Bro, I'm not an Undead!

"Pretentious. Look at them. Some are just barely stifling the desire to break down and beg for their lives," one man with abnormally downturned eyes that held a dense degree of condescension, snorted.

"What do you expect? They are cowards. History has told us that much. I wish I was part of the torturing. It would make me feel better if I got one of them to scream for mercy. I\'d have a decent story to tell my wife at least," another broad Maqian with a giant axe said.

They were standing close to the entrance of the Aurora, keeping watch as they had been told. However, they couldn\'t resist peering past the burning houses, corpses and mutilated features within the Aurora to watch the proceedings at the very centre of the settlement. Non-combatant Sif of all ages were lined up, made to kneel, their limbs bound.

Thousands of them could be seen, all having lost or losing the hope that local forces would come and save them. The knowledge that there were so many Auroras in Opungale made the majority feel like their loyal defense forces would be spread too thin, and if that wasn\'t the case, then perhaps they would be butchered easily the moment they came. After all, that was what had happened to the Sif experts stationed in this place.

Despite them being highly disciplined and powerful, it almost seemed as though they were nothing in the face of the mere twenty enemies that were here. They had been ripped apart, not just because of the overwhelming, individual prowess of the Maqians, but because of their incredible adherence to formations and absolute knowledge of each other\'s strengths and weaknesses.

Hell, the most terrifying warriors among the group, two Incandescent Stagers had barely participated at all until now. The rest – the Masters – had handled everything up until this point, hard as that was to believe.

Thud.

A head fell, blood spitting from the stump came after a soft jaw.

Shudders and screams echoed from the long line of hostages who were once again reminded that they were probably not getting out of this alive.

"Yeesh. Is that bastard harvesting again?" the man with the downturned said as he peeked at the man walking behind the rows of Sif, a brown robe decorated with rat and mouse skulls on every fringe and hem cloaking his athletic body while a freakishly tall staff towered over him.

"Why not? He\'s only limited to convicts half the time back home and you kno—"

"Know what?" the man with the downturned eyes raised a brow and then turned to his 11:24

"Know what?" the man with the downturned eyes raised a brow and then turned to his partner, wondering why he hadn\'t finished his sentence when…

…!!!

The Maqian was appalled to find half his friend\'s head missing, with only the bottom row of his teeth, along with squirts of blood remaining atop.

Without wasting a moment, the man turned and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"AN ATTACK!"

He immediately saw his fellow Maqian raiders past the conflagrations snapping into action without asking questions; the best result possible. He, on the other hand, did the same. His Perfect Aura gushed out of him fiercely, and he guarded, preparing for any attack from any direction.

"Way to make things harder for me, Festos," said the voice of a woman who emerged, walking from the dense forest surrounding the Aurora with an annoyed visage. She tied her pink hair into a ponytail as she briskly walked forth, garbed in a dark blue and silver steel armor with long linen straps – or what looked like it – on both sides of the slender waist.

A soft golden glow was around her, inspiring a certain degree of… unease that the Maqian who glared at her squinted at.

"You go on ahead. I\'ll deal with this!" Maxim said as she shot forth.

Just as she did, a brisk shadow sped past her and past the tense Maqian.

Caught by surprise, the man spared the fast figure a glance, debating for a split second if he should pursue it instead.

That momentary distraction turned out to be a mistake, or at least a chance that was exploited by the enemy.

Maxim shuttled towards him with a manner of speed he didn\'t expect; frankly, from the look she adopted, she didn\'t expect it either, but that didn\'t stop her from grunting as she spread her arms wide, lowered herself and hammered into the Maqian with her shoulder!

There was a rough, blunt noise and the two crashed into the ground ten meters away, only for them to disentangle and split off.

As they stood facing each other, the Maqian with an odd face, and Maxim with a thrilled one, the dancing, fiery orange, gave highlight and shadow that crafted an intriguing image between the two.

…

This image was unfortunately marred by the arrival of two more Masters from the opposing side. They strategically placed themselves in a way that made it difficult for Maxim to keep her eyes on both of them. "I\'m almost flattered," Maxim said languidly, confidently.

The enemies immediately lunged – the man with downturned eyes too – not giving Maxim a chance to adopt a plan or compose herself against the sudden numerical disadvantage.

Of course, this wasn\'t the bulk of the enemies\' strategy.

A heavy wall of mental energy suddenly smashed down right where Maxim was standing, and the atrocious force caused the ground to caved in over a wide area, as though it was hollow underneath.

"Hahahahaha!" another Maqian immediately followed up by sucking in a deep breath and vomiting from his mouth a massive, jelly-like dog that looked as though it was made of sweltering welts and blisters that sizzled, a putrid smell coming from them. It leapt up and dived into the pit that had been made by an ally Mind Caster, and transfigured into molten goop, much like acid.

Thick billows of smoke jutted from the huge pit, obscuring the surroundings rapidly, along with a dire heat.

It seemed the beast summoned by the Tamer, was a construct of something akin to a potent, scorching acid.

The blow of mental energy was sure to have knocked the target into delusion for at least a hot minute, which would have given the summoned beast a chance to attack while Maxim was disoriented.

Surely…

CLAP!

A loud clap sounded with vigour. It came from the deep indentation in the ground.

However, it wasn\'t all just sound.

A terrible pulse of Aura exploded out with it, and then…

The pit turned flat, becoming a large, thin plate that floated in the air.

But that wasn\'t all.

The melting mess, like boiled disease, floated above the pit plate and above it in a turn, was a plate that showed a vast cloud of smoke trapped within!

The three Masters turned wary.

 What technique was this?!

The caster was standing below all the plates, on a patch of confused ground, a crazed smile on her face.

"It\'s so much easier! He wasn\'t kidding at all, the bloody genius!" she exclaimed gleefully.

"Kill her!" the man with downturned eyes called to his fellow experts, however, just like before…

…!!!

He felt Maxim already standing behind him!

What was this speed?!

It was unnatural!

It was as though the enemy wasn\'t travelling at all.

The man felt Maxim\'s arms clutch at him, winding around his waist, and then, with staggeringly swift motion, his head pounded into the ground.

Maxim let out a cackle as she flipped back, leaving her victim groaning in hard dirt and dust.

Another assailant, the Mind Caster was coming after her. The Tamer circled around them to attack from the side.

Maxim dodged a blow to her head infused with Aura. Another came from the side, a straight punch that aimed for her liver. She dashed back, allowing the fist to barely miss her. The Mind Caster leapt back as well and swiped his hand across the air in front of him with great effort!

WHUUUP!

The burning structures in the way crashed or exploded under the unseen might, and scale of it was truly staggering. It was as though a quick tide came and washed everything away, even going as far as to dig through the ground mercilessly!

However…. Maxim, who had been standing before all that had been taken down, remained.

She had her arms up in a guard, a wide smile etched on her face.

The Mind Caster was flabbergasted.

There was no damage on his actual target!

Why did it not work?

Maxim didn\'t even seem the slightest bit dazed or disoriented.

"Not looking good, huh?" the pink-haired woman said as she immediately leapt up to dodge an uncanny, worm-like creature that the Tamer had just sent her way.

Only now did she activate her Perfect Aura, as she was airborne. A spiky, watery glow engulfed her and then… she vanished.

Her figure blurred, appearing behind the Tamer who realized it too late.

"Hya!"

A penetrative blow smashed into the centre of the Tamer\'s back!

But that wasn\'t all it was.

The Tamer shrieked hoarsely before collapsing limply to the ground.

Strangely, he was still conscious, but a look of bewilderment was on his face.

His back…

No, his spine…

It had been turned… flat!

Maxim grinned at the sight.

Just as the man\'s Aura died down with his failure to keep steady concentration, she turned him into a large, glass-like plate that she then stomped on, shattering it completely.

"Now. Who\'s next?" she said as she turned to the frowning Mind Caster and the man with downturned eyes, who had risen from his perk in the ground.