Chapter 109: Taste of Violence

‘[Rampage].’

Sandra’s mind drowned in rage as her body welled with strength.

It was the cost of [Rampage]… She traded rational thought for power. Her body began running purely on instinct with merely three factors guiding it: protect her allies, use anything and everything at her disposal to win, and kill her opponent.

Without thought, she hurled [Order] over Éloi’s head. The tip of the axe clipped Clear’s descending scythe just in time, knocking it off course so that instead of carving through him, the blade buried itself in his shoulder.

Éloi’s screams filled the air, but the sound never made it to Sandra’s ears.

Kicking off the ground with frantic speed, she charged at Clear’s back.

Clear simply smiled as he forced his scythe deeper, then dragged the blade down through Éloi’s shoulder, trying to carve farther through him and take his other arm with it. Through tears and screams, Éloi clamped his hand around the blade and, aided by [Scale Armor], held it still with all his might, buying Sandra the fraction of a second she needed to close the distance.

[You have unequipped [Order]]

Abandoning his weapon, Clear bent backward, letting Sandra’s kick whip over his face.

From that bent position, with Sandra’s outstretched leg passing inches above him, he looked straight up at her.

“That look in your eyes!”

Sandra’s planted foot pivoted on the spot. Her hips turned with it, carrying the motion through her extended leg. She folded her knee mid-spin, then snapped her heel down in a question-mark kick aimed at Clear’s stomach.

The blow landed, folding Clear at the waist and sending his legs over his head before his back crashed into the ground.

Sandra gave the assault no rest.

Brandishing her claws, she dropped onto him, straddled his waist, and clamped both hands toward the sides of his head.

Clear caught both of her scaled wrists and held her claws inches from his face, muscles straining as he steadily forced her hands apart.

“Feisty!”

Sandra answered by driving her forehead into his.

Then again… and again.

Bone cracked against bone. Blood began to trickle down both of their foreheads as Nora rushed back into the fight after dragging Éloi clear.

Clear looked over at Nora, who’d charged to Sandra’s side, raised her sword overhead, and prepared to plunge it straight through his face.

“Sandra, pull away!”

Even if she couldn’t consciously think, her unconscious mind heeded her ally’s command.

Sandra snapped her torso upright, clearing Nora’s line of attack.

Nora’s sword split through the air, shearing through the suspended water droplets as it plunged toward Clear’s face.

Clear’s head snapped to the side so fast it left an afterimage in Sandra’s mind.

It was [Burst].

The sword plunged into the dirt a hair’s breadth from his ear, and he cheered:

“I didn’t expect this! You truly aimed to kill me! Where have women like you been hiding all my life!”

Plucking her sword from the ground, Nora spat back:

“Haven’t you been in prison nearly your whole life?”

Sandra threw her weight forward again, trying to crush Clear beneath her, but his hand flashed up and closed around her throat, stopping her before she could slam her full weight down onto him.

Still staring at Nora, he replied:

“You know me too, do you?!”

Instead of responding, Nora slashed for the arm holding Sandra.

Clear twisted beneath her and yanked Sandra sideways across his chest, pulling her body directly between himself and Nora’s descending blade.

Nora killed the swing just before it reached Sandra’s side.

An awkward huff of enjoyment escaped from Clear’s lips as he forced himself up beneath Sandra, rising from the ground until he stood with her suspended by the throat.

It was as her feet began to dangle that [Rampage] came to an end.

‘T-this fucker!’

Sandra gripped his wrist and scratched at it with her claws, but even as the flesh of his forearm split beneath them and blood dripped down his body, Clear’s grip never loosened.

Then, while constantly pivoting to keep Sandra between himself and Nora, his scythe began to appear in his free hand. He had recalled it sometime during the scuffle.

Sandra was summoning [Order] back, but it was clear she’d be a beat slower.

Sandra’s voice croaked as Clear’s grip tightened.

“D- Ack!”

Unarmed, Sandra still couldn’t use [Strike], nor would she resummon [Order] in time.

‘Damn it.’

Nora’s voice grew shaky as she screamed.

“Asshole!”

Clear continued circling with Nora, turning with every step she took to search for an opening and keeping Sandra squarely between them, until his weapon finally formed. The cheer left his voice as he replied:

“All’s fair in war.”

Tossing the scythe upward, Clear caught the shaft closer to the blade, shortening his grip. In the same motion, he rotated the weapon and drove the edge into Sandra’s side.

It bit into her skin. Sandra could feel the blade punch deep enough to rupture something vital, though [Tough Skin] and [Scale Armor] kept it from driving far enough to reach her heart.

Sandra’s expression darkened as she spat up blood.

‘Fuck you…’

Her right hand shot over and seized the scythe’s edge with dauntless grace, gripping tightly even as the blade carved into her palm. Blood mingled with the water droplets covering her body and ran down her arm.

“Fuck you, piece of fucking shit!”

[You have equipped [Order]]

Behind her, Nora whispered:

“Oh no… she’s lost it again.”

Disregarding the fact that she could barely breathe or that a scythe was buried in her side, Sandra began relentlessly kicking, aiming between his legs.

At the same time, she swung down the axe with her left hand, empowering the blow with [Strike].

At last, Clear was forced to back away to dodge the onslaught, releasing Sandra’s throat and the scythe’s shaft, then catching the weapon again by its pommel as he retreated.

“Woah!”

Still gripping the blade embedded in her side to keep Clear from reclaiming it, Sandra shot a bloodthirsty glare at the ‘useless’ comrade behind her.

“Nora! Do it, bitch! Kill the fucker!”

Nora didn’t waste words complaining about the insult. Instead, she listened, recalling [Vortex].

The water droplets that had been circling the air and smashing into each of them all sucked themselves toward Nora, slamming into her skin before being steadily absorbed.

Then…

Nora cast her own ability, [Burst]. She shot past the impaled Sandra, appearing in front of Clear with her blade at his throat.

It slipped cleanly into his Adam’s apple.

Clear’s body froze, allowing Sandra to finally pull the scythe free from her side.

Coughing up more blood, she fell to her knees.

But something was clearly wrong.

There was no blood on Nora’s blade.

A voice sounded from behind them, next to Éloi.

Clear stood over the half-dead man with his hand raised, all five fingers ending in wicked nails, pressed together into a point aimed directly at Éloi’s throat.

“I’ve been waiting for that to end!”

It wasn’t clear what had happened, but the Clear Nora stabbed began melting into glowing purple petals that scattered through the air.

Suddenly…

“I can’t let you do that, sir!”

‘A… bird man?’

A man with feathered wings, violet hair, and a wolf-skull helmet streaked across the landing and slammed shoulder-first into Clear’s side, knocking him on his ass.

Though the purple-haired man seemed more out of sorts than Clear as he wobbled and walked in circles. Finally, he adjusted his stance and said:

“Hi, I’m Jack— woah!”

Clear’s sudden kick forced him to jump away.

But the distraction bought just enough time for Nora to catch up to Clear.

A flicker of consternation washed across Clear’s face as Nora’s blade began slicing into his arms and legs despite his best efforts to dodge.

It seemed whatever trick he’d just pulled was some sort of ultimate move.

And now, weakened by [Vortex]’s siphon while Nora was empowered by it, Clear was on the back foot, especially while once again disarmed.

Not in any condition to do much to help her, Sandra’s eyes drifted to their second visitor from another race.

‘Who is he…?’

And why did he have a helmet awfully similar to Ash’s?

‘No… that crack in its side. That. That is Ash’s…’

She watched as he bent down and held a hand to Éloi. His taloned hand began to glow green.

“Here you go, buddy!”

‘[Mend]…’

Awkwardly, after healing Éloi slightly, Jack scooped him up and marched over to Sandra, who was kneeling and holding her hand over her side.

As Jack set the unconscious man down, he said:

“Yikes! That looks terrible.”

After waiting a few moments for the cooldown, he cast [Mend] on her.

A slight relief washed through her, but it also took the edge off the adrenaline. The rush of pain that followed was distressing… to say the least, but she’d manage.

“Your buddy… Claude, I think it was. He told us to come check on you!”

‘Us…?’

And…

‘Claude…? What the hell did those two get up to? Why… does he have Ash’s helm?’

Either way, Sandra was thankful. At the very least, Éloi would have bitten the dust.

Her eyes drifted back to Nora, who’d managed to drive Clear to his knees and was constantly threatening one killing blow after another, but the cockroach was diving and crawling around, barely managing to dodge each strike.

Sandra began to wobble, then turned and said:

“Jack, thank you.”

Then she promptly passed out.