Location: Terra Colony Andromeda
North Sector - Training Field Septa
Division 8 - Storm 2
Time: 1351
January 31, 2050
[Fire in the Hole!]
The loader’s voice echoed within the steel frame of Storm 2’s tank. The pilot stomped the trigger at her foot. She shook in her boots at the reverberations of the cannon, its barrel recoiling to take the shock. Sitting straighter in her seat, she watched as a spray of wooden limbs flew in the air. She counted 12 sets of limbs, a good shot, but not enough.
The view of the path ahead was blanketed in the white humanoid like figures of puppet constructs. Pings rang out as wooden bolts broke against the outer armor. The puppets had two modes of attack, either firing from the crossbow built into one of their arms or slashing out with the other bladed implement. In both cases, they were weak on their own. But in a swarm.. The pilot began to sweat, then S1’s voice from the radio broke the tension.
[Phase 6 Complete, Switching to Phase 7.. All Forces, make a break for the targets.]
The pilot took her eyes off her view scope and keyed the comms to reply while making sure to include her cohort squads. [Storm 2 reporting, Understood. All academy students! Change bearing 3 degrees east, I’m marking with smoke.]
A flash of green in her HUD was their response. She turned the tank, actuated the drive lever forward, and heard her loader shout once again. With some hesitation, she put her eye to the view scope. Gulping at the endless rows of enemies surging for a charge, she stomped the main firing control as she fought against the rising fear in her throat.
Punching the machine gun controls at the same time, a stream of tracer fire crossed the air after a bright flash of thunder threw up the ground ahead. Green smoke billowed up from the resulting crater and the students changed course. These young men and women, having fought tooth and nail for the last few hours, pushed the line forward.
Some began to falter. There were just too many enemies.
And this was a training exercise. The pilot sarcastic thought.
[Watch out!] A voice called over the radio.
The pilot recognized who it was as a new stream of machine fire crossed into her view. It cut off an advancing cluster of puppets who had gone unnoticed from Storm 2’s narrowing focus. From her peripherals, squads of CDU trainees, CAU trainees, and academy students joined the fray to push past.
[What the hell are you doing!] Shouted the voice from the radio. [Get your head out of your ass!]
[Y-Yes.] The pilot stammered. [Sorry about that, Storm 3.]
She hadn’t realized, but her hands had been ideal for the past few seconds. That could’ve been disastrous if this had been a real battlefield. Her face soured at how she froze up. Aligning her sights once more, she shouted to the loader and fired shell after shell into the crowds of constructs. Drowning out the pings against the tank’s armor, she reminded herself to keep calm. But how could she? She was only 16 years old and she was driving a tank.
No.. No, I’m a trainee. She reminded herself and tightened her grip on the controls. And I’m going to be an explorer.. Because.. I have to.. Because that’s what I want!
Switching her mind to her training, she reviewed the tactical situation. The enemy outnumbered them greatly and their ammo was limited. Still, she saw a chance to win against the odds.
But what about them?
Even if the constructs were destroyed, the enemy explorers would make easy work of them. She wouldn’t blame the less brave of heart if they found it hard to believe that their side had any chance.
But we have to just suck it up. The pilot stomped the firing controls and let the shock fade into the background of noise. So come on! GO!
If she couldn’t handle this, then she’d have to kiss her career away in the CDU. She wasn’t one to give up and she was damn sure everyone else wanted to win. So the seconds droned on; the din of the tank’s main cannon was her only measure of time.
[Heads up.] Storm 3’s pilot said, [We have allies ahead, watch for friendly fire.]
Storm 2’s pilot affirmed with a huff. She turned the tank’s gun forward and got a better look. Most of what she could see was a chaotic mess. Piles of constructs obstructed her view; a second later she saw three figures in the thick of it.
[Confirming allied tags.] She said and paused for a moment as the name registered. [It’s Storm 1.]
[Copy, provide support.] Storm 3 rolled up 5 meters to the right of Storm 2. [Firing!]
Storm 2 followed his lead and fired. The two pilots revved their engines, they sounded like the roars of ferocious creatures. That seemed to get Storm 1’s attention. The trio ahead of them nodded with each other and pushed enemies back. Storm 2 and 3 had trouble keeping up in their cumbersome tanks, and their cohort squadrons couldn’t keep pace with Storm 1’s rapid offense. Seconds later the pilots overheard chatter on the public line.
[To all of Storm 1, rendezvous on my position. To all other squads, press fire on my position. I repeat, press fire on my position.]
Itsuki pulled up his arm to protect his face from a spray of dirt blown from a tank shell exploding a few meters ahead of him. Fighting back his reaction to stop and brace, he ran forward into the still permeating dust of dirt. As he and the two behind him cleared the cloud of obstruction, Chisuke took point and let loose a slash of blood red energy. It crashed into the nearest puppets and so did he.
The puppets swung back, their blades catching Chisuke all over. Their cuts were deep, deep enough to draw blood. A trickle of red ran down his injuries yet not a sound of pain escaped him. He flexed his chest and viciously shouted as he bisected the puppets at the waist. Veins of red pulsating core energy ran across his arms, he could feel his injuries close up and the pain being turned into new strength.
“Grahahahahaha, is that all you got! Come on! Hit me!” Chisuke bellowed, throwing himself at the puppets.
The massive fist of a golem came down on him. The blow quaked the ground; Chisuke was sent flying back. He only smiled and righted himself with a flip. He stuck the landing, then kicked off the ground to come crashing into the golem’s face. Hacking with maniacal glee, the 5 meter taller solid stone construct was only a wall of crumbling brick the next second.
A group of puppets formed ranks. They lined up their crossbow arms and volleyed. The first barrage came in quick. Chisuke held his arms up in a guard intent on taking the hit. Just as he blinked, Shisuki crossed in front of him and conjured a wall of water. The bolts splashed to a halt, falling to the ground. Itsuki came around and broke the puppet's lines in a blur of silver arcing slashes.
Chisuke huffed, somewhat annoyed. [Now why did you do that? I could’ve taken it.]
[I’m sure you could.] Shisuki replied, [But don’t forget that there is a more important fight after this.]
[I knew that.] Chisuke snorted, to which Shisuki rolled her pretty eyes at him.
[My, what a beast you are.] She said, [Who would’ve thought your proud family could’ve produced such a boorish man.]
Chisuke smiled. [I’ll take that as a compliment.] He leapt over Shisuki’s barrier and came down on the scattering leftovers in Itsuki’s wake
Just a couple meters ahead of them, a golem stomped furiously at Chisuke. Itsuki flung his whip at it. The length whirling to wrap around its head and Itsuki separated it from its torso with a jerk of his wrist. He clasped the whip’s handle with both hands and spun it about. Using the golem’s torn off head as a wrecking ball, it slammed with reckless abandon, caking the ground with meter wide potholes. Chisuke and Shisuki ducked in, dodging as they slid and jumped from enemy to enemy. They could hear Itsuki shouting off commands on the public comm line.
Itsuki eyed the time in his HUD. It was past 1345, by now they would’ve run out of time. In all seriousness, they were going to be in trouble. He suspected that Sinder, Arielle, and Haruka would be mounting their counterattack at any time.
[Any movement?] He asked 00.
[Negative.. The targets are stationary. I suspect they have not been able to recover.]
[What about the enemies? Any changes?]
[Affirmative.. Enemy density has dropped by 50% and is falling fast. I do not detect any additional contacts appearing and ongoing delays from S1 are pushing the targets limits.] 00 paused, then said. [I believe the plan has worked.]
Itsuki grunted as the enemies thinned out around him. [It sure has.]
The original plan, on the surface, was to ensure that the enemy explorers could be taken down before they recovered. The multi staged attacks from the ground and the air were to put up that front. In reality, the real purpose was to bait out the remaining enemies hidden on the field and set the stage for the finale. They were never expecting to hit the targets within a time frame, they had only wanted to make it seem like they were rushing. And even if time ran out, delaying the opposition was possible thanks to S1’s always clever mind.
[Is everyone in place?] Itsuki asked as he and his team took cover behind some rubble. He checked the number of replacement blades he had left in his sheath, then switched to a private comm line. [How about you, S1?]
[Plenty of shells left, but not enough to buy you more time.] S1 said. [I’m ready to roll whenever you are.]
[Affirmative..] 00 replied. [Storm 2, 3, 4, and 5, are in position, and you are in the optimal position. New enemy contacts are no longer appearing.]
Itsuki leaned around the edge of his cover. He then looked back and checked his map. A number of squads had made it past the enemy lines. They were now in the buffer area just before their target. Snapping a new blade to the hilt of his sword, he sheathed it away and put the whip back onto his waist. He’d need to be mobile for this part of the plan.
[All right then.] Itsuki said. [S1.. call it.]
He heard S1 grin and how his voice trembled with trepidation.
[My pleasure.] S1 heaved a breath to calm himself down, he was truly excited. [Phase 7 complete, switching to Phase 8.] There was a 2 second delay before he changed his tone. It boomed as he declared, [Begin Counterattack. Go, Go, Go!]
Itsuki’s team bolted from cover, as well as the other teams nearby. Immediately, a barrage of artillery came piling on at the target’s location ahead. Marked in their HUDs to be a distance of 450 meters, they watched as the number ticked down with every step. The air rumbled with thunderous booms that rolled in the air.
Ahead, a brilliant dome of fire blazed in the sky as the artillery barrage was stopped in its tracks. Each strike died like a bloom of beautiful fire. As a reply, a number of sparking bolts took the air. A group of them arced toward Itsuki. He spotted the familiar card-like shape. He ducked and ran past as they sliced within inches of hitting him. The passing bolts suddenly swerved to come around. Itsuki pivoted into a zigzag as he ran, but the bolts persistently followed. Shisuki flexed her arm and shot them down with a watery spray of knife-like daggers.
They increased their pace, making good time. At 300 meters left, several golems formed up from the ground ahead of them. Chisuke surged ahead, his odachi’s blade glowing red as he cut them down. With a wide swing, he sent a spray of rock into the air. Itsuki and Shisuki ran past the rain of rubble and rock. On their left and right, other teams quickened their pace and drew fire from the target. No doubt Arielle was letting off bolts of homing energy while Haruka conjured up these golems to block their path.
As another barrage of S1’s artillery rained overhead, Itsuki caught a glimpse of Sinder howling a blaze of fire that blanketed the sky in a dome of fire. 200 meters remained.
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[On your left!] Chisuke yelled, pointing to a pair of golems coming out of the ground–they hadn’t been there a second ago.
Itsuki drew the whip from his waist. A snapped rung out as one of them slumped back into the dirt. Shisuki followed up with a spear of water that eroded through the other’s chest. A third wave of echoing booms rang out as yet another wave of artillery was stopped by Sinder’s howl of domed fire. The pause between the next volley was noticeable and S1 spoke up, reporting that the artillery had run dry, and at the worst time.
“Over there!” Itsuki recognized that shout to be Sinder’s.
He’d been spotted and was sure that she was going to focus on him. Itsuki ran low to the ground as he kept an eye on her. When she sniffed the air, she reeled back her head to draw in a large breath then turned in his direction. It was just as he thought. He stayed calm as he glanced at the clouds overhead.
[Now!] He heard S1 shout and a rain of projectiles broke from the underbelly of the clouds overhead. Sinder didn’t notice until the erupting explosion of rifle grenades popped all around her. The shock almost had her biting her own tongue. She looked up in time to see a rain of energy bolts descend.
[Keep firing!] S1 commanded, ordering Group Gamma and Beta to keep up the pressure.
The mystics who had been escorted followed suit, letting loose a rapid storm of projectiles. They shot blindly through the clouds. But using Storm 1’s line of sight, they could aim somewhat accurately. Sinder had no choice. She turned her attention away and put up a barrier. Arielle and Haruka drew closer to strengthen it and pool their defensive capabilities. As they did, an enormous chunk of ice fell from the clouds, it was as big as a building.
Sinder’s eyes widened. “You have to be kidding me!” She screamed and drew in a panic breath to howl a column of fire.
The falling glacial iceberg fractured from the heat. While not melting, it crumbled into crashing fragments. Itsuki unflinchingly ran straight forward, the boulders of ice coming within inches of crushing him. Arielle threw out a handful of sparking bolts. Shisuki intercepted, allowing Itsuki to speed up. As he jumped over a piece of rubble, a roaring gout of fire flew at him. He drew out the blade sheathed at his waist and dashed the flame away. The blade of his sword melted away in a dripping mess. The disposable component came away as he pressed the release trigger and weaved between the obstacles of descending ice. He counted one replacement blade left in his sheath.
Rapid bursts of Sinder’s explosive fire melted his cover away. Fellow squads a distance on his right used the attention he had drawn from Sinder to close in. They hurried ahead and accosted Arielle and Haruka. A break in the chaos showed itself, but not for long. Arielle and Haruka put up a heavy resistance and made do in close combat. But in doing so their protective barrier overhead weakened and a volley of energy bolts made it past. Sinder, Arielle, and Haruka were forced to take cover.
In that brief lull as they moved, Itsuki leaped out from behind a chunk of half melted ice. With a new blade and his whip at the ready, he turned on his heel and eyed Chisuke. Chisuke eyed him back and nodded. He planted his feet and braced as Itsuki’s whip coiled around him. He was subsequently thrown forward violently. Without a break in his actions, Itsuki did the same to Shisuki, this time throwing her up into the air.
Chisuke came soaring in on Haruka, bringing down his odachi. Haruka raised her staff and stopped his blade with a barrier of green energy. Arielle came around and slammed her fist into his gut that sent him crashing to a nearby boulder of ice. Shisuki rained a countless hail on them. Arielle countered in kind, clapping her hands together to throw out a sharp shockwave of energy. The other squads fell, overcome with a paralysis. Shisuki flew back from the sheer force of Arielle’s pulse wave and landed in a stumble. For a moment, Arielle and Haruka thought it was over. Then a rapid stomping of steps caught their ears.
Only 100 meters left. Itsuki pushed off the ground, his legs straining as core energy extended his human limits, each step leaving a dent in the hard ground.
“Shit.” Arielle cursed as Haruka attempted to raise her staff to respond.
They wouldn’t make it, but not Sinder. Sinder puffed her cheek up, flame trickling from the corners of her pretty red lips. Itsuki realized he couldn’t dodge and pulled his arms up in a guard.
“Wait!” Arielle shouted, “That’s going too..”
Her words were cut short as a column of fire howled from Sinder, her flames engulfing Itsuki in a matter of seconds. Shock overcame Arielle’s expression and Sinder’s brow raised in surprise. Sinder had thought Itsuki would’ve dodged, he had done it before, so why not now? That question became moot as the horror of what she had done dawned on her. Killing or severely injuring each other was off the table for today’s training exercises. While an argument could be made that it only applied to the students and trainees, this would still count as a gross overuse of her powers. Sinder knew she’d probably be punished. She paled at what she would tell her parents.
“Huh?” An utterly surprised gasp dumbly left Haruka’s lips. “What the?”
From the continually howling blaze of Sinder’s fire, she saw Itsuki’s unflinching face emerge. Time seemed to stop for everyone. Itsuki’s shirt was ash and his revealed chest was blackened with spots of severe burns. He had definitely taken a beating. But injured as he was, and seemingly on the edge of life, Arielle, Sinder, and Haruka were worried about the intent they felt coming from his pure black eyes.
Itsuki raised the sword in his right hand, the blade shining silver and crackling with energy. A murmur slipped from his lips as he slipped right in front of Sinder. “Type 6.. Sever.”
The slash came down in controlled deliberation. Arielle paled at what Itsuki would do. Would he really kill her? No, Itsuki knew better, but his personality was a pain in the ass to deal with. A lull of silence took hold. Nothing happened for a second, that was until there was the sound of a clink of something hitting the ground. Arielle spotted what it was. It was two halves of a thumb size circular device.
The earpiece? Arielle blinked, dumbfounded. Was that all?
It wasn’t. Itsuki immediately spun from his crouched posture and slammed a spinning high kick into Sinder’s face. She went down and Itsuki flicked his wrist to let loose the whip in his other hand. Again, words slipped from his lips. “Type 7.. Bind.”
Arielle and Haruka jumped back, their barriers up, but the length of Itsuki’s whip glowed and crackled with silver light. It extended and snaked around their barriers to bind their hands. The silver lines of energy burned. Biting back her scream, Arielle attempted to pull the bindings off of her. She felt it give, except Itsuki grabbed her by her long blonde hair and threw her as far as he could.
Arielle attempted to resist but Shisuki, having recovered, blew past Itsuki and drew her short sword on Arielle mid air. Arielle broke the silver bindings in time to put up her hands to block the blade. Shisuki smiled with a menacing politeness as she pressed Arielle away from the others.
Meanwhile, Haruka had gotten out of her bindings quicker and was about to launch a bolt at Itsuki. A blood red blade halted her staff. Chisuke’s beast-like grin greeted her and drove an animalistic fear into the pit of her soul. The next thing she knew, Chisuke had her by her antlers. She struggled, but the guy’s brute strength was well beyond what a normal student’s was. He tossed her as if she weighed nothing and cackled in delight as he chased her like a deer on the run.
Itsuki turned around and jumped away from Sinder. As he did, the whip and sword in either of his hands crumbled to dust.
Sinder got up from the ground and shook the last of the dizziness out of her. She noticed the absence of her friends and said, “So you're trying to separate us.. Good plan.” She smirked, readying into a fighting posture. “Guess this will be one on one again. You sure you can fight without your guns, or any of your usual tricks?”
“I’ve done fine so far.” Itsuki panted. The burns across his chest hurt like hell.
“You’re not going to win, you know.” Sinder mocked, pointing at the storage rings on his wrist. “Not with your half filled bag of tricks. Face it, you can’t win.”
Itsuki laughed dryly, it hurt, but he laughed anyway. “You really are naive.”
Sinder flared with anger. She was about to come back with a biting remark, but stopped. Her whole body shuddered. The hair’s of her furry ears raised in alarm.
“What is this?” Her tail stood reflexively on end. Danger was close.. No.. it was right in front of her.
Itsuki shrugged. “Your senses are sharp, good.”
Sinder raised a brow. Why isn’t he attacking? Why aren’t I? I could get him right now, he’s so close.. But.. But.. The slightest movements Itsuki made put pressure on Sinder.
Itsuki breathed a sigh. “I usually wouldn’t get mad at you since you're young in your career, but I have to pay you back for cutting off my arm earlier. Today will be an exception, I’ll have to use that.” He began to mumble so quiet that Sinder couldn’t hear. “I have to make sure the students win, because that’s the mission, and I never fail my missions.” He widened his eyes at Sinder, a crazed kind of air had permeated around him. “At any cost.”
Letting his mind still like a clear unblemished pond, Itsuki’s core energy surged through his entire body. Taking only a nanosecond, he drew out the power of his Perfect Memory ability. With every explorer, the basic powers they could have started simple. Some could conjure energy or matter immediately in their adolescence, while others had less mystical effect. In Itsuki’s case, he was the latter, the unimpressive sort. His Perfect Memory allowed him to recall every piece of information or experience he’d ever had.
Sinder knew all this by now and believed she could out match it with her ability over fire and flame. She had advanced to a point where her power had evolved and could now conjure hell hounds or turn the surroundings to ash in seconds. But even with all that power, she stood trembling in awe of the pressure Itsuki emanated. She had to remind herself that Itsuki had lived far longer than her. A certain warning came to mind, one that her parents had given her the day of her graduation from the academy.
Remember Sinder, you have a long way to go to catch up if you want to one day match the pros like us. It’s always the people who’ve lived the longest you should worry about.
She loathed to admit it, but the proof of those words had shown itself. The air filled with the usual presence of Itsuki silver energy, but it was laced with something.. Something sinister, something cold, something old, something.. Beyond her own comprehension.
“Break.. Break.. Break..” Itsuki’s voice echoed around her, but they weren’t from his lips. He stood stock still, his eyes closed and seemingly open to attack. But all of Sinder’s senses were telling her to not get close, that if she did, she’d die.
“Break.. Break.. Break..” Itsuki's voice continued repeatedly eerily in multiple tones and as if from multiple mouths talking all at once. Yet, his lips didn’t budge an inch. Sinder could hear 5 in total, all of them in Itsuki’s blunt tone, except, were they really him?
“Break.. Break.. Break... Break, The Memories.. Break down the past. Remember it all.. Remember.. Remember.. Remember.”
***
Itsuki opened his eyes, except he didn’t find Sinder anywhere. Instead there was a throne of gold set a distance ahead of him, and sat upon it was a figure he didn’t know. It was human, and its lips curled to speak.
“Why?” It asked. “Why have you..” The last of its words faded in Itsuki’s ears.
His mind was somewhere else, in more ways than one and he didn’t want to be lectured. He had things to do. Itsuki looked closer at the figure, at the place around him. It was all out of focus, only the throne of gold and the path under his feet were clear enough to see. He didn’t know this figure or this place.. No.. he did know.. He had just made himself forget, and he knew he had made himself forget that he could forget.
Yes, that’s right.. Perfect Memory. I can remember everything, and I can choose.. to un-remember everything.
“Should I?” He asked himself. “Should I use it?”
Itsuki already knew but he had to answer. He nodded and heard a voice whisper on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a gateway that hadn’t been there before. It was shut tight, and there was not a single seam in its rounded features that were wrapped in silver chains. He stepped closer. On the third step, the locks crumbled. The silver frame of the gate gave away as a bright line parted it into two perfect halves.
Streams of images surged across his eyes. A familiar sensation grabbed him, grabbed at the inside of his chest. It filled his heart with a sickening vigor. It threatened to overtake him, swallow him in madness. Every image brought only the scenes of carnage, of blood shed, of.. Trauma. They were all the trauma he had locked away, of a past he had put down. He screamed as he shut his eyes, clasping his hands over his chest that felt as though it was going to explode.
Kill.. Kill.. Kill.. I will Kill.. My purpose is to kill.. Kill them.. Slaughter them.. Them.. Them! Monsters.. Kill.. People.. Kill.. All of them.. Kill.
Shadowy hands rose from the ground, they clasped at him. Itsuki grimaced in pain, then smiled. “I know!” He hissed. “I know.. But give me your strength.. Let me use.. What I have learned.. Let me use it all!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing in this space that he knew wasn’t reality.
The madness in his mind settled in his chest. It became part of him and made him remember who he really was. With his eyes shut, he let the shadowy hands take him, their fingers digging in and ripping chunks out of his flesh. His legs melted into the shadow of the ground, as if it were a pool of black quicksand. As the last part of himself was swallowed, he opened his eyes. The expected visage of the crumbling gate or black hell, was replaced by Sinder. The girl’s face was pale and her posture told him she was on guard. She was afraid.
Sinder gulped. She had no words, only a dry feeling in her mouth. She almost didn’t want to breathe. Itsuki’s eyes had changed, and it was as if he were a different person. As she got a good look at him, the blank black featureless eyes he usually had, now had an addition to them. A vertical slit of silver light occupied the center of his irises. They were predatory, and Sinder wished she had the will to run. She gulped a second time, there was no spit to smooth it out.
Itsuki must’ve noticed, he responded by smiling. Sinder’s stomach churned with an aching revulsion. His smile was hungry, savage, ecstatic, enraged, and crazed all at once. Whatever this was, whatever technique Itsuki was using, Sinder was sure that this wasn’t the regular Itsuki she knew. He was never this expressive or radiated such a heavily caked air of bloodthirsty desire.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/x1k7MzvC/1714606857283.jpg]
Suddenly Itsuki laughed, his teeth clattering. “Ha hahaha bwahahaha hahahahahahahaha ahahahahaha ehahahahahahahahahahaha!”
Sinder took a half step back. Itsuki immediately spread his arms out, silver energy surging off of him as his posture readied to launch himself at her. His blonde hair waved in the wind, a second later its color darkened from the roots, changing to a blackish silver. The sound of cracking glass snapped at Sinder’s ears as jagged lines crept across Itsuki’s arms and chest. It was like he was falling apart, but all that kept him together was a veil of sanity left within those eyes of his. The pressure in the air lessened, Sinder heaved a breath.
Finally Itsuki spoke, his tone calm and curt. “Target.. Sinder.. Type.. 99.. Set.. Memory Index Line C46.. JX49, Target Locked.” His head listed down, then with a sickening snap he faced forward, his smile wiped away and his glowing silver eyes honing in on her. “Kill!”
A shudder ran down Sinder’s spine. I’m.. I’m going to die. For the first time in her life, she was scared for her life.
This was unbelievable. She had fought hordes of monsters from the star depth and survived the hell of the academy's training for 5 years. But this? Sinder didn’t know if she had the choice of escape or of even life. All she knew was that she would lose, that she would break at Itsuki’s hands. A panicked smirk was all she could muster before she saw Itsuki’s hand reach for her face and heard his savage growl.
“KILL!”