“If anyone wants to run, now would be the time.” I said, staring down Azriel. “Miho, Alexa. You two should probably get out of here at the very least.”

Alexa didn't stop singing, and just shook her head at Livia. Miho hesitated, but steeled her resolve.

“Alright, at least we outnumber him.” I said. “Burl?”

“Dead.” Ben said. “Slippery bastard, but we got him.”

“Right, then let's-”

That's as much time as we got before Azriel lost his patience and charged in. I buckled under the blow, radiant energy splashing off my shield as I barely managed to take my Stalwart stance in time.

Azriel wasn't reeling as much from the feedback as me, and already moved to attack Ben as I stumbled. He slashed upwards and struck Ben before he could dodge, carving him open from bellybutton to nose.

Ben jumped backwards and quickly popped a health potion, and I did the same. Damn, this was bad. I just absorbed 80% of that blow with my Crown of Thorns, and Ben still lost over half his health.

The holy blade stopped burning. Azriel looked at his wrists, and then back to Ben.

“Filthy thief. I was right about you.” He said, before throwing a glance at the rest of us. “And I take it that the rest of you were already aware of that? I'll be doing the world a favour by getting rid of you.”

Ben equipped Shalander's Hands, and his Renderer Blade and Shadow Blade began to burn. Not very stealthy, but stealth wasn't an option right now anyway. He raised his daggers in a defensive stance, and readied himself to continue the fight.

“How crude, you'll need to do better.” Livia lectured. “Do a holy cross slash, and pierce the side he moves to. Chop chop, double time!”

You've been buffed with some Micro-Middle-Managing Mewling!

You'll never make those murder quotas if you keep slacking like you're doing now, just killing by swinging your blades wherever you see a foe! Work together as a team, or at least make it look that way for the executives if they bother to supervise your progress. Which they never do. But you know that they'll show up on the one day you're slacking off! So come on, faster! Better! Harder! And don't slow down, there's another six hours to your shift!

Speed and Strength increased by 20%! The Mindless Taskforce skill is temporarily increased to lvl5! Critical hit chance reduced to 0%! You are under the effect of Minor Mind Control by Livia, do you choose to resist? Y/N

I didn't even select no, I felt Livia's intentions and went with them. As my movement and strength surged and my movements grew a bit more automated and unfeeling, I swung my spear in a downward strike at the same time that Elise made a wide swing. We gave Azriel as little room to dodge as possible, trying to control his movements and keep him on the defensive.

Azriel instead blocked both of out weapons with one flowing movement and made their momentum go wild. My Guard Spear swung into the ground a safe distance away from him, and Elise had to grasp her bat tightly to prevent it from being slapped out of her hands.

It was not in vain, however. The time he needed to block kept him from blocking the others. Well, almost. The moment he finished deflecting our blows he let go of the blade with his left hand to block the glob of acid that Miho spat at him, and radiant healing light poured from his palm to stitch his flesh back together as fast as the acid consumed it. Two of Tatiana's arrows missed him as he moved the absolute minimum to dodge them, and he ignored the third one digging itself into his tight. Most of his attention was on Ben, who got a kick in the face for his attempt to roll in and slash.

“Stop lazing about, get up and back to work!” Livia said.

The Guard Spear was still falling to the ground with a lot of weight and momentum behind it, but it was almost as if this mattered less. I grunted and strained my muscles, and forced the blade to turn around. It swept up to slash Azriel as he had slashed Ben before.

“Drop it and use another! I'll pick it back up for you!” Livia continued to order us around. “More acid! And you, you've got special arrows! Use them!”

With a decisive kick, Azriel stopped my upward slash before it could build up speed and pinned it to the ground. He caught one of Tatiana's arrows with his left hand, and then another. The third one was on fire, but catching it seemed to be little more than a nuisance to him.

Elise let go instead of trying to hold on to her bat, and after taking a split second to regain her footing she swung my Miniature Giant Bat for a large sweeping strike.

Azriel was about to slash down on Ben, but had to block Elise's attack with his katana. Another loud boom reverberated, but once again the attack was more flash than impact. Ben used the moment she bought him to slash at Azriel, scoring two clean hits before he sunk into the ground.

Azriel sneered and his radiant light grew more intense. Ben barely made it half a metre away from the Elite before he had to return to his real form, the shadow-form being incredibly vulnerable to the surge of holy light. I took 80% of the damage but barely noticed my health bar go down, but it really did a number on shadow Ben.

“If you need three energy drinks to finish this double shift then drink four instead!” Livia said.

My potion cooldown disappeared and I quickly drank another to get myself back to over half, and I assumed Ben did the same thing as his health recovered.

“Retreat!” Livia said.

Everyone but me jumped away from the clunky and clattering Guard that approached us unnoticed in the heat of battle and immediately swung its blade wildly at the Elite. Azriel somersaulted over me to get out of the Guard's reach, and I tried to knock him off course only to miss him entirely.

Behind me Livia handed Elise back her bat. Miho spat acid at Azriel, but it went wide as she had to make sure that not a droplet would hit the Guard. Realising that the cooldown and potential friendly fire was too risky, she turned into a different creature. Tatiana kept firing arrows at Azriel whenever she could, while standing in between him and Alexa protectively.

Azriel landed and immediately went after Ben again, trying to make this between the two of them and maybe even finish him off before the rest of us could rejoin him.

I kicked at his feet, and managed to hit the back of his knee. He immediately buckled under his own weight as my Spartan Kick packed quite the punch, and swivelled around to face me instead.

With a strange manoeuvre that was half his immense strength and control of his body and half a simple refusal to fall to his knees, Azriel somehow managed to get back up again before he finished falling down. He grasped his blade with both hands and slashed at me.

I tried to take out my shield, but he was too fast and slashed through my wrist. I was a tough bastard, but his blade was like an axe cutting through timber as he left a gash deep enough to nearly sever my hand.

I stumbled back and equipped my shield with my right arm while I spammed the Heal spell to reattach my wrist before it could bend out of shape. Fortunately I didn't bleed, but I still lost health steadily. Azriel struck my shield twice with incredible speed and ferocity before he slapped it aside, leaving me wide exposed.

“Enough of your persistence, heretics! Watch your toughest one fall!” Azriel screamed. “Heart-Piercing Blow!”

I couldn't block in time, I could only watch as Azriel's katana shoved itself into my chest all the way through.

“You're already dead.” He said.

The blade glowed brighter for a moment as a surge of energy pushed its way through, and then I felt a shockwave in my chest. My heart turned to mush and my health dropped to 0.

Azriel leaned in to whisper into my ear, clearly revelling in his victory. “Pray for forgiveness, and perhaps the Seraphim will allow you into Heaven after all.”

I head-butted him.

Azriel flinched and I grabbed his head with both hands to do it again. His head rocked back a second time as my helmet-head with the Crown of Thorns made for a surprisingly painful weapon. He tried to retreat, and I magnanimously allowed it as I shoved him as hard as I could.

As the clearly shocked and witless Elite was shoved back, he suddenly remembered his blade. He tried to grab it, but I grabbed it as well to keep it where it was and stepped back. The guard pressed hard against my fingers as Azriel's strength contested mine, but his katana had no pommel and the handle thus slipped from his grasp before he could get a good hold.

“What? But how!?” Azriel said, unbelieving of the fact that I was still alive. “I killed you! No matter what kind of monster you are, I just killed you! Don't you have a heart?”

“Oh, I've got a heart.” I said, my tone making it abundantly clear that I would be smiling smugly if I had lips. “I've also got your sword.”

Azriel's holy blade disappeared into my inventory.

As much as I was riding a high of confidence and hype, I still couldn't believe how crafty the AI was. It knew Azriel's abilities, sure, but I hadn't noticed their scheme until it came to fruition.

Organ struck: The heart! Crossing it off your Bingo Bongo Punching Bag Ticket now!

Bingo! You've crossed out a whole row and got a Bingo! Here's your reward, a full heal!

That glorious bastard. They weren't even distracting me with needless needling and long descriptions, which was telling for the AI. Well, I wasn't going to complain.

“Come on, we're not in the final stretch yet. Keep working hard!” Livia said as she placed her hand on my back and began to heal the hole in my chest, which I noticed was still rapidly lowering my health as I was posturing. Noticing that she reset my potion cooldown again, I quickly popped another. I lost a lot of health again after the full heal.

Ben tried to stab Azriel in the back while the Elite was still stunned by my impossible feat of surviving his attack, but Azriel dodged and kicked him in the gut for the attempt. Ben spat up the contents of his stomach as he quickly retreated, and Azriel ground his teeth as he found yet another of his belongings missing. His sleeveless leather jacket disappeared, leaving only his tight leather pants and the worg's head adorning his shoulder.

Tatiana fired an arrow that moved a lot faster than the others, and Azriel had to both dodge and slap it out of the way. Ben moved in, and Azriel had to parry the dagger with his wrist before pushing Ben back with a powerful shove. He quickly moved his head to the side to dodge another arrow, and then stepped back to evade Ben's continued assault.

That was as long as Azriel allowed himself to be stalled before drawing his other blade, the demonic katana not being drawn rather than cutting through the thin leather strap it hung from the moment that Azriel touched it.

His aura instantly changed, the radiance around him growing oppressive and darker. Shadows were cast over his previously perfectly lit face, giving it a more ominous appearance of a snarling beast as he bared his perfectly white teeth at us. The red blade shimmered with black energy wafting off of it, and to ruin the whole image the bulge in his pants grew bigger.

“Dodge! Block!” Livia quickly said.

I hastily brought up my shield as a defence buff boosted me, and I almost got thrown back as Azriel made a wide swing that nearly decapitated Ben before striking my shield with immense force. A ring of black energy spread around him as he did so, disintegrating Tatiana's arrow and killing all the grass around us for a good thirty metres.

Elise swooped down from the sky a moment later, her bat cackling with electricity as she struck the katana quickly raised in defence. Azriel shivered as the energy coursed through him, but didn't flinch or stagger and instead slashed his blade from its defensive position to a killing blow aimed at Ben. It struck nothing but dead earth as Ben turned back into a shadow, immediately retreating before he could even make a single attack.

Elise struck again and again, and I quickly stepped in to keep Azriel from striking her down as he blocked her attacks one by one. I stabbed at him with my Skyfowl Spear, but he kept blocking both me and Elise despite our increased teamwork under Livia's gaze while refusing to give ground.

Manager Livia has suggested a trade from you to Miho, accept? Y/N

I didn't even read what she wanted me to give away, or marvel at that Livia apparently had access to my inventory and the ability to select things to trade, and accepted it.

Ben moved back in again, and Elise and I instinctively moved to occupy rather than damage Azriel. The Elite reacted by flaring with dark energy, dimming our sights for a moment. I could barely see what happened, only knowing that I prevented someone from dying by absorbing a lot of damage.

When the darkness cleared, Azriel had retreated four paces and Ben was nursing a gash on his wrist. The Elite was glistening like an oiled-up body-builder, and I noticed that his footing was lesser. The Oil of Slipperiness wasn't enough to make him fall prone however, his ridiculous heels serving an unexpected purpose as he buried his stilettos into the earth for a grip that his soles couldn't provide.

I ran towards him to keep him on the defensive, Elise and Ben right behind me. I veered to the side to block one side, seeing that the Guard was approaching him again and hoping that the Elite wasn't going to be so athletic now that he had to stand so oddly. Elise followed my example and flew upwards to block the area above me that Azriel previously used as an escape venue.

Azriel swatted aside more arrows, and then sent a dark blast towards Tatiana. She jumped to the side and Alexa almost dropped her song as she dodged as fast as she could, but both managed to evade the blast. Which was a good thing, the spell blew a caustic hole straight through the wreckage of the tannery.

Elise and I attacked in unison as the guard reached Azriel and began to swing its massive sword, and Azriel sidestepped both attacks before blocking the Guard's greatsword. He grunted from the strain, but held. He grabbed the Guard's hand with his own oiled-up one and then struck the pommel hard, disarming the Guard and sending the large blade flying.

He turned to me and Elise next, and we quickly gave ground. Azriel turned his attention to Ben, only to be met with more lifeless eye sockets.

A second Guard appeared right in front of Azriel, and then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth. A gathering of steel surrounding the Elite. I heard a loud clang from behind the metal backs that now obscured the Elite, and then another, and then a pained grunt as one of the Guards finally struck true.

We weren't even halfway killing Azriel, but if he couldn't jump out of this then we might've just won.

I wasn't surprised when I saw a figure fly straight upwards sprouting black angel wings. We wouldn't be that lucky. The radiance around Azriel grew even more intense, and his hair dye evaporated to reveal perfectly white hair.

“I was slightly miffed before, but now I'm livid.” Azriel snarled.