As soon as Nathan's family entered the hall, they were greeted by their close friends with enthusiastic waves.

  "Nathan, Arielle, Ashley, over here!" Thomas, a 12-year-old boy with brown hair and skin, exclaimed, his bright, Sapphire eyes sparkling as he turned to face the family. While happy to see Nathan and his family, Thomas fell short of smiling from being on edge. "Hello, Grandpa Patrick and Grandma Emily!" Beside Thomas sat Chana, a sleepy 9-year-old girl who looked exactly like her brother. She gave a half-hearted greeting, struggling to keep her Amber eyes open. Thomas and Chana were dressed in matching white shirts and blue pants. Maya, their mother, approached with a jug of water in hand, exchanged warm smiles with Patrick's family as she returned. Maya bore a striking resemblance to her daughter Chana, but with darker hair.

  "Right before you arrived, we were just informed that the chief is negotiating with the bandits." Maya said in an anxious tone. "The bandits are demanding a hefty sum."

  "But this year's harvest is bad, isn't it?" Emily asked, furrowing her brows in concern. "I wonder how it will go."

  "We must brace ourselves for an attack. Bandits often strike in years of poor harvest, like this one," Patrick said with a calm and collected tone.

  "Let me pray to Goddess Liliana. Hopefully, Harold, Ana and Jonathan will come back safely." Maya said, crossing her fingers and closing her eyes.

  "I'll go grab the weapons for everyone," Patrick said, then walked away.

  Grandpa Patrick approached the armorer, a volunteer responsible for distributing the town's defensive equipment. The looming threat of the upcoming bandit attack weighed on everyone. Patrick asked for three spears and three small wooden shields. The volunteer promptly handed over his request. Upon careful inspection of the arms, Patrick handed a spear back to exchange for another one, which the volunteer swiftly provided.

  "Here you go," Patrick said, handing two sets to Emily and Maya and keeping one for himself. With quick and efficient movements, they secured the shields onto their left forearms using leather straps.

  "I'm very sleepy, Grandpa. Why are the bandits attacking at night?" Ashley tiredly whined with her eyes half-closed.

  "It's because the Knight Order never responds to nighttime emergencies... Well, sleep here Ashley sweetie." Patrick said as he sat down next to Ashley, who then leaned her head on her Grandpa's shoulder and closed her eyes. Seeing that, Nathan snuggled into Grandpa's other shoulder, while Arielle nestled into Grandma's. Thomas and Chana both rested on their mother's shoulders. Despite the anxiety of the adults, the children quickly fell asleep under the background noise in the town hall.

  After a few hours, without warning, the scout on the top of the town hall suddenly bellowed fanatically, "Bandits, coming from the west!"

  "Close the gate! Everyone, get inside!" the leader of the town hall guards called out loudly.

  "Move all noncombatants to the courtyard. Go! Go! Go!" the leader yelled again.

  Everyone in the hall was startled alert from the sudden outbursts of commands.

  The town hall had only one gate, which was located on the eastern side and led directly into the main building. The open courtyard was on the western side, surrounded by high walls that offered a sense of security.

  The voluntary village guards guided Nathan, Thomas and their families to the courtyard. Ana, being one of the voluntary village guards, reassured her children as they passed by, "Wait here, my loves; I'll be back before you know it."

  In the next three hours, the bandits relentlessly attacked the gate with a massive ram, each blow shaking the walls and filling the air with a deafening noise. Some of the voluntary village guards, however, were former knights, like Ana. They were able to use the Divine Spell: Iron Wall to reinforce the gate, making it hard to penetrate.

  "Bandits are climbing up from behind the walls!" the watchman on the top of the town hall shouted urgently.

  A contingent of village guards rushed to the western wall and started throwing stones and shooting arrows at the bandits with all their might.

  "Boom!" An explosive spell blasted away the guards on top of the wall, and some of them fell down from it into the noncombatants. Although the wall was around five meters high, all of them were still alive, protected by Stoneskin. Several elderly men and women were injured as they tried to shield the children from the falling guards.

  Seizing the chance created by the explosion, four bandits effortlessly scaled the walls and took their positions atop, their stances menacing and ready for battle. They talked to each other. Then, the person who seemed to be their leader said in a cold and merciless tone, "There is no time. Kill them all."

  "Roger!" the rest of the bandits responded in unison, devoid of emotion.

  "Divine Spell: Chain Lightning." "Divine Spell: Wind Cutter." Two of the bandits chanted and the other two, including the Leader, unsheathed their swords and jumped down from the wall.

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  Five of the guards who fell to the ground stood up and formed a giant stone wall of shields. "Divine Spells: Iron Wall, Phalanx." One of them additionally cast "Divine Spell: Elemental Shield." They were pushed back a step after the spells hit. The two charging bandits cast the same spells and used their shields to ram into the five guards. With herculean strength, they easily pushed forward and knocked the five down to the ground. The bandits' feat of strength, however, did not discourage the village guards as several more of them gallantly joined the fray as reinforcements.

  As the crowd moved toward the town hall's main building in fear, Patrick's and Maya's families were caught up in the crowd and swept along involuntarily. While Nathan moved, he caught a glimpse of his mother running to the courtyard to help fight the four bandits, valiantly protecting her loved ones. The bandits split up soon after their initial assault. With absolute confidence in their abilities, the four bandits began fighting individually. They cut through the guard's shields as if they were made of illusions, leaving deep gashes in their wake. The injured guards were quickly ushered away, replaced by fresh fighters eager to defend their families and friends.

  "Bang!" "The gate is breached!" "Why are the noncombatants here? Move them back to the courtyard!" Nathan could hear people shouting. Patrick, Emily, and Maya formed a triangle to shield their children.

  Sensing imminent danger from both the eastern and western sides, Emily said to her husband, "Patrick, walk in the middle and watch the children, you're carrying Henry. Let me and Maya guard the front and the back." Then, the three of them repositioned themselves accordingly. Other families also made similar formations to protect their children as the bandits came charging in.

  From behind his Grandma, who was guarding the back, Nathan could still see the four bandits who had climbed over the wall. They wore metal plate armors, unlike the bandits who came from the main gate, where the majority of them wore leather armors or even pots and frying pans. However, those plate armors were not the same as those typically worn by knights. Just like the other bandits, they covered up the lower part of their faces with pieces of cloth. With ruthless efficiency, these four plate armored bandits kept slicing through the village guards, and if given a chance, would occasionally charge into the elderly and children and slaughter them indiscriminately. Brave women and gallant elderly pushed the children behind them and formed a human shield against the bandits. Many children were screaming and crying.

  "Goddess Liliana, have mercy! Please come and save us from this horror!" Nathan could hear many people crying out for the Goddess' help.

  In the next few grueling minutes, casualties continued to pile up. Patrick, Emily, and Maya did their best to block the children from seeing or getting close to the slaughter. Many villagers without children bravely placed themselves in danger to assist the western side's defense. Suddenly, Nathan's heart skipped a bit as he saw Ana lying on the ground behind some of the village guards. Her shield was broken and she was holding her left arm in pain. Her sword lay on the ground next to her. At this rate, one of the four bandits would reach her in just a few moments. "Mom! Grandma! Mom is hurt! Over there! We have to save her!" Nathan shouted with utmost urgency, pointing toward his mother.

  "Where?" Emily asked, trying to look. Due to Nathan's anxious tone, Emily wanted to find Ana as soon as she could. However, the situation was chaotic, and it was packed with people trying to escape. It was very impressive that Nathan was able to locate his mother. Arielle and Ashley tried to look, but they also could not see their mother.

  Seeing that the adults stood frozen, Nathan rushed toward his mother. Patrick, Emily, and Maya tried their best but failed to catch him. Emily immediately attempted to run behind him, but she was kept by Arielle and Ashley, as the two sisters tried to follow their brother. Nathan reached Ana within twenty seconds, just as she stood up, picked up her sword, and prepared to rejoin the fray.

  "Nathan? Stay back!" Ana yelled, noticing Nathan.

  "Huh?!" Nathan suddenly realized that one of the four plate-armored bandits was right next to him, his sword lifted up and at the ready to deliver Nathan to heaven. In a split second, Ana interposed herself between her son and the bandit, her chest sliced through, her sword broken as she tried to block the strike.

  "Huh?!" Nathan said again as his emotions caught up with him. Eagerness to save his mother and fear of death swirled within him. As time seemed to stand still, this moment felt like an eternity to Nathan, who would never forget this scene.

  The bandit who struck down his mother was a young man in his mid-twenties with a fair complexion. His green hair appeared toxic to Nathan, and his Amber eyes gazed ferociously upon Nathan before his next move, seemingly hesitating over his actions.

  The other three bandits' appearances also became imprinted in Nathan's memory.

  The leader, a man in his forties, had short, military-styled grey hair and tanned skin, evoking the image of a seasoned military commander. He was taking down village guards with deadly efficiency and precision. His Onyx eyes of darkness looked at the guards emotionlessly, as if they were not humans but targets to be eliminated.

  Another bandit, most likely a young noble or a pampered playboy, stood out with his stylish dark blue hair, piercing Emerald eyes, and unblemished fair skin. Extremely incongruous with his surroundings, he frequently stopped to fix his hair amidst his killing spree.

  The last one was a woman in her mid-twenties. Her merciless Onyx eyes and dark brown skin were fitting for a shadow of death in the courtyard. She stood out with her carefully combed, long, straight green hair, an unusual trait among bandits.

  "What should I do, Mom?" Nathan whispered helplessly. At a loss for what to do, Nathan nervously tried to close his mother's wound with his hands.

  With a fierce "Haaa!", Emily came running, thrusting her spear fearlessly toward the bandit. The bandit shifted his focus from Nathan to Emily. However, the green-haired bandit easily dodged the attack and slashed through both Emily's shield and her leather bracers. Despite her injury, Emily stood firm between Nathan and the bandit, shielding her grandson. As Emily tried to thrust her spear again, the bandit lifted up his sword and delivered the final strike.

  "Emily! No!" Patrick shouted from afar. "Grandma!" Nathan knelt on one knee, horrified, and did not know how to respond. Despite the crowd of villagers blocking the children's view, Maya turned around and further blocked the children from seeing what had happened. "What happened to Mom and Grandma?" Arielle and Ashley asked anxiously, trying to see what had happened.

  Emily fell beside Nathan, adding to Nathan's trauma.

  "Grandma? What should I do?" Nathan was frozen in place, completely at a loss.

  The green-haired bandit lifted his sword and prepared to skewer Nathan.

  Nathan looked up, and as a strange sense of calmness fell upon him, he thought, "I guess I will be joining Mom and Grandma soon."