapons back with me……suddenly, a group of Adventurers appeared, firing Elemental attacks at me as I began to approach the sword guy.

  "Get away from them, you damned traitor!"

  "We'll hold him off, get the two of them out of here and healed up!"

  "Use teleport spells to escape, hurry!"

  "Alright, we got it!"

  Six of them, four are facing me and the other two were recovering Kyle and the sword guy. They're not getting away!

  I shot forward, propelling myself with a burst of wind and swung my axe across vertically as I held the very end of the handle in order to make full use of its flexibility, decapitating the four in front before they could even react, before flying as fast as I could towards the Adventurer with Kyle, who was reaching into a pouch on his hip.

  He fumbled in panic and desperation as he saw me coming, and that's all it took to ensure his demise, as I closed in, grabbed his head and blasted out black flames, his screams barely lasting two seconds as I reduced his head to a charred, unrecognizable brick of ash.

  Right as I shifted my attention to the sword guy, the Adventurer with him managed to teleport away, before I could attack him. He got away, huh? Just as well, I suppose……the Snow Serpent wrapped around my shoulder just stiffened, that's supposed to signal that there's ten seconds left before it triggers the reverse-summon.

  Now, then, I need to think fast……how do I get the hammer back to Abyss? Do I kill her, grab the hammer and then hope the teleportation kicks in before my hand gets repelled? No, that probably won't work……wait, what if I take her back with me, along with the hammer, of course, and then kill her once we're there?

  Her left hand is wrapped around the handle of the hammer……alright, this'll work, no doubt about it! I grabbed hold of her shoulder, making sure that she really was unconscious……yup, there's no question, she's out cold.

  The reverse-summon then activated, and the moment I found myself back in Abyss, I grabbed her head and twisted, breaking her neck and killing her, a loud crunch echoing out in the throne room as I did……

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