Confrontation Part 1

I had lost all sense of my surroundings. The only thing I could see was the bastard standing in front of me. I’m going to kill him no matter what, but I don’t want it to be that quick.

Without taking my eyes off the bandit, who seemed to be the leader of the place, I walked over to one of the crates and drew a sword.

“Ah, I see, you want to make me suffer with that?” the bandit asked in a mocking tone. But that wasn’t the case. The sword wasn’t for me.

After taking it, I threw it at the bandit’s feet, which left him bewildered. “Why is he giving me a weapon?” he must be wondering.

“Pick it up,” I said.

When I was a novice in mixed martial arts, there were times when, no matter how hard I tried, I could never manage to make my opponent back down. It was like facing a wall, an obstacle impossible to break through. I still remember the desperation I felt in those moments.

That’s what I want. I want to see him struggle and despair even after trying everything to break free from me. This time, I’ll be the obstacle.

“Ha, ha, ha, have you really gone insane?” the bandit sneered. “Giving your opponent a weapon… you really are deranged. But I’ll accept the gesture,” he added while picking up the sword.

I closed in on him again and took a defensive stance to receive his attack, which came only seconds later. He swung his sword downward, trying to cut me, but I blocked with my gauntlets, pushed the blade aside, and struck him in the face, sending him flying several meters away.

“You… bastard,” the bandit muttered while clutching his face in pain.

“…”

I hadn’t hit him with all my strength. Not yet. I want him to suffer little by little until he begs me for his life.

The bandit got back up and rushed at me, trying to attack again, but I blocked his strike once more. He didn’t stop there; this time he kept attacking in rapid succession with his sword. Overhead, from the sides, diagonal slashes, thrusts—he tried everything, but I dodged and blocked every one of his moves.

Eventually, I took advantage of one of his many openings and struck his chest. The man dropped his weapon from the pain and clutched his chest tightly before soon coughing up blood. He glared at me with a face full of rage, but I didn’t care. I grabbed his shirt and hurled him against one of the weapon crates scattered around the place.

“You’re… going to regret this, you damn freak…” the bandit said.

“…Then what are you waiting for?” I asked, just to anger him, and it worked perfectly.

The leader quickly rummaged through the weapons crate and pulled out a spear, immediately aiming it at me after taking hold of it.

Unlike swords, with spears one can keep a great distance from the opponent while attacking, preventing them from getting close. It wasn’t a bad choice, but I didn’t care in the slightest.

I charged at the leader without a shred of hesitation, which caught him off guard, but he quickly recovered and began attacking with the weapon. I deflected the first strike with my gauntlet, and without losing momentum, I grabbed the spear with the same hand I had used to parry, then with both hands, wrenching it away from him.

Without giving him a chance to dodge or even react, I swung the spear like a sword in a downward strike and shattered it against his head. Then, using the half of the spear that remained, I struck him a few more times.

With each blow I delivered, more blood poured from his mouth, and his head was already bleeding from the earlier strike I had landed with the spear. But this was still far from over.

Having broken what was left of the spear, I grabbed the man’s clothes and slammed him against a wall, holding him so that he could see me clearly.

“Weren’t you going to make me regret this?” I whispered before hurling him toward the crates again. “Pick another weapon, come on. No matter what you try, you won’t escape me,” I added.

At my words, the bandit leader began to panic. He grabbed weapons from the crate but only threw them at me, hoping one might hurt me, yet I easily deflected or dodged them all.

The crate of weapons was already half-empty and the bandit grew increasingly desperate, but then something happened. His expression shifted from utter desperation to a strange smile. It was a confident smile, yet also full of rage.

“I see… if that’s how it’ll be…” he said as he slipped a hand into his coat, pulling out a translucent crystal tinged with yellow. “Then it’ll be with magic!”

The bandit pointed one arm at me while holding the crystal close to his chest with the other. His palm lit up, and from it burst a massive, brilliant sphere of mana, even larger than the ones Liz had conjured before. This guy was a mage too.

The attack was incredibly fast, and there was no doubt it would hit me head-on. If the mana spheres from the earlier mages had been capable of knocking me down at this distance, one of this magnitude would surely harm me. I had gotten careless, but I could still make it out of this.

I quickly grabbed one of the nearby weapon crates and hurled it at the sphere of mana. The crate was completely destroyed, and the weapons inside were scattered in every direction; some swords and spears even managed to cut my arms and legs, but the important thing was that the spell had vanished.

“What!?” the bandit shouted in desperation, preparing to launch another, but I wasn’t going to let him this time.

I swiftly grabbed a dagger that had fallen from the crate earlier and hurled it at the bandit leader, striking the hand that held the mana crystal.

“AAAAAAAH!” he screamed in pain.

Before he could attempt anything else, I rushed at him, and though he tried to get up and flee, it was useless. I struck him in the face, in the abdomen, and then hurled him against the massive statue that stood in the place. The impact was so great that his mouth bled instantly when he hit the wall.

I had had enough.

I walked up to him as he was still coughing from the blow, and when I finally reached him, I struck his torso, leaving him writhing on the ground in pain—but I didn’t stop there. I climbed on top of him and began punching his face over and over again. Each of my blows made him bleed more and more, and his face began to swell further with every strike.

I was close, I was about to end it all. I raised my fist and gathered all my strength to finish him with the next move. I wanted to crush his head, but something stopped me.

“Naoya, wait!” Captain Edran shouted. It seemed they had finally taken down all the bandits.

Liz was with them too, but I didn’t see Lui anywhere, so I assumed he had managed to get her to safety.

The captain strode toward me with firm steps. The clinking of his armor grew louder as he approached.

“You can’t kill him,” he said sternly. “We need to interrogate him about the New Order.”

“I don’t care!” I shouted, startling everyone. “This bastard killed Clay! He must pay for what he did!”

I raised my fist again to strike him, but Captain Edran grabbed me firmly. It was clear he wouldn’t back down.

“…I understand how you feel,” he said in a gentle voice. “I want him to pay for what he did too… But we need to know more about the New Order. It’s important.”

Despite the burning desire for vengeance that raged inside me, I had to yield to the captain’s order. To go against him was the same as going against the cavalry—it was pure folly. Besides, Clay respected the captain deeply. I hadn’t known him for long, but judging from how much people respected and admired him, I could tell he was a great man.

In the end, I stood up and walked away from the bandit in silence. I didn’t even look at the captain. I had no desire to see anyone.

“Someone, come and shackle this criminal!” the captain ordered.

“Naoya!” Liz cried as she ran toward me. “How are you?”

“I’m fine… I just…” I said, trying not to look at her.

I tried to keep her from worrying too much. I tried to get out of the situation as quickly as possible, but my eyes betrayed me.

My vision began to blur, and I couldn’t utter a word without my voice breaking. Eventually, I fell to my knees, and Liz embraced me at once.

I didn’t want to, but I cried.

Clay was a great kid. He had a bright future ahead of him as a knight, and his sense of duty was unshakable.

Why? Why did it have to end like this!?

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Liz whispered. “I’m here with you.”

Hearing those words only made my emotions intensify further. Nothing else mattered anymore. I just wanted the pain to go away, but no matter how many tears I shed, it seemed endless.

I’m sorry, Clay.

“Hya!” someone shouted in the distance. I recognized the voice instantly.

I pulled away from Liz to see the scene. The bandit leader had shoved aside the knight who was about to arrest him and was now running toward the statue.

“I refuse to let it end like this!” he cried in rage. “If I go down, you’ll all go with me!”

After such a declaration, everyone tried to stop him, but the bastard climbed up onto the stone statue, touched the crystal on his chest, and it began to glow. This didn’t look good.

Then, as if in a dream, the statue began to move. It stood roughly five meters tall and was extremely burly. Just by its appearance, I could tell that thing was incredibly powerful.

Once the golem was activated, the bandit leader fell in front of it and addressed everyone present.

“This is where you’ll all die!” he shouted. “Kill them all!”

However, the golem raised its arm and struck the bandit leader with tremendous force, sending him crashing into the wall. His body was pinned there, and blood splattered in all directions. He had stopped moving.

It had only taken one strike to kill him…

“Everyone, take your positions!” Captain Edran ordered.

“Prepare yourselves!” added Master Draum.

I rose along with Liz, and we took our stances. This wasn’t over yet.