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A high pitched whoosh sounded.

A blade split the air.

Blood spurted and flew through the night sky, a head falling to the ground with a soft thud. 

Miles watched, shocked, as the Nox's head was sliced cleanly off of its neck. 

--- 

BOOM!

The air stretched, bent and then exploded, the figure flying at supersonic speeds exerting incredible pressure on the surrounding atmosphere.

If looked at closer, the figure wreaking havoc seemed to be a human female, her long and silky black hair billowing out behind her. 

A skin-tight, purplish black suit was wrapped around her alluringly curvy figure, her lusciously light skin standing out amidst the darkness.

Suddenly, in the middle of her routine patrol around the colony's borders, she sensed an intensely repulsive aura penetrating her sensory field.

She turned her attention towards where the surge had come from, her gorgeous blue eyes focusing towards the distance. 

'Cilica City?'

Immediately changing course, she multiplied her mana output three-fold. 

'Frequency Foundation: Thunder.'

BOOM!

For the second time that night, a deep bass resounded in the night skies. This time, pure white lightning crackled around the girl's feet and she was blasted forward. 

Just a moment after her explosive acceleration, she had entered Cilica City's jurisdiction.

A trail of devastation and death could be seen coming form the Wind Domain's wilderness, the usual luster of the fields marred by withered plants. 

Before she could think further, her attention was suddenly drawn towards Cilica City itself, which was now covered in a pitch-black dome with a translucent purple film over it. 

'Defense measures? Wha-'

Then she saw it. 

The source of the uneasiness that had taken over her senses.

The grotesque figure of the Nox stood there, blending in perfectly with the night. 

'Fourth grade?'

A shiver ran down her spine. A fourth grade Nox was uncommon in these areas, especially in Cilica City, which was much more isolated than the other cities on the continent. 

How did a Nox, much more a Nox as dangerous as this one, manage to slip through the defensive protocols? 

How did the beasts that governed the Wind Domain let it pass?

'What the hell happened?!'

Questions raced through her mind, but abruptly came to a stop as soon as she noticed the broken figure that was being held in the Nox's claws. 

Her heart nearly stopped. 

Arms twisted far beyond their capacity and legs splattered with blood, drenching the man in red.

Worst of all, a heavy sense of familiarity bashed her mind once she observed the guard. 

Only a single name was left in her mind.

'Nick?' 

Something snapped. 

The already dark night sky somehow darkened even further, the light that radiated from the stars quickly fizzling away. 

Then, an intense bloodlust roared to life, all in the direction of the Nox. 

Feeling the intense pressure it turned its head, its crimson eyes squinting, trying to focus on the figure flying high above it.

Nick had already blacked out, his mind going into an emergency shut down from the overload of pain and fear.

Suddenly, Miles burst out of the dome covering Cilica City with lightning crackling around his entire body, steam coming off of him as if he were an overheated engine. His skin was cracked, droplets of blood leaking through them. 

The Nox turned its head back towards Nick and raised its hand which was now formed into a claw, readied to strike.

'The woman looks powerful. I'll finish this one, then leave.'

It struck down, aiming for Nick's throat. 

Miles let out a roar.

Kiara saw red. 

A single incantation was left in her mind, burning softly in an enchanting red fire. Even imagining the technique put some minor strain on her mind, but she wasn't able to pay it any heed. 

"Sword Visualization: Bladeless."

She raised her hand and swung down, her whole body synchronizing with the movement for optimal output.

...

An absence of sound, yet somehow unpleasantly loud. 

Everything was drowned out by deafening silence as if it were thrown into a vacuum. Even the color started to quickly fade as if a grayscale filter had been swapped over the surroundings. 

Everything stilled. 

Time nearly came to a stop. 

SHING!

A sharp, high pitched yet somehow beautiful tune rang out.

A white javelin of light zipped through the air, slicing through the Nox's neck. The cut was so thin, yet impossibly clean, that it seemed like nothing had even happened. 

The projected sword sang one last time, the remnants of its power dissipating into the air with a soft, powerful hum.

...

Time resumed. 

The color returned.

Sound boomed. 

Finally the Nox, who had been ready to end Nick's life, paused. 

'Hm?'

It couldn't move. 

'What...?'

It watched, with stunned eyes, as his head started to slide diagonally, falling off his neck completely. The creature saw its own body, which was still stuck in an attacking position, headless. 

The sight was disturbing. 

Finally, without being given time to comprehend what had happened, the abomination met its end. It started breaking into motes of dark particles, its entire body decomposing in a matter of seconds. 

A tiny, purple crystal that dropped to the ground was all that was left behind, the only proof of the Nox's existence. 

---

 Miles didn't know what had happened. 

One second, Nick was about to die, yet another and the Nox's head was lying on the floor? He rubbed his eyes and looked again, trying to get the blood out which had been leaking in from his forehead. 

Blinking, he looked again to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Sure enough, the Nox still lay decapitated, its body disintegrating quickly into specks of light.

Next to it lay Nick, still breathing although very delicately. Tears suddenly flooding Miles' eyes as he used his last reserves of mana to catch Nick before he could fall, cradling him in his arms as relief and confusion washed over him like a tide. 

A light thud sounded behind him. 

Expecting the worst he spun around with a blade appearing in his hands from seemingly out of nowhere, huddling over Nick's body in a protective position. However, the second he saw the figure, he dropped his knife immediately. 

"Kiara!" 

Kiara quickly ran towards Miles, pulling him into a hug. Tears stained her cheeks as she buried her head in his chest. 

"Thank god you're... alive!" She said, her voice muffled. It was strangely calm, yet Miles knew the fear and anger she was keeping in check. 

Managing to force a hint of a smile on his face, he used his free hand to lightly stroke her head.

"Thank you, Kiara... you saved our lives." 

Through all the disarray in his mind as a result of the intense battle and Nick's brush with death, a scene of him and Nick playing with Kiara when she was younger, flashed into his mind. 

He sat on a rock, a five year-old Kiara happily sitting on his thigh and giggling uncontrollably. Nick performed in front of them, dumbly running away from an illusionistic wasp. Both brothers were around twenty years old then, having just graduated from a defense academy in the far south. 

This memory sprouted seemingly out of nowhere, not at all fitting the current situation. However, a small smile graced Miles' face as he gently tightened his hold on Kiara. 

A few seconds passed with them being locked in an embrace before they finally separated, Kiara taking out thumb-sized vial with light-green fluid inside of it. Holding it over Nick's head, she broke it with two fingers and let the liquid splash over Nick's face. 

Immediately, a greenish hue surrounded him, his disfigured body-parts seemingly snapping into place and the wounds healing as if it were magic, which it wasn't far from being. 

Kiara stood up and dusted her pants, softly rubbing the tears out of her eyes as she turned to look back at Cilica City. 

The barriers had already been lifted due to Nick losing consciousness, the black dome around Cilica City returning back into its transparent wall-like state. The actual city behind it was left intact with no visible damage. 

Sighing, Kiara looked back at Nick and Miles, the former who looked to be in a much better state than before and the latter cradling his brother carefully. 

"I'll go check up on the city, make sure everything is in order. I'll be back fast, so just wait here. Did you call the Rescue Department?" 

Miles shook his head. 

"I did notify the Slayer Department, but I didn't have time for much else." 

"Alright, I'll call them on the way. Actually please, move back to the city. I don't sense any other Nox in the area, but I think it'd be safer if you'd take Nick inside." She smiled and turned around, before taking out another vial and throwing it towards Miles. 

The latter caught it and looked at Kiara in surprise, who in turn kept walking forward. The mana around her buzzed with static, dark wisps of smoke forming around her suit. 

Turning her head back slightly, she glanced at Miles. 

"Pay me back later." 

'Stealth foundation: Mold.'

Without giving Miles the chance to respond, Kiara vanished. Miles was left behind, speechless. A few seconds later he shook his head, literally cracking a smile as he broke the potion Kiara had given him over his face. 

Almost instantly, his skin start healing. 

---

'That was close.' 

Kiara hopped from rooftop to rooftop. 

Images of the previous battle replayed in her head in a loop. Nick's broken body, Miles' cracked skin and the Nox's disgusting grin... it all culminated to form an intense hatred that still hadn't been doused, even after killing the Nox. 

This was one of the handicaps that had been placed upon the invasive extraterrestrial species. They were inherently more powerful than ordinary humans, even at birth.

However, that ability came at a price.

If they were ever put in a state which could be classified as 'dead', there'd be no way to reanimate them like one could with a human. Even things like a stopped heart would mean a Nox's death. 

To go a step further, their bodies would break apart at an incredible rate, disintegrating almost instantly leaving behind but a colorful crystal as the only piece of evidence of their prior existence. 

This was one edge that humans had over their opposition. A stopped heart could be defibbed, lost limbs could be reattached or regrown, even entire brain-transplantations could be performed. 

However, the Nox ultimately still had an extreme stronghold on the power hierarchy, at least in the Milky Way galaxy.

Of course, there existed ways to preserve a deceased Nox's body and in some cases even reanimate them, but these methods weren't mainstream enough to be recognized by the average human society. 

Anyways, to Kiara, the Nox's handicap was a bittersweet one. Though all she had to do was deliver one fatal and successful strike to eliminate the threat, she kind of was bummed out about the fact that there wasn't more that she could do.

Sure, she was happy that killing them was 'easy', but that's really all there was to it. She couldn't inflict any sort of pain or torture upon them due to the rapid decomposition of their physical bodies. 

Why? The Nox were almost immune to pain. The only time they'd feel pain was through targeting their only sensitive area like the apex of their tails.

However, due to their insane regeneration factor, the pain they felt would last for a fraction of the time it would were a human wounded in such a way. 

It like having a serial killer, who was responsible for countless victims' deaths along with bestowing harrowing trauma on victims who luckily survived, be euthanized and die painlessly. 

Sure, they'd die, but you'd want the criminal to suffer for their actions, no? 

It had to be known that in this day and age, beliefs in god and religion as a whole were seen as non-sensical. Though there existed some that clung to the myths from way back when, the general population had accepted scientific beliefs as a staple.

Why believe in a god when there existed humans being able to perform actions rivalling descriptions of the abilities of gods? 

Why choose to believe in an existence without proof? 

So, the entire belief of having a soul repent for their actions in the 'afterlife' was abolished.

Sighing, Kiara pushed these thoughts from her mind. The past was nigh impossible to change, so continuing to think about it wouldn't bear any fruit. 

Shifting her focus back on her patrol, she decreased her pace to catch her breath. 

Her suit prevented her from making all too much noise on impact, which allowed her to slip through the city unnoticed. People could be seen coming out of the shelters that were readily prepared for situations as such, so nothing of note really spiked her curiosity. 

However, as her route was coming to a close, something caught her eye. Somewhere around the western side of the city, a presence penetrated her sensory. 

'How did that person get that far away, when the shelters just now opened their gates?'

Assuming cautiousness, she increased her speed as she changed her direction and blitzed towards the individual. It was halfway across the city, almost a couple kilometers away from the nearest shelter. 

Her suspicions aroused, she stealthily circled around it.

As she got closer she was finally able to confirm that it was, in fact, a human. 

Some relief washing over her yet not wholly clearing her doubts, she jumped down from the building, landing right behind the human. 

A scythe had appeared in her hands, its black blade and black body sparking silently with red electricity. 

As she got closer, the properly observed the individual. 

It was a boy, about 16-17 years old, huddled up in a fetal position. His eyes were shut and it seemed like he was sleeping, yet his profuse sweating and heavy breathing told another story. 

His dark brown hair was matted with sweat, his skin pale with veins popping all over his body. 

'Almost my age... Why don't I feel any mana coming form him?' 

Putting the weapon away and crouching down right next to him, she put her fingers on his neck. 

Dum. Dum. Dum. Dum. Dum. Dum.

'Why is his pulse so damn fast?' 

With a worried light in her eyes, a holographic screen projected itself in front of her. 

Dialing the Rescue Department, she sent them two coordinates; one for Miles and Nick, and one for the boy. 

'Better be safe than sorry.' 

After making sure that the request had been delivered and logged, she looked around before jumping back up the ten story building with a single leap. Already forgetting about Kair, she zoomed away towards where Miles and Nick previously were.