Commanding her mist to enhance her blade, she lunged forward; a defined feeling of uncertainty settled inside her mind as she performed the action, as if the being she was aiming to cut down did not possess a complete soul, only a mere fragment of the whole.
As she was lost in thought, her blade shifted slightly off course. Lightning quick, it sped past the Strayed Fiend, its grayish-silver skin reflected the light of Luminious, giving it a certain glare.
As the powerful beast prepared to slam its arm into the young girl's side, she had already transferred her mist to enhance her body beyond what a mere Strayed Fiend was capable of slaying in a single blow.
When the attack had landed, a ringing pain shot through her entire body. Her grip on the sword wavered slightly as the numbness began to settle in.
Gritting her teeth in frustration at the already sour turn of events, a bellowing roar left the young girl's mouth, her mind enraged after receiving the blow from the Strayed Fiend.
Ira held the blade with all her might and swung it downwards at the creature. Every fiber of her being demanded for the attack to land, her previous feeling of uncertainty dissipating as it happened.
And so, it did.
A deep slash appeared on the abomination's chest. A few of its ribs had split completely in half. The pain it must have felt was nearly incomprehensible to Ira—she did not spend even a single moment thinking of the pain of her opponent; what purpose would it serve to her? None at all.
She transferred all of her mist into her blade, swinging it at the creature once more—albeit weaker than before due to the lack of her augmented body.
Even so, when the slash landed, one of the beast's arms went flying from its hinges, a deep gasp leaving the silver-haired girl's mouth—not one of surprise, but rather unbridled rage.
The beast counterattacked, its remaining arm slamming into the young girl's sword in a desperate attempt to shatter it.
In the end, the blade did not even crack thanks to the aid of Ira's augmentation—the blow still sent her flying, though.
As she flew through the air, a warm liquid began to seep into the hilt of the blade. Her palms had begun to bleed from the pure amount of pressure her grip was imposing onto it. In the next moment, she commanded her mist to enhance her body, her feet already grazing the ground beneath her.
In a graceful land, the young girl used her remaining momentum to spin around and toss the blade at her opponent. At the same time, she lunged forward; her body moving at the same speed of the blade. The ground shifted beneath her feet, dust flying into the air at the force of her lunge.
Quickly, the sword found its target, biting deeply into the monstrosity's left hip.
At the same time, Ira yanked the blade back, spinning around gracefully as her blade whistled through the air. A look of pure animosity flared inside her scarlet red eyes as she prepared to strike the abomination down in one last display of power.
◇
Bariealla did not possess the domineering strength of Ira or Cammie—her ability gave her no such thing.
Relying on her intelligence, she tossed a handful of dirt at her own target, also a Strayed Fiend. Clutching at its eyes, Bariealla did not let up for even a single moment, a dozen mystical slashes shot towards her opponent from a distance no blade should have been able to reach.
As it bit into its target, the abomination was left in shock at the absence of an injury—only a cold line where the slashes had landed remained.
The slashes practically carved out the creature's heart, preventing the flow of Realm Thread from enhancing the body in that specific area.
The Strayed Fiend did not sit idly by. It lunged forward, its sharp claws prepared to cut Bari down in a single motion.
Even throughout all of its efforts, the attack was blocked by her Soul-Bound weapon, a riding sword.
She had managed to block the blow, but she was still physically mundane. Bariealla was sent flying from the blow. As she slammed against the debris of the earth, her body rolled in a trained and professional manner to avoid injuries.
She plunged her Soul-Bound weapon into the ground, preventing herself from being flung further. Bari quickly recovered and dashed forward, her body narrowly avoiding the large arm crashing down from above.
Gritting her teeth in cold malice, she attempted to plunge her blade into the abomination's heart—only for it to be halted by the creature's thick hide.
Rather than being overcome with a feeling of hopelessness, Bariealla only smiled. "It seems you have used the last bit of Realm Thread you have near your heart to protect it. Would you live if I did the same thing twice?" Her voice was filled with sadistic enjoyment—almost as if begging for the Strayed Fiend to take the bait and become overwhelmed with the feeling of rage.
Just as she had anticipated, the beast charged its fist at her. Perhaps it was from her demeaning comment, or simply because of the beast's desire for destruction. Whatever it was, Bariealla did not even spare a single moment of thought to it.
Her sword glimmered under the radiance of the False Sun, the abomination's eye showed a faint whiff of fear as it reflected into the blade.
A moment later, black blood spilled. A riding sword plunged deep into the Strayed Fiend's ribcage, moving past the very things meant to protect its heart, and pierced it.
◇
The carbon steel blade first split the skin, then the flesh, the muscle—and finally, the lumbar of the spine.
Intestines and other bodily organs spilled from the abomination as its top half fell to the ground—its bottom half remaining upright for a few measly moments before it, too, fell.
It was not dead yet. It was still choking on its own blood as it filled its lungs—if it had lungs to begin with.
Grimacing at the sight, Ira began to approach the abomination, her blade ready to strike down in case a counterattack was even possible. 'I doubt it... Just look at the pitiful state it is in!'
Despite everything, it weakly attempted to slash at the young girl with its one remaining arm, only for it to fall short of even a mere tap on the shoulder. It was pitiful, yet it perfectly summed up the instinct most beings felt; the instinct to survive. Ira had never really thought about whether or not the Purge Beasts held instincts similar to those of Earth's. Maybe it was because she had been too focused on surviving to learn about the monstrosities that had killed billions.
Her mind suddenly went blank. She finally understood why she had never given a moment's thought to these abominations outside of battle. It was simple, really. It was because she despised them with all of her being. She despised them for what they had taken from her, and what they would take from her in the future.
She raised the blade above the air and brought it down with all the force she could muster.
She stood there for multiple moments, awaiting the announcement of the abomination's death with a blank expression—it never came.
◇
Corpses lay all around them, the Strayed Demon among them. It looked as if it had been mauled by a bear as it could only defenselessly attempt to protect itself.
Taking a few steps, Ira breathed in deeply, inhaling the slightly cold and sterile air. Finally, she reached Bariealla. "Did it also… Not announce their deaths..?" She said, rubbing the back of her neck.
Glancing towards Ira, Bari was deep inside of a Purge beast's internal body, scavenging for the Awakening Crystals that usually lay inside.
Pulling out her hands, the lukewarm black blood dripped from her gloved hands.
"Do you see this?" Bariealla said.
Hesitating slightly, the young girl responded with the only answer she could. "See what..?"
A small frown appeared on the violet-eyed girl, "Exactly. That is my point. Purge Beasts usually have one to seven Awakening Crystals inside of them depending on their class—yet this, a Strayed Monster has none, when it should have two! Even the Strayed Fiend I had slain earlier did not have any." Pausing momentarily to catch her breath, she spoke again. "That must mean these are either lifeless corpses—or they are only a piece of the whole."
Thinking to herself, Ira thought:
'That is why I felt off when I had first begun to battle them. They are not complete…'
As Ira thought and occasionally conversed with Bariealla, the black blood stirred.
Subtly, the blood began to be pulled to three single points—one of which was massively larger than the other.
'What the hell is going on!?' Ira thought.
Soon, the two corpses of the Strayed Fiends fused together, forming into a Strayed Demon. On the other side of the battle, a myriad of corpses were pulled together into a Strayed Tyrant; bone crushing and reforming as it did. The remaining legion of corpses combined into another Demon.
"This predicament seems to have gotten much worse, don't you think, Ira?" Bari said, her tone full of indifference.
A deep sigh left the young girl's lips, replying with only a small nod.
'This world just hates me… Just my luck!"