"Haa… Haaa…I know I"ll get resurrected by the System… so there should be nothing much to worry about." Ayse tried to convince herself as she stared at the blurry enemy who felt triumphant over managing to finish the both of them.

"But that b.a.s.t.a.r.d… for some reason, I don"t want to lose against him!" Ayse thought to herself as her consciousness began to fade away. Despite her attempts, the Head Researcher found it hard to stay awake and watched as the uglier side of Kiva emerged.

Abomination Kiva lifted the bludgeoning tower s.h.i.+eld and kicked the piece of metal away before he picked Weslie"s corpse up as if she was some dead animal.

The only thing was, she wasn"t completely gone. Like Ayse, she continued struggling and refused to believe that she was on her final few breaths despite the large gaping hole in her stomach that was draining her life out. It was a desperate attempt to cling onto life while she fought to heal herself with her own magic.

"What can you do in this particular state?" Kiva asked her out loud, but at the same time, Ayse heard a familiar voice that echoed the very same words in her mind.

"Weslie…" Ayse tried to call out, but only a coughing murmur escaped her mouth since her lungs prioritised her life. The Orc Researcher attempted to raise her hand out to her colleague, but she barely had the power to move, let alone lift. Nevertheless, Weslie, who was barely conscious, could only grin with one side of the mouth.

"DON"T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!" A roar reverberated throughout the battlefield and simultaneously, the very same initial voice said the same thing in her mind again. Kiva turned to look, but before he could respond, the arm that was holding Weslie was cut down, and she disappeared from the corner of his eye.

Only when Kiva returned his gaze at the broken Ayse, did he find a new challenger.

"Gold…" Weslie smiled faintly as she tearfully extended a hand towards his face. It pained the Werejackal Leader to see her in this state, and his heart got even emptier when she used her strengths to put her hands up.

He hastily picked her palm up and tried to heal her wounds with all the powers he had in his disposal. Although he knew that the System could revive her easily, he couldn"t just watch and do nothing. Were they all supposed to become emotionless as their comrades died over and over, ignoring the struggle for their lives? What bulls.h.i.+t!

"Shh. Hush my love. Sorry, I"m late." Gold apologised gently despite his rage-filled eyes staring intently at Kiva. Ayse, who witnessed the beautiful scene from the side, was relieved and at the same time, jealous that Gold had come to rescue Weslie while risking his own life for her"s.

"What are you looking at with such jealousy? You have me with you. Always, my darling." The voice continued to interrupt Ayse at Death"s door.

"Don"t you think it"s rude of you to interrupt me. I am in the midst of dying, yet here you are babbling away as usual." Ayse sent her thoughts to the voice within her mind, demanding it to go away.

"That is why I am here. I"m always here for you. You just have to stop ignoring me. u003c3 "

"You just want to get out."

"Ooo, you got me! Well, you can"t blame me entirely. You are having so much fun right now! Honestly, I think the turn of events back then was an exciting one, indeed. We have more toys to play with than ever!"

"Heh, b.i.t.c.h." Ayse coughed out blood, and Kiva suddenly interrupted the lonely conversation in her mind by laughing mindlessly once more.

"Hahaha! What a loving couple. I"ve always been a supporter of true love. Let me bring both of you two to h.e.l.l! Oops, I mean three. Oh wait, if I kill you, you"re just going to get resurrected here all fine and dandy. Then perhaps, I should just keep you three in stasis and let you all suffer by showing the defeat your leader would suffer!" Kiva monologued like a cla.s.sic villain as he rushed towards Gold.

Meanwhile, the Werejackal Leader placed Weslie down, and with the absolute determination of not moving a single step away from the two severely injured comrades, he decided to take the blow from Kiva"s dual Mantis Blade with his sword.

"Good reflex! Now keep up!" Kiva yelled as he started to speed up.

"Are you really content just sitting there and letting him cover for you? So shameless! I can already foresee that he"s going to lose." The voice started to fill Ayse"s mind even more.

"Then, what else am I going to do?" Ayse reb.u.t.ted.

"Why are you so adamant about not letting me out, no matter what? You should remember how I helped you previously..."

"How can I trust you after what you did? Leaving me behind and only coming when you felt like it?" Ayse used all her strength to pull Weslie away from the fight, hoping to give Gold a little more breathing s.p.a.ce to move about.

"Alright, how about a trade? I will lend you my full powers this time, so you can kill that deadbeat pompous scientist into smithereens. And then you let me back into your life." The voice negotiated. "Besides, it"s not like you haven"t been using my origins to dial up your magic. If you have me permanently, it will greatly benefit your current master too."

"On one condition. Come at my behest in the future. If I catch you running away like you did previously, I would not acknowledge you further." Ayse knew this sly voice way too well.

"And here I thought, I am the one in charge!! Fine…I am pleased with the change of events and its fun to watch them unfold. In exchange for your condition, you got to give me good battles like this every once in a while." The voice reb.u.t.ted, refusing to apologise for her past mistakes though Ayse agreed to it.

Gold"s sword broke from the swift constant attacks, but he managed to counter with a quick fireball which he had been chanting while parrying the blades. Yet from behind the smoke, the twin blades came down as if they were the scythes from the death reaper.

Gold was not able to recover fast enough to shoot another fireball to deflect the blades, nor was he able to change to werejackal form and block the attacks with his claws. So, he instinctively placed his body in front of the attack, ensuring that it will hit him instead. Suddenly two loud clink sounds were heard, and the flashes that came with the sound caused him to close his eyes instinctively.

As Gold opened his eyes, he saw Ayse who had somehow managed to stand back up and used her Arc Induction Lance Rifle as the object to block the attacks. However, the Mantis Blades easily cut down the Lance Rifle, and the components within it had exploded due to the contact impact.

The Werejackal Leader noticed it and quickly grabbed Ayse by her collar. He turned her around, using his back as the meat s.h.i.+eld against the explosion.

"Hahaha! That"s a decent surprise right there. Got to give you that." Kiva shook off the explosion and shed the burnt body as he moved into a new one.

With his hundreds of chimaeras in his bag of tricks fused along with the rest of the current abomination body, he believed their respite was short-lived, and the attempt to retaliate was meaningless and futile.