A fortnight had passed since Mari had begun her travels with Hinamori they had made their way through the deep forests and were now on track to make it a town in the western half of the Hyogo Kingdom called Haboro.

Mari had been practicing hard every day with her new void magic spell the blades allowed her to harvest food with ease though they drained her stamina like nothing else just like her summon spell.

Hina had proved decent company though having a deep conversation with her was definitely off the table she was as dense as they came but she knew the lay of the land so Mari was grateful to have her at her side.

“How much longer till we reach the town?” Mari asked.

“Another hour if we keep this pace.”

“That’s great still doesn’t explain what we’re going to do about food or shelter.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

Just as promised within an hour they were standing outside the town’s entrance though it was nothing like Mari had imagined, the supposed bustling streets and market square stood empty and there was not a soul to be seen”

“We’re is everyone?”  Hina asked.

“Don’t know, but looks pretty damn deserted to me.”

The laughter of men shattered the quietness, six of them emerged from the shadows all dressed in the most cliche bandit attire imaginable it was depressing, actually.

“You ladies must be real stupid coming here.”

“Hmm and why’s that?” Mari asked smugly ,

“Because this village is Red Rats territory.”

“Red Rats?” Mari sighed.

“You haven’t heard of us?”

“Who are they Hina?”

“They’re one of several bandit tribes that have popped up in the wake of the Eris Wars. They’re the smallest but also the most ambitious.”

“That’s pretty spot on, now ladies, strip for us.”

“Come again?”

“You invaded Red Rat territory so by law you belong to us now, as slaves to be used and sold as we see fit.”

“Hey Hina, I can kill them, right?”

“I don’t see why not, Miss Mari.”

“Good”

Mari walked towards the six bandits who were still prattling on with their bullshit Mari had no time to waste on pieces of shit like this, besides all bandits do is pillage and gain of the suffering of others so killing them would do this world a favor.

“Can you shut up and die for me, please?” Mari said.

“ You know what this one is pissing me off, torch her and we’ll take the other one.”

“Right sounds good, boss.”

 

“Oh lord of flame, I am your emissary, blast my foe with a ball of great flame. Sphera…”

 

“ Void Magic Third Form: Crimson Mantis Blades”

 

Mari dashed passed the bandits, slicing three of them into ribbons, their blood splattering all over her body.  

 

“Holy shit.” The bandit leader said.

“Boys, get out here now.”

“Call reinforcements it doesn’t change the fact that I’ll still kill you all.”

 

Mari laughed as she slashed the other two bandits in half it felt good to rid the world of these vermin, she couldn’t tell whether this was the voids influence or just the person she was becoming either way it didn’t matter in situations like this it’s kill or be killed.

 

“You’re next, motherfucker.” Mari said quickly, catching up the bandit leader.

 

Mari was inches away from decapitating the bandit leader when she was rudely interrupted.

 

“Blow my target away, gale venti.”

 

A burst of wind came from the left of Mari, preventing her from reaching her target and knocking her back a few meters. That was a condensed incantation, so they have some competent magic users among their ranks.

 

“Excellent save, brother.” the leader smiled.

“How many times have I saved your ass, leader?”

“Yeah, I’ll repay in tenfold after we deal with these girls.”

“Forget slaves, they’ll pay with their life’s for killing our men.”

“ Fuck this town, attack her all at once boys, go wild.”

 

Another fifty bandits came rushing from all corners of the town, surrounding Mari and Hinamori in a circle to prevent their escape.

 

The situation had turned against them as Mari could feel her strength slowly leaving her body, and she didn’t even have enough Ballum to summon her pet.

 

Mari killed a little under a quarter of them, but then she collapsed and her spell dispersed she had reached her limit once again.  

“I’m so sick of this.” Mari huffed.

 

In the blink of an eye, magic circles surrounded them on all sides with all elements poised to send them to the depths of oblivion.

“It’s over not even I could survive such an onslaught.”

“Get out of here, HINA save yourself.”

“I can’t do that, Miss Mari.”

“Idiot.”

“Alright boys on my signal get ready to fire.”

“Three… Two…. One….F”

“Excuse me, am I interrupting something?”

 

A soft voice caught everyone off guard and standing atop a building was a girl in a black dress with immaculate scarlet hair she was grinning ear to ear as she jumped down from the rooftop landing gracefully inside the circle.

“Hold it boys.” one bandit said

“Who the hell are you bitch?” the bandit captain asked

 

The girl danced her way over to the leader without a hint of fear Mari watched on engrossed thinking of ways to get out of this position using the girl as a diversion.

“Such rudeness.”

“I asked you a question bitch, Who are you?”

“If you’re that eager to know I’ll oblige, I’m Mei.”

“Mei Hyogo”

Thank you so much for reading guys the next chapter will be the most intense one I've written aside from Shinobu,  I hope you look forward to it.