Mana had Viktor on her back as she ran with everything she had back to the village. Fluffy was attached to him trying to keep him alive, but he was about to pass out from exhaustion, and Mana was fighting through excruciating pain herself. She had consumed one of her HP potions giving her a slight extension on her eventual bleed out.
"Why couldn't the world have found a way to make vehicles again?" Mana complained frantically, wishing she could be faster. Despite carrying him and using as much of her stamina and empowerment from her weapon as possible, she still felt useless.
"With all due respect my lady," Fluffy began through yawns, "but I would rather die fighting than get crushed like a can on an ambush."
"Now Mana," Gairma began, though only Mana could hear her. "When you had said, 'wake up, Gairma,' it awoken me from my slumber. My soul had infused into your weapons when you saved my heart. My strength is your strength." Mana had enough on her mind, but talking to her dead sister? It couldn't be real. She tried to ignore her; she had to save Viktor, though, she did feel a lot more powerful.
Upon arrival to the gates, they quickly realized that there were in fact NO wolves trying to get in. The guards really did try to kill her, but she was hoping they'd remain stupid.
"There's a rotted bear after us; Viktor has been severely injured, please open the gates!" Mana yelled out in desperation as she tried to lie upon reaching them.
The guards looked on in shock; a bloody, nearly impaled girl, carrying a hulking man who was completely impaled. They had no idea how she lived through whom they sent after her. Though Viktor was supposed to be gone, and unharmed.
They quickly gathered themselves, opening the gate for their wounded elder, before Mana rushed in. A couple of guards took over for her upon entrance, grabbing Viktor from her back before making their way to the infirmary.
Mana was beginning to feel faint, and as she began to black out, the guard that had grabbed her previously approached her as Viktor left ear-shot. "Well, you should've died in the woods," he snarled at her, "but at least I get to see you die personally."
Mana collapsed, her legs refusing to work as she fell back. He then glared down at her while she lay helpless, a white ring illuminating around his pupil; he was studying her in his stat mode. "Looks like you have about an hour left before you're..." he did a beheading motion. "So, I'm going to get my payment while you're a bit... more willing." The guard smirked as he lifted her from the ground and began to carry her over his shoulder towards his small hut.
She had no strength, and Fluffy had left with Viktor, so healing was out of the question.
As he reached his small quarters, he quickly made his way inside, locking the door behind them. He then walked over to his bed, throwing Mana onto it face down as she bled out.
He ripped her backpack off quickly, almost excitedly, before tossing it to the side of the bed. As Mana watched her bag land, she saw a small, bright but brief flash of color. She still had a HP potion; if she could just reach it, she would be able to get the bare minimum amount of power back to possibly escape, or at least deck him one last time.
After he ripped her backpack off, she closed her eyes as he flipped her onto her back. She then opened her eyes into a slight peek, only to be met with him without his shirt, and him beginning to remove his pants.
She began to panic, she was helpless. She would rather have her arms melted off again than have to go through with what he was about to do to her.
Then it occurred to her, "Gairma, if you can hear me, help!" she screamed out with all the strength she could muster.
"What'd you say?" the guard demanded, punching her in the face as he climbed on top of her. "Crazy bitch, shut up already." He then grabbed a part of her tank top, ripping a piece off before shoving it into her mouth to stop her from anymore sudden outbursts.
"Say no more," she heard Gairma whisper inside her head.
Suddenly, Mana had regained all strength, but she was not healed, and her eyes had turned a vibrant red. She shoved a hand into the guards chest like it was nothing, grabbing his heart while he was still over her. With her hand still wrapped around his heart, she squeezed hard, causing blood to begin pouring from his chest onto her. He looked down at her in utter shock, the color quickly leaving his face before he dropped like a log on top of her.
She quickly removed her hand, before launching the deceased guard off her and against the furthest wall. She then sat up without issue, quickly grabbing the HP potion from her bag and drinking it, giving her another small boost to her life.
Almost robotically, she stood up and made her way to the door to leave, acting as if she had no care in the world about the gaping hole in her stomach.
As she reached for the door, there was a slight, quiet knock.
Mana paused as she tried to listen to see who it could be.
"Psst, Mana," she heard a familiar voice call out. It was Lita.
"Are you alright in there?" Yuri also chimed.
Mana felt a sense of relief as she opened it with haste, looking them directly in the eyes as they examined her in horror.
"Oh my god," they whispered in unison, as they frantically reached out to her. As Mana's eyes changed back to green, she collapsed into their arms, unconscious. As they caught her, they looked inside the hut.
Against a wall, in a pool of his own blood and with his pants down, lay the guard that had done the same thing to them. The sight of his body was the most satisfying thing in the world.
"I hope he suffered," Yuri huffed, spitting in his direction.
"You're going to be okay, Mana," Lita said to her, "thank you. You really are a heroine."