Before the final words left the armored idiot’s mouth Abigail already started her reinforcement technique. At her level of skill her perception of time was slightly altered, it sped up her thoughts giving her more time to assess the situation. First, Abigail spurred Angel forward, she kept her mana sense more focused on Thomas, she smiled as she watched him roll off of Mila. She would keep an eye on her friend and would intervene if he was going to die but she had seen how much he had grown recently.
Even mentally she liked calling him that, it felt so good. She didn’t have that many true friends, but she thought he counted. With a mental nudge she pushed those idle thought away, so they didn’t distract her from the upcoming fight.
With a push of mana, a sheet of ice appeared to block the incoming crossbow bolts. She didn’t let her control over the sheet of ice waver as the crossbow bolts hit, she then pushed again. Causing the ice to shatter sending the sharp ice flying towards the crossbowman. She knew that would kill them.
She never lost track of everyone on the battlefield, having her mana sense pushed out wide covering the surrounding area. The three men to the right Thomas could handle based off of how clumsy the bandits were moving. It would be a rough fight but a good learning opportunity for her friend.
The four on her left Angel would deal with or at least keep distracted so she can quickly kill the armored idiot in front of her. Mila was slinking around the hill, and she could handle the two stragglers that were there to reinforce whoever was losing. Not that it would ever come to that. The armored idiot wouldn’t be a problem, especially if she decided to use her Will.
Truly he was an idiot, who would try and fight two people who were as well armored and unbothered as they were. The number advantage would help but numbers mean little in front of true power. She had seen that firsthand when her father fought off an entire corrupted mana beast horde.
She was stronger than this armored man, and it was made clear when he first stepped out and she focused with her mana sense. Putting a little bit of Will and intent behind, not enough to truly notice if he wasn’t strong enough. He didn’t react at all, if he was up to her level, he should have pushed it back with his own mana sense, almost automatically really. Maybe he was trying to fool her, but she doubted it, someone at her level could get hired almost anywhere and wouldn’t need to resort to banditry.
She thought and observed all of this in a second, it was time for her to have a fun little fight. She leapt off of Angel, her trusty mount turned to the left and started sending ice shards towards the bandits on that side.
In the air she made three swords of ice and sent them flying towards the bandit leader. She watched him snarl as he dodged and sent a ball of fire towards her in response. Getting a brilliant idea, she made another sheet of ice but changed the shape slightly and angled it. The ball of fire hit her ice and exploded, the flames where redirected right towards the bandits on her left. Hearing their screams she knew it was a success. Letting the residual heat cancel out her ice. She landed and was ready for a good fight, hopefully he could do that.
The armored idiot as she liked to call him, grabbed the massive two-handed sword in front of him. He lashed out with a cleaving strike that she ducked under and tried to close the distance between them. It almost surprised her when he reacted properly and backstepped while properly using the momentum of the sword strike to stay balance. That first strike showed he was at least okay with his weapon.
Maybe she should have fun with the fight. Double checking her mana sense, she checked the situation again. Mila already killed one of the hiding bandits and was moving to the second. Her trick with the fire killed two of the other bandits and Angel used that opportunity to make an ice spear killing another. Now her trusted mount was working on finishing the other one with ice. Thomas had successfully wounded the first bandit on his side and looked like he was going to do the same with the next second. He wasn’t in any danger so yes; she will take her time and enjoy the fight. Hopefully he would remember to keep all his opponents in his line of sight so she wouldn’t have to interfere.
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With a smile she knew Thomas thought was evil she launched herself forward towards the armored idiot. He lashed out again in another sweeping slash to try and cut her in two. Her much smaller sword wasn’t suited to block or parry unless she truly tried. Instead, she would just resort to footwork, what she considered the main part of her fighting style. Sliding under the attack she pushed in closer and aimed a cut to his arm but again the man created space. At least he understood how to keep his balance with just a large weapon.
She kept the pressure on him but he would always keep the distance between them so he wouldn’t be threatened. The pure hate on his face made it clear that he wasn’t used to being on the back foot. He lashed out again with his sword and when she slid out of the way he launched a fireball at her. She smirked as she used her most used defensive skill, a sheet ice appeared in front of her. Fire would normally be the best counter for her ice, but she put her Will into the ice. She Willed it to be strong, not to falter under the heat, and it didn’t. The armored idiot didn’t have do the same, so he was somewhat surprised when the fireball exploded without affecting her ice at all. The idiot wasn’t completely caught off guard when the ice broke and the shrapnel pelted him. He had seen it before but still the grunts of pain gave her some satisfaction.
Sending out four swords of ice at him, she was disappointed when he just sent a wave of fire towards her to defend against it. Instead of a sheet of ice this time it was a full wall, the fire broke apart against it. Sighing, she flooded her body with more mana and did her full defensive technique. Her body was covered in another layer of armor but made of ice that was darker than her normal ice.
Rounding the wall, she charged at the idiot, and he again seemed surprised which quickly turned into even more hatred. He roared and launched as stream of fireballs at her, she didn’t even stop moving and let the fire break against her ice armor. Pushing more mana throughout her body she closed and sent a cut towards his side, that he tried to block. When their blades met, he was caught off guard with the power behind the strike. When he stumbled Abigail lashed out with a kick at his now defenseless leg. It landed, breaking his knee, as he screamed in pain and fell. He tried to lash out with his fire and sword, but her armor stopped them, and she finished it cleanly. A quick flick and twist of her blade through the gap in his neck armor was all that was needed. The man bled out in seconds ending the fight.
The armored idiot didn’t even put up a decent fight, would have been better if he had better mana control or able to use his Will properly. It was laughable, someone at the liquid stage shouldn’t have been so weak or maybe her standards were too high. At least she got to stretch her legs a bit. She ruffled through his cloths and grabbed anything that looked important. She got a large smile when she pulled off the pouch on his side and when she opened it, she realized it was a spatial pouch. Finishing her search she even found his adventure card that noted his name, Leon Cress, and that he was B-ranked. She would need to look into that, why was an adventurer doing banditry. Even if he was a weak B-ranked he should have still been strong enough to make a decent living. She would go through his spatial pouch later to see if there was any evidence of what could have led him to end up as a bandit.
Standing up she looked over at Thomas to see how he was doing but the sight of him caused a pang of pain in her chest. She could see him shaking while looking at the bandits he killed. She knew what he was going through, she had experienced the same thing after she killed her first person. She didn’t like seeing someone she cared for hurting like he was. When he looked up at the sky and started to control himself it eased her a little of her worries. She thought he would be okay but maybe talking to her would help him. Right now, it seemed like he needed to be alone for a bit.
She quickly walked over to the other bandits that were slain and looted their valuables, the ones Mila got ahold of where a gory messes. The two Angel killed where finished off cleanly with ice piercing them. She checked on the two mounts making sure they weren’t hurt, which they weren’t thankfully. Quickly moving the bodies to the side of the road, she finally walked up to Thomas. Who was still just watching the setting sun and breathing in long control breaths.
In a soft voice she asked, “You can talk to me about it if you want, I understand what you are going through.”