“Why?! WHY?!Whywhywhywhy?!!!!!!!” Casa repeated over and over again. She was so far gone, and there was no way she would come back. First, her brother died, then her father was killed the next day. His corpse landed in front of her, and their killer took the heirloom armor and sword. To make it worse, that accursed woman used it to massacre her men, who were like family. All the while, she was being mocked by the monster who was responsible.

“That should’ve been me….” 

“CASA, RUUNNN!!!” yelled Marcus Bellero, a squad captain in her unit. With a wave of her sword, Servi cleaved through his chest, cutting him in two. He left behind a caring wife, two beautiful children, and his mother.  

Servi set her eyes on nine more people, and ten people, total, died by being cut in half.  

“Why? I wanted to be the one to wear it…THAT WAS MY BIRTHRIGHT!!!!!” 

“Captain?! GAAAHHHH!!! IT BURNSSS!!!” that was Manny Donny screaming. He used to be a thief before Casa’s father forced him to go on the straight and narrow.  Servi slid her sword along the ground, slicing through part of his foot, and the fire ran up his body. He was baked alive in a matter of seconds.  

Thirty more people died being cooked from the inside out. Servi danced more and more as it took only a single touch to the chest to kill someone. Even if the tip of her sword just glanced off their armor, the fire would finish the job.  

“Daddy….. Rowan…..” 

“PROTECT THE CAPTAIN WITH YOUR LIFE!!!!” this unlucky fool was Wailie. No last name. He was nothing more than an orphan who happened to join the city guard. Through hard work and dedication, he eventually joined Casa’s unit. The only thing that earned him was dying in a sea of fire with thirty-nine other people.  

Servi dodged backwards, and she came up with a horizontal slash.  To her surprise, the very air itself was set aflame in front of her.  A moment later, the fire lashed out in a massive sea of fire that swallowed everybody in front of it.  

After burning many men alive, a group of five was all that stood between Servi and Casa.  

“Move,” Servi ordered. The red armor matched the fierce red decorations of her mask as the red fire raged on behind her, consuming life after life after life until there was nothing else to devour. The last five heard the screams of their fallen comrades echo in their minds long after the poor bastards had died.  

“S-Stay away!!” a boy, who couldn’t be older than thirteen, said. His voice still the same high pitch as a girl. He was the leader of this small group, which consisted of other boys around his age. 

“This is your last chance. Leave, or die. Don’t throw your life away for something so foolish.” 

The five looked at each other and nodded. It looked like the group was about to leave, but Servi’s Soul Essence of Primal Combat proved otherwise.  

The one on the far left charged in yelling. Servi reacted with a quick upward slash that took off his arm.  The flames eventually swallowed him whole, leaving behind a pile of ash.

The boy on the far right, a bit heavier than the others, threw his spear at Servi. It pathetically bounced off her armor.  He ran in, attempting to wrap his arms around Servi, but the bright red armor came to life. A layer of fire defended her. He instinctively backed off and looked at himself. His armor melted and dripped to his pudgy white stomach, becoming a fused substance of skin and liquid metal. The poor boy didn’t even have time to feel the pain or realized what exactly happened before Servi took his head off.  

The second one from the left and right went high and low, respectively. The monster in red didn’t even attempt to dodge. The boys' metal weapons melted when they bounced off of her armor. Servi thrusted twice back-to-back as two more lives faded away far earlier than they should have.  

Servi then just realized what she had done. Four brave children, trying to protect their captain, died horribly by her hands.  

She was a child killer.

A murderer of children.

“Now it’s just you. Please, I don’t want to kill any more children….” Servi cried, her tears sizzling when they dripped to her red armor. Her unbridled rage seemed like nothing more than a passing memory as her reason came back to her. The four dead children were a spark that brought Servi back from the dark recesses of her mind, where she was trapped by nothing but anger and hatred.

“I cannot abandon my duties…” the boy said. His body, feeling fear he had never experienced before in his life. The boy's mind ran through different scenarios in an attempt to come up with a way to kill the monster in front of him. There were none. He was to die here. That was the only truth in his world at the moment.  

He charged. With a foolishly tight grip, he swung his sword, and Servi easily deflected it.  She knocked him away, and he lost balance, falling to the ground in the process. She kicked him in the stomach, leaving a burning footmark as his armor slowly melted. With haste, he removed it as he laid on the floor but was just a bit too slow. The molten metal dripped to his stomach, and he cried in pain, but he didn’t let it stop him. He managed to get it off in time before any substantial damage was done, and he would be fine in the long run. At least, he thought he would be fine.  The pain was too much for a boy whose stones haven’t dropped.  

With nothing but a burned white undershirt, fused substance of skin and liquid metal, and his sword, he charged in. The result was the same. Servi parried the overhead slash with a flick of her sword and punched the boy in the chest.  

“Please stop…. I can heal you and make the pain go away, but please go home…..” tears flowed from her eyes, and the boy yelled at her.  

“IS YOUR CONVICTION SO WEAK THAT ME BEING A CHILD IS ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU WAVER?!” he shouted.

“What?!” Servi was astonished.  

“THE FIRST THING WE’RE TAUGHT IS HOW TO FIND OUR RESOLVE. THIS IS MY RESOLVE. I WILL PROTECT MASTER PARREL AND CAPTAIN CASA, OR I WILL DIE TRYING.” 

“……” 

“AS SIR ALBERT SAID, THIS IS MORE THAN A LIFE OR DEATH BATTLE. YOU MIGHT BE WINNING, BUT YOU’RE WAVERING IN YOUR BELIEFS. IT’S THE SAME AS TAKING PITY ON YOUR OPPONENT, SO STOP TRYING TO SAVE ME BY GOING EASY. I AM A WARRIOR, AND THIS IS MY RESOLVE!!!!” 

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOSE YOUR LIFE FOR HER!!” Servi yelled back, but the boy shook his head before he readied his sword.  

“You should be playing and having fun, not dying to protect a piece of shit. YOU ARE A CHILD, NOT A WARRIOR!!!!” he didn’t respond but instead charged forward.  

“DON’T THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY!!!!” she screamed. But again, nothing.  

Servi could do nothing but ready her sword as well.  

Servi saw how the boy would fall to his knees and slide, trying to cut her legs. Servi  responded with an exaggerated swing that went in an arc starting from behind her head. The boy knew he would die here, so he did his best and used his secret move. One that won him almost every mock battle he had ever taken part in. When Servi moved her blade, he realized she knew what he was going to do. The edge of her sword collided with his head, cutting it straight down the middle as fire began spreading inside his wounds. The fire cooked his brain, turning it black like charcoal before it diverged down his body.  His dark skin burned to ash. 

The brave boy had died a warrior's death. 

In other words, he had died a foolish death, a preventable death all the same.

A red soul flowed from his body, and Servi's ring absorbed it.

Of the hundred-member squad, only the leader, Casa, remained alive.   

Servi walked up to the sniveling mess that was the boy’s captain. Servi used Fire Wall to make some privacy as she exchanged the red armor for iron. It was a bit too big, but that was fine. She also stored the red enchanted sword and took out a regular steel one.  

Was that red armor too much? 

“It was strong. Really strong. The same with the sword. But I don’t need it right now.” 

Canceling the Fire Wall, Servi walked up to the sole survivor. Casa was a pathetic mess. Tears flowed from her eyes, and snot dripped from her nose as Servi raised her foot. With as much force as she could muster, she aimed for Casa’s right arm. Like a twig, it broke as the pain brought reason back to her eyes.  

“KILL HER!!!!” she yelled, but nobody was around to follow it.  

“Your men are dead.” Servi used Telekinesis to float Casa in the air just a tiny bit so that their eyes met.  

“MONSTER!!!” 

“That’s right. But I’d say you’re an even bigger monster. What kind of horrible person fills a young boy’s head with stupid ideas? Do you realized he fought to the bitter end?! He should’ve been out playing or finding his first love, not being a member of your fucking unit!!!” Servi balled her fists and punched Casa’s stomach. Due to her Telekinesis, she didn’t move a bit, and Servi heard a brutal crack. Casa screamed and vomited blood as Servi delivered a second punch to the same area.  

“Pathetic. Such a weak armor for a weak woman who would have children join her ranks,” the purple armor with a blue jewel easily cracked under the force of her punches. Even if her hand broke with each hit, it was healed in a matter of milliseconds.  

“That’s….not….fair….. The…red armor…..was…to…be..mine…. Give…it…ba….c…k….” she croaked out. Her ribs were broken, her lungs crushed. She was on death’s door. It wouldn’t be too long until she passed on.

“So you’re knowledgeable? Why don’t you do something useful before you die? Explain to me why this armor is so powerful? And why did it shrink to fit me? When your pathetic father had it on, it was nothing more than a paperweight.” 

Casa coughed more blood. “Fine…. The armor……..responds……to…the….skill….energy…..of….its….wearer. It’s….. impossible…..for it…..to get………so…strong….” 

“And the sword?” 

“It’s……the….same… Daddy…..?” Casa closed her eyes and stopped breathing. A red soul came from her body, proof she was dead.  

“Foolish woman..." That was all Servi muttered when she absorbed the armor and sword. 

“Maybe I can find someone to repair it…” 

I have a suggestion. Put it on.  It might repair itself.

Servi did just that, and Itarr was right. The cracks in the chest puffed out, and the armor expanded back to its original pristine shape.  

“You’re right.” 

How does it feel? 

“Somehow, it’s worse. I don’t feel as protected as I did when I had the red one on.” 

I see.  

Servi took off the purple armor and re-equipped a set of iron armor. She absorbed her sword and glanced around her side of the battle area because she felt it was her duty to engrave the sight of this into her mind.  

A mighty conflagration filled her sight. The flame Servi launched from the red sword still burned hot even after consuming all a hundred corpses like a gluttonous wave of death.

Shall we check on Llamare and Liealia? Itarr said, wanting to do something to take her friend’s mind off her most recent battle.