The Twist Of Fate

Chapter 20: An Encounter With A Party

"Hello!" I jumpscared the healer, who panicked and accidentally blinded herself with a light spell. Now that she was out of the way, not in the way I wanted it, but out of the way nonetheless, time to get the others.

One of the wizards had already set up a strong barrier around the rest of the party, not enough to keep me out, but I played along. Although what caught me off was that they just left the healer out to die. I ignored it for now and continued froward.

I stopped in front of it and tapped on the barrier with the dagger. "Ha, this [Barrier] has held up to even elder beasts!" the wizard boasted.

"Are you sure?" I walked around the barrier. "Because right here is an imperfection..." I stabbed at a small, almost invisible dot. The barrier shattered like a fragment grenade, shooting mana everywhere. I built a barrier myself around it to protect the bystanders.

The boastful wizard collapsed to his knees and fainted from mana fatigue. It was an interesting barrier to make, it seemed to be made in his style. He used most of his mana to make a just enough sized barrier, which he used as a mana conductor to not immediately drain the rest of his MP. He couldn't make it completely like that, as he wasn't given enough time to do so, so it was imperfect. I had to give him props for it though.

The most intriguing part was the explosion, which, judging by the rest of the party's faces, wasn't supposed to happen. I noted this for later.

The remaining challengers had already broken themselves from the shock of the barrier, and has a good formation.

The big holy knight has begun taunting me, which I saw through already. Playing along, I took it.

The holy knight blocked the attack, and the rest put in everything they had into the spot I walked up on. "[Inferno]!" "[Double Dagger Combo]!" "[Slice]!" they cried as their hits landed on me.

I was thrown back a little by the force of it.

As the dust cleared, they cheered, believing they had defeated me. Although one person was not, the holy knight.

The strike I had hit his shield with was half assed, like I wanted it. It had punctured through his shield, and the his armour, leaving a hole in his stomach, which drained and burned him. The sheer force of the impact had crumbled both his arms, and legs, but without even making him move.

He collapsed onto the rest of the shield, vomiting out blood and oozing acid onto it. The party healer, who had already recovered, rushed to his side to at least try to keep him alive. The rest of the team realized it and got into battle position again.

"Now I'll ask, do you really want to fight?" I asked them, as they shook in fear. They dropped their weapons and fled, leaving their fallen comrades to fend for themselves.

I let out a long sigh as the crowd as dead silent and then I decided to talk to the healer.

"Hello." I said as she was attempting to keep him alive. "I have no time to talk." she responded.

"Why don't you just let him die? He's just suffering." I pointed out. "It is not his fault he is like this!" she sounded angry.

"Why exactly help him, he did it to himself by picking a fight with me and taunting me." I said. "He saved my life ... and I will do anything to save his. So unless you have healing spells, I will not talk." she said.

"I don't have healing spells," I lied, "but I know who does." and I rushed out to get Deliva.

...............

On top of a nearby rooftop, was nothing, or so it looked like. Invisible, it had watched the fight and looked pleased.

It pulled up the ring on it's finger to it's mouth. "He's out of training into the playground already." it said.

"Good, Good. Watch more until the time is right. Keep me up to date on the reports." The ring answered.

"I will my lord." It said as it hopped to another roof, following Cason.

................

"Hey Deliva?" I said as I opened the run down church, which had been taking some tiny repairs on the inside.

"Yes?" she looked up as she was helping the kids with putting on new clothes. "I need your help, we have someone dying on-" I said before she interrupted me.

"I will be right there!" she said to me. "Big sister has to go help now, be good while I am gone." she said to the children.

"Sister, I want to be just like you when I grow up!" Thom exclaimed. Deliva smiled at him and pat his head. "I do it because I need to." she said before walking to me.

—

I set Deliva down a street away from the scene and we ran the rest of the way.

When we had arrived, most of the crowd was gone, but Luna and the healer were still there.

"I brought her." I said to the healer and Deliva immediately went to work healing him.

Luna however, noticed it faster than I thought she would. Her nose twitched as she said, "It's the same smell as last night ...".

"It's not what you think." I said as I slowly walked in front of her and Deliva. "I know very well what I think." she slowly lifted Aaron into a fighting stance.

'This is bad...'

'It could be worse.'

'Dammit Pulara!'

'What?'

"Don't try it." I told Luna as Deliva finished.

"You are lucky I got here in time, any moment later and he would have died." Deliva told the healer. "Thank you." she said as she and the now barely awake wizard cast a levitation spell on the holy knight and disappeared into the crowds.

"Let us return -?" Deliva noticed the deadly aura radiating from Luna. "Don't take a step forward." I said to her and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Now calm down Luna." I said. "If you think I have done anything to him, I have not." Deliva cut to the chase. "How do I believe you?" Luna said, shocking Deliva. "I did not think this far ..." she said before staring back at Luna.

"Fine." she handed Aaron back to me. 'I tried to calm her down myself but she didn't listen to me.' Aaron told me. 'It's alright.' I told him.

"So what do you think about him?" Luna asked Deliva giving her a harsh stare, and which Deliva gave back. "He is a strong, good person. He is not the smartest but is well enough." Deliva responded.

"Calm down-" I said, but they stared at me instead. I went silent.

Women are scary.

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Obtained: Fragment Grenade
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Made from a mana conducting barrier, it by itself is a strong barrier, but once destroyed, it shoots mana glass-like projectiles in all directions outward. Can be self detonated.
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