From what he saw, that Auntie Mei wasn’t related to Sami.
A caretaker perhaps? There are few parents (or aunts) who refer to their children as Miss. She seemed to genuinely care about the girl so he didn’t see any issue in leaving Sami with her.

He spent the rest of the rest of the night sitting (laying?) on the bench.

A good father?

...

 

 

As if.

 

 

---

Exilis floated through the streets, wondering what to do. He had some ideas but...

 

It was a huge waste of mana.

...

Well, he’s been using a lot today, what’s a bit more? He would probably be fine.
This was a thought process was one that rarely occurred within Exilis’ headspace, yet it seemed today was different.

A dark brown haired man appeared near the sword. Exilis looked at his sword body and, after staring at it for a moment, he picked it up and stabbed it into the ground. He dusted off his hands and walked over to the village.

He strolled through the streets, feeling pain in his heart seeing his mana deplete so rapidly. He sighed, wondering if he should cut this costly adventure off early. As he pondered on this, an old man selling some drinks called out at him. 

“You sir over there! You look bored over there, got some time to do me a favor?”

Exilis looked at the old man. His hair was gray with age, and his eyes had many wrinkles as a sign of how much he smiled.

“I’ve got some time.” 
It’s been a while since I’ve done everyday tasks...

The man pulled out two buckets out from under his shop stall and handed them to Exilis. “These old bones can’t handle such things anymore, I’ll pay you for the work, don’t worry. Hohoho, You youths these days, always gotta find the money to pamper the wife.”

Exilis took the buckets with a wry smile.
“Yeah...”

He could hear the man’s ‘Hohohos’ in the distance as he walked off.

 

Exilis listened to the  pleasant crunching of leaves and sticks as he tramped through the woods. It was interesting the strange things you didn’t realize you missed until you experienced them again.
He thought with a sigh.
Being a sword sucks.

He arrived at the small clearing, and scooped out the water with the buckets. Though he doubted the cleanliness of this, he didn’t get much time to consider it before he heard a familiar voice from within the woods.

Sami’s voice.

Setting the buckets down, Exilis peeked from behind a tree. He saw a large campsite. There was a considerable amount of people standing together. At the front stood a muscular man. Sami hesitantly stepped into his arms. 
“Papa...”
She called out.

Exilis looked on curiously.
So that’s her father. They don’t look alike at all.

The man gave her a smile that wasn’t really a smile.
“Little Sami, is there any magic dust in that town?”

Sami thought back to the floating sword, who carried the largest amount of magic dust around him she’d ever seen.

But...

She thought about what her village did to the places she said had magic.
“N-no.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes papa.”

“Okay then, honey.” The man turned around and speak to the others in their campsite, losing his soft tone almost immediately.
“We’ll move out tomorrow. Prepare.”

“Yes Chief.” 
All of the people responded in unison.

then, Exilis did the most cliche thing possible.

He stepped on a stick.

‘Crack!’

Everyone looked in his direction.

On second thought, I don’t miss that.

“Mr. Sword!”
Sami impulsively called out. After realizing what she said, she covered her mouth fearfully.

“Sami, you know him?”

“N-no!”
They didn’t listen to her denial as all of them focused in his direction as if looking for something.

Confused, Exilis ended up standing still.
Umm...?

Somebody in the group yelled out before the others.
“My gods!- Look at how much mana he has!”

Everyone else seemed to notice shortly after. 

The chief gave his orders.
“Get him!”

Exilis could tell that standing here wasn’t the best idea.
Curse the gods, why does this happen when I’m just trying to live leisurely?

With a sigh, he nonchalantly leapt away, the strangely dressed people chasing after him.

As he jumped through the trees he thought about what he’d just seen. It seemed the rest of that nomad village could see mana as well. They couldn’t perceive it as easily as Sami, seeing as they had to focus before they could tell, but in exchange, they still had their sight.
Interesting. 
Exilis flinched, and nearly fell out of the tree he was on, as he realized he was starting to sound like Jaylin.

That kid...

...Who’s thousands of years older than me...

His ‘master’ was truly a monster. Exilis got chills remembering how that title came to exist. The image of an cute little youth with an impeccably cold face, and a black flame made from the highest grade flame spell hovering above his palm as he looked down from above, entered his head.

Trying the throw the picture out of his brain, Exilis shook his head. His mood successfully darkened, Exilis found the perfect targets to take his anger out on.

He glanced down below him, at the Tribesmen chasing after him from the ground. 
He swung down from a branch, pressing off with his arms, casting a strengthening spell on his leg, and digging the heel of his shoe into one of their heads.

‘Crack!’

Successfully shattering the man’s skull, Exilis jumped off the collapsing man’s head and went back in the direction he came in, the campsite.

“Ack!”
One of the other Tribesmen stared at their fellow Tribesmen’s bleeding corpse spasming, and shuddered in terror.

Soon enough, Exilis was back at the campsite hiding within a tree. He stared at the scene in front of him.

The chief, who Sami called Papa was currently angrily interrogating her.

“YOU LIED SAMI?!”

She backed up, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I-I didn’t!”

“THEN WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT?!”

Sami seemed like she couldn’t take any more of the man’s yelling as she cried out.
“He’s-He’s my friend!”

“Your friend?! You would rather help a stranger than let your tribe grow stronger?!”

Grow stronger?
Exilis though curiously.
Ah, do they mean...
When a magician dies, their mana storage disappears along with their soul. The mana inside of it, scatters everywhere. If someone incredibly strong mana storage gets killed, the place they died in has a chance of becoming an oasis. The tribe probably uses the mana they get from killing people, because it tends to be easier to gather than mana that’s just floating around the atmosphere.

Exilis’ guess was spot on.

“I DON’T WANT TO WATCH ANYONE GET HURT OKAY?!”
Sami yelled in tears.

“Fucking brat-!”
The chief gripped her plump wrist and threw her to the ground.

“Ah!-”
She curled up, blocking her head and trembled.

The chief scoffed before he ran off in the direction all of the other tribesmen went in.

As soon as he left, Exilis was planning on jumping down to go help the young girl, when he felt his soul dissipate slightly.

!!!

I’m out of mana!

Exilis didn’t get the chance to think any longer as he instinctively terminated his physical form and his soul was left in the air. He frantically looked in different directions, before darting off towards the sword.

Getting his sword to escape the possession spell that had locked him in the sword was mana draining in itself, not to mention everything else. Exilis faintly felt his consciousness return to the blade before he fell unconscious, his soul subconsciously gathering all the mana it could find.

---

Exilis woke up a few hours later. Or at least, that was his guess. As someone who practiced gathering mana for the majority of his lifetime, his skill in doing so was impeccable. He usually didn’t let it get so out of control, fully aware that he could accidentally kill himself if he tried too hard. His mana was completely empty this time, so, fortunately, he survived.

He probably shouldn’t have done this, but he impulsively formed a human body once again and sprinted in the direction of the village.

He leaped over a rock, entirely smooth from the weathering of time, feeling an incredible familiar premonition.

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no No!

He stumbled to a stop, staring horrified at the flames consuming the village. The tribesman attacked the screaming villagers.

Exilis felt rage blooming within him as a voice screamed out.

“NO!!!”
Sima, her clothes tattered, and her skin bruised, ran out from the woods and leaped at her father, doing her very best to hold him back. She tried to pinpoint his location from the small amounts of mana in his storage.

The man was currently about to murder the old drink salesman that Exilis was doing a favor for. 
She was too weak. Elbowing her, the chief used his short sword to stab the old man through the chest.

Even in death the man had a small smile on his face. Though, Sima couldn’t see this. She heard the man’s faint and hoarse voice ring through her ears weakly.
“R-un...Chi-ild...” 

She gasped with a sob, looking at the chief with despair etched on her expression.

“YOU MONSTER!!!”
She tried to throw a punch at the man, only to miss.

The chief grasped her forearm and you could hear the crunch of her undeveloped bones cracking.

“AHHH!” 

The chief showed no sympathy to her cries.
“We have no room for traitors.”
He slashed at her stomach with his short sword. She choked on blood, falling to the ground as he let go of her arm. She laid weakly on the dirt, approaching her death.

Exilis looked over to Sami’s gruesome visage, barely taking it in. Images of an abandoned, decayed village ripped through his memory, bringing endless pain along with them. A silent yet murderous rage filled his being. He stared at the burning houses, his shoulders slumped as he exhaled sharply.

No...

His rationality crumbled.

...

His head lowered as shadow covered his face, hiding his features.
His hand raised weakly, the air around him stagnant for a long while. 

A sword flew in his direction, tearing through trees and rocks alike. 
The tribesmen trashing the village paused momentarily, looking towards the whistling sound of the sword slicing through the air.

At the speed it was going at, it would’ve killed anyone in its way. Yet as soon as it entered Exilis’ grasp, it’s terrifying momentum became nonexistent.

Both his head and his arm hung down, seemingly lifeless.

The tribesmen remembered that this was the man they were looking for, but still couldn’t move as they stared at him.

The man’s arm suddenly shot up, pointing straight at one of the tribesmen.
The tribesman flinched, suddenly horrified. Before anyone had time to process what was going on, Exilis was right in front of him, the sword piercing the man’s heart.
The man coughed out a mouthful of blood, staring at Exilis’ crazed, yet empty eyes, as he looked down from above.
Exilis slowly tore the sword through the man’s chest as he screamed. The sword emerged from the last layer of flesh, and the man collapsed to the ground.
Not a drop of blood could be seen on the weapon’s black blade.

Everyone stared at him, but before you had time to think, he would be in front of you, and you would be dead.

“Oi! Bastard!”

Exilis’ head leaned to catch a glimpse of the person who called out from behind him. He currently wasn’t in the right state of mind to process what he said or who it was.

“Haha! Imagine the mana I’ll get once I kill you!”
The chief grinned and pointed his short sword at Exilis.

Exilis took a step towards him.
His human form was hardly in tact. His fingers grasping the hilt of the sword looked more like black claws, and his eyes no longer existed, only a pitch black shadow filled his eye sockets.

Simply...

A demon.