As afternoon came, the trio started sharing a meal inside a mud hut Edeus raised with magic. The old wizard put his bowl down and got on his feet.

"Agogher one?" Ember asked, mouth full of grub.

"Ugh, close your mouth, witch. But yes, there's two this time, stay here, I will be right back"

"Good luck, Edeus", Rodderick gave the mage a farewell with a smile while finishing his own meal.

He saw what the old wizard was capable of and didn't think he was in any real danger, if it was that serious, he would have asked Ember for help.

Edeus stepped on an invisible platform and used it to push himself up, losing the ground under him he started flying towards the sky.

"What?! He flies?!" Rodderick dropped his bowl in shock.

"Yeah? You saw him lift those rocks off you right, it's not very different", Ember answered nonchalantly.

"Can you fly too?"

"Yup", Ember took another big bite.

"Then why are we walking to Dorhem instead of flying there?", Rodderick tilted his head, confused.

"We are trying to lay low, that's why we have Athena scouting from the sky", Ember finished her meal placing her bowl on the table and burping in satisfaction.

"Teach me how to fly!", Rodderick stood up excitedly, he wanted Edeus to teach him, but they have been too busy traveling to have any practical lessons. But as they had to wait for Edeus to come back, it was the perfect time to finally practice some magic.

"No way, you have no talent with wind magic, you would die in a matter of seconds, kihihi", Ember cackled to herself.

Rodderick sat down and sighed in disappointment. "What element could I be good at? Is there anything that fits my personality?".

"Wind does, no home, leaving on a journey on a whim, easily excitable, you are pretty much the definition of a free spirit, it's why Edeus tried wind first"

"Wait, isn't that bad?! Doesn't that mean I'm not good with any element?", Rodderick panicked, his dream of being a mage grew ever so distant.

"You won't know until you try them all, here." Ember rummaged on her bag and took out a fistful of mud.

"…why did you have mud in your bag?"

"Don't worry about that, here, try flattening this ball of mud without touching it.", She molded the mud until it made a smooth spherical ball and placed it on the table.

"Without touching it?", Rodderick stared at the ball of mud, focusing his thoughts on flattening it, but no matter what it didn't budge at all.

"Try putting your thoughts into words. You know how wizards chant incantations to cast some spells? It's not only a way for them to visualize how they want their magic to materialize, but also a way to communicate the elements their will. You can also gesture, for example, pushing with your arms when you want something to move", Ember was doing her best to instruct the young apprentice, but none of her suggestions resulted in any change. No matter how hard he tried, Rodderick couldn't change the ball of mud.

"I guess I'm not good with earth either…" Rodderick sighed, disappointed. He looked up to see Ember expecting her to cackle annoyingly or give some words of encouragement, but instead he found her looking to a wall, towards nothing in particular.

"Ember?", Rodderick asked confused, the witch usually acted strangely, but this was the first time he saw her wearing a serious expression.

"Shhh" She brought a finger to her mouth, silencing Rodderick. "Ricky, hide under the table, we have a visitor".

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He felt a heavy weight forming in his stomach, raising to his chest, he suddenly grew concerned. Did the demons defeat Edeus? He couldn't imagine anything stronger than the mage who could easily raise a house out of nothing.

He quickly made his way under the table while Ember picked up her staff and made a small hole on the earth wall in front of her to peek outside.

"Well fuck, sorry Ricky, stay there until Edeus comes back", Ember waved her staff and the earth under Rodderick gave under him, engulfing him in a hole.

Everything suddenly turned dark, he couldn't see anything, but he could still hear what was going out outside accompanied by the sound of his heart beating faster than ever before.

….

"If you don't have an invitation, I will have to ask you to leave, kihihi", Ember got out of the hut staff in hand and addressed the demon walking towards her.

It was a tall man of almost two meters in height, his body was naturally armored by an exoskeleton of shiny black color covering everything from his feet to his lower jaw. His build was muscular, but his armor made him look agile.

On his back rested a long sword which he slowly took out of his sheet as he approached the witch.

"Just my luck, not only I have to fight a mage, but its a nasty witch too", the man was relaxed, there was no trace of fear or doubt as he approached his enemy.

"Kihihihi, what's wrong? You can't appreciate a well condimented meal?", Ember raised her staff aiming it towards the man.

"You look important, how about you answer some questions before I fry you like the bug you are?".

"Nah, I'm on a hurry", The man lowered his stand, crouching on the ground. His legs grew on size displaying an inhuman level of musculature. He jumped towards Ember at a speed that even her trained eyes have a hard time following.

"Fire laser!" At the end of Ember's staff appeared a flaming sphere spinning rapidly, it quickly exploded forward, the man disappeared from sight behind the laser but Ember didn't feel her attack connect, without relaxing, she manipulated the earth under her to raise a platform to distance herself from the swordsman.

Appearing under her, the man who slid under the laser slashed at the platform, cutting it in half, he then redirected his blade slashing from below, upwards towards Ember.

"-Hngh!", his blade connected, slashing her leg vertically. She quickly pushed her staff forward and created an explosion of wind, pushing the man backwards, using the momentum to raise herself to the sky.

Ember reflexively looked at her leg, she didn't need to check, she knew how badly that slash damaged her but she couldn't help satisfying her morbid curiosity.

Her leg was open, split almost in half, blood pouring from it endlessly. It was completely unusable, if she landed on the ground her movement would be greatly limited, it would be the end in the fight against the expert swordsman.

"Kihihi, just my luck, Edeus deals with the trash and I have to face the strong one" Undeterred, the witch cackled to herself, reading her staff at the swordsman once more.

The demon, who was pushed backwards, stopped the momentum by firmly planting his foot on the ground. He looked up at the witch who was now flying high on the sky.

"Come down now, you know you cant stay up there forever, let's not make this take longer than we have to", the man pointed his fingers to the ground, talking to the witch like she was a misbehaving child who climbed a tree.

"I will have to pass", Ember raised her staff towards the sky, creating another flaming sphere, this time massive in size.

"Flaming spirits, forge a sphere of burning light, pursue my enemy with all your might, let no obstacle stand in your fiery flight! KAHAHAHAHAHA!", Cackling maniacally, Ember pulled her staff pointing towards the demon, dragging the massive fire ball with it. As it fell, the fireball split into 12 different spheres which turned into flaming tigers that were shot towards the swordsman, each taking a different path.

The swordsman took a deep breath, crouching down once again, focusing his energy which made his legs once again grow in size. He closed his eyes and firmly gripped his sword which started to shake with might.

As the spirits drew closer, his eyes opened and jumped, shooting himself between the flames avoiding the spirits.

He felt the scorching hot temperature raising at an incredible speed as the flaming beasts flew around trying to catch him.

Not giving up, the spirits circled around pursuing behind the swordsman.

But the swordsman was faster. He readied himself and jumped towards Ember with incredible speed.

"Die already you bastard!", Ember swung her staff, creating a flaming wall separating herself from the jumping swordsman, however, without caring for how hot the wall's flames raged, the swordsman went through, reaching Ember in under a second.

"Shit!", Ember raised her staff to defend against the incoming slash, but the wood wasn't able to stop the sword's steel.

Cutting cleanly through the staff, the sword advanced unimpeded, Ember's neck quickly followed. The witch could barely follow the sword with her eyes, but she knew at that moment, that she was defeated.

Ember's head flew off leaving a trail of blood behind. In a similar way, her body losing all control, started falling backwards.

The head, pushed by the swordsman attack fell first, hitting the ground with a loud thump, followed by the body. Finally, the swordsman himself landed on his feet.

Looking around for more enemies, he swings his sword with might to get the blood off his sword, then slides the blade back into the sheath.

As he scanned the battlefield, he noticed the small mud hut the witch came from and started walking towards it.