“I never believed that torture is an effective way of getting information. It works to scare the enemy and dehumanize them but it is not useful when you want to get the truth. You hurt a man enough and they will tell you that the sky is red.”


    Lily said while pulling his swords and stabbing Regal through his hand. He tried to crawl away from him while shouting.


    “Why do you assholes keep attacking when I am weakened?”


    Lily stomped Regal’s face to the ground.


    “Because it is easy. And it does a lot of damage.”


    Regal tried to resist but he was too exhausted because of his battle against Amaterasu.


    “What I was talking about? Oh, yeah torture.”


    Lily casually pierced Regal’s right eye.


    “Yeah, I don’t believe that torture is useful. But you are both a scum from everything I heard and you work for a guy I need to kill. So tell me, where is he?”


    Regal''s screams echoed through the empty streets as Amaterasu looked at the scene with shock. She never expected something like this from him as he was joking around most of the time. But even more shocking was the smile he wore as he stabbed Regal. It was the same as always yet Amaterasu felt something sinister behind it like a venomous snake with beautiful scales. Regardless of how she felt she couldn’t do anything. She was too exhausted and wounded.


    "You''re running out of time."


    Lily warned as he twisted the blade.


    “Just for your information, he doesn’t care about you. Just tell me where is he.”


    Regal, his face twisted in pain, spat blood onto the floor before managing to rasp out a response. "I''ll never tell you anything, you filthy—"


    Before Regal could finish his sentence, Lily drove his sword deeper into Regal''s eye, eliciting another agonized scream from the man beneath him.


    “He would kill me.”


    Regal cried out, surprising Amaterasu. He was afraid of whoever Lily was talking about? That went against everything she knew about him.


    “I’ll kill you first if you don’t talk. Pick your poison. Either tell me everything you know about him or I will make sure you die in ten thousand pieces.”


    Amaterasu gathered her remaining strength and stood up, stumbling towards Lily.


    "Lily, stop,"


    She pleaded.


    “We can’t stoop to their level. We are better than this.”


    Lily sighed and swung his sword lightly in the air. A strong gust of wind caused Amaterasu to fall to the ground.


    “You are better than this. I am not.”


    Lily brought his sword down to Regal’s fingers, chopping his right little finger.


    “Stop this, jester.”


    A masculine voice rang out from behind Amaterasu as she felt the sensation of cold steel being pressed on her throat. Lily looked in her direction and his smile grew even larger.


    “Long time no see.”


    Lily called out to the armored man holding Amaterasu at swordpoint.


    “Don’t try anything, jester. Or I’ll slice her throat open.”


    Instead of replying with words, Lily put his sword to Regal’s throat.


    “My, my. Looks like we have a standoff. Why don’t we chat a little? For the sake of good old days.”


    The tense standoff crackled with an undercurrent of danger as Lily and the armored man faced off, each holding a hostage at swordpoint. Amaterasu''s heart pounded in her chest as she felt the cold steel of the blade against her throat, her mind racing with fear and uncertainty. She tried to call upon her mana to create a distraction that would allow her to slip but the moment her mana moved, the blade pressed down harder.


    “Step away from him or I’ll kill her.”


    The armored man barked. Amaterasu felt that the man had a personal dislike towards Lily.


    “If you do that then I’ll him.”


    Lily gestured to Regal.


    “Why would I care about someone who failed me twice?”


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The armored man barked once again, his hate and disgust seeping into his voice.


    “If he wasn’t important you wouldn’t be here. He has some kind of role in your master plan, doesn’t he?”


    Lily seemed unfazed by the man’s threat.


    “Who is more important? Her or he?”


    The man pressed down his blade at Amaterasu hard enough to draw blood. Lily didn’t stop smiling.


    “Do it. Kill her. Who do you think I am, Poyraz?”


    Amaterasu hoped that Lily was bluffing. Yet, the conversation between them also revealed some things. This armored man knew Poyraz. Was he also an outworlder like them?


    “What happened? You seem to be disturbed. Did Poyraz’s name scare you that much?”


    Lily continued taunting the man.


    “You never stop fooling around. Blame yourself for allying with a fool like him.”


    Seemingly done with dealing with Lily the man thrusted his sword through Amaterasu’s throat. She fell down as fatal amounts of blood left her body.


    “Shame.”


    Lily shrugged his shoulders as a portal opened under his feet, shallowing Regal. He avoided behind sucked in the last second. Yet, despite his prey escaping from his grip Lily didn’t seem bothered. He glanced at his blades.


    “I figured out you would do something like this. Which is why I coated my swords with poison before coming here. Good luck saving the important part of your master plan.”


    Lily and the armored man circled around each other.


    “You really annoy me. I understood him, his role was always clear. But you? You were nothing but a needless comic relief. An annoying joker who stalled the story.”


    Lily scratched his forehead with his blade.


    “You are really insane, aren’t you?”


    Lily charged towards the man.


    “Elandris, now!”


    Lily shouted the moment their weapons clashed against each other. The man looked back for half a second to see that both Amaterasu and the blood covering the streets were gone. Instead, he saw an elven ranger pick up Amaterasu who still had an intact throat.


    “You!”


    Half of a second distraction was all Lily needed as his twin swords cut across the man’s body, tearing through his armor and drawing out blood.


    “Well, that was easy.”


    Lily laughed out before he was swung back by the man’s massive sword even though he blocked the strike. As he landed the blood pouring from his wounds flowed back to his wound before his armor repaired itself.


    "Talked too early."


    Lily scrambled back to his feet.


    “Always using cheap tricks. Do you think you can defeat me like that? Last time it didn’t work out too well for you.”


    He lunged towards Lily, his heavy sword carrying enough force to kill Lily in one hit. Lily tried to halt his charge with wind blades but the space in front of him distorted, his attacks missing his target. Lily’s thin swords were bent as he blocked the sword strikes coming his way.


    “You are one to talk, you damn brute! Always using the most overpowered things!”


    Lily answered his strength by summoning wind to his side, drawing out elemental forces. Green energy covered his swords as he danced around the man’s sword. With each clash of their weapons, the ground trembled beneath them, the sound of metal on metal ringing out like a symphony of war. With a precise parry, Lily managed to cut into his forearm drawing blood once more. However, just like before the blood flowed back to his wound.


    “It is not healing. It''s more like time reversal.”


    Lily thought to himself. He clicked his tongue while blocking another strike, his shoulders straining under the pressure. He couldn’t block many strikes like that, he was a dance around and sting type of guy, not tank the hits and hit even harder than you were hit type of guy. He sidestepped and swung his sword, meeting with the man’s sword halfway.


    Yet, the moment their weapon came in contact Lily’s weapon turned into dust and disappeared. At the same time, a gash appeared on the man’s stomach. The man looked at Lily’s hands and saw that the swords were intact despite what happened just a second ago. The wound healed as their clash continued. However the same exchange happened several more times, Lily’s swords turning into dust while cuts appeared on the man’s body.


    “Hah! You should be lucky that you didn’t encounter Poyraz! If you are struggling with me this much he would have wiped the floor with you.”


    Lily shouted as sweat rolled down his brow. He swung his sword to his enemy’s right side but instead of blocking it, the man swung his sword to his left side.


    “Clank.”


    Lily gulped as a loud voice rang out while the man’s sword smashed against something invisible. Meanwhile, Lily’s swords passed through the man before turning to dust.


    “You thought that I wouldn’t see through your pesky illusions, jester?”


    Lily jumped back to gain distance but he chased him down, his sword cutting into his chest. Seeing that he can’t outrun the man, Lily manifested several wind blades made out of green mana. The first three hit the man harmlessly, turning into dust without the man trying to defend himself.


    “Pathetic.”


    The last tree on the other hand hit him, staggering him.


    “Hahahah! Got your ass, dumbass!”


    Despite bleeding from his chest, Lily laughed. The armored man narrowed his eyes behind his helmet, his expression hardening. He recovered his balance and charged once again. Lily swung his sword, firing the wind blades. Instead of not defending, the man distorted the space in front of him, causing everything to miss him. However, his defense didn’t stop an arrow loaded with mana and wind to hit him.


    Elandris, the elven archer was back after carrying Amaterasu to the safety.


    “It''s two on one. I hope that you don’t take it too seriously. Like you said, I don’t think my tricks will stop you any longer.”


    The armored man grunted in frustration as the arrow struck him, the force of the impact staggering him once again. Lily seized the opportunity, his blades flashing as he launched a flurry of attacks, each strike fueled by his determination to bring down his formidable opponent.


    Elandris, the elven archer, stood poised with another arrow notched, ready to provide support to Lily in their two-on-one confrontation. The armored man distorted the space causing arrows to miss or even hit Lily but he wasn’t successful as Lily despite his wound managed to get some hits in. With a swift and coordinated assault, Lily and Elandris pressed their advantage, their attacks coming from different angles and with relentless ferocity.


    Lily heard the man sigh. He raised his eyebrows before massive amounts of mana exited out of the man’s sword, sending him flying. He was caught by roots controlled by Elandris but it wasn’t a smooth landing.


    Lily raised his head to see the man stand in front of a portal.


    “You coward! Are you running away?”


    Lily got up and tried to chase him but a pain in his chest brought him down to his knees.


    “I have no more goals here nor do I have any time or energy to waste on you. Think it as me sparing you, jester.”


    He entered the portal before it disappeared. Elandris ran to Lily’s side to help him.


    “Are you okay?”


    A sap fell from the roots, healing some of Lily’s wounds.


    “It is okay. Guess this is what I deserve for treating Amaterasu like that. Is she okay?”


    Elandris nodded.


    “She will be fine. You shouldn’t feel bad, you were just acting to save her. ”


    Lily sighed and looked at a distant place Elandris couldn’t see.