'What?'

This became the only thought that ran rapidly through James's head as the armored man's face warped with glee. He then twists the knife, causing James to cough and choke as the pain now fully registers, the dagger had been plunged diagonally upwards from bottom of his right chest and the lad could feel its tip gouging his heart and lung. A small trickle of blood flowed out of his mouth with the coughs as James curled down due to pain, a mistake the man did not miss as he forcefully pulled the dagger out and stabbed through his throat.

"...!" Coughing out wordlessly with a new orifice and spilling more blood on the man below, James slumped further as his limbs suddenly felt heavy. As he was blacking out, his sight fixated on the two uncles he knew since young as they moved slowly in pain towards him, time seemed to slow down as his vision tunneled.

'Am I going to die?'

His vision is now filled with blue. 

'It hurts a lot.'

There seems to be a new word but his vision is blurry.

'Maybe it is best to just sleep… I am tired… I am…'

…

…

…

…

...

'I don't want to die.'

…

…

…

…

...

"ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!!"

Searing pains surge through his entire body like lightning as he arches backwards screaming into the sky, James cannot witness what he has become but those around him could not peel their eyes off the strange sight, especially the armored man with his bruised face as his eyes bulged in horror.

Roots-like veins were popping up on his face, neck and exposed arms, the thumb sized holes in his throat and chest seem to be pushing more blood out with sickly yellow glow on the edge of the wounds and the minor wounds on his side and left arm have the same glow as bulging veins overlapped them.

"Whah the fucg!" The armored man gets out of his shock and stabs James' stomach repeatedly, only to feel resistance for the very first time he use this ace-in-the-hole as it sinked in and even more resistance when he pulls the blade out.

All that shanking serves nothing more than to annoy the screaming farmer as he looked down with an agonising scrunch at the man beneath him and growled. Compared to what feels like countless red hot needles pushing through his skin and muscles and scraping his bones, it is nothing but to serve as a reminder that the bastard is still here. IS! STILL! HERE!

Face further contorted in pain and anger and screams escaping between his teeth, he cupped his hands together and brought it down onto the man, who was already frightened by the odd display as he meekly yelled incomprehensible to the lad.

Witnessing the continued pummelling with his sharp ears, Eugene had barely picked up what he believed was something crucial. But before the man could speak more, the fury-induced blow from James got through his shielding arms and broke his nose and front teeth, ending the plea swiftly.

As the lad raises his hand for another blow, Don can clearly see the lad's pinkies are dangling loosely as bones shattered from his owner's rage. Rather than fearful of the berserker, he stops Eugene from trying to stop James by patting his shoulder with a tired tone, "let him vent." 'He might be dead in the next moment anyway.' The latter grim words he decides to keep mum about as he spots the group of village hunters who were previously outside are now dashing into the village centre and following them are some surviving villagers and four strangers who he assumes to be newbie adventurers from their gear. The current carnage had rooted their feet.

***

Don brushes his hand against his sleeping wife's head as she dozes off in her bed rather quickly due to how hectic the aftermath had gotten, even with a cleric named Dania from the adventurer group pitched in to help those who are wounded, the three healers had to tirelessly cast heal and other related spells to prevent more casualties. Don then left the house after checking on his son and made his way to the chief's hut for discussions. The cold night air shook the already aging swordsman as he thought about what transpired just a sunset ago.

James himself had collapsed after seeing his remaining family members alive and well, his bloodshot eyes stared at them for a while before a smile appeared on his heavily scarred face as he dropped with a thud, scaring his ma and she almost joined pa in fainting as well.

With thumb-sized holes in his torso and neck, James might have been pronounced dead on the spot if not for Mama's shocked expression as she tried to console the boy's mother by feeling his pulse. The healing process was just as terrifying when Thea was frantically patching her husband's spilling guts and Eugene's mutilations while Leah's attempt to use magic to heal the farmer went awry the moment she casted her spell.

The wounds closed up too rapidly, the scarring was imminent and there were times where the healer would cry out in panic as James starts having coughing fits, only to discover that whatever was causing his body to wrinkle was choking James when the hole in his throat was patched up wrong and rough flesh began to constrict the gullet. 

Only after a few more nail biting sessions did the sickly yellow glow dissipate as the wounds closed, leaving markings that the healers cannot get rid of. In the end, his entire skin feels rough, maybe even bark-like. But at least he is currently sleeping soundly in one of the makeshift huts for the wounded near the healers, the bandages and medicinal herbs from the witch doctor have proven to be more helpful than the healers at this point.

"We thank you for your timely assistance for the Woodlands Village," the village chief William warmly attends to the four adventurers as they are all currently inside of the chief's house, the biggest wooden hut of the entire village where the big group of people including teacher William and Eugene could all sit snugly around the lit fire pit with a boiling pot with aroma filling the room. 

Don walks into the house just as they are passing the stew around, it will be a cold night tonight and not just in temperature, the entire village is in a sombre mood after the quick funeral for those fallen and everyone immediately got back to restoration works just to get their minds off of the newly departed.

There is a light chatter between Doug the sword user and the chief as teacher William looks at Don who is eating the stew slowly.

"How's Thea?" The answer is obvious as seeing Diana, the long haired healer from the group, is holding the wooden bowl weakly and still pale from the exhaustion, Don understands that the teacher just wants to start a conversation with him.

He gives a glance at Eugene with his missing ear, to which the swordsman gives a shrug merrily, before answering back, "she is fine, exhausted and asleep but fine."

William himself gives a sigh, "today is a disaster, how's your stomach?" 

"Fine, it is the only serious wound I have," after all, throughout the battle he was constantly healed by Thea, more than anyone else in the fight combined.

Looking at Doug and the other two male adventurers eyes wide with admiration at Eugene while hearing things like "you're his father! I'm his biggest fan!" Don smiles at the happy atmosphere of the four adventurers of similar age to his daughter and Alex, he even let out a small laugh when one of the lads actually mocked Doug for duelling with Eugene's prodigal son. 

'Ah, adventurers,' a rowdy and fun bunch of people like he used to remember.

"Hey hey!" Diana suddenly pops a line that quickly silenced the room, "who is that guy? That scary guy?"

Flabbergasted at this conjecture, chief William tries to find the right word while the old teacher already replied confidently, "That's James, one of our young farmers and guards, the display he had today is a skill in action."

"A skill?" Doug questioned with a slightly tilted head, "I have never seen a skill like that before."

"Ah yes, because it is something of a hush hush," he puts his index finger to his lips jokingly, "bit of a Berserker skill, albeit a terrible one, you have seen the scarring right, Diana?"

She nodded at the question and on cue, Eugene changed the topic with the training montage of Alex the Cub and it immediately drew the attention of the four adventurers with their "oohs" and "aahs". The three men let out a sigh of relief, knowing that the secret they have been upholding is safe, for now.

The old teacher is both happy and sad for James though, happy for his gift that ultimately saved the day and sad because the boy himself will not be happy seeing his own father's plight.

***

There isn't much commotion early the next morning when the few surviving bandits are all tied up and to be escorted by the adventurers and Adam, chief William's second son. The five of them will be seated safely inside the village's still working wagon while the bandits are to march behind it. After the armored man's gruesome death, the remaining thugs surrendered without much resistance and were immediately mobbed by those who had lost their loved ones. While the chief could have stopped their actions, much to the dismay of the adventurers, he stood stoically and watched the execution coldly as their number diminished to this "lucky few" before stopping the violence. As for treating these bandits with broken noses and bones when they pleaded, he just scoffed at the request and even gave the adventurers a flimsy excuse of easier handling during the travel.

The corpses of bandits were not buried like those victims, instead they were stripped of valuables and cremated, most of the stuff taken are garbage and the only noteworthy things are the belongings of the armored man, or as Eugene stated, "a knight loyal to a house possibly, didn't quite catch its name when James was bashing his head in." 

The rapier is magically imbued as stated by Don with Increase Sharpness, a common attribute to bladed weapons. The full metal armor bears no symbol and is considered a common good and so is the dagger that was used on the lad. Though for the dagger, it requires resharpening before selling as everyone who inspected the weapon noticed the tip had been blunt and edges dulled, something they could link to James' strange powers.

The issue of handling the equipment becomes a concern for the village chief and the men-in-charge as seeing how the knight is perceived to be from one of the noble houses in the kingdom for using the Imetish kingdom's common foot techniques as deduced by Eugene, albeit more advanced than what the dual swordsman has. It quickly deteriorates into a pointless debate to locate the knight's origin, not to mention it being unwise for their tiny village to try and seek justice against the nobles anyway. 

In the end, the entire set is to be sold off by Adam in the town of Timberham after multiple inspection of them show it to bear no markings that could trace the equipment back to its owner's house or in any case, links its owner's death back to Woodlands. 

It might seem rushed in hindsight but the two Williams have their worries as well, especially when they feared the attack to be coordinated by an unknown enemy.

After the third day past the assault, James wakes from his near death experience. 

***

Sitting on the dirt wall in the field and watching the sun slowly setting, James could still picture Uncle Ben working hard in the field, but with a blink of an eye and he is gone, forever.

Tears are supposed to form, about the one that is always next to him while working, but all he feels is numbness, like how everything is unreal and just a nightmare. The same feeling also came when he was staring at Pa's sleeping form resting in Mandy's house and when he tried to wake him. It's raw, he can feel something gnawing in his chest as.his face scrunching and eyes slowly moist, yet the tears still refuse to come out.

Rubbing his rough face with his even rougher palm, the sound of scraping with discomfort reminded him how much of a shock he was when he looked at his hands and body after waking. His entire body is heavy and he constantly feels bloated, so much that he was puking to get rid of the nausea as soon as he tried to leave the room he slept in.

The old teacher was sitting next to him without him noticing while Billy Senior, with bandages on and had escorted William, was casting his gaze steely on James for a moment before leaving without the farmer caring. The two sat quietly even as the sun went down for a while. William broke the ice first.

"I am sorry for your father, James."

"He is not dead, sir." His hoarse voice bellows out as his damaged throat had caused his voice to rasp, much to his annoyance with the thirst that followed.

"I know, but they had tried their best to heal and wake him." William wets his lips before continuing, "he might never wake."

Panning his gaze up to the darkening sky, James purses his lips with his thoughts flying, 'I know, I have been hearing the same thing ever since morning.' The tears that are stuck at the corners of his eyes finally loosen as they flow down his scar-ridden face, he croaked his reply, "I know." 

From his Ma who was crying on the spot as she brought him to see pa, he knew. When he begged Thea and Leah for more help, he knew. He knew, and that helped the numbness grow.

From the chief and the teacher, the solution is to leave Woodlands and get help in Tradewood, the only closest town on foot. The thought of leaving his family had never occurred before, what will they do when he is gone, what will he find outside, these questions keep ringing in his mind. 

Looking at James' dejected posture, the teacher tried to change the topic, "so James, I noticed you were a bit yellow when you were… doing your thing and you are now… bulkier."

James, after a moment of pondering, had jumped off the low wall and with his finger, he wrote the word out on the ground for William to see, the moon is exceptionally bright today, as though trying to lift the downcast lad's mood.

"Kyank." The old man muttered after staring at the word written on the dirt.

"Kyank..." James repeats the word as the blue screen fills his vision once more.