Hazel continued to look down at Soren as she stood over her coldly. The blond warrior breathed heavily while lying on the ground. Blood seeped from her two severed legs, staining the stone surface in crimson.

“H-Hazel...” Soren rasped with a pained groan from her injury. “W-what the hell are you doing?!” She narrowed her eyes while snarling at the mage.

Hazel leaned her head curiously as if the warrior’s question confused her. “Shouldn’t it be obvious? I’m taking you down.”

Soren’s eyes widened in response, as if not expecting such words spilling out of her mouth. “W-what are you talking about?”

Seeing her reaction, Hazel sighed, feeling annoyed by her pathetic act. Before she could say something, Astrid appeared behind her after jumping off one of the stalls she was perched on.

“Looks like the plan worked out well,” The dark elf noted before setting her gaze on Soren.

The blond warrior stared at Astrid in disbelief. “A-a Dark Elf?! What the hell is a dark elf doing here?!”

“Shouldn’t you have figured it out by now?” Astrid questioned while crossing her arms.

Soren whipped her head back and forth between Hazel and Astrid before finally coming to an answer. Her brows rose in shock upon her revelation before turning back to the mage.

“You’ve allied yourself with a Dark Elf?”

“Pretty much,” Hazel shrugged apathetically.

“E-even before-!”

“Yep,” The mage cut her off while nodding. “Even before I teamed up with you guys.”

Soren kept her eyes trained on Hazel as a mixture of emotions washed over her expression. Shock, disbelief...and anger. But before that emotion was fully displayed, her expression shifted back into disbelief with a hint of betrayal in her eyes.

“So...all of this was you're doing. You, this dark elf, and that damn bat creature that she commands.”

Hearing this, Hazel stifled a laugh, which confused Soren. Taking a moment to recompose herself, the mage used this opportunity to clear the air.

“I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding,” she said with a sly grin. “Astrid isn’t the master of Nycteris. I am.”

Once again, Soren stared at Hazel in disbelief, as if what she heard was absurd. Hazel noticed the obvious doubt in her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh.

“Well, seeing is believing, so I guess I should just show you instead.” Hazel turned around while clearing her throat. “Nycteris! Come here, please!”

Not even five seconds passed by before the hulking bat beast burst from one of the stalls and barreled toward Hazel with frightening speed. Just before the Nightwing crashed into his master, he dug his clawed hands into the ground, halting his momentum as he stopped mere inches in front of Hazel.

Nycteris eagerly stared at his master with his crimson eyes. As Hazel took a closer look at her familiar, she caught a glimpse of a red substance dripping from his mouth. She eyed the liquid for a few moments before her complexion turned paled upon what that was.

It was blood. Nycteris must’ve been snacking on one of Soren’s people before she called him.

“You...called...master.” Nycteris adorably tilted his head, like a dog waiting for his owner’s order to retrieve a treat.

“A-ah, right...” Hazel forced out a cough to recompose herself. She then turned to Soren while maintaining her poker face. “Try and Identify Nycteris and see for yourself who his true master is.”

Soren did as Hazel told her and tried to identify Nycteris, only for her worst fears to be realized as her eyes widened in shock once again.

“You...really are its master...”

“His master,” Hazel corrected with a sharp tone. “Nycteris is not an It, so don’t ever call him that again.”

Hazel found it displeasing when people called her familiar with such things. While he was a demon, Nycteris was still someone that she cherished and adored. And she would be damned to let anyone insult him, especially in front of her.

“Why are you doing this?” Soren asked sorrowfully, but Hazel could tell that she was acting.

“I don’t recommend acting dumb, Soren,” Hazel said coldly. “You knew you had this coming.”

“I-I don’t...”

“Your pal, Ben, already confessed to what you guys did to the other humans,” Astrid interjected. “He was quite the talkative type when I spied on him and the Ranger when they went outside in the back of the Tavern.”

Soren froze as her face shifted into regret. Then desperation...then defeat. Her head hung low as a long sigh escaped her lips. A moment later, the warrior raised her head with a stern yet agitated expression.

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“That damn blabbermouth bastard...” She spat, ridiculing one of her companions before facing Hazel and Astrid once again. “Alright, I guess the jig is up then, huh? For both of us?” Soren stated this last part while intensely staring at Hazel.

“Yeah,” The mage replied. “The jig is up.”

And just like that. All pretenses and facades were tossed out the window. As of now, Hazel and Soren faced one another as their true selves.

“You really got me there, Thatcher,” Soren said with a hint of venom in her words. “I honestly believed that you were nothing more than a naive, innocent, yet powerful mage who got lucky to survive this long.”

“Thanks,” Hazel smiled slyly. “My mom did say I was a good actor.”

“Did she now?”

She didn’t. Hazel just didn’t want to give Soren the satisfaction of them fully coming clean. Not when she could tell that the warrior still had something up her sleeve.

“I’m assuming you planned this whole thing from the start?” Soren continued. “The random meet-up, your little act, this elaborate lure?”

“Pretty much. But I did initially approach you guys with good intentions until I had enough evidence to show me otherwise.”

“And that would be Ben confessing, correct?”

“That and the bad vibe I felt around you. How unnerving it was to be around your presence. Like you planned to use me for your own gain.”

“Well, you’re not wrong about that,” Soren groaned as she adjusted her body. “You were the first mage we’ve encountered and we obviously couldn’t pass up another member of your caliber. Even if it meant enslaving you.”

“Is that what you tried to do with the other players from Earth?” Hazel spat. “Or did you simply use them until you were done and then killed them after?”

“Does it really matter?”

Hazel clenched her hands tightly as her nails dug into her palms. Her body slightly trembled with anger at the sheer apathy this player had toward other human beings. However, Soren was a criminal and a sociopath. Such things like morals or empathy were beneath her. Hazel knew that much.

Taking a deep breath, Hazel pushed down the anger she felt toward Soren and decided to change the topic to avoid letting her emotions get the best of her.

“Look, I don’t think any of us want to waste time like this, so how about we cut to the chase?”

“And what’s that?”

“Where is your base located? The one where all of your belongings are.”

Soren faltered, clearly not wanting to confess such precious information. “And what makes you think we have one?”

Hazel groaned while pinching the bridge of her nose again. “Because none of your members were carrying any supplies. No food, no drinks, no anything. So, how long were you guys able to survive this long without them?”

Hazel noticed how empty-handed Soren’s group was when they first met. None of them carried packs or even pouches. They were simply roaming the city with nothing on them. But that should be impossible since they need food and water to survive, and they had to have completed challenges to require them.

Which meant only one thing; Soren and the others had a base somewhere in the city. And Hazel was going to find it and take whatever supplies they had. Besides, it was likely stolen loot anything and Soren had no use for it. Especially with the rest of her group being dead thanks to Nycteris.

“Tell me where it is, Soren,” Hazel ordered.

The blond warrior scoffed. “You really think I’m going t-aaack!”

Just before she could finish, Soren began to choke as if something was obstructing her breathing. That something being Hazel. She was using Telekinesis to grab Soren’s throat tightly. The blond warrior grasped at her neck, desperate to pry whatever was clutching her throat off. But she couldn’t touch something that wasn’t there physically.

“I’m only going to ask one more time, Soren,” Hazel said coldly. “Tell me where your hideout is. Now.”

Soren continued to choke, struggling to breathe with each passing moment. Her face was flushed red as blood pooled around her face from the lack of circulation. Yet, despite being so close to Death’s door, the warrior didn’t relent.

“Y-you...won’t kill...me...!” She declared with each raspy breath. “Y-you...don’t have...it in you...to kill me!”

In response, Hazel tightened her grip around Soren’s neck, cutting off more air from her lungs. She continued to telepathically strangle the warrior, threatening to choke her to death. That was before she stopped, instantly deactivating her telekinesis. It wasn’t from a lack of mana...but something else.

“You’re right...” Hazel admitted. “I can’t kill you.”

Soren started to smile after the mage declared this. But her grin soon faded after the next words that came out of Hazel’s mouth.

“But, that doesn’t mean I can’t do something else,” The mage declared with a cold tone, practically giving the blond warrior chills. “Nycteris, grab her. She tries anything, rip her head off. Is that understood?”

“Yes...master...” Nycteris followed her command and approached Soren.

The blond warrior desperately tried to crawl away, but the Nightwing easily picked her up by bitting the back of her collar and lifted her in the air. While holding onto her, Hazel and Astrid then climbed on the Nightwing, preparing to depart.

“Take us to a nearby roof, Nycteris,” Hazel told him.

“Understood...!”

Nycteris then crouched down while spreading his wings. And in a single motion, he ascended into the sky. While in the air, nycteris found a spot before soaring to his next destination. Soren yelped out of fear from the sudden turbulence, but was abruptly silenced as the group soon landed on a nearby rooftop as per Hazel’s order.

“You can drop her now, Nycteris.”

“Okay...”

The nightwing then released Soren who flopped on the floor like a fish on dry land. Before the warrior could mutter a pained groan, Hazel approached her before grabbing her by the hair. Even when Soren screamed in pain from the rough treatment, the mage ignored her as she dragged her over to the edge of the roof.

Bringing her to the edge, Hazel then pointed at a horde of Fractured humans below them. What she said next could only be described as chilling and horrific.

“Since I obviously can’t kill you myself, I plan to let them do the job,” Hazel declared, showing Soren the Fractured horde. “If you don’t tell me where your hideout is, I will throw you into that shambling horde of zombie-like fractured. And I will watch as they tear you part, piece by piece until there is nothing left.

“And don’t think it will end there. Just when you’re close to the brink of death, I will save you in the nick of time and heal you with a potion. Just so I can throw you into that horde again. And I will repeat this process over and over until you either tell me what I want to know or until every last bit of you is gone. You’re choice.”

With those haunting words resonating with Soren, as she stared at the large gathering of Fractured below her, the warrior did the one thing that could potentially save her life. Or at least postpone a horrific end.

“F-fine...!” She shouted in a panic. “I-I’ll tell you where it is!”

Hearing this, Hazel smiled deviously once she got what she wanted.

“Good~”