Rue creeps on the edge of the clearing. In the middle of the circle Rue notices a person with blond hair that ends at their shoulders tied up. Their heart stops for a second. The person was tied up and unconscious.

Getting their daggers out before stopping mid-step.

“Nyx…”

“Shouldn’t you do something? I think this is one of those sacrifice thingies.”

“The weapons that I summon using your help don’t cut humans, right?” Nyx also stops in the air both looking at each other.

“Right, I forgot about that.”

“I’m going to kill you!” One of the cultists has noticed the commotion and turned their attention to the bickering pair. He advances towards Rue, a sword in hand. Rue drops one of their daggers and instead grips a knife and slices the cultist arm. He yelps and reals back. This caught the others’ attention.

“Where did you get?” Nyx observes the knife it had a simple design, but Rues name was carved in and it had red accents.

“I had it on me the entire time, dumbass.” The cultist stop advancing and instead look at Nyx warily.

“Oh! Looks like they saw me! Such a shame.” Nyx floats towards Rue stretching along their shoulders.

“What now?”

“Kill them.” Nyx seems to be unbothered by their request. Not noticing just what they are asking of Rue.

“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! I thought I wasn’t supposed to kill or harm people???” Rue was swinging their hands around in exasperation causing some nearby people to instinctively shy away.

“Weren’t you against that idea in the first place? Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Besides I said the hero couldn’t kill and you have made quite clear that that is exactly who you are not.” That causes Rue to furrow their brows and train their attention on the surrounding enemies.

Those also snap out of their shock and advance towards Rue. There were eight and three were staying back. Most likely making sure Rue couldn’t run away with the sacrifice.

“May God have mercy on you because I will not.” Rue moves forward. A girl on Rues left tries to grab them but they step back and slashes her with their knife.

Someone on their right tries the same but Rue twists and instantly tries to cut them with the weapon on their left hand but realizes too late that it’s the dagger given to them by Nyx. The enemy does not immediately react and keeps advancing causing Rue to panic and curse out the damn cat.

When suddenly the enemy drops like a puppet that got its strings cut. Rue doesn’t get much time to dwell on that as the other ones also try to grab her and one enemy even got a knife. They try to gain distance and then jump forward slicing one enemy’s throat with their knife while slashing another’s throat with the dagger.

While the first enemy fell to the floor choking on their blood the second also fell but in a less bloody way. The dagger went straight through without causing an obvious wound.

The leftover two which are still attacking don’t dwell on this fact either instead changing tactics as one tries to swipe their legs away.

Rue loses their footing and an enemy with her knife tries to pin their head to the floor. Rue manages to dodge but gets kicked to the side. They roll a bit only being stopped by a dead body.

They push up and narrowly avoid another slash from the knife. The other enemy tries to hit Rue, but they dig their knife straight into his heart. The last once doesn’t stay standing much longer. A quick slash across their throat.

The other three have not moved either out of stupidity or fear perhaps even bravery Rue doesn’t know nor do they care. They advance forward and the others flinch back. Taking the dagger and knife they cut the next two throats. The last one alive tries to run away but Rue tackles her and pins her to the ground.

Rue slices her throat too using the dagger. They get up and notice that they are completely covered in blood.

“Shit!!!” Suddenly they notice that the person is in fact not unconscious. Upon closer inspection Rue realizes that this is the missing daughter Rose. The hair is a few shades darker than Rues.

“Hello!” Out of lack of a better idea they wave. The girl lets out a short scream before fainting.

“You know fair reaction.” Rue sighs. “What should I do I can’t return like this, Nyx?” The cat in question was ignoring Rues whining and focuses on the last enemy which Rue killed.

“Are they in like a coma or something?” Rue leans down beside Nyx and puts their fingers on the enemy’s neck. No pulse.

“Weird didn’t you say that I couldn’t kill anyone with these weapons expect monsters?” Taking out the dagger Rues starts to examine it.

“Cool it with the questions, would you? But you are correct harming people should be impossible with these.”

“Well, you only say people perhaps they were elves or something?” Nyx was rolling their eyes at Rues question.

“When I say People, I mean every species except monsters. I didn’t feel like saying that way too many words. I assumed that you realized that.” The cat was speaking like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“How was I supposed to know that you are lazy as fuck! Now start explaining before I wring you like-”

“Remember the threats?” Now Rue was looking at Nyx with quite the judgmental stare.

“Who doesn’t?”

“Seems like you cut it!” Nyx exclaimed while they started to float around Rue. “It’s so interesting I’ have never seen anything like it!!”

“Is it so strange? I thought that you said that the hero can heal threats, so you have seen people interact with these things before.” Rue points out while they snatched Nyx out of the air so that they would stay still for a second.

“Yes, I have seen heroes heal the threats but cutting it is something else completely!! Don’t you get it cutting a threat is even more permanent than death!” The cat was unbothered with the new development and instead started to practically vibrate in excitement in Rues hold.

“More permanent than death? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means no rebirth, reincarnation, no nothing!!! Those threats are what keeps us linked to this world. It’s how seers can tell when someone is a reincarnation of who, when someone live is going to end and so on.” Rue frowns towards the enemies which they have cut using the dagger.

“Don’t worry your little head about that! It’s a good thing and you can properly defend yourself against all threats since every creature has a threat.”

“How do I cut it? Does cutting the person just anywhere count or?”

“Nope!” Nyx answers popping the p. “You got lucky here but just aiming for vital points usually works. They are simply called threats but that’s just to simplify it. Try hitting the artery that’s a pretty safe bet or their heart.” Rue titls their head a little. It seemed like they did instinctively did just that.

“I think that we should circle back to that at some point however first we have to figure out my clothes.” Letting Nyx go Rue point to themselves. Not only their clothes but also their face, arms and hair got blood on it. Only their hat and bracelet were maliciously spared.

“That’s an easy fix! Don’t worry about it, mate!” The cat zooms away leaving Rue alone. They sigh and go away to find a river. They drag Rose along but make sure to not get blood on her.

Luckily one was close by, and Rue managed to get everything off. Five minutes later Nyx appears out of thin air with clean clothes. It was a baggy green sweater and baggy cargo pants.