"I'm going for the archers!"

Fayette yelled in excitement and thrill, without looking back as her figure disappeared amidst the trees.

Valentine regarded her figure until she disappear and regained his focus when he heard the bushes moving nearby.

At the same time three men with different complexions, two naked and one dressed in rags, ran with improvised hammers towards him out of the woods!

"GET HIS LEGS!"

He steadied her breath and stood up with a pirouette, swiftly turning like a spiral of his own after being taken down by Fayette.

"DIE!!"

One of the men, the closest to him, yelled as if he was in some kind of game, he swung his relatively heavy hammer that was but a mere piece of wood with a rock attached to it!

Amidst his pirouette, he kicked the hammer right at the wooden handle and destroyed it!

*BAANG!*

The man stumbled at the impact and kept his momentum trail.

As if break dancing he evaded the second man who also swung his hammer and propelled himself out of their reach not before throwing one of his knives towards the third one's gut, the knife went through the man's flesh like a bullet and blood spewed all over!

"AHHHH!!!!"

The three fools were left completely awestruck!

'WHAT THE HELL!?'

"Next time you decide to tail your prey, conceal yourself better and don't wait until they're in a damned open clearing, idiots… not that you will have that chance anymore."

He disdained these 'civilians' and rushed forth, knife in hand!

***

Fayette ran through the forest, tailing three running men whose figures were closer and closer, not able to keep up with her speed.

She had passed by the place where the first man that Valentine injured was lying, the wolf's claw in the form of a knife went through the man's stomach and he was bleeding to death.

Feeling happy, she took mercy on the idiot, took the knife whilst evading two more arrows and directly sliced the man's neck.

Never stop moving, a simple saying in the army…

'If you stop, you're dead!'

The French commander regarded the three running men that frequently fired arrows back at her, their voices more than clear as they colluded.

Their aim wasn't the best, but one could see that they had been doing this for a long time.

"It's impossible! How can just two of them handle us like this!" One of the men yelled in apprehension, he couldn't believe how this woman so swiftly evaded all of their projectiles.

"Shit! SHIT! They're professionals! Let's just tackle her together and kill her and we will then go for the other bast-! AHHHH!!"

"You talk too much!" Fayette scowled with coldness after throwing the knife she just collected, impacting the man's thigh!

"UGHHH!! D-DAMMIT HELP ME!- UGH!!" He turned around to look at his running teammates who clearly didn't intend to come back and help him, but he didn't even have time to finish his words.

Fayette was relentless, taking any chance, as nimble as a ghost.

She wanted to leave the man alive to question him later, but she knew he would regenerate and leave, if he's to regenerate, she'd better injure him as much as possible so that it would take longer.

"AAHHHHHH!!!!"

She dragged the knife all along the man's leg to his groin, leaving deep cuts all over.

When she was about to catch up with the other two, she saw the crystal protrude amidst the flesh in the man's tight.

'The crystals…'

Instead of catching up with the other man, she stopped to consider.

'Right now it's the best moment to experiment...' They hadn't found any humans for so many weeks, she had this thought in mind for long, but didn't want to try it with Valentine.

She was sure that her partner was alright, they weren't that far and the pained yells she heard weren't his.

With an attentive gaze she pierced the knife inside the man's flesh, right on the tattoo, she didn't have to wait for the man's groans of pain as he struggled free in vain.

Her knife eventually touched something hard and as if electrocuted, the man started to shake violently!

*SLASH!*

She made a deeper cut, careful to evade any incoming arrows, but they never came.

Taking the black crystal, she noticed it was a little bigger than the others, but not a lot different, at that stage, the man's body stopped twitching, as if he couldn't be any deader as even the body started to pale rapidly!

'Interesting...'

***

Fayette ran back to where she left her partner and was unimpressed to find two of the men apparently lifeless, the one she beheaded would surely regenerate soon so she got to him first and collected the crystal.

Valentine stood with his foot on top of a groaning man, he had no limbs, all of them scattered around!

"BASTARD! LET ME GO!!" He twisted and turned, even trying to punch Valentine's foot with his amputee bloody arms, the only thing he got was Valentine's foot planted on his head.

The profesional assasin just stared at his partner with concern, "You okay? Where are the others?"

She approached him and presented him two of the crystals, this only made him furrow his brows and it was then that he recalled, those are the crystals inside their bodies...

"One of them escaped, as long as we take these crystals, they won't be able to stand anymore." She concluded.

"…"

"What I don't understand is, how does the regeneration trigger? I just discovered that this crystal is now like our hearts, we have to protect it at all cost."

With furrowed brows she walked around, collecting the crystals of the other two... when she was about to collect the clothed man's who was incapacitated but clearly starting to regenerate... Valentine spoke.

"Leave him... he has rags and a better hammer, that means he's been here longer than the others and we need answers, collect the crystals out of those two..." After kicking the disabled man's body like a piece of rubbish, he walked to the clothed man who he was more interested in.

"Y-YOU'RE CRAZY, A COUPLE OF CRAZY BASTARDS!"

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The now disabled man who had seen the whole exchange couldn't contain his fear anymore and yelled, hoping someone would come and help him, but no one did.

The bloodied woman smirked with a maniacal gaze, those pretty hererochromatic shining eyes of hers made her all the more scary.

She smirked and gave the man a glance, lifting her bloodied knife to her bloodied face, she blushed 'cutely'.

"Oh my? Is that how we look?~ You see Valentine!? he called us a couple!"

"A couple... of 'crazy bastards' mind you" He rolled his eyes but a smile crept on his face inadvertently.

'She looks hot covered in blood.' He thought inwardly, shaking his head the next second.

'What the hell am I thinking?'

"Just details~"

***

An unknown amount of time passed.

The long-haired man finally woke up from his induced stupor, he found himself laying on the floor, with his body regenerating.

"You finally up?"

!!!

"Huh?- WWAHHHHH!!"

The pain came as fast as his awakened consciousness, one of his legs got amputated right at that moment!

"Sorry about this but... we have nothing to bind you, we can only do this to prevent you from running with your friends, something we'd gladly accept if we knew your group's numbers~" Fayette's delicious voice resonated as she prepared herself to cut the other leg!

Valentine only stared at everything with an amused expression, this woman likes to do the dirty job all the time.

As a possible partner, it's complicated... As a subordinate... He never had anyone so efficient.

"W-Wait! I'm not going to run!!"

"You may excuse me but... I don't believe you~"

*SLASH!*

"AHHHHHHHH!!!"

His regenerating limb just fell again… Sad.

"W-WAIT PLEASE! W-WE CAN NEGOTIATE!"

"Fufu~ Wrong answer."

*SLASH!!*

"AHHHHH H-HELP ME!"

"Now, spill the beans. How many of you are there? what do you know of this place? how long have you been here?!" She started with a barrage of basic questions.

"I'm not going to tell you sh- AAHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Fayette buried her sharp knife on the man's tattoo, located on his tight, touching the crystal... It seemed to cause so much pain, more than slicing a limb!

"You know, when I was still alive... God, that felt so weird…" She sighed and shook her head.

"When I was still alive, there was never a man or woman I didn't manage to compel to talk... and you, little shit, won't be the first. There is always have something important... something that you can threaten, I took their mothers... their lovers, and even then... they refused to talk, that was until I threatened those two eggs... Men have such a ridiculous weakness right in between their legs~"

Her knife pointed at his crotch but her gaze never went there, her gaze remained on him as if she was staring at a corpse.

The moment the man heard that he started to sweat, way more than the heat was making him sweat!

And it wasn't only him!

She pointed the knife towards the man's covered crotch and smirked, "Some even sold their mothers just to make me stop~"

"…"

"Okay~ Let's peel-!" The crazy bitch smirked maniacally as if rejoicing by his choice!

"STOP PLEASE! I WILL TALK!"

The man spoke right away... apparently, he was just a businessman when he was still alive, so naturally, he didn't have that much will and his jewels were his most important treasure.

"It's about twenty of them... In a cave not too far from here... I'll tell you more if you promise to let me live!"

"Go ahead, we will just leave you here if you tell us everything and head to the cave straight away..." Valentine spoke next and it made Fayette raise her eyebrows but she nodded in confirmation nonetheless.

"Our leader... He's a big man, they have several women there that they use for pleasure, there are 15 men that have managed to create tools to protect ourselves, we managed to kill several wolves in the months we've been there... We have... No idea what this place is but, we don't dare leave that cave, the black cloud comes many times a week and we don't dare step outside... We have already eaten many... the group used to be like thirty people in the start."

"Thirty people?!" Fayette exclaimed in surprise, so many?! They had been walking and running for weeks and hadn't seen a single one, why were there so many in a single place... Also, the black cloud comes several times a week?!

Only that made her not want to stand around here.

…

"Yes, but wolves come to the cave often and we hunt them in big groups... That's all I know... We have no way to escape this place and we also don't know what it is, the only thing we know is that all of us died before coming here so... We guess this place is like hell or something, that's the only explanation." He finished.

"Are you sure that's all you know?" She asked again, pointing right at where his crystal is.

"... Those crystals, we don't know what they are, but when you store them in a closed place or hold them with you, nothing happens... If you place them on the ground, however, like a seed, the person starts to regenerate, we don't know why this happens... But again, it's not like we can explain why it rains fire in this damned place!"

Fayette thought that was enough information, surely someone who's been here for mere months can't know that much.

She gave her partner a glare as if inquiring what to do next.

Valentine moved and crouched down in front of the scared man who would now know if they were really going to let him off!

"Who are you? where are you from? and... what was the date when you died?" He asked next and Fayette understood why he wanted to know but she still felt bewildered, does that even matter now?

"... My name is Farah Ahmed, I-I was a businessman in Iran... It should have been the 9th of August, 1833... Why do you care?" The man managed to answer still resisting the pain from his bisected legs, not moving much least it hurts more, just waiting for them to regenerate.

"... Nevermind, turn around Fayette, I'm going to tie him up to a tree with his clothes" He affirmed and went to action, much to the man's outrage!

"Hey! Why?! That's not the deal!" He scowled at the injustice.

"There is no deal… If you prefer I can cut you down here."

"N-No..."

…

"Why don't you want me to see him? I have seen plenty of naked men here. Could it be... are you jealous?~" She asked playfully but did as told.

"I am..." He stated with a confident glint, not playing around and his honesty took her by surprise.

'Let's see how long you can tease me before blowing your cover.'

She blushed slightly but didn't say a word, choosing to instead grit her teeth and pout.

'He's growing aware of my feelings… Once he confirms them… I won't have any leverage.'

Just as they said since the immemorial, whoever falls first, loses.

…

"Where is the cave located?" After tying the naked and limbless man to the tree, he asked his next question.

"UGH! I-It's straight down, there! Just follow straight and when you see a big tree with cut branches, turn left, it should be about there..." The Arab said, evading his gaze.

"Is that so? Do you think those guys are coming to help you?" Valentine asked his last question, studying the man's physical signals.

"They will... whoever escaped will probably tell the boss that you have a pretty bitch... and let's just say those whores are in big demand in that cave... The other ones there are a little... Broken... Moreover, they're also dirty. But yours is..." A smile managed to creep on his face as if he remembered something and licked his lips

*BAANG!*

"AHHHH! B-BITCH!"

Fayette punched his head so hard he bit on his own tongue and bisected it!

"Hmph! Let's go..." Fayette grasped her partner's hand and moved forward, she felt hungry, and surely those bastards had food, she didn't feel like eating her crush's flesh yet, especially if there were prey.

But she also didn't feel like eating someone else's flesh...

***

The two walked straight until the struggling fool couldn't be seen anymore, but then Valentine stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong? Surrounded again?"

"No, let's go back around and hide for a day or two until they come and rescue him." He stated and started to pull her hand around.

"We can't wait, maybe we will be able to ambush them inside the cave! Aren't you hungry!?" After seeing their combined prowess, she felt confident, most of the people they have seen so far were akin to infants compared with them.

They could surely make a plan to lure out a portion and ambush the others inside the cave, then be ready for when the others came back, that was the first plan that came upon her mind.

He sighed at her confidence.

'As expected of an army commander, always seeking battles of attrition instead of proper strategy.'

"Don't underestimate the enemy, they have the advantage in that cave... we will just stand by for a day or two, if they don't come... We go and guard on, analyse their movements. As long as they come to this clearing and we ambush them, even twenty won't be too hard to take down, but if we face the twenty of them in their advantageous point, we will lose and remember, losing is not an option... Not when we aren't even free to die."

"..."

"And that's without accounting for the fact that the location of the cave he just said could be fake, only to take us in circles or even worse, towards another ambush... Even the numbers might be wrong and there aren't twenty, instead, there are fifty to ambush us, or ten, he intended to deter us from going to the cave by saying a lie... You never know and that's why you always attract the enemy, not the other way around." His voice sounded like a teacher, he knew she was an expert, but she still has a long way to go in her confidence and stratagem planning.

...

"..." Fayette Blanchet couldn't find any flaws in his logic, she's flabbergasted... not only that but his rational capacity, scheming and strategy, together with his fighting and surviving skills...

'Is this what an strategist is like?' In her time strategies are planned and waged by AIs capable of properly analysing the whole battlefield.

'No wonder they couldn't catch this man back then no matter what they did... he's a monster...' Only by using one of his trusted aides against him... Could they finally get to him.

To love... That had been his only weakness.

She hadn't noticed they were being followed at all, but he managed to not only pretend he didn't know but also guide them to a place where he held the advantage, he was confident in her capacity to adapt to the situation after having studied her well the last few weeks.

'And now he even turned this Farah into his puppet... Without using any sorcery or charm, he's going to tell the ones that are coming to save him whatever he wants them to know... Simply terrifying.'

The ex-commander wouldn't want to fight someone like him on the battlefield, who would come up standing in a hand to hand fight between the two? She didn't know.

But one thing she knew, if given enough time, the fight would be over before it even began, his methods weren't foreign to her doctrine, but... He simply didn't waste any opportunities and did everything so efficiently it was unbelievable.

'I really did quite the catch in here~'

"And what do we do if the black cloud comes?"

"... Hehe, that might be better~" He smirked and grasped her hand, turning around towards the place where they left the man, careful that he wouldn't see them.

"Huh?!"