Aeren sat close to the man and grabbed him by the hair, forcing him to look into his eyes. The man locked his gaze on Aeren's eyes and was about to speak when he began forgetting his words. He just stared into Aeren's eyes, becoming lost in their depths.
"Brother, finish this. The villagers are surrounding this place."
Ellie explained the outside situation to Aeren. Her voice brought the man back to reality.
"Sir, please let me go. I'll tell you everything," the man pleaded with tears falling from his eyes, begging for his life. Aeren drew his knife.
Aeren lifted his head toward the man while maintaining eye contact and spoke. "I don't need to know anything."
The man was shocked by his statement and hurriedly said, "Sir, you two are in danger, and I know the way to exit. I'll help you if you let me live."
Aeren listened to his words and smiled before slowly placing his knife near the man's right eye. "AHAHAHHAHHHHH... NO... PLEASE HELP..."
Aeren extracted the right eye from his head, then stared at it before speaking. "Here, Ellie."
Aeren tossed the eye to Ellie, who saw it coming and dodged while shouting, "End it! I've had enough of your games."
Aeren heard Ellie's urgency but ignored her words. He turned back to the man and saw him trying to escape, though he couldn't even shake himself free. Aeren watched his struggle and felt pity for him, so he placed his knife near the left eye and removed that one too.
Both eye sockets bled profusely. Aeren turned his head to Ellie and spoke. "Look, Ellie. Rivers of blood flowing from both eye sockets, and inside there's nothing but empty gaps. HAHAHAHAHA."
Ellie stepped forward and knelt near the man, also examining the holes created by removing his eyes. She glared at him for a while before asking with confusion.
"Why aren't his eyes healing, brother?" Ellie was shocked that his eyes weren't regenerating because healing properties were given to everyone in this world. Some healed slowly, others instantly, but they all healed. Yet this man wasn't healing at all.
This confused and surprised Ellie, sparking her curiosity. Aeren sensed her interest and explained without hiding anything. "That's because of this knife—it completely blocks healing properties."
Ellie examined the knife Aeren was using and grabbed it from him without permission, taking it away. "Thank you, brother."
Aeren observed Ellie, who resembled a maniacal woman, then turned to the screaming man. He placed his hand on the man's head and twisted, granting him freedom from this world.
Aeren stood up and lifted the severed head. "Let's go, Ellie. We're done here." Aeren casually uttered those words, and she stopped laughing to look at her brother.
Ellie returned to her usual cold expression and followed behind him. Aeren and Ellie emerged from the house to find all the villagers surrounding them.
All the villagers stared at Aeren with the man's head in his hand. No one screamed or reacted to the severed head—they were all shocked by Aeren and Ellie's presence.
Aeren threw the head into the crowd. "Reveal yourselves."
Ellie and Aeren observed all the villagers and noticed no one had reacted to their words, but everyone stared at them with confusion.
After observing them for a while, Aeren ordered Ellie, "Eliminate all of them."
As soon as Aeren finished his command, Ellie almost instantly froze them all, though some managed to escape her ice magic.
The frozen villagers shattered all over the place while the survivors kept their distance, trying to hide from Aeren and Ellie.
"You should have been captured by us, and now we have to force you to come with us. What a pain."
One of the frozen men spoke and melted all the ice around him, glaring at Aeren and Ellie with killing intent. The others who couldn't melt the ice like him died.
"Shut up, useless."
Ellie spoke coldly and launched water magic at him, but her attack was stopped by his shield.
Ellie's eyes widened upon seeing this—she couldn't believe he was a magic-sword user who could use both magic and aura simultaneously. She turned toward her brother, but he was no longer there. Panic began to set in as she couldn't see him.
BOOOOM
She was pushed back by a single fire attack that sent her flying away from her position.
She landed against one of the village houses, vomiting blood and kneeling on the ground while continuing to spit blood. She whispered quietly, "Bastard brother, you ran away."
He walked toward Ellie slowly and steadily, speaking to her. "I'll give you chance—come with me and join us, or you can die."
Ellie stood up from her pathetic state, barely able to remain upright, and drew Aeren's knife that she had taken.
"Shut up, don't give me that bullshit."
Ellie channeled her mana into the knife while the man drew his sword and infused it with aura. Both stared at each other for a moment before sprinting toward each other.
He shot a fire element while Ellie launched her water element at the fire. The attacks collided and exploded.
BOOM
Nothing remained in that area after the clash between water and fire elements. They moved to close combat, clashing sword against knife. She slashed with her knife while he struck with his sword. The blade met the knife, and instantly his sword shattered into nothing.
He was surprised by this clash and watched his sword disappear. "What happened?" he spoke with surprise, unable to comprehend the situation. Before he could think further, he was attacked by water, but the attack didn't reach him as his shield blocked it.
"Your head will be next," Ellie spoke, though her body could barely maintain proper stability as she stared at the man who stood as if nothing had happened.
The man sprinted toward Ellie, and this time she couldn't react to his speed. Before she knew what was happening, she was punched in the stomach and she knelt in instant.
"You think you have the power to take my head?" The man crouched beside her and noticed the knife in her hand, snatching it away. "What is this knife?"
She remained silent, still reeling from his punch while kneeling on the ground. He examined the blade but couldn't identify anything unusual about it. When he brought the knife close to her face, she flinched and tears began streaming down her cheeks. "Brother, he... he's... trying... to... sob... kill... me..." She broke down sobbing in front of him.
He felt confused by her reaction—he had thought she was a formidable opponent, but she was merely a child.
This realization stunned him considering her immense power. How could someone so young have reached such a level? He estimated she had either recently awakened her color or had been training for only a few years at most. Her emotional breakdown confirmed his suspicions about her age.
As for her brother, he appeared to be around the same age, which explained their similar appearance. However, despite careful observation, he hadn't detected anything unusual about the brother's abilities or presence. Could he also be just another child? Their resemblance suggested they were siblings, possibly even twins.
Or am I just overthinking? While he was contemplating all of this, he heard a casual tone.
"Really..." Aeren appeared between them and spoke quietly enough for them to hear.
The man shivered instantly when Aeren sat close to him—he couldn't even perceive or sense his approach.
Out of panic, the man immediately stabbed the knife toward Aeren's, but the blade had no power to reach him. Aeren observed this and replied to himself, "Hmm, you're right. He tried to kill me, and I thought you were lying."
"Shut up, bastard. I want to torture him."
"No, we don't have time."
The man stepped backward and shot fire at Aeren, but the flames also couldn't reach him. He was about to attack again when Aeren was suddenly close to him.
"Why?" Aeren asked simply, and the man began to feel fear as he tried to run but couldn't move himself. "Did you take my sister's knife?"
The man's lips trembled. "I'm... so... r... ry."
Aeren took the knife from his hand and slowly inserted it into him, then withdrew the blade from his abdomen.
Aeren cleaned the knife with his cloth and left the bleeding man behind. The man wanted to stop his bleeding but couldn't move at all, abandoned in that place without any freedom over himself.