Shiki crept up beside Kazuki, “Okay, be quiet we’re almost there.”

“I wasn’t even talking,” he replied. They had been walking for around a while, and he was starting to get tired of Shiki’s constant chatter.

“This is so exciting! I’ve never been on an adventure like this before!” Shiki exclaimed.

“I thought we were supposed to be quiet,” Kazuki sighed. In the distance, they could see the outlines of many tents. The bandit camp.

“Now that we’re close I guess it’s a good a time as any to ask you. What’s the plan when we get there?” Shiki queried, looking at Kazuki with interest. Obviously, Kazuki’s smart, so he should have a plan.

“Wait, you mean you don’t already have one,” Kazuki replied looking at Shiki quizzically. He’s the one who had been talking about how they were going to destroy the bandits this whole time. Obviously, he has a pretty good plan.

“You really don’t have any idea on what to do?” Shiki looked at Kazuki incredulously.

He thought this might have been one of Shiki’s weird jokes, but he really didn't have a plan. He shook his head. “Look, clearly neither of us knows what we’re doing, so let’s just sneak in and out as best as we can. Okay?” They were both right outside of the bandit camp, so they crouched in a bush a ways away from one of the tents.

“No, that’s a terrible idea,” Shiki whispered, hiding next to him.

Kazuki crouched into place.“Really? Then what’s yours?”

Shiki looked at Kazuki triumphantly, “March in and take them all on. It’s way faster and easier than your stealth mission.”

Kazuki sighed again. How had he ended up in this position? “Do you really think we can take on that many bandits? These guys are grown men, and we’re just two kids.”

“Of course!” Shiki cried, “We can take them all on, easy. Are you really that unconfident about your own abilities?”

Kazuki thought hard. On one hand, he could let Shiki go in and get captured, but there was no guarantee they would even spare him. He knew Shiki was never going to follow his plan, but could he really do something so reckless? He turned to look at Shiki, “Well, if you really aren’t going to change your mind, I might as well come with you.” Kazuki stood up from their hiding spot.

“All right!” Shiki got up next to Kazuki, “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“Hey! What are you kids doing here?” One of the bandits had just exited a tent near the two, spotting them.

“Crap, they already found us?!” Kazuki turned and ran. He put his hand up, “Good luck, Shiki!”

Shiki grinned. “Time to show you what I can really do.”

O O O

There are so many tents! How am I gonna find out which one Ari’s in? Everyone’s focused on Shiki right now, so I should be able to hide for a short while. I can probably take them out a few bandits at a time, but I have no idea how I’d fare against a large group.”

Someone started to yell from a tent near Kazuki, “Quiet down, you nuisance!”

He stopped dead in his tracks. Shoot. Did they see me?

The guy kept talking, “We’re having a little trouble out here with some brats, the last thing I need is your nonsense to top it off.”

Kazuki let out a sigh of relief. Perfect.

Kazuki heard a girl’s voice, about his age, but definitely not Ari’s. She was crying. “Please, don’t.” You could hear someone fall.

“Tch, just shut up, kid.” The man walked away.

Who’s that? I thought the only person other than bandits here was Ari? Now there’s someone else? This certainly complicates things.

“Oh? Well isn’t this a nice little surprise.”

Kazuki spun around and saw the bandit leader standing behind him. Damn it I was careless! He just stood there and looked at the leader, not knowing what to say.

The bandit leader smirked, “I’m surprised. You come back from the dead, and the first thing you do is hobble on over to our camp? I mean, it’s as if you want to die!” He threw a punch at Kazuki, aiming for his face.

Luckily, the leader wasn’t fast enough and Kazuki dodged then punched him with all his might. What he didn’t expect was how far the leader be sent back. Instead of falling over and clenching his stomach, (which is what Kazuki expected), he sent the leader flying at least a hundred meters back through multiple tents leaving some very surprised bandits in his wake. The bandit leader hit a tree groaning in agony before passing out. Kazuki gawked at the damage left from his punch. How high could my strength stat be?! He flexed his hand a few times in disbelief, before clenching his fingers into a fist. I finally have the power I’ve always wanted! But how did I get this strong? Did it have something to do with Shruke? Kazuki looked around, the bandits in shock. I can think about this later. Right now I need to worry about fighting. “Who’s next?” he said.

“I am,” said a voice from behind Kazuki.

He turned around to someone swinging a thin blade at his throat. He quickly put both of his arms up successively blocking the attacker’s forearm with his two wrists. Kazuki quickly grabbed the person’s arm and swung him around into a headlock. He looked at the guy realizing who he was. “You’re the guy that knocked me out earlier!”

He laughed, “This time it’ll be way worse than being knocked out.” The guy slipped out of Kazuki’s grasp turning pitch black as he fell into the ground, slipping behind Kazuki’s field of vision. He had become a shadow.

As Kazuki looked on in shock, a different voice yelled out behind him, “『Flame Burst』”

“Oh shoo-” He jumped nearly twenty meters into the air, dodging the attack. A massive flare surged underneath him.

“Never let your guard down in a fight.” The shadow person lunged at Kazuki from behind with his kunai. Kazuki grabbed his arm and took the kunai using a disarming technique Sensei had taught him.

“Take this!” Kazuki wheel kicked the shadow guy into the nearby woods destroying several trees on impact. Kazuki then fell to the ground landing the rubble of the fire attack. This is crazy! I can’t believe I have so much power! Kazuki put the kunai in his back pocket, leaving a hole in the bottom as a holding place so he could use it later.

“『Water Slicer』,” someone cried.

Kazuki turned around to see a curved blade of water racing towards him, and dodged to the right, “I almost forgot about you. I didn’t think there would be a bandit who could use both fire and water magic.”

“Tch!” The bandit cursed and ran back into the camp.

He’s going for backup, I’d better go check what’s going on in that tent. Kazuki ran back to the tent where he had heard that girl scream.

O O O

The bandit scrambled on the ground, “N-No way. How are you so strong?!”

Shiki cackled, “How are you so weak?” A ball of pure white light materialized in Shiki’s palm.

“Rahh!” A bandit tried attacking Shiki from behind. He swung a wooden club at his head, but because of Shiki’s excellent hearing abilities, he ducked under it without even looking.

“『Light Bomb』”

“Gah!” the ball of light hit the bandit square in the chest, sending him into the air before detonating into a huge flash. Shiki shielded his eyes. “Don’t worry that won’t kill you, I made sure that you’d fall into some trees before my bomb exploded. You probably won’t be able to move for another hour though,” Shiki bragged to himself, turning around. “Now, I’d better go find this Ari person.”

O O O

Ari sat down, panting. “Damn it, no matter what I do I can’t seem to muster up any magic. From what I can tell, this is just a reinforced tent with anti-magic, maybe even anti-ability properties. I guess I should have taken that guy’s word. Then I wouldn’t have wasted all my energy. If only I had some kind of sharp object maybe I could-”

Suddenly, a kunai pierced through the fabric directly across from Ari. “How about here?” someone said from outside.

Ari screamed.

An eye peeked through the hole of the tent. “Oh! You must be Ari!” said Shiki excitedly. He tore the tent open.

“W-Who are you?” Ari stuttered backing up against the tent wall.

“My name’s Shiki, Kazuki and I’ve come to get you out of here. Now let’s get outta here.”

“R-Right.” Ari calmed down before grabbing the kunai Shiki threw and slicing the tent open.

“Here, let me help,” Shiki stuck out his hand, helping Ari out of the tent.

“Thank you very much. But, I’m confused, how did you find me?”

“Well….”

Ari looked around and saw similarly, cut holes in all of the tents, some of them with knocked out bandits inside. “Oh. I see.”

“Yeah, I thought it’d be the fastest way. And it looks like it was.” Shiki grinned, “Sometimes I amaze myself with my own intelligence.”

“Uh-huh. How did you even get all those kunai?” Ari wondered, staring at the other Shiki had with him.

“Huh? Oh, I took them from the bandits I defeated.”

Ari did a double-take. “Wait, you’re telling me you beat all of those bandits?!”

“Oh come on, they weren’t that strong. Kazuki’s probably fighting the strongest guy so we should go help.” Shiki pointed his thumb in behind him, probably where Kazuki was.

“I guess I should help too,” Ari opened her palm, feeling the air around her, creating a small whirlwind.