There was a nasty look in his eyes. The woman in front of him was smirking as he started to feel uneasy. Making a move, she disappeared as she made contact with him. It wasn’t exactly a frontal assault, instead, a punch was thrown at his face. Catching the blow, he heard her speak, “Shit, doesn’t seem to be going your way. But don’t feel bad, even I didn’t expect those children to be such monsters.”

This was a physical confrontation without mana, she was probing him for openings. The two continued to go back and forth as they played a dangerous game while watching the fight from the side.

Jessica was breathing heavy, while Saleh was panting to her side. In one move, Saleh had failed to react, a cut could be seen from his chin running up the side of his face. As they killed the Grade D the Grade C made a move.

It wasn’t anything special, she tried to deflect or even slow it down to give Saleh time to react. However, the second she was about to make contact with the sword swing, she was shoved aside. Her weapon didn’t even make contact as the mana in the sword literally pushed her aside. The swing wasn’t fast to begin with, neither was the man.

Saleh saw the entire thing. He dodged, only to still have a gash as if his skin decided to split on its own. That was to say without contact he had cut his face. The difference between Grade E and D was possible. This, however, was not.

“Any ideas?” Speaking to Saleh, as the man made another move. He stabbed forward with his sword. She brought both daggers on top of each other. Crossing them in front of her, she saw the sword come within a foot of her daggers before she felt her feet digging into the dirt.

Skidding back a good two feet. She felt soreness in her arms. Just blocking was already so dangerous, there was a crack in one of her blades. She felt like someone had just tried to strangle her.

There wasn’t even that much movement from her opponent. His face was becoming more and more wrapped as he began to increase his pace. Right now, his moves were all readable, as if he was constantly holding back.

“Nope, I am pretty sure we’re dead.”

“That’s not funny…”

“I am not trying to be funny. Right now, he is holding back to not leak his mana. Literally, he is barely using any mana. He is literally fighting with his physical prowess. That is to say, the mana being produced is just tiny bits coming out of his body naturally…”

“Very good, you’re right. Truly, I don’t want to do this either. However, who told you to be such a genius. Unlike you, I have things I have to do if I don’t want to die. So I request nicely, will you two please just die.” There was an ugly smile on his face right now. He was speaking rather quietly.

““Nope.”” The two spoke at the same time.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Jessica couldn’t help but stop trying to block unless she had to. Dodging a slash that was coming too fast to block even if she wanted to, “The longer we hold off, the more mana you have to use. The second you gain the upper hand, you know she will start using her mana…”

Being forced to stop as she bit her tongue. The pressure from a miss was enough to feel like she had just been sucker punched in the gut. Knocking the wind out of her.

As if trying to antagonize him further, Saleh continued, “That is to say, even if you do kill one of us. The second those two start fighting, even if you survive the fight. Do you think you will be able to escape the pursuit of the gray wolves?”

“Boss won’t abandon me.” Even though he spoke with deep confidence, the two could tell by his expression it was something he didn’t believe.

Saleh, smiled as he coughed up a bit of blood as there was a cracking sound as he was forced to block a kick after dodging a slash. Even during this, he couldn’t help but laugh, “So, we really are close to the Gray Wolf Tribe. What do you think will happen if one of us abandons the fight and runs for the hills screaming?”

He wasn’t quiet, in reply was two booms. The first was a loud explosion that came from the fight between the bandit boss and the woman. Second, came from their fight. Jessica became pale as Saleh took a bad blow.

Having slashed down, a kick had been followed up with. He was already shoved into the ground. She had heard the bones in either his arms or legs groaning. A vast deep ocean tide slammed into Saleh as he said this.

Mana for the first time had been used extensively by the Grade C. He pivoted and spun so fast she couldn’t follow it. Only by seeing his posture was she sure he had spun before slashing from below, causing Saleh to go flying back.

It was unknown if he was alive or dead. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her if she turned around, she would die. Almost inhumanly impossible, the Grade C didn’t pause. A hint of that ocean could be felt as he sent a second blow out as he simply reached out and sent a palm at her.

The dagger in her right hand crumbled under the pressure, it had already cracked. Now, for the first time, she watched as metal crumbled into clumps like a rock under a palm strike. Losing her grip as the entire dagger fell apart.

Her arm was blown up as she was slammed away. She felt like a wall had slammed into her. The only reason she was still alive was because the blow came directly after crushing the metal dagger. Even still, there was a rustic taste in her mouth. A ringing in her ears, while her sight were going black.

By this time, the exercise between the two Grade B’s came to a pause. The man looked with wide eyes. Fear was hidden deep in his eyes, to which caused the woman to pause. She could hear him cuss the man out as he turned tail and ran without hesitation.

The Grade C was oblivious to this. He was currently about to take a step as he paused midair. Whipping his head back, he saw a gray blur rushing towards him at unimaginable speeds. It was at that moment he realized there was a bigger issue. A massive burst of mana coming from the man he sent flying.

Saleh was currently muttering under his breath, his green eyes had turned a gray. His hair went completely blue as his hair grew from his hairline to his eyebrows, currently his mouth was protruding unnaturally as if part of his face was contorting forward.

A huge magic circle appeared without being drawn, as if it had always been there. Having been locked on by that gray blur, he could only curse under his breath as his mana was being forced to slow. Pushing off the ground, he disappeared from the spot as a meter diameter glacier came into being through the magic circle.

As a small group of gray wolves appeared they didn’t chase the man that had just run, instead staring at an unconscious man, in front of him a dozen or so feet was a bloody arm laying quietly on the ground.