Teres

She thinks it is murder, and there is “no other way to dress it up”

Bullshit. His death was essentially a freak accident. Emphasis on the "freak", as you pointed out, because come on.

. Every time she thinks that thought, she gets enveloped in a “wave of sickness”. She thinks she had not wanted to kill Hagen and she simply wanted to protect Shra and escape him.

Cut to the next book, in which Azhure laughs excitedly while killing things and graphically threatens to kill a guy. Absolutely no transitional period.

While I do not think having Belial guard Raum is a bad idea per se, it is very foolish to have him be the only guard.

No patrols, no-one to watch his back... they didn't even lock the goddamn building!

Further, I do not think Azhure looks anything reassuring right now.

Personally I'm picturing her with a wide freaky Joker smile.

She thinks she likes Belial, though he is not a hero.

Apparently he's "not a hero" because he's nice. According to the logic of this trilogy, you are only a "hero" if you're a raging asshole like Axis. What a lovely message.

Looking into this, how does she know he “acts decisively when needed”?

Apparently meeting him exactly once means she knows his entire personality. Riiight.

He also finds her “very attractive”.

EVERYBODY finds Azhure incredibly hot, including the supposedly straight women. Also this is another completely unprofessional POV jump. An entirely unnecessary one.

After all, she has “already killed once” and even a man she called her father, so surely “disabling this stranger” should be no problem.

This is just ridiculously overconfident. Hagen essentially killed himself and was a fat old man. Belial is an armed soldier who's presumably been trained in combat since he was a kid. And yet somehow gets taken out by Azhure anyway. He should have been instantly demoted for that.

Belial bends to grab the keys. And he does not look back at Azhure following him or keep an eye on her as he does this? No, naturally not.

Once again this idiot is acting NOTHING like an actual soldier. YOU DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK ON ANYONE. And why doesn't he already have the keys on him??

Azhure then pulls our “a fist-sized rock” from “the deep pocket in her apron”.

A magically appearing rock. How convenient.

just as Belial gets up again, she “[brings] it down, dealing Belial a heavy blow to the back of his skull”.

WHY ARE YOU NOT WEARING A HELMET YOU DUMBASS?

Azhure can see “a moment’s surprise” in his eyes before they roll into his head and he hits the floor.

Needless to say this head injury was more than enough to leave Belial permanently disabled.

Azhure slides them over to Raum, who immediately opens the door.

If he's a forest tribal guy, how does he even know how locks work?

And he thinks he knows who might have done it. Oh, how dramatic. So Axis runs out of there, taking the stairs “three at a time” (and leaving Belial there)

Obviously Raum escaped and knocked him out, then went to get Shra back. (Note too that Axis shows absolutely no concern for his "best friend").

He thinks the situation over. Azhure and Raum would have run for the Forbidden Valley

...but nope, obviously it was the skinny young woman and not the big muscular angry Forbidden. Axis should have immediately assumed it was Raum, and be cursing himself for taking pity on the guy because now look what he's gone and done! Assaulted Belial, murdered Hagen, and kidnapped Azhure for good measure assuming she isn't just hiding somewhere.

It is frankly a miracle they never suffered heavy losses if this is how competent the unit commanders are.

And this is by no means the only example of the AW being a bunch of idiots who suck at their job.

Apparently waking one of the icky villagers is a worse prospect than leaving Belial to die. And he might well do so; after all, he was hit on the head and was still unconscious quite a while later, which does not bode well at all for Belial.

By this point Belial is either seriously brain-damaged or just plain dead. This uncaring assholery on Axis' part should have ended the friendship at the very least.

But, as he runs, a “small troubling voice” nags in his head.

This voice? Never explained or seen again.

Oh, are you having trouble to keep arguing, Axis? Now Axis’ lungs are beginning to burn with the effort of getting enough air, and it still is not enough.

THIS IS NOT THE TIME OR PLACE FOR THIS AND NOR IS THIS THE RIGHT METHOD. Why is he having a shouting argument with a voice in his head while he's running?! This completely ruins any suspense and makes him look completely insane, and it's just about the worst way possible to show a character having a crisis of conscience.