Borka smiled like a lunatic; despite his injuries, he had the upper hand. His axe had gotten enough blood to overpower the combined attack of Franco and Nora. And he could circumvent Nathan's shield by attacking from another direction.

From Dawn, only Nora was unharmed. Franco was missing an eye, and Nathan got his left hand cut off. Both of them took a small bottle from their pockets. They were the healing elixirs created by Nadine and the tribe's medic.

They weren't strong enough to restore missing limbs, but they stopped the bleeding and closed the wounds. Borka didn’t waste the chance, as the two men healed. He jumped at Nora and was about to cut her in half.

She grabbed her green sword to block the attack, only for the axe to change direction and cut her flesh. She was wearing the best armor Nadine could make with the minerals available, but it was like cheese against the mighty axe. She was sent flying into the wall.

"Tch, didn’t cut her in one swing. I’m more hurt than I gave you credit for." He dodged the punch and the shield from behind. He swung again and slashed both men at the same time.

Every second, the battle turned worse as the axe drew more blood. Neither of them could keep up with 100% of Nora’s power. Franco moved closer, but his missing eye left him with a bunch of openings.

"Is not over!" He was still determined to win, but the exhaustion was building up. A massive cut from his chest to his leg sent him to the floor gasping for air. Nathan couldn't keep either.

"What happened? You are moving your power too slowly. Is it because you’re having trouble with the cut in your belly?" He was talking to Nora as he kept Nathan busy with attacks. "You haven’t been in too many fights then. You need to focus more. If not, then you can’t help your companions. Look, he can even block me now."

Borka slashed Nathan right below the armpit by only moving the axe around the shield. With the three of them down, he took a proud stance as he asserted his power. "It was a good effort, but you’re still too green to fight me. Thanks for the warm up."

"Why?" Nora spoke with a fragile voice as she struggled to get up. She was holding her wound and resting against the wall. "Why do you waste your power without a purpose?"

"Without a purpose, what do you mean? I discovered my purpose after hundreds of years of working for others. To live as the strongest Pix in this bloody world!" His smile was wide and proud.

"We were robbed of our world by the System and forced to join as pawns for the other races. Killing the Ouroboros, joining forces with the Empire to secure our lives, is all meaningless. What is the point? We are never going to leave this cage. We are prisoners, but we aren’t slaves. I’m living my life doing what I want without caring about appearances or rules anymore. I don’t care who my enemy is, I’m going to destroy them!"

His proud attitude and thirst for battle were enough for Nora to understand him.

"You lost your path. Strength without purpose is wasted. You said you're free and live by your own rules. But society is born from agreements and compromise. To join with others and find meaning in life. You’re too blinded by your own power, so you haven’t noticed. You aren’t happy, Borka."

"Huh. Don’t talk like you know me. I’m happier now than ever before."

"No, if you were truly happy, you wouldn’t have stayed in this corner of the world. You’re just wasting time hoping to find a purpose. If you really wanted to be the strongest, you wouldn’t be so weak."

The stone broke, and the axe was embedded in the ground. Borka gave her a murderous look. "Weak? You called me weak. I guess I was too nice and gave you the wrong impression. Don’t worry, I’m putting you out of your misery with the next attack."

Nora stood her ground in the face of imminent death. She gave all her power to Franco and said her final words. "Sorry, this is all I can do now. I know you’ll be able to win."

She accepted her fate and used her own life as bait to give them another chance. I know you only need a good punch to bring a plant monster down. She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t have the power to change her fate.

At least I will die with a little of my humanity still intact.

Franco tried to move and attack Borka with all the power in his fist. It was glowing with power, but he wasn’t going to be able to reach him in time.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

At the same time, Nathan noticed she was planning to die. He moved even slower than Franco. He could try to throw his shield, but he already knew it was in vain. Only he could use the shield. He needed to be in front of her to block the attack, and yet he was going to fail.

Move, move, idiot! This is your only job, and you can’t do it. His legs were tired, and the wounds all over his body took his strength away. Despite all that, he tried to throw the shield. Maybe it could block the attack in the air.

The axe clashed against Nora's sword, and it broke after a second. It was about to reach her face when a wall stopped it.

"Huh?" Borka couldn’t help but admit his surprise. A semitransparent wall appeared out of nowhere and blocked his attack. On a second thought, it was not a wall, but a shield. A giant shield between him and Nora.

Nathan had no idea how he did it, but his shield turned into that. His desire to save Nora’s life unlocked something more. Another part of his true power.

It only lasted for a moment before Borka hit it again and shattered it. Those valuable seconds were enough and gave Franco time to get close. He launched the strongest attack he could manage.

Borka still managed to react and counterattack. The axe split the human hand right in the middle, but the force of the impact was already hitting him. A bright light flashed before his eyes and took half of his body with it. The punch destroyed the walls of the house and several other things behind it.

He was bleeding, and barely standing on one leg. He summoned his axe again, but before he could feed it his blood, another attack came.

"I have two hands!" Franco punched him in the face and shattered Borka’s head in an explosion of blood and brain matter. His hands were destroyed, a bloody mess of meat and bones, but he had done it.

Borka, the bloody warrior, lay dead on the floor.

***

In the south, another fight was about to start. Emily was reading the presence of the cultists and believers of Kysa. They were hiding in a hole inside a mountain that they rebuilt into a temple.

"I see her. She’s in a chamber in the back. There are about two hundred other pix inside. There are no escape routes. If we take the entrance, they won’t be able to escape."

"So how are you going to do this, partner?"

"I’m going to block the entrance with vines while the army fights in front. We then moved to the chamber to fight Kysa directly. We can't waste our energy fighting the cultists."

"I-is there no chance we can convince them? If they realize they are going to die, then maybe they can surrender." Rebecca tried to propose another way.

"I would like to, but these pix aren’t like the ones I saw in the other tribes." Jacob had only been around for a few hours, but he could see the way the guards moved and talked only in prayers, like a broken record. "They aren’t good in the head. This Kysa lady must have done something to keep them so docile and weird."

"Yeah, I talked with Cink and he said there could be drugs or something similar in the area. The insides of the walls are full of drug plants and other flowers to dull the mind."

"There are a lot of plants that can cause addition in this forest. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Kysa forced her followers to take drugs to keep them obedient. Should we attack now?" The commander of this army was one of the pix of the other tribes.

"Yes, we can waste time while others may need our help." Emily gave the order and prepared with her orb.

She raised the vines all around the entrance to block their way out. At the same time, the army moved in and attacked the guards in front. She could keep this wall up for a long time. After taking Gloom Scent spells, there was nothing a simple pix could do.

According to Cink, magic is restricted to the creatures the System brought, some races like the Bors, and talented individuals. I doubt there is a pix here who is capable of using magic. Kysa would probably look at him as a threat to her cult.

The army pushed the cultists back, and Emily made a path of roots. It was a tunnel for her group. The cultist tried to attack, but her weapons couldn’t damage the tunnel fast enough before it regenerated.

Once in the temple, Jacob shot anyone who got in their way. His heart ached as he killed the pix. They were sentient and capable of the same things humans could do. This was beyond murdering animals or plant creatures. He felt like a hypocrite, but he had to accept it.

The faces of the pix were all crazy and with empty expressions. They only uttered prayers to Kysa as they wielded their weapons, trying to kill him. He put the gun in front of a pix, who didn’t hesitate and kept running towards him. He wasn’t sure if it was because the pix had never seen a weapon like this or if his brain was melted by all the drugs he had taken.

A single bullet in the head was enough to put him out of his misery. "Are you okay, Jacob?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, let’s catch the one who made them this way." It was the first time Emily and Rebecca could feel genuine anger in Jacob’s voice.

They entered the temple, and Emily pushed the doors down with some roots. The center chamber was big enough for dozens of people and seats. In the back, there was an altar with a figure standing in white robes.

"Who dares interrupt my meditation? I hope you came here because you want to embrace my divinity. Speak your name!" Kysa's voice was commanding. She didn’t care about the invasion or the lives of her followers. She was mad because they weren’t prostrating themselves at her feet.

"Go, Jacob!" Emily raised the vines to seal the place and prevent reinforcements, while Jacob took his gun and shot her four times in quick succession.

The bullets went flying at her, but a light sword deflected them all. Kysa didn’t have to move; she had already summoned one of her spirits. It was almost like an angel, a pix made of light with wings, a white sword, and white armor.

"You dare to try to harm a god? You are truly fools. You must repent for your sins and offer your souls to me as proof of forgiveness. Come forward, sinners; I shall grant you redemption in death."

She summoned two more spirits to her side, and the battle started.