I fired a series of punches while João used a sequence of kicks. The masked man used one hand each, kept a defensive pace and walked backwards in order to avoid being hit by João's gusts of air. He aimed a punch right at my windpipe, but I was saved by a small circle of water that formed at that exact moment. João managed to touch his belly with his fist. The enemy snarled and opened its arms, its energy had become more opaque. He tried to crush my friend's skull, but I protected him by running the water up to the sides of his head.

The three of us took a quick step back. For a moment, I noticed sparks of fire forming on João's left leg. I blinked twice. Impossible, he was air elemental. I returned my focus to the masked individual, who had his hands on his hips. I knew he was much stronger than the two of us put together, but holding him here meant… If we actually made it, it would mean a lot. And if I failed, I wouldn't reach Lumi...

I raised my arms, placed my left hand on my abdomen and made a circular motion with my right arm. João looked at me confused, but soon understood. I closed my eyes, let myself feel every particle of water that came from the heavens, every tiny drop that touched my clothes. I inhaled calmly, and soon my white aura appeared covering my body as I imbued my element.

I attacked again, only this time he used both hands to block my punch. The ground shuddered. João jumped over me and, as he spun, landed a kick on the enemy's shoulder. I needed to attack more. Without giving him time to breathe, I punched him in the stomach. The enemy reacted by blocking João's next kick. He spun my friend into the air and slammed him to the ground, then plunged a red dagger into his leg. João yelled, he failed to get up.

I tried to punch him, but his energy covered his back and repelled my attack. I, for a moment, had my arms pointed in the air, that was enough for him to hit me with a kick capable of breaking my aura and drawing blood.

I slammed into the wall of a building, and he came into view. I could hear his maniacal laughter as he slammed me into the wall, each punch that collided with my body heavier than before. My vision began to darken, my body was weak, my aura was fading and my energy reservoir was depleted. I tried to cross my arms to minimize the damage, but it felt like it could affect my bones. Using denser energy, he plunged his arm into my stomach. I vomited blood non-stop and felt myself going to the floor. I thought it was better that way, but he continued.

He covered his other arm with energy and hit my right eye squarely. I screamed as dropped to his knees. The pain made me cry, it seemed impossible to react. I braced my arms to watch him walk towards my friend. The masked man grabbed him by the neck and turned to face me.

“You know… I really do consider you a potential threat, Graced. I have to admit that this friend of yours” he turned his face to João. “surprised me too."

“Why did you come here? You have nothing to gain from Karin." Time, Bruno. Save time.

“You just need to know that I wanted to find someone strong, but this ridiculous town doesn't have anyone capable of scratching my mask."

A gust of fire came from the sky, damaging the arm that held my friend. He growled, I could feel the frustration build up inside him. The yellow-eyed friend, Kashi, posed between him and João. She was holding two flaming swords, her yellow hair gave off sparks of fire, her body seemed to emanate some kind of steam in aura.

“Maybe I can."

Hope was the first word that came to my mind. The enemy's arm was bleeding, his elbow — once protected by energy — was reduced to raw flesh. The girl analyzed João's condition and then mine. Her eyes were a shade of yellow and red combined, maybe it was… like some kind of transformation.

"Can you get up? Reinforcement is on the way." She directed her gaze to the masked man, who, again, covered his arm with energy. "Take your friend out of here while I make him pay."

I nodded, but my body was exhausted. I was unable to react, my arms felt like stones, my eye burned and throbbed more and more every second. Seal, Bruno, you still need to find your friend.

Kashi slammed her swords into his red dagger, the thud so loud a buzzing reached my ears. They started the combat, our friend had a lot of offensive power. Each of her strikes brought a gust of fire capable of scorching the ground, even with the masked reaction of trying to cut her was ineffective. Why? It looked like the slashes were repelled by an instant defense in the midst of fire.

She reached out as she aimed for the neck, but he ducked, brought his knees forward and arched his spine. It was a trap. He put his hand on the floor to steady himself and aimed the dagger at her chest. Kashi's face was filled with despair, it was going to be a fatal blow. However, he forgot about me.

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I reached out, spread my hands and forced myself to feel the pools of water around me. It gave me a horrible headache, but it worked. I clenched my fist and a barrier formed in front of my friend, blocking his dagger. She took the chance and walked away. By the way her breathing was heavy, I could tell that using that amount of power was too much.

I got to my feet. I knew this would drain me for days, but I had to. I analyzed the scenario for a moment. Keeping him here and waiting for backup was the main focus, and he's definitely seen it. Which led me to think we might be being scammed. His energy is far from depleted and even further from peaking. The headache and my throbbing eye made me stagger, but I pulled myself together.

He just wanted to buy time, why? Did I miss something? Regret hit my chest as I considered the possibility that he was involved in the fire in the forest where my friend was. I swallowed hard, my hands tingled and the blood pulsing in my ear grew louder. Cum. Seeing the enemy with the sword behind my friend brought me back to reality.

"Kashi!" I screamed, as I saw her get a cut on her back.

She dropped to one knee, and — as before — I knew he was going to continue. I prepared my spell again, but an arrow that came from the heavens destroyed his magic dagger. Kashi fell to his knees and someone else entered in front of him. Black hair, he wore leggings and a dark T-shirt. She held a wooden spear with a metal tip. I never saw her.

“Stay away from my sister." She said in a threatening tone, I could feel her aura accompanied by frustration.

João stood on one leg. There was blood and bruises all over his body, but he was there. Kashi got up and gave a weak smile to his sister, then pointed his two swords at the enemy and positioned his legs; however, his fire power had ceased. Another girl appeared from the roof of a house with a jump, she entered the battlefield and pointed her bow at the enemy. She had beautiful light blue eyes, her straight black hair flowed past her shoulders. His bow and arrow was of white wood and his leather quiver contained three blue arrows.

I gave it my all to stay on my feet. Now we were down to five. He remained static, calmly awaiting our next move. I wondered how strong he really was... It was important information for when I went to hunt him down. His eeyore mask turned to me. He raised his arm and pointed his index finger. Shit. But, contrary to what I expected, he laughed.

"Sálazi Gát" the guy said, his tone calm. "And you, Bruno… you lost."

Salazi turned his back and ran. I found myself helpless as he fled, my body refusing to chase him. With the exception of João, the others ran after him. Áki launched an arrow capable of creating a trail on the ground, but the enemy caught it with his hand without even looking back. I clenched my teeth at the thought of him. Coward. I would kill him, he wouldn't get away with it. That's when it finally hit me, a trail of energy landed on my radar, like a small ant facing off against an elephant. Again, I felt my heart sink. I analyzed the energy more clearly; It was familiar, it was a person unable to access magic… and he was being attacked.

I heard Joao yell at me as I broke into a run. I could give in at any moment, but none of that mattered. He was buying time for someone else to kill my friend. How did I let this go? I turned into a dark corridor, one street before the fountain, where I felt the energy. Those masked ones would pay, they would feel my fury.

The weight of weariness hit me like a rare gravity spell, and with the weight, I felt my head hit the wall. I forced my leg to stay upright. Strength, Bruno. Before leaving the hall, I went to the floor, the darkness bit by bit consuming my only open eye. I left the hall and, at that moment, I felt the drop of sweat that descended on my face, time was slower than usual and the silence ceased the throbbing in my ears.

Lumi was hit with some kind of dark weapon. The man in the green hood raised his gun and quickly positioned himself to plunge it into my already half-dead friend's chest. The pounding of my heart became the only sound present, and the widening of my eyes felt like being punched thanks to the previous damage. My vision blurred with the tears that formed, I screamed like a child that had just been taken away from its mother. The time, the situation, the danger, the masked man, him. Nothing else mattered.

Until the hooded man turned on me, his red eyes emanating pure hatred. I squeezed my hand so hard my nails pierced my palm. The water shield had formed around Lumi. Fuck, I made it. But that gaze fixed on me. The pressure of bloodlust carried an enormous murderous aura, the fact that I was in his presence made my legs wobble; He was worse than the other. He aimed his shadow dagger and swung it, causing a small barrage of dust.

Gave shit. I took the flare and pointed it up. It was my only chance, fighting was out of the question. I squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. He took a single step closer as I desperately tried to trigger this shit. I ducked to dodge his attack, but my body was weak and it went straight to the ground. The flare bounced close to the fountain, my only hope gone from me.

I rolled to dodge his kicks. They seemed to be charged with a different type of mana, something closer to dark magic with more density. A blow like that could shatter my ribs. Then Lumi… I stood up and tried to land a punch. Though he dodged easily, I managed to keep one hit on every dodge. My injuries made it more complicated, but the water was helping me… without me having to use mana.

His dagger scraped across my belly, and it was like he'd hit the surface of a pond. I spun around and landed a roundhouse kick to his stomach — it was enough for him to pull away, but my leg stopped reacting. He broke the distance in a single swift step and landed a shadow-filled punch straight into my stomach. I flew until I was six feet away from the fountain — and three feet from the flare. I knew I was going to lose in a fight, but I came with another goal.

He undid the dagger and started walking at a slow pace. I stood on one leg and let a smile escape, his confused expression gave me confidence to carry out my plan — I raised my arms and opened my fingers as much as I could. For a moment I pondered my physical state, I had one leg down, one eye not working, my hair had fallen out and clung together from sweat and blood and I could feel a few cracked ribs.

“You forgot…” I gasped. “My element is water."

All the water in the fountain formed in a huge wave behind me. He tried to pierce the barrier that protected Lumi, but his fists were ineffective against my circular shield. I launched the wave like a serpent at the enemy, it made him cross his arms and channel an absurd amount of black energy into his legs. In the time I had, I crouched down and picked up the fucking flare. I fired in the air without thinking twice, and, on my knees, I saw the enemy approaching.

“The Epilogue should be here, Graced by Mana." Those were his last words before disappearing from my vision that was getting dark.

I hit my face against the ground, getting up was beyond my ability. The shield around Lumi fell apart, he looked as bad as I did. I heard several voices screaming my name, with what little I saw I could tell that he was some royal knight from the ten kingdom. Great. I really tried. What is this nickname of "Graced by Mana"? Oh, maybe I should think about it when...

Feeling my strength leave me, I took one last breath before giving in to exhaustion.