The bandits grinned as they slowly started to encroach on the carriage. Mavis and Viktor were ready for a fight but being outnumbered would make it more difficult.

“Hey,” Mavis whispered to Viktor. “You got any plans?”

“Yeah.” Viktor said with a grin. “Win and get them safely to the next town”

Viktor was obviously not one to make plans. As Mavis didn’t know much about Viktor’s capabilities as a fighter, she couldn't draft a good plan to fit with their two man team herself. They would just have to wing it.

“Stand back, boys.” One of the bandits said to his men, stepping forward. “I wanna see what Mr. Pretend Knight’s got, ‘mself.”

The rest of the bandits halted their approach at this one’s command. Mavis and Viktor figured he must be their leader. He had a large axe slung over his shoulder, which he was holding with only one hand. As he approached, the party could hear the other bandits snickering

“Hehe, Keith’s gonna do ‘im in for sure.”

“At least leave ‘im a little bit alive so the rest of us can ‘ave some fun, Keith.”

They were confident that this Keith could kill Viktor easily. He was a fairly large, muscular man. Anyone would build up muscles like his swinging around an axe the same size as the one he was carrying. Viktor drew his sword as Keith approached. He would have been completely unfazed by the large man approaching him with the intent to kill him if it wasn’t for the rancid odour he was exuding. Without even realizing, his face scrunched up in discomfort. Keith grinned at the sight, mistaking it for fear.

“What’s the matter? Got ya pissin’ yer pants?” He said mockingly.

Viktor held his sword with one hand and covered his nose with the other. “What the hell, man? Out of all the things you steal from merchants, is soap not one of them!?”

Keith looked furious. His prey had started mocking him because of his smell. He looked at Mavis next to Viktor. She noticed his gaze and started joining in on the mockery, making gagging noises and motions.

“THAT’S IT I’M KILLING BOTH OF YOU RIGHT ‘ERE!” He shouted as he raised his battleaxe with a war cry. Plunging his axe downwards, he hit Viktor square in the shoulder, causing a loud TING as the metal of the axe hit the metal of Viktor’s pauldron, the force of the blow causing Mavis’ long hair to blow back. Keith grinned as he landed a direct hit, but it didn’t last long as his expression changed to one of confusion. Viktor was still standing, giving Keith a wide grin. Keith slowly looked to where the axe had hit and sure enough, it was on Viktor’s shoulder, or more precisely, it was resting on his pauldron. He had swung as hard as he could yet he still dealt no damage. He looked at Viktor’s armour, thinking that it might have been enchanted to be more durable, but even if that was the case, he still should have been able to at least crack it. The pauldron that was struck was still in pristine shape.

“You are an irredeemable thug.” Viktor started saying in a low voice. “You have no qualms killing the weak and innocent and take pleasure in doing it. These people are just trying to live their lives. You. Are. Evil.”

Keith didn’t have time to ask him what he was babbling on about. Viktor had already swung his sword and cleaved the bandit clean in two. His torso sliding off his lower half and hitting the ground at the same time his legs toppled over. The blood spurted and hit Viktor in the face. The other bandits saw their leader get cut in two and the man who did it looked unfazed. They had three options. One: Running away. Two: Surrendering and letting them get tied up and thrown in a prison cell. Three: Double down and fight to the death. In their panic, they chose the third option as one of the bandits yelled to the others.

“H-hey, Keith’s dead. I’m in charge now. If you don’t want to end up like him, kill them quickly!”

The rest of the bandits yelled and charged at the carriage. Mavis didn’t have time to be shocked at what she just witnessed. She didn’t peg Viktor as the type to be able to kill someone, even a ruthless bandit, so easily. But that conversation would have to wait. She reached into her pockets, procuring her metal pipes she used to her flaming brass knuckles.

“FLAMME: IRON KNUCKLE”

The flames arched and hardened like they did when she fought Matthis. One of the bandits lunged at her, thinking he had an easy target not realizing the magical feat she just pulled off. Mavis got low and leapt towards the bandit, getting under his guard, and landed a quick jab to his gut. The bandit felt the searing pain of not only the impact of a punch aided by an object with the hardness of metal, but said object being made of fire. He wanted to scream in pain but couldn’t as the blow had knocked the wind out of him. Mavis went for a second attack, an uppercut to the jaw, which sent the bandit flying upwards and knocked him out immediately, leaving him with a severe burn.

Mavis turned around as she saw two other bandits trying to slice at Viktor with machetes. However, he wasn’t fighting back. Their blows were landing, but Viktor wasn’t bleeding. In fact, they weren’t even leaving so much as a mark on him. Viktor grinned at them as the bandits were growing increasingly frustrated.

“WHY THE BLOODY HELL CAN’T I CUT ‘EM!? IS THIS THING DULL!?”

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

“You’re the ones who are dull.” Viktor quipped back at them. “You should know that no evil can penetrate my shield. With my Talent, no evil shall lay any harm on me!”

Viktor’s Talent, Justice Shield, was built for defense. The more ‘evil’ he deemed whoever or whatever was attacking him, the less damage he would take from them. As he was a man of very firm beliefs, he saw bandits, as well as anyone who would do harm to an innocent person simply for their own gain, as irredeemable evil. As such, he was practically impervious to their attacks. As if making a show of it, Viktor dropped his sword. He then raised his fist with an exaggerated motion and punched the bandit on the left in the face with his metal gauntlet, sending him flying backwards with cuts on his face from the pointy bits on the knuckle. As the bandit on the right watched his buddy fly from the impact, he took a blow to the face as well from Viktor’s spiked gauntlet that he wasn’t ready for, knocking him out instantly.

As Mavis was in awe of Viktor’s exceeding her low expectations of him, another of the bandits leapt at her from behind, trying to get her while she was distracted. Mavis had noticed him, however and spun around, delivering a roundhouse kick to his head. He, like his comrades, went unconscious. Two of the three remaining bandits went straight for Andrew and Jeorg, two of the unarmed civilians that Mavis and Viktor were trying to protect. They thought they could demoralize them by killing them but before they could reach them, they heard Mavis call out.

“Courant Électrique: Lasso”

Her flaming knuckle dusters sputtered out as she dropped the metal rods. She thrusted her hand forward as lightning shot out from her hand towards the bandits. It, however, did not act like a normal bolt of lightning. It behaved as if Mavis had thrown a rope at them. It formed a wide noose and surrounded both of the bandits, closing in on and restraining them as Mavis pulled on the lightning rope. The two bandits caught in it screamed as they felt the electricity zapping at their nerves, giving them a mighty shock. Mavis used her strength to pull the rope upwards then downwards behind her. The bandits were lifted up into the air in an arch, the sent plummeting back down to the ground behind Mavis, all while being continuously shocked by the spell. Mavis breathed a sigh of relief as she released the spell, and the unconscious bandits. But that relief didn’t last long as she heard a woman’s scream. She and Viktor, along with Jeorg and Andrew turned to see the last remaining bandit holding Gloria with a knife to her throat. In the confusion and rush of the battle, Mavis had forgotten she was there and had let the bandit take her hostage while she was busy dealing with his buddies.

“NOW I’M ONLY GONNA SAY THIS ONCE, YA HEAR!” The bandit loudly exclaimed. “IF YA DON’T WANT THE BITCH TO GET AN EXTRA BREATHIN’ HOLE, DO AS I SAY AND DON’T MOVE A SINGLE MUSCLE ‘TIL I TELL YA TO.”

Everyone froze. The merchants looked terrified, especially Andrew. His wife was being held at knife point and used as a hostage. He wanted to speak but the fear of what the bandit might do if he did stopped him. Mavis had an expression of shock and guilt. She thought to herself if she had been paying more attention to Gloria instead of getting swept up in the battle, they wouldn’t be in this situation. It was her job to protect her and she already blew it. Viktor, however, looked angry beyond belief. He was staring at the bandit with a look that could kill a man. The bandit looked at him and sneered.

“Not so high and mighty now, ain’t ya Mr. Knight-in-Shinin’-Armour.”

He chuckled to himself, getting high on the position he was in.

“I’ll tell ya what. Yer all merchants. Ya know how trading works so lets make one.”

They all held their breaths, waiting for the man to make his demands. Thoughts and fears of what he might be getting at.

He continued speaking in a low, confident tone. “Let’s not trade in gold or goods. Let’s trade in lives. If you all end yers, I’ll spare the woman’s. How’s that?”

Andrew and Jeorg were shaking. They didn’t want Gloria to die, but they were scared at the thought of dying themselves. Viktor looked more furious than ever but couldn’t do anything against the bandit physically. He was too far away and wouldn’t have time to attack or disarm him before he could kill Gloria. The bandit looked at all of their expressions, relishing in their despair and anger. As his gaze got to Mavis, he saw her eyes were vacant, and her lips were moving ever so slightly, as if muttering to herself.

“Oi, you, blondie with the knife ears, speak up! I can’t hear a word yer saying.”

And speak up, she did, but in a monotone voice. As if she was in a trance, she called the name of a spell.

“Tenebris Amplexibus.”

The bandit looked confused. He had no knowledge of the arcane so he thought she was speaking gibberish. But then, he felt something cold touch his face. Then his forearm. Then his leg. He saw pitch black hands grabbing at him. He started to panic, not knowing what exactly was holding on to him. His grip on Gloria loosened as he started to futilely squirm to get the hands off him. Gloria took the first chance she could to escape from his hold on her and ran towards and embraced Andrew. Everyone looked in shock as more and more black hands reached around and grasped the bandit.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS!? WHERE DID THEY COME FROM!?”

As he looked backwards, he found his answer. The hands were materialising from his own shadow, as well as the shadow of the carriage, and they were multiplying. He struggled to escape but to no avail. Once the black hands had a good grip on him, they started to pull him closer to the shade and to the ground. As he fell, he expected an impact, but it didn’t come. Instead, it felt like he was floating in a pool of water. None of this made sense to him. He panicked and struggled more, screaming out of fear for the hands to let him go. The others watched in horror as the man was slowly sinking inside the carriage’s shadow. They watched as Mavis slowly approached the terrified man. When she was close enough to him, he looked in her eyes, and saw nothing. An empty look. It was as if she wasn’t fully aware of what was happening right in front of her.

“H-hey! I know this is yer doing! You said something and hands appeared! Stop and I'll leave you all alone!” The bandit started pleading but Mavis kept the same dead stare at him. As he sunk deeper into the shadow, he could hear faint, eerie whispers. There was something on the other side, which terrified him even more. “PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRY! I’LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN! PLEASE JUST LET ME GO! I’M BEGGING YOU!”

The bandit continued to beg and plead but it was falling on deaf ears. Tenebris Amplexibus is a shadow magic spell that binds the victim and slowly sinks them into a pocket dimension similar to the ones that hammerspace satchels use to store items. Except this one is filled with horrors meant to mentally break the target. It is a cruel spell that has had many proposals by lawmakers to outlaw it as forbidden magic due to how inhumane it is. It is not a spell meant to kill, but to only make the victim suffer as much as possible.

“PLEASE! I’LL DO ANYTHING!” The bandit yelled one last time. As he was about to be plunged into the darkness, a loud voice shouted.

All that came from Mavis were the elvish words, “Majisu… palus…” (Never… again…)

“MAVIS! STOP!” Mavis had snapped back to reality, the vacant look in her eyes was gone. The black hands enveloping the bandit had dissipated and he was no longer sinking into a void. Mavis looked to who had shouted to her and saw Viktor with a worried look and the merchants with as much fear in their eyes as the bandit. While Mavis wasn’t looking, the bandit, with tears in his eyes, scrambled to his feet and dashed away as fast as he could.

Mavis slowly looked around to readjust to her surroundings. The last thing she remembered was Gloria being taken hostage and the ultimatum the bandit had given them. She had felt like she could see or think and had blacked out. Having come to, she started realizing and remembering what had happened.

“Good… good work, everyone.” She said, awkwardly stumbling on her words. “We really gave those bandits what for!” She let out a fake laugh before suddenly jumping into the back of the carriage.