Luther, the dark elf who wielded his violet sword glowing with the magic it contained, stood completely still as he stared at his rivals.
Meanwhile Lucian, gripping his silver sword, guarded himself against any opening while his two companions in battle, a pair of hunter brothers, firmly clutched the bone daggers they held in each hand.
A moment of silence fell over the area, no one dared to move and be the first to attack.
Luther, despite being individually superior to them, had a broken arm and multiple cuts across his body thanks to the giant serpent that now hid from his fury.
"Hey kids… Let's not do this… I don't want to kill another half-breed like me, and it wouldn't be fun killing a couple of lives that have barely just stepped into this world," the dark elf said while running a hand through his long black hair.
"Negotiating? What kind of adult negotiates with kids? Ha," Lucian said in a sarcastic tone, his gaze defiant.
Luther instantly frowned and wrinkled his nose with the rage he was trying to contain as he began walking slowly toward his opponents.
"Listen, you little shit… I'm sick of you… I tried to be nice to all of you, even that bitch who almost dragged me to hell with her… But now I've decided… I'm going to eat every last one of you!" Luther shouted before launching himself into battle.
Lucian responded with his sword, their curved blades clashing and ringing out with every strike the other deflected.
The twin brothers, for their part, began circling the elves in their duel while running on all fours at great speed, both stalking.
The dark elf tried to track the presence of the young hunters, but Lucian did not stop attacking, until at one moment one of the twins lunged at the elf.
Luther tried to cut the boy down but Lucian stopped his blade at the last instant, the young hunter then managed to stab the dark elf through that opening that lasted barely half a second thanks to his enhanced speed.
The black-haired elf now had a bone dagger embedded in his back, yet despite that he kept swinging his sword.
Thus the twins began taking advantage of every possible opening, every instant of doubt or rage to gradually weaken the dark elf, leaving one bone dagger after another in their enemy's body.
"Nice! Keep it up! This bastard can't handle the three of us, don't let your guard down!" Lucian shouted, encouraging his battle companions.
"Ha… Hope, huh?" Luther said with a twisted smile of rage. "Let's see how long that hope lasts."
Meanwhile Ebony, who was several meters away from the battle, struggled not to lose consciousness from the temperature her body had begun to reach.
The hunters trying to heal her by covering her with magical hides and using their spiritual magic began to feel how Ebony's spirit was starting to reject her soul.
The bonfire where the young blonde had previously been had special logs whose flames fed the strength of any spirit that touched them, including the human spirit.
Something dangerous if they did not have affinity with the spiritual side of the world like the pelt hunters who were now trying to save her life.
But at that moment the blonde girl could no longer resist the drowsiness and fell unconscious.
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Ebony opened her eyes once again in the middle of a black space, similar to the one she had visited when she died in her first life.
But when she thought she had died and began searching for the god who had sent her to that magical world, she found to her surprise a gray version of herself.
It was like seeing a twin in black and white, like a ghost that had come to settle accounts, for that apparition was her spirit.
"You… You ruined everything… We had already died, there was no reason to stay here and you came without permission and forced us to keep going!" the gray girl shouted as she approached Ebony.
"Hey, hey, hey… Hold on… Who the hell are you? What the hell are you?" asked the blonde girl who was still sitting on the ground.
"I'm your spirit… Well… I'm the spirit of the soul that used to inhabit this body… But she left… I left… But you are you… YOU… You arrived and now I'm here again," the gray spirit replied in a saddened voice.
"I… I'm sorry… I guess you're something like part of the original soul of this body… I didn't want to steal this body, it was a god's decision… I didn't choose this…" Ebony said, feeling like a thief.
"Cut the nonsense… Now I am you and you are me… But if you are me… Tell me why it hurts so much… It didn't used to hurt to be me, but ever since you arrived I feel hatred… A terrible hatred toward you… Toward myself…" the spirit said as black tears began to fall.
"I…" Ebony thought for a second about what to say, how to explain to her spirit the hatred she felt for herself. "I'm sorry… It's a long story and right now we can't stay here, Lucian needs me!"
"The elf? I see… You like him?"
"Of course not!" the young blonde replied indignantly.
"But you feel worried about him… You're willing to die for him… Isn't that love?"
"Mmmm… I honestly have no idea, but it's not that kind of love at least… We don't even know each other that well… Honestly in other situations I would have chosen to run away and keep living my life ignoring problems like this," Ebony said before getting up from the ground.
"But if you're part of me now then you already know that, right… I'd rather die than die like an idiot again!... Now stop screwing around and let's kill that damn dark elf!" Ebony then offered her hand to the spirit.
That gray and sorrowful form hesitated to accept the offer.
"I know you hate yourself because of me… It sucks feeling like that… But I swear I'll find a way to hate myself less, but we won't manage that if we die without doing anything!... Please… Don't give up," Ebony said, looking at her spirit with determination.
Ebony's spirit, with a sigh, took her hand. "Just for now… Next time I won't take your hand so easily."
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At that moment the young blonde woke from her lethargy with a start.
Breathing heavily, she began looking around her, seeing the two hunters who had been helping her before and the others who surrounded her to protect her.
Looking a bit further she managed to see Lucian, who was still in battle, for the blonde had not been unconscious for more than a few brief seconds.
By then the dark elf already had seven bone daggers embedded in his back.
At that moment, when Luther began to falter and lose power in his strikes, the twins grew overconfident, thinking victory was already in their hands.
Both, with smiles hidden behind their masks, jumped in unison at the dark elf's back, this time aiming for his neck, ready to decapitate him.
But Luther, with a smile of satisfaction, instead of continuing to attack Lucian or trying to strike the twins, chose to drive his own sword through his body, the blade piercing out through his back before he uttered a single word.
"Release!"