A girl! He’s a girl? No, she’s a girl. Why do I even care? It’s just a girl, an annoying girl that won’t stop staring at me.

Why pretend to be a boy anyway? I mean, yeah it's a camp full of bandits but we’re like seven years old. Nobody would be that depraved, the stigma toward that sort of thing is even stronger here than it was on Earth.

Cameron groaned and rolled onto his side, giving Jiran a convenient distraction from his uncomfortable train of thought. His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Jiran with confusion.

After a few seconds, realization struck him and his eyes flew open. Cameron looked between Jiran and Olive several times before his gaze stuck to Jiran’s hand holding onto Olive’s arm.

Fury darkened Cameron’s expression as embarrassment caused a deep blush to spread across Jiran’s cheeks.

Why am I embarrassed? I didn’t do anything, I'm just healing her!

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Cameron, I’m just healing her. Him! I’m healing him, yeah Oliver, just like I healed you two.”

Cameron tried to sit up before the agonizing pain caused him to collapse back down.

“Oh, I don’t know how to heal your shoulder. Sorry?”

After shooting Jiran a glare full of annoyance, Cameron sat up carefully while gingerly cradling his arm.

Once more looking down at Jiran’s hand which was still resting on Olive, Cameron spoke.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“The pressure changing so rapidly from the shockwave caused the gasses in her body to expand and move instantaneously. Her lungs, ear canal, and gastrointestinal tract were ruptured by the—”

Cameron’s eyes glazed over and Jiran realized what he was saying.

“She got hurt just like you and Dommell, I fixed both of you and I can fix her too, just give me a minute okay?”

“Okay, thanks,” Cameron mumbled.

His dazed look vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by one of determination.

“I couldn’t fix Dommell’s knee either, it’s going to take some time before he can walk again. Can you wake him up? The gate to this cage should be open soon and then we can get out of here.”

Cameron nodded at Jiran’s request, turned to Dommell, and then kicked him in the head.

“Get up, you lazy garderobe, it’s time to escape.”

Sputtering in outrage and pain, Dommell thrashed on the ground, quickly coming out of his slumber. Jiran almost felt bad for Dommell before he remembered the pompous ass’s braying laughter.

With a shrug, Jiran put his full effort into healing the injured girl. Luckily she didn't have any dislocations like the boys and was nearly healed by the time the gate to their cage came crashing to the ground.

Jiran tentatively released the mana blocking his ears when he noticed the battle between Samris and Markhiss had moved far away. He silently thanked Samris for baiting the man away from the camp.

Olive woke up with a gasp, her eyes opening wide as sensations flooded her now-conscious brain. Jiran stepped back, giving all three of them space to collect themselves.

She was not the only one waking up. Groans and grunts could be heard all across the camp as the bandits' passive mana healing roused them from their injured states.

There was something about seeing fifty humans, who would all try to take his life if they noticed his escape, begin to wriggle and writhe on the ground at once. Like being exposed to a phobia he never knew he had, shivers climbed up Jirans spine and sweat broke through his pores.

Stamping down the feeling of panic begging to take hold, Jiran turned back to the others. All three were on their feet, Dommell supported by Olive and Cameron.

Her eyes found Jiran’s, possibly for the first time since he had punched her. The pleading look he found there, caused his heart to pulse stronger in his chest.

Before Jiran could say anything, she spoke in that soft melodious voice that always made his arm hairs stand on end.

“Please, help us.”

Jiran’s eyes flew away from her in embarrassment, landing on Cameron, who was using his good arm to support Dommell's bad side.

“I didn’t heal you just to let you get captured again. C’mon, let’s get out of here.” Jiran beckoned them to follow as he spoke.

Stepping out of the cage for the first time in two days was a refreshing experience. The ambient Density that flowed through the air left a pleasant tingle on Jiran’s skin. Even while the noxious fumes from the melted gate choked his lungs.

Waving his hand in the air, Jiran batted ineffectually at the fumes as the others followed him.

Their reactions after stepping out of the gate were much stronger. Tears sprang to Olive’s eyes and all three of them took huge gulping breaths of Density rich air. Jiran heard the sniffling of held-back sobs but ignored the sound as he scanned his environment for an escape route.

Seeing an empty patch of wall to their left with no sentry, Jiran headed in that direction. He looked over his shoulder to make sure they were following and spotted three bandits tailing them.

Jiran stopped and turned toward the struggling trio. He knew there was no way the three could escape unless he dealt with the bandits.

Am I really willing to risk my life for them?

He remembered the pleading look in her eyes when she asked for help. An emotion from deep inside his psyche bubbled up to the surface, dominating everything in its path. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes as the overwhelming emotion cascaded through him.

At that moment he made a vow to himself. With every ounce of his will he swore it.

I will die before I abandon someone who asks me for help.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Jiran ran straight at the bandits.

“Head to that spot of the wall there,” He said as he passed by the kids, pointing in the direction he wanted them to go.

Facing the bandits that were rapidly closing in, Jiran examined them. They were not the ragged, filthy, slave-bandits. These men were well-outfitted, strong, and brimmed with unleashed mana.

The three bandits shared a look and one with dark hair stepped forward.

“Come back to your bird cage little lord and we won’t mention this to Markhiss. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt, now would we?”

He spoke loud enough for Cameron and the others to hear, likely he hoped they would decide to come back without him having to do any actual work.

Jiran dashed his hopes with his next words.

“Not a chance, ugly. Markhiss is gone so the only way you’re getting us back in that cage is with force.”

Jiran made sure all the bandits within range could hear him. As far as his eyes could see, heads swiveled to face his standoff with the three muscle-bound bandits.

If I can break their morale, they won’t chase us. I need to make a show of force since Cameron and Dommell are going to be way too slow to escape if we’re pursued.

“That’s a big mistake kid, nobody goes against Markhiss and lives. Lucky for you, we have orders to keep you alive. I’ll be sure to go easy on you and only break every bone in your legs!”

Blegh, so cliche!

Don’t get distracted Jiran, focus. What am I up against? They move like Tier three’s but I can’t be sure. None of them look clever enough to try and hide their tier from me, and why would they when I’m a tier below them?

Each tiering roughly doubles everything about a person. They are twice as fast as me, twice as strong, durable, mana quantity, weight, everything. Why would they be scared?

I took out a Tier four beast in one attack that used fifty percent of my mana. If they are half as strong as that beast, and my attack was way overboard, it should take around a fifth of my mana to kill a Tier three.

I really don’t want to explode a human like I did that bear, so I’ll go with fourteen percent power. Hopefully they survive…

Jiran lowered into a defense stance. Nervous sweat broke out across his back. His fists were clenched so tight his hands shook.

He was scared, terrified, yet smiled regardless. He was ready for anything they could throw at him.

The two on the sides glowed green and held their hands clasped in front of them. As the green glow across their bodies converged in their chests and then traveled to their upraised hands, they shouted.

“Raging Gale Force Blast!”

Jirans' jaw dropped.

Meanwhile, the dark-haired bandit in the middle, with a huge grin on his face, was glowing a soft red. With hands held in front of him, he shouted his incantation.

“Infernal Spark of Destruction!”

Jiran almost died.

The two blasts of wind from either side combined with the fire, creating a massive wave of flame that blasted toward him. The heat scorched his skin long before the fire reached him, letting Jiran know the combination of these three attacks would easily burn him to death.

The attacks had been aimed slightly above his head. It was clear from the beginning, the bandits wanted him to dive to the ground, escaping the heat so they would have time to close in and capture him.

All of this information should have passed through Jiran's brain instantly, which would have given him plenty of time to come up with an appropriate defense and counterattack.

What kind of delusional edgelord chants are those!? I’m so embarrassed for them!

Caught completely by surprise, it wasn't until his skin started to smoke from the approaching heat that Jiran’s instincts kicked in. Shooting mana to his skin he forced his molecules to slow their wild dance of heat death.

To the watching bandits and kids, Jiran stood still as a wave of fire hotter than any forge blasted his torso. Only his legs were visible as wave after wave of fire washed over him. Every single person watching thought the exact same thing during that moment that stretched into an eternity.

“He’s definitely dead.”

The thoughts that followed varied wildly for each group.

For the bandits, their own deaths loomed over their heads. Markhiss’s instructions had been clear. The children were not to be harmed. The death of this one child would mean their deaths were sure to follow.

For the children, their hopes of escape died at the same time that Jiran’s upper body was engulfed in flame. Jiran had been the only one among them with any mana, meaning they were certain to be quickly captured and thrown back inside the cursed cage.

Not one of the expectations for either group was met.

Without moving a muscle, Jiran blasted aura out of his mana body in every direction. The aura combined with a shaping of nitrogen molecules to form a wave of gas that surged away from him. The blast of nitrogen gasses displaced the oxygen in the air which caused the fire to harmlessly disperse into the air above.

With a blast of heat, like a rocket taking off, Jiran exploded into motion. He would not let their moment of shock go to waste.

Before the black-haired bandit even realized he was coming, Jiran’s hand landed on his arm. Fourteen percent of his mana was concentrated in the single bolt of electric current that ripped through the muscled man.

His mouth opened to scream in agony but no sound came out, just a blast of exhaled breath as his contracted muscles forced the air from his lungs. The skin on his arm, where Jiran touched him blackened, as smoke oozed from his pores.

As if his body was suddenly made of wood, the man stiffened and fell backward.

Silence.

Jiran stared at the two remaining bandits with a look of disappointment on his face.

With a voice loud enough to be heard by the entire camp, Jiran shouted.

“If you’re going to use fire, shouldn't it be something that burns a little hotter?”

Ew, I sound so cringe. Nobody's going to remember this anyway, right?

Five percent to heal my burns, fourteen on that attack, twenty from healing everyone and escaping the cage. Not good, down forty percent and I’ve only taken out a single enemy.

I need to be more efficient, I can’t afford any mistakes this time, I don’t have the mana to spare on healing.

Dashing to the next bandit, Jiran easily predicted the stab of his spear. He may have been twice as fast as Jiran, but his muscle movements betrayed him. The spear pierced the air above Jiran’s shoulder. He flowed with his dodge, rotating around the man and gently tapped the back of his neck.

With only eight percent of his mana used on the strike, Jiran was concerned it wouldn't be enough. His fears were unfounded as the second bandit stiffened and fell, much like the first. Although, without the blackened smoking skin.

Not enough protection between the neck and the brain.

With a sigh of relief, Jiran turned to face the last Tier three. His grim expression was all Jiran needed to see to know he had won.

Jiran walked toward the man at a casual pace. Just as he was halfway to the scowling bandit, the man’s eyes flickered to somewhere behind Jiran.

Something was coming, Jiran could feel it in his bones. Every pore on his skin erupted with sweat. The feeling of danger overwhelmed every thought of preserving mana.

Jiran let go of the tight control he held over his mana. In a moment of desperation he expelled the most gas he could create from his back and ignited it.

The explosion flung him through the air so fast he barely had time to bring his arms in front of his chest before he impacted the last Tier three. The meteoric collision threatened to tear his limbs off. Jiran rebounded off the man at incredible speed, his vision blurred as he was flipped end over end.

He bounced off the ground several times before finally coming to a stop ten meters away.

Jiran looked up to see that the Tier three bandit was fine. Being much heavier and tougher than Jiran, he had only been thrown a couple meters before regaining his feet.

However, Jiran barely paid him a moment's thought as his eyes drifted to where he had been walking before launching himself through the air.

The Tier four man who had thrown him into the cage stood with a look of pure rage on his face. Most of his clothes were burnt off along with all his hair.

He roared with a primal fury as he flew toward Jiran.