The entrance to the Aherin tribe is scarcely, but fiercely, guarded by the remaining warriors of the tribe in the cold night. Certainly there are better things to do when the sun is down, but all the remaining warriors won’t try to guard the entrance if not out of necessity. The village is currently more vulnerable than ever, the chief is gone together with most of their men, leaving the elderly, women and children under the care of twenty warriors, almost half of them are still greenhorns ignorant to the path of warfare. Even so, they have to take arms, for if a situation arise where the village is in danger, they will have to give everything they got to see their home make through unharmed.

And as if dictated by fate’s book of irony, the expected attack eventually comes when the scouts catch sight of strange activities in the Steppe, only to realize there are thirty bloodthirsty bandits approaching their village under the revelation of the moonlight.

-Bandit attack! Prepare for battle!

A more experienced warrior gives orders to his men. The scouts sound the gong, signaling the retreat for noncombatants to the back of the village. The experienced warriors are already on horseback, they fight better this way with their animal companions by their side, while the greenhorns fight with their bow, something they were taught and practiced since childhood. Even with only twenty of them, certainly these people won’t give up their village without a fight.

-Is everyone all right? Anybody injured?

When all the women and children in the vicinity are running to the back side, one girl has the gall to run to the other, asking the tribe warriors of their welfare like it’s the most normal thing to do under a bandit raid. And she is not simply a girl, rather a catgirl, with a priestess white robe unfit to stand among the nomad tribesmen. With such a mismatch, it’s no wonder the tribesmen don’t take her presence well.

-What are you doing here? Go back along with the others!

A mounted rider approaches Elisha, most likely the leader of the village’s defenders.

-Enemies are coming, and I want to help! I can heal the wounded, and I also know some offensive spells as well.

Says Elisha with a firm voice as she holds still her staff to harden her resolve. But even so, her mental strength is not enough to sway the rider’s opinion of the stranger in front of him.

-Your help is appreciated but not needed. This isn’t some grandiose war where people need medical attention at every waking moment. The men of Aherin are not so weak they’ll die from a losing a bit of blood!

-Even so, my presence here can prevent further deaths. I promise I won’t get in the way!

Yet despite all her protest, the Aherin rider does not buy her resolve.

-You being here is enough to get in our way. The following battle will be hectic, if you find yourself in danger, I won’t be able to spare any men to help you, and they won’t fight as well knowing there’s still one non-combatant behind their back.

-But…!

The rider holds out his hand to stop Elisha’s rebuttal.

-If you want to make yourself useful, go and check on our people in the back of the village. All of our remaining warriors have gathered here, if something happens over there, we won’t be able to react fast enough. Do what we can’t, go reassure them, and protect them if any threat appears.

As the rider finishes his sentence, the yelling of the hostiles bandits starts to get louder and louder. The archers release a volley of arrows, stopping the bandits in track, but only temporarily.

-Go, now!

The rider draws his sword and leads the others into battle. Soon, blood starts to flow from the clashes of the nomads and the bandits. Elisha can only stare for a brief moment before reluctantly retreats to do what is asked of her.

-Please be safe! All of you!

Yells Elisha as she runs to the back, away from all the bloodshed. The restrictive environment of the village prevents the riders from utilizing the mobility of being on horseback, but this is their home, Elisha wants to believe they have the strength to protect it. They are doing their job, thus, she also has to do hers.

Most of the yurts on the way have been abandoned by the fleeing tribeswomen. While she knows it is meaningless, Elisha also tries to look inside the yurts near her path to check whether there are still anyone else left behind for any reasons. It’s better safe than sorry, she thinks. Luckily, she finds no sleeping kids nor sickly elders inside any of the yurts, the tribeswomen have evacuated well, probably thanks to their experience as nomads. With that in mind, Elisha continues her run with hope that everything will end well.

But her newfound hope is quickly crushed as a scream arrives from afar, followed by a flock of women and elders running away from…something. Surprised, Elisha tries to ask one of them, only for the terrified woman to reply:

-Bandits! They came from the back! Run while you can!

The woman hurriedly runs away after giving Elisha the answer she wants. A small drop of sweat flows down of the black-haired catgirl’s cheek as she firmly holds her golden staff and runs toward the source of the scream. When she arrives, the first thing she sees is an elderly woman falling to the ground, exhausted from all the running forth and back, but before Elisha can offer a helping hand, the elderly woman is killed by a long axe down her back, from the hand of a thuggish man with a fur coat covering his naked upper body. The man following behind him is no different in attire and weapon. The way their eyes leer at Elisha is enough for her to know these guys are no nomads.

-Uuuu, nice catch. To stumble upon a beastgirl in this kind of place, the Boss will be pleased.

-I can see she’s stacked beneath her holy robe. That would certainly fetch a high price.

The bandit retrieves his long axe from the elder woman’s back. His lack of reaction as he lifts the blood dripping axe away from her back is enough to spell out his ultimate fate. Elisha finds her heart pierced by a hot needle, fueling a fire inside her gentle heart.

-Why…did you kill her?

-The hag? It’s not like I have a reason to let her live. Nobody would bother to spend their coins on her anyway. You, on the other hand, would strike us rich.

Says the bandit with the bloodied long axe.

-Try not to rough her too much, buyers won’t like it when their slave got a few scars.

Ignoring the following words said by the other bandit, Elisha is visibly shaking from anger. The bandits themselves also know the golden staff on her hands is not for show, despite their desire to get a hold of it to sell for some quick cash. They rush at Elisha with their weapons in hand in an attempt to capture her.

-Unforgivable!

Elisha’s left hand glows, she holds her hand out to the air and conjures a light barrier out of nothing. The bandits draw their weapons and attack the barrier, but their weapons bounce off the barrier as if they are hitting a wall. The bandits realize they could go around the barrier to attack Elisha from behind, but the catgirl herself is aware of her barrier’s weakness, that is why she decides to strike first.

Elisha pushes her left hand out, and the barrier moves in consecutive, slamming itself at the bandits like a moving wall. The bandits get caught in surprise and fall down to the ground, then Elisha follows up with her barrier crushing the downed bandits like an iron ball of pain. The impact creates a crack on the ground, leaving the bandits unconscious with blood flowing out of their mouth, and preferably with half of their bones broken. Even so, they still draw breath, wounded, but life still remain within their breath.

Even after all their crime, Elisha can’t bring herself to take away a life. It maybe justice, but it’s not her justice. The teachings for a Maiden do encourage fighting to protect oneself, but not to take away the life of your adversaries, for that is a warrior’s job, not a Maiden’s. The justice awaiting them will be one of the Aherin people, Elisha’s current job right now is to ensure the tribe’s survival until that time.

-There’re probably more. I need to stop them.

Elisha mumbles to herself before she rushes off to do what’s needed to be done. Most of the women and elders seem to have already fled to the front, saving for a few who’s probably caught up by the bandits. With that in mind, Elisha pours all of her strength to her legs, trying to search for anyone who needs her help.

There is sound of weapons clashing ahead of her, accompanied by children’s scream. When Elisha arrives, she sees one of chief Nephele’s maid fighting against several bandits by herself, covering the escape of the tribe’s herbalist and the sickly children under her care. The maid is using a curved sword, she swiftly dodges the crude attacks of the bandits and counters by exploiting their opening and delivers a quick but decisive killing strike. Even so, their numbers put her at a disadvantage, not to mention she’s still need to provide protection to the herbalist and the children.

-Ahh!

The young girl with twin braid trips and falls to the ground. Her face looks pale, all this running certainly isn’t good for a child who caught a flu. Terrified, the herbalist leaves the other two children and rushes toward the girl, trying to get her up. One bandit sees this as an opportunity to attack and detaches himself away from his fellow bandits. The maid tries to help, but she is prevented from doing so by the remaining bandits. Seeing the bloodlust in the bandit’s eyes, the herbalist shields the sickly child with her body, preparing herself for the descent of the bandit’s long axe.

But Elisha is here, and she won’t fail to save another like she did earlier.

-Get out!

Light flashes from Elisha hand, creating a faint forcefield to push the bandit and his axe away from the herbalist. Elisha approaches the herbalist, telling her it’s okay, and casts a healing spell on the girl with twin braid. The green light emits from her hand returns some life to the child’s pale face. It won’t cure her sickness outright, but it will give her enough strength to run to safety.

-Thank you! Thank you very much, my lady! I apologize for what happened earlier, this is one debt I could never repay you!

The old herbalist is on the verge of tears, and Elisha has to intervene before she starts bowing her head.

-Just get the children to safety, I’ll try to deal with the bandits.

The herbalist nods as she helps the girl get up to run away, while Elisha herself approaches the maid to help her fight off the bandits.

-Thanks for the help. The bandits’ arrival is certainly unexpected, but we may have a chance to live through today.

Elisha nods, completely in agreement with the maid. She is here to help, not to give up. The maid readies her sword, while Elisha also prepares her golden staff to face off against the bandits. If two of them work together, living through this ordeal won’t be a mere fantasy. The bandits themselves start to get wary of the young girls standing on their path. These aren’t defenseless women, they think. Sweat drops down from their cheek as they hold their weapons in preparation for the next move.

But suddenly, their worriedness disappear from their face, replaced by a smirk instead. The young girls do not understand of the bandits’ sudden transition in expression, only until they look back and see at the same direction as the bandits.

-Ahhhhhh!!!

The herbalist screams on the top of her lungs as a sword bigger than her stabs her through her chest. Wringing out the last of her strength, the herbalist tries to call for help, but the life inside her gives out as the assailant tosses her away from his sword like a piece of rag. The owner of the giant sword is a muscular man as big as his own slab of iron he calls a sword, his hair is long and filthy like a barbarian, there’s black eyepatch on his left eye, he’s wearing a coat made of wolf fur to cover his hair-filled chest. Whatever he is, Elisha can feel he’s the leader of these bandits. Aside from him, he is accompanied by three underlings, each of them taking a hold of the children under the late herbalist’s care, all at knifepoint. Rage and sadness alone can’t describe what Elisha is feeling, but those can be said about the maid’s reaction.

-You bastard!

The maid yells in a fit of anger as she rushes at the bandit leader with her sword in hand. Elisha tries to stop her, but she is too slow to make any difference. Her voice can’t reach the rage-filled nomad maid as she jumps to the air for a diving attack.

But the rage does her no good aside from clouding her judgment, being on the air makes her an easy target, and the bandit leader exploits that. He swings his huge sword with the speed of a knife, breaking through her fragile sword and cleaves her into half. Blood drenches the land as her remaining body parts fall down, immobile. The bandit leader expresses pity, but not a concern from the bottom his heart, far from it.

-Well, that’s a waste of a beauty.

His three underlings laugh like it’s the most normal thing in the world, even with the children in their grasp, threatened with knives by their throat. Elisha finds her rage starting to dictate her action, and manages to calm herself down lest it leads her to a quick death. Even so, she cannot find any solution to escape being surrounded by bandits and their leader, with children as their hostages.

One of them exploits her hesitation and approaches to capture her, but there’s still some wit left inside her even when her head is clouded with fear and confusion. Elisha smashes the man’s head with her staff and pushes him away from her with a spell. It is effective enough to prevent further recklessness from the bandits, but it won’t matter in the long run, Elisha is still trapped with no way out.

-Drop your staff, or the brats die.

Mutters the bandit leader, with a smirk on his face. He won, and he knows it. The sickly children cry as they are threatened by the bandits. Elisha knows the moment she drops her staff, she’ll lose, but she doesn’t have any choice but to lose. Yet still, there’s some fighting spirit left inside her, her hands are trembling, but they have yet to fail her and drop her only weapon.

-Or are you implying a holy woman like you care about your life more than the lives of these brats?

Only at this moment does Elisha know she is lost. Risk her life fighting the bandits, and the children will die. Maybe she’ll live after defeating them, but knowing her victory is paid by the lives of innocent children will only torment her for the rest of her life.

And so, Elisha drops her golden staff, submitting herself to the mercy of the bandits, if they still have any.

-Ahahahaha! Works all the time! Only a heartless monster would ignore a child’s plea for help!

The bandit leader drops his hand down to make a signal, but Elisha doesn’t care, she’s already lost. It’s only natural she would just stand there just to have her head hit by a wooden log under the hands of a bandit.

Elisha falls down, her head is bleeding, blinding her left eye with her own blood as her consciousness starts to fade away. Before her vision fades completely into black, Elisha manages to make one last prayer.

Fino…help…

….

Elisha wakes up. Only her god knows how many time has passed ever since the bandit’s attack, but when her vision returns she sees the sky is still dark. It looks like today has yet to end, and the bandits are still inside the Aherin’s village…or what’s left of it.

Yurts destroyed and burnt, bodies of the tribe’s fallen defenders carelessly laid out on the ground as if to prepare a feast for the vultures. Elisha finds her hands tied, along with ten young tribeswomen and several children sobbing together inside a ring of guarding bandits. The bandit leader is sitting away from the group of captives, sitting on the fanciest chair he found among the loot, with two bandits standing nearby to guard his well-being. The bandits that aren’t either guarding the captives or guarding their leader are busy trying to dig up all the loots they can find from the ravaged yurts. It seems like attacking this village for them is the same as digging out a gold mine, as there are many valuable things the Aherin tribe has in possession thanks to their trade with the Merchant city of Aurum in the north. And certainly treasures and valuables are not jewelry and money alone, but also the girls they captured.

-Now we don’t have to worry about crashing the bars for the following year, boys!

All the bandits cheerfully yell out loud after all the murders and looting of this village. Even the pain in her head wound pales in comparison to the pain in her heart, to see good people murdered for vices and petty reasons.

-Enough of this!

Elisha yells. Her hands are tied, but not her feet, as if the bandits are trying to dare the captives to escape from their grasp, looking for an excuse to do whatever they like to the escapee. But Elisha isn’t trying to escape, she brazenly faces the bandit leader, with enough bravery to impress the leader to refrain from ordering his men to detain the catgirl immediately.

-What did these people do to you to deserve this fate?

-Nothing.

The bandit leader bluntly replies.

-Nothing…all these bloodshed…for nothing?

-Just what sort of hole in this world did you come from, mutt? Do bandits need a reason to raid and pillage? I guess holy people do expect a reason in every action people make. But the truth is very simple, we do this because we can, plus money for bars and wenches, of course! Ahahaha!

The bandit leader drinks up whatever liquor he found in the village, leaving Elisha in awe and disgust.

-You…monster! You disgusting monster! I hope you die the most painful death possible!

-They didn’t teach you how to properly cuss at the church? That’s one more thing to complain about those pretentious bitches.

The bandit leader laughs, brushing Elisha’s insult aside like a child’s whimper.

-Look, mutt. If you’re talking about honor and reason and shit, you’re talking to the wrong bandit. Although at this point, I doubt Rudo is alive to hear your sermon.

The bandit takes out the eye-patch covering his left eye, revealing a perfectly healthy eye underneath. Elisha wonders why did he put an eye-patch over his intact eye at first, until she remembers the name Rudo that came from his mouth. Only at this point does she understand everything.

-You lured the Aherin tribe to attack the real Rudo Bandits, while you exploited their absence to attack their village…

-That bastard always expects there are honor among thieves, I only did him a favor by allowing him to die in honorable combat, while we, the real bandits, make a living for ourselves. There’s nothing wrong in that, isn’t it?

Elisha grinds her teeth. Her teachings did not allow her to be angry, and neither would her gentle heart, but she can’t escape the feelings filling her fragile body. With all her rage, Elisha yells out loud.

-Despicable! You’re the most despicable person I have ever met! May you never find peace in the afterlife!

-Now this is getting boring. Someone shut this mutt up, please?

Heeding the order of his boss, a bandit approaches Elisha and kicks her in the back, making her fall down to ground, and grinds her head on the dirt with his dust-filled shoe. Even so, there’s still a fiery fire inside her eyes, the eyes of someone who won’t yield to injustice.

-This is wasteful. If you order me, I’ll prepare the beastgirl for you to punish her later.

Says a bandit guarding the leader as he watches the brutal treatment of Elisha.

-Though I am a thieving and murderous bastard, even I have standards. Just thinking there’s the blood of beasts inside her veins is disgusting enough.

-I’m sure some of ours won’t mind, a few would even revel in that particular part.

-Well thank the gods I wasn’t born a sick bastard instead.

The bandit leader knocks all of the liquor he has down his throat and smashes the cup to the ground.

-About time we wrap this up. Take this any longer and we’ll have angry nomads chasing our asses.

-We captured more girls than we needed, not to mention the brats. They will strike us rich, if we can get them to the Alareiks Empire in the South.

Says a bandit guard. He seems to be the bandit leader’s advisor.

-The Aherin knows the Steppe better than we do, I won’t take any chances with them. Their price won’t be as high in Aurum’s black market, but better than nothing. Take only the prettiest ones, tell the men to do what they want with the rest and kill them afterward along with the brats.

The moment Elisha hears about the killing of Aherin people, she starts acting up and struggles with all her might in an attempt to make a change. Even with a bandit’s boot repeatedly kicking her head, Elisha does not give up, not even the thought of giving up once crosses her mind.

-Stop! Don’t you dare touch them! I won’t allow it! Arhhh!

Elisha groans in pain when her tormentor thinks her head is too hard to kick, and starts kicking her stomach instead, which proves to be more effective than he thought. That kick manages to shut her down for a brief moment, but the bandit knows it won’t take long until she starts blabbering again.

-What about her, boss?

-Do what you guys want with her, I don’t care.

A grin appears on the bandit’s mouth, just like some other bandits. The tormentor drags Elisha up from the ground as a few others start to approach her. The look in their eyes when Elisha meets their gaze is enough for her to know what to expect, and it certainly won’t be very pleasant for a maiden.

-No…stay away…stay away from me! Kyaahhh!

The barbaric bandits tear Elisha’s holy robe to pieces, even with the bruises inflicted on her body, Elisha’s white skin still retains parts of her hidden beauty, but what good is beauty when it turns her into a dish served on a plate for these beasts in human form to consume? They hold her down and lock her legs and shoulders with their powerful grip strength, stopping her struggle altogether. They even have the decency to prepare a cloth in case she starts biting her own tongue to end it all.

-Stop! Somebody! Help me! Please…help me!

Those are her last words before her mouth is gagged. Tears flow down from her eyes as she waits for the inevitable. Her prayers not answered, her saviors are nowhere in sight, her hope fails her, leaving only despair behind. Will anyone extend a hand to help? Will there’s still anyone with the strength to fight back against the injustice of these bandits?

There is one, but not the one Elisha expects to be.

Someone arrives from the sky with the force of a falling meteor, leaving a cloud of dust behind from their landing. Elisha feels the splattering of blood, the shattering of bones and the smashing of meat. Her well-kept skin is now drenched in streams of blood. Even she does not know what’s going on, aside from the arrival of someone, and the quick and brutal death of the bandits.

And then, the cloud of dust fades, the identity of her rescuer is revealed under the moonlight. A tall girl with long red hair, wearing clothing of a Aherin nomad woman, only tattered and dirtied with a heavy stench of dried blood, not to mention many holes that look like she was attacked by someone before she got here, but beneath those holes, there aren’t any visible wounds on her skin. Her hands however are soaked red, not her blood, but the blood of the bandits she brutally smashed and crushed with her bare hands, leaving unrecognizable messes behind which are hard to identify whether those once belonged to normal human beings.

It takes her sometimes, but once she does, Elisha finally remembers the identity of her savior, the last person in this world that she would expect to come for her rescue.

The flame dragon of Melas castle.

The dragon girl clenches her fists. Her face is also dirtied from dried blood before her arrival here, but even they cannot hide the intense rage and hatred in her crimson eyes.

-All these atrocities…and people call US demons!

Deborah Draconis yells out loud, almost like a roar. The bandits stand confused, but even they are aware their fellow comrades died by her hands and have already prepared their weapons in retaliation. The captives however seem to have found a new hope, as they know the red-haired girl is their former guest, and she has come for their rescue. In a corner, the three kids who spent a night talking with her also start standing up, secretly cheering the girl who is here for them.

-Big sis! Go get them, big sis!

On the bandits’ part, the captive watchers have to start throwing punches and kicks for order to return, but they know they can’t stop the women and children from hoping. The bandit leader grabs his giant sword, while his guards assume battle stance. Whatever the outcome, it certainly will be bloody.

-Consider this my final act of mercy: Leave, and maybe I’ll let you live.

Deborah loudly declares, though even she knows this is pointless, because in her experience, everytime she made the same offer, nobody would ever bother to take it up and flee. And just as expected, the bandit leader defiantly slams his giant sword down to the ground.

-And leave us vulnerable to the Aherin riders? Come on, do you take us for fools? Men! Kill her!

Under the order of the leader, several bandits gang up on Deborah at once, but her reaction is merely a resigned sigh.

-Well, this is fine too.

The fastest bandit approaches her with a spear. He thrusts his spear at her, but Deborah swiftly dodges it, not because she has the superior skill, but merely because she can move faster than he is. Deborah grabs the bandit’s face, and slams it down to the ground as hard as she can. The impact creates a small crater on the ground, destroying the bandit’s head completely, leaving only a pool of blood filling the crater like a man-made pound.

And at this moment, the bandits know they screwed up.

Deborah starts taking the initiative, she’s coming for them instead of waiting like a sitting duck. The bandit nearest to her is a very muscular man, bigger than even Deborah, who’s already taller than most. He has a great axe, and is not afraid to use it to cleave Deborah in half. But Deborah does not have the time to let the bandit test his metal, she quickly closes the gap and punches his torso with all of her strength. If her holding back is enough to crush people’s bones, it’s no wonder her full, yet still limited strength, is enough to send half of a giant torso flying into tiny pieces. And this show of power is more effective than any other attempt of intimidation she have ever done before, the remaining few bandits scramble in fear, which only turn them into easy targets for Deborah’s fireballs. When a fireball hit a bandit, they fall to the ground, squirming from pure heat burning their very flesh and bones, until their strength give up, and the dragon fire burns the rest until ashes remain.

Thus, the few bandits who have yet to turn their tail and run away resort to their final solution: using hostages. They take the children, put a knife by their throat and start making threats.

-Stop, or I’ll slit her throat!

One bandit grabs a hold of a young girl in twin braid, with his fellow comrades taking the remaining kids. This trick always works, they thought. She’ll yield, they thought. Nobody is heartless enough to ignore the brats, they thought. But Deborah presses on. She continues walking, with her sharp gaze fixes on the bandits daring enough to stand behind children’s back.

-STOP! I’LL DO IT FOR REAL! I SWEAR!

But she does not stop. Even with the fear for the children’s lives is present inside her, Deborah does not yield to the threats the bandits made. Whatever she found in the Arahas desert, it gave her the ruthlessness necessary to ignore her own merciful nature and perform what is demanded of her with efficiency.

When the bandits realize their trick doesn’t work on Deborah, they resort to carrying out the threat themselves. Their knives reach the kids’ throat, cutting a part of their throat, making them bleed out. But the bandits can’t cut further than a scratch, even when they try their best to command their hand to do the deed, but their hands simply do not obey, they are too busy shaking in fear to respond to their brain’s command. When they turn their gaze upon Deborah, they find the dragon girl’s crimson eyes have been replaced by bloodshot eyes with sclera redder than blood. But that is only for a brief moment, moments later, they can only see a world of flame, with a human shape flame pillar approaching them, above it is a hovering set of fangs and a pair of terrifying fireballs resembling eyes. Whatever they are seeing, they know it’s just an illusion made from their own fear, but they can see anything else otherwise.

And when Deborah arrives, it’s already too late. She quickly strangles the immobile bandits with a snap by their neck. No one offers any resistance, they are too busy being afraid to move. Ignoring the bandits remains and the equally terrified children and women, Deborah turns her gaze upon the bandit leader, who is now alone without any guards. They abandoned him for their own lives, while the leader stays behind to watch his bandit group destroyed in a blink of an eye because of a lone girl who came out of nowhere.

-Just…what are you…!?

-Your death.

Fueled by rage, the bandit leader grabs his greatsword and rushes at Deborah. Using all of his strength, he swings his sword at the girl in an attempt to cut his assailant into two separate halves, like what he did with all his enemies before him. But in all of his life, his opponents have always been humans, not a living dragon in flesh and bones.

CLANK!

His sword is stopped, the sword tough enough to cut through rocks, wield by someone with enough strength to smash through rocks, and it is still stopped. Deborah successfully blocks the attack with her left arm, protected by dragon scales she conjured out of thin air. In surprise, the bandit leader fails to react as Deborah approaches closer to him and cut both of his arm in one strike from her bare hand. It’s not like her skin itself is tougher than steel and sharper than real swords, she just delivers it with a force as strong as a real sword would, cutting both of the bandit leader’s arms simultaneously, leaving him groaning in pain as blood flows out of what’s left of his arms like a waterfall.

-ARGHHHH!

But Deborah’s judgment has yet to end. She grabs him by his cheeks with her left scaled hand while she looks at him in disgust.

-A quick death is too good for you.

The fingers grabbing on the bandit leader’s cheeks pierce through his skin and into his mouth like skewers, leaving him struggles in intense pain and suffering, but this is only the start of Deborah’s punishment for him. Deborah conjures a fireball on her right hand, a small one, the size of a ball, enough to fit into someone’s mouth. With a deadpan expression, Deborah shoves the fireball through his mouth and down his throat, despite all the struggling he’s doing to protest. But the deed is done, Deborah releases him away from her grasp, and she watches as he squirms from the fire burning away his throat and internal organs. If he still have his arms, no doubt that he’ll try to ease the pain by caressing his throat with his hands, but seeing him suffering like that without any arms to console himself, it’s both amusing and sad. Only the gods know whether Deborah cut off his arms solely for this to happen.

-Ittttttt hurtssssss! It hurtttttstsssss soooo muchhhhh!

The man seems to be at his limit, the fact that he still have enough strength to make barely recognizable sentences is a feat by itself, but for Deborah, that is meaningless. The man is done, nobody can save him, assuming there’s still someone left who have some pity for this despicable bandit.

-Yuuuuuu monstahhhh! Youuuuuu hartlesssss monstahahhhh! I curssssseeee uuuu! I cusrsssseeee uuuu!

After a minute of agonizing pain, the man stops moving. His life gives out, leaving behind a corpse being burnt from the inside, and quickly the fire itself spreads to outside, burning away what’s left of this bandit leader. The job is done, the bandits have been defeated, Deborah returns to the side of the Aherin people, the captive women and children, and the priestess catgirl as well.

However, welcoming her isn’t the cheering for a savior, but the gazes and stares of fear and doubt, both from the women and children, even the catgirl Elisha herself is no exception. When Deborah makes another step further, the children instinctively step back as their body shake from surprise, like one would naturally do in front of a threat to their life. At that moment, Deborah understands the cost she has paid in the desert. Deborah suddenly puts her right arm to touch her chest and mutters.

-Maybe I am a heartless monster…

Elisha does not understand why Deborah said that. Is she trying to console herself, or trying to reaffirm her role? Whatever that is, Deborah turns her back and leaves the people she saved behind.

-W-Wait!

Elisha does not know why, but she finds herself yelling for the dragon girl to stay, but Deborah’s resolve is resolute, not even once does she turn back. Eventually, Deborah vanishes under the night, and the riders of Aherin quickly arrive afterward to deal with the aftermath.

To Elisha, tonight is a terrible nightmare, but also a glimpse to a dream beyond her own calling as a maiden. The girl herself is not aware of this, but the meeting tonight with Deborah will change her and her own fate forever.