“Hmm...hmm... interesting”, says the joker while jotting down in his book. Olivia didn’t dare keep silent and just goes along with the flow, and while she has been conversing with this young man in front of her, she got to know that he was easygoing, and if not for the fact that her troops were almost at the brink of near extinction, she would have loved for this conversation to continue without end. He always raised questions about her hobbies and other life-related stuff but he doesn’t go too deep into her personal life, on which at every answer he would jot it all down seriously in his notebook.

Seeing him writing was just like someone who has been attending art class since he has little and has even perfected it. According to the way he wrote, he should have practised calligraphy for a long while. He takes his time in this question and answer session and Olivia didn’t dare to slight him.

After a while of chatting, he says, “That was very informative. I should go into seclusion and develop myself a bit further than. I should say it’s about time then”. He whistles to call back his pets. One has been killed and the other has been injured, there has only been one which was relatively safe. It was that which has been fighting with Lucas. Andrew was sprawled on the floor, his state unknown.

Going back to the moment the sword was thrown to Andrew, Andrew was now able to fight equally with the beast. Parts which has taken him time to cut normally have been easier. But in return, it seems like he couldn’t last for as long as he thought he would.

At best he could now last one minute and thirty seconds and that was if he pushed himself as hard as he could, ignoring all the recoils from his previous injuries which he was feeling right now. He faces the beast and their previously paused fight was about to continue. The beast was licking its superficial injuries while waiting for Andrew to be through with its preparations.

It didn’t seem hurried at all, like it was treating him like a plaything and taking some rest from playing. Although this might seem annoying to other people, it was actually what Andrew required at this moment in time. If the beast had continued attacking at this time, perhaps he would have been defeated without doubt and perhaps even killed.

The dog seeing that Andrew has prepared for round two finally stops licking his injuries and gets serious all of a sudden. Andrew moves and so did the beast, the sharpness of the blade aids Andrew in this battle as just the slightest touch it has with the beast leads to an injury.

Although its hide was tough, in front of this sword, its hide seems just like butter. The beast becomes serious all of a sudden seeing the sudden rise in power of Andrew and avoids the attack of the sword at every given interval. But avoiding the sword attacks doesn’t do any overall good for the beast as it was getting pushed back constantly. And since Andrew was desperate on getting the fight over with as soon as possible, he fights with reckless abandon. But the beast noticing that it was getting pushed back constantly finally gives up on falling back and starts attacking without regard for its life. A wild animal at the end of its rope would surely retaliate after all, so there was little question in its actions.

A bit more than thirty seconds has passed since their second round had begun and although Andrew was still having the upper hand, he was running out of time as the troops which were holding the last dog beast had been reducing at a drastic rate and the lives of both Marian and Eve would be at stake soon.

On noticing this, Andrew jumps up at full speed targeting the neck of the beast. The beast notices this in time and jumps back as quickly as possible while baring its teeth ready to chomp on Andrew as soon as possible.

Seeing this doesn’t make Andrew gives up though as he continues with its charge and as if stepping on air, he bursts forth with faster speed and got past the teeth of the beast inside its mouth. The beast was feeling victorious as it clamped down on its mouth but maybe it seems to have forgotten how sharp the sword in Andrew’s hands was or it thought that having him in its mouth means certain death.

The next moment though, Andrew burst forth from its neck at a quickening speed. A line so long has appeared in that place where Andrew has gotten out from, cutting across most of the beast. Andrew was bathed in both saliva and blood and he jumps out from the injury in his neck. He abandons the idea of trying to neutralize this beast in front of him and just kills it in one stroke. Trying to knock it out would be harder and more time-consuming than just killing it as he had done.

Seems like the beast has great vitality as although blood was pouring out from its neck like an over-flooded dam that has just burst through, it looks at Andrew in anger as its paws come forth with greater speed in its attempt to crush Andrew.

Although seeing its attack while still in midair, Andrew doesn’t fret and instead readies the sword as if wanting to cut its paws. Its paws come at a quickening pace and hit Andrew, but the cut that everyone would have expected to come does not come as the force of the paw pushes Andrew in the direction of the beast that the broken troops were fighting and they were all about to be defeated at this moment with no more than five soldiers available.

Andrew bears the full brunt of the attack as he was pushed back, his injuries worsen from the attacks, and currently, the time with which he could sustain a fight was not more than two seconds. That was just enough time to land just a single attack on the beast, and that’s only if the beast doesn’t sense its actions and dodge its attack. But he was betting his all on that little probability of landing his hit on the beast.

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At this point though, he should have been unconscious but he was forcefully holding on as he flew towards the beast which was having the time of its life as it toyed with the last few members of the troops. It was at the same time that it was toying that it seemed to sense something flying towards it and hence it raised its head looking at what was coming but still couldn’t make it out due to its speed but that doesn’t stop it from trying to dodge it although a bit late as they were about to collide right now.

The dog moved back and at the same moment, something flew and with full force lands on one of the remaining soldiers who was foolish enough to watch what it was that was coming and it killed him immediately. The soldier although breaking his fall, Andrew still lies on the ground. Immediately after passing the dog, he has already fallen unconscious, and thus he wasn’t able to prevent the soldier from dying by moving the trajectory of his fall.

All that remained of the soldiers were just two who was currently staring at the small crater which Andrew created from his fall. They were able to recognize the person which fell and got angry because he had killed one of the soldiers and was even about to jump in on him and end his life.

It was at this time that the dog which has moved back initially barked in obvious pain. They turned to look at the beast and a straight line could be seen in the area of his forelegs. The beast was currently on the floor, it couldn’t raise its body as if it was decapitated. It was howling in pain which stirred a storm and made the remaining soldiers stew in fear but seeing that no matter how it growled, it was unable to attack them, their hearts were finally at ease and they understood that it was at the moment Andrew flew towards them that the beast came to be in that state, then Andrew was the cause of its injury.

But what went through their mind was how Andrew had done it all while flying past at that speed. Now they stared at Andrew with gratitude in their eyes, if he had not come then perhaps they would have been dead and took the death of that soldier which was crushed as a necessary sacrifice for such actions, and stopped blaming him for that.

Now they looked at Andrew with reverence and gratitude, they even dragged him out of the little crater with the organs of the soldier which stained his body with some even covering his injury. Eve and Marian appear at this time staring at the body of Andrew with tears, although Eve had her doubts about the reason Andrew came around to attack this other beast, she was still filled with gratitude nonetheless. This has been the third time he has tried saving her even if it was unintentionally.

His breaths came in a rush while unconscious. He was totally in pain right now as his previous injuries which he was slowly recovering from have become worse than before. These periods were unlucky days for Andrew as every event saw him being in critical situations, more like near-death states. The soldiers and the girls brought Andrew away from the area of the dog, while Lucas was still battling the last dog, although he was more injured than the dog, they were still evenly matched up to a point.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the fight for one second, so he was unable to tell the state of the other fights but he was sighing in relief since any other beast hasn’t joined in on the attack on him.

It was exactly at this moment that the joker finally closes his book.

Although Olivia wasn’t looking at the battle, with her senses, she could detect what was going on while replying to his questions. She was shocked by the actions which Andrew had taken and was even more shocked that he had lasted that long to even be able to kill one and cause a bit of harm to the other beast.

Unlike her though, the joker didn’t keep his senses on the battle and was seriously taking notes as if nothing could phase him. On seeing what has happened on the playground he has initially created, a sense of pride blossoms inside him and he starts cackling loudly in laughter.

This shocked Olivia as she had initially thought that on seeing the state of his pets, he would be furious and kill everyone but that wasn’t what has happened.

“What a beautiful painting I have created”, he finally said after settling his laughter. Such words annoy Olivia as many of her precious soldiers have been killed in this battle and he was calling such a scenario a painting.

She almost flared up but cooled down as she knew the person in front of her was more of a maniac than she was. He wasn’t a silk pant as he portrayed himself to be but was a battle freak. His name was known as he was the reason why she was quickly promoted to general as he had killed the general before her while the fellow was hunting for him. That was the previous strongest of all the generals and he was feared all over but he was killed singlehandedly without much effort by this young man in front of her.

He clicks his tongue noticing that Olivia was suppressing her anger while sheathing his knife before saying, “Well then, I have entertained you all enough. Time to head back then, it’s a pity I am not able to sketch this all down due to lack of time. Thanks for your time. Do hope to see you again”.

He flashes toward the direction of Andrew and just stares at him while murmuring, “If only...”.

His sudden appearance puts the soldier and the girls on edge. Although his features almost made them breathless, they immediately remembered that he was the reason for such carnage and was able to quickly get over it. But fear still lingers in their heart, but Marian steels her heart and comes in front of Andrew as if shielding him.

In response to this, the joker just smiles and his knife was equipped once more which causes her to take a step back but she steels her resolve once more as she stands strong, ready to defend Andrew. But the joker ignores her and in a flash disappears, but fear grips her heart as she turns to look at Andrew if the joker has stroked him with the knife. But she was relieved to find that he was not there, he was actually before the crippled beast which was howling in pain.

On seeing the joker appear before it, the dog stops howling and instead made puppy eyes and tries rubbing its head against him. The joker didn’t resist its actions and petted it as if to calm it, but in the next moment, the knife went through the jugular of the dog. The joker stabs it repeatedly over and over again while blood keeps splattering on his white robes, dyeing it red while the dog was whimpering without being able to retaliate one bit, it hasn’t expected such actions from its master.

The stabs didn’t stop though until all signs of life vanished from its eyes. It had killed it with a smile plastered on its face as if it was an enjoyable thing to do.