About ten meters (~32 feet) in front of Kane and Luna now stood nine people. They were dressed in the same simple clothing as all the previous ones they'd encountered, and were once again a more or less equal mix of humans and beastlings, both male and female.

Their surroundings were brightly lit by two headlamps, each strapped to a bandit's head. One of them was the fourth voice, a beastling woman with blue eyes and strawberry-blond hair and fur.

Kane quickly assessed their opponents. Aside from the bandit leader, a male beastling, one more person had all cores at the fifth rank: a human woman, likely Aelia. This meant there were originally three people at the top of the Core Awakening stage.

The third being the man named Ian, who was now dead at his feet.

The other seven had various core configurations, with each core ranging from third to fifth rank. This was clearly the most dangerous group they'd faced so far.

But Kane and Luna were prepared.

Ella had informed them that there were ten people on the other side of the base, although she couldn't discern their core ranks. That fact created a little uncertainty in their plans, which had been a slight cause for concern, but now that he saw what they were up against, that worry disappeared.

Especially because he'd unexpectedly turned one of the most powerful of them into shish kebab before the fight even really started. While he had expected one of the bandits to act on impulse and try to take him out quickly, the fact it was this Ian had been a nice surprise.

As for the trap itself, that was pretty simple. He just pulled his sword from the storage ring at the last moment, and let Ian do the work himself. Even a Mystic still needed their heart, after all; at least up to all stages that Kane knew off.

"Are you making fun of me, boy?!" the bandit leader snarled, while pulling something akin to a halberd from his back. "I can damn well see that Ian is dead, I meant how?! Where the fuck did that sword come from, and who the hell do you think you are, anyway?!"

Behind him, the other bandits all armed themselves as well, but they continued looking at Kane with caution. None of them really understood where the sword that killed Ian suddenly came from, and they were afraid of it happening again.

Aelia, on the other hand, didn't seem so concerned. She did grab the twin, one-handed warhammers from her sides, but the woman's focus wasn't on Kane and Luna. Instead, she looked at the dead Ian with glee, and at the bandit leader with greed and loathing. Something that Kane made quick note off.

Regardless, when Kane realized these people had never seen a storage ring before, he wasn't about to enlighten them. So he just shrugged calmly, swung the sword once to get rid of the blood on it, and then put it to rest on his shoulder, before answering the man's second question instead.

"I'm Kane," he introduced himself, pointing to his chest. "That's Luna," he continued, nodding towards his partner who gave a playful wave. "And you people are the slavers who tossed us in a cage and are about to pay for your mistakes," he finished with a confident smirk, pointing directly at the bandits.

Surprisingly, some of the bandits actually burst out into laughter. Despite their caution, they didn't doubt for a second that they could take down these two escaped slaves. They just didn't want to be the first ones to charge into the fray and end up like Ian.

But neither their leader, nor Aelia, laughed. Aelia was focused on other things, while the leader wasn't an idiot, and doubted his two opponents were either. If they were, Ian wouldn't have died so easily.

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The leader watched them with narrowed eyes, as the butt end of his halberd rested on the floor, while he held the haft. "Do you really believe just the two of you can kill us all?" he growled threateningly.

This time, Kane chuckled calmly, "Who says I even want to kill you all?"

Confusion appeared in the beastlings eyes as he frowned, "If you don't want to kill us, then what do you want? Aurum crystals? Because we spent most of those on powering this place up."

Quickly deciding to file the question of Aurum crystals away for now, Kane instead smirked and shook his head, "You misunderstand, I don't want kill 'all' of you, but I do want to kill a few."

Fury sparked in the leader's eyes. He didn't care what Kane meant, he'd listened enough. So, he opened his mouth, "Alright, I've had en—"

But that's how far he got.

Kane gave a mental nod to Ella, immediately followed by high-pitched whine that filled the air. Then, all hell broke loose.

crack

A loud crack echoed, followed by a reverberating sonic boom originating from the bandit's right, and a powerful blast wave traveling outward.

Pained and panicked screams followed. Some bandits were tossed against the left wall, while others only stumbled, but everyone was thrown of balance.

Meanwhile, Kane and Luna were fine, as the blast wave didn't even reach them. It was traveling in a precise direction, from wall to wall, and located only in front of them. Naturally, the pair immediately made use of the situation.

The bandit leader roared as he felt his side impacted by massive concussive force. "What the fu—" he began, but again he was cut off.

Smirking arrogantly, Kane appeared in front of him with raised sword, and stabbed forward. Behind him, Luna disappeared in a red flash.

Unfortunately, the bandit leader was truly at the very top of the Core Awakening stage. Seeing the incoming threat, he bellowed thunderously, and barely managed to stabilize himself enough to parry Kane's sword with the haft of his halberd.

But it wasn't enough. Caught off-balance as he was, this unnamed bandit leader was unable to protect himself against Kane's follow-up attack.

Flesh ripped and blood splattered. The bandit leader's eyes widened as he coughed out some blood and looked down. There, he saw Kane's other hand, buried into his chest, fingers extended by crimson energy claws.

Despite being in human form, Kane could still use the Elemental Blade Combat Art, which was exactly why he liked it so much. With this man's heart destroyed as well, Kane pulled back his hand, causing the leader to sag to the ground.

Beside him, a furious Aelia had stabilized herself as well, and now roared as she swung both her warhammers at Kane's face. There was confusion in her gaze, and a hint of apparent satisfaction at the leader's fate, but also determination.

She realized she would be just as doomed if she didn't take Kane down.

But that was when Kane finally released the power of his volfar side. His body changed almost instantly into that of his terrifying beast form. He covered his fur with crimson energy, and then crossed his arms in front of his face. He had no time to dodge, so he could only take the hit.

When the hammers struck, Kane gritted his teeth. He pushed down a pained groan as he skidded back a few feet. But he came out of it unscathed, and immediately retaliated. Howling and grinning, he charged Aelia.

Along the way, he tossed an Elemental Blast at his surroundings, followed by a pained scream, before he reached Aelia.

The woman's eyes were wide. She and the others had already seen this form of his on the camera screens, but that did not prepare her for the real thing.

Still, she wasn't deterred. Rather than panic, she gritted her teeth, and prepared to engage with the monster.

Soon, the two of them were in a heated battle, but it lasted only a few seconds, before Aelia's body was blasted against the wall. Kane's skill was still low, but his physical prowess was far higher, as was the quality of his sword.

Thus, he easily came out the victor.

Afterwards, Kane quickly followed Aelia, seized her by the throat, and pinned her against the wall, her feet hanging in the air.

The woman's breath was forced out of her lungs, but she quickly recovered and glared at him. "Let me go!" she wheezed through his hand, and struggled against his hold. She'd already lost her hammers, so her hands were pulling on Kane's in an attempt to loosen his grip.

"Give up," he threatened in a low, gravelly voice. "You've lost."

Finally, Aelia looked at her surroundings.