The Price of their lives

I attempted to clean the blade of my sword by brushing it on the garments of a corpse. There were beheaded body parts all over the place.

I was at a crossroads. Klara's information was something I did not expect to learn from this minor skirmish.

"Rage, you can put your blade down now," I instructed Rage, who had been keeping Klara captive since the outset.

Klara slumped on the ground and gasped loudly as Rage withdrew his sword from her neck.

The frustration, fear, and other sensations she underwent over this brief period left her psychologically weary.

Klara turned to face the person who had materialized out of nowhere to seize her in the battle.

It stunned her to not see a figu