Steel flashed.
Before the first bandit could properly raise his blade, Eric moved.
There was no dramatic windup. No roar. No wasted motion.
One step forward.
A clean horizontal slash across the man’s throat.
The bandit’s eyes widened in delayed comprehension. Blood followed a fraction of a second later. Eric pivoted on his heel before the body even hit the ground.
A second attacker lunged from the right.
Eric slipped inside the arc of the descending blade, his own weapon rising in a smooth diagonal cut. The strike split leather and flesh with surgical precision. The man dropped almost simultaneously with the first.
Two bodies. Two breaths.
The laughter died instantly.
The road, moments ago filled with crude jeers and confidence, fell into stunned silence broken only by choking gasps and the wet thud of collapsing corpses.
Eric flicked the blood from his blade with a small snap of his wrist. A thin red arc splattered across the dirt.
He glanced toward Kael, a grin tugging at his lips. “Want to see something new?”
Kael didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
Eric lifted two fingers casually, as if pointing something out in the distance.
Two more bandits were charging, shouting to rally their courage.
“Get him!” one yelled, though his voice cracked.
Heat began to gather at Eric’s fingertips.
It wasn’t wild or explosive—it was compressed. Condensed. The air around his hand shimmered unnaturally as orange light coiled tighter and tighter, shrinking into two concentrated points no larger than marbles.
“Compressed fireball,” Eric murmured.
With a subtle flick of his fingers, the spheres launched.
They didn’t streak wildly like normal flames. They cut through the air in straight, silent lines—fast, controlled.
The first sphere struck a bandit square in the forehead.
There was no explosion.
No dramatic blast.
It punched cleanly through his skull, leaving a smoking hole as it exited the back. The man dropped instantly, eyes empty before he hit the ground.
The second sphere followed a heartbeat later.
It drilled through the other bandit’s temple just as cleanly. A thin trail of smoke rose from the wound as he crumpled without even managing a scream.
The smell of scorched flesh drifted faintly across the road.
Silence deepened.
Several remaining bandits instinctively stepped back.
The leader’s face had gone pale beneath the grime. Sweat beaded along his scalp, then poured freely down his temples. His grip on the chain tightened unconsciously, the metal rattling against the terrified girl’s collar.
Kael watched.
Unimpressed.
His expression didn’t shift. If anything, he looked mildly bored.
He smiled faintly.
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“That’s not something impressive,” he said calmly. “This is.”
He pointed at the ground.
Eric’s eyes narrowed slightly, curiosity flickering despite himself.
The bandits frowned, confused.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then—
Their shadows began to change.
At first, it seemed like a trick of the sunlight. The afternoon light hadn’t shifted. The wagon hadn’t moved. Yet the shapes beneath their feet stretched unnaturally long.
One bandit glanced down.
“Boss…?”
The shadows thickened. Darkened. They lost the soft blur of natural light and sharpened into something solid—something alive.
“Hey—what’s going on?” another shouted, stumbling backward.
The ground beneath them seemed to breathe.
Suddenly—
Spikes erupted upward from the shadows themselves.
Black, jagged spears tore through boots and legs first, pinning them in place. Screams exploded across the road as more spikes shot upward—through thighs, through torsos, through shoulders.
A bandit tried to raise his shield.
A spike burst straight through it—and through him.
Another attempted to run.
His own shadow elongated beneath him, forming a spear that drove clean through his back and out his chest, lifting him slightly before dropping him lifelessly to the dirt.
Blood sprayed across the road in violent arcs.
The girl screamed. The young boy beside her covered her eyes instinctively, though he trembled just as much.
Mary stood frozen, shield raised but forgotten.
Musk’s hammer lowered slightly as he stared. “What in the—”
More shadows convulsed.
More spikes erupted.
Within seconds, the majority of the bandits were either dead or writhing in their final breaths.
The road, once crowded with armed men, was now littered with bodies.
And through it all—
Kael stood untouched.
Eric hadn’t even broken a sweat.
The bandit leader dropped to his knees.
The chain clattered from his hand, though it remained looped around the girl’s neck.
His body shook violently now—not from heat, but from fear.
“W-what are you?” he whispered hoarsely.
Kael didn’t even spare him a full glance.
Instead, he walked forward with steady, measured steps, boots crunching softly against gravel stained red.
He stopped in front of the girl and the young boy.
Up close, the boy’s face was bruised badly. One eye was swelling shut. His jaw was clenched with a mix of hatred and helplessness.
“You’re her brother?” Kael asked.
The boy nodded stiffly.
“They took us from the village,” he managed to say. “We tried to run.”
Kael crouched slightly and snapped the chain at the collar with a small, precise twist of shadow. The metal fell away in two pieces.
The girl gasped, hands flying to her neck.
Kael’s voice turned firm and authoritative. “If you stay here after we leave, you’ll die. Bandits always come in waves.”
The boy swallowed. “W-what do we do?”
“You’re bunkering with us.”
He straightened and glanced over his shoulder. “Mary. Take over.”
Mary blinked, then forced herself into motion. She hurried over, kneeling to the children’s level.
“You’re safe now,” she said gently, though her voice carried an undercurrent of tension. “We’ll get you out of here.”
Musk stepped closer, scanning the tree line. “That was… something,” he muttered under his breath.
Kael had already turned away.
As if nothing significant had happened.
He walked back toward the wagon, stepping over a body without a second thought. He climbed inside, lay down along the wooden bench, and closed his eyes.
Like this had merely been an inconvenience in his afternoon.
Outside, only one bandit remained alive.
The leader.
He was sobbing openly now, knees grinding into the dirt as he tried to crawl backward.
“Please… please spare me,” he begged, voice breaking. “I didn’t know—you’re monsters—please—”
Eric approached him slowly.
Unhurried.
Measured.
He crouched in front of the trembling man, resting his forearms casually on his knees.
“You know,” Eric said thoughtfully, “this move was supposed to be a surprise.”
The leader blinked through tears.
Eric tilted his head slightly. “But I guess surprises don’t last long when you travel with someone like him.”
He placed his palm gently on the bandit’s head.
The man froze.
For one second—
Nothing happened.
The wind shifted softly across the road.
Then—
WHOOM.
Flames erupted from the inside out.
Fire burst from the bandit leader’s mouth, his eyes, beneath his skin. It wasn’t wild—it was contained, concentrated. The flames consumed him completely in seconds.
His scream lasted less than a breath.
When the fire died, there was no body.
Only blackened dust drifting away on the wind.
Eric stood and dusted off his hands as if finishing a minor chore.
Musk stared. “You didn’t even leave bones…”
Eric stretched his arms casually, rolling his shoulders. “Efficiency.”
Mary helped the children toward the wagon, her movements careful. “You two are terrifying,” she muttered quietly—half statement, half realization.
Eric smiled faintly. “You get used to it.”
“I hope not,” she replied.
The boy paused before climbing into the carriage. He looked at Eric, then toward the wagon where Kael rested unseen.
“Are they… heroes?” he asked hesitantly.
Mary hesitated.
Musk answered instead. “They’re on our side.”
The boy nodded slowly, unsure whether that was comforting.
The children were guided into the wagon.
The merchant peeked out, face pale. “Is it—over?”
“For now,” Musk replied.
The wheels began to turn once more.
Wood creaked. Hooves resumed their rhythm against the road.
Eric climbed back inside and took his seat opposite Kael.
Kael’s eyes remained closed.
Eric leaned back, exhaling lightly. “That was a good break,” he said. “Let’s continue the journey.”
His lips curved slightly.
“Hopefully we meet some more bandits.”
Outside, Mary and Musk exchanged uneasy glances but said nothing.
The road stretched ahead, winding toward Helcurt.
The sun still shone overhead.
But the air felt heavier now.
And the shadows seemed just a little darker than before.
