Charlie leapt toward the voices. Her master had trusted her to protect this place, and that was exactly what she would do.

  She landed right in the middle of them.

  “An enemy, kill h—” The man never finished the sentence. In a furious spin, Charlie cut him clean in half.

  “You were never supposed to come here,” she snarled, her voice raw and animalistic.

  She went on the offensive, cutting through the men before they could even react. Their weapons barely came up in time, useless against the speed and power of her blade. One of them tried to attack from a distance, hurling throwing axes. Charlie caught one in midair and flung it back, embedding it straight into his face. Before he could even die, she spun and severed his head.

  Charlie vaulted onto another rooftop and thrust out her hand.

  [Spectral Chain activated]

  An archer was yanked toward her, and she killed him before his feet touched the ground.

  She charged a wall of shields and activated [Flame Aura] and [Spectral Basic Charged], smashing through their formation. She stomped down, crushing one man’s skull, then severed another’s leg and finished him without hesitation.

  A mage launched chunks of earth at her. They shattered uselessly.

  Charlie kept walking.

  “Die, you bitch!” the man screamed as he raised mud and stone, trying desperately to slow her.

  She reached him, grabbed his head with one hand, lifted him off the ground, and crushed his skull. It burst in her grip. Eight more arrived, some dropping from rooftops, others emerging from the streets.

  “You know, sweetheart, wandering around here alone isn’t very smart,” one of them said with a grin.

  Lulie flew up beside Charlie, scanning every direction.

  “You shouldn’t have killed one of ours,” another said, laughing. His teeth were rotten. “If you’d stayed quiet, we would’ve killed you quickly. But now… now you’re going to suffer.”

  Charlie stared at the eight surrounding her. Lulie hovered at her side.

  “Keep an eye on the bat,” one of them said. “A familiar can be trouble.”

  “Better to kill it just in case.”

  Charlie tightened her grip on her sword.

  One of them raised a crossbow, the bolt glowing. “You’re going to suffer, you whore!”

  Charlie studied them carefully. They had seen what she could do, and they still attacked. Confident. Outnumbering her. Eight against one.

  She took a deep breath.

  Then she charged.

  [Vampiric Strength I activated]

  [-10 Blood Energy]

  [Blood Core: 86/100]

  “What the hell, she’s fast—”

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  The man never finished. Charlie’s blade swept through him in a horizontal arc, slicing from the bridge of his nose upward. The top half of his skull peeled away, exposing his brain.

  Before the body hit the ground, an electric bolt shot toward her. She sensed it instantly. Even with her back turned, vampiric reflexes guided her. She twisted at the last second, the bolt passing so close it burned the air beside her.

  “What level is she?!” someone shouted.

  Charlie surged forward, driving her sword into one man’s stomach and lifting him off the ground as she ran.

  Another came at her from behind with twin daggers.

  [Flame Aura activated]

  The blade struck her. She answered with a punch, shattering the man’s arm, then cut him down. Others tried to strike with magic. Charlie spun, her sword carving a brutal arc through them.

  “I’m out! Screw this fight!” one of them screamed.

  Charlie pointed her hand.

  [Spectral Chain activated]

  The man was dragged back. She smashed her fist into his face, bursting his skull, then turned on the one who had insulted her.

  “Mercy!” he tried to cry.

  “No,” she roared, her voice feral, and slammed his head into the wall, crushing it completely.

  Charlie jumped.

  [Basic Levitation activated]

  She rose as high as the skill allowed, then dropped, driving both feet down and crushing a soldier beneath her when she landed. When it was over, the bodies lay still. Some were nothing more than pulp smeared across the ground.

  She leapt onto a rooftop, searching for Angie amid the chaos. In the sky, she spotted her silhouette, flying above the village, hurling her spear at enemies and calling it back to her hand again and again.

  She’s okay.

  Then brown silhouettes sprang up around her. Four figures. People. They landed on the same roof.

  Something was thrown her way.

  “We found a good target!” one of them shouted.

  Charlie dodged. Potions. They shattered midair and detonated. The blast hurled her backward. She crashed through the roof of a nearby house. Lulie was gone. Reduced to a puddle of blood on her shoulder.

  “Lulie!”

  Charlie forced herself up. The impact had been brutal. More potions rained down around her, bursting and releasing clouds of green smoke mixed with thick brown fumes.

  “May the Church of the Alchemy God bless this experiment!” one of them shouted, tossing a flaming bottle. The fire was swallowed by the fumes, which reacted violently and exploded.

  The blast was massive. Heat slammed into Charlie, her armor cracking under the force. She heard more potions shattering, more explosions. Her body was thrown again, crashing hard into the ground.

  The moment she inhaled the smoke, her lungs burned. Her eyes stung. She stopped breathing entirely.

  “Did any of the brothers get a kill notification?” one of them asked.

  “No.”

  “Me neither.”

  “Same here.”

  The one who had spoken first sighed. “A resilient life, then. May her death grant us great knowledge.”

  Charlie tore through the smoke, leaping upward in fury.

  “She’s coming!”

  “Do not fear, brothers!” one shouted, hurling a flask at her midair.

  “Let fire do its work!” He raised a staff, launching a fireball. The liquid that had seeped through the gaps in her armor ignited instantly.

  The blast sent her flying back. Another potion struck her and exploded. She raised an arm to shield herself. The explosion engulfed it in pain. Her sword arm was severed. At the same time, multiple shock bolts slammed into her body. Charlie crashed to the ground as they continued throwing flammable potions and casting fire spells.

  She tried to summon her own fire magic, but it betrayed her. The flames didn’t spread outward. They sank into her skin, into her bones, carried by the liquid that raced through her body, burning from the inside out.

  She collapsed, screaming silently as she burned alive. A metal net was thrown over her. Its edges slammed into the ground and locked in place like magnets. She was trapped.

  “Glory to God Ardan,” they chanted as they watched her burn. “Your green fire shines brilliantly, brother.”

  “Thank you, brother. There is no fire more beautiful than one made for our God.”

  Charlie lay immobilized, burning alive, while they poured torrents of fire over her and prayed.

  “To you we offer this sacrifice, Ardan,” they repeated.

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