The battle was meant to be a surprise attack, but it seems the enemy camp was able to react to it pretty quickly, even if it was far too early. Well, I guess that's what you'd expect from trained soldiers.

Still, they had almost no chance.

I cut off their methods of long distance communication, while Aniel cut off any sort of escape route.

Aniel created a quantity of magic items that he distributed to his friends. In the last two weeks, he spent much time teaching them how to control this magic—pyrokinesis.

In a way, I kinda of want it, but I chose to settle with healing in the end.

While "fire" matched my image of a Kitsune, I would rather be practical. After all, my main ability has a backlash with the potential to severely injure me, and I want assurance that I can recover from such a possibility.

Anyways, it's kinda scary fighting against a group with control over fire. Oddly, their fire wasn't white like Aniel's, but instead the standard orange-red of most flames.

I wondered if perhaps Aniel gave them weaker versions, or if Aniel designed his magic with his knowledge in chemistry in mind? Something like, you can't make white flames if you don't know the physics of fire. On Earth, something like that is basic chemistry, but in this world? I guess it's a miracle they can produce fire at all. Unless the magic item has that as a default function. Well, it gives me some insight to how his magic works, at least.

Ah, I went off on a tangent there.

Still, there's not much for me to say.

Lein's camp is getting roasted without much resistance, and anyone who manages to ward off the flames through Ki is taken care of by Aniel personally.

I was quite amazed though. I was under the impression that Ki was mostly instinctive, but watching a soldier trained in its usage brush off fire? That's quite amazing.

It seemed that some of those soldiers are even able to create small bubbles to protect themselves and others.

However, even they need air to breath, and without it, they drop like flies.

It's actually sort of entertaining watching this struggle.

It's a battlefield, sure, but I don't feel any of the tension myself. I feel quite relaxed and at home, even.

Am I a battle maniac? No, in that case I would be excited to join the fray, huh?

No, instead I merely enjoy watching two factions struggle. Like some sort of sick and twisted sport.

Even though Lein has lost plenty, and Aniel none, it's still possible for things to go wrong. After all, those children have limited reserves of mana. They won't last forever like this, but Lein has quite the number.

Still, because of the early attack, Aniel was able to surround the camp in flames, making escape difficult. Worst is how the children fight with a considerable distance, and with the aid of healing magic. If I look closely, I can even see arrows being deflected by a wall of wind, while the kids stay in groups of 5, taking out enemies surrounding them.

In all, it's 4 groups of 5, all proceeding through the camp as they eliminate the soldiers. Aniel himself wasn't quite in any one group, instead supporting all four, as he took care of troublesome enemies.

It's amusing to watch, really.

I guess even if a novice with the perfect sword can't defeat a master with a stick, a novice with a strong enough gun can easily topple an army of trained masters.

Speaking of which, I knew that Aniel has been forced to kill before meeting me. I'm also under the impression that he didn't much like the feeling. But he was forced into a situation where he had no choice. After all, he was protecting those close to him.

But for this plan, he had to force those very people he was protecting, to also kill other humans.

Though, it probably wasn't that hard; these people are after their lives, and have affected their lively hood.

If you can convince someone, "they're evil", "they want to kill you and your family", and so on, you can convince them to kill anyone, even if their own morals go against it.

All humans are capable of murder.

But...

Somehow, this setting has really cheered me up, you know?

Still, I have my part in this plan.

"So? Where are they?" I asked the young blue-skinned girl, who I recently learned was named "Violet" in English. I wanted to punch Aniel for such an unimaginative name, but I suppose no one in this world would notice the English name, and just assume Aniel used some weird syllables.

"A small group over here, and another here." She said, pointing at two spots on a simple map. I had drew up a map of the area several days ago, just to get an idea of the terrain, and maybe for planning. It came in handy, especially because Violet's perception of distance and scale is amazing.

With her instructions, I went and tracked down the two groups. From their distance from the camp, and the direction they were headed, they were actually a group of scouts, and were returning after hearing the commotion.

My job in this operation was to get rid of anyone who makes it out of the camp. Of course that includes nosy scouts that were already outside.

Killing. I don't think I've ever killed a human.

Insects and animals and such, I've done that plenty. But never quite a human.

I wondered to myself if I would be ready when the time came, and part of me was sort of excited.

However, as I sliced open these people's throats all at once, only one thought crossed my mind.

—Sure is convenient I can't get blood-stains with time stopped.

I didn't really feel anything in regards to their lives.

Since when was I a sociopath?

Well, I suppose knowing of the possibility of reincarnation sort of just makes you lose stock in the value of life.

Whatever. Not like this is a normal situation anyways. After all, these bastards scared people I knew, and even intended to use some of them as hostages. Punishment needs to be severe.

Well, maybe death is too far for that, but it's a matter of circumstance.

Anyways, after that, I take a look at the perimeter, but I don't really spot anyone. Still, when I return to Violet, I'm given instructions, and follow them swiftly.

She's quite the scary ally. She's a bit shy, and of few words, but that ability of hers is beyond my comprehension. Is it echolocation? I can't tell, but I'm certain that there should be too much sound for her to accurately pin-point humans in such a large area. What's amazing is that she can also point out where on a flat 2D map these people are at.

She has quite the internal map.

Calling her a cheat is an understatement.

But she was bred to be like this, huh? Breed Fay with interesting sensory abilities, and over many generations, you get the perfect hound. Or so, that's what seems to have happened, according to Princess Aire.

Still, looking at her I don't get the idea she's built to have powerful senses like that. Her snout isn't any different than a human's, and her ears are only superficially different from a human's, and should at best just allow her to pinpoint sounds a tiny bit better. Her senses are likely aided by magic, is all I can gather. The fact she can sense magic is probably an indication of that.

Anyways, I took care of some random stragglers who do manage to escape the flames, all of them more or less heading in the same direction. I can imagine they want to report this attack, but I don't let them.

...

I want to relieve stress, but this is sort of boring.

Stop time, slice throat, come back, restart time, wait, receive instructions, go back.

Rinse and repeat.

Well it's fine. I get to learn about internal organs, I guess?

But as the numbers begin to thin, and I notice many enemy soldiers in the camp begin to surrender, I wonder what to do. I'd be board if left like this, but...

Ah, another soldier making his escape, huh?

I consider what to do about them, but... I decide to let them run for a bit, chasing close behind. Even if he's physically more fit than I, shifting time to suit me isn't so difficult.

But, as he escaped the sight of the camp behind, I decide to act now, slicing his legs. With their tendons sliced, he fell to the ground,

Of course, he was confused and frightened of what just happened. He couldn't possibly defend against me.

But... What am I doing?

I'm not quite sure.

Honestly, after beating on Sentra a bit, I wondered about my own sadism. I certainly enjoyed toying with that girl, and the effect of her Charm certainly brought out quite a few demons. Just because she canceled her Charm ability doesn't mean I suddenly became not-excited. How often do you suddenly become not-turned-on, just because you closed the porn tab on your computer?

I don't want to blame her magic, but it felt as though it ignited my excitement, and even now as I remember that feeling, I can't help but want to recreate the experience.

Yet, it's somehow all off...

As the man tried to move, he let out a groan, from the sudden realization that his ankles and knees were sliced open.

"What happened?!" He called out, as he tried to pull his sword out, but his weapons were already gone.

"I'm sorry to say, but you will become my playmate," I said, as I stared him down with a slight smirk.

"That Fox Spirits?" He muttered with wide eyes, "What do you want with me?" He called out.

"I just wanted to play, you see?" I said, as I mounted him from behind, and plunged a knife into his back, putting my weight behind it. "Like this, see?"

However, my knife didn't go far, with most of it being stopped by the man's leather armor, but it still ended up cutting into him.

"Hmm, I'm not very good at this," I said. "I'll need to practice a bit."

The man below me however, was in pain, and as he tried to roll over to push me off. Though I thought I could hold him down a bit, mostly going by my past experiences...

—But I once again forgot that I was as light as a feather, and found my leg crushed under the man's weight.

I let out a loud grown of pain, and the soldier didn't feel it was necessary to take care of me. It was clear that my leg had been popped out of place by his weight alone.

I cursed, as he rolled his body away, and tried to crawl to safety.

However, I merely pulled my dress up, to expose my thin right leg, which was clearly bent in an awkward position.

That was stupid of me, huh?

As the man pulls off of me, I try to pull away so I can fix my leg.

—An instant later, I find a fist crashing into my face, and my small body crashes into the dirt.

I was already on the ground, and basically went into a sitting up position, to having my face in the dirt while dazed and confused.

Ah, that's right, I'm pretty weak, aren't I? Should I have disabled his arms? Sounds like it would have been a good idea—

—My mind goes blank as I feel another punch to my gut, and air escapes my lungs...

Those fists aren't at all like Yenna's, who holds back when hitting me. They're the fists of someone who wants to kill me.

Still, despite being painful, I get the feeling this isn't his full strength. Well, it makes sense. He's crawling on the forest floor exhausted, and can't use any hip movements for his punches. These punches are from his sheer force of will, and the strength behind his tired arms.

However, my head is spinning too much to think much, even as I feel myself grabbed, and pinned to the ground.

I only now notice that the soldier before me is crying with a desperate expression, as he throws down a fury of slurs at me.

He hits me again, and again, and every one of those punches hurt beyond anything I've ever felt.

I feared for a moment that perhaps he would ravage me—it wasn't uncommon for something like that to occur in ancient times—but he was clearly in too frantic a state to think of such things. In fact, he likely sees me more as a monster than a girl, at this point.

So, this is what struggling for your life is?

It feels so vulgar, seeing it up close...

Ah, but it's somehow very endearing...

As the hail of fists comes to a stop, I notice that there was blood on the man's fists.

Is that perhaps my blood?

As I look up at the frantic man, who still looked down at me in fear, I could only crack a smile, before realizing that my inner cheeks were filled with blood. Trying to swallow it before speaking, I look into his eyes, say to him "Are you done? If you'd like, I could maybe kill you quickly," as I reached out my hand to touch his face.

His fists trembled at my touch, as I caressed his cheek, and wondered what went through this man's mind.

He wasn't interesting or special. He was just a single man, who I felt was desperate to survive.

Or was it that he was merely afraid of me?

Death—I'm sure he's accepted that end.

But what about pain that comes with it?

I guess it's not very nice of me to try and torture him.

But you know, I'm in quite a lot of pain right now. I don't think I'd be able to kill him very easily. One stab won't be enough.

Hmm? Don't I have some kind of ability for that..?

Just as I'm thinking that, two large hands ring around my neck, and I feel my throat close, as I become unable to breath.

Ah, this would be bad, huh?

Maybe I shouldn't have threatened him like that.

Well, I don't seem to feel any animosity towards these people.

I claimed I came to kill them for worrying the villagers, but it's really much more complicated than that. I don't think I was quite that petty.

Really, I could have left this to Aniel's group, but I decided to take it on myself.

Why?

Because I wanted to experience what killing felt like.

Certainly there was some excitement behind it, but thinking about it, I think I preferred watching others fight instead.

Still, my current situation was easily avoidable if I took proper precautions.

Eh, too late for that.

...

... Ah, that's right, I can stop time, can't I?

Remembering that simple fact, I quickly stop the flow of time, and like that, my pain vanishes. Still, my head remains numb and groggy, hardly able to make sense of anything. For a moment, I try to heal myself—but magic that depends on the flow of time doesn't work when time is frozen, huh? Seems like common sense, but oh well.

Still, at least the need for air isn't so desperate anymore. As I fumble for my knife, I wonder for a moment about what to do...

Well, I guess I'll slice this guy's tendons so he'll let me go already. But, as I try bringing the knife down, I find it's pretty difficult to cut into his flesh. Well, I guess my strength has really left me.

It took me quite a while of tedious motion, but eventually, I think I managed to free myself.

However, as I returned time to its original flow, the man fell on me, having lost all support.

Aggh... Crushing me... Get off, please?

Still, I decided to use this time to heal myself, and then began pulling myself backwards, to slide out from under him.

The healing magic was limited, but it was able to heal the bruises and cuts I got. My twisted leg hurt a bit, as it was pulled back into place, but it was fine.

I noticed that the man had stopped his incessant slurs, and was instead panting really hard, very clearly in deep fear. Well, that's obvious. He's afraid of me.

Still, now that my head is clearing up, I feel sort of embarrassed for being so stupid.

With this ability of mine, I underestimated this lowly human, just because I could kill him without resistance. But as soon as I was in pain, I was too confused to even defend myself.

I guess I overestimated my pain tolerance, huh?

Ah, but, did I enjoy that?

... Hmm, I guess a sadist can be a masochist, right?

Well, what to do about this guy?

For a moment, I think, what about emasculating him? Certainly, I remember hearing how ancient armies would do the same to their enemies to demoralize them. And it would certainly break him.

But, I decide against it.

I'm all covered in blood, and seeing as I'm not very skillful when I cut his tendons, he'll probably die of blood loss soon. There's no point in crushing a dying man. I've realized at least that much.

So I cut open his neck after watching him for a moment.

What was all this?

I feel that I had some enjoyment, but...

I thought my experience with Sentra opened something up in me, but maybe I'm seeing things from the wrong angle? Sure, I didn't hesitate too much to kill those men, but at the same time, I didn't feel any enjoyment. It was dull. Mechanical.

You could say I don't value life as much as I use to, but it doesn't seem like I gain any pleasure from taking it.

So I thought, maybe if I cut someone up? But I ultimately screwed up, and had the shit beaten out of me.

So what was it all for?

I suppose all people will search for what excites them.

So what am I looking for here?

I tried to recreate the excitement from yesterday, but failed.

This last man though. I felt quite the excitement—knowing the fear he held of me as he desperately fought.

As he saw me as something else, and struggled to escape.

Even as he bound me into the ground, there was some measure of enjoyment.

Perhaps I just want to be feared...?

I suppose I'm just a pervert...

With a sigh, I call out, "I'm going to go take a bath. If you need my help... Well, just tell Aniel to make a signal, or something,"

No one should be able to hear me this far out, but I'm sure that Violet girl heard me.

I'm tired though, so I'm going to go take a bath in the river.

Author Notes:

So I actually rewrote this chapter at the last minute. There were a number of things I didn't like about it, and I didn't feel it headed in the sort of direction I wanted. That said, I sort of procrastinated with making those changes, and ended up posting several hours later than I usually do.

On that note, it looks like I'm slowing down in terms of writing chapters. I still have a week's worth of chapters written in reserve, but as the current arc is coming to a close, the next arc feels like it'll return to being slow moving once again. Well, I hope people will bare with me, as I write more about the sadistic trap kitsune sociopath, and his merry adventures.

As always, Feedback and Suggestions are appreciated and encouraged!

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