———Lerim———

  <2: 19 pm>

  “Finally, we get to send those bastards to meet their maker!” A member said loudly.

  “Be quiet will you? You’re going to alert them!” Someone else chimed in, criticizing the man for his outburst.

  “So, Commander Lerim, what do we do about the rowdy crowd? We’re gonna lose the element of surprise at this point.” Ugh. Stop calling me that.

  “First off, knock it off with the title, we’re not pying around here, secondly, where is the head honcho? He should be the one leading the charge.” There’s really only one definite figurehead in this ragtag group and it’s him.

  “He’s having a st-minute discussion with the others.” Now of all times? I hope he has a good pn…

  “Why weren’t I involved?” I asked, seeing that the others who he arbitrarily choose to lead each group also aren’t here right now, so they must be with him.

  “I believe in his words, he said ‘Too much of a musclehead, no need for any pn on her end, she can let loose’.” That fucking bastard…

  “Do I look like a muscle junkie to them?” I said while inspecting my body. Barely any muscle, delicate face, clean flowy blonde hair, nice shiny green eyes. I look more like a supermodel I’d say so myself!

  “On the inside, at least.” This guy is really running his mouth loose…

  How did it even come to this point? Where did it all go so wrong…

  <<< 160 Days ago <<<

  ———Lerim———

  <1: 35 pm>

  “Huh? What do you mean magic helps with rejuvenation?” I feel a bit confused at what she suddenly blurted out.

  “” Kara said, sounding very oblivious on this occasion. “”

  “Seriously? Well it couldn’t hurt to try…” If nothing else it won’t dig into my budget.

  >>> Present Time <<<

  ———Lerim———

  <2: 24 pm>

  …And where did that get you? Sure you look like you’re a year or two younger, but now everyone is heralding you as some sort of musclehead maniac. All I did was ask for advice from an online friend! I could barely cast a basic projectile spell so I just whacked things with my giant sword I found in the dungeon closeby! Same with this bck coat that makes me look like a hardass. Where did my image as a beautiful dy go!?

  Maybe I should’ve asked her for more magic lessons? I didn’t bother because I didn’t think I would get into a fight until recently. If I had known that I would’ve studied fancy spells so I can look a bit more elegant. I think I already do even with a somewhat edgy-looking outfit.

  “Alright everyone. We still don’t know the exact location in this mall that most of them hide in, but from the miscreants we found and interrogated, and an eye witness, we can definitively say that they holed up in here.” The leader walked over and started announcing the pn. “One person sneaked into the building and just came back, he said the lower floors have some criminals patrolling it, and one of the higher floors probably housed their leader. So expect us to be spotted quickly. Lerim, as the one leading the strongest squad aside my own, I want you to be the vanguard. Rush in and secure the first floor for us before they could react.”

  “Sure…” I said while trying to not contort my face in frustration. If it wasn’t for the fact that there is an altruistic cause to this I would’ve dipped by now!

  “Make sure to not kill anyone.” What did you think I was doing this whole time!? It was the rest of you that came close to killing someone! I think you crippled a few guys already!

  “Yeah yeah, same goes for you too.” I said before going into the mall first like he said, bring my squad along. “Make sure to trash any barricade they set up, can’t let anything slow us down.”

  ““Yes, Ma’am!”” Quiet down a bit and stop being so stiff and proper!

  Let’s see here…

  *Dash* *Smack*

  I saw an unknown person nearby so I ran at him and hit him in the head. “You, bring the guy outside. The rest of us will go further in.”

  He nodded and did as I said. Good, best to not waste any time.

  “Halt! Put your hands up!” One of the men patrolling first noticed our rowdy crew and pointed his gun at us. Drat, the second guy we found and he’s armed.

  *Dash* *Bang* *Bang* *Punch*

  “Ugh. Just what I need…” I bitterly said while looking at the spot the bullets hit me. It’s like a nasty burn and I feel really sore. Taking more than this is liable to actually make it pierce my skin and put me out of commission. “What are you all standing around for, go knock them out!”

  Seriously, I didn’t become your gun shield just so you guys can sck off!

  The fight finally started and these guys can finally show their chops. They’re not as strong as me, but these guys seem to be just grunts, so they’ll be fine. The one I just knocked out was probably the leader of this subgroup.

  “[Mending]...” If there is one spell I’m pretty confident in, it’s my healing ability. Moreso on myself than on others. I need to make sure I’m not weakened enough to be caught ft footed once things really get rolling.

  Alright, let’s get back to the fight. I can’t just leave them to their own devices! I sure hope those guys came to our aid quickly, they might start firing off attacks from the top floor if we take too long. This pce is structured in a way that you can see the lower floors from high up, like a pretty darn good vantage point.

  “Lerim! The others will deal with the rest, you go and secure the second floor.” The leader came over with the other squads. Isn’t he gonna participate?

  “What about you?” I asked.

  “I’m pnning on conserving the strength of my squad and I, and I’m more of a tactician anyway.” He said without an ounce of shame. He’s not wrong, but his choice of words makes him seem more slimy than he actually is.

  “Okay fine. Gang, break through the barricades on the stairs and go to the second floor!” I told my squad and we rushed towards the nearby stair. The escator is also nearby, but it’s way too narrow for everyone to travel up at once, we’d be easy pickings if there are any long-range fighters nearby.

  Just how long is this going to go for until we finally reach the big bad?

  <3: 24 pm>

  *Csh* *Cng*

  “Bastard!” I growled out as my legs started to feel wobbly. Damn it! I didn’t know this guy had so much strength in him. Still, as long as the two of us keep our ground until the rest of us have his minions routed, he’ll be completely surrounded by the end!

  “I’ll fucking kill you!” The giant madman screamed out, his wolf head only added to the intimidation factor. He looks more like a rampaging beast than a man. If he wasn’t wielding the giant broadsword I would’ve thought he wouldn't even know how to act like a human anymore. That thing is even bigger than me!

  “[Ice Wall]!” Leader shouted out as a giant wall of ice separated the two sides, just as he was about to swing his sword at us.

  *Dash* *Shatter*

  We both ran in different directions as the giant bde hit the wall and caused the shard of ice to fly in all directions. The ice was thick and obscure us for just long enough to surround him without him noticing.

  “[Ice Spear]!” Leader shouted out as he unched a giant icicle spear at him.

  *Swing* *Shatter*

  “Wide open!” I shouted out as I jumped at him with my sword in hand, attacking him from the back just as he crush the nce with contempt

  *Ssh*

  “Argh!” He tried to turn around to stop the incoming attack, but he turned a bit too low and I managed to hit his right arm and part of his back with my sword. It didn’t hit as hard as I want, but there is a nasty gash on him still that he can’t possibly-

  “That’s it! I’m going to-

  The hell? Why is he gathering mana with his body in such a state? It’s dangerous to do so. What is he- He’s aiming at the ground!? Hold on, we’re on the rooftop! If he causes it to colpse then-!

  “Stop!” I shouted out as I ran at him with an intent to kill for the first time. If he’s going to kill himself then die on your own! Don’t put other people out of your misery!

  *BOOM*

  “No.” I weakly said as I was too te. He swung his fist at the ground and caused a massive explosion, causing the surface to crack at a rapid pace, while also unching me backward. “Augh!”

  “Lerim! We need to-

  *Crumble*

  “Oh shi-

  *Crack* *Crash*

  The ptform we are on caved in and we started falling down along with it. The man responsible for this loses functions in both of his arms and seems to be unconscious from taking the recoil of his own attack.

  The two of us are also falling down where I can still hear the voice of people fighting just for a second, but at this point-

  “[Suspend]” A powerful voice echoed through the entire building. My heart skipped a beat as a sense of dread struck me like a lightning bolt.

  More importantly, everything came to a stop. It was like the world was frozen in time. I am still in the air, suspended in motion, stuck in the position of helplessly falling to my death.

  Even the rubbles that is falling down and aims to crush the people fighting the floor below, which would cause a domino effect that would cause further colpse, is stuck there, suspended in the air just like us.

  It’s not actually a time stop, I know that for sure. I feel like I wouldn’t be conscious otherwise, but more importantly I can still move and change my pose slightly if I put in enough force, but still stuck in the air and basically immobile.

  *Snap*

  Suddenly with a snap of a finger, my body jerked around to make me look in a certain direction while still stuck in the same area. Is that-!?

  “I came here to see why this pce is in such a wreck, and what did I find? A bunch of fools who are about to die in the next few seconds.” Her voice is cold and mocking. Her white hair shines brightly from the sunlight pouring into the abandoned mall from the damaged ceiling, stuck in the state of colpsing. “It seems like many of you are in the middle of something less than ideal for your survival, and from the looks of it, someone here is a sore loser.”

  She looks at the giant wolf man stuck in midair who is still unconscious, not aware that he is in this surreal even right now.

  “By the way, I wouldn’t try to forcibly make yourself move or talk in this state, the force required would have snapped your body like a twig if I were to lift the spell prematurely.” She warned, clearly noticing people trying to force themselves out of it. I didn’t bother because I know for certain who she is, and therefore how hopeless the situation is, at least as far as taking control of the situation is concerned. There’s no way I can really resist someone like her… and in the first pce, she’s not someone who should be feared, at least in theory.

  And yet, that icy gre from her light blue eyes cannot be understated. It feels… alien, even.

  “Now then. Since you all already have your fun, I’ll be ending this little py session of yours.” She said with a bored look, thinking of our struggle as nothing more than py fighting.

  *Click* *Click* *Click*

  Suddenly, the criminals have colrs put on them. Thankfully our necks were spared from that.

  “Ah!” I let out a sound in surprise as I gently floated down to the floor alongside Leader. It looks like we were unshackled from the spell.

  I feel too overwhelmed to say anything. I can’t find it in me to mutter a single word to her.

  Next up, the colpse that was about to happen was suddenly reverted, the top floors were fixed up and pose no sign of colpsing in on the building.

  I… I still feel goosebumps. I can barely process what is even happening. One moment we were going to die and the next…

  “Now then. All of you may go lick your wounds. Been through a lot from the looks of it… Here.” What does she mean by-

  *Shine*

  A pleasant feeling came over us. Is this… a healing spell affecting everyone in the building?

  “And with these guys. I’ll hand them over to the authorities.” She said while all the criminals started floating towards her, before she looked up at the ceiling. “May I never see any of you in such a sorry state again.”

  She floats up and-

  *Slice* *Lift*

  Cut a perfect square into the ceiling and left the building that way along with the enemies, before putting the removed ceiling chunk back into its original position, as if it was never tampered with.

  I… I think I need some time off to rex. After everything…