Jillesha swung his sword in his arm and ran forward towards Hess, who did the same. I stepped back along with the other people present inside the cave. Sylvia used her magic to create a barrier around the mercenaries. I did the same, but on a slightly larger scale than her.

The two clashed, and it sent a deafening, invisible wave around the room. I shouted as it hit my ear, and buckled. Kaisel helped me stand back up, and I tried to keep my eyes on the fight. Their weapons were locked, and neither of them were moving from their positions. Both of their legs dragged along the floor as they kept the pressure up on the other side. Hess grunted and pushed her hands forward a bit more, even though they were shaking.

She looked at Jillesha and shouted, pushing her daggers deeper. But all that was doing was making them move down the sword that they had locked. If she kept it up, then she would eventually reach the handle, and leave the entire top half of her body free to be attacked. But she was smarter than that, and Jillesha did not have the patience. He turned his body to the right, making Hess turn with him until her back was facing us.

“Step aside.” Kaisel whispered before moving to his right.

I moved to my left, pulling the barrier and the people it was covering along with me. The area behind Hess was completely empty now, mostly. One person remained, looking a bit confused. Right then, Jillesha swung his sword down, creating a large spark on the daggers and sending Hess flying into the wall. She took the standing mercenary with her, and he was smashed against the rocks. She cried out and pulled herself away. The man had collapsed, but not died. One of the other mercenaries stepped forward and pulled him away while Jillesha ran forward once more, ready with his swords.

I had expected this to be a fast battle, like Ginzari had fought with Hess. But this was different. Jillesha was relying on nothing but his enhanced strength to fight her. And she, instead of using her usual quickness, was trying to triumph over him with the same method of fighting. She wouldn’t win like that, though. I had seen Jillesha use his bare hands to crush a man’s skull. He did not even need his sword to truly fight.

Jillesha reached her, and brought his foot down on her face before she could react. Her body tore through the entire rock wall and broke it. He kicked her collapsed body against the connecting wall behind them, and the fight entered the main corridor that led here. Hess coughed and tried to pick herself up. But Jillesha raised his sword, ready to bring it down on her. She panicked and got ready to turn.

Then, Jillesha suddenly started glowing orange for a second, and disappeared from the fight. Hess rolled away and stood up, a bit confused. But then, a sword came flying at her from the side of the corridor that was still covered with a wall. She moved aside to dodge it, and as she did, Jillesha jumped forward from that side too, with his hand coming straight for her head. Then, once more, his body glowed. This time, however, I could see the exact moment he was thrown back using the neutral magic that had surrounded him.

Hess pulled the sword from the wall behind her and ran out of sight. Behind her, Kaisel, with his hands glowing orange, followed.

“Stay here, all of you.” Ginzari ordered and started following them.

The mercenaries did not move, even when he turned and walked away. An order was an order.

“Screw that.” Sylvia shouted and ran behind him in the same direction. Typhen and I followed her.

There was nobody in the corridor anymore, but there was a huge crater in one of the walls. We kept running through the corridor until we reached the place where they separated into two. There, Ginzari took a turn and kept going towards the main path that led to the cave’s entrance. Sylvia almost caught up to him, and he noticed us, but kept walking. We followed and reached the hall that I had fought in earlier.

Hess was pushing Jillesha behind by constantly landing hits on him using the sword, but even without armor, all that appeared on his skin were bruises, not cuts. She grunted with each hit, and he kept using his arm or torso to block the sword without any problem. I hadn’t known anything about his body being so resistant to swords, but it wasn’t something too outlandish for someone with power like him.

Kaisel kept using his magic to throw him away whenever he got too close to Hess. She did not acknowledge his help, and neither did she ask him to stop. Every time Jillesha was thrown away by him, she closed the distance and landed another hit on his body. But every single time, her attacks did almost do damage.

She brought down the sword on him once more, but instead of blocking or dodging, he picked up a dead body near him. One I recognized. The false Rok. He threw the body on the sword, and the blade got stuck in his torso. Jillesha kicked Rok’s legs while grabbing one of the sword’s handles. The legs were cut off from the rest of the body, and hit Hess, who hesitated and let go of the sword. With the torso still resting on the horizontal blade, Jillesha pulled the sword towards himself and swatted the body away like a fly.

Hess pulled out her daggers once more, and started to attack him like before. This time, he did not allow himself to be deadlocked. He parried her attack and pushed her back too, again and again. She grunted, after being thrown into a pillar, and kept one of her daggers back into its sheath. She put both of her hands on the remaining dagger, and went straight for his neck. Jillesha decided to parry it once more, but wasn’t able to push her away. She screamed and used both of her hands to keep pushing the dagger into his neck. But the sword stood in the way.

Kaisel raised his hands, which were glowing red now, and snapped his fingers. Jillesha’s sword burst into flames. He panicked and tried to put more force into pushing Hess away, but she did the same. The sword moved closer to his neck, until it almost touched it. He growled and let go of the sword before bending down and punching Hess in her stomach. Instead of buckling, she used the momentum to remove her hand from her path, and headbutt him. Jillesha’s head hit the ground, and she jumped back.

The sword fell to the ground, almost hitting his face. It was still covered in flames. He pushed himself up and grinned when he saw the sword. He picked it up, and tried to push himself up with his newly powered-up weapon. Right then, the fire jumped off the sword, and blasted into his face. He recoiled from the impact, but did not let go of the sword, pulling it away with him as he fell to the ground once more.

“Lesson, Syl.” Kaisel growled as he took a few steps towards him, “Blood is not flammable.”

Jillesha’s face was slightly burned. Some of his skin, blood red. He pushed himself up once more, only to be met with Hess, who went for his neck once more. He shouted and used the flat of his sword to send her flying mid-air, towards one of the pillars. She broke through it and hit the wall. She turned and managed to land on her feet, even though her back was covered in blood, with a large part of her armor being cracked.

Hess raised her dagger and charged at him. But Jillesha changed his target, and tried to attack Kaisel instead. He raised his sword and went for the torso. Kaisel’s hand switched to orange, and he used it to stop the sword in its tracks. Then, he brought his other hand closer to Jillesha’s face, and flames licked its entirety. The bandit leader growled and pushed the sword further, breaking through the orange magic and reaching the man’s torso. As soon as he did, an arrow landed in one of his hands. Jillesha looked down at the arrow, while Kaisel took the chance to jump back. Sylvia, beside me, snapped her fingers and the arrow created a blast right there.

Typhen nocked another arrow and got ready to shoot. Meanwhile, Ginzari kept watching.

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Hess reached him and attacked his neck once more. His hands were still covered with smoke, but he turned his head around towards the approaching dagger. As it reached his neck, he bent it a bit and bit it with his teeth. The dagger dug through the edge of his mouth, ripping the skin, but he pushed his teeth further and the blade shattered into pieces. Shocked, Hess freed one of her hands and pulled out the other dagger to hit him in the chest. Jillesha shifted his mouth a little bit and brought it down on Hess’ attached hand instead. She screamed as he bit it, but kept the other hand going. Before it could reach his chest, Jillesha wildly swung his head and threw Hess away, tearing two of her fingers.

By the time he looked up, his eyes were pitch black. He roared at us before turning to Hess with his bare hands.

She looked up, still recovering from the loss of her fingers, when he put his hand on her head and threw her to the wall on his right. She broke through another pillar before she hit the wall. She fell to the ground as Jillesha ran to her. Kaisel prepared himself and his hand started to glow purple. At the same time, the bandit leader reached Hess and picked her up by the neck. She struggled to get free, but his grip was strong. He pushed her entire body against the wall, and broke a large layer of it. The rocks scratched her entire skin as she groaned and kicked her legs around to fight back.

Then, the air around him started to glow purple, and he started coughing. With one hand on her neck, Jillesha put the other one over his mouth to cover his coughing. Soon, that hand moved down as he started to gasp for breath. Kaisel growled and pushed his hands closer together. His entire body was sweating, but he kept going. Hess took the chance to gather her legs and kicked Jillesha’s chest to push him away. With his grip loosened, he stumbled back, still clutching his neck. Hess landed on the ground and started panting too.

Jillesha suddenly took a longer breath and moved his hands away. Kaisel had stopped using his magic. I wondered why, but then, another arrow reached dangerously close to his skull. He grabbed it with one of his hands, but Sylvia snapped once more, and the arrow burst in his face. His entire body fell to the left due to the impact, but before he could hit the floor, the left side of his face was covered with an orange blanket of magic, which pulled him away to the right, causing his entire body to move with it. The blanket smashed his head into the ground, face down.

Hess jumped on his back and grabbed his hair, raising his head with it. She shouted as she started smashing his head on the ground repeatedly. Over and over, his already-burning face started to get covered in blood. Her face did not look good either, especially now that it was being covered in tears, but she kept going with a determination in her eyes. She hit his head for the last time and stopped for a second, taking a breath.

Jillesha’s hand moved up and circled around her head before he turned his entire body along with her, and trapped her on the ground below him. She put her hands around his neck to start choking him, but he shouted and pushed his head upwards. She took a breath in the little gap he provided. Then, his head came smashing down on hers. The ground around their heads cracked, while the area right under had turned into a small crater. Her face was completely buried in it. She did not move.

“Hess!” Kaisel shouted as a similar blanket as before wrapped around Jillesha’s face and pulled him off of her before trying to throw him to the ground again. Before it could, however, Jillesha used his hands to rip it off and turn his attention towards Kaisel.

“I should have stopped you when I already had you on your knees.” Kaisel cried as he brought both of his hands towards each other, glowing purple. Jillesha ran towards him, roaring.

Sylvia created some neutral magic around his ankles to trip him, but he tore right through them and continued to rush towards Kaisel.

“Help!” Sylvia shouted at me. I snapped back to consciousness. Right, I could fight too. I had been way too engrossed at looking at them. Typhen already had another arrow ready, as he looked for the perfect moment to shoot. My eyes went to Ginzari for a split second. He was standing in the corner of the room, refusing to move no matter what happened.

Jillesha’s fist started to rise towards Kaisel, who was still preparing his magic. I wore my gloves in a hurry and raised my hands, glowing blue. Between Kaisel’s face and the fist, I created a large block of water. The fist crashed into it and lost all of its momentum and speed. As the hand stopped, I let go of the water and it dropped on the ground. Kaisel jumped back a bit and activated his magic. Once more, the area around Jillesha’s face glowed purple before he began to choke.

Something moved in the corner of my eye and I turned to see Hess stirring. She was alive, even if she might not be at her best. With her head still in the ground, she pulled out her dagger with one of her hands, and began to push herself up. On the other side, Jillesha scrambled around to try and save himself. His fingers scratched the ground, and then his own neck as he panted for some air. Kaisel pushed himself further and further, as his veins began to pop out of his forehead, and he screamed out of the pain and pressure he was putting into the attack.

“Kaisel, don’t!” Sylvia shouted, running to him.

“I’m sorry, Hess.” Kaisel murmured, pushing his hands closer together as the glow on them grew deeper and darker. His veins grew in thickness, his eyes began to bulge and grow red around the edges. His screams grew louder and louder until they stopped all at once. He did not have the capacity to even do that anymore. Once he stopped, though, his eyes twitched even more as blood began to flow out of them. This wasn’t the Kaisel I knew. This wasn’t the pacifist I looked up to as my teacher. He was pushing himself more than I had ever seen before.

Sylvia tried to pull his hands apart, but he did not budge. He stayed in his position, unmovable. Jillesha kept flailing his entire body around, refusing to give in to the lack of oxygen. Hess pulled her head out of the ground, covered in blood and with a few pieces of rock lodged in her skin. She stumbled up to a standing position and slowly moved towards Jillesha.

I used some water magic to move his hands away from each other, trying to make it as difficult as possible for him to cope with the situation. With his hands locked and separated, his legs kicked the floor as he moved around like a worm, trying to win against a hopeless situation. Kaisel croaked once or twice, attracting everyone’s attention. His mouth opened for a second and a large quantity of blood dropped down on the floor. The blood from his eyes left a clear trail as it flowed down his entire body too. Typhen kept his arrow ready, but did not shoot. His eyes were on Hess, who was still walking towards him.

Then, all at once, the bandit leader stopped moving and fell to the ground.

Hess stopped in her tracks. Kaisel’s hands separated as he went down on his knees too. Sylvia bent down with him, but kept her eyes on Jillesha.

“Is he dead?” Typhen asked, shocked.

As if timed, Jillesha’s hand twitched and bent in an unnatural direction. His head slowly swayed from left to right. Kaisel groaned and tried to prepare his magic once more, but Sylvia stopped his hands in their tracks. He tried to fight back, but he had no strength left. Hess started to move again, gripping her dagger even tighter.

My eyes flashed.

Stage Directions (Day 31) –

MAIN: Witness – Before You Embark on a Journey of Revenge, Dig Two Graves

SUB: Carry Out Jillesha’s Will

His whole body began to convulse in an artificial way, as if someone were swinging him around with the control of their mind. I couldn’t believe it had been twenty-three minutes. Nothing suggested that. It was nearly impossible for that to have happened, and yet, here we were.

Jillesha pushed himself up, as his hands and legs echoed a cracking sound all over the room. He got on his feet, heaving. His whole body looked much more refined all of a sudden, and his eyes blacker.

Kaisel pushed Sylvia away with his head and got ready to bring his hands closer. I immediately removed the gloves from my hands and put them in my pocket, but not before being pushed to the ground and vomiting blood once more. Regardless, I kept my eyes on the enemy.

Hess started limping to him as fast as she could, but he was already standing. And he was staring at Kaisel. The mage stood up too, and with his blood-covered face, got ready with an attack. His hands started to glow black. He had called it the weakest form of magic, and yet he was using it right now. There must be some reason. He knew something, and he intended to take advantage.

Kaisel pushed his hands closer, ready to attack. Hess was almost at Jillesha’s neck. Typhen kept his bow ready, just in case something happened.

Then, Jillesha moved. So fast, that it almost looked like he teleported to a different location. And that was right in front of Kaisel, who hesitated out of shock and took a step back in fear.

Hess tried to change her path, and so did Typhen, who started to move his bow. But before any of that could happen, Jillesha’s hand was already on Kaisel’s head, covering it. Sylvia shrieked and put her hand on top of his. As soon as she touched it, Jillesha used his second hand to push her away to the wall furthest from him. She went flying away, shouting. As she hit the wall, she fell to the ground, unconscious.

A blur made its way past me, and I stepped aside to avoid any damage. Before Ginzari’s axe could reach Jillesha, however, he had already attacked.

His hand tore through the skull and Kaisel’s body fell to the ground.

Stage Directions (Day 31) –

Carry Out Jillesha’s Will