Northwest pathway - morning

I stand on my own as I wait for the enemy to arrive. My heart is racing as I hear the roars of engines getting closer. My body is perfectly still, but my nerves are not as calm. I do not plan on running, but I can not evade this feeling of doubt... No, I mustn't allow this to overcome me; I must stand firm in mind and body.

"Father, give me your courage," I pray briefly.

The enemy has reached me. They break in front of me. The one driving the head car comes out to face me.

"You, who the hell are you," he demands.

"My name is Alexander! I am the man who is the reason the Anti-bandit army is."

"Anti-bandit army? So what, you the ones taking out our boys up here?"

"Yes!"

"Where the hell is your army!? They cut and run?" Laughter rains down from the insult. I keep silent as to not give him any satisfaction. "So, what are you gonna do? Gonna fight us all? Or maybe you gonna get on the ground and cry like a little bitch?"

"Such vulgar language is not necessary. Especially when you've been caught with your pants down."

"The shit are you talking about!?"

"Is it not obvious?" I hit him with the butt of my sword before he could react. As the other bandits make their move, tree logs tumble down towards the enemy's vehicles. They crash against the cars from both sides. "Everyone, the time is now! Show them our spirit, our will, our courage, and most importantly: our determination to win!"

I charge towards our enemy alongside the others. It will be a long, rigorous battle, but I will see us come through!

…

I recklessly drive through a forest with uneven ground with rocks, tree roots, and elevated ground, making it harder to drive steadily.

"S-slow down!"

My passenger is getting rattled by the rough driving. I can give less of a shit though.

"Shut the hell up! Are we close?"

"Yes, just about! Keep going straight and you'll make it."

I keep going forward, as he says. I can see a ledge. This is gonna be a bumpy ass landing!

“Hang on!”

We go over the ledge, going airborne. As we’re descending, I see a large cylinder object at a halfway upward angle. A bunch of bandits are gathered in the open-space area. Is this the place?

“Hey, are these the guys?”

“Yeah!”

“Good, now get lost.”

The bandit jumps off my bike and hightails it out of here. Bastard sure can run.

“Who are you,” one bandit barks.

“None of your goddamn business.”

“Look at this cheeky bastard, boys. Kid thinks he’s the shit.”

“Me? No, I just think fodder like you don’t need to know who’s gonna kick your asses.”

“You little shit! Come and bring it then!”

“Okay, you asked for it!”

I hit the gas, charging at them while doing a wheelie. They move out of the way but I’m not done! I go for a donut, hitting the ones that dodged.

“What the, who the hell is this kid?”

“The kid who’s gonna kick your ass!”

I ride my bike towards him. He dodges too early. I jump off my bike to dropkick him. My feet hit his head, knocking him down to the ground in one go.

“Guess that’s all of them then.”

“Not quite,” a new arrival corrects me.

“Huh?”

A man wearing a long coat walks out of the forest path behind me. He has long hair that reaches down to his back. His skin is pale, helping with the fear factor that his face is rocking with. His body isn’t as defined as the other bandits. He’s carrying a long, slender object in his hand.

“I take it you are with the enemy,” he asks me.

“Yeah, you got a problem?”

“It seems so. I am the 9th division captain of the Flame Wraiths. Azrael.”

“You’re a Flame Wraith too?”

“You seem to be familiar with us.”

“Fought one of you… 10th captain, I think.”

“Ah, the disgrace. His replacement is being selected as we speak. Do you know where he might have gone?”

“Nah, we let him go.”

“Shame, but I suppose that’s for the best. As for you, you shall not be so lucky.”

“Nah, my luck seems to be holding up. I already beat one of you, so what’s one more?”

“It would seem you think of us to be weak. I shall change that perception.”

He walks towards me. He’s not rushing, he’s just briskly walking. What the hell is with this guy? Whatever, I’ll open up with the first attack then! I charge for my enemy. I quickly close the gap between us. With a body like his, it looks like he'll go down if I hit hard enough. As I’m approaching, he places his other hand on the bottom end of the object he's holding. Alarms ring off in my head; I need to dodge! I vault over, using the enemy's head. He swung something right where I was standing. I use my legs to push myself away from him, using his back.

"Hm, you dodged it."

He's carrying a long blade with no point at the end.

"What the hell is that!?"

"It's a sword, obviously."

"That's too long to be called a sword!"

Shit, it's looking to be about 8 feet in length; 2 for the handle and 6 for the blade. It's good for the range.

"Well, child, shall we, or will you run?"

"Screw you, asshole. I ain't going nowhere."

"I see, then let us engage."

He once again walks to me. Is he just lazy? Whatever, I'll just run towards the bastard. Getting close, he swings his sword my way again. I slide under the attack. Damn, that was too close, but I can't stop now! I go for another attack while his back is turned.

"Pathetic."

In a blink of an eye, his sword zones in for my head. I block it with my sword. However, the force behind the attack is too great, my body is pushed to the side.

“Are you only capable of running and nearly dying?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Bastard is making fun of me!

“Tough shit for a guy who keeps missing his attacks!”

No sense in running at him, he’ll just block me, and if I get unlucky, he’ll kill me. I need to think about this. He starts walking towards me again. The point of his sword is lowered to the ground. I guess his sword will go upward if I try to get close to him.

“In that case, I’ll just do this!”

I throw a rock at the swordsman. It hits him right in the face. His reflexes aren’t top notch, so maybe I can make long-distance attacks work.

“Long-distance will not do.”

He breaks out into a sprint. His side comes upward towards me. I jump out of the way as I throw a rock in his face.

“Whoa, that was too close!”

“Seems as if you’ll be quite the annoying one.”

“Nah, we’re gonna have a fun time, so relax.”

Damn, I picked a hell of an opponent to fight. No matter, this is the best way to see how far I have come with my training.

Evacuation site - morning

Like a bullet, Nunnalé kicks off against the ground. She slides past her enemy, only for him to dodge her opening attack. Despite the setback, she jumps forward. Her target still manages to dodge her attack.

"You're fast, but not fast enough to catch me off guard," he comments.

"Nunnalé, hold back a bit! Don't go faster than you need to!"

While her speed is great, she has no control once she shoots forward.

"Understood, I shall commence proper engagement!"

"Come on then, let's see what you can do with that big sword."

Her enemy charges for her, despite the lack of a weapon. She goes for a slash as the gap closes between them, but he jumps over her to avoid the attack. He uses his feet to kick Nunnalé's back. He lands on his hands, only to push off the ground and onto his feet. Nunnalé doesn't question what happened, she just goes for another attack. Her opponent uses his agility to move out of the attack’s way. Nunnalé launches another attack, but he continues to dodge her attacks. The enemy evades her next attack by jumping over it, then planting his hands on Nunnalé's head.

"Ya know, you ain't exactly all that fun."

He then nimbly descends to the ground, feet first, while grabbing Nunnalé's dress from behind. He then attempts to throw her. However, she doesn't budge from her spot.

"What the!?"

"You're using my center of gravity to throw me to the ground. An interesting form of attack. However…" She breaks his grip by turning to face him. She delivers an uppercut, knocking him up into the air. "...Techniques like that shall not work on me."

The opponent breaks his fall, landing on his hands and legs like a cat.

"Damn, that was a damn good punch!"

"Master Richard, I am sorry for taking my time, but I wanted to see what the opponent is capable of. Now that I have a grasp of the enemies' abilities, I shall fight with my utmost ability."

She gets into a fighting stance that's prepared for her opponent.

"So you were warming up? That kind of pisses me off!"

He runs at her with reckless abandon. Nunnalé goes for a slash attack, but he once again jumps over her. However, she grabs his leg and slams him to the ground. She then goes for a punch, but Wildcard barely dodges it. He latches onto Nunnalé's arm.

"Gotcha!"

Despite the enemy's grasp of her arm, she doesn't seem vexed. Rather, she simply lifts her arm, as if nothing is weighing it down. She brings her body towards the ground with her arm crashing to it at an alarming rate. Noticing this, Wildcard lets go before her arm makes contact with the ground. Nunnalé's attack causes the ground beneath it to explode upward. The impact causes Wildcard to be blown off the ground. He’s vulnerable in the air. She kicks off into the air, kicking Wildcard upon contact.

“All right!”

I can’t help but pump my fist into the air from her successful attack. There’s no way her attacks didn’t leave him worse for wear. However, I can tell she’s holding back a great deal so as to not kill him. He comes crashing to the ground, rolling on his back. She stands in front of him with her blade aimed at his head.

“I recommend surrendering. If you do not, then I will be forced to inflict further damage upon you,” she threatens with her usual toneless voice.

“Heh, you got spin, I’ll give you that, girl. Might need to bust out the big guns.”

Wildcard whistles in a peculiar way; it’s not too loud but rather high-pitch. Right after that, a hoard of predator animals come rushing in. They’re charging for the people. Damn it!

“Nunnalé, go and defend everyone!”

“But you’ll be--”

“Just go!”

With a little reluctance, she heads after the animals. This leaves me with Wildcard. I approach him carefully. I spot the goggles on his forehead. He doesn’t seem to be conscious, so I can take them back now. My hand is almost about to touch the side of it. A hand suddenly grabs mine.

“Nobody touches my trophies.”

My neck is constrained by Wildcard’s legs. He uses them to throw me overhead. I land on my back, a shiver is sent through my body. My torso is hurting, but despite this, I work against the pain to get back up.

“How are you still conscious?” I ask him to grip the situation.

“Girl did bang me up, but I can still move, for the most part. I was waiting for her to drop her guard against me so I could do her in. But you fell for it instead.” So he was only playing possum? “None of that matters though, all that matters is that I take that sword from her.”

“Why?”

“It’s gonna be my trophy.”

“Like hell I’ll let that happen!”

“Ooh, did that make you angry? Don’t worry, you won’t be alive long enough to care.”

Northwest pathway - morning

The battle is growing more intense as the skirmish between the anti-bandit army and the Fire Wraiths rages on. My brother and I are fighting side by side. These guys are nothing but fodder that we’ve taken out before. But they must be riding with a Flame Wraith captain since they’re mounting an attack this big.

“Brother, we need to search for the Flame Wraith captain!”

“Why do you suspect there to be one?”

“There has to be one, for an attack this big, there needs to be.”

“I see, then we’ll all advance together!” Alexander hops onto the top of a nearby vehicle. Everyone,” he shouts. “We shall move together. To the last car in the back! Advance!”

As ordered, we all move towards the back. The bandits are getting more defensive as we advance. This must be it.

“Keep going forward!”

The others are holding off the bandits, keeping them from the car. This is our chance, let's drag the captain out! The last car is longer compared to the other vehicles here; it could probably fit a couple of people in there. There are several doors on the side of the car, with windows accommodating each one. On opposite ends of the car, Alexander and I make it to the last door. With a single nod from him, we open the doors at the same time. I point my spear at the entrance/exit point.

"Come out, or we're--"

"Shut up, you bastard!"

"Huh?"

Turning my head, someone is running up to me. They're about to deliver a kick to my chest. I evade it by rolling to the side. The attack breaks in the window.

"Shit, you made me break the damn window, you asshole!"

His physical appearance matches his nasty tongue. He has messy short hair that has short spikes. His clothes are torn up. He's wearing a black vest that has a design of flames while wearing no shirt.

"I knew you dickheads would come after the back car! See, I told ya they would!"

He points that remark towards the car.

"I see that, however, you shouldn’t speak to people like that, even if they are the enemy.”

A well-mannered voice scolds his ally. One of the doors from Alexander’s side opens. Another young man near Proxy’s age comes out. He’s wearing a suit with a tie, his pants match the black of his suit, they’re even neatly cuffed at the bottom. His hair is as short as the other one, but it’s well kept. But that’s not what caught me off guard; they both have the same faces.

“What the… Two of you at once?” Alexander gasps.

“Dumbass, don’t you know shit?”

“Zeal, please do not curse so much. It makes you seem redundant,” the neat bandit says, keeping his polite tone.

“Oh, sorry, brother,” the crude one nervously apologizes.

“Brother?”

“Yes, we are what you would call ‘twins’.”

“What is that,” I question.

“It’s siblings who happen to look the same. Me and my brother do.”

“I see, what a funny thing,” Alexander says.

“I concur. I always found it quite odd, yet funny,” the polite brother returns the comment with a light laugh.

“It must be confusing for people to figure out which of you they are talking to.”

“Not at all, they usually figure it out the moment one of us talks.”

“I see, I see. Is that why you wear unique attire as well?”

“Yes, but I am just a neat person in general.”

“I see…”

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous.

“Brother,” Zeal and I simultaneously call for our brothers.

“Yes?” they both respond.

“Shouldn’t we be killing these bastards?”

“Yeah, we’re enemies of each other, remember?”

“Ah yes, I almost forgot,” Alexander casually says.

“Sorry, we were having a nice chat, I got caught up in it.”

Both of them merrily laugh despite the current situation. I turn my attention to the enemy standing next to me.

“Hey, you want to start this off?” I ask him.

“Yeah, brother probably won’t until we start fighting.”

“Mine too.”

Without any other words, we immediately go at each other’s throats. He throws a straight punch, but my spear is superior in terms of length. As the tip of my blade is reaching near his neck, he steps forward, tilting his head the other way to avoid it. His right fist zooms in for my head. I manage to use the end of my spear to block the attack. I maneuver the spear around my body to slash the enemy. He jumps back, but it's too late, the side of the spear slices his chest.

"Damn, ya hit me!"

He kneels to the ground as he clenches his chest. The well-mannered brother runs up to his more temperamental brother.

"Brother, are you okay?" alarmed, he asks him to see if he’s alright.

"Yeah, I'm okay!"

“Let me take care of that wound.”

He places his hand on his brother’s chest. He removes his hand from his chest after a few seconds. The wound on his chest is gone!

"How are you feeling now?"

"Great, now I can kick their asses!"

"I didn't heal you so you can curse!"

"O-oh, sorry, bro."

The wound is gone! How did he do that...? Don't tell me…he has the same powers as Richard!?