"What the hell are you?" King Yerrie asks.

  The bandit smiles. He rushes straight at us. I jump in front of the king and summon one my barriers. The man punches at them, I don't think he'll get through it. He scratches at it, his eyes are wild. I can't even see his pupils, his mouth wide open and drooling all over.

  I grab my knife and set down my barrier. I jump at his chest, stabbing straight through his heart. He looks down at me.

  "You think that little bde can stop me?" He scoffs.

  I pull my knife down, cutting through his stomach. His shirt comes off. He's muscur with a neckce around his neck. It's glowing a bright red.

  He grabs me and tosses me to the side. How the hell is this guy not dead? The skin on his chest comes back together, a small smoke coming from the wound. The king rushes in at him, punching his chest. I run back in with my sword, I jump up. Maybe if I aim for his head! I ssh down at his neck, he sps me to the side. He punches the king down to the ground. He reels his fist back and punches the king again. The king tries to fight back but the bandit repeatedly punches his head into the ground.

  How is he stronger than Maria? I thought this guy was just a bandit! He's just here to traffic some fairies! I get up onto my feet. Marty and Pyra are already fighting multiple bandits! We're gonna have to do this alone. I run in, I try to tackle the bandit down. He doesn't even budge, since he has a two feet size difference. I boost my body with magic, he budges a little. He looks down at me in shock. He reaches down to grab me, but he can't pick me up.

  "Muscle enhancing magic is weak!" He yells.

  I distract him long enough for the king to get back up. He crushes the bandits face again. They both fall to the ground. King Yerrie gets on top of the bandit. He punches his face over and over, leaving nothing but a mist. His face is only a jaw, and his whole skull is completely shattered. The king stands up. It's quite the sight to see. I almost feel bad for the guy...

  "I think we got him!" King Yerrie coughs up blood.

  I hear a loud ugh come from behind us.

  "Fuck!" We both yell.

  The bandit stands back up, his face morphing back into its original shape.

  "How? What kind of magic is this!" King Yerrie shouts.

  Could this guy just be immortal. Maybe it's his neckce? Maybe we need to actually cut off his head. He's taken every attack except for the one at his neck. He actually blocked that one.

  "Go for his neck!" I whisper to the king.

  He nods, and rushes in. Both the king and the bandit punch at the others face. They both stutter back, king Yerrie grabs the bandit's arms. I run in, sshing at his neck. I bury my sword a few inches inside his neck. The bandit kicks King Yerrie back. He grabs me and sms me into the ground, I can feel my bones being crushed. Maybe two... no three ribs are broken. My body gets pushed harder and harder. I feel the pressure fade fast, I stand up with the little strength I have. King Yerrie is going punch for punch with the bandit. My sword is still in his neck. Maybe I can push it further!

  I jump up, pcing a barrier just below my feet letting me jump again. I nd behind the bandit, bicycle kick the sword, cutting deeper. The bandit stutter, king Yerrie grabs the tip of the sword and the handle. He pulls it further into the bandits neck. He screams in pain as king Yerrie pulls further. The bde cuts through his neck. Both his head and body flop to the ground.

  He's not healing... We won! King Yerrie grabs his head, holding it high.

  "This will make a great addition to my collection!" He ughs.

  He starts coughing again. Blood spews all over, as he passes out. I look around, all the bandits are already dead. There's maybe a hundred living fairies. That's less than half from when we arrived. Pyra stumbles over to me.

  "They're strong for swordsman!" She chuckles.

  "Yeah, I never though a man would kick my ass this bad." I say.

  Pyra walks over to the bandits chest.

  "What's this?" She mutters.

  She grabs the mans neckce. She looks at it for a minute.

  "This has a red aura..." She says.

  "What does that mean?" I ask.

  "This uses blood magic!" She says.

  "How does that equal blood magic?" I ask,

  She looks at the neckce again. Then she looks back at me.

  "It's just how it is, everything has an aura! Yours is gold, I don't know what that is though... That rock or ball you have is blue, to represent mana, it doesn't have an element." She tells me.

  "What's yours?" I ask.

  "Gd you asked! It's a dark blue, because I'm best with magic. Marty's is a light grey, because of his illusion magic." She smiles.

  "You should teach me some of these things someday!" I say.

  She blushes a little.

  "I was going to today..." She says, "But, things don't always work out how you'd like them too."

  Marty walks over, completely unscathed. He notices the neckce.

  "What's that?" He asks.

  "Don't know." I say.

  He looks down at the ground. I look too, it's the king! I totally forgot he passed out. And what about the princess? Where did she go? I look around, there's a bandit carrying someone on his back. He's using smoke to hide himself.

  "Give me a moment." I tell them.

  I rush over to the bandit. They notice me and start to run. I can't keep up with my injuries! I chuck my sword at them, it strikes the back of their head. I jog over, just like I thought! He tried to sneak the princess out. I take her back to the vilge. Some people have stretchers and are taking people to a small doctor's near by. They're not in the vilge because of the high human activity. They don't want things like this happening to the doctors.

  I carry the princess, Marty and Pyra carry king Yerrie. We reach the doctor's, nearly a hundred people are sitting outside, in stretchers covered in bandages. Somebody sees us coming.

  "It's king Yerrie and princess Teir!" He yells out. A few people gather around and take the two from us.

  "Thank you! We are in your debt." One man tells us.

  "What do we do now?" I ask the others.

  "We wait." Marty says.

  "We can't! We're on a mission, and this wasn't even one of our stops." I say.

  Marty shrugs me off. He walks back to the vilge. Pyra follows him. I can't believe him! The longer we wait, the more people are in danger. I follow them reluctantly. People are already rebuilding the vilge. Marty and Pyra are already helping. I sit down by a tree for a second. A woman comes up to me, it's queen Yerrie.

  "Why aren't you helping?" She asks, with her usual simle.

  Even after all this, she can stay the same. She has strong character!

  "I'm just resting... I think I broke a few bones." I tell her.

  "Oh my! Are you sure you shouldn't go to the doctor?" She asks.

  "No, I'm good. It's minor breaks." I joke.

  She stares at me.

  "I'll patch you up!" She says.

  "I'm fine. You really don't have to." I tell her.

  She doesn't listen. She grabs some bandages and wraps the around me. The felt around my chest and arms.

  "A few bones you say?" She says.

  "What's wrong?" I ask.

  "Your arm is broken, and you have maybe six broke ribs!" She says.

  She patches me up, giving me a make shift sling for my arm. I don't feel the pain. Maybe it's just adrenaline? She picks me up onto my feet. She drags me away.

  "Where are we going?" I ask her.

  "Your going to the doctors!" She says.

  "I don't need it." I say.

  She pulls on my broken arm. A strong pain its. I crumple the ground. Holy shit! It hurts, it hurts. What he hell?

  "You need the doctor." She says.

  We reach the doctors, and she sets me in a line with other soldiers. The man next to me is all cut up.

  "What happened to you?" He asks.

  "I broke a few bones..." I say.

  The doctor comes across the line. It's a young dy, she examines my body. Touching around and pulling on my skin.

  "Alright... You have a few minor fractures. They will be healed in a week with magic." She tells me.