"Shore up the defenses on the left flank!" the officer was able to shout at me before she was swept away again by the battle.

After signaling that I had heard the order, I ran in that direction, my weapons folding into their black baton forms as I sprinted across the rocky gray terrain. I took a flying leap off of a rock to clear a pair of soldiers engaged in a furious fight below, stumbling to my knees for a second before I resumed my mad dash to my designated place.

But at this point, is there even really a point? If Ruka doesn't come, we're doomed.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes at the foolish thought, and raised the batons.

The first enemy soldier spotted me, charging in my direction. Gritting my teeth, I snapped my wrists out quickly, causing the sickle blades to pop free from my batons. I caught one over the soldier's sword, ducking to the side and slicing his throat efficiently.

Swallowing my disgust, I turned to my next opponents. I signed up for this, I reminded myself. I'm fighting beside brave and loyal soldiers, for a just cause.

I met the next two enemy soldiers, pressing a button on my sickles. The blades swung free on thin chains, whistling through the air. I spun around, swinging the weapons in a wide arc. The first soldier ducked back, the blades passing over her head. Quickly, I spun again, pulling on one to change its trajectory. As the soldier retreated again, the second blade came down suddenly at her companion, this time hitting its mark. The younger-looking girl looked almost disbelieving as the midnight blade embedded itself in her stomach, causing dark blood to pool around it.

I looked away, focusing on the other woman.

She raised her sword, catching my chain scythe on its next stroke. Momentum lost, it flopped down around her sword's crosspiece. We both pulled at the same time, and she succeeded in jerking me forward... just as the flat of my other blade hit the side of her head.

She stumbled back, disoriented, and I rushed in, retracting my scythes back into sickle form with a sharp tug. Real, tangible fear lit in the woman's eyes as I reached her, and again, I wished my orders were anything but what they were. "I'm sorry," I said as I grabbed her arm, knocking her sword away. "I really do have to kill you."

But maybe just this once, I'll get away with just knocking someone out. She'll escape if she's smart. She won't do more harm to Ruka's army. Making up my mind, I hit her head, hard, with the baton piece of my weapon. She crumpled to the ground, and I took a second to make sure she was still breathing. Maybe I can help the world in this one extra way.

A sharp clash resonated in the air right behind me. I spun around to see two swords locked. The soldier on my left had the Emblem of Fire on his uniform, and he looked to have just blocked a blade that had been coming straight for my unguarded back. As I watched, he shoved the enemy's sword aside with a powerful thrust, stabbing deep into their gut a second later.

"I-thanks," I breathed, shocked.

"Just be careful here on out, will you? You'd be dead if I'd been a second slower."

I nodded, a bit numb. "Thanks," I said again.

He nodded, rushing off into the battle, and I spun around, raising my sickles as I readied myself to engage my next opponent again.

I paused.

In the midst of all the commotion, I'd gotten the sudden unshakable sense that something was terribly wrong, and that something terrible was coming.

And I thought I knew who.

Suddenly, I was filled with a sort of dark excitement. Oh, they'll get what's coming for them, I thought, grinning in anticipation.

Bet you didn't count on the fact that our leader is the god of fire.

A flash of light illuminated the battlefield, accompanied by blazing wave of heat. I flinched back involuntarily, then grinned and looked to where the center of the blast had landed.

Ruka stood slowly, the air around him rippling with heat. As I watched, flames sprang to life around him, surrounding him in a brilliant halo of power so bright he was hard to look at.

"Ruka!" I called.

Ruka's head snapped around, and I froze.

The fire was coming from Ruka's eyes. It snapped out of irises so terrifyingly gold that I could feel their power burning into my soul just like they burned everything else. Soldiers nearby from both sides had fallen to the ground, rolling frantically to snuff out the flames, and everyone else had backed up in a wide circle.

I pushed forward, hungry for the excitement that always seemed to surround the god. He noticed me coming and cocked his head to the side, long auburn hair glowing as fire ran along it. Without him taking his eyes from me, the fire jumped into one hand, which directed it at a nearby soldier's heart. The soldier collapsed instantly.

"Good to see you too!" I laughed, feeling weirdly amused as adrenaline filled my veins.

I heard the whistle of a blade behind me, and thankfully, I was able to duck out of the way this time, turning and impaling the enemy through the gut. Can't knock you out when I'm in the line of sight of the one who told me to kill you, I thought, not really disappointed. The god tended to have that effect on me, not that I minded.

"Thanks for the warning!" I remarked sarcastically to Ruka as I turned back around. He rolled his blazing gold eyes — quite an odd thing to witness — and charbroiled another enemy with a blast of fire.

More soldiers swarmed toward both of us. A screaming laugh escaped my throat as the fire god and I moved back to back. I swung my scythes mercilessly, blood flying wherever they made contact. As I spun around and intercepted a blow, I caught Ruka with a maniacal expression that I was sure matched mine. Everyone else would judge me for this. And I really was afraid of being crazy.

But being crazy is so much more fun.

Each powerful bolt of fire sucked me toward it as it struck, and I used the energy in a whirlwind of destruction all my own. Throughout my life, I'd never really felt as though I didn't belong where I was, but there had always been one dark piece of me running wild, hidden out of shame but lurking nonetheless. Now, that piece had found its place.

That piece had found its companion.

I moved faster, my movement blurring as I fought, focus blurring into a singular world that was just me and fire, until eventually, everything stopped.

Ruka's aura of red and gold had only grown stronger throughout the massacre, but for the first time, I was able to really look away and see what was around me. Heaving for air, I looked around at the field.

Everyone was dead.

The officer who'd given my orders. The man who'd saved my life. The woman who I'd tried so hard to save. Enemy soldiers. Our soldiers.

Everyone.