Ch 6: Bandits and a Bunny - Pt 3: The Bandit's Base

"Yuuna!!" I ripped the arrow from my chest and got off the ground.

A rage I like none I had ever felt before was charging up inside of me. The sensation felt like it went beyond simple emotions. It felt like there was something coursing through my veins. The power it was giving me felt unnatural. I felt stronger. I felt unstoppable.

After hearing my scream, Masato jumped from the wagon with urgency. "Aoi! What happened?!"

"They took her!" I locked eyes with Masato, but instead of showing distress, they were filled with determination. "They took Yuuna!"

Masato nearly dropped his weapon in shock. A bandit attempted to sneak up behind him, but out of instinct, I thrusted my arm forward. Not even the one holding my sword. My free hand was open palm up, and the thug flew back ten meters from some invisible force like a gust of wind.

The chaos paused, and everyone went still. I stared at my straightened arm in front of me. The man scrambled backward in terror after slamming against the ground. All the other bandits stiffened upright with their mouths agape. And Masato looked at me like I was a different person.

The gang snapped themselves out of it with a charge accompanied by a yell in unison. I took the liberty of testing out this newly discovered power I possessed, pushing them away and launching them this way and that way. As long as I reacted quickly enough, they were unable to get close enough to strike. However, this stalling was not getting myself any closer to rescuing Yuuna.

Thinking two hands might be better than one, I jammed my sword into the ground. This definitely improved the strength of the impact, or whatever was happening to my targets. But it still was not enough. Instead of repeating the same movement over and over, I tried different motions, and I focused more on my target's body than simply keeping them away.

The result was quite gruesome. By twisting my hands, I was able to twist their limbs. One man's ankle snapped and turned so his foot was facing the wrong direction. Another man's arm was completely dislocated at the elbow, causing his forearm to dangle loosely. Another's femur protruded from his thigh. One by one, each of the assailants were rendered immobile. Each injury was accompanied by a painful wail, and the afflicted individuals writhed in agony.

The last standing horse reared and dropped its rider before fleeing back to town. Though I had not attacked him yet, the coward scrambled to his feet and chased after his horse. I thought it best to show mercy to the one man who surrendered.

With the obstacles out of the way, I turned back to Masato and reached an arm out to grab him and go after his daughter, but I found him on his butt with his back pressed against the wheel of the carriage. He might as well have been screaming. The terror on his face and his trembling body made it clear that, at the least, he was on the inside. The look in his eyes was enough for me to understand that I was the cause.

As much as it hurt me, there was still work to be done. I concentrated my newfound inhuman ability on my own body by channeling this strange energy into my legs and darted away at an incredible speed after Yuuna.

I ran and ran following the road until I reached an offshoot that was not well kept but evidently still in use. Based on the dirt kicked up around the intersection, the abductors must have gone in that direction. At the end of the path, there lay an old, stone building with vines growing up its sides and smoke expelling from a chimney. And sure enough, the same horses Spike and Gloom used to escape were tied up to a hitching post.

Without a moment's hesitation, I busted the door down. On the other side, I was greeted by a group of another dozen men. A couple were counting money, half of them were sitting around a table playing cards, and the rest were drinking by the fire. Surprised and confused by the intrusion, they all stopped and stared at the new face.

Spike, who had been among the drinkers, shot up and pointed. "That's the guy I was telling you about! How'd you find us?!"

A brutish man seated across from him set his glass down and squinted. "You trying to tell me this weakling took out the others and followed you to our base? That's a real shame, Spike. I guess that just means we can't let his guy leave."

His name is really Spike?!

Personally, I thought I was in pretty good shape, but in this man's eyes, I could imagine why he did not see me as a challenge. His arms were almost as thick as my legs, and when the brute stood from the sofa, he was a whole head taller than I was if not more.

I could not let him intimidate me. "Where’s Yuuna?"

"Who?" Brute tilted his head and then thumbed toward a door on the far side of the room from where I stood. "Oh, you mean the girl? She's tied up in the back waiting for us to decide what to do with her."

That stoked my fire. "Give her back, and I might go easy on you."

"Ha! Yeah, right!" Brute pointed at my empty arms. "You don't even have a weapon. You think you can take us all like that?"

"I don't need one!" I thrusted my arms forward as a I did before. But nothing happened. "Huh? That's weird."

"Get 'em, Boys!" At the giant's command, the crew armed themselves with their weapons of choice, from one as refined as a sword to one as savage as a sledgehammer.

I took a step backward. "Heh-heh. Hey, now. Maybe we can talk this over instead."

The gang swarmed me, and I hopelessly tried to fend them off. After becoming bruised and battered, the bandits tied me up and gagged me, and Brute tossed me in the same room where they were housing Yuuna.

"Here. Say hello to your little girlfriend." The large man brushed his hands together as if he was wiping off filth. "Ugh. What a mess. Spike! What the--!" He slammed the door behind him.

"Mmph! Mmmph!" On her knees, Yuuna scooted her way across the floor with muffled cries.

I wriggled my way over and responded just as incoherently. Managing to bring myself to my knees, I leaned in closer. Yuuna's eyes widened as she flinched, but I kept going. Biting down on my gag, I pinched a piece of the fabric hanging out of her mouth with the corner of mine.

After a huff and a coughing fit, Yuuna got the words out that she was not able to before. "Aoi! You came for me!"

"Mmph!" I nodded with my chin forward to hint that it was her turn to unstuff me.

"Oh, right!" Yuuna's cheeks were heating up the nearer our faces became.

Perhaps because I practically had to swallow my gag in order to close my mouth enough to remove Yuuna's, or because Yuuna tightened her eyes shut in her embarrassment, our lips barely touched. Yuuna instantly jerked back at the sensation and almost fell on her back. Her strawberry-colored face returned, but at least she succeeded.

Avoiding making the situation any more awkward, I spoke past it and focused on this real-life escape room. "Quick! Turn around!"

"Ah! Okay!" Still clearly combating her embarrassment, Yuuna stiffened then listened.

I placed my back against hers and carefully moved my fingers until I found Yuuna's hands. She let out a high-pitched sound and twitched, but I gripped her hand to keep her from moving. "Stay still. I'm going to untie your wrists."

"O-okay." Yuuna sounded much shyer than I was used to.

"All right. Now untie me, and then we can deal with our own feet." I stuck my arms out behind me as high as I could.

"Right!" Yuuna carefully worked on the knots in my restraints and seemingly calmed down. "Thank you for coming for me, Aoi. I never doubted that you would... But part of me was afraid you wouldn't make it out of there."

Shifting onto my butt to free my ankles, I brought my head up toward the ceiling. "Yeah, about that. I should probably tell you something weird happened to me."