Alex

Unfortunately, Ruz is not here today so I will have to recount the battle purely from my perspective; he will not be able to provide the thoughts that ran throughout his mind before, during, and after our clash.

As Hazel left the room shortly before I came back, she will similarly be unable to provide insights and an additional perspective.

Without further ado, I will tell of the first major conflict at the borders of the holy lands since the Calefaction War.

Hazel hardly needs to aim whenever she shoots arrows so long as she has encased them with a thin sheet of mana. Of course, an extraordinarily capable magic caster proficient in the manipulation of mana to alter direct spellcasting might be able to snip the small threads of mana between Hazel and the sheets of mana covering the arrows. Regular spells would not be able to cut these threads of mana as Hazel condenses the mana the threads are composed of to a density almost unrivaled by the density of mana used in any other magical spells.

James

I get that you're really into studies regarding magic theory and actively contribute to studies on the inner workings of mana, mana conversion, and magic in general, and I mean no offense when I say this, but we're all here to hear about the stuff that happened while everyone still thought I was dead.

Alex

I understand that... I just enjoy sharing my knowledge with others, so I thought I could—

James

Story. NOW.

Alex

Hazel guides her three fired arrows to target Ruz's heart, neck, and right lung as I sprung into action with my kukri.

Ruz does not dodge or even back away to buy time. To the naked eye, it would appear that the arrows had been sucked into the ground, and initially that was exactly what I thought had occured. However, seconds after, I came to the conclusion that Ruz had most likely used visual spellcasting of some kind.

As I was in the middle of combat, I did not have a chance to consider the implications of accomplishing such a feat as simultaneously destroying the magic controlling the arrows and smashing them into the ground with only a few seconds to react. After dealing with Hazel's initial attack and before I could attack too, Ruz made his move.

Ruz pulled some cylindrical, red objects from his cloak, lit strings attached to them with a lighter in his off hand and threw them at us.

At the time, I was thinking something quite moronic: "Wait, those look similar to the sticks of dynamite miners are using nowadays, do they not?" I say that thinking about the dynamite-looking objects literally being dynamite was stupid because I did not think to move out of the way of the sticks of dynamite flying towards me. Instead, I did something more dangerous than I would have done in a calmer state of mind. I hit the sticks of dynamite with the blunt edge of my kukri and jumped back from where I knocked them.

Ruz: "Oh FUUU—"

Ruz was interrupted by a family-friendly thundering boom of dynamite that instantly caused panic and uproar to spread throughout the border as debris from the inland mountain squashed bystanders as they attempted to flee, and even those who dodged the falling rocks were often sucked into the jagged rocks in the waters below as parts of the path between borders fell into the ocean. Just a few feet in front of me I saw a man sidestep a falling boulder just for the boulder to knock the part of the path he was standing on into the ocean below as he screamed in absolute terror from the depths of his soul. However, I remained uncharacteristically calm and of course did not question my unusually composed demeanor at the time, proceeding with an attack of my own.

Weaving between falling rocks, I chased after Ruz as Hazel took to the skies. Inspired by the explosive nature of the beginning of our encounter with Ruz, Hazel decided to see what would happen if she did the motions to cause an explosion while focusing her mana on an arrow. Firing a single arrow towards Ruz's unguarded back, Hazel made the arrow explode right before impact. Surprisingly, Ruz appeared to have only sustained minor injuries from the direct impact of the blast and turned to face us. Despite Ruz being almost entirely unharmed, the newlyweds trying to escape from the battle running in the same direction as Ruz but a short distance behind him were blown to bits. To say the least, I am not envious of their honeymoon. Hazel's disregard of the innocents at risk in the situation was also blatantly cruel and unusual, yet neither of us batted an eye as the flesh and blood of innocent people were scattered everywhere.

Facing us with a glint in his eyes, Ruz says with a slight grin, "It sure would be a shame if everyone saw the Wanderers Hazel and Alex as heretics and terrorists, would it not?"

As he said this, Ruz threw one last thing towards us to prevent us from giving chase: a terribly familiar metallic cylinder. As smoke spewed across the path and soon formed a cloud. This time around, Hazel had already prepared a countermeasure for the smoke she expected Jace to utilize. Hazel simply created a strong gust of wind and scattered the lingering smoke, revealing the unexpectedly far fleeing figure of who we would later come to know as Ruz. Just when we thought that Ruz was simply going to flee, he turned around one last time and shouted from afar, yet I could still barely make out what he said despite the distance: "EVERYONE! LOOK! WHY ARE THE WANDERERS HAZEL AND ALEX, TWO OF THE HEROS OF THE CONTINENT, ATTEMPTING TO DESTROY THE ONLY SAFE ROUTE FROM AUBURN TO THE HOLY LANDS OF NUNTIUS FINIS? HAVE THE HEROS BECOME THE VILLAINS, OR DO MY WEARY EYES DECEIVE ME?"

With that incredibly impactful line having been said by someone who appeared to be nothing more than another victim fleeing the scene, Ruz disappeared from view as he fled further into the volcanic wastelands of Auburn.