After wiping his face, Jon stood up with his blunderbuss in hand, ready to depart. However, Hector had approached Jon with a different idea.

“I think you should hang back,” Hector said. “I know you did well last time, but we’ll be in a close-quarters situation this time, and I’d rather not have you involved this time.”

“Hector,” Mallory started, "you shouldn't-”

“That goes for you too, Mallory,” Hector said.

“But, like, Hector, I’m like, your partner, you know?” Mallory said. "Don't we always stick together?"

“That’s 'cause it's nessecary! Now..."

Hector looked over at Sabez and Tallow.

“We have other people who can hold their own weight... apparently. Also, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So, I need you to hang back and watch Jon, okay.”

Mallory put his hands on his hips. “Sure.”

Hector breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”

He began to walk away.

“You sure you’re not just trying to impress that girl?” Mallory asked.

“No!” Hector yelled, not even bothering to turn around.

Jon looked to Mercy, wanting to know her opinion.

She grimaced. “For once, Jon, I might agree with him.”

Jon nodded.

Jon then looked to Sabez, who picked up his glance.

“...I will keep your friends safe,” he said. “On my word.”

Jon believed him.

Sabez walked towards the door with the others behind him. Tallow gave Jon a curious stare before following after.

“...Okay,” Mallory patted Jon on the shoulder as soon as the door closed. “We’re going on the roof.”

“Oh…” Jon was surprised.

“Hector said stay back," Mallory said. "He didn’t say don’t get involved.”

“Okay.” Jon nodded.

Mallory led Jon to the back of the inn. They climbed up the narrow staircase until there they reached a door that was fixed into the ceiling above them.

Mallory opened it, and he and Jon climbed through.

They both got low and crawled to the edge of the building.

They hadn’t climbed very high. The building was only two stories tall.

Jon could see his allies lined up in front of the building, almost like they were right under his nose. Across from them were several more people in white outfits standing menacingly.

Vindazi… They reminded Jon of the farmers in the way that they all seemed to wear the same clothing. Jon wondered if maybe there were small differences he couldn’t notice, or even if they wore different colors when other people weren’t around.

“I already told you, the girl must come with me,” Sabez said. “This is an order from High Command.”

“And we have also received an order from High Command,” the large man said, drawing his sword.

Sabez responded while also drawing his sword.

“I believe you, I’m afraid to say.” He sounded genuine.

“Uhh… Jon…”

Jon turned to Mallory, who was looking behind them.

Jon looked back as well to see one of the Vindazi standing behind them.

“No… sudden… movements-"

“This is ridiculous!” Hector's scream shook Mallory in place. “You don’t get interrupt my mission and make demands-”

“Sudden movements, now,” Mallory amended.

Jon didn’t know what a sudden movement was. He did notice that the Vindazi man behind him began his approach, drawing his blade.

Jon decided the most sudden thing he could do was pull the trigger on his gun, which he had held on two in front of him as he was laying down, especially because there wouldn’t be enough time to do anything else.

Surprisingly, the blast knocked Jon backward, making him roll over his head until he had passed underneath the Vindazi man and slowed down until he was sitting up on the other side of the roof.

The Vindazi man was stunned but quickly adapted to run after Jon.

He didn’t get far, as his movement was stopped by a chain of blue energy wiped around his ankle.

He looked at Mallory, who gave a small wave.

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“You might want to find something to hold on to,” he said.

Jon pulled the trigger on his gun and blasted the man backward off of the roof.

Both Jon and Mallory fought to stand up quickly.

“Our cover's blown!” Mallory said as Jon jogged back over to his side.

Jon could hear the noises of the battle below. He could see a glimpse of fire and wanted to observe what was happening.

He was distracted by repeated harsh patting on his shoulder by Mallory.

“They’re here!” Mallory said. “Come on!”

Turning, Jon saw two more Vindazi men hop onto the roof.

“Why don’t we get that many?” Mallory asked.

Jon quickly fired the gun again, the blast pushing him into Mallory and launching them both off the roof.

Mallory, screaming, quickly extended his hand.

As they fell, a rope of blue energy extended from his wrist and latched on to the roof of the next building.

From their descent, they smoothly fell into a swing, ending when Mallory let go and the two of them crashed into the back of a wagon with hay in it.

“That… was the most exercise I’ve had in my life…” Mallory said, breathing hard as he pulled himself up.

Jon sat up as well. “Sorry.”

This was surprising. Jon hardly felt any pushback from the gun at all, let alone full blown blowback. Heck, he hardly felt any recoil. The gun moved in its hand as if it was reacting to strong movements, but Jon figured that it was just to make him feel more comfortable.

“You’re crazy, man,” Mallory said, still catching his breath. He then looked over to the fight.

“Ah, Hector!” Mallory ran off the back of the wagon and towards the fighting.

Hector was impressively fending off two of the Vindazi members himself. When he wasn’t swinging or deflecting with his sword, he was using his free hand to swat away at his opponents with waves of fire.

“Don’t… distract me!” Hector yelled.

Mallory raised his hand. “Cross pattern attack!”

Between all of the fighting, Jon somehow caught the sounds of an exasperated sigh.

Hector ducked a high attack and made a strong movement away from the two Vindazi.

Jon first thought Hector was running away, but Hector had instead made a leap into the air.

Thin blue squares appeared in the air. Hector quickly bounced off each of the squares with one foot each until he was above and behind his opponent's heads.

Before they could react, Hector made a large sweeping movement with his sword.

A fan of fire was drawn across the air, flattening his two targets into the ground.

Hector landed casually on the floor.

“See, it worked!” Mallory said.

Hector grumbled. He then noticed Jon.

“Jon! Mercy went off in the other direction,” he said, pointing away from the fight. “See if you can help her, seeing as you guys are involved now…”

He and Mallory rushed off to the rest of the fighting. Jon turned around and went down the street.

Now that it was after sunset, there weren’t as many people outside. The streets were free for Jon to move around as he looked for Mercy.

He eventually heard some screams echoing in a nearby alleyway.

He ran inside, looking around to find anything.

He heard movements, but the area was empty.

Eventually, he saw a body leap over the roof.

Mercy.

He ran back out onto the main streets and followed after. Eventually, Mercy had made a large leap, crossing over to the other side of the street over Jon.

As Jon watched her leap he also saw another one of the Vindazi members leaping after her.

Not able to stop his momentum to get a good stop, he leaned back until he was sliding on the floor.

Jon was surprised by this, but he held on to his bearings and fired the gun.

Mercy’s pursuer was knocked out of the air mid-flight.

Jon was glad. Except that he kept sliding.

He slid until he stopped at the feet of another of the Vindazi clan.

Both parties were stunned, but Jon reacted first, blasting his target away with his gun.

Mercy caught up to him as he stood up.

“Are you like, just incredibly lucky, or amazing?” Mercy asked.

Jon had begun to shrug, but Mercy’s attention was already drawn away.

“Hector’s in trouble!” she said. “They stopped chasing me!”

Sure enough, several white robe figures had made their way swiftly towards Hector and Mallory, who was still preoccupied with their own fight.

“...Jon, shoot me! Like Hector!” Mercy said quickly.

“Uhh... “ Mercy leaped up and landed on top of the barrel of Jon’s gun. She didn’t seem to weigh a thing,

Jon held the gun to his shoulder and fired.

A blast of energy launched Mercy forward. She flew at an accelerated rate, raising her small handle before she made a large spin.

White energy expelled from her energy, striking the entire circle of enemies around Hector and Mallory.

“...We didn’t need your help!” Hector said.

“Well, they do!” Mercy said. Pointing to Sabez and Tallow, who were having their own fight. Most of the warriors seemed to have focused on them.

“Where’s Jon!” Hector asked. He quickly got his answer when he saw Jon waving from afar. With that, he, Mallory, and Mercy ran off.

Jon ran after them. He hadn't done much running in his life, so he moved at a steady pace, just needing to get close enough to the action.

He could see Tallow and Sabez fighting. They each used a long curved blade that didn’t seem any more special than any other swords Jon had seen. In fact, all of the Vindazi members had the same sword as them.

What was different was in the fighting styles. Tallow had been incredibly defensive, not striking back at any of the other attackers. Sometimes, she would weave between attackers with impossibly smooth and swift movements, almost as if she was gliding on her feet, and yet, she never struck back.

Sabez, however, scared Jon. He didn’t know why. Every movement Sabez did seemed to even scare off his attackers. Jon saw one stupid enough to get in close. Sabez’s cape bellowed over his movements, stopping Jon from seeing what happened next. What he did see afterward was a painful slam to the floor from the man’s head. He had instantly stopped moving.

Suddenly, Tallow received a huge cut in the back by a clansman she hadn’t seen.

“Agh!” She gasped and backed away as soon as she could, but she was already limp in her movements.

Jon was worried he wouldn't get in range in time, but Hector had already stepped up to defend her.

“I don’t need your help!” she said.

“Says the woman with the bleeding back,” Hector muttered. “Just make sure mine's doesn’t end up like that and we’re even!”

“Pfft.” However, she didn’t say anymore after that.

Soon, Sabez caught Jon’s eye. Jon could feel that Sabez had just decided something in his head.

“Enough!” Sabez yelled. The shout was enough to stop everyone from moving. Mallory and even stopped running away to turn around and see what happened.

Sabez pointed his sword to the large man. “You would be wise to face me in Mitza Combat.”

“You would put your own life on the line?” the man asked. “For this foreigner?”

“You would offer ours?” Sabez asked without hesitation.

The man didn’t respond immediately.

“Alright.”

With that, the Vindazi all relaxed their positions.

Tallow, once there was no more fight to be had, immediately collapsed onto the floor.

Jon ran over to her side, with his allies doing the same.

Hector coordinated Jon, and together, they dragged Tallow to the side of the building.

“What are they doing?” Hector asked.

“Mitza Combat… it’s a fight to the death…” Tallow muttered.

“Shh, shut up!” Mallory and Hector both said to her in the most considerate way Jon had ever heard.

“Both parties state their terms before the fight,” Mallory said. “When the fight finishes, they have to carry it out like they said. Because, you know. It’s used to settle military matters within the culture.”

“Well, why didn’t he just start off with that?” Hector asked, drawing ire from Mercy in the form of a dirty glare.

“You just have no concern for the livelihood of others,” she said.

“I do," Hector explained, "just not when they interfere with mine.

“...You’re a dick,” Tallow managed to breathe out from her slumped position on the floor. Mallory couldn’t help but laugh.