The jeering laughter and debasing words reached Mila from down below. A question of who she was and what she was doing here came from behind.

These things were not relevant.

Mila let the voices wash over her and tightened her cloak again, pulling the hood lower to hide her face. It would take caution while moving, but she could do this without revealing her looks, aside from her height.

After all, these men below assaulting a woman were pathetic excuses for humans. No Mana, no weapons, no armour, no skill. They wouldn’t be able to force Mila to go all out.

And…

Would anyone miss them? Perhaps.

Would the world be better without them? Yes, that was the short answer.

Would Isabel or Andrew object to it? Maybe only Andrew.

This conclusion simplified the decision-making. Quickly, Mila gathered as much information about the location as possible.

A remote, narrow alley with a couple of closed doors at the sides. No windows. A stack of crates, barrels and what seemed to be trash concealed the position where the assault took place.

A couple of locals were hurrying away from the spot towards the other end of the alley. It left The poor young woman with the three assailants alone.

No, it was six. Two of the men were guarding the access point they had come from while another was standing at the opposite part of the alley.

Correct that. They turned back and walked to where the brave woman was scratching one of the men, earning herself a nasty punch in the stomach.

Very helpful that. It certainly made it easier to get away after Mila was done with them.

The voice behind her was now very close. “Hey, are you deaf?” It questioned.

It was time. As the woman collapsed against the wall, Mila fished the recently acquired throwing daggers from beneath the cloak. These, too, had been taken from the group of bandits aiming to rob them as most of the group's equipment.

Not as good as the one claimed at Silinth’s old place - the balance was off, and they were made from subpar metal - but they would do the job just fine.

Before the person behind her could interrupt, Mila stepped on the window sill and prepared to jump.

There were exclamations behind Mila, warning her against doing anything stupid. Luckily, they didn’t carry all the way down to the street level. Her targets were still none the wiser.

Mila only had three knives to throw. Enough for the returning men. It left three targets she had to take care of personally and up close.

As Mila bent her knees to jump, her hand flicked once, twice and then thrice. Three knives streaked through the air, aiming to kill the marks.

Then, Mila jumped over to the opposite wall, which she used as a springboard to repeat the action back to the wall of the building she had started from.

After a couple of jumps, Mila was low enough to risk dropping on her targets without jeopardising her approach.

While approaching the ground, Mila looked at how successful her throwing attacks had been.

Unfortunately, only one of the men was dying with a knife protruding from his neck. The other two had fared better but would not be a danger for now. One had the throwing weapon stuck above his collarbone, while the other was trying to stem bleeding from a nasty gash on his neck.

And while both of them grunted in pain, they had not yet noticed where the attacks had come from. They tried to speak. They tried to warn their comrades and ask for help, but it was too late.

The rumbustious laughter of the remaining men was too loud. They did not hear. And even if they had, their fate was already decided.

The only one who noticed Mila was the woman, who was now on the ground, peering up with hopeless tears in her eyes. Mila saw the victim's eyes follow her descent, not quite able to discern what she was seeing.

Mila’s legs touched the building’s wall one last time. She was behind them now. Her dagger in hand, she gathered the strength in her limbs - then pounced.

One of the men was pulling his trousers down. Mila decided to let him. After all, it would make his attempts at resisting - if he managed any - all the more futile.

Another one was looking down at the woman, pure, naked hunger in his eyes. He was not seeing anything else but the victim.

And lastly, the third man was looking bored. It was the greatest sin in Mila’s mind. It appeared this was so common for him that he had lost all most in the act.

And with that, it was clear to Mila who had to die first. The bored man even managed to turn his head a little before she was upon him.

Mila’s dagger was hungry for blood. Her approach was too sudden. She moved the weapon in front of her and used all of her weight to drive it right into the man’s eye.

A stupid thing to do. The dagger could get stuck in the bone. An eye was too small of a target to reliably hit. The dying man had managed to jerk his head back a little as well, just by reflex.

And yet, Mila had chosen to do it this way. It was a brutal way to go. It felt suitable to free the man of vision. To have him blinded and remove the bored look in his eye.

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“Wh-” One the thirsting man noticed her. He managed to speak, bringing the attention of the pantless man towards the danger.

A slight yank on the dagger informed Mila she needed to use more strength. It wasted time, but she needed the weapon. Another pull and it came free, pulling brain matter, blood and watery fluid that was once an eye - a truly repulsive mix. Some of it splashed on Mila’s cloak as she retrieved the dagger.

As the dead man started to collapse, the other two scampered to address Mila. The pantless man, in his panic, tried to pull them back. The thirsting man called for help, hoping their friends guarding the place would hear and arrive.

But the woman had yet to understand what was happening. Her tears still fogged her eyes, and she tried to clear them with her hands.

All of this information was quickly filtered and arranged. Mila felt like a butcher in front of lambs. After the disasters and opponents she had faced back when they had just set out, the people she confronted today were nothing.

It was so simple. Mila raised her dagger, took a step and slit the pantless man’s throat.

The third man looked at her in horror. “Wh-” He stared, unable to comprehend the situation. His arms started to move, trying to protect his vulnerable spots, but…

“Get up, we are leaving.” Mila addressed the woman as she crouched, then dashed forward.

The man tried to retreat while wildly flapping his hands. He didn’t manage far. Mila feinted a step in and moved to the side, leaving the current target unable to follow.

And it was all it took. Mila stabbed the man's side under the ribcage, angling the dagger upwards, then twisted. She then removed the weapon and looked towards the woman.

“I said get up. We have to move. Quickly. Before the guards arrive. You better have a spot to vanish in.” Mila smoothly gave instructions. She doubted it was a good idea to leave the woman here - not after seeing how the rest of the street had treated her.

While the woman was still gathering herself, Mila turned to where the last two surviving men were. She had to finish the job.

There were now screams above her head. The people who had seen her jump were now hanging outside the window, drinking in the sight of slaughter.

It mattered not. Mila was confident she could vanish in the crowds. As quickly as possible, she ran towards the man who was nursing his neck. He noticed her approach. His eyes were unfocused from the blood loss. He tried to guard himself with the free hand by waving it in front of his body.

It was a useless gesture. Mila stepped around the arm and stabbed the other side of the neck, leaving the man with no chance of survival. He would bleed to death in moments.

Now, there was only one man left. Mila headed back to where he was but was forced to stop when she noticed loud demands for order on that side of the alley.

After clicking her tongue in annoyance, Mila looked around. One of the doors looked worse than the others. The wooden door frame was crooked, and the doors were made of uneven planks.

Mila turned towards the woman, who was now standing and looking down at the corpses.

There was no sympathy in her eyes. Her heavy breaths were full of anger and resentment. She spat on them and raised her leg for a kick.

“Be quick.” Mila didn’t stop her and checked if the doors were open. They weren’t. “Crush that naked man’s erection if you must, but do it fast. We must move. Now.”

And with these words, Mila slammed her shoulder against the flimsy door, startling the woman who, seemingly for the first time, properly looked at her saviour.

“Who?” She tried to orient herself. “Why?”

While the doors cracked, they didn’t give right away. Seeing the woman had regained a semblance of composure, Mila decided to ask. “Will you be fine if I leave you?”

The woman started to shake her head. “No, no, no, don’t leave me here.” She begged, her crimson hair swinging in the air. “They will take me away!”

“Difficult,” Mila uttered under her breath, making sure the woman didn’t hear her. She entertained the idea of leaving the woman. But, before she knew it, her shoulder slammed into the chosen doors again.

And this time, they gave in. With a loud crack, the planks shattered, revealing a barely lit room on the other side. Mila stuck her hand through the hole and checked if the doors could be opened from there.

After a moment of groping, Mila felt her hand touch a latch. It took another second for her to remove it and open the doors. The voices were closing in.

Mila turned around to see the woman now standing behind her, nervously glancing both ways. “Let’s go.” She entered the building.

The room was full of various leather works. So much so that the windows were barely able to give light as most of them were covered by piles of stuff.

Wading through a tight corridor, Mila hurried to the other side of the room. “Remember to close the doors.” She instructed as she reached another door. These ones were open. “Do you have a place you can hide?”

There was a slam behind Mila as the broken entrance was closed. The woman pushed the latch back in place and hurried behind her saviour.

“W-what? I didn’t hear.”

“A place you can hide until this blows over. Do you have one?” Mila repeated.

“Ah, a place! Yes! Maybe!” The woman tried to think. “Yes! It’s not far.”

“You’ll have to give me directions.” Mila opened the doors to reveal a leather workshop with a surprised man and woman now looking at them. She flashed her bloody dagger. “Don’t make me return. Don’t reveal which direction we went.”

After leaving these words, Mila headed straight for the exit with the woman in tow. Behind them, there was screaming and chaos. At least the pair didn’t intervene, letting them leave.

At this point, Mila could vanish, but as the operation had gone smoothly, she decided to make sure the woman got away.

Mila was once again back on the street among the wast flow of people. “Where?” She waited for information.

“Left. We have to run until we are on the bridge. Then jump down.” The woman tried to keep up as Mila immediately moved.

They pushed through the crowd. Mila in front, they quickly found cracks and opportunities to slip past the wall of bodies.

It took only a couple of minutes of rushing for them to arrive at the promised bridge. Mila glanced back at the panting woman and vaulted over the bridge rails.

The woman followed. Mila looked around. A small stream of dirty, smelly water flowed under the bridge. Stone and wood walls stretched on both sides of the channel.

As the woman landed next to her, Mila turned towards her. “Where to next?”

“There is an entrance a bit further.” The woman pointed beneath an overhanging building. “There is a hiding place.”

Mila glanced up. No one was looking down here. “And no one will follow?”

The woman shuddered. “Not for now. Come. They must be looking for us.” She started to lead.

Mila decided to follow up to the entrance and then leave. She eyed the surroundings with suspicion. The channel was surrounded by buildings and fences - a rather remote place in an overstuffed city, if very smelly.

The entrance to the hiding spot wasn’t even hidden. It was just a simple wooden cover - simply removed by the woman pushing.

The cover slid open. Mila opened her mouth to say farewells, but as her eyes fell on inside the now-revealed room…

“Isabel?” Mila narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?” She looked at the sheepish-looking girl.

“Uh? Mila? I can explain.” Isabel gave a forced smile. “You see…”