“Bunny.” Ambrose says.

“On it.” Bunny answers as she steps down and raises her staff. The light flashes and one of the villager’s go slack, staring around itself. Ambrose grips her scythe and pounces on one of the villager’s moving toward them, while Meize goes for the unbalanced villager in front of them. Anastasia takes the last one and soon the three of them are locked into their own fights in the crowded space.

Anastasia grips her scythe tight as she dodges the villager’s attacks. Her instincts scream at her like an incessant parrot, telling her where to go. How to avoid the attack. When to attack herself. The feeling gives her a headache, her mind almost pounding in her head, and eventually she stops trying to control it and just lets it take over.

Her body flows like water, dodging the carving knife that comes down like lightning, then deflecting the next swing as it tries to slice across her waist. Her own scythe flicks over and carves a shallow gouge through its arm before retreating again.

Then it steps forward, her arms quickly raising as it slams its head into her. With a grunt Anastasia is pushed back as he feels her left arm bend unnaturally, just barely holding it before it breaks. With a heavy breath Anastasia gathers herself as she stares at the monster in front of her.

Meize’s own battle is going easier as he capitalises on the villager’s imbalance, his fists starting to create deep imprints in its flesh, his face waning with each hit. Ambrose is more careful, her own weapon deflecting where she can as she retreats from the villager’s attacks.

It’s strong, unnaturally so as each strike attempts to disarm her through brute force. Ambrose is careful and gives up space with each attack, retreating a step at a time. Her eyes flicker as she tries to think of a way to use her card. Another clash as the butcher’s knife digs into her weapon.

Ambrose grunts as she’s sent reeling further back this time, almost unbalanced. The villager steps forward, its blade coming down in a flash in one smooth slice, and Ambrose kneels as she brings her weapon up above her. The blade’s screech against each other, and Ambrose leads it to her left as she rolls off to the side.

Ambrose’s arms feel like lead as twists herself into a crouch, and then stands straight. Her eyes watch the villager as it rights itself, its head twisting around unnaturally to stare at her. It doesn’t speak this time, only looking at her as its body adjusts and follows its head’s movement.

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Ambrose reaches down and pulls out her card, looking at the monster coldly. It lights up in a flash as the two face each other. A moment passes. Then the villager launches itself forward, its blade swinging down. Only instead it swung up, digging a trench out of the wooden roof and almost making it fall over.

Ambrose steps forward and slashes, her short scythe cutting a light wound across its chest. The villager roars, its voice crashing against her ears, before righting itself and trying to swing toward her waist.

The same thing happened, this time its weapon swinging around the other way as it does a full 180 and digs into its own waist. The villager screams again as Ambrose slices its leg. Suddenly the red glow of its eyes burns bright, and a voice breaks out.

“Para…site…usel…ess…trick…s.” Its broken voice fills Ambrose’s ears. The grin on the villager’s face widens and it steps forward and uses all of its strength, aiming to swing its blade the opposite way this time. Except this time the blade follows its momentum and swings away, the sheer strength of the swing spinning it completely around and sending it crashing to the ground.

Its eyes, confused, find themselves staring at the ground as it’s planted on its face. Ambrose chuckles, taking step forward. She throws her scythe away and reaches down, gripping the butcher’s knife it dropped in the crash. Stepping over its body, with her weapon raised high, she slams it as hard as she can against its chest.

The blade cuts right through, impaling itself onto the body and the wooden floor, leaving the body stuck in place. Ambrose watches for a moment as the body still struggles, refusing to die, but is unable to do anything but squirm.

Ambrose reaches down and picks up her scythe, turning to the other battlefields. Meize’s fight is long finished, its body completely decimated with him exhausted at the side, while Anastasia’s still goes on. The last villager is stuck in place, Bunny having re-used her ability twice to keep it in check.

Ambrose moves to Anastasia’s side and the two quickly finish it off, making sure it no longer moves. They move to the last villager, lost in its own daze, and do the same. Ambrose warily cuts open its body, a red orb resting inside its body like the others. Only this one is pulsating like a heart, attached to the body like a symbiote.

Ambrose stares at it warily, but the light doesn’t pulse, instead dying slowly until it completely disappears.

“No boom?” Anastasia asks carefully, shivering as she recalls the previous time.

“Too much collateral damage.” Meize answers, looking down at the corpse. “Leave them. They’re still dangerous.” Ambrose nods and picks herself up, stumbling a little before righting herself. She heads over to the villager still alive, the blade holding it still. She watches it squirm quietly.

“Para…site…” It whispers still, its voice muffled under the dirt. A venom, pain and hatred mixed together, seeps into the voice for the first time. Ambrose only continues to look quietly, the word 'parasite' ringing inside her head.