“He’s back already!?” Phoebe exclaimed in surprise.

Some soldiers were sent to cause trouble nearby in order to draw the boss away for a little while. That way, the resistance could commence the raid without him getting in the way. However, him being back meant that he had already located and dealt with the problem quicker than anticipated. Were her comrades defeated so easily? Just how strong was this kid?

At the same time, the resistance soldiers that had been temporarily stunned in the chaos seemed to snap out of it, drawing their weapons and charging at the boy. Since he was several meters above, those with ranged weapons attacked first. However, the boy danced across the beams of the warehouse seamlessly and elegantly. One wouldn’t even know he was dodging attacks from the way he moved.

Clearly, their opponent was well-trained. He was one of the most skilled fighters any of them had seen coming from the Church of Solomon, and his magical aptitude was decent as well. Avida wondered absentmindedly why someone like him was guarding such a run-down warehouse. Surely, with his talents, he could be put to better use elsewhere.

He continued to hop from beam to beam like a spry little monkey. Each time he landed, he would quickly notch an arrow and fire it, and it would always hit its target. The resistance fighters’ numbers were slowly being chipped away, but it did buy the others a bit of time. Avida rushed to Bellicosa’s side where the other was kneeling on the ground, still putting pressure on her wound.

“Don’t remove the arrow!” Avida warned her.

“How long have we been doing this? I know that already,” Bellicosa groaned through clenched teeth. Avida turned to Rhea’s slumped figure a short distance away.

“Are you alive?” she asked coldly.

“...aghh…” came the pained response from the ground.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Avida confirmed.

“Avida,” Bellicosa called, drawing her attention once more. “I can make a stronger barrier, but you have to protect me. If I lose focus, the magic could backfire.”

“Seriously? You’re wounded…” Avida hesitated.

“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed,” Bellicosa grumbled. “Just protect me long enough for me to cast the spell.”

“Fine.”

Bellicosa shakily pulled herself into a seated position, crossing her legs. She kept the pressure on her shoulder and took a deep breath before closing her eyes. The enemy seemed to take notice of this, despite the fact that he was still being attacked by resistance fighters. He ignored them, brushing off their attacks as he focused back on the mercenaries.

“What is she doing?” he demanded from above.

The boy went to fire an arrow at her, but this time Avida was prepared. She fired a bullet at the same time, aiming for the arrow as it soared toward Bellicosa. The two collided midair, the arrow splintering apart as it burst to pieces. As Avida predicted, the explosive magic in the arrow would be activated once it came into contact with something else.

“What the fuck!?” the boy yelled, confused.

Despite his elegant appearance, his words were clipped and vulgar. He didn’t seem to have realized what happened. His pretty features twisted into a scowl.

The air around Bellicosa had started to glow as she traced a rune onto the floor in front of her. A ring of light appeared around the rune, slowly spreading outwards in a growing circle with her in the center. Soon, the small group including Avida, Phoebe, and the lump that was Rhea were encompassed in the circle, a faint veil of magic sprouting around them in a dome.

Now thoroughly irritated, the boy notched three arrows at once and fired them at the barrier. This time, Bellicosa’s spell was effective, and the arrows bounced off lamely before clattering to the ground. The boy grit his teeth in anger, flicking a piece of his long hair over his shoulder as he looked down at them.

“So you have a few shitty tricks, huh? It still won’t be enough to save you!” he said.

“Someone has an attitude problem,” Avida muttered. It seriously contrasted with his delicate stature, creating a sharp disparity between his image and his personality.

Finally, the boy hopped down from the beams to the factory floor. Slinging his bow over his shoulder, he pulled out another weapon - a short blade he gripped tightly by the hilt. Upon landing, he was instantly swarmed by resistance fighters. He channeled magic into the blade and swung out in a wide arc. The magic sliced through the air, cutting through the soldiers like paper.

Blood painted the floor, body parts strewn about as the resistance fighters who weren’t instantly killed cried over lost limbs. The boy seemed unfazed by all of this, continuing his stride toward the group protected by the magical barrier. Amidst the carnage, at some point, he had also slaughtered the warehouse workers along with the resistance. No one had even noticed when he had done this. Bellicosa kept her eyes closed throughout, focusing on steadying her breath.

The others were all astounded by this kid’s sheer power. No one had expected the boss of the warehouse to be quite so skilled. It really piqued their curiosity. Could it have something to do with the object Rhea was seeking? Did that silver jar really require such an experienced protector?

“Who are you?” Avida found herself asking.

She noticed that the boy wasn’t wearing the same uniform as the other guards at the warehouse. His was a heavily modified priest's uniform. It was black instead of white and much more tactical. It was definitely made for a fighter, but Avida had never seen anything like it. She never remembered reading about any such thing from her time training as a nun, either.

“Hah! As if I need to tell you,” the boy remarked. He continued to cut people down as he advanced leisurely.

“But since you’re curious, allow me to enlighten you.” He surprisingly kept talking. “I am Ven, one of the esteemed Holy Mages of the Church of Solomon. Go ahead and beg for mercy now. I still won’t spare you!”

He finished cutting down the last of the resistance as he spoke, arriving at the edge of the barrier. Phoebe was clenching her fists in fury, having just watched an entire squad get slaughtered in front of her and being unable to do anything. She had left her weapon behind when infiltrating the facility since she didn’t want it to be confiscated once she got caught.

However, that left her currently unarmed. She was depending on the support of her comrades to complete this mission, but now they had all been killed by this brat! She itched to fight back and grew increasingly frustrated at her own helplessness. But when she heard the boy’s introduction, she froze momentarily.

“I’ve never heard of the Holy Mages,” Avida told him.

“Then you are unsurprisingly ignorant,” Ven remarked with an air of arrogance.

“If this kid is really one of the Holy Mages, we’re in trouble,” Phoebe informed the mercenary seriously. “They’re a highly-skilled, elite group of soldiers who were raised from birth by the Church. They were just a rumor, a well-kept secret, until recently. Some say they possess almost supernatural strength. We may not be a match for him.”

“At least one of you idiots knows their stuff!” the boy commented before swinging his blade down harshly, the metal clanging off the barrier.

Sparks flew up where it made contact. Behind Avida, Bellicosa made a strained sound as she fought to maintain focus. This barrier was not limited to just projectiles, but that meant it took a lot more energy to maintain. The effort was evident on Bellicosa’s face. Ven studied the blade in his hand with furrowed brows before looking back at the mercenary sitting on the floor. Fury flashed to life in his dark eyes.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Not bad! It seems your friend has a decent magical aptitude after all!” he snarled.

He continued to wail on the barrier with his weapon, infusing more and more magic into it each time. Desperation seeped into his movements as he tried to chip away at the magic, but it didn’t budge. Bellicosa was breaking into a sweat now but did not relent. Her eyes were still squeezed shut, attempting to drown out her surroundings. Ven’s slashing became frantic but unrelenting.

“What should we do?” Avida asked Phoebe worriedly.

Even though it was holding for now, she wasn’t sure how long Bellicosa would be able to last. She was worried about her partner’s magic rebounding if she kept it up for too long, and then they would all be in danger. On top of that, Bellicosa still had an arrow sticking out of her shoulder, and Rhea had a matching one in her stomach. Avida was the only one armed, but if it came to a close combat fight she would be at a severe disadvantage.

“I’m not sure,” Phoebe admitted. “Honestly, I’m a little confused. I heard that the Holy Mages were supposed to have abnormally high aptitudes in magic. I would have thought he could take down this barrier easily by now. Bellicosa must be amazing.”

“Shut up!” Ven growled. “You don’t know anything!”

Avida glanced down at Bellicosa. While she did think Bellicosa was amazing for many reasons, her partner had always told her that her magical aptitude was only slightly above average. That was already significantly better than most people, but from the sound of it, it should still not compare to a Holy Mage. So why couldn’t this kid break the barrier?

“I will not lose to such a dumbass trick! Just wait, I’ll break through this and slaughter you all,” Ven promised.

His barrages increased in speed and frequency once more. Avida heard Bellicosa begin to breathe heavily and knew that something had to be done quickly. Even if Ven couldn’t break through the barrier himself, at this rate, Bellicosa’s magic would backfire! Realizing they were out of options, Avida did the only thing she could think of and flung herself outside the range of protection. Ven looked surprised at the action for a moment before smirking.

“Does your stupidity know no bounds?” he laughed.

“Maybe, but I won’t need to use my brain to take down a punk like you,” Avida taunted back.

She spun the cylinder of the pistol with her thumb while loading it with the other hand, replacing the bullets she fired earlier before flicking it back into place in a matter of seconds. Her other pistol remained untouched at her side. She didn’t have time to think before she was blocking a blade with her gun. The force of it pushed her arm back and she felt it in her shoulder, still not fully recovered from the last few days. She winced at the pressure.

“Hah! I don’t even need magic for this,” Ven remarked condescendingly.

That’s fine, Avida thought, as long as your attention is on me.

Avida kicked out with her leg, which was easily avoided by the other. He swung down with his blade as he moved backward, and Avida just barely pulled back in time for a shallow cut to form on her boot. If she had been a second later, she might have lost the entire lower half of the limb.

Ven slashed out with the blade again, this time aimed at her throat. Avida bent backward at the waist, planting her hands on the ground before kicking up, knocking her foot into the hand holding the weapon. Normally, the person would have dropped what they were holding, but Ven’s grip did not loosen. His arm was simply pushed to the side, blade still firmly held in his grasp.

However, the move did grant Avida a little more space as she righted herself again. She fired two shots in quick succession, one aimed high and the other low, confident that he would not be able to block both. To her surprise, however, Ven did just that, smacking the bullets aside with the blade in the blink of an eye.

“Pathetic,” he commented. “Is that all you can do?”

He rushed forward again, the two exchanging several moves, Avida mostly on the defensive, before she was able to back away again. It was impossible to shoot him at this range. Truthfully, Avida really wasn’t used to close combat, having had a partner to fill in that gap for a few years now. She had always been one to engage the enemy from a distance.

But after the battle at the church a few days ago, Avida realized that she had gotten too comfortable. Getting her ass handed to her by that priest had been an awakening of sorts. It was likely that she would find herself in a similar situation again soon. She had become overly reliant on her partner making up for her weaknesses, but Bellicosa wouldn’t always be there to help out.

That’s why, after the trip to Atlas’s mansion, she took away a little something extra besides first aid. Holstering her pistol, she whipped out a curved silver dagger she had sheathed underneath her jacket. Not carrying another weapon before had been foolish, but she still knew how to use multiple tools. She was trained by Sister Katherine in many things, after all. Besides, what kind of mercenary would she be if she only knew one trick?

And so, Avida and Ven engaged in a new kind of battle. One of lunging and parrying blades. For being rusty, Avida was keeping up fairly well, only receiving a few scratches. Ven had yet to be hit at all, but considering that she wasn’t dead yet, Avida thought she was doing a good job. The two continued this way for several minutes, a dance of sparking blades circling the warehouse.

However, there was no end in sight, and Avida knew she couldn’t keep it up forever. The stupid, oversized uniform kept getting in the way. She wasn’t used to the length of the sleeves and skirt, and she felt restricted by their bagginess, slowing her down. That’s when something unexpected happened. A loud crash interrupted the fight and momentarily distracted the both of them as they searched for the source of the sound.

Glass rained to the floor from the ceiling above, and everyone looked up to see that one of the skylights was shattered. From the now-open hole in the roof, a black figure jumped down at the speed of light, smacking into the boy. Luckily for him, he had just raised his weapon in time to block the sudden attack. Still, he was pushed back several meters.

He looked bewildered at this new opponent, who now stood between him and the mercenary. All Avida was able to see from behind was a small body covered in a resistance cloak. But one glance at the feet of the individual, covered by heavy metal, and the mercenary felt her heart stop.

“Bambi!?”

The girl in question didn’t respond, snarling at the boy standing opposite her like a dog. Before Avida could call out to her again, someone else appeared. With his back to the front entrance and the distraction from Bambi, Ven barely had time to react to the attack from behind. He dodged the polearm that swung down at the last moment, the weapon barely grazing his side. It was the first time he had been hit.

He hissed in pain as the weapon sliced into his hip, blood spilling from the wound, before jumping away to put distance between them. The man who attacked him was also cloaked, but he chuckled as he expertly twirled his polearm for show.

“Not bad. But it still won’t be enough to get away from me.”

At the sound of his voice, the others also recognized him at once. With the arrival of these two, they could change the tides of this one-sided battle!

“Sir!” Phoebe cried hopefully.

Without another word, Atlas and Bambi sprung into action, relentlessly attacking Ven. The boy was an extremely skilled fighter, but having to defend against two practically equally skilled assailants seemed to be more than he could handle. Plus, he was now injured. It was all he could do to prevent a fatal blow, forget going on the offensive.

“Fighting with demonic power? Heh, how dirty,” Ven scorned.

Avida could tell by the way Bambi was fighting that the girl was still in control. She was borrowing the demon’s power without giving in to possession, just like Rhea had said. Still, it was extremely risky. In that state, it could only be a matter of time until the demon found an opportunity to seize control. And with Rhea temporarily out of commission to reinforce the seals, Avida wasn’t sure if they’d be able to stop it.

Atlas was not to be taken lightly either. His skill with the polearm was probably unmatched, at least by anyone Avida knew of. He wielded it as easily as if it were an extension of his own body. Ven became increasingly littered with slashes and bruises as he tried to fend the two off, but it was a losing battle.

Seeming to realize he was now outnumbered, and possibly outmatched, he grit his teeth before swiftly leaping back into the rafters. He whipped out a piece of paper with a few runes scribbled on it, muttering something under his breath as he clutched the wound at his hip with his free hand. Blood had stained it when he pulled it away, but he showed no indication of being in pain.

“What’s he doing? Don’t let him try anything!” Atlas called. But it was too late.

“Let me be clear!” Ven sneered. “The next time we meet, I will kill every last one of you. Don’t think for a second that you’ve won!”

The next second, Ven took the blood on his hand and smeared it on the paper, scribbling something. The small parchment began to glow with magic. Avida panicked, firing a shot at the boy. The bullet buried into his shoulder, but he did little more than wince at the impact. With one last stroke of blood, the paper erupted in a flash, momentarily blinding everyone present. When they looked again, Ven was gone.

“He got away,” Atlas sighed. “I’ll go check the perimeter on the off chance he didn’t get far.”

Without another word, he turned and walked out the door. Avida rushed to place a gentle hand on her partner’s shoulder, noticing the other was a little clammy. She had exerted tremendous physical and mental energy in order to keep the barrier up, but she had effectively protected the people inside.

“It’s over now, you can lower the barrier,” she said softly.

Bellicosa released a breath of relief before the magic shattered like snow. The mercenary slowly opened her eyes and smiled weakly at her partner.

“Can we do something about this arrow now?” she muttered.

Avida gripped her shoulder harder before grabbing the wooden arrow with the other hand, snapping it in two so that only a small piece of it was left sticking out. The point remained buried in the other’s flesh.

“That’s all I can do for now. We shouldn’t remove the rest before we can get proper medical attention,” she told her.

“Fair enough,” Bellicosa groaned, still wincing in pain.

Avida then turned to the little girl who had arrived with Atlas. Bambi had been watching from a distance, but upon seeing Avida seek her out, she happily skipped over. The look on her face was one of seeking praise, so Avida couldn’t help but pat her on the head affectionately despite not agreeing with her involvement. She didn’t know what Atlas was thinking, bringing her along. And so soon after he said he wouldn’t do such a thing!

“Are you hurt?” she asked the girl.

Bambi shook her head, holding out her arms as if to say see for yourself. Avida could have sworn she saw Bambi get nicked by the short blade a few times during the fight, but sure enough, she had not even a scratch on her. She wondered if it was due to the demon’s power that the girl was able to heal already.

Speaking of healing, there was one more person Avida remembered she should probably check on, despite how much she didn’t want to. She walked over to Rhea, who was still curled in on herself, before crouching down to get a better look at her.

“Still kicking?” she asked her begrudgingly.

“...yes,” the woman replied.

But she sounded a lot different than before. Her voice was stable. The last time Avida checked in on her, the researcher’s voice was a lot more strained. To be expected of someone in extreme pain due to an arrow to the stomach. That time, however, there was no strain. She sounded just like she usually did.

Avida flipped the woman onto her back in confusion, forcing her hands away from her stomach only to notice that the arrow was no longer there. It clattered from the researcher’s hands to the ground uselessly.

“What the-”

Upon closer expectation, not only was the arrow pulled out, but there was no more blood pouring from the wound as one would expect. The red staining her clothes was already beginning to dry. Rhea attempted to cover the area with her hands but Avida yanked them away again furiously. And that's when she saw it. The wound itself was gone, completely healed. And the faint traces of a purple scar were creeping out from where her sweater was torn.

“You’re infected!?”