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As for the Abolish side of things, she noticed a few familiar faces there, too, though not because she harbored any affection for them. It was much more difficult for her to drool over any of the men over there, regardless of how hunky they might’ve been.

Something about being associated with psychopathy, narcissism, and mass murder made each and every one of those men look utterly repulsive to her--even the ones that she was on relatively amicable terms with.

Such as the Monster of the East over there. Granted, he was also more lizard than man. That was rather tough to overlook.

Poor mutant bastards. Now that was a curse from Xixa.

The world slowed to a crawl as she absorbed the scene around her. So many combatants out here in the middle of the ocean. Even more than Xander had mentioned. Perhaps he hadn’t known all the details. It would’ve been strange if he had, she supposed, given how chaotic this all looked, even in the midst of this small breather they were taking.

One thing was missing, though. One very important.

The feldeath. There was supposed to be one here. So where was it? Had they killed it already? Xander had said that it was quite a powerful one, even by feldeath standards, so she’d been expecting to see it running amok.

‘What in tarnation are you doin’ here, you old bat?!’

Of course he would be the first to say something. She was tempted to ignore him for a bit, but that would probably just provoke him into being even more obnoxious. ‘For a man who claims to be smitten with me, you have an odd way of showing it. Do you think calling me old will make me swoon?’

‘I’ve been listenin’ to some young folk on the internet. They say it’s better not to compliment a lady too much. What do you think? Is it working?’

‘No.’

‘Dang it. But they said you’d think that way.’

‘I know you have wooed plenty of women in your day,’ she said. ‘Are you playing dumb in order to sound more youthful?’

‘Eheh! I don’t need to do that! I’m the youngest one here! I’m practically bursting with youthful vigor!’

Indeed, that was exactly his problem, she felt. Despite his age, he acted too young, even for her tastes. He wasn’t just a boy in a man’s body. He was a toddler. And the most demented one she’d ever known, to boot.