V kept an eye on L as they moved through the city, she was clearly quite insane. At the moment she was acting in their interests, and he had seen some of the cursed people in the city working together before, but that was no reason to let his guard down. Additionally, there were less people assaulting them then before, less attacks to distract L and keep her "busy." The city's inhabitants seemed to be running out of steam, V now mostly saw groups of people wandering the streets as if they were zombies. A few people certainly still attacked their group as they passed, but the large majority of people seemed to be less aggressive, more... broken. Eika, the slowest member of their group, spoke quietly to V. "Hey... what's wrong with everyone? They do not look how Eika felt when I was cursed." V nodded "It’s possible that the curse can only take them so far. I had noticed people getting stronger and more capable of ignoring their own injuries as time passed, maybe eventually the curse grows strong enough that you cannot even tell what is going on around you anymore. Instead of ignoring your injuries, you just ignore everything. Maybe they are just envisioning violence in their mind as they wander, instead of fighting outwardly, they are fighting in their own minds. Either way, this is actually a good thing. Assuming they can return to normal if the curse is broken, it will mean more of the city survives." Eika skeptically looked around "I’m not sure how much of the city is going to be left..." V shrugged as they continued to walk.

Continuing to the city gates, they passed a house that looked strangely untouched by the madness of the city. No blood or fire, candle light could be seen from the upstairs window. Eika squinted as she looked at the house "Should... we investigate that? That is strange right?" V shook his head "No, we should not investigate. There are only a handful of reasons something like that could be happening, and almost every single one of them is bad for us to get involved with." Eika nodded, not entirely sure of V's reasoning, but more than willing to trust him on the matter, and not having enough energy left to be overly curious. "Hey wait a second!" Luna said urgently, speaking in a low voice. V had reason enough to trust Luna's "Heys" and slowed his pace "What's wrong?" Luna pointed in front of them, as far as V could see, the street was clear. He looked at Eika, to see if she heard anything. Shaking her head, she asked Luna "What is down there?" Luna's small face contorted in thought, "I don't know. Nothing? Not yet..." Luna seemed confused by her own words. L had not slowed her pace, so V called out "Uh, wait a second. If you keep walking it might delay our search for the Champion of Violence." L's face showed visible disgust. "Unacceptable! His death had been demanded, and must be carried out." V grimaced; it was difficult for him to see L act in this manner. It really clashed with her normal persona. "Ya, right I know. That is why we are waiting a second, to try and find a bette-" as V spoke a strange sound issued forth from a few meters away from them. Right where Luna had been pointing.

It took a few moments for V's brain to comprehend what he was witnessing. The street in front of them looked...broken. Not in the way of cracked streets or collapsed houses, but the way a mirror looked when broken. Everything was suddenly at odd angles, certain parts of the street looked bent, and parts of the area no longer connected to the rest properly. Luna made a sound in awe "Oh that is very pretty! Except for the fire and bodies and stuff in the street." L was brandishing her weapon and muttering to herself. Eika had tilted her head and was squinting, trying to figure out what she was seeing. Suddenly, two figures could be seen within the broken street. It was hard to get a good look at them, as they were flitting in and out of the twisted angels and broken.... "panels" of the street. One was the champion of time; the other was someone V had never seen before. Presumably a champion. V started to retreat, pushing Luna and Eika backwards. If... whatever was going on with the street reached them, he was unsure if they would even survive, much less be able to defend themselves or understand what was happening. L started to move toward the anomaly, muttering something about the Champion of Time's dishonorable nature. V called out "We can't waste time dealing with that right now, remember? We have a job to carry out!" L hesitated a moment before following V as he navigated a way around the fight. 

It took more time than he wanted, but eventually they found a safe route to continue their course. He could see the city gates at last. Someone or something had torn the portcullis from its housing inside of the gates. That was concerning, but not the craziest thing V had seen in the last few minutes, so he pressed on regardless. As the group approached the now ruined gates of the city, Eika's ears twitched and she stopped walking "I think I hear people talking. It’s hard to make out, there is still a lot of noise around. With all the fires and stuff." V looked at L "Let us slow our pace a little." L growled and was about to protest, however V was well prepared at this point. "Would it not be better to ambush the dishonorable Champion? There is no reason to announce ourselves to him. Or do you believe he deserves that level of consideration?" L swung her sword angrily, "Of course not!" Without any more words, she slowed down, matching V's slow gait. "Eika, let's move closer and see if you can make any words out." She nodded and slowly crept forward alongside V.

"Oh... there are a couple of people." Eika spoke warily. "I think maybe three or four?" She furrowed her brow as she focused. "Uh... One of them is saying some really adult things." V did not like the sound of that. "Can you figure anything else out? We need to try and figure out if they are champions, or at-least their attitude. If they are cursed or not. Also, where are the voices coming from??" Eika nodded and listened. "I think they are right outside the wall... Oh. One of them is threatening the other..." She looked confused "I’m am not sure what they are talking about, but one started laughing. They don't seem sane..." As V sighed deeply, trying to decide if they should confront the individuals Eika was listening to or not. Unfortunately, the choice was made for him. From above them, on the roof of a nearby inn, a skinny human male crouched and called out. "Oi! Look at this, a few mice have skittered up to us." He shouted, "Ey F, D, listen to this! Some people be spying on us! They don't look friendly either." Before anyone could even react, L had picked up a nearby rock and threw it with astonishing force toward the man, nearly hitting him square in the head. V considered, if the curse was making people stronger over time, and L was acting honorably in her mind, her basic statistics should be off the charts at this point. V also was only assuming that the evolved blessings still maintained their older effects. Now was not the time, but he realized he probably should have confirmed that before now.

"Eika is sorry! I have no idea how I did not hear him!" V shook his head "It's fine, you cannot be expected to notice everything. It's also possible that he is a champion." The man had called out two letter names. That meant that at the least, two champions would be coming down on them shortly. They could try to flee, but if they did that, what was the point of even coming to the gates in the first place? "Eika, you might have to run away with Luna, you're injured heavily already. I know you would not want to leave, but you and the girl will just get in the way." Eika hesitated but nodded "If you say so..." Luna rocked on her heals "Oh this is sort of exciting! We might be about to fight the evil man who did all this!" Eika tried to convince Luna to be quiet as V looked for a better position to fight from. Although, that decision was also apparently made for him as L had started charging off toward the man, who had jumped off the building and moved toward the outside of the gates. He sighed again as he charged off after her, for now Eika thought it was smarter to be close to L and V than to run, after-all that man had snuck up on them once, he could do it again.

L had stopped right in front of the gates to the city, she was pointing her sword toward the outside. As V came up behind her he saw who she was threatening, a group of three individuals. Two men and a woman. One of the men was an elderly human. It was strange, as if he was a champion, he was certainly the eldest he had seen so far. He must have been at-least sixty. The other two, by contrast, appeared to be young elves, they hung onto one another, the women standing behind the man, resting her face on his shoulder as her arms wrapped around his waist. That was also sort of weird. "Declare yourselves so that I may forget your names once you die!" L was demanding insane things from the group as she threatened them, V wondered if her curse was getting worse. The old man spoke up "Well, that is unexpected. It seems like the boy there has evaded my curse, and the little rabbit girl as well. How abnormal." Luna stumbled backward and stammered "There he is! The bad man! His heart is so scary looking! Please save everyone!" For the first time since meeting her, Luna's voice was filled with fear. V gripped his sword, unless the Champion of Violence, his two companions, and the man that had spotted them where not very good at combat, this was going to be a really rough fight. On the subject, V realized he had not actually seen where that man had run off to. While he was musing, L had started to advance on the three. Threatening death and all manner of ruin.

The old man calmly spoke to the young elves "I don't suppose you intend to help?" They shook their heads at the same time, and the women spoke "No, they seem to be upset with you. This has nothing to do with us." Nodding, the old man whistled a shrill tone that echoed off the walls of the city. "Watch out, above!" Eika called from behind, she had helped Luna up and had pulled back slightly. L looked up and jumped backwards. A... person had dropped from the top of the gate; they must have been sitting on the wall. V was unsure the race or gender of the person. They looked essentially human, but had none of the defining features of either gender. They had no hair, and their body could only be described as "tone." Average height and brown eyes, almost everything about them seemed generic and nondescript; save for one feature. They had no mouth, where there should have been lips was only a strange almost scar looking mark. In one hand they held a sword, in the other they wielded as strange shield. It was large, the size of a kite shield, however the sides where clearly bladed, and the middle had a large spike jutting out. The individual immediately started attacking L with their sword, for the moment not even using their shield. L was immediately put on the defensive, V could not tell exactly why, but their foe seemed to be wildly outclassing L's swordsmanship. This was a bit of a surprise, as up to this point L's swordsmanship had been her strongest element. Even when facing overwhelming foes such as O or the bug monster thing, her swordsmanship was strong enough to make up for much of the gap. To see her so wildly outclassed was demoralizing to say the least. To be honest, V had not actually thought it was possible to have a higher degree of swordsmanship than L, he thought she was at the peak of the craft.

"V! The status!" Eika called. V checked the attackers status.

┌——————┐
Name: Comba
Age: N/A
Race: Homunculus | Other
Occupation: Divine Slave
Class: Divine Sword Saint Lv 8
Skills: "Combat Intuition lv 10," Weapon Mastery lv 6," Superior Athletics lv 6," "Enhanced Strength Lv 4," "Enhanced Agility lv 4," "Enhanced Constitution Lv 4," "Regeneration Lv 2," "Endurance lv 4."
Blessing: Superior Blessing of Combat
└——————┘

Well, that was bad. He knew it made sense, but why did there have to be so many raw violence champions. Although, this one’s name was literally combat? What even? Although, this information also explained why L was being overwhelmed. V looked at the old man and the two elves, they seemed intent on watching the fight, rather than participating. At-least they only had one foe. V hoped that the two vs. one element of the fight would give them enough of an advantage to overcome this situation.

V did his best to circle around and charge the Sword Saint from the back, before he even realized what was happening, the Sword Saint had spun around and kicked in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. The next second, the Sword Saint was upon him, V threw himself backwards to avoid the bladed shield that crashed down where he was standing a moment before, even though he managed to dodge the strike, V's haste caused him to fall backwards. His foe of course did not let this opportunity go to waste, and leapt upon V, attempting to bring the spike that adorned the front of his shield down upon V's chest. Somehow, V managed to bring his legs up, and use his knees to brace against the shield as the Sword Saint attempted to impale him. As V's brain struggled to keep up with the pace of the battle, the Sword Saint pushed downward. He was so strong, V's legs felt like they were about to snap, the pain exploded in V's mind and he fought to keep his legs from breaking under the pressure of the Sword Saint's shield.

As V struggled desperately under the pressure, the Sword Saint was calmly keeping L at by with his other arm. V groaned as he desperately rummaged around in his shirt. He withdrew the vial of poison, hoping he might be able to splash it into the eyes or mouth of his opponent as he bore down upon him. However, as soon as the vial was visible, the Sword Saint leapt off of V, seemingly aware of the danger. This only gave V a moment's reprieve, as the next second the Sword Saint was upon him again. Before he could react, the vial was thrown from his hands, sent skidding across the street. The Sword Saint rocketed forward; V felt it. It had felt this sensation before, right before he was gunned down in that dirty room, moments before his first death. There was not enough time to block the strike, there was no chance of dodging backwards or to the left or right. V gritted his teeth in anger and frustration as he prepared for his second end. Suddenly a blessing activated from behind the Champion of Combat, a concussive force battered V's face, causing him to take a step backward as L brought her sword down upon the Sword Saints weapon. The force was so great, that the windows of the store behind him shattered. V had expected the Champion of Combat's weapon to break right then and there, but alas, such was not the case. It did however, drive their own weapon into their shoulder. The wound was not particularly deep or troubling, but it was the first blood the Sword Saint had spilled. A few drops landed on L's sword, and started to slide toward the cracked parts.

The Sword Saint kicked V backwards a second time, and forced L backward by quickly letting go of their sword, and simply punching her in the chest before she could block. The Champion of Combat's moments were impossibly fluid and quick. Letting go of the sword, punching L, and grabbing it again was such a fast and fluid motion that the sword hardly even had time to start falling before it was back in their grip. V considered retrieving the vial as the Sword Saint focused again on L, but he was unsure if he could effectively use it. Coating his weapon was a joke, there was no way he would ever be able to break skin, and obviously splashing it into their face was something the Champion of Combat was well prepared for. For whatever reason, the Sword Saint was now primarily fighting L using his shield, keeping his sword free, the reverse of how this fight started. V shrugged internally; he would go for the vial of poison. It had, in theory, saved his life once already.

"Luna! NOOOOO!" Eika's shrieking voice came from where she and Luna were standing. As V reflexively turned, his face drained of all color. Someone new to the situation was standing behind Eika and Luna. She had stabbed Luna in the stomach with a small dagger like weapon, and had lifted her up by her left arm. As Eika tried to assault the woman, she also casually stabbed Eika through the shoulder, leaving the weapon in both Luna and Eika, she pulled out a third dagger, and stabbed Eika again, through her other shoulder. Eika's arms went limp as she collapsed from pain. Luna was hanging by arm, a surprised look on her face "Why...? Why did you stab...me?"

Ringing, pain, confusion. V could not hear anything; he could not see anything other than the daggers within Eika and Luna. His head pounded as his emotions spiraled out of control. Not a second time, Eika can't be assassinated a second time, and poor Luna, what did she ever do to deserve getting stabbed through the stomach? Why did it have to be like this? Why did this game even exist at all? V hated this game. V hated the Gods. V hated the Sword Saint that made all of his hard work seem like so much wet paper. V hated the people who betrayed him in his old life. He hated L for being too weak to protect them. He hated himself for not being stronger. V hated whoever that woman was. He hated Luna for being so naive, Eika for being so useless. V hated. V Hated. V HATED. V... hated.