Chapter 12: Unforeseen

Mitsuna was having a nice dream. He dreamt that he was enjoying himself in heaven, he was resting on a pile of clouds while a beautiful voice was singing loudly beside him.

Unfortunately, this did not last for long. Suddenly the cloud beneath him began disappearing and he plummeted down to a deep dark blue ocean. A sudden strong wave made him tumble and turn underwater making it difficult for him to breathe, then off in the distance he sees a second wave going towards him looking stronger than the first one and as soon as it makes contact with him,

He wakes up.

It turns out that Joe had been spraying him with water to wake him up for a while now. Where the water came from? His eyes were too wet to see. Joe started blurbing out all sorts of complaints and nearly broke a decorative vase from his anger. Most of it was incomprehensible for Mitsuna who was still dazed from the amount of water that was sprayed onto him.

A sudden strong force pulled him away from his bed making him stand upright. Then it went inside his clothing. He tried to pull it out and remove whatever it was that was in him but it was too strong and too quick. By the time he could get a grasp of what's going on he's suddenly out of his nightwear and in his "casual" wear. For him wearing a cloak over a blazer with a mask and protective armor on the joints is casual.

It seems that Joe had just used all his tentacles in rapid succession to dress him for the day.

There was still a problem though. He was still wet. Suddenly, Ashe emerges behind Joe and raises her finger pointing towards Mitsuna. What seems like a growing fireball starts to appear at the tip of her finger but then dissipates into thin air after it reached a certain size.

Mitsuna then began to heat up. He felt like he was getting hotter and hotter by the second. Until eventually he felt like he was on fire! But it only lasted for a second and he never saw any actual fire on his body. And just like that. He's all dry

Before Mitsuna could even ask what all the fuzz is about, Ashe furiously walks up to him with her hand clenched and glowing a bright blue, and with one swift punch to the face, Mitsuna is knocked unconscious.

Once he regained consciousness he could see Joe staring down at him from a distance while Ashe was talking to what seems to be two knights by the door. He couldn't properly hear what she said but he was sure that he heard her apologize for something. Afterward, one of the knights looked over her shoulder and at Mitsuna then back to her. They both give a small nod before heading out.

Mitsuna then got up and was about to ask again what's going on but as soon as he opened his mouth, Ashe shoved a strange kind of bread with what seems to be glitter on the top in it. "Let's go. I'll explain everything along the way." She said in a grumpy manner.

The three then proceed to walk back down to the bar while Ashe explained to him what was going on. But Mitsuna was too distracted by the bread that he was eating to pay attention to what she was saying. He was wondering why it tasted so good, what kind of bread it was, was it even bread? But after these questions pass his head he quickly remembers Ashe who was still explaining.

"Oh no! Ashe! She's saying something important and I'm not listening! I can't just start listening now, I'd be lost and confused. But I should at least try right?" And so he snapped back to reality and began listening.

"And that is why you mustn’t leave it like that okay?" She turns back to face Mitsuna as they arrive back on the first floor. He just gave a slow nod with a small smile in an attempt to hide how worried he is about not listening.

"Good. Now that we've cleared that up, we'll be leaving in about five minutes so do what you need to now." Leaving? Where are they going? Mitsuna was slowly starting to panic. He began sweating but tried to calm himself down by finishing the bread that was given to him. He looked around the room and saw people and creatures alike wearing armor and carrying weapons. Knowing that they're probably going to go to war the boy started looking for Edward only to ask him where the bathroom is once he found him.

After having a number two he went back out and saw that most of the soldiers were already outside with only the three important people left inside. Ashe, Joe, and Edward.

"All finished? Let's go." She says in an authoritative tone. So, the four went outside and Mitsuna was amazed at what he saw. He saw humans riding strange beasts and monsters on horses, each of them armed to the teeth. Edward tells him that he'll be locking the bar with a magical seal so he should have more than enough time to look at the beasts.

He noticed that there were only four vacant beasts which were probably for them and decided to get a better look.

One was what looked like a turtle but its arms and legs were replaced with a horse's and made a lot thicker, it's head resembled a goat's head but with four blood-red eyes and black fur, the shape of its shell had a sea green color and resembled a horse saddle. Most likely to make riding it easier.

Next to it was what seemed to be a Spider that's as big as an ambulance, its legs were as thick as a concrete pillar and looked like they were metallic, its backside looked like it was wide enough to fit a person and even had a thin cloth bed attached to it. Its hole where it would supposedly secrete spider web had what looked like a rubber tube stuck inside and while the rest of it was neatly stored in what seems to be a leather pouch that was attached to the spider just to hold the tube. The spider's head looked somewhat cute if you like spiders otherwise it would look quite scary as its mouth seem to be metallic as well.

Next was just a red unicorn with yellow eyes and blue wings. Nothing really special about it besides what looks like a blue orb of some sort resting on top of its horn. Besides that, it's just your normal unicorn.

And lastly was an armored grizzly bear.

Mitsuna began to wonder what he would ride, he wanted to ride the Grizzly Bear just because he can, but the other creatures are just as cool to him. Except for the Unicorn.

He then heard Edward's voice from behind saying, "You'll be riding the bear." Followed by a pat on his back as the Bartender got on the Giant Spider. The boy was filled with great amounts of Joy after learning that he will be riding the bear. He quickly went up to it then jumped right on its back startling the bear, making its front legs push itself off the ground and give a roar. Thankfully that was not enough to make Mitsuna fall off as he had held on tightly to the bear. He then watched as Joe got on the turtle and Ashe get on the Unicorn.

Ashe then looked back at everyone and asked if they're all ready to which they all respond with a firm "Yes ma'am!" She then pops the blue orb that was resting on top of the unicorn and all the animals suddenly let out roars and neighs and shrieks. After that, they all look revitalized and refreshed. They then began moving forward.

Mitsuna wondered where they were going. He regretted not listening to Ashe and was debating on whether or not asking her about it again is a good idea. He decided he'll just stay shut and wait until they get there. After thirty minutes into the trip, Mitsuna is quite surprised that he doesn't feel that hungry considering all he ate for breakfast was a loaf of bread. He figured he could probably ask Ashe about it then slowly transition to where they are going and what happened earlier morning.

So he trots the bear and leads him to Ashe. Once he was close enough to her he tries his very best to ask as nice as possible since it seemed like she wasn't in a good mood.

"Heeeeyyy, Ashe." He was hoping that calling her that way would calm her nerves even in the slightest bit.

"Yes?" Her response caught Mitsuna off-guard. He was expecting a much more hostile response from her. It could be because of the way he called her or because her anger had worn off. Either way, it's good that she's not as angry anymore.

"What was inside the bread that you gave me?"

What do you mean?" She gave him a bit of a puzzled look.

"All I ate for breakfast is a single loaf of bread and yet, I feel like I ate a whole meal."

"Well once that bread enters your stomach it starts to expand and get bigger while inside you. Thus making you full."

"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense."

"Just be sure to not eat too much of it or else you might die." She gave a small chuckle.

"Riiiiight. Also speaking of earlier morning." He still wasn't sure how he would ask her without making him seem like a complete jerk for not listening to what she said earlier.

"What about it? Didn't I already tell you all you need to know?" She raised an eyebrow and gave him a look of slight disappointment.

"Well you see, I just wanna make sure I heard everything correc-" She quickly cut him off.

"You didn't listen didn't you."

"Yes." There was no point in lying and Mitsuna didn't like doing that anyway.

"Well, I don't blame you. Besides, you just woke up right?" Mitsuna nodded in agreement.

"So. There's this bird, called an Arber. When it's hungry, it starts Cawing, and if you don't feed it, it gets louder. And it won't stop until you feed it. We place this in the rooms of our soldiers to wake them up in the morning." Mitsuna continued to nod in agreement and this time placed his fist under his chin.

"Now if you don't feed it, eventually it'll try to caw so Loud that it would die, and anyone who would hear it's last dying caw will be filled with so much rage and anger at the person who didn't feed it." Mitsuna nodded some more because he can.

"And since you surprisingly did not wake up, people all around the city heard this while you slept quietly. Seriously, how could you not have woken up by that?" Mitsuna gave a surprised nod and a shrug at the same time.

"That's why I knocked you unconscious, sorry about that by the way, and why there were guards inside the bar. Believe or not, letting an Arber die is an extremely severe crime and we had to pay them with all the gold that you gave me last night." Mitsuna's nodding finally came to an end as he asks her another question.

"Oh, I'm sorry for not waking up but I still wanna know how Joe sprayed me with water without using anything." She looked at him right in the eye and said, "You don't wanna know."

Suddenly, the sound of a horse could be heard coming from the front with what seems like an unusually large bird flying above it. As they got closer it looked like the one on a horse was a strange lizard with padded leather armor and the bird was a lizard-like creature with wings.

"Are they with us?" Mitsuna asked while gripping onto his crossbow, worried that they might have to engage.

"Yeah, they're our scouts." The group then comes to a halt once the scouts arrive. They inform Ashe that the "stronghold" up ahead is clear of any hostiles. Mitsuna wanted to ask where they were going but felt like he already asked enough questions.

And even if they were going to fight he felt pretty confident in himself after being able to clear out a fortress and a store in one day. Not to mention the number of people that he is with.

After what feels like an hour but is just thirty more minutes of riding, they eventually come to a halt. It seems that they went back to the fortress that he had cleared out.

"What are we doing back here? Didn't I already get the staff for you?"

"We're relocating a bunch of things and bringing it here. Thanks to you, this is our new headquarters."The boy was glad that he was able to have such a big impact on them even though he was just doing what he was told.

People started unpacking and offloading their things in the general area. Mitsuna got off the bear and was about to help the others out until he remembered something. Before he left the fortress, there was a group of knights that waited outside. And since he didn't take care of them before leaving, there's a chance that they're probably still in the general area, or worse, they've spotted him and the entire group and are about to...

"Ashe there's an Ambush!" Mitsuna cried out as loud as he can. Everyone then dropped whatever it is they were holding and drew their weapons. Swordsmen drew their swords, archers raised their bows, and creatures.... did whatever it is that they do. Everyone expected that soldiers and knights would charge at them by now, but there was nothing. No noise, no enemies, nothing.

Joe looked at him and asked, "What are you talk-" "Shhhh!" He quickly cut him off. "Listen!" But nothing could be heard, no footsteps or marching anywhere. But despite this Mitsuna still had a strong feeling, something telling him that they're right there but he just can't see them. He then raised his handheld crossbow which was already loaded and looked around his surroundings. He couldn't see anything that was off except for the strange amount of bushes in the area. Which was why he aimed at one and fired his crossbow at it.

As soon as the arrow hit the bush, knights appeared from all the other bushes, it seemed that his hunch was right and they were using the bushes as camouflage. They all ran at them screaming and giving off war-cries. And thus the battle began, Soldiers were fending off the knights while the archers dealt with the spearmen. And the creatures fought anyone that would come near them. But the knights were at a disadvantage because Ashe's teams had a few battle animals along with them to assist, such as Joe's strange Turtle Monster.

Mitsuna pulled his mask down to cover his face and just stood there and watched the battle as it happened while his bear just assumed a resting position. He wasn't in shock but rather he wanted to study how they fought. So he sat beside his bear and watched the battle. He saw one of the creatures grab a man that was a meter away using its tongue and another creature use its claws to chop a man's head off clean, he watched how the Soldiers swing their sword, and how a spearman would thrust his spear.

But throughout all of this, he noticed that Edward wasn't doing anything and in fact even walked up to him and sat beside him.

"Shouldn't you be fighting along with them?" He asked Mitsuna. "I could ask you the same thing." He replied with a sly smile.

"Well, I am here to tend to the wounded. I cannot fight and dislike the idea of fighting. That is why I am the team's Medic. How about you? They could use your crossbow you know."

"I am observing how both my allies and enemies fight. I'm not that skilled in combat and fear that I might do more damage to us rather than to them." He managed to quickly make up a reason but in reality, he just really didn't feel like it.

"Is that so? Then how did you clear the stronghold?" He said while raising an eyebrow. Mitsuna explained to him how most of them were just lousy and untrained. Edward then asked if they looked similar to the ones they're currently fighting but was cut off as a stray arrow nearly hit them.

"Watch your fire!" Mitsuna yelled before replying, "No, they did not look like these knights. Well, there was only one of them that WAS a knight."

"And how did your encounter with him end?"

"With his bloody head against the wa-" They were interrupted once again by the sound of a soldier calling out for Edward.

"Doctor! I need healing!" A soldier with a large diagonal cut across his torso came running at the two asking for help. Edward, who saw this stood up and raised his hands and then proceeded to make a white aura around the man. As the Soldier stood in the white aura his cut began healing rapidly until it was no longer there. Afterward, the soldier thanked him and got right back into battle while Edward walked back and sat down beside Mitsuna.

"Wow. How did you do that?" The boy was in awe for he had only seen things like that happen in movies or cartoons but seeing it with his very eyes was a sight to behold. Of course, this was a normal occurrence for everyone else.

"It is simple. I used magic." He gave a straightforward answer. "Magic? Tell me more about this, magic." Mitsuna acted as if he had never heard of magic before so that he could learn about every detail of it.

"You've never heard of magic?" Edward gave him a surprised looked. He had never met anyone who hasn't heard of magic yet. Mitsuna shook his head in response to his question.

"I don't suppose you remember where you come from?"

"I come from a faraway place called "Earth". There, we don't have magic but we do have technology that far greatly surpasses whatever you have here."

"Is that so? Wait here just one minute." Edward got up and casually walked over to his Giant Spider while avoiding any stray arrows or possible combat. From there he grabbed what seems to be a satchel then quickly walked back to Mitsuna and sat down once again. He opened his satchel and grabbed what looks like a large piece of paper with a piece of rope that's keeping it rolled.

Once unrolled it turns out to be a world map. He places it neatly on the ground in front of them. "This is the entire map of the world. Can you show me where Earth is?" Mitsuna looked at the map very closely and noticed that it was nowhere near the normal World Map he was accustomed to. This confirmed to him that he was in another world which placed him in a bit of unease.

"That's strange. This map is different."

"How different?" Mitsuna tried to explain how Earth has separate continents and is a lot larger than the map that he is shown. Edward looked like he was in great disbelief from Mitsuna's explanation. Someone who's never heard of magic, came from a place that has a different world map, and carries a crossbow thinking it's normal? Perhaps he came from a different world? No, that would be ridiculous. Perhaps he came from a different realm or reality and was cast out here by some higher beings. These were the thoughts that went through Edward's head. But no matter what he thought, he felt that he should keep Mitsuna in high regard.

"Well then. Would you like to learn about Magic?"

"Sure. I would appreciate that."

"In this wo-" They were interrupted yet again by the battle cry of a spearman charging at them.

"Perhaps you should take care of him first?" Mitsuna gave a smile and said, "With pleasure." He then raised his crossbow and aimed for the man's leg and then fired. The arrow went straight and landed perfectly at the knee of the spearman causing him to stumble and fall and land right at the feet of the two with his back against the ground.

"Great shot Mitsuna."

"Thanks."

"So back to what I was saying-" Of course a simple arrow to the knee is not enough to kill a man so they were yet again interrupted by the spearman's attempt to kill Mitsuna by thrusting his spear at him but this attempt was quickly stopped when Edward managed to grab the spear just as it was about to make contact with him.

You should probably finish him now." He said while in a bit of a struggle.

"Right." Mitsuna knew that his crossbow was already loaded so he just brought it to the man's face and fired it killing him instantly.

"Great shot. But how did you reload it with such speed?" Edward had set the spear aside and kicked the dead body away from them.

"Oh, well, It kind of just, refills on its own." He fired it once more at the dead body. "Watch."

Mitsuna brought the Crossbow closer for Edward to see and noticed that it was taking a bit longer for the string to pull itself back and for an arrow to appear out of thin air in the slot. But this allowed them to observe it a lot better.

"That's strange. Usually, it does that a lot faster."

"Perhaps the more you use it, the longer it would take for it to load itself?"

"That could be it."

"Whatever it may be, it seems that you possess magic Mitsuna." They suddenly heard Ashe call out Mitsuna.

The boy quickly stood up and looked around for her only to feel a crushing pain on his right foot making him flinch.

"You idiot! I recruited you to help us not sit around and chit-chat!" Ashe had just stomped on his foot out of anger after being told by one of their fighters that Mitsuna did not contribute or help in the fight in any way.

"But I did help!" He quickly turned to her and tried to free his foot but it seems that she decided to exert more pressure onto it making him feel more pain.

"Where?!" Mitsuna then pointed at the dead body of the soldier he shot earlier. "I took him out." Edward reinforced his statement by saying, "It's true. He did help. Even if it's just a small bit."

The two looked at Edward before turning back to each other. Ashe mutters something and crushes Mitsuna's foot one last time before walking away and checking on the others.

Edward stood up and approached the boy while giving a small chuckle.

"Is your foot alright?"

"It hurts a little but it should be fine."

"She's quite the feisty one ain't she?"

"Indeed she is."

"Well, I'll go tend to the wounded. Hopefully, we didn't lose any. I'll explain to you magic later." Mitsuna nodded in agreement and examined the aftermath of the fighting. He saw multiple dead bodies. Counting 30 in total. But he did notice one thing. They were all just lying there. With their valuables.

So being the rogue, thief, assassin class he is, he began walking around looting the dead bodies checking for anything useful. The people who saw him do this just watched him with disgusted looks although he's already past this.

Unfortunately, most of the bodies were Knights which means they didn't have any gold on them. Mostly just armor and weapons. With the majority of these being discarded by Mitsuna.

He then heard another voice call him out. Although this one didn't sound like Ashe. It sounded deep like a man, scratchy like a monster, and bubbly like bubbles. It sounded as if the person was choking on the water each time he spoke.

When he turned to check who it was he saw Joe without his robe. It seems that Joe did not have tentacles for arms but rather had strong muscular arms with sharp claws at the end still dripping with blood from the fight. He had many tentacles that were sticking out of his torso either from the front or the sides, but none from the back. Most of these were wrapped around his torso. He had thick scaly legs with feet that had sharp talons similar to a raptor's but these were webbed like a duck's.

He was calling Mitsuna and gesturing him to come towards him using his tentacle. He then approached him and once he was there he got told to make himself useful and scout the outer perimeter of the area for any more Knights, so he did.

The area around them was filled with trees and grass while the Knight's armor was painted white making it easy for him to spot them if there were any. He Casually walked around the area looking here and there not taking anything seriously. As he walks by a tree an arrow narrowly misses him. When he turns to where it came from he sees what looks like an Archer dressed in white.

"Must be one of their scouts." He mutters to himself. The scout quickly climbed one of the trees and began parkouring her way in the opposite direction. Mitsuna saw this and raised his crossbow and aimed carefully. Not for the archer but for something else. He then fired once and began following her from below casually jogging along.

The archer jumped from branch to branch and swung on multiple vines just to get to another tree while Mitsuna jogged. The scout would not give up the chase and tried going in another direction but it wasn't that hard for our assassin to follow along. It was a bit tricky but it seems that they had just circled. Eventually, the archer was starting to get tired from exerting more effort by climbing and swinging on trees, unlike Mitsuna who is just jogging.

The archer tries to look for a place where she could get out of Mitsuna's sight and rest for a short while. She sees what looks like a tree with a big hole in the center of it. Big enough for a person to fit in. It doesn't look natural though, rather it seems like it was made for a hunter to rest in.

She looks back down at Mitsuna to check on him before jumping off the branch she was running on to grab onto a vine to swing to the hunter's nest. But wait, there was no vine. It seems that the arrow Mitsuna fired earlier had hit the vine and cut it off making her fall to the cold, hard, grassy, ground, and go unconscious.

After a few minutes, she wakes up to the sight of Mitsuna, Edward, Joe, and Ashe looking down at her.

"Boop." Mitsuna had just booped her nose.

"She's lucky it was her legs that hit the ground first and not her head. If it was her head I don't think she would've survived." Edward explained.

"This is certainly unexpected." Joe blurbs out as he crosses his arms.

"Oh look who's awake," Ashe said with an evil grin.

It seems that the Ezikel Archer that they captured was named Tami. One of the people who took over one of the four armies after the original leaders had disappeared. To find out that she was part of the enemy greatly angered everyone. Except for Mitsuna.

Her hands and feet were tied as she was on the ground being interrogated outside the stronghold. There was no hope of escape for her as she was surrounded by soldiers and creatures alike. Surprisingly though, no one layed a finger on her despite her incompliance.

After multiple futile attempts to get info out of her Ashe got an idea. She went up to Mitsuna and asked him if he was any good at interrogation. He replied by asking why they don't use conventional torture methods. She explained that if they do that, they won't be any better than Ezikel. She then asked him once again if he can get anything out of Tami. Mitsuna wanted to help them but had no clue how to interrogate a person. He figured he would still try anyway so he replied with a "Yes" and went over to Tami.

"Hey there. By any chance is there another wave of soldiers coming here?" Mitsuna was being as casual as possible to try to build rapport with her.

Tami took one look at him with a face that showed just how angry and frustrated she is at him for ruining her escape plan then responded with a single, "Yes."

Mitsuna's eyes widened with fear and worry that another fight was about to happen. He quickly turns over to where his friends were and as he was about to shout Tami kicks him at his feet and proceeds to free her own since her hands were tied by the wrist so she could still use her fingers.

It did not take long for Mitsuna to sit up and try to stop her. But her feet were so poorly tied that all she had to do was pull one string to free her legs. By then Mitsuna was close enough for her to get him with a headlock using her legs. And that's exactly what happened. He was having a hard time to breathe but someone has seen them by now and in a matter of seconds, a small group of soldiers with their weapons were drawn were there ready to free him by any means necessary.

Although even if he was losing air and suffocating he still decided to wave his hands at them gesturing them to not engage. They give him looks of doubt and confusion, how could he possibly escape?

Tami was preparing for whatever Mitsuna could throw at her whether this is a counter-grapple or a sudden attack with a knife, she was ready. Then with one quick motion, Mitsuna poked her side hoping that she was ticklish. Of all the things that she could prepare for, this was completely unexpected. This also made her lose a bit of her grip on him just enough so that he could free himself and stand back up.

As soon as he got back up he yelled at everyone saying that there's a second wave of soldiers coming at them.

"Calm down Mitsuna they're not here yet," Edward said while gesturing Mitsuna to calm himself.

Then the sudden loud noise of a fireball hitting the ground caught everyone's attention. It seems that magic casters of all sorts surrounded them and in just a matter of seconds another fight has begun. When Mitsuna turned back to look at Tami it seems that she had already run off somewhere else. Curb your prisoner was playing inside his head as he sighed then turned back to see the battle.

He was planning on actually helping this time and fired a few arrows from a distance before Edward called him to talk in the middle of battle once again. Edward apologized for interrupting him in the middle of the fight but stated that now is the perfect time to explain how magic works.

They both sat down by the stronghold door and looked around for a moment before Edward pointed to a group of mages that were using a normal type of magic that you would see. They had fireballs, magic missiles, sticks to snakes, and other similar kinds of magic. These were known as elemental magic. They could be used in hundreds of ways but can only be used with the things around you.

Then he pointed out two specific mages. One that was wearing black clothing fighting another that was wearing white clothing. These are light and dark magic users. The main purpose of light magic was to expel and destroy dark magic. Of course, it could still be used for other things, but you would have to be very creative. As for dark magic, it is completely defenseless against the light as its main purpose is to steal the lifeforce out of someone until they had no more.

Lastly, he pointed at Ashe. He explained about Support magic and how this is divided into two. One half focuses mostly on giving helpful buffs and removing debuffs to allies while giving some to enemies. The other half focuses on healing others and helping them in a variety of ways.

The battle was getting intense and with them outnumbered and surrounded, they were on the losing side. They then suddenly heard Joe loudly scream at Ashe to "Do it now!" And she suddenly casts a spell that creates a giant magic circle on the ground that expands far out going underneath just about everyone. Suddenly everyone starts using moves and techniques they haven't been using before. Skills and abilities that look inhuman.

Mitsuna suddenly felt like he could do anything as if a surge of inspiration went through him. When he turned to Edward to ask him what's going on he explained how every single living being has a special power in them. They've only discovered this recently so they don't know much about it but what they do know is that when a person feels a strong emotion it has a chance to be activated as if it's the way of how the body responds to certain things. Controlling your power however seems to be extremely difficult, but not impossible.

He explains that Ashe has been training and practicing her power for a while now and can activate it at will. When he asks what her power is he tells him that it is to activate someone else's power. But he points at the enemies that they were fighting had their powers are activated as well and that just shows that she hasn't fully mastered controlling it yet. Luckily their group is the first to discover their powers so the enemy has no idea what they're doing giving us an even bigger advantage.

"Cool! So what's my power?" Mitsuna was moving up and down excited to find out what his power could be.

"I do not know. Why don't you go fight and find out for yourself?" Edward said with a cheeky smile.

This was his moment. Mitsuna had adrenaline running through his bones and his eyes had turned red. He then pulls out his crossbow on one hand and his dagger on the other. He could hear the enemy at doom's gate ready to enter. He adjusts his mask to make sure it's on properly and won't be a problem later.

He then dashes right towards the enemy dodging any projectile they could throw at him. He felt his senses were enhanced, his body moving faster than it ever could. He could see the fear in the enemy's eyes. They throw everything they have at him fireballs, strong streams of water, they try to raise the floor or lower it to get him to trip or stumble, they even tried to blow him away with the strongest gust of wind they had that even made Joe fall over. But these were all futile as he dodged the flames and water, traversed the changing path, and took cover from the wind.

Once he was at a fighting distance they were too late to stop him, he stabbed and shot all those that were near him while catching glimpses of his allies doing the same. He's never fought like this before. He’s never fought during his entire time on earth.

While this was happening a tall dark hooded figure revealed himself and called out for Ashe.

Underneath the hood was a man who looked fairly young. He had long wavy hair that had the front part of it dyed white. Perhaps this was Eric the one who took her staff.

"Ashe! I know your hiding behind one of your dogs! Come out and duel me!" He seemed very impatient and could care less that he was losing.

Suddenly soldiers on both sides stopped their fighting for a moment and began to move and make way for the two. Mitsuna who wasn't paying any attention was clueless as to why they stopped decided to take advantage of this to take out some more people but then karma struck after he stabbed one of his opponents he felt something on touch his back. He had a strong hunch that it was an enemy so when he blindly thrusts his spear backward it got lodged in a tree. This would make him a vulnerable target but it seems that everyone is currently occupied so he should be safe.

Meanwhile, Ashe and Eric were already in the heat of battle. Some soldiers just stood and watched while others finished off the remaining casters. It was a tough battle for Ashe since she is at a disadvantage as a support class. But she did know a thing or two by using other types of magic. Although this was not enough for her to win. She was losing and everyone could see it.

After a bit of a struggle, Mitsuna managed to free his dagger but noticed that it was getting a bit dull from being overused. So he just drops it and picks up another one that he sees from the ground. He notices that there aren't any people fighting anymore but all gathered up in one place. He walks towards them to see Ashe on one of her knees and starting to look like a deflated balloon.

He wasn't able to grasp the idea that they were dueling and instinctively wanted to help so he quickly moves to the front of the crowd and raises his crossbow aiming for Eric's head.

Joe, being one of the people in the crowd sees this and tries to grab Mitsuna's crossbow with one of his tentacles making him miss Eric's head and instead hit him in the torso.

"What are you doing!?" He yelled at him as people looked at him with anger and slight fear in their eyes.

"I need to help her!" He yelled back.

"That's not how you help someone in a duel!"

Eric began to do an evil laugh and slowly turn towards the Mitsuna.

As for Mitsuna, he let go of his crossbow which was still being held by Joe and grabbed a knife from a soldier that was standing beside him. He then ran towards Eric while holding two knives. He tries to do a downwards slash with his right hand and a forward thrust with his left. Eric manages to catch his right hand but fails to stop the left.

He laughs once again as what seems to be dark matter starts to ooze from Eric's hand onto his. Mitsuna slowly starts to panic as he feels a sharp pain going through him as if his insides were being pulled out. He to stab him multiple times with freehand but it seems that Eric was healing faster than he could stab him.

"HaHaHAhahA! It's no use boy! I am taking your lifeforce faster than you can take mine! Mwuahahaha!"

Mitsuna refused to give up. He refused to lose hope. Suddenly a burning flame appeared around him. It didn't seem like it did anything though. But he started stabbing faster and faster but even the fastest of hands is not enough. He needed to outsmart him one way are another.

The soldiers were amazed at his Determination. One of them cheered him, then another, and another, until everyone was rooting for Mitsuna. But words won't save him. He still needs a way to stop him from stealing his lifeforce. But then another thought comes to his mind, why aren't they helping him? He didn't bother asking.

This wasn't good. He was starting to look like a deflated balloon. But then he felt revitalized and relieved of pain for just a moment. He also felt stronger. When he turned around he found out that Edward just used one of his spells to restore Mitsuna's lifeforce. Combined with Ashe giving him a helpful buff. They both give him a thumbs-up as he continues to stab Eric. He noticed that his free hand started to glow red and move at inhumane speed.

"What did you give him?" Edward asked Ashe as he approached her while preparing a healing spell to give her some lifeforce.

"Speed. As well as some lifesteal of his own. If he can keep this up until Eric runs out of mana we win." Her voice sounded weak and soft.

And so the battle continued. No matter where mitsuna would stab, Eric would heal as he hit him. It was as if Mitsuna was hitting a slimeball. The knife would go in and come out like it was nothing. He tried stabbing him in the head, nothing. He tried cutting off the hand that was locked on to his but it was as if the knife had phased through it.

"Why don't you just give up, boy. Your pitiful friends can't keep healing you forever! eventually, you'll run out of lifeforce!"

"You know what else runs out?" Mitsuna stopped stabbing for a moment to catch his breath.

Suddenly the dark matter that was oozing throughout his body quickly began to fade away up until there was none left. Eric's eyes widened and he quickly tried to let go of Mitsuna's hand but it seems that the tables have turned and Mitsuna now grabbed onto his hand. The boy lets out a villainous grin and shouts,

"Your mana!" He chopped off Eric's hand with one swift motion making him scream in agony then followed with a stab to the gut. He then throws the knife in the air and catches it with the blade facing towards him and the handle towards Eric. He bashes him in the head with the handle of the knife making him go unconscious.

Everyone rejoiced now that the battle is over. The fire that was around him started to fade away and his eyes turned back to normal. Mitsuna stared down at Eric and was a bit disgusted at what just happened as he is not used to the sight of blood and gore. But something in his mind made it easy for him to shrug it off. He's not sure what it was though.

"Good job. Mitsuna." Ashe gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder. They both stare down at the unconscious Eric. "Haven't seen anyone do what you just did."

"Why? What did I just do?" Mitsuna had lots of questions in his mind that he wanted answered.

"Right. I'll let Edward explain. Thanks again for your help. Couldn't have done it without you." She says before walking away into the crowd of soldiers that were going back. As Mitsuna turns back he is greeted with Edward lightly clapping his hands.

"Great job Mitsuna!" He looked really happy that Mitsuna won.

"Hey, Edward. What just happened?"

"Oh, we'll have plenty of time to discuss that later on. For now, let's take a break." He says as he places his hand on Mitsuna's shoulder and they walk back to their new headquarters.

As they were walking back towards the entrance of the stronghold Mitsuna looks back at Eric's corpse and sees that it was long gone. He dismisses it as he knows he will be ready the next time he appears, they'll be ready.

Now they come back to the entrance of the stronghold and see Ashe sitting on top of a crate while everyone instantly got back to work as if nothing happened.

"Back to work already?" Mitsuna pushed his mask up to reveal his face and see better.

"Well, with magic things become a lot easier," Ashe replied with a smile. "After all the day has just begun."

"What?!" Mitsuna yelped in surprise. He looked up in the sky and saw a bright sunny day.

"Welcome to Palvertia."