Edited by: dragonsam656
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Lilian and Ethan were trying to calm the children down who were crying, meanwhile Ray and Allen were getting scolded by Arnette for sneaking out and coming to the hideout despite knowing the dangers involved.
Unbeknownst to them, the bandits had surrounded them thinking of this moment when they are distracted to be the best to ambush them.
Bandit A: "Leader, are you sure that this will work out?"
Leader of the bandits: "Yea, I'm sure it will. If it doesn't, we can just take those two white haired kids hostage, even if it’s just to make sure we can escape safely. But I don't think it will come to that, we have outnumbered them. Also, those kids seem to have mana in abundance."
Bandit B: "Leader is right, we can just take those kids hostage and if they try anything funny we can…" The eyes of the bandit glinted in delight as he licked his lips thinking of all of his previous victims. An animalistic smile came upon his face as he remembered all the others.
The bandits got ready to attack as their leader raised his hand a little and signaled them to attack. They jumped and ran out of the bushes altogether. Arnette pulled Allen and Ray behind in a protective stance as he tightened his grip on the sword and got ready to kill the bandits. On the other hand, Lilian got into offensive stance as he got to ready to fight whoever tried to approach the kids. His eyes were shining in a chilling glint of blood thirst which made all the bandits who were near him fear for their life under the pressure of such pure and chilling thirst for blood like that of a predator eyeing his prey.
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One of the bandits swung his sword towards Reind who swiftly dodged by stepping sideway and turning his body a little. His pupils contracted as he took his sword out of the scabbard and slashed the bandit without any problem, very swiftly. Lilian, on the other hand, was protecting the kids as he fought against the bandits. Ray who was watching Lilian from far away ran towards him as he chanted a protection spell creating a spherical barrier of light.
Lilian, who was surprised by the sudden invocation of the spell, looked back to see that all the kids are safe and all the magic attacks by the bandits were either dispelled by the barrier or the mana from the attack was consumed by the Barrier. Ray came running to Lilian. "Lilian, are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" Ray asked with a worried face. Lilian smiled as he replied to him. "I'm perfectly fine Ray-sama but please you take shelter inside the barrier." Ray just nodded in reply as he stepped inside of the barrier. (A/N: worried expression is from Lilian's point of view, for everyone else his face is still stoic. Lilian got used to reading Ray's expression on his forever stoic face.)
As for Arnette, he was busy fighting the bandits as well as protecting Allen from potential harm. When he and Allen were distracted by the bandits Ray had taken off to where Lilian was and when Allen realized Ray wasn't there with him he got worried. He wanted to go find Ray when Arnette intercepted him and stopped him from moving or going anywhere.
"Arnette, Ray isn't here; let me go to search for him. Please." Allen pleaded as he got worried about his brother.
"Oi, oi, will you think about your own situation first. Being surrounded by so many enemies and you are still thinking about to going to search for him?" Arnette said in an irritated voice. He was more worried about Allen because, in comparison to Ray, Ray is far more level headed and he can take care of himself; as for Allen, no one can say when he will get himself into trouble. It almost seemed as if Allen was best friends with troubles, a friend who sure as hell no parents wants their child to be friends with.
Allen invoked a tracking spell only to find Ray with Lilian helping him to protect all the kids while Ethan and all the children were looking at both Ray and Lilian with admiring eyes. He sighed as he relaxed and a faint smile bloomed on his face. Just as Allen was relaxing, a bandit spotted him totally defenseless. He looked around and saw that Arnette was busy dealing with his comrades. He whistled to catch the attention of one of his friends as he pointed towards Allen. They both saw this as an opportunity and nodded in agreement.
Allen was relaxing when he sensed danger and started a chanting a water spell. One of the bandits jumped in the air as he swung the blunt side of his sword in order to knock Allen out, Just when the sword was about to hit Allen, he was suddenly blasted away as he saw many tiny balls of water floating all around Allen who was smiling with ice cold eyes.
"You are not strong enough to win against him." Arnette mocked the bandit who was now lying on the ground finding it difficult to breathe. "Allen, you can fight them right?" Allen just nodded his head in reply. Arnette smiled at Allen knowing what that smile was indicating. Allen raised his right arm in the air and ice started to accumulate and started to take the shape of a sword on his palm.
Allen flicked the sword and started to walk towards the bandits. One of the bandits sensing the pressure emitted by Allen gulped down his saliva as he jumped backward making some distance between the two. Allen started to rush towards the bandit as he flicked his hand and all the water balls which were previously floating started moving towards the bandit at a really high speed. As the bandit was busy dodging them, Allen went on offense giving the bandit a hard time and pushing him into assuming a defensive stance.
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Lilian took a step towards his right side as he dodged the sword of one of the bandits as he kicked him in the solar plexus forcing the bandit to barf on the spot. While the bandit was barfing Lilian stabbed him in the heart, he turned the sword around and cut the bandit's body and using the momentum slashed another bandit who was a few steps away from them.
Ray, on the other hand, was observing Lilian carefully as he studied all of his moves carefully. Ethan and the other kids too were looking at Lilian with admiration in their eyes. Nobody in their lives has stood up for them since their parents died in the epidemic and the fire. Watching Lilian and Ray doing so much for their sake filled their hearts with a feeling they weren't able to put into words. And as they watched Ray who was the same as their age if not younger they felt angry at themselves for not being strong enough to protect themselves. A feeling of helplessness engulfed them as they realized how weak they were.
Lilian stabbed one more bandit as another came running towards him with a short sword as he thrust the sword forward. Lilian used the corpse of the dead bandit as a meat shield to protect himself. As he closed some distance between himself and the bandit, Lilian stabbed the bandit in the skull with a dagger. He threw both dead bodies aside as he charged towards the other bandits.
Although all the older kids were having a hard time figuring out their feelings, the young were just amazed by Ray who was standing in front and holding up the barrier as if it was not a big deal at all. Their eyes shined in admiration of their new found hero and their faces were full of worship to Ray.
Ray, who sensed the stares coming from the kids, just looked at them for a few seconds before he walked towards and patted their heads with a warm smile. The kids looking at the smile became happy as they forgot about the current situation. 'Well, at least they are not crying anymore.' Ray thought.
Ray once again started watching Lilian who was starting to feel a little bit tired. "Tch." Lilian too noticed that even though most of his injuries were healed when fighting he has started to get tired way too early. Lilian has started to pant a little bit from time to time and Ray who was giving a close attention to all of Lilian's action didn't miss this.
Lilian was now starting to find it annoying as he was finding it hard to breathe while fighting; just when he about to go against another bandit, a water cannon came out of the water and washed away all the bandits surrounding Lilian before they can even invoke a protective spell. He knew this incantation really well, because this was the spell that Ray used to subdue that demon who tried to kill Allen.
"Lilian, you should take rest for a while. I'll take care of these guys until then." Ray cast a lightning spell, leaving all of the bandits paralyzed probably for their whole life. Lilian after seeing this scene decided to let Ray fight for a while as he found a place under the tree and sat under it, enjoying the nice breeze.
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(Hey guys, how did find this chapter good? bad? please comment and let me know. So I know I'm taking a lot of time updating but I have my pre-finals coming up so I'll complete this or at least try to complete this battle at the hideout and conclude it before this week. And as always thank you guys for all the support and comments. It really makes my day.)