Corrin pushed backwards, trying to force Wyn off of him, but even with more power and speed, Wyn was the superior wrestler, and spirit fire only extended the gap in their technique. Corrin’s view flipped up towards the ceiling as Wyn wrapped him up and pulled him off the man, who quickly scrambled to the edge of the room.

“Get the hell off of me!” Corrin fumed.

“Not until you explain what the hell is going on!” Wyn countered.

Corrin really, really didn’t feel like talking. He managed to elbow Wyn in the face, getting him to let go. He lunged towards the man, but Wyn grabbed his leg and he tripped, toppling to the ground.

“Damn it Wyn!” Corrin kicked wildly, trying to get free.

“Me?” Wyn yelled back. He grunted as a kick connected with his chest, but if anything, his grip on Corrin’s leg only tightened. Slowly, he pulled him away, inch by inch, until Corrin didn’t have enough room to gather any real strength in his kicks.

Fine. With a burst of mana, Corrin instead pulled himself in closer, grabbing onto Wyn’s head and shoving it to the side, flipping them over. His leg slipped free and he sprung away, creating distance. He couldn’t beat Wyn on the ground, with mana or without.

Wyn was already rolling forward, putting himself between Corrin and the thief, and he too shot up, holding his arms up in front of him. Blood dripped from his nose onto the floor below, dyeing the dull gray wood with splotches of red, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“If I have to kick your ass to get to him, I will!” Corrin growled.

“Come on then!” Wyn shifted his stance, falling into a real fighting posture. After a blow to the face, he was almost as fired up as Corrin.

Kei was yelling something, but Corrin didn’t pay her any attention.

He’ll try to get back to grappling, I can’t let him.

Despite mana’s advantages when concentrated, with it spread throughout his whole body, he was still a bit weaker than Wyn, and wrestling made it harder to tell where he needed to focus it. He needed to keep this fight as clean as he could.

Corrin rushed forward. With mana concentrated in his fist, there was no need for a feint, he swung at Wyn’s chest. Wyn didn’t take the strike head on. Instead, he caught it and redirected the momentum, throwing Corrin to the side and sending him tumbling over the kitchen table. Ceramic cups shattered and cheap wooden bowls clattered to the floor as he fell off the other side, drenched in gruel and tea.

Corrin was too pissed off to care. The mana in his channels screamed as it surged through him, urging him to act, to fight. One good hit. Unlike a normal person, Wyn could take a full power punch from him, but it would hurt like hell.

As Wyn blurted out an apology–whether to him or the thief, Corrin didn’t know–Corrin’s hand closed around two objects that had landed next to him, a bowl and a spoon, and he leapt back over the table. He threw them both fast enough that they could be compared to rocks leaving a sling. Wyn was able to easily knock them aside, but it had created just enough of an opening. Wyn brought his arms in to block as Corrin’s fist flew towards his exposed chest.

In the moment of contact, the mana in his arm exploded. It was a sensation he’d only felt once before, when fighting Din Kai. Wyn’s eyes widened as the air was driven out of his chest even through the block. He was flung across the room, smashing through one of the wooden walls with a loud crash of wood. The wall collapsed around him and scattered a thick cloud of dust and wood chips into the air. Thankfully, it wasn’t a load bearing wall, and the building remained standing.

For a second, clarity washed over Corrin, and he ran to Wyn’s body atop the wreckage, coughing from the dust.

“Hey! I didn’t mean to hit you so hard, are you–”

Wyn’s fist whipped up, cracking against Corrin’s chin. The strike wasn’t particularly hard, but Corrin’s guard had been down, and he staggered back, dazed.

Wyn took the time to recover. “Mana… is such bullshit.” He gasped as he struggled to his feet. His breathing was ragged and shallow, still hurting from the blow, but he lunged forward, grabbing Corrin the moment before he recovered and slammed him down, wrapping his neck in a triangle arm choke.

Corrin let out a strained groan, pounding weakly against Wyn’s sides as his airway constricted. Without being able to breathe, he couldn’t take in more mana, and the punch earlier had left him almost dry.

“Not yet…” Vision blurring, Corrin channeled the last ashes of mana into his left hand. If he could land one solid blow to the side, he could get Wyn to release him.

Wyn’s body lurched, loosening his grip. It wasn’t enough for Corrin to escape, but for a moment, his vision refocused, and he saw Kei trying to pull Wyn off of him. Her face was stained with tears and she was screaming. He couldn’t make out the words, but he could guess.

Oddly, the feeling that brought him back was one of nostalgia.

What am I doing?

He let his hand drop onto Wyn’s back, tapping it twice.

“I’m done.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

A moment later, the pressure released, Wyn’s arm disappeared from under him, and he let his head drop to the floor, panting as the mana in his channels began to settle.

Wyn rolled over next to him, speaking through labored breaths. “Are you going to explain yourself now?”

Corrin spat some blood out of his mouth–he’d bit his tongue when he hit the ground. “No. I’m not.”

Results aside, he was still angry, and worse, he was angry at Wyn now too. Getting kneed in the gut wasn’t pleasant. But hitting something had felt good, and despite the anger, the overflowing frustration he’d felt had subsided–mostly.

“I’m leaving.” He took a breath, sucking mana into his limbs to force himself to stand. He staggered towards the door, shooting one last glare at the thief, who hadn’t moved, still pressed against the back wall with a terrified look in his eyes. “Make sure this scumbag gets locked up. If you don’t, I’ll be back.

Wyn looked back at him. The purple glow in his eyes retreated until Corrin could no longer see it. He nodded. “Fine.”

Corrin stalked out and headed towards the adventurer's guild. Those training dummies out front would be helpful.

***

For a minute, no one spoke. Kei and the thief were likely too shocked and scared respectively. Wyn though… Wyn was just tired. He rubbed his forearms and chest in turn, both aching terribly.

Spirits, that punch was absurd! I even blocked it too, what the hell?

He thought about what had transpired. Now that the adrenaline was fading and he wasn’t in the midst of a fight, he was able to think much easier. Corrin could be hot-headed, but never without reason. Even if his reactions were overblown sometimes, he would have a real reason to attack a defenseless man.

Even if I don’t know what it is, I should trust in that at least. Searching for the source of Corrin’s anger had somehow drilled home a point Kei had made the previous day. Even if he hadn’t killed anyone, the thief had attacked and injured several people. Regardless of his motives, Wyn shouldn’t–couldn’t overlook that.

After laying on the ground for another uninterrupted few seconds, Wyn staggered to his feet, the floorboards creaking underneath him. He didn't fail to notice how the thief flinched as he did so.

“Why didn't you run?”

The man's eyes flicked to the left towards the kitchen, no, towards the hallway.

He mentioned his wife, Wyn remembered.

Wyn sighed. “Damn it… Kei, can you go check that room?”

“What?” Kei’s voice squeaked. “Oh um yes, I can.”

She hurried down the hallway, disappearing around the corner as Wyn approached the thief. “Don’t try calling your pet all right? I’m already in a bad mood.”

“Kori isn’t my pet.” His response was quick and snappy, but he seemed to catch himself, and a moment later his face became more sullen. “Apologies, I won’t. There’s no point anymore, even if I ran you could just use my wife against me.”

Wyn scrunched his face, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I’m not going to–” He sighed, cutting himself off.

“I just wanted to help her,” the man said. “She’s got breathbane, but her constitution has always been weaker than most. She needed more expensive treatments, more potent medicines. We couldn’t afford it…”

“So you turned to theft.” Wyn finished.

“Yes.” He hung his head.

Footsteps sounded in the hall and Kei returned. “There’s a woman in the bedroom. She’s definitely got breathbane, though she was a bit disoriented, so it was difficult to talk to her.”

“Thank you,” Wyn said. It was good to know for sure, even if he wanted it to be a lie. He crouched down until his eyes were level with the thief’s. “I’m not going to blame you for doing what you did. You were desperate, and I understand that. But I can’t let you go either. You harmed innocent people, you put more in danger, you broke the law. Even if I can understand it… it was wrong.”

The man’s gaze dropped even lower, unable to meet Wyn’s eyes. “I understand.”

“Answer a question for me,” Wyn said. “How much will the remaining treatment for your wife cost?”

“It’s hard to say,” he muttered. “With her condition, it’s much more expensive than normal, perhaps around a gold mark?”

Wyn laughed dryly. It was just all so unbelievable, he couldn’t help but laugh, even as his fist clenched around the dust on the ground. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a single gold mark, letting it fall from his hand. There were nine more on his person, and after this, he’d get another ten.

What was the point of it all? He couldn’t help but wonder.

The coin clattered to the floor, clattering unceremoniously against the wood, bouncing once and rolling a short distance before it fell still. The thief’s eyes snapped to it in disbelief, and he stammered, trying to form words that sounded like the beginnings of a plea.

“I’ll cover it,” Wyn said, his voice bitter. “Your wife will get the treatment. So you won’t have to worry from your cell.”

Finally, the thief met Wyn’s eyes. “You would…” He lurched to his knees, pressing his head against the floor as his body began to shake. “Thank you, thank you! Thank you… thank you so much…” His voice heaved as he could no longer control his own sobs, and he dragged himself to where Wyn was crouching, grabbing his shoulders before pulling him into a hug.

Wyn let him.

A few minutes later, Wyn heard a mass of footsteps approaching from the doorway, and he turned his head to see several guards approaching. Whether they’d been sent by Corrin, or just come in response to the noise, he didn't know.

“What happened here?” The middle-aged man up front asked. His hand went to his side as he caught sight of the ruined kitchen.

Kei put herself between them and Wyn. “We’re here on business from the merchant’s guild! She held up a document of some kind, he’d seen Udyr hand it to her just before they set up in the warehouse, but he didn’t actually know what it was.

The guardsman took it and inspected it. His expression changed from confusion to shock, before settling on understanding. “I see, you must be the ones the councilor mentioned then.” He locked eyes with Wyn. “Younger than I expected. Is this the man you were after?”

Wyn nodded. So they were fine then? “It is. This is the thief that has been raiding the warehouses.”

“Must’ve been one hell of a scuffle.” He gestured towards the room around them.

“You could say that.”

“Get yourself checked out by one of the doctors around here,” the guard said. “You look like shit. We’ll take him from here.”

“Thank you, I will.” Wyn lifted up the thief, who seemed far more cooperative now, and handed him to the guards. If he hadn’t been punched through a wall, he might’ve gone with them just to be safe, but he could tell just by looking, the novice criminal wasn’t going to run.

They stuck around a little longer to ask Wyn a few questions, but soon, they marched off, taking the man with them. Wyn let out a long, long sigh.

It was over.