Gwyn ran around the green space on the third floor while the leader relentlessly attacked him with a swarm of books from the library. Grimes waved a single sword he held behind like a conductor’s baton as the literature storm flew around. The leader had easily beaten his way through the door, and Gwyn was on the defensive as he did not want to damage any books with potential historical significance.

“I think I liked it better when he had the swords!” Gwyn shouted as he ducked from a fist formed out of the book swarm.

Just liquify the books! I’m sure they have been scanned! Mem shouted to Gwyn.

“It’s more fun to read on the physical copies!” Gwyn shouted back as he avoided another book fist. “Ah, why couldn’t he attack me with modern art!”

I don’t know what that is, but I feel like you just needlessly insulted someone. Mem added.

Gwyn shook his head and looked to Grimes, who had an angry expression. At that moment, a cheer echoed from the floor below. However, Grimes could already tell what was going on. Everyone in his force, except Icarus, who was outside, had been defeated.

He gritted his teeth severely as a vein bulged between the black dots on his forehead. Grimes took a deep breath and shook his head. He forcefully twisted his face back into the friendly expression he usually carried.

“It seems I have wasted enough time with you fools. I will end this quickly,” Grimes's face was still friendly, but his tone betrayed his expression. He ceased waving the sword around in play and focused on the attack.

The swarm of books became more intense as it surrounded Gwyn. The only way out was up, and Gwyn leaped into the air as soon as possible. The books clashed together underneath him, and Grimes quickly changed the swarm’s direction upward. Gwyn went flying to the ceiling and crashed through the glass dome at the top.

Grimes suddenly froze as he realized he had made an error in his frustration. He shook his head and took a deep breath to calm down. Then he pulled a pile of books under his feet to float up to the roof.

“Hold tight there, boy, I will dispatch you quickly, " he grunted as he floated outside.

Gwyn landed on the roof under the night sky. He quickly pushed himself to his feet and surveyed the top. The awful-looking bandit flag still flew in the center, and he could see Odell and Icarus across the roof. Gwyn was about to shout something to Odell when Mem interrupted.

Ignore them for now; your opponent is heading up here.

Gwyn turned to the cracked dome to see Grimes float up. He walked from his pile of books to the roof and began to attack the Nonpareil furiously. Gwyn was focused on dodging the blows of the book swarm, but he quickly realized Grimes was leading him to the edge of the building.

“He’s trying to make me fall off,” Gwyn grunted.

A scream caught everyone’s attention, and both Gwyn and Grimes turned to look in the direction of Odell and Icarus. Gwyn took advantage sooner and sprinted across the roof to thrust the hardest punch he could muster into Grime’s face. The leader took a couple of steps back but showed no sign that he was hurt. Grimes rubbed his face and looked at his hand.

“No blood, your punches are weak,” the leader said with a laugh.

A swarm of books began to fly at Gwyn as they formed many giant fists, and he took several steps to avoid it. He kept dodging to avoid each blow with everything he had.

Partner Odell is trying to call. Do you want to pick it up? Mem said.

“Call? I’m kind of busy,” Gwyn said as he shielded his face from the book storm that was battering him on all sides.

I’ll connect you anyway. You may hear a buzz.

Gwyn heard a buzzing echo somewhere in his head. After which, Odell’s voice spoke much like Mem’s did.

Gwyn, are you okay! He’s bashing you with a lot of books! Odell shouted.

“I’ve been better. I wouldn’t mind some backup.” Gwyn responded. Suddenly the book storm slowed down, and Gwyn quickly slipped out of the way. On the Nonpareil’s request, Odell had crossed the building’s roof and smashed into where Grimes had just been standing. The leader took several steps back to avoid the blow and stood just at the edge where the glass dome was broken.

“So, there are two of you now, no matter, I will have to defeat all of you anyway,” Grimes muttered. The book storm flew next to him and gathered into several large fists while the leader took a deep breath of the night air.

“He controls books?” Odell shouted as he backed close to Gwyn.

“He can move things in his territory, or so he says,” Gwyn said.

“How big is his territory?” Odell asked.

“The whole village,” Gwyn replied.

“Oh, so we’re in a lot of trouble, huh?” Odell asked for confirmation.

“We just need to hit him really hard,” Gwyn replied as he looked around the roof and village. Besides the roof itself, he didn’t see much he could use his ability on.

Odell smashed a fist into a palm and nodded.

“I like the simplicity; let’s do it.”

Gwyn continued to look for something he could try to liquify while Grimes lifted the shards of broken glass in the area and mixed the sharp pieces in the book storm.

The Nonpareil’s eyes settled on the bandit flag flying atop the building. His first thought was that he could reshape the flagpole into a sword or bat, but another thought echoed in his mind, and he simply said the word:

“Territory?”

Grimes noticed Gwyn staring at the flag and gritted his teeth. It had been for the leader's amusement before, but he realized he told the boy too much back in his throne room.

A fury of book storm fists began to fire at the duo. Odell and Gwyn quickly ducked out of the way to avoid them. As the books bounced off the roof, Gwyn made a break for the flag. Grimes immediately diverted the majority of the book storm at the Nonpareil, only keeping a couple of books and shards of glass orbiting around himself.

Odell watched as the storm of books began to close in on Gwyn. He took a deep breath and flung his instantly light body across the roof to his ally with a heavy push. Gwyn did not expect Odell to come behind him and give a strong push. The book storm crashed into Odell as Gwyn reached the flagpole.

The storm immediately began to retarget Gwyn. The pole was welded to the roof, so he had to liquify it to break it free. The flag fell down and through the hole, Icarus and Harlan had created earlier in the raid. It fell between the spiral staircase and bounced off the first floor—making a soft clang. The other allies on the second and first floors watched it hit as they headed up the stairs to the top floor, but none knew why it fell.

In an instant, the entirety of the book storm aimed at Gwyn fell onto the roof. Odell pushed himself up slowly and picked up one of the novels that had struck him.

“A collection of dissertations. With books that dense, no wonder they hurt so bad,” he said with a laugh as he tried to shake off the pain of being bombarded.

Save the lines for after the leader is taken down! Cal yelled in Odell’s mind loud enough for the prince to jump.

Both Gwyn and Odell looked to Grimes, who had several books and shards of glass orbiting around him. He began to laugh.

“So, you figured it out; I suppose you expect I ought to surrender? Unfortunately, I will not grant your desires!” Grimes shouted his last line making no effort to hide his mood under a friendly expression. He griped the remaining sword in his hand tightly.

The leader suddenly ran across the roof at Gwyn. As he ran, the books and shards that entered his range began to get picked up and fed into a new but much smaller book storm that flew alongside him.

Now what, partner? Mem asked.

“Now we hit him really hard,” Gwyn replied as he charged at the approaching leader.

Gwyn met Grimes in the middle of the roof. The leader still had a small number of books and glass shards that had been picked up and a blade he had held in his hands since the library. His control range had been cut down severely without the flag, and the objects flew around Grimes with only about a radius, barely longer than he was tall.

The Nonpareil charged somewhat recklessly into Grimes range. The leader swung his sword and battered Gwyn with his available projectiles.

Gwyn responded by ducking to avoid the blade, liquifying the glass, and taking the brunt of the books. Grimes could no longer achieve the same speed of objects in his control, and the Nonpareil took advantage to throw a fist at Grimes.

The leader leaned back so that the punch barely scraped his face and took another swipe at Gwyn with his blade.

Gwyn backed off outside the range of Grime’s ability and sword as the leader tried to cut him again.

“I thought he would just give up,” Gwyn muttered.

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A battle isn’t that simple. He wouldn’t have been able to lead all these bandits if he was a pushover. Mem chimed in.

“I suppose your right.”

Gwyn began to circle Grimes as each stared at each other’s eyes. The leader's crimson red eyes slightly bothered Gwyn, not due to their odd color but the anger that burned in them.

“Do you still mean to play, boy? Come close and fight me properly!” Grimes roared.

“Don’t give into his provocation, Gwyn!” Odell shouted from the sidelines as he slowly began to push himself up from the pile of books he had been slammed with only moments prior.

Gwyn ignored the advice of his ally and charged into Grimes range once again. Grimes didn’t attack Gwyn with projectiles and instead focused on slashing the nonpareil with his sword. Gwyn barely avoided the swipes but managed to recover and aimed his fist at Grimes’ chest.

In a flash, the leader blocked Gwyn’s blow with a sudden shield of books that collected in front of him. The books quickly moved away, and Grimes aimed his blade at Gwyn’s neck.

The Nonpareil ducked to avoid the blade and fell into a seated position. He had to throw himself to the side and roll away as Grimes smashed his sword down into the roof. Gwyn quickly got himself outside Grimes’ range and began to circle again. He tried to think of some plan but couldn't come up with any quick way to win. Instead, he focused on the sword.

He ran in again while watching the blade closely. As Grimes swung his sword at Gwyn, the Nonpareil held up a hand in the sword's path. Before the sword made contact, he liquified a chunk of its center. Grimes finished his swing without slicing anything while the liquified sword splattered everywhere, and the solid tip flew off away from the duo.

What was left of the sword was the hilt. Grimes threw it aside and began to punch at Gwyn with the ferocity of a heavyweight boxer.

The Nonpareil was not prepared for the sudden change of tactics and proceeded to take a series of blows as he walked backward toward the glass dome where the flag had once stood.

“Once I take you down, I’ll stop this pathetic rebellion and reestablish my rule. Don’t think you have accomplished anything,” Grimes hissed as he beat on Gwyn.

“Don’t worry, Gwyn; I’ll back you up!” Odell shouted as he began to sprint across the rooftop. He balled his hand into a fist and targeted Grimes back. The leader simply put up a shield of the books once again, but he did not know how heavy Odell’s punch would be.

Odell’s fist easily tore through the books and hit squarely in Grime’s back. It was slowed down enough not to damage the leader too much, but the attack threw him off enough for Gwyn to break from the punches.

Gwyn tried to uppercut Grimes on the chin, but the leader moved so that the blow only scraped his black beard. Grimes stepped away from Odell and Gwyn and began to walk around the edge of the glass dome. He looked down three stories to where his flag had fallen and gritted his teeth.

Gwyn slowly began to follow as the leader walked away from him. They ended up going around the dome circle in an odd, slow chase as each thought of what their next move would be. Odell stayed in place and watched Grimes; he would wait for the leader to come around and attack once he got close.

“I suppose I should commend you; I expected my former employer would try to stop me but never thought a band of oddballs would do me in,” Grimes said with a laugh as he weighed his options.

The miners and others from Gwyn’s group were beginning to collect around the stairwell in the building below. They could see the pair of Gwyn and Grimes standing up by the glass dome against a sky that was starting to light up from the first sun rising.

“You should just surrender now,” Gwyn said to the leader.

Grimes laughed.

“Boy, you have a lot to learn. As long as there is a way out, never give in!”

Gwyn sighed. He began to sprint at the leader. Grimes collected half the books around him as a shield from Gwyn and the other half as a platform. He smashed some of the glass in the dome and floated down into the building. If he could replant the flag, he could regain full power.

Books surrounded Gwyn for a moment, but they instantly fell as they left Grimes’ range. The Nonpareil put both of his hands flat on the roof by the edge of the glass dome. In an instant, he turned as much of the roof and metal to a liquid as he jumped to the descending Grimes. The liquid trailed behind him as he maintained some limited control of its movement.

Grimes looked up as Gwyn came flying in from the ceiling.

“You sure are reckless, boy,” he shouted as he put his fists up. As Gwyn came in close, he solidified the liquid into a ‘U’ shape and threw it around Grime’s body while holding onto the end. Gwyn had intended to catch himself pull up to the book platform, but instead, the action swept Grimes off his feet, and both began to plummet. The platform of books collapsed and fell alongside them.

“That did not go as planned!” Gwyn shouted as Grimes angrily tried to maneuver to the Nonpareil. They reached each other in the air as they passed the second floor, and each tried to twist the other under them so they could be a shield from the impact. Grimes managed to get above Gwyn and locked his good arm behind him as he prepared to drive the Nonpareil into the ground.

Just before he would make contact with the floor, Gwyn disappeared in a blue flash. Grimes was unable to react as he smashed directly into the ground floor. He remained conscious for a moment and managed to push himself up to look around. The miners were surrounding the leader. A confused Gwyn had reappeared next to a tired-looking princess Fiona on the second floor. Grimes ended up collapsing; he was out cold.

Cheers echoed throughout the building as soon as everyone processed that the leader was down. Soon, the cheers began to fill the town as the news spread. The bandit leader was defeated, the town was free.

Mamie let out a deep sigh of relief from her cavern base of operation as she relaxed her posture. She ran her hands through her hair before looking at her daughter.

“We won!” she happily declared, and the cavern filled with happy cries.

***

The morning that greeted the town's victory was also the eve of an Aqueenian holiday known as The Feast of First Harvest. It was a time when the first of the crops would begin to bear fruit, and the people would celebrate with a massive festival. In the modern Resh, where food was more abundant, it had become simply a time to set up stalls and eat lots of food that might not traditionally be grown at that point in the year.

The quiet village quickly became bustling as the villagers eagerly prepared for their first free festival after a long while. They had planned their revolt against the bandits to coincide with the festival's ending when they suspected the leaders would be drunk. As such, the festival preps were continued as normal to avoid suspicion. The excitement at the arrival of Princess Fiona and the Nonpareil had ended up causing the timetable to be pushed forward considerably.

As the town began joyfully preparing for the celebration, Mamie was preoccupied with what to do with the bandits. Their weapons were taken, and they were restrained. Odell had explained what the anti-Needaimus glove did to an overclocked mortal, and he expressed a strong desire not to watch it happen again. Old Gus volunteered to remove the other Needaimus from Grimes and Flora, saying, ‘I’ve seen worse in my time,’ and promptly removed the remaining Needaimus. Mamie remained to watch, feeling she had a responsibility for being in the room as the acting village head, but other parties were sent elsewhere.

The bandits were restrained and tied to a fence as Rheba and Odell made the prison cell inoperable with their breakout. The injured members were taken to a hospital in the village, which quickly filled up. Many of the miners had received cuts and gashes that required bandaging. Several had broken limbs or concussions, but the number was small. The ones dismissed immediately went to help with the festival.

Of the fighters that remained in the hospital for the remainder of the Feast’s eve:

Adan, the miner’s safety leader, suffered from excess contusions and needed an extra day to recover. He was down for the count and fast asleep.

The Princess Fiona Fan Club, with Simeon, who needed his right forearm put back together. Siegfried, who needed his left upper arm reconstructed, and Sinatra, who had a shattered left leg. None of the trio seemed to care about their injuries and instead wanted to help prepare for the festival.

Fiona had been battered endlessly by Flora and was bruised in multiple locations.

Harlan had smashed into a wall which tore off multiple scales from her back and left some bruising. It required bandaging until they would grow back in.

Odell suffered several cuts and bruises from the glassy shard book storm Grimes had used. He had a part of a rib fracture, but it was quickly mended once identified.

Gwyn managed to get away with some bruises and minor pains, and both Rheba and Hal had not experienced much damage.

Most of the Needaimus users laid a bed as they recovered. Though some injuries were not as bad, as soon as the Needaimus was removed, all the excess fatigue and wear caught up instantly. The Needaimus ability to limit pain and fatigue was well known to have a bad side effect after intense use. Rheba was the only one who sat in a chair as she had mostly taken down minor bandits in the raid. She stayed behind only to support her companions.

Hal stubbornly stayed sitting up in his bed to hide how tired he actually was. In reality, he was the best off of the rest since his training as a soldier included adjusting to the after-battle fatigue. Odell, Adan, and Harlan were fast asleep, and Gwyn and Fiona both laid awake and groaned.

“How is it that I’m this tired from one fight!” Gwyn grumbled.

“Don’t you remember when you fought the unkillable? You were out for a day after that,” Fiona groaned back.

“Isn’t there some sort of wonder drug for this fatigue?” Gwyn moaned back.

“If there were, we would have brought bottles of it,” Fiona sighed.

“If you two can complain like that, you are not as bad off as you think,” Rheba offered in the most friendly manner she could.

“Indeed, you pollute the air with waste, silence your pathetic groanings,” Hal snapped at the two as he rolled his yellow eyes.

Although not for Hal's sake, Fiona and Gwyn quieted their complaints, Mamie had just entered the room, and they thought it best to collect themselves.

Bonfilia ran into the room after her mother and up to the beds. She frantically looked around at each of the beds and decided who to talk to first. She settled to run up to Gwyn’s bed. The small green child stopped by the bed and looked down to the floor for a moment.

“I’m really sorry,” she said softly.

“For what?” Gwyn asked with genuine confusion.

“For making you fight,” the girl replied.

Gwyn chuckled.

“Don’t worry; I’ll be back up in no time!” Gwyn said with confidence. Hal rolled his eyes, and Rheba shook her head as they recalled his complaining only moments prior. The Nonpareil’s words were enough for Bonfilia, and she nodded before running to Adan’s bed. He was still asleep.

“Adan, I’m sorry I didn’t make you a protection necklace… I thought you’d be okay…” the girl lamented. Mamie crossed the room and put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

“Dear, he just needs to rest. He’ll be up and about by the festival tomorrow for sure. Why don’t you go help with preparations?” Bonfilia nodded and wiped some tears from her eyes. She ran out of the room. After her daughter left, Mamie turned to the team and politely bowed to them.

“Thank you for all you’ve done; I’m not sure we would have won as easily without you,” she said to the group.

“We were happy to support you; in the end, you helped us just as much to win,” Rheba replied as she made a seated bow back to Mamie.

“We plan to build a statue of you all in the center of town as soon as possible!” Mamie happily told the group,” We would like an artist to meet with you before you leave; so we can capture your likeness!”

“Uh, that’s okay,” Gwyn replied.

“Yes, I don’t need a statue,” Fiona added.

“My form cannot be easily rendered in stone,” Hal backed up the other two.

Rheba shrugged and nodded. Having a statue of oneself was considered bragging rights in Bentulousian culture.

I must insist that we at least capture Princess Fiona and the Nonpareil at the very least. I understand the rest of you contributed just as much, but most townsfolk consider them the raid leaders.

Gwyn and Fiona shook their heads to say ‘no’ in unison.

“Don’t… leave me… out of that statue….” Odell muttered. The others turned to him, thinking he had woken, but he was only talking in his sleep.

Mamie kept asking them questions about the statue until she finally got the group to agree reluctantly to a likeness of the six of them.

“Great!” she said, “Now, I thought it would be best to inform you what we plan to do. We will send some representatives to Quenth to report on everything that transpired here. We will have them send troops to pick up the bandits.”

The group had no objections to Mamie’s plan and nodded to show their agreement.

“And now I must get going for the festival preparations, they are really excited about this year, though I can’t blame them. We did find your vehakul as well, it seems like something was wrong with the engine, so we fixed it.”

“You did it without me!” Odell shouted as he suddenly awoke and shot up in his bed. He hazily looked around the room and fell back onto the pillow, out cold.

“Uh,” Mamie said before continuing with her update to the group, “Anyway, we have everything prepped for you to leave, but we would like to ask that you stay here for the remainder of the festival and enjoy yourselves.”

“Sounds good to me!” Fiona said. She had not realized, but she responded before Rheba could politely decline.

“Perfect, well, I’ll let you rest.” Mamie made one more bow to the team and headed out the door. They were left to rest after the long fight.