My one-on-one against the last bandit wasn’t very difficult. He was pantless, without a weapon, and no better than the others. Using the pommel of Flashbang, I knocked him in the head after blinding him with a light spell. He joined the other on the ground, luckily painless for him.

Seeing their front line fall, and their arrows being ineffective, the archers left without a fight to get help. I could have run after them, but our presence as already been exposed, so there was little use to that.

I rejoined Fany who was waiting for me further down the pathway, just before the main street. We proceeded to continue our hastened walk to the community hall, as hiding now would just lose us time.

As we progressed, I heard a lot of voices where we were not long ago. To lead them astray, I destroyed a house in ruin in the opposite direction we were going. Since I had done this alone, I was able to sneakily run there and break what was holding the house up. When I saw the distraction worked, I regrouped and made sure we weren’t followed.

There were multiple alert patrols on our path, but they seemed to focus their search effort where they thought we would hide, not where we were going.

When we reached the village centre, the community house was only a hundred meters away, but to reach it, we would need to traverse in plain sight if we wanted to avoid wasting minutes in a detour. Multiple dead bandits were on the ground, each crippled with arrows.

Fany and the man couldn’t run, so if we were found at any point, there would be a break for the community hall anyway, so might as well start it now when there was nobody around.

Before I left the shadow for the main plaza, I noticed someone hiding on top of the roof of our objective. It didn’t take me long to realize that it was Phyralia waving at me with her bow.

Making a run for it, the man held his wife tight in his arms as he ran as fast as possible toward the safe area. Fany couldn’t move as quickly with an injured leg and her friend being princess carry to avoid aggravating her injury, so I stayed with her to make sure she wasn’t alone.

When we were halfway, the man reached the door and knocked. Reylia opened, and when she saw me in the distance, she let the man enter without question. He was out of danger.

Suddenly, Tenta tentacle left my shirt by the collar neck and extended two metres in a zigzag shape to protect Fany from multiple arrow hits. The projectiles penetrated but didn’t have enough force to traverse fully and were left stuck in the tentacle.

Dozens of bandits came out of the shadow running toward us, while some preferred to stay away with their bows. Munching on mana leaves, I opened my two flasks and let the rest of my two liquids run free.

I shaped the acid into multiple small spear-like projectiles and fired them at any archer I saw. They did keep their distance but didn’t hide their presence at all, so it wasn’t hard to know where to shoot. Their scream of pain melted with the boiling sound of potent acid.

I had to make sure those I hit were out of commission, so before I shot, I chose to increase the acid potency to the maximum I was able to. That meant that while each projectile cost more acid, anyone hit by them would be too preoccupied with the pain and his wounds to think about us. I didn’t need to worry about missing since I controlled my projectile myself with magic. Of all the acid spears I launched, only two out of thirteen missed, the targets avoiding them at the last second. I was out of acid.

I could have used my water the way as the acid, but it wouldn’t do as much damage as the hungry plague liquid. Something I noticed was that my projectiles got harder and harder to manipulate as they got far away from me. Being able to still control them was already a boon, but my water was best employed as a blade rather than a weak projectile. It would been too hard to fight the archers at a distance with a lagging water sword. I wasn’t stupid enough to waste all my water like that.

Instead, I fended off those who rushed at us for a melee fight with normally impossible manoeuvrability from my waterblade. Since the sword was made entirely of water, it could bend, compact itself, extend, and do many other things that a regular sword couldn’t. These advantages allowed me to take the enemies by surprise, as nobody expected a sword to fight like a snake. I had to avoid any damage to the blade, as any liquid that was too disrupted by a direct impact was lost. That also meant my blade was dwindling after each hit but there was nothing I could have done about that.

Being on top of the community hall, Phyralia used her bow and her high ground advantage for suppressive fire. Her precision with the bow forced most of the enemies' archers to either hide or be dead. I could have done the same with my bow, but some bandits were already just a few feet behind us, so I didn’t have that luxury.

Letting my water blade handle the enemy further behind, I took on the first wave of four scrubs. It was hard to concentrate on both my water and myself, but the result wasn’t that bad. The only drawback was the water blade was more stalling than doing real damage.

The first enemy swung his sword downward, as I used the second shadow spell I learned to make him miss. The spell was double presence; it allowed the user to create an autonomous shadow replica of himself to faint, bait and confuse the enemy. The shadow wasn’t real and couldn’t deal damage or interact with anything, but the enemies didn’t know that.

While the man saw me trying to parry his sword, I ducked to the side and trusted flashbang deep in his stomach. By the time he realized anything, he was already on the ground.

With my shadow double, the three other scrubs didn’t know which one was real and tried to attack both of me at the same time. My clone rushed at them, making sure to use easily avoidable moves, so they had plenty of time to dodge before they could realize there was no blade.

With their attention on my shadow, we used coordinated attacks to take one out. My blade heavily injured his chest as the shadow switched to the next target. The two other swordsmen swung their swords at the closest Emery available, hoping to take one out as quickly as possible.

Tenta was still protecting Fany and me against some archers, so I wasn’t able to stray more than two metres away. With the two thugs just out of reach for me to attack, I had to let my shadow buy time herself. Slowly approaching the community hall, my waterblade gave his last liquid by taking out the two bandits holding my shadow with a slash behind their knees.

As more enemies approached, my shadow rejoined my side, and we held our Flashbang with confidence. Less than ten metres away from our destination, it took me a second to notice that no more arrows were shot at us.

Anchored on me, Tenta pulled Fany holding her friend closer to me just in time as a wall of fire emerged where she was about to step. The fire formed a blazing wall stopping us from getting to safety and locking us in a corner as bandits circled us.

Clapping his hands, someone walked toward us as the bandits let him pass with smiles on their faces. “Impressive, truly impressive abilities you have there!” The man laughs. Contrary to the other scrub, he wore expensive-looking clothes with a specific accent on the colour red. At this point, it was obvious who set the village on fire.

Stepping in front of Fany, Tenta retracted into my shirt as my shadow and I blended into myself to separate again. With this method, they had no way to know which one of us was the real one. My goal wasn’t really to fight them while protecting Fany, there were far too many of them for that. If I was able to at least keep him talking long enough, our reinforcement might make it in time. His magic abilities were no joke.

“Hey! Didn’t see you there with all the trash lying around!” I said, obviously referring to all his goons. “Can I assume you’re the one who’s in charge?” My shadow continued.

The scrubs' smiles vanished into a rage, but they didn’t move. Going against their boss's order was probably not a good idea.

“What a clever girl, you’re right! I was hoping to talk with the lady behind you. May I?”

“Sorry, do you have an appointment? If not, I recommend getting one at the guild in Dawnriver. I’m sure you’re gonna have a very entertaining welcome.”

“Although it would be my pleasure, I’m afraid I do not have time for that, unfortunately. Give her to me, and I promise to leave you and this village alone. It is her that I want. If you are still hesitant, perhaps we could agree to an arrangement. Even better, I could hire you! Under my service, you won’t have to worry about money ever again, you have my word! I’m sure someone of your calibre can find much better than just being an adventurer!” Dangling one of his pouches, the clinging sound of money could be heard across the battlefield.

He even took a handful of coins out to show that they were gold coins. When he finished, he put the pouch with the others on his belt. There must have been at least eight of them. For a second I wondered what the other pouch contained. I could find the answer later.

He was less cocky and over his head than I expected. His smile was only slightly arrogant, with a taint of persuasion in it. Even if he was telling the truth, I wasn’t about to let trash order me around, was I? I had a reputation to behold. The goddess I met did call me arrogant, who was I to prove her wrong?

“If you want her, then you’re gonna need more than just, That!” I nodded toward his sixty bandits. I could see in their face that they so wanted to toy with me until I regretted every word I ever spoken. I had to hold back my smile.

We were far enough to allow me to munch on my reserve of mana leaves without them noticing it. If I was able to get just a little more mana back, I could do something about that firewall behind me and hopefully get inside. The flame wall still hasn’t dropped or weakened yet, which meant he was still supplying it with mana. Having a fire affinity myself, I knew that thing was voracious, especially considering the size of the flame he used. If I could somehow deal some damage to that bastard, then there was a chance the pain would make him lose his concentration on the flames.

But how? Close combat was a no-go with their numbers. I didn’t have any water or acid liquid, I should have spared some in case of a situation like this. Both of them could have done something about that fire. The centre of the plaza was scorched to a crisp, without leaving any spot green enough for my plant affinity. I did have Flashbang in my hand and it was probably my best shot. Even if we could see in the night no problem with both the light of the moon and the wall of fire, an abrupt shift in the light would give me a few seconds to act. But it was still not enough time to attack him with anything. If I ever missed that only shot, we were dead.

“Emery,” Still carrying her friend, Fany whispered. Since the start, she was behind me, hiding from the man's sight. Even if that village destruction was all her fault, I had no intention to give her away. “I have enough mana to cast one frail sand shield. It could protect us against the firewall, but it won’t be enough to stop all these archers. If you could do something about them, then we have a plan.”

Well, that was perfect. “I’m gonna cast a huge flash bang, that should give you enough time to get into the hall. The moment I lift my sword, you cover your eye, turn around and get to safety. ”

“What about you, you’re not gonna come?” She looked more curious than worried.

Just behind their boss, I saw a small silhouette crawling and hiding out of their sight. When I realized what it was, I couldn’t hold the creepy smile on my lips. “Don’t worry about me. I entertain them until I’m done playing. Trust me, I fought worse than some cocky scrubs.” Until now, my main concern had been to protect her from arrows, but if she was safe, then I move freely with Tenta only having to protect me from enemy projectiles.

“You’re sure? Individually they are garbage, but their number is quite high. As a guild master, I can’t let you handle that many alone!”

My shadow grew an even bigger smile than mine, this one tainted with even more malice than my own. “Don’t worry, we are not alone.”

The bandit leader probably thought we were discussing giving up because he was rather relaxed until now. It was my strange smile that got him impatient. He probably wondered what we were going to do.

“I am getting tired of waiting. Ladies! I won’t ask again. Surrender and live or don’t and die with this village. Either way, you, guild master, will be mine. I already have interested buyers, I can’t let them down. As the leader of The Raptured Moan, I have a reputation to hold, after all!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH”

“What! What makes you laugh?!”

“Sorry,” I tried to say. “But The Raptured Moan, haha, that's all you found. I mean, I’m pretty simple with names myself, but that pushing it a bit far. Sorry, where were we?” The visage of the scrubs was filled with rage, and it said it all. They wanted to toy with me so badly.

“I won’t ask again.” Said the boss more seriously than before. He didn’t take my joke very kindly. Something was telling me that wasn’t as keen on sparing me as before. All the better because I didn’t intend to run away anyway.

In a quick instant, I lifted my sword, the tip pointing toward the sky. Fany closed and hid her eyes as my shadow hid behind me to avoid what was about to happen. “This is where the fun begins!”

Instantly, I big light emanated from the Flashbang tip, covering the entire plaza in a blinding light. I used all the mana I had left on that blinding spell. If my shadow was destroyed, I wouldn’t be able to conjure it again, hence why it hid from the light. Even if it couldn’t interact with anything, a decoy was always useful, especially for what was about to come.

“It's snack time, boy!” I signalled to the silhouette just behind the enemy boss. Without hesitation, the thing jumped out and aimed straight for their leader. Before he could react, the bandit boss yelled in pain as something bites deeply in his shoulder. Dragging him to the ground, the thing then hauled him by the skin into the darkness.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA” Was all that could be heard until the sound was too far away to reach my ears.

When I looked behind me, I saw Fany with her friend in arm jumped into the wall of fire, a thin layer of sand covering their body. There was no way for the enemy leader to retain his concentration after what just happened, so it was a matter of time before the wall disappeared completely. Not that I was going to wait for that anyway.

It took the scrubs a few seconds to adjust to the return to darkness after I cancelled the flashbang. There was no point in maintaining the area lit, the behemoth moon was plenty enough for that. Some bandit rushed after the call for help from their boss somewhere further away, while others just stood there wondering what to do.

In response to them just standing there doing nothing, my shadow and I jumped the bandit closest to us. The man tried to grab my replica with his spear, but he didn’t scrap the shadow of her skin before I showed his stomach some fresh air. We raced to the next right afterwards and did the same with everyone we encountered.

Those who had bow were useless against Tenta's defence, even when he wasn’t performing optimistically. His tentacle already tanked a decent amount of damage, but it was not like I didn’t dodge anything and just let him do the work. My shadow gathered about half the aggro and could dodge any projectile easily since it moved with better agility than me. Tenta did help strengthen my body whenever I needed to adjust the power or angle of my attack. The vines were also super useful to either parry their attack or trip their feet for an easy finisher.

There was no real threat as we decimated the majority of them with ease. When the wall of fire was low enough, Phyralia joined the cleaning by showering enemies with arrows. The flame blocked her vision before, but now she was able to help me deal with the garbage around.

I was rather grateful she didn’t shoot before having a clear field of view. I didn’t want to be hit by one of her arrows by accident. Those who received one looked in rather big pain, enough to make them squeal on the ground as if it was the end of their career. Between me, Reylia and Phyralia, I was sure Phyry was the best in archery.

Some more bandits joined the party as time passed, and as long as they didn’t take me ten-on-one, I didn’t have any difficulty dodging their attacks. Their movement and combo were infinitely weaker and more predictable than when I trained with Lavanda. It made me feel like an advanced sword fighter bullying amateurs. The feeling was not great, it was amazing. None of them knew how to use magic, so I didn’t have to worry about magic. Their boss was the only real danger, and he was at this point getting munched in some random street I don’t know where.

My style was truly more suited to fight against beast and monster, but it just made each of my swings more impactful whenever I aimed at their gut. If I ever attack their head, I use blunt attack using my pommel for obvious reasons. I wouldn’t kill them if I didn’t have to. Not that I would mind killing them, but traumatic brain injury and spilled gut were good enough for the job. Although some with dirty looks on their face did end up with their head sliced by my sword.

If not having empathy toward killing someone was a sign I lost my humanity, I didn’t care. My life as a human has been trash anyway. In this world, in this new life, nothing will stop me. If I wanted to do or have something, I would do or have it, one way or another.

The limited show of absolute brutality I offered was actually more frightening for them, as they didn’t know if I would aim for their head or stomach. The suspense would only end when they hit the ground with or without a head.

The attack pattern of my shadow was noticeably easier to dodge than my real swing, but even those who realized that weren’t able to abuse that fact. Having a sword swing at you, even if you knew it was just an illusion, would still trigger a reaction in your brain. The sheer fear of dying was stronger than most people admitted, and I took advantage of that. My clothes tainted with bloody red probably added to the effect.

Right after slicing another head, I heard a bark coming toward me. When I saw a beautiful, decrepit and carcass-looking plague dog running toward me, I quickly finished the scrubs trying to kill me and crouched to pet the good boy. I let Tenta strangle to death the last enemy as he struggled in vain against the vine suffocating him.

“What a good boy! Did you finish him?” Enjoying the petting, the plague dog looked me in the eyes with the darkness of his eye sockets. I wasn’t really expecting an answer, I already knew what happened. Gnash dropped what he was holding in his mouth on the ground. The heavy belt, previously owned by the bandit leader, hit the ground with a fat sound with still all its pouches attached to it.

I smiled silently as I pet him even more. I couldn’t have trained him better. He was already perfect. What a good boy.

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