Looking up at where I'd last directed my tornado, the beasts were, surprisingly, not that well off.
The caped creature was fully unveiled, revealing a furball with meaty arms and legs, or, arm and leg since their right limbs had been torn off.
Similarly, the reptile and wolf were bloodied, purple goo oozing down their missing appendages as they snarled at me, their surrounding mana weaker than before.
Using my hand to propel myself off the ground, I hold onto my constructed daggers even more, feeling that if I show any signs of weakness, I may be finished here.
"It's just you and I now, huh?" I comment, maintaining my usual profile of strength and sturdiness.
It seems that the monsters don't buy it, however, as they all launch themselves at me at whirring speeds.
I parry the furball first, flinging him tens of meters away from me as the next two each meet my blades.
Holding my daggers in the same lateral positions that I typically don in combat, I meet them halfway, one at my left and the other on my right.
Kicking away the wolf who'd attacked me from my right flank, I deflect the blow of the reptile, staggering him and leaving him open for a clear impact to the chest.
Jostling my blade in the reptile's direction, I'm instantly met with contestation from a beast attacking me from above, its blade just inches away from making contact with my scalp.
Jumping a bit to the right, I can only manage a small scratch along the reptile's scales as I take note of the furball using its light mass to zip around the battlefield, going from its gravity induced descent to a blazingly fast pursuit on foot.
Parrying three more attacks from the beast, I fling it along the same path I sent it beforehand with a like-minded kick with my right leg, finally giving myself enough time to recollect my composure.
Or so I thought, until I felt the mana thrumming in anticipation to an attack from my flank.
Barely reacting, my right dagger meets the wolf's fangs, the beast opting for biting into me instead of using its claws like it had before.
As abruptly as the wolf's flank attack was, I hear the wriggling of the reptile as it swings its tail at my torso.
Not having enough time to react, I hear a subtle crunch in my ribcage as I'm flung dozens of meters away from where I'd initially been standing.
"So you guys are really intent on making this 3 on 1, huh?"
The three now synched, they all assail me at different angles, leaving me little time to react.
Pulsing the little mana I have left, I embolden just one dagger as my right leg passes behind my left, almost dancing along the battlefield as I spin into an attack on the furball.
This little guy's quick, but his attacks lack strength.
Raising my dagger, I unleash my pent up strike as it digs into the furball's blade, lodging itself in a manner that makes it impossible for either me or the furball to break free.
The beast tries to wriggle itself free, to no avail as the material of its blade is so dense that it would take mana greater than my own to overpower it.
Understanding that it's disadvantaged in the fact that it has a single blade, it pesters our blades, trying again to separate them.
To no avail.
While it's true that I too am reliant on my blades, the difference is that I can immaterialize my blades. And I have two.
As the wolf and reptile both continue their pursuit towards me to the point that there's only a couple meters of distance between us, I take advantage of the furball's immobilization to throw it up and create a barrier between the two beasts and myself.
Both beasts stop their pursuit, understanding of the situation prevalent in their expressions.
However, it was already too late for their little friend.
With my grip loosening over the blade causing the mana to light up and dissipate in an all too familiar fashion, I raise the dagger in my left.
If only I had a little more mana, I could finish things here.
The furball takes notice, but it's already too late.
Swiping away at the beast, I send it flying at speeds so great that the wind churns, a whistle ringing out as its purple blood follows.
"Krrhhhkkk krahhhh!"
It shrills a deathly howl, but I pay it no mind in remembrance of how intent these creatures were in killing me just moments ago.
Both beasts catch the furball with their remaining limbs--the reptile with its claws and the wolf with its paws--but I continue my approach, not caring about their grief.
Using my one remaining blade, I lunge my blade deep into the reptile, its eyes widening to an all too creepy open slit.
"Grayyyhhhkooooo!"
Its long tongue sticks out, black saliva dripping down onto the glass floor as I plunge my blade even deeper, maintaining my assault.
The wolf reeled in response, possibly trying to save its friend, but I spin around, taking my dagger with me as I kick it again.
The reptile tries to use this as a chance to escape, getting on all fours with the expectation of growing in speed, but I give it no such allowances, jumping into the air to enter into a forward somersault, building kinetic energy in my blow.
Lunging my blade into the back of its neck, I sever the beast's brain stem, its limbs falling still and primal shrieking ceased.
Looking down towards the newly deceased wolf, I relish in the thought of defeating such a strong beast with physical strength alone.
Continuing the same thought, I look down towards where the wolf had lost its grip over the furball, the ghastly thing also laying still.
"Two down," I remark, containing my elation at a battle well fought.
I look back towards the wolf who lay staggered near the pile of corpses that I'd left in the wake of my destructive tornado.
Noticing my killing intent, the mana surrounding the beast began to thrum the same horrific tunes that I'd observed were being felt by all the beasts when I'd initially entered the same battlefield as them.
Instead of fighting through it like all the other beasts did prior with sheer numbers, a tremble began to form in the wolf, its remaining limbs shaking with such vigor that it confirmed the veracity of its mana.
"How disappointing. Rise up and fight, come on!"
Stepping even closer to the wolf, I swipe off the blood that'd accumulated on my dagger from murdering the reptile and furball, making no effort to hide my killing intent.
"After all, if you seek to kill somebody, you should expect that you yourself should be killed, no?"
The wolf responsively tried to get up and fight me off, but its limbs were shaking too much, its expression revealing a mixture of frustration and pure, unadulterated terror.
After getting in striking distance, the wolf shrugged off its trembling and attempted to charge at me, albeit with significantly less ferociousness than before.
Easily sidestepping its attack, I plunge my blade deep into its stomach, hurtling both the beast and my blade onto the ground as I release my grip, finished with my use of blade work.
"Hwwooooohhhh..." the beast howled, its blood pooling from under it.
As the dagger lights up and dissipates, the wolf begins to convulse, unable to handle such a fatal blow.
It's only then that I get on my knees, a deeper animosity driving my tone.
"You know, I could've just finished you off with that one strike," I mutter, intimately caressing the beast's ear with my voice, "but I think, for whatever reason, I felt I should put you down myself."
Wrapping the wolf's neck with my hands, I begin to strangulate it, using great enough force to constrict its esophagus and leave it without air, but holding just enough strength back to not snap its neck.
"I wonder which will happen first... will you bleed out, or will you die of asphyxiation?"
"Grghhhhh..." the wolf breathes, or rather, exhales as it claws away at me, leaving behind small cuts on my chest, stomach, and legs.
But I find the pain exciting, the blood trickling down from me a simple reminder that this is as human as I can get.
"Music... to my ears."
Maintaining my grip on the beast, entire minutes go by as its struggles begin to die down, succumbing to its weakness as an eerie breathiness resounds.
My face warps from one of struggle to one of excitement, never before having so intimately ended a life before.
Finally, after the beast stops its movements, I stand up, smoke coming off my body as the small cuts the wolf afflicted heal.
Still, having thousands of cuts spread across the same area hurts quite a bit, so I look towards the mountain of corpses that I'd mutilated before, using it as a sort of throne to rest.
Sitting down on a few of the corpses, I relax all tension in my body, a big sigh escaping my mouth.
"Hey, system, how do you think that went?"