Ranvir jumped on the spot and swung his arms back and forth. Breathing deeply, he listened to the sounds just barely reaching him from behind the fyla stone growth. The activities of the camp seemed to have stilled just in the time since his arrival. More men and women were stationed as guards, but internal activity was way down.

He lightly kicked his war hammer, the short handle and head designed for caving in skulls, with a spike at the back for breaking through metal plates. It wasn’t anything special, except for its construction of steel. Not that steel was special in Korfyi. They just couldn’t reliably make iron back home, which made it seem rarer to Ranvir.

Making it this close to the camp without being noticed had taken some work. His clothes were still wet from the swims, his wounds burning fresh from the salt water. Thankfully, he’d been able to keep close to the perimeter where the mana was thinnest and creatures the fewest.

Amalia, with her Ability Scores much higher and a quieter mana-type, had just rushed through the water. He felt she was moving faster while under the waves than he could’ve above them. She wasn’t even that noticeable on the lines. He had to really look for her, and by then she would already be long gone from where he’d sensed her.

He shook his head. Time to get in the action. Ranvir grabbed his hammer. He slowed his breathing one last time. He began spinning up Sandstorm Rage. The core of Amanaris glowed within his spirit. Golden-yellow lights started spilling from him as his skin gained the texture of sandpaper. He skewed the Rage towards strength. Spill over from the Ability increased. Ranvir leapt.

Ranvir burst into the air, stone shattering underneath his feet with a thunderous crack. He abandoned the Rage, gathering a Barrage into each hand. Sand trailed from him like twin tails as he descended towards the ground. Two women on guard cried out and pointed at him. Already, people were emerging from the tents.

Fifteen meters to go and Ranvir stretched forth his Dagger. It was still sensitive and shorter than usual. Redirection lines emerged from the ground where he would land, four purple channels drawing away from the center with perfect ninety degree turns.

Ranvir touched the ground, landing on his technique and dispersing the energy of his fall. Three of the lines had crawled along with, or into, the ground, throwing up puffs of left over sand and dust. The last line had crawled upwards and touched his pant leg. The tough trousers, designed for travel in the toughest environments Korfyi could offer, including folds ripped up to his knee, strips of cloth floating into the air.

Ranvir let out a cry as he unleashed the first Barrage. He didn’t target the guards. Instead, he targeted the largest tent. The wind howled from so much sand, dragging at his clothes. Canvas ripped, boxes crunched, and people cried out. Turning, Ranvir sensed a group of mercenaries closing. He threw the last blast in their direction.

Turning up Rage again, Ranvir began running for the guards on the perimeter. The two in front of him tried their best, but couldn’t stand up to his advantage in stats. His hammer connected with the first woman’s shield. Her arms shattered with a stomach turning crunch. He glanced at the other guard, her fellow splashing into the water. She threw away her weapon and dove in after.

Ranvir kept running. He aimed for arms, shoulders, and lower legs. He didn’t dare aim for the thighs and torso as it would risk killing them. Inside, he sensed a dark cloud of emotions billowing up within, but he stuffed it down. Keep it quiet, keep to business, and keep going.

He sensed a group of four approaching from behind and turned around. They’d come looking, and he didn’t want to disappoint. A tall woman stood at the front with her shield ready. Ranvir hit her with enough force to break a brick wall. And she stopped him cold. Two arrows and a spear slammed into him. One arrow grazed his neck, but the other glanced off him.

Hesitating for a moment, Ranvir was shoved back by the shield-woman. Stumbling, he nearly lost his balance, but caught himself on a platform of space. With one foot over the water, he took another spear thrust before he struck back.

The weapon was enforced with an Ability and it sliced a cut into his upper arm. Sand gathered around Ranvir’s own hand as he struck the shield woman down. Dividing his draw between Sandstorm Rage and Sand Strike, the attack Ability added enough force to throw the woman off her feet.

Ranvir threw the hammer, shortening the space to his target’s shin. His Rage was still spinning back to strength after diverting some to Sand Strike, which probably saved the limb. Ranvir struck the spear-wielder in the shoulder with shattering force. He grabbed the last of the archers by the forearm and threw her as far as he could.

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Grabbing his hammer just as the shield-woman got up, Ranvir sensed people were streaming towards him like predators sensing injured prey. He wrapped himself in space and moved.

Appearing towards the other end of the camp, the now mostly abandoned end, he started throwing out Barrages again. His Abilities knocked over and broke tents, destroying as much of their infrastructure as he could.

One tent, this one slightly larger than average, threw arm-fulls of paper into the air when he knocked it over. An older man tore out of the knocked over tent, his ferocious speed throwing the cloth into the air, revealing a disheveled thin man wearing a scarf, though he soon disappeared back underneath the covering.

The grizzled warrior charged Ranvir at speed, sparks burning from his fingertips. Ranvir immediately sensed the potential of the Ability. The man wasn’t anymore than two or three tiers higher than Ranvir, but he clearly had a lifetime of Scores on him.

Dodging back, Ranvir realized that might be the only advantage he had on the man. His superior power was mitigated by his experience, and the old man’s age came with a fluidity and sureness of movement Ranvir’d never seen before.

Barely avoiding another clawed swing from the man, Ranvir stumbled. So did the man consume his attention. Ranvir struck forward with his hammer, blocking the attack with the steelhead.

White.

Ranvir moved his hands about confusedly, trying to figure out what happened as he looked around. His head throbbed painfully, each booming strike echoing all the way into his chest.

Above the ringing wailing in his ears, people were crying out. Someone had set fire to the nearby tents…

The explosion… The man! Ranvir blinked twice before seeing the figure approaching at a run. Latresekt was growling and howling within his mind, accompanied by an odd buzzing. Ranvir blinked at his forearm. His clothes were on fire. An insect landed on him. Not just any insect, Loce.

“Hey,” he said.

It buzzed angrily at him.

“Give it power!”

Ranvir squinted, but did as Latresekt suggested. The little insect multiplied into a proper locust, buzzing off immediately. Ranvir groaned and cradled his head. It hurt. He swallowed once before another explosion went off.

Ranvir sensed the man fly directly into the perimeter of the fold and collapse limply into the water. Blinking, he looked around. A few meters beyond him lay a melted slag pile.

“Focus, they’re coming for you!”

Ranvir blinked at the metal, noticing the piece of wood sticking out from the top. “Is that my hammer?”

“Not anymore, get up!”

He shook his head once more, groaning at the livid green nauseous fumed in conjuring alongside the pain in his head. He coughed once but got his feet under him. Looking up, Ranvir saw people streaming in his direction from all sides.

The attack.

He wrapped himself in space and teleported away to another point in the camp, whipping Rage back to full power. Growling low in his throat, Ranvir’d barely stepped out of the space before one man was pointing a bow at him. Mihail unleashed the glowing arrow moments later. The attack was too late for Ranvir. He couldn’t have dodged the missile, but his Perception let him see enough of Mihail to dodge him.

The arrow struck a fallen over tent pole behind Ranvir and burst into brilliance. The crowd all stopped and turned towards the light. A bubble in the crowd opened around Sabas and three other people who were walking alongside him.

“Fire,” Sabas’ words weren’t loud, but could still be clearly heard over the background noises.

Ranvir readied for ranged attacks, throwing up barriers of hardened space. A dozen and a half braced stretched forth their hands and his world was enveloped in light and heat. His hair blew on the updraft created. At some point, his tie had come off. He smelled the heat’s effect on him more than felt it, at first. The stench of burning hairs filled his nostrils.

Heat built. Ranvir tried running forwards, but it didn’t help. The fire was too loud and bright for his senses to penetrate it. Even as he skewed Rage towards durability, he felt the sweat instantly evaporate from his skin. Already, it felt like he’d been out too long in the sun and it was only getting worse. The accumulation of fire mana increasing the heat further.

Ranvir extended his veil. Shear mana, cold, sharp, and metallic, gathered and shot through the fire in an instant. Ranvir barely dodged. The cutting mana leaving a groove in the stone.

Breathing hurt. His eyes growing too painful to keep open. He tried gathering another space, but Sabas was on him in an instant.

“Direct the fire away, you moron child,” Latresekt growled.

Ranvir spread his Veil again, once more barely dodging an attack from Sabas. He could try to wrap the space surrounding him again, but he’d be taking the fire and mana with him. Despite Latresekt’s suggestion, Ranvir pinched himself off and moved away, taking as little with him as he could.

Ranvir screamed as fire, mana, and warmth traveled with him. Confining all the heat to a space only a fraction larger than his body, reflected on him with nowhere to go or room to dissipate. Searing and screaming, the space fell apart and Ranvir dropped back into the fold.

“Are you trying to get us killed? Redirection lines!”

Ranvir grit his teeth. He didn’t know why Sabas didn’t have the others attack him, only keeping the fire braced on him, but he would not complain. Spreading his Veil, Ranvir forged as many redirection lines as he could.

Instantly, the fire found super-efficient paths of travel. Energy moving with near zero loss until it impacted the stone nearby. Rocks liquefied and popped as the massive inferno was concentrated into thumb-thick channels. He barely registered the brush against his forearm as he leapt away.

Sabas nearly shot him down half a dozen times, Ranvir barely dodging by stretching and shrinking space ahead of him. Others tried, but only the captain was accurate enough to hit Ranvir at speed.