Harry's blood was boiling. His veins pulsed with a fury so hot it could melt steel.

There she was. Erica. His Erica. The girl he'd loved for months. The girl he'd killed countless enemies dreaming about.

Hanging naked over some bastard's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Her body was bruised. Her hair was a disaster.

'No. No, no, no. This can't be happening.'

Harry's hands trembled. Not from fear. From rage so pure it made his mana surge.

"You..." His voice came out low. Dangerous. "Get your filthy hands off her."

He raised both arms. The ground around him cracked. Purple mist seeped from the fissures, swirling around his feet like hungry serpents.

RUMBLE.

The earth shook.

Jax watched with mild curiosity as figures began emerging from the shadows. Soldiers first. Then mages in tattered robes. Their eyes glowed purple, their bodies semi-transparent.

'Necromancer class. How original.'

More kept coming. Minotaurs with fists the size of barrels. Goblins with rusted blades. Orcs dragging massive clubs. And above them, circling like vultures, a dozen wyverns.

Fifty. Maybe more.

All radiating that same eerie purple energy.

Jax counted them with the enthusiasm of a man counting how many times his neighbor's dog barked at night.

'Fifty-three. Fifty-four. Is that a goblin or just an ugly orc? Whatever.'

"I said," Harry snarled, veins bulging in his neck, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!"

A minotaur charged. Its hooves thundered against stone. Eight feet of pure muscle barreling toward Jax with murder in its dead eyes.

THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.

Jax didn't drop Zoe. Didn't even shift his stance.

He moved.

One moment he was there. The next, he was behind the minotaur.

The beast stopped mid-charge. Confused. It tried to turn its massive head, but something felt... wrong.

Purple energy began leaking from its shoulders. Then its back. Then everywhere.

The minotaur looked down just in time to see its own body falling apart.

It didn't even have time to process its death before it dissolved into nothing.

WHOOSH.

Jax reappeared, sword now unsheathed in one hand, Zoe still dangling from the other. Her already ruined hair now looked like she'd been possessed by a demon having a seizure.

Harry's face went pale. Then red. Then a shade of purple that matched his undead army.

"HOW... HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ERICA!"

Jax blinked.

'Erica? Who the fuck is Erica?'

"Erica who?" Jax tilted his head, genuinely confused. "I haven't touched anyone named Erica." He paused, then a slow, cruel smile spread across his face. "Well, not yet anyway. But seeing how pissed you are, I'm guessing she's someone special. Tell you what, point me in her direction. I'll make sure to take real good care of her. Save her from an ugly raccoon-faced creature like yourself."

Harry's entire body shook. The purple mist around him intensified, lashing out like whips.

"You... you BASTARD!"

Then a soft voice cut through.

"Harry..."

Everyone froze.

Zoe's voice was barely a whisper. Broken. Trembling. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at the necromancer.

"Please... avenge me." She sobbed, her body shaking. "Kill this bastard. Give him a death so horrible... he'll remember it in every life he takes birth in."

Another sob.

"He... he brutally..." She couldn't finish. Her voice cracked into more crying.

Harry's rage crumbled into something worse. Heartbreak.

Tears welled in his eyes. Actual tears. "Erica... what... what happened to you? I don't... I can't..."

His voice cracked.

"Why? WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE YOU?!"

He fell to his knees for a moment, then shot back up, eyes blazing with renewed fury.

"I'll make him pay, Erica. For every tear. For everything he did. I'll give him a death so gruesome, people will get goosebumps just hearing about it. I SWEAR IT!"

Jax yawned.

Literally yawned. Mouth wide open. Not even bothering to cover it.

As Harry finished his dramatic speech, Jax's mind finally clicked.

'Wait. He keeps calling Zoe "Erica." When I first scanned her, the system showed her name as Erica.' His eyes narrowed. 'Zoe must be a nickname. And this pathetic creature is in love with her.'

He looked down at the girl in his grip.

And there it was.

Behind the tears. Behind the sobbing. A tiny smirk she was desperately trying to hide. Her eyes met his for just a second, gleaming with triumph. As if saying: 'You're dead now, asshole.'

'She's using him. The fake tears, the damsel act... she's playing this simp like a fiddle.'

Something cold settled in Jax's chest.

'I really, really hate manipulative bitches.'

Sylvie's voice cut through his thoughts. "Jax, this is serious." Her tone had lost all playfulness. "This guy... he's the strongest I've ever fought. Not him personally, but his undead army. Even their group's leader that girl wasn't this powerful. Be careful."

Jax heard her warning.

But he wasn't thinking about being careful.

He was thinking about something much more entertaining.

'Strongest, huh? Lover boy of this manipulative slut? Perfect.'

The devilish smile on his face made even Sylvie take a step back.

Without warning, Jax hurled Zoe toward Harry. Full force. No mercy.

But physics was physics. She didn't have enough momentum. Her trajectory would land her face-first in the ground, halfway between them.

Harry's eyes went wide. "NO!"

He commanded a wyvern instantly. The beast dove, snatching Zoe's wrist just inches before she hit the ground.

Harry exhaled. A brief smile of relief touched his lips.

For exactly one second.

SHING.

Jax had moved faster than the wyvern.

His blade sang through the air.

SPLURCH.

Zoe's body separated at the waist. Clean. Precise.

Her lower half hit the ground with a wet THUD.

Her upper half dangled from the wyvern's grip, eyes still wide with shock.

Then both pieces dissolved into blue particles. Gone forever. Eliminated from this world.

Harry stood frozen. His smile still hanging on his face like a broken mask.

Then it shattered.

"No... no, no, no... this can't..."

He stumbled forward, collapsing to his knees where her particles had faded. His hands clawed at the empty ground.

"ERICA!"

His scream echoed through the ruined corridor.

Then silence.

Harry rose slowly. His tears had dried. What remained in his eyes wasn't sadness.

It was murder.

"Damn you."

His hand raised. Every single undead in his army locked onto Jax.

"MARCH."

The ground shook as fifty-plus nightmares charged forward. Slow at first. Then faster. A wave of death approaching like a purple tsunami.

Jax twirled his sword lazily.

'Now... how do I torment this simp even more?'

Behind him, Roxana finally snapped out of her daze. She looked at Sylvie, who had dropped all pretense of humor. The queen's hands were already gathering frost, her stance battle-ready.

Roxana swallowed hard and preapared her fists.

This ain't a fight anymore.

This was war.

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