Doomed to Die in 3 Minutes

Retribution

Several minutes earlier…

The area near the south gate of the city was covered in splinters and arrows. It looked like a battlefield. Flames dances around homes. People laid on the ground holding in the blood that was leaking due to the injuries they sustained during the battle. Pure destruction as far as the eyes can see. Kuiz and Olivia had exchanged shot after shot without ever getting a clean hit on one another. Despite that, the collateral damage was increasing up by the second.

Kuiz did not care where his arrows flew. He simply fired to try and ascertain his foe’s position. If something or someone was in the line of fire, it was not a concern to him. Windows had shattered with the shards of glass ripping into the skins of bystanders, plants and flowers were scattered into a mess, and particularly unfortunate people who rose this early suffered wounds in their limbs from the crossfire. 

When he could not land a shot on Olivia for a few minutes he began to get more creative. He enchanted his arrows to be coated in flame, and eventually some of those hit sources of oil and flammable materials. The duel of archers had done this much damage in a short amount of time, it spoke a lot about their magical capabilities as well as their bowmanship.

Since a straight-up challenge had not seemed to be working Kuiz had finally relented in trying to have a fair contest. He took out one basic arrow and aimed downwards instead of upwards. He smirked as he found his bait. A  young child wearing plain brown clothes, holding a basket of apples who had stayed absolutely still as she was forced to watch the battle unfold. The screaming of the people desperately trying to put out the flames and tend to the wounded had shocked many and drove an unpleasant spike of dark emotion down Olivia’s neck… it reached her heart and added a tiny bit of weight.

Her eyes saw Kuiz change his aim. She didn’t notice at all. She drew her bow and knocked her arrow. She could kill him easily with a single hit if he was going to expose himself like this and get distracted by something below. Taking his eyes off of her was a fatal mistake. That was what she was thinking as she let loose the arrow she had readied.

It fired with impeccable accuracy. It was but an inch from his face. At the current trajectory, it’d go through his right eye and skewer the brain… and then it twisted right swerving as if it was a car doing a fast and harsh turn. “Aiiiyaaa!” Olivia’s eyes turned and grew in horror as the arrow she launched stabbed into a little girl’s right knee. She fell to the floor clutching her leg and the apples she was carrying rolled down straight into a wall of flame. She began to sob as the pain of the sudden attack ran its course through her body.

Olivia then felt it. A surge of wind told her that she had to immediately move even if just a little. She tilted her head to the left. An arrow came whizzing past. A cut formed across her right cheek and fresh blood dripped down her face and unto her neck. The cause was a cackling Kuiz. “Oh, now that I get a good look at you, you’re quite pretty. I’m going to enjoy marking that face with scars, and if it wasn’t obvious already, you try to shoot me again and it goes into that girl. If you forsake her well, I’ll just move on to the next person. You’re not a threat to me. So, if you surrender yourself to me now… well we can have some real fun, I’ll even tell the lord to keep you alive. How about it? Better a living pet than a dead wh-” 

Olivia fired another arrow but this time a pure wooden one. She primed it to explode in his face. Hundreds of small splinters threatened to stab him and turn Kuiz into a cactus. The splinters were all forced to drop to the ground before they got to touch him. “Wind magic. Straight shots and a perfect defence against other archers. What a bastard you are.” Kuiz howled. “Oh, I like you. That tongue of yours is really sharp and dirty. I can think of a few better uses for it than insulting-” Another wooden arrow exploded near him but it too was forced to fall yet again.

“You really should listen when a man is talking.” The third arrow fired and it meets the same fate. Kuiz didn’t take offence to this attack nor the next one or the one after that. “Is that all you can do? Sure, I can’t redirect those little pieces so easily but you can see that’s not going to do s**t. I’m not going to run out of MP either… hey, you even listening? Are you going to just keep shooting? Man, you elves are so stubborn. No wonder one wants to deal with your kind.  Bunch of sticks in the mud. You know, I’ve fought and killed your kind before. Best archers in all the world, but I beat every last one of them. They kept going on about their pride, their honour, how they couldn’t be bested by a mere human. Every single one of ’em, man or woman and guess what? They all died by my hand. Slowly, painfully, and I enjoyed it. Seeing those smug pretentious pricks break before the realisation and mere human could… geez, you really just keep firing without listening to me? Men must hate you. I bet you’re one of those three-hundred-year-old single virgins, right? Lucky for you, I’m very experienced and patient…”

Olivia aimed upwards now and fired volleys before detonating her arrows, spraying an arrangement of splinters to shower from above onto Kuiz, who stuck a finger in his ear, spun it and groaned. The new method of attack was also seemingly useless, any momentum the little wooden needles had seemed to leave them just before impact. They too would just fall by the feet of their intended target. Yet, Olivia continued this exact method of attack again and again.

“Looking if I have a blindspot? It’s not going to work lady. No archer can compete with me. Face the facts. I’m the superior being. Bow before me and service my glory and perhaps I won’t kill you like the rest. I did think a pet dog would be nice but a chained b***h would work just as well. Oi, oi, oi. You really just going to keep shooting? Does nothing get to you? Or are you just refusing to let the reality set in? Geez, I think you’d be quite dull in the sack. Those scornful eyes of yours though… I can’t wait to see em turn. Ah, I’ll take some time with you. I wonder what I should teach you first?” Olivia didn’t respond with a single word or even a grunt of annoyance.

She now changed her arrows slightly. She aimed at a nearby chimney just a bit behind Kuiz and made her wooden arrows crash against it before exploding, once again creating a cascade of small wood blades that flew towards the back of the man who wouldn’t stop running his mouth. Another gale. Another attempt swept away by the wind, but just like the previous styles of attack, she didn’t stop her pace. She just continued her futile attacks again and again. 

“You know… I’m starting to get annoyed. At first, it was sort of cute. Like a fish flailing when forced out of water… but you’re really starting to get on my nerves. A lesser being like yourself really should show respect to your betters.” Kuiz knocked an arrow and aimed it at the still screaming little girl and fired without a single shred of shame. 

Olivia threw herself off the roof she was on. She landed right between the arrow and the child. The strike pierced right through her right knee. She grits her teeth as blood began to drip from the wound she suffered. “It hurts. It hurts quite a lot… sorry. I’m sorry to put you through this.” Olivia had taken the hit on purpose and made sure it struck the exact same place as the victim of her redirected attack. She had no idea why she did that. She was always taught specifically not to do, at least not for those who were not fellow elves. She could only attribute it to the sight burned into her eyes of the Demon King Zelo charging into insurmountable odds with a smile on his face. So Olivia too recalling the memory began to smile.

“Oh? That’s rich. You have a heart after all, huh? I like that. Seeing someone so cold go a little warm for a bit, it’s such a nice feeling, the last little flames of revolt before being turned into an empty husk… ah, it’s been a while since I’ve savoured such a delicacy. Stand still why don’t…” Olivia aimed her bow and this time knocked three arrows simultaneously before firing them all at once and forcing them to explode right in the face of Kuiz. All three bombs were repelled yet again by his wind magic. Increasing the number of attacks and spread seemed to not change the situation at all. Kuiz glared down at the still defiant elven woman before loading one of his own arrows and setting it free in a straight line fuelled by gale force.

It buries itself into her right shoulder. Her arrow arm was forced to fall limp. “That should take the wind out of your sails. Give up already, there’s being tenacious and there’s being a sore loser… wait, are you… serious?” Olivia drops her bow, takes an arrow into her left hand and puts the shaft between her teeth, before putting her left foot in the middle of the curve of her bow and pulling the string with her left hand. She slowly raised her left leg aimed at Kuiz yet again. She spat the arrow in her mouth out and stretched her left leg even higher up and miraculously the nock of the arrow perfectly fell in line with the string as her left hand released the momentum it was holding back. She shot an attack with only one arm straight at her opponent with perfect accuracy. It explodes. It also fails to reach the cursed man.

“Seriously? Like seriously? Aahahaha. Ahahaa! That’s hilarious! I’ve got to give it to you. You know how to work those legs of yours! I can’t wait to get a taste… are… you… doing it again?” 

Olivia began to repeat the exact same motions. It was amazing. Perfectly executed miraculous set up to fire arrows with one hand and a leg that defied physical logic and dexterity. The little girl, everyone watching, and Kuiz didn’t understand. They couldn’t comprehend why she was still trying so hard. Her attacks weren’t working. She was covered in sweat. She had two arrows in her body and was barely able to stay stable and upright but she continued to persist. She had zero intention of giving up even when it was impossible to win. The citizens had lost all hope due to the tyranny of the lord. Kuiz had snuffed out the light from the eyes of plenty of defiant people… none had struggled the way she was struggling right now. She with great pains and efforts let loose another arrow that also became nothing but tiny and powerless pieces of wood. 

She put her left foot on the middle of her bow. She put an arrow between her teeth. She put her left hand on the string. “Crazy b***h. I’ll end it.” Kuiz fires. Her left knee is pierced and she’s forced to let her bow off her foot and spits out the arrow as a reflex. She falls to the ground with her bow just a few metres out of reach. She takes a second to think. She snaps the shafts of the arrows in her legs with her left hand and then began to crawl on all fours towards her bow.

“The f**k? I’ve never seen anything like this... “ Kuiz was baffled. This wasn’t normal. This was insanity without a doubt. He didn’t know how to proceed with her doing this. Even if she reached her bow, what could she do? She lacked the use of everything but her left arm now. Would she pick it up and chuck it at him? He was a sick and twisted man but even he couldn’t resist asking himself the same question everyone else was. “What is she going to do next?” Olivia stopped still as she got the bow into her left hand and opened her mouth.

“The elves who died. Tell me, what were their last words?” Kuiz blinked. He wasn’t expecting her to talk to him. “...Heh. Fine. They cried. They wailed. They-!” Olivia interrupted. “Just their words.” Kuiz clicked his tongue but did as she asked. “All of those sore losing fuckers of yours said more or less the exact same thing. If I was serious there’s no way I could lose, you’re just a filthy and inferior human, you’re not worthy of our real strength.” Olivia sighed hearing that and muttered to herself several times before looking up at Kuiz with a sinister smile that sent a shiver down his spine. “Pardon my language little ones, but the foolish kin of mine he speaks of were absolute fuckheads who deserved to die.” Olivia’s eyes began to grow an almost radioactive green!

Her bowstring shimmered in the same glorious colour and as it did a pulse of energy made its way through Olivia. Her veins suddenly became extremely visible across her body and in an instant are quickly turned the same shade. Kuiz then felt it. The moving of an enormous mass. All the small little splinters that had fallen near him began to float in the air around him. Hundreds, thousands, no, tens of thousands of tiny but sharp toothpicks surrounded him from every angle. They suspended in midair some distance away from him. Ready to pounce with a single order.

“...This changes nothing! It’s just a little more work for me to guard 360 degrees! I thought you were going to show me something interesting!” Kuiz scoffed outwardly but his instincts couldn’t help but shake the feeling that this situation was terrible for him even if his mind couldn’t yet figure it out. He was sweating bullets… and he could just barely make it out. Olivia’s smug smiling face. One that told him she thought she had an absolute and flawless victory. The same smile he always had plastered on his face when he tortured and slew his enemies. He realised for the first time in this exchange he lips weren’t even slightly up. He wasn’t smiling.

“You are not worthy of any last words. Just watch as your fate is sealed you, foul-mouthed man.” Olivia’s left index finger pulled the string of her bow. It let out a beautiful chord as if it were a harp. Every splinter was now also covered in the same green glow that their user was bathed in… and they began to grow. An aura around the splinters made of verdant mystical energy that stretched out until they were spears of magic with a small wooden piece in the dead centre acting as a medium for them. Javelins of mana surrounded Kuiz who fell dead silent. This was doom. No ways out. Completely and utterly annihilated. All Olivia would have to do is let them go.

His life was in her hands. He wracked his brains for something he could do. His wind magic could repel projectiles but these were far too large and mostly made of mana. Even if he could deflect the first wave of them he’d be pierced by the second without a doubt. He was no master magician. He only could manipulate wind in an area around him up to a certain level of strength and while he had MP to spare blocking and redirecting all of this? Absolutely impossible. No way. So he did the only thing he could. He fell on his knees and lowered his head.

“Please! I’m sorry! I beg of you! Spare me! I will change my ways! I’ll suffer any punishment you see fit! Just let me live! Surely you have compassion in your…” 

“Silence you cur! At the very least you can attempt to accept your death with grace! Perish knowing the only reason you survived until today was that my i***t kind would rather keep a secret from the eyes of a human than living, and you met the one girl who would rather just kill your wretched self!” Olivia snarled as she pulled the string of her bow a second time. The floating spears began to vibrate and burn with malevolent energy! 

“Secret Art: Dandelion Massacre.” 

“This isn’t fair… no..! I… you f*****g- Guuyyyaarrghhhhuuuu!” 

The man known as Kuiz was pierced through the knees first. Then his right arm. Then every single inch of his body was bombarded by javelins. A pincushion. A mangled mess which in seconds lost all blood that was held within. Just a hunk of meat that no longer resembled anything close to human. It was over. 

Olivia’s body stopped glowing and her eyes closed as all of her remaining power began to fail her. “Ah… this feels… quite good.” 

Corai was staring at Vis with a look of sheer disbelief. “You uh, could do this the whole time?” Vis let out an exasperated sigh at the question. It was one he clearly had heard many times before. “Yeah. Look, a lot of people usually ask me the same thing when this happens so, just uh, no offence amigo, I’ll help you understand but please do not interrupt me when I am speaking and leave any questions for when I am done. Understood?” There was a nod from Corai and Vis coughed a bit too clear his throat.

“So, obviously the power to resurrect the dead is absolutely absurd. It’s not reasonable at all. I got that particular ability from a deity, in exchange for giving up my afterlife. As I said, oblivion is all that awaits me the day I kick the bucket. Probably should find some way to make myself immortal, but for now, that’s a problem for the future. As for why I don’t use it to just cure all the heartache in the world or deal with problems by just bringing someone bigger than what I’m facing… I did sort of did that starting out. It was not good. Sure, I made a lot of people happy but I quickly got in trouble when people started finding out. 

“I didn’t think it’d have consequences. I thought everything would be better in a world without death… it’s not. People began to take things for granted. Life wasn’t being considered as sacred when your neighbour could just undo it with a touch. Then there were some who were brought back that didn’t like being alive again. Those who took their own lives for a myriad number of reasons… I stole that from them. There’s a lot you can say about that… anyway. A lot of people ended up starting to fight over this power. If it was right to use it and people who wanted to monopolize me and make money or solidify their authority… I got sick of that so I left the first place I came into this world… after erasing the memories of everyone around there. Yeah, that took a lot of work. 

“So after that, I started questioning if it was right for me to even have this power and when I should use it and if I should use it at all. I felt I was losing a part of what makes life special whenever I used it without thinking too hard. In a city much like this one… I saw someone die horribly. I didn’t flinch at all. I resurrected them after the fact and made them escape but I asked myself why I didn’t intervene when it was happening… my feelings about all of this are constantly shifting from one side to another and… yeah it’s pretty f****d, amigo.

“So that’s why I became an assassin. I would only answer the most desperate calls for help. I would only bring back the dead who were truly loved and needed among the living. People who were willing to bet their lives on the chance to change their lives. The people who wanted a threat eliminated because it was what they truly believed was best for the lives of everyone and could prove their sincerity. Those people would be my clients. For them, if they could touch my heart, I’d do everything I can to save them. If I could do it without hurting anyone or killing anyone, then I would. If I couldn’t I tried to solve it without this power. If I couldn’t do that then… this happens.” 

Cheering filled with adoration and bloodlust. Phonom had summoned more soldiers but they were nothing but a very brief distraction. It was arguable that they didn’t slow Alisa’s advance at all. With nothing but her hands and feet, she destroyed a small army with even more brutality and efficiency than Vis did. Finally, she was just before the carriage that held the man she seeks vengeance upon. Only Zard was between them. The last line of defence.

“My lord. Flee. I will hold her back as long as I can.” The dragonkin raised his shield and sword. His eyes glimmered. He was ready to die for the sake of his personal honour for reasons no one could know but him. Olivia did not look amused. Her body covered in the blood of her enemies was a marvel that brought affection from those behind her and sent a spike of sheer horror into the man sitting in the carriage. Zard did not move a muscle, preparing himself for a battle he’d lose without a doubt.

“...I will not run! I refuse to run! I am a noble and she is commoner filth! I will not tuck my tail between my legs and flee like a rat! This is impossible! It’s unfathomable! It’s a dirty trick! Just an illusion! I’ll prove it to you now! Thunder’s Wrath!” 

Kakroom! A massive bolt of lightning falls from a grey cloud and directly unto Alisa. When the smoke settled she stood there without being any worse for wear. “I’m the real thing. Back from hell to drag you there. Your life is over.” Alisa took a step forward and Zard did the same. They waited for a moment before acting. Alisa kicks with her right leg with stupendous speed and strength. Zard barely raises his shield in time. It crushes under the pressure and turns into nothing but scrap metal. Like the lid of a tin can. He was forced to abandon it instantly. 

He swings his sword. Alisa grabs it with her bare left hand. She snaps it in half with a flick of her wrist. Zard opens his mouth and sends out a cloud of liquid nitrogen forth. Alisa raises her right hand and drops it down in the shape of a karate chop. The mere friction her hand causes as it slides through the air causes a current that splits the freezing wave down the middle and leaving Alisa completely untouched. She wastes no time and closes the distance between them. Her left arm fires like a bullet. Zard preemptively raised his left arm to below his chin. Crunch. It’s internally destroyed in an instant. He swings his right claw at her head. She ducks and sweeps his legs with a kick. He falls to the ground and his armour rattles as he’s put prone on the floor.

She throws herself at him like a wild cat pouncing on defenceless prey. Zard barely musters the strength to roll to the right, narrowing dodging a direct punch into the spot where he just was. A shockwave is sent through the earth and it takes only a few seconds for a crater to form. Zard already knew what to expect. He knew he couldn’t win. He was in the upper echelons of B-Rankers. He would likely make A-Rank in a few months if he took the exam for it. Still, it was no match for a Hero. Not even remotely close. If Alisa was armed with a proper weapon he would have been lucky to survive two blows. He knew he only lasted as long as he had been so far because he knew her fighting style and that she was lacking the tools to bring out her full potential. He roared as he bounced up and went into a full-body tackle, going shoulder first. 

Alisa lowered her body and then jumps while stretching out her right leg. A rising kick. Zard’s charge is stopped prematurely and his jaw breaks, he is sent flying into the air. He comes crashing back down… Alisa walks past him towards the carriage. Zard grabs her left ankle with his right hand. It’s flimsy and can’t hold her back even if he wanted to. The dragonkin is bleeding internally. He’ll die in a minute, yet he still does everything he can for an undeserving master. He roars one last time. Another cloud of frost. Hoping it’d at least buy his master an extra moment of life… he expires as his lungs fill with blood. He didn’t let go even to the last. 

Alisa looks back down. His final attack was nothing more than a chilly breeze to her. She never understood why he cared so much for a man like this. She couldn’t say she respected him because he did atrocious things at the demands of his master but she saw the makings of a better man deep down. “What a waste… now, I’ve put down the rabid animal, I’ve ended the blind i***t, your scoundrel got shot up a few minutes ago, so you’re the last one. Ready or not… today you die. I’ve waited a long time for this. I’ll make it hurt.” 

A barrage of blue magical spheres appears and crash into Alisa from every direction. It does nothing at all. She takes slow and heavy steps towards the carriage. Each knock of her foot against the ground is the ringing of a bell. The countdown until justice brings its blade down to the necks of the wicked.

Alisa pulls back her right arm and throws a punch. The horses on the carriage are set free as their reigns snap from the wind pressure of the attack. The vehicle collapses and the wheels fall apart. The lord within screeches in disbelief. “This… can’t be happening to me!” 

The rose was still thirsty for blood and by the gods, she would have it. A long and satisfying drink.