It was a weird sight.

A small woman, staring at a slightly small man in the middle of the desert, both covered in blood. The crater around them stretched maybe fifteen feet across, and sand turned to glass in some spots from the heat of Carmen's wings.

Adam didn't even realize it… but Carmen hasn't used her wings yet at all to attack him.

"The fuck are you?"

Carmen's crimson wings had retracted completely now, leaving only the faintest shimmer of red around her shoulders. Her left eye socket wept blood down her cheek, but she didn't seem to care now. If anything, the injury only made her grin wider, revealing teeth stained with blood.

"...Tired." Adam lay motionless for a moment, the Shion's tip still pointed upward, still dripping with Carmen's blood from where it had nearly pierced her foot.

Carmen stared down at Adam. Adam also stared back. He slowly and carefully stood up, checking if Carmen was going to attack him, but no.

She just watched, head tilted curiously. Her remaining eye tracked his movements as he rose from the crater, most of the sand still stuck on his armor because of the blood.

"Interesting," Carmen murmured, her voice losing some of its earlier rage. "Very fucking interesting. I think I've faced Heroes weaker than you, motherfucking midget bitch."

Adam kept his grip tight on the Shion, but he didn't raise it. Not yet. Something about Carmen's posture had shifted. She wasn't coiled to strike anymore. She was... studying him. Maybe?

Carmen only snorted, checking his face. And when she saw Adam opening his eyes, she raised an eyebrow.

"I was sure I fucking eviscerated those beautiful fucking eyes of yours," she said, her eyes narrowing. "Right through the skull, into the brain. I felt the bone crack under my thumbs. It felt very nice, by the way. Just letting you know."

She crouched down, bringing her face closer to his. "How the fuck is that possible, you fucking midget?"

"It's your imagination," Adam said, just stared back at her. His eyes were clear now, no trace of the damage she'd inflicted. The only red in them was his blood.

"Eh." Carmen shrugged, straightening up. "My anger does cloud my judgment sometimes. You're fucking lucky I didn't actually take out your eyes."

But even as she said it, Adam could tell she didn't believe her own words. Her eye kept flicking to his face, searching for some sign of the wounds that should have been there.

"Hm…" Adam huffed a breath, gripping his weapon tight as he shifted into a fighting stance.

"Pft." Carmen just laughed at this. "Calm the fuck down, midget, or I'll put you down for real this time."

Her wings flickered back into existence, just the edges, like she was testing them. "I'm trying to have a conversation here. Civil. We're civil."

Adam didn't listen. Instead, he kicked sand at her face, the same move that had worked before.

But when the sand settled, Carmen was already gone.

Before Adam could turn his head to find her, his vision shifted. The world spun violently as her fist connected with his jaw, the impact lifting him clean off his feet. He sailed through the air, tumbling end over end before crashing into a sloped dune maybe thirty feet away.

Sand exploded around him as his body carved a deep furrow up the slope. His armor scraped against hidden rocks, sending sparks flying. The taste of blood filled his mouth, but he could already feel his jaw realigning itself.

Surprisingly, he still didn't let go of his weapon. His fingers remained locked around the Shion's grip even as he burrowed himself out of the sand. The blade had carved its own path through the dune, leaving a clean slice in the sand.

He noticed a shadow in front of him as he emerged. He looked up, and Carmen stepped on his face and stomped him back into the sand.

"Stay down, midget." Her bare foot pressed against his forehead, grinding his head deeper into the dune.

The sand filled his mouth, his nose. For a moment, everything was muffled, dark. But he grabbed her ankle, twisting hard enough to throw her off balance.

Carmen… just once again laughed at this. She stepped away from Adam, her wings retracting into her back again as she faced him and watched him once again stand up.

Fortunately for Adam, all the sand that got caked with blood wrapped around his face helped mask his healed wounds.

"You know what?" she said, brushing sand off her armor. "I haven't had this much fun in months. Being a guild leader is boring, you know? Most of my members also quit in a week, fuck if I know the reason."

Adam breathed heavily, and raised his weapon again. His chest rose and fell, but his grip on the Shion never wavered. Sand cascaded from his hair, his shoulders, leaving trails in the caked blood that still coated his armor.

"Eh…?" And this time, Carmen no longer laughed. Instead, her face twisted in anger, no longer looking like a doll at all. "Oh. Oh ho? You're surely looking down on me just because I was taking it easy on you, aren't you? Fuck me."

Taking it… easy?

She almost smashed his head in completely. But if he thought about it even harder, with her strength and abilities… she may very well be capable of just pulling his head clean off his shoulders.

"What…? Not even going to say anything?!" Carmen's face twisted further, and veins started emerging from her neck and face. The wings behind her back exploded out, growing wider than a small van.

The air around her began to shimmer with heat, and Adam could smell something burning—the sand beneath her feet was turning to glass.

She was about to step forward, but then… the voice of the Administrator screamed in her ears.

[What are you doing here all alone?! Your team's Right Middle Crystal has been destroyed! Hurry and help them!]

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