[I was thinking.]
Jane ripped out the throat of a young mage who couldn't react in time, and dodged the incoming attacks. Somewhere not too far away, an elder was crying out in sorrow. Some complicated strategy he didn't understand was being employed, but they clearly did not expect him to use pure physical strength to assault them.
[What exactly is their plan?]
'Hmm. They weren't surprised at all that I had a woman's body. They definitely knew my identity beforehand.'
He tried to rip out the throat of the enraged magician, but the blood coating his fingers caused them to slip off helplessly. Immediately, he followed up with a punch to the chin, this time connecting and sending the mage several merds back. A line of concerned mages caught him, but Jane had already narrowed the distance again, using a headbutt to inflict a serious dent into the elder's skull. The circle of mages quickly cast 'Grow' on him, but it seemed to reduce his usable brain matter even more.
[There's a definite worst case scenario.]
Someone crawled towards the broken body of their friend, but Jane crushed their head before they could make it. Blood began flowing into the crater formed from the impact.
'Am I strong?'
[You're weak.]
Jane blocked a few shards of rock which barely cut his skin. Lacerations from consistent attacks formed, but he was unaware of their origin.
'Then, it's true that these people are horribly weak.'
He could feel it. There was something horrible coming for him. He just didn't know when it would come, or what form it would take.
[I'll fight. You're good at predicting people's thoughts, so you go think something up.]
'Well, I guess I trust you that much.]
Vanessa removed the 'Strength' runes around her head, and waited for the mana to return. In the meantime, she knocked out as many mages as possible using her palms. Those with sharp weapons were kicked away, and their blades broken.
'Dull, and heavy.'
She formed two scalpels of ice, compressing the runes into as small of a space as possible to overcome the restrictions. Luckily, the death of a few mages had weakened the negation. She shoved the scalpels into the arteries and orifices of the unconscious mages, and selectively struck incoming opponents in tendons and major muscles.
[Feeding dozens of weak mages to me will only make me stronger. That is, if I make it out of here.]
A crescent of metal struck her in the side, failing to pierce the skin but sending her flying into a nearby storage. Without finding time to right herself, a concentrated salvo of elemental particles annihilated the spot where she landed.
[As such, they have no plans of letting me escape. That's obvious. They want to kill me, of course.]
The restrictions weakened even more. Vanessa threw her blades of ice in the direction of the magic, managing to nail one straight through a female mage's eye.
[What does it mean to kill me, though? Do they know about my swapping of bodies? If they do...]
The strengthening of her neck decreased, and so her head began to flap about as she moved. It was a little silly, but the defending mages seemed to become even more afraid of her visage.
[I've been wondering about it, too. What exactly is the condition for me to transfer?]
The scalpels of ice grew into short daggers, which she promptly used to carve someone's esophagus out of their neck. She kicked the bleeding body at it's teammate, covering the latter in blood.
[For example, if I died of starvation, who would I transfer to? Someone who kept me from eating?]
"This... this isn't—"
[If they keep defending against my attacks, they'll all die out eventually. Shit, they're going to— Escape!]
'Got it.'
Vanessa jumped towards the wall, and used her daggers to scale the remaining height. All the while, attacks ripped up her back muscles and chipped the layer of metal on her back. An ominous amount of mana started to gather in the skies above. Meanwhile, she pushed herself off of the walls and began sprinting away from the castle.
[No matter what you do, don't get captured!]
She looked up and paused for a moment. In the sky, a large disc was punched out of the clouds. It was 'Concealment.' In response, she reinforced one of her daggers and plunged it straight into her abdomen. As she stuck her other hand in, she once again began running.
'I refuse to be stopped here.'
After a certain distance passed, her 'Concealment' reactivated and hid the intestines trailing from her wound. She was still digging around in the resulting cavity, searching for something. Soon enough, she pulled out two spheres made of metal. Aiming them as far away from her head as possible, she sprinted through the forest. The wound, too, was healed enough to stop leaving trails of blood.
[Shit, shit, shit...]
Despite her efforts, the hole in the sky did not seem to get any further away. Instead, it was gradually widening as if preparing for something massive.
'The paragon of "Lightning" spells... We're dead.]
'Wait, what?'
Jane blinked, and could swear he saw a premonition of thousands of lightning bolts. Above him, the edges of the hole crackled with intense thunder.
[They were stalling, all for this...]
The thunder increased in density, until they became a homogenous mess. Light turned everything in the vicinity pure white, and the grass cracked under his feet.
[It is an honor.]
Jane pushed his legs to the limit as he scoured Vanessa's memories for a reference. She didn't resist. In a corner scorched by retina-burning light, there was a single name.
'Divine Retribution.'
The hole in the sky disappeared without a trace.