Maya was the first to reach the bandits. She did not slow as she approached and swung her axe forward. The bandit she targeted was caught off guard by her speed and took the full force of the axe. With the momentum of her dash, the axe easily swung through the bandit’s torso and cut him in two. As the bandit fell to the group, Maya turned around quickly to face the rest of the bandits. As she looked over the bandits, her lips twisted into a snarl.

  The powerful gusts of wind reached the area and exploded into tiny, sharp blades. The blades were barely visible as they were created from distortions in the wind current. This made the blades even harder to dodge as they scattered throughout the area. Maya quickly noticed the explosion of wind and tried to get as far back from it as possible. Even with her speed, blades managed to barely catch her.

  “Watch where you are throwing that thing!” Maya yelled back towards Josh.

  “Sorry!” Josh yelled back in response as he ran towards the battle.

  Bandits scattered as the blades started to cut at them. Some of them even tried to swat them away like the blades were flies they could squash. In the disarray, Sean’s large birds of water flew closer. Each of the birds slammed into the chests of different bandits, sending a high-pressure current of water through them. As the three bandits were thrown off their feet, the scattered water gathered back together into the shapes of the birds.

  In a flash of movement, Maya was already back into the fight. Her prey was one of the fallen bandits. She brought her axe down on the bandit like an executioner. Before he had the chance to react or even try to get to his feet, the axe cut downward into him. His body turned limp as Maya ripped the axe from it.

  “Why are there monsters here?” One of the bandits said in fear as he stood up. His hands were shaking as he pointed his sword at Maya.

  “You fool! It’s just a technique!” The leader of the group bellowed. “Fight her with your own!”

  Whatever fear the bandits had of Maya, they feared their leader more. At his orders, the bandits seemed to tighten up and stop shaking. Essence flared to life around the bandits as they each prepared their techniques. The bandit who faced Maya was the first to make his move. Flames gathered around his arms and extended towards his sword.

  The bandit lunged forward towards Maya with his sword. Maya easily dodged out of the way of the bandit. Before she could move in to counter, she was shocked by the result of her dodge. The flames around the bandit’s arms flicked outward at her and burned her. In response, she jumped further away from the bandit.

  “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?” The bandit chuckled confidently. The successful attack seemed to restore his confidence and rid him of his fear.

  As Austin, Josh, and Sean reached the bandits, they activated their own techniques. The first bandit’s body started to grow slightly. As his body grew, it turned the color of stone and became blocky in appearance. With the coloring and sharp edges of the body, the bandit looked like some sort of stone golem.

  The next bandit’s body also started to change. Water exploded from the bandit’s back as his spine convulsed. The explosion of water gathered together until it formed four tendrils that sprouted from his back. The leader was the final bandit to activate his technique. He grew much larger as he activated it. He was at least twice his original height, and his colossal sword now looked like a regular longsword in his hand.

  “I’ll handle the big one,” Austin said to the group. “You guys got the other two covered?”

  “Of course,” Sean and Josh said in unison as they readied their weapons.

  Satisfied that the rest of the group could handle themselves, Austin kicked off towards the leader. A wave of Essence ran down his arm into his shield as he approached. Without slowing, Austin threw his shield arm forward in a punch. The giant bandit did not hesitate at Austin’s attack and brought his sword forward to block the attack. As the shield and sword made contact, a flash of silver light exploded. The explosion sent the leader’s sword flying upward. He was barely able to keep his grip on the sword.

  With the leader thrown off balance, Austin did not hesitate to follow up with more attacks. He quickly followed up with a punch with his free arm. The punch did not do much but caused the leader to flinch. Austin was not deterred by the minor damage; he was going to continue his assault. With another wave of Essence, Austin punched with his shield arm. The resulting explosion threw the leader backward. Crashing noises resounded as the leader flew through several trees.

  “That's all you got?” Austin taunted as he walked towards the leader. “I expected a little more.”

  “Just a lucky attack,” the leader groaned as he stood up. He wiped his body off as he stood, bark and broken wood falling to the ground as he did.

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  The leader let out a bellowing roar as he charged Austin. With his massive size, it took only a few quick strides to make it to Austin. Once he did, he swung his sword in a horizontal arc. As Austin stepped backward from the attack, the sword cut through several nearby trees. Trees crashed to the ground and echoed throughout the forest.

  “You see, my men are all about fancy tricks,” the leader chuckled. “But as you can see, brute strength can get the job done just fine!”

  “You remind me of someone,” Austin responded as he rubbed his temples in frustration. “He didn’t last long against me.”

  The leader swung his sword through another tree and sent it crashing to the ground. “You fool! Now that I am on the offensive, there is no way you can even get close to me.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Austin shrugged as he let his shield disappear into a flash of light. “There is just nothing I can do. I should surrender.”

  “Yes, call your men off, and you can join our crew,” the bandit laughed. “I’m not an unreasonable man.”

  “Or not,” Austin smirked as an orb of silver light formed in his hand. He then casually tossed it at the leader.

  The leader’s eyes grew wide as the orb moved towards him. He tried to move to dodge, but his large body made it difficult to avoid. The orb directly hit the man before he could get out of the way. The orb vanished as it hit the man. The leader raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his body. He was confused as the attack seemed to do no damage to him.

  “That was your last grand move?” The leader let out a bellowing laugh. “Here I thought it would be something devastating! I almost feel bad that was the last thing you did before you died!”

  Austin let out an exaggerated yawn as the leader swung his sword down on him. The leader’s eyes grew wide as he could not continue the swing. The veins in his arms bulged as he tried desperately to continue the swing, but no matter what he did, the swing would not go through. In response, Austin casually pushed his hand upward into the air. An invisible force through the leader backward as he did.

  Once the leader was thrown backward, a handful of tiny metal balls filled Austin’s hand. Austin’s casualness had moved to boredom at that point. He tossed the balls into the air, and for a moment, they stopped midair. Then the balls all turned in the direction of the leader and pelted him. The leader swung wildly with his sword to try to stop the balls, but he had failed utterly.

  As the leader struggled with Austin’s first round of attacks. Austin threw another handful of balls at him. Austin continued to do this one after another until the leader could barely stand. The leader leaned on his sword to keep himself standing, but his body was littered with bruises.

  “Please…stop,” the leader begged. His eyes were filled with fear and exhaustion as he looked towards Austin. It was like he no longer saw Austin as a man, but as a terrifying monster. “I’ll do anything. Just stop.”

  Austin sighed and released the effects of his Magnetic Charge technique as he walked towards the leader. As he walked towards the leader, Essence flowed into Austin’s hands. He then reached forward as if he was offering a handshake to the leader. For a moment, the leader smiled as he saw Austin offer his hand. Then a silver sword appeared in Austin’s hand and stabbed through the man’s chest.

  “Sorry, I’m not that kind, I guess,” Austin said as the leader slumped over.

  ***

  Maya grew frustrated as she fought her bandit. The flames surrounding his body made it impossible for her to attack him. Each time she tried, the flames burned her. She was completely unable to close the gap between the two. Instead, she was forced to move further away from the bandit as he swung his sword with wild swings. He moved like he had very little training with a sword, but his technique made up for it.

  Sean was a bad match for his opponent in a completely different way. He went after the bandit with water tendrils sprouting from his back. Each time Sean sent one of his birds at the bandit, it was slapped away by the bandit’s tendril. Even worse, any attack with his sword was blocked by the bandit. He even tried to extend it like a whip, but the bandit’s tendrils were too fast. The bandit moved them like a part of his own body and was able to effectively stop any of Sean’s attacks.

  Josh was at least able to hit his opponent, but that was all he could do. The stone bandit’s skin had turned incredibly tough and made Josh’s attacks mostly harmless. Josh sent blades of wind at the bandit, but they made clinking sounds as they bounced off his skin. When that did not work, he swung at the man with his sword. No matter how hard he swung, the attack just bounced off the man.

  Josh tried to continue his assault, but after every swing, he needed to make distance from the stone man. Since the stone man was unaffected by Josh’s swings, he was able to bring his fists down in almost the same moment that Josh attacked. Josh had to dance backward away from the hammer fist as it slammed into the ground. The force of the blows cracked the earth, and Josh knew that if he was caught by them, he would take serious damage.

  As another fist slammed into the earth, Josh made a huge leap backwards. He knew that he needed to gain his bearings and reassess the situation. As he did, he got the chance to observe his companions. He saw that they struggled just as much as him. He even thought that they could have been struggling even more than he.

  While Josh could not damage the stone bandit, he could at least push him back. With a surge of Essence, he sent a powerful gust of wind against the bandit. The bandit raised his arms upward as the gust pushed him further away. Josh then used the opportunity to run from the bandit and towards Sean.

  With a sweep of his hand, a blade of air flew towards Sean’s enemy. The bandit was caught off guard and could not bring his tendrils to defend himself. The attack left a large cut across the man’s chest. The man did not seem upset but rather angry at the fact that he was hit. He instantly turned towards Sean, his eyes filled with fury.

  “How dare you?!” The bandit scowled. “No one ever hurts me!”

  “I did,” Josh shrugged before he turned to Sean. “It’s time for a tag out. Go switch with Maya.”