Our plan was simple. Create a diversion, take some of them out, incapacitate the others and then torture them into doing our bidding.

My main purpose was to make my family believe that I had died today.

Wouldn't want ghosts of my past to come looking for me now, would I?

"Ready?" I asked in a whisper.

Azell and Noelle nodded.

"I'm asking you one last time!" The leader shouted while his men took stances to attack us. "Drop the monster and leave!"

"Do it."

Within the blink of an eye, Noelle dashed from her position. I couldn't see what she did, but I did hear the surprised and painful gasps of the 2 men diagonally behind us.

"Wha!? Attack!" The leader acted more quickly than I expcted him to, but Azell was faster.

Using their brief moment of confusion as his window, Azell shot forward, passed through the 2 men diagonally in front of us and kicked the leader right in his gut.

"Guh!" He groaned as he was sent flying back.

"He's not a monster." Azell murmured.

Damn, he's making me blush.

As I expected, since the last two swordsmen were beside the leader, he hit the two magicians in the back, thus interrupting their casting.

Noelle had finished the other two by then and had come forward to protect Azell from a potential arrow, but it never came.

Meanwhile, Azell finished off the other two men.

Hmm, the last member either died or…

"Noelle! There should be one more man! Search for him and don't let him escape!"

I almost coughed out blood while shouting but managed to hold on.

"On it!"

With that, she leaped towards the forest and vanished into its darkness.

With everyone taken care of (except the last guy, of course), I finally got the chance to look around.

The scene was, for a lack of better term, quite grim. Noelle had cleanly sliced off the necks of the 4 men surrounding us.

Azell's kick was so powerful that the leader was choking on his own blood while the magicians had been knocked unconscious. The last two men also had most of their bones broken.

Jeez, these guys are ruthless, but God they're efficient.

"Bring me to the leader."

"We don't have time. Your treatment comes first."

"And risk losing what we worked for till now?"

What's the point of working so hard to keep them alive if we're going to just leave them here? That won't be the most tactical decision, chief.

"Your life is more important."

Bruh. I seriously need to do something about their attachment.

But before I could think of good comebacks, Noelle called out to me from behind.

"Is this the man you were talking about?"

"Yes- hmm?" Azell turned around to face Noelle, and since I was on his back, so did I.

However, my expectations were betrayed when instead of finding Noelle with a probably dead man, I saw an entire group of people.

"Y-you're here!" Azell's tone immediately brightened up.

Looks like these guys are allies.

And by these guys, I mean this group of three women. So yea, I should probably call them gals.

"But what are you doing here?" Azell asked while Noelle threw the archer to the side.

"I sensed a disturbance in the Force." One of them, with azure hairs and azure eyes with both a crossbow and a longsword hanging on her back (wut?), replied.

"…"

"We were worried for you, okay? So we decided to take a look."

They should be court-martialled for insubordination.

"Oh. Anyway, I'm glad you're here."

"Right. But where did you find this malnourished orphan?" She asked while looking at me.

What the actual fuck? Bruh. The audacity of this woman.

It's not my fault that I'm so scrawny. You could have just kept this thought to yourself instead of insulting me in front of all these people. It's called 'respecting others'.

How about I lock you into a basement while giving you only the necessary amount of food and water to stay alive, then release you and call you a malnourished orphan in front of everyone? Would you like that, huh?

Hot damn, if I wasn't in this condition, I would have personally strangled her.

"Are you thinking something rude about me?" She asked.

And needless to say, that was all a joke. I wouldn't have strangled her just for this obviously; I'm a normal person with normal ways of handling my emotions.

I would have just spit at her.

"That malnourished orphan saved my life, so have some damn respect!" Noelle smacked the other woman on her head.

Wow, she managed to hurt and praise me simultaneously. Noelle deserves respect.

"R-reallly?" The woman rubbed her head.

"We don't have time for this. Neia, take a look at him." Azell brushed them off and took me to the woman with silver hair and black eyes.

Some more colours and we'll have the entire visible spectrum with us.

"Why is his condition so bad?" Neia's gentle voice had a strange calming effect.

Noelle took off the strap and Azell gently put me down on the ground, except this time, I was forced to lie down with my head on Noelle's lap.

"You don't have to worry now." She gently stroked my head. "Neia is a Dragon; she can heal you with a snap of her fingers."

Huh? Come again? A dragon?

As if noticing the confusion on my face, Noelle smiled.

"And that woman is an Ancient Vampire." She pointed to the third woman who had flowing silver hairs and crimson eyes.

She was actually staring at me with a piercing gaze, as if saying I didn't belong here.

"What an… exotic team."

A Regressor, a Dragon, and an Ancient Vampire. I'm going to be greatly disappointed if Noelle and the blue-haired-woman turn out to be just normal humans.

"Sorry to say this, but this won't be as easy as snapping my fingers." Neie's voice trembled as she revealed that fact.

"Eh?" Noelle's hand stopped.

"What do you mean by that?" Azell asked in a grim tone.

"Just, just what have you done?" Neia ignored them and looked straight into my eyes.

"What do you mean, Neia?"

"You don't know?" She looked up at him. "He's a complete mess. His Mana Circuits have been poisoned and destroyed. His internal organs are badly damaged. The bones of his arms have been shattered into several pieces while the muscles have been torn asunder."

"Wha!?"

"His blood vessels heading to his arms have also been blocked or rerouted, while his life forced also seems depleted. I don't understand, just how could this happen?" She looked back at me. "What exactly did you do?"

I wonder how I should answer her question.

"It would seem that I went a bit… overboard."

"You- *hic*- just why did you do this?" Tears once again streamed down Noelle's face. "We weren't even that close, so just why?"

Wait, now that she mentioned it, I had done the exact same thing I had been cursing Azell and Noelle for; I sacrificed my life for them even though I had met them only a few hours ago.

Yikes. I became the very thing I swore to destroy.

"Well, I just considered your life more valuable than mine."

Even if I die today, I'll just move on to my next life, but the same cannot be said for Noelle.

She must have her own ideals, reasons, people she loved et cetera. So putting my life on the line for hers was the logical thing to do.

I mean, I wasn't exactly planning to sacrifice myself for her, but this World was just too shitty and I had to improvise.

And as I say, I don't work well under pressure.

"You cannot place a value on life; no one is more valuable than someone else." Azell said solemnly.

"Is that what you believe?"

"Yes."

Well, unfortunately for you, you're wrong.