The dark stone flew straight at the head of one of the creatures. The vicious little demon had managed to open a gnarly wound on the arm of one of the human fighters. Sarah had a split second impression that the blond man looked familiar, but the sudden explosion of the creature’s head got all her attention.

The first creature the marble-looking stone touched had its head explode in a thousand pieces. The second one got a gaping hole on its chest and, as the stone lost height and dove deep in the sea of creatures, Sarah lost sight of it. But if the popping sounds followed by shrieks were any indication, she could imagine the kind of damage the thing was wreaking. The system’s messages appeared a couple times at the edge of her vision.

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

What the fuck was that thing? Sarah couldn’t avoid being flabbergasted. But before she could turn and ask Ani, dozens of beady eyes turned to them. Sarah adjusted the sword in her hand before speaking.

“Alright. Stick behind me, Ani. We will use the buildings to negate their numerical advantage and…” Sarah’s left hand probed behind her as she tried to gauge how close Anichka was, but after a few retreating steps she realized something was wrong. 

“What are you doing, Miss Sarah? We need to run.” Ani's voice came from further behind her.

The absurdity of the incoherence of Ani's actions left Sarah utterly shocked. The surprise was such that Sarah did something she would’ve never done in a fight. She took her eyes off the enemy to look behind her. The awkwardly running form of Ani and her disproportionate backpack were getting further away. Sarah forced her irritation away through sheer force of will. With a glance toward the enemy, which was now only a few meters away from her, she spun and ran after Ani. With her strong legs, one might say that Sarah wasn’t running, but galloping.

“I don’t even have the mental energy to question you anymore, Ani. Just tell me what to do already.” Sarah caught up to Ani in a few breaths, and now she was jogging while keeping up with the huffing and puffing diminutive blond.

“Just… Follow… Me…” Ani said between labored breaths. Sarah couldn’t help but wonder why the girl insisted on carrying the backpack with her all the time, even in this situation. But she had more pressing issues to worry about. Although Ani seemed to be running with all her might, the creatures were slowly closing in on them.

“Drop the backpack, Ani. We can get it later. They will catch up to us.” Sarah spoke firmly, but calm. She was already calculating how to buy time if it came to that. Too busy to question herself why she should, Sarah only focused on how she would.

“Almost… There…” Ani's breathing was getting more and more labored. Sarah decided not to speak any longer. Talking would only make this harder on the girl.

They had been running for less than half a minute when Ani did a sharp turn and entered a random building. It was tall and narrow, but otherwise had no distinctive features. Passing by the door behind Ani, the first thing that caught her attention was the wide and winding stairs on the center of the building. It reminded her of the kind of stairs you would find in a lighthouse. She wanted to ask Ani how she found such a perfect place for the fight, but she held her tongue. They would have plenty of time for questions later.

Ani slowed down tremendously when she got to the stairs and began to laboriously make her way up.“I… will… go ahead… Miss Sarah.”

“Alright, leave it to me. This won’t take long.” Sarah positioned herself at the bottom of the stairs.

Sarah had already cleared her head of extraneous thoughts by the time the first ones started throwing themselves inside the building and at her. They were clumsy, uncoordinated and unskilled, but they made up for it in numbers and ferocity. There was strength in the disregard of one’s own safety when attacking. Sarah knew to respect that.

Sarah cut the first one down with ease, a one-handed slice that cleaved the creature in half. She used her spare hand for balancing. She wasn’t by any means proficient with the sword -- it was actually her first time using one -- but if the enemies would just keep throwing themselves at her blade, it shouldn’t be hard.

Sarah split the second horizontally at its midsection. She missed the torso of the third, but severed its arm. Sarah had been retreating a step or two each attack, and with a kick, the one armed little devil tumbled down those steps and slowed the encroaching mob. The next little green devil came and lost half its face. It fell flat on the steps, blood making them even more slippery. Sarah retreated another step, allowing the creatures to advance on top of the dead bodies of the ones who came before them. Their bodies were soft and their bones brittle. It was too easy. Sarah felt like she was bullying them. Maybe she’d have even pitied them, if they were less hideous and didn’t want to tear her face.

When her right arm started to slow due to fatigue she changed hands. She wasn’t ambidextrous, but the arrogant system had deemed her a master in hand-to-hand combat, given her extensive training. At least it was smart enough to recognize a master when in the presence of one, Sarah conceded.

Halfway up the stairs, Sarah finally cut down the last of the creatures. Her chest raised and fell rhythmically as she applied her breathing techniques. She wasn’t exhausted, far from it, but the constant exertion was tough even for her. She was used to five minute long rounds in the octagon, but rarely was she exchanging blows non stop like this, especially considering the extra weight of the sword. Sarah wasn’t sure how long the fight had lasted, but she felt like she had just fought a tough five minute round.

With her adrenaline subsiding she finally started to pay attention to her other senses. The first to assault her was the smell. The blood and innards of the creature’s remains emanated a repugnant scent. Sarah gagged and pinched her nose with her right hand. At some point, it seemed the system had given her a notification.

[You have acquired the skill Sword Fighting (Initiate).]

Sarah wasn’t sure how to feel about this. The system was now giving her skills? Or recognizing her impressive learning abilities. Either way, she couldn’t care less about information she could surmise. She dismissed it with indifference.

After dealing with the distraction, Sarah looked down at the carnage on the lower steps and couldn’t help but turn away. Even if they were not human, it was still disgusting. As much as Sarah was desensitized with violence, death wasn’t something she was used to seeing first hand. She hurriedly went up the stairs, no longer wanting to stand in front of the product of her battle.

She found Ani comfortably resting on a chair beside a window in the topmost floor of the building. The stairs led all the way to the roof, but Ani had decided to stay here.

“I am glad to be of service, my princess.” Sarah couldn’t help but be sarcastic. She wouldn’t hold a grudge against Ani, the girl had contributed in her own way. Her mysterious intuition was the only reason Sarah had a proper weapon and not a bat or a piece of metal. Although she was confident she would have made do with either, she probably wouldn’t have emerged unscathed.

“Thank you, Miss Sarah. I knew you would play your part splendidly.” Ani spoke in her sweet voice but serious tone. Sarah was trying, but it was hard to get used to the contrast. The girl’s personality and her physical characteristics didn’t fit, at all.

“Thanks… I guess. Anyway, care to explain what that black marble thing you gave me was? And don’t tell me it was your intuition thingy, I’m not asking how you found it or why you have it. I wanna know what it is.” Sarah launched her question without giving Ani time to interject, not that the girl seemed especially inclined to even answer.

“It’s not time for us to talk about such things yet, Miss Sarah. The wave is not over.” Sarah approached the window and looked in the general direction that Ani seemed to be staring.

A taller and bulkier creature was standing in front of the auditorium entrance. A dozen or so of the smaller ones came running from one of the side streets and straight into the building. As they ran, they stepped on the dozens upon dozens of dead little green devils. The system had called them something different, but Sarah didn’t care enough to remember. She preferred to stick with her naming sense.

It was hard to discern from where Sarah stood, but some of the bodies closer to the entrance seemed human. She gazed at the corpses with unexpected indifference and turned her attention back to the bigger green devil. It carried a huge bat in its right hand, almost as long as the creature was tall.

“Am I to go down and fight that creature?” Sarah asked Ani. Something deep inside her expected Ani to say yes. Maybe more than expected, wanted.

“No. We have done our part in the fight. Our role is a different one. For now we will just watch, Miss Sarah.” Ani's cryptic message annoyed Sarah a little. But compared to the other quirks of the girl, this one was only slightly irritating.

“Alright.” Sarah resigned herself with a sigh. She grabbed an end table that was close by and dragged it to the window. She placed it beside Ani and sat down on top of it. Her legs dangled as she pushed her ass backwards and bent her back forward. She spread her thighs wide and opened the drawer. Inside she found a bottle of water and a can of pork and beans.

Ha! Lucky me! Sarah thought victoriously.

“Hey, Ani. Do you have a sp-” As she turned mid sentence, Ani's outstretched arm pushed a small metal spoon at Sarah’s face.

“Right… Thanks.” Sarah tried to dismiss the girl’s abnormal behavior nonchalantly. She offered Ani some water, for which the girl promptly shook her head. Shrugging her shoulders, Sarah took a large gulp and set it aside on the floor. Crossing her legs on the top of the end table, she popped the easy open lid of the can and started to watch the street below while eating.

Another dozen or so little devils ran past the big green devil while Sarah and Ani watched from their vantage point. A few moments later, the big green devil finally made its move. It walked through the corpse littered ground with surprising coordination, especially when compared to its smaller cousins. Sarah didn’t know if they were really cousins, but she didn’t care.

She stopped a spoonful halfway when the creature pulled the arm of a dead person and started munching on it. Upset about the sight, she was about to put the spoon back in the can when someone stepped out from a street corner further away from their building. The newcomer banged a long handled hammer on the floor, getting the creature’s attention.

Is that a sledgehammer? That’d be quite a good weapon. Sarah thought, intrigued.

Something wet and sticky fell on her leg and she looked with horror at the creamy contents of her spoon running down her leg. Gross!

“Ani, do you have a pa-” Before Sarah could even turn to ask, Ani's hand pushed a disposable paper towel sheet at her face. Sarah quietly thanked her, doing her best to not sound surprised and weirded out. It was going to take a while to get used to the girl.

Turning her attention back to the fight below, Sarah saw the person easily dodging a sideways blow from the green devil and counter back with a full on hit from the sledgehammer to the creature's shoulder. It was a beautiful move. A proper side step followed by a clean hit. But the creature seemed unfazed, if not more furious. It advanced against its enemy with an unrelenting storm of attacks. A glancing blow hit the person’s thigh. 

Sarah flinched at the thought of how much that probably hurt.

The fight continued on for a while in a stalemate. The green devil kept attacking wildly between very short breaks and all its opponent could do was keep dodging. Sarah observed the fight and reached a grim conclusion. The creature had been going at it for a good minute without slowing down, while the figure’s movements were slowly getting more sluggish. A battle of attrition wasn’t looking favorable for the human side of the fight.

Sarah was starting to get worried about the outcome of the battle when something unbelievable happened. The person threw the sledgehammer toward the green devil while it had stopped to catch its breath. The creature got knocked out of balance and they immediately jumped on it. They seemed to stick something on the creature’s shoulder, it was hard to tell what it was from so far, probably a knife or something similar. What they did next was something that even Sarah hadn’t thought of. The person grabbed the neck of the green devil and performed an arm lock on the creature.

That is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! That’s insane, how can someone be crazy enough to apply a submission technique on a monster straight out of Hollywood? 

Sarah stared wide eyed at the scene unfolding in the street below. 

Not even Hollywood thought of that before! 

Taken over by excitement, Sarah stood from the end table, almost knocking the food out of the can. She pushed her face against the glass window to get a better view. Sarah felt like she was watching the final round of a belt fight.

When the person threw the green devil face first against the pavement, Sarah knew it was over, it was just a matter of how long the creature would endure being strangled before passing out or dying. They stayed on the ground for a long time, too long. Sarah couldn’t see if the creature was still moving from where she stood, but could only assume it was, else, why would the person still be applying the technique? Still, this was way too long. When they stood up it had been almost two minutes of strangulation. The creature lay motionless on the floor while the human grabbed the hammer and obliterated the creature’s head with a mighty blow. At the same instant, messages started popping up in Sarah’s vision.

[The first wave has been cleared.]

[Participants will be rewarded according to their contribution.]

[The contribution rank is:

Leo - 60 Points

John - 49 Points

Sarah - 35 Points

Takeshi - 33 Points

Somchai - 27 Points]

[You have been awarded 35 points.]

[You have been awarded 5 extra contribution points for being the third highest contributor.]

Sarah was shocked to see so many messages, and her name among one of them. Although she wasn’t first, she somehow felt a bit proud seeing her name on the top rank. She didn’t realize yet, but a small flame had been lit inside her. The flame of competition.

“Ani, I just got a lot of messages. Is the fight finally over?” Sarah asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“Yes, Miss Sarah. The wave is over and cleared. We need to get moving now. First we must recover my… black marble.” Ani said as she stood up from her chair and walked to the stairs.

“Right, you still need to tell me what that thing is. Then, after we recover it, are we going to join the others in the auditorium?” Sarah asked as she grabbed the bottle of water she had set aside earlier and finished its contents.

“No, Miss Sarah. We have a list of tasks to complete before we can join them.” Ani started climbing up the stairs.

“Right, right. Always the cryptic messages with you, girl.” Sarah nagged lightly while recovering her can of food and eating it voraciously as she followed in Ani's footsteps. Behind her, the red hue of the dome rapidly faded, giving space to the blue expanse of the sky.

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