To my utmost limits

He'd blink. Did he fall asleep? The sky now looks orange with tones of pink and yellow. Weak sun rays piercing through the trees gives the scenery a very serene atmosphere.
(Ah crap I overslept.)

Saito lightly moves his shoulder. It doesn't feel numb anymore. He'd then take a look at his forearm. It's still kinda red, but the bruise has also mostly healed by now.
(The regeneration here is impressive. Back home I would've been stuck with that for weeks.)

Our young protagonist slowly stands up and stretches, taking a good look at the scenery.
"Level 8 huh.."
He takes his sword in his right hand. It feels light. 
"Yeah. I can probably one hand wield this for good now."

Thinking about it now, he's made it further than probably 90% of the contestants so far. 
Are people cheering for him? Have people recognised him by now? He should be proud of his combat feats. Yet, he can't feel that way. He only feels anxiety.

(Most of my takedowns have been a knife to the neck. That's my thing now I suppose. I need to have someone teach me swordmanship.)

Such person wouldn't be hard to find. A couple victims had someone teach them in the village. The same could be done for him if he helps them in their endeavors. Sounds like a wonderful idea.

After eating and drinking a bit more, he'd then make way toward the village. By the time he reaches the village, the sun has almost completely set, leaving but a feint pink and orange light in the sky. Usually very quiet, the village seems to be blooming of activity. But not for the good reasons. A lot of armed people are wandering around, visibly harassing the villagers. 
(Bandits? Here?)

They've never done that before. Bandits have never raided the village in fear of retribution from Glarion's military. Yet here they are, harassing villagers, breaking inside homes and asking for bribes. An overhelming rage would take over him. How dare they? Who do they think they are?
While Saito has never directly met them, he knows most of them. They've been nothing but kind, caring and generous. Taking them on would probably get him killed. But you know what? They got what they were looking for. I'll make them regret coming here. 

His face twisted with rage, Saito unsheathes his sword. 
(I may be a nobody, but I'll die fighting to protect people that has nothing to do with the messed up stuff happening.)

He'd walk up to one of the thieves harrassing a woman at her door.

"Aww come on, don't be like that. You got a husband? Is your bed cold?"

Visibly bothered and scared, the lady backs up, trying to close the door. But the man pushes the door open.
"Go away, leave me alone."
"What's that gonna get me huh?"

Without warning, now behind him, Saito would swing his sword at his neck, beheading the man. His head would roll down onto the floor and his body drops, limp.
Absolutely shocked and terrified, the lady stares at his body and then at Saito, her mouth wide open.

"Close the door. I'll handle this."

Without hesistation, she slams her door shut.
He'd bend down, grabbing himself another dagger from the corpse. He'd sheathe his sword, now wielding two daggers, heading toward a different direction.

The house right beside this one has the door open, a ruckus inside. People are yelling. With no hesitation, he walks in. A villager, visibly injured and bleeding on the floor. A woman and a kid are secluded in a corner, visibly terrified. As he walks in, the entire room's attention goes to him.

The first bandit makes a weird face.
"What kinda clothes are that? Who are you?"
"Doesn't matter, I'll kill you."

The face of the man tenses up.
"Sure funny guy."

Both of the bandits would walk toward him, daggers pointed in his direction. 
Saito would get closer, waiting for one of them to thrust at him. 
Reacting much faster, he'd lean sideways and dodge it, moving in much faster than the bandit anticipates, stabbing him in the chest. His body immediately goes limp, his dagger dropping from his hand. His friend goes to flank him Saito, but the protagonist immediately goes onto the other side of the soon-to-be corpse, pushing him against the second attacker to delay him.
The brown haired bandit pushes the body aside, but visibly looks hesitant. Well. His ally just died, can you blame him? Saito raises his voice.

"Leave or I'll kill you too."
There's an awkward moment of silence.
"Okay."
The bandit quickly heads toward the door.
As soon as he does, Saito leaps him behind, piercing the back of his head with a dagger.
(The hell with honour. I need to become stronger.)
The man falls onto the hard wooden floor. Immediate death.

(These bandits aren't that strong. They're basically just regular people using numbers.)

While these aren't strong, their leader is and has killed several players. His skill, strength and speed has been unmatched every since this world appeared live. Surely he's here too.
(I'll probably have to run into him. If I do..)

"umm.. Thank you young soldier."

Oh, right. His eyes would turn to the injured villager on the floor, looking up at him with gratitude.
Now having a good look at him, Saito recognises the man. He has seen him a couple times before. He's the one making the clothes for the village. What was his name.. Oliver? Maybe?

"No problem. Please patch your wounds and take something to defend yourself."
"Right, okay."

Saito runs out. There's more people in danger for sure.
What about the swordmen in this village? Are they fighting right now? They probably are.
Going deeper in the village, he'd look around for fights or signs of struggle. 
Ahead of him, a corpse on the ground. A villager. An axe in his hand. That's the town's woodcutter.
The young man's hand begins to tremble. Not from fear, but from unadulterated rage. 
They entirely deserve what's coming for them. He'd store his extra dagger and unsheathe his sword as he heads toward the center of the village. Surely enough, a couple villagers are down the floor, blood covering the ground beneath them. Few bandits are hanging around, chatting with each other. One of them notices him.

"Hey, who's that?" 
"Dunno. Who're you?" Adds a second one.

Without a word, our hero proceeds forward, getting closer to them.

"Are you picking a fight?"
"Who's who?" Replies a recognisable voice.

Saito immediately stops. Going in the center of the village was stupid. He should've picked off bandits around the village until he got to level 10 and unlocked his magic.

The pillagers would move aside as the leader spoke, allowing him to see the newcomer.
He'd bend his eyes, gauging the protagonist of a sharp gaze.
"Are you picking off my men?"

"Leave this village alone." 
While attempting to sound intimidating, his voice got shaky. His anger rapidly replaced by fear. 
If there's someone he can't beat, it's him. But he already killed three of his guys and he can't outrun him. He's called many names. Beside Leader, Captain, Wesly, he's also known as the wind blade. It's probably game over. 

"That's a problem for me. Should I make an example of you too?" Says the leader, pointing to the corpses on the floor.

"If I were to say no and I'll leave, are you going to let me?"

There's a silence. And then most of them begin to chuckle and giggle.
The man himself smiles, kind of amused.
"You're funny, but no. You've committed yourself to this."

(Great. I'm actually dead. Might as well give it a shot. I hate to lose.)
With a weight on his heart, feeling despair, he'd raise his sword, ready for an assault.
He remembers the fights he had against players. Not only is he incredibly strong, but he has a couple active skills that allow him to accelerate and deal devastating blow. 

"Kill me whenever you're ready then"
"Okay."

Without delay, the enemy unsheathes his long sword, ready for combat. He then bends his knees, leaning forward, ready to engage. At this very moment, Saito has a flashback of one of the lives he's seen. He knows this move. Acting in accordance with this vivid memory, way ahead of time, without any visible cue, he'd move sideways and swing his sword up. As expected, by using one of his skills, Wesly moves so fast that to the naked eye, it looks like he teleported. Within the blink of an eye, the gap between both opponents have been closed. Swinging down at Saito, his sword meets his foe's and both sword collides against each other with great strength. It feels really heavy to the young man, making him almost flinch. He however manages to tank it. The Captain's eyes widen a little, surprised. He hasn't seen anyone block this before. Neither has he seen someone trying to counter it. The hero swings his dagger at his throat, which is blocked with ease as the bandit swiftly manages to push back with one nudge of his sword, stepping back a bit.

The enemy seems to analyse him calmly of his gaze for a slight moment. The young man sheathes his dagger, now holding his sword with both hands. The leader then attacks once more, but carefully, as if testing him. He'd strike a couple times, which the protagonist manages to block and fend off, slowly stepping back, losing ground as he does. His strikes are sharp, quick and heavy. 
(I can tell he's holding back but I can't find openings).

His stance suddenly changes up as his left hand grabs his right arm. Saito's eyes widen. 
(I've seen this one!). Moving right then left, he feints and bends down as Wesly's weight shifts forward. With one accurate wrist movement, his sword swings sideways with great strength without requiring a full swing. Someone has been beheaded by this one before. The grown man's eyes widen, surprised. It's the second time he's been countered. Using this golden opportunity, Saito swings his own sword at his chest. Despite this window, Wesly quickly bounces back, the sword barely grazing him, cutting his clothes. He then stops lowers his sword, glaring at the survivor. 

"How do you about those?" Says Wesly, clenching his teeth in frustration.

(I can't tell him. I'd lose my advantage.)
"I have good gut feelings."
"Do you take me for an idiot?"

Behind him, the remaining bandits begin to murmur to each other.
The leader sighs. Wind begins to build up, as if some kind of pressure began to emanate from him. He has a reputation to uphold. This untrained brat is seeing through me? This is a dumb joke.

"Okay. We're done playing."

What is this? I'm feeling pressure. The air feels heavy. Is this another skill? He has never used that before. Did I really piss him off that much? He unsheathes his dagger, dual wielding his weapons.

He blinks. The man is already swinging at him. He didn't see him move. It was instant. Instant fear kicks in, driving his adrenaline insane. Purely out of reaction time, he swings both weapons at the sword in an attempt to block. Even with both arms, the sword feels heavy, making him flinch, barely blocking it in time. His eyes widens with shock and fear. (I'm fucked.)
Chaining his attack, Wesly leans his body sideways and directly kicks him in the stomach, kicking the air right out of him, sending him fly back by a couple feet on his back. Terrified, expecting a follow-up, he rolls over his back and raises his arms in front of himself. Sure enough, Wesly already caught up with him, striking down at him. Saito raises both weapons in a terrible attempt to block. The impact shoves his blades down, cutting through his shoulder. A vivid, aching pain courses through him. The shock is enough for his hand to drop his dagger, falling to the floor. In the young protagonist's mind, there is nothing but a single thought. Survive. I must survive. His adrenaline surge ability perhaps being the only thing giving him a living chance. The Captain then makes strange steps that immediately reminds him of something he's seen before. 
(ANOTHER SKILL!)

He quickly turns sideways as the Captain's speed accelerates, flanking him, striking once more.
Again, he manages to parry it, but flinches doing so. His free hand reaches for his second dagger, but as soon as he pulls it out, Wesly spins on himself, throwing a devastating kick that robs him of air once more. Another skill, right after the other. His body arcs sideways before getting launched at high speed, knocking the floor of his head. The dagger slips his hand again as he flips over, hitting a home's wall, breaking through it. His crash ends within the home against a kitchen table. Surely he's got a broken rib from that one. (I can't breathe..) Struggling, gasping for air, he forces himself to stand, looking at the broken wall in the house. He's standing there, stance taken. 
He's coming. This will be it. There is nothing I can do to win. (No, I do have something).

It's a gamble. It's all he got. That's it. He drops his sword and shoves his hand in his pocket. If he can die with him, then that's one obstacle out of the way for the next players. Maybe the next hero coming out this way will have better surviving odds if he takes the leader down. (So it's come down to this. I'm no protagonist, but I'll take you to hell with me!)

Surely enough, the Captain uses the same skill he first used, burst in from a further distance, closing the gap within a second. The gem in hand, leaving himself exposed to death, Saito leans in, pushing the gem in his hand toward Wesly's chest. We can both lose.

The criminal's eyes quickly go from him to his gem, realising what he's about to do. Using his quick wit and reaction time, he adjusts the arch of his blade, swinging down at the arm instead, cutting off the limb from Saito's body. The gem flies off the hand mid-air as the limb falls to the floor, blood pouring out of his arm. 

Anyone would've been scared shitless. Anyone would've panicked. But Saito already decided that he was going to die here. A large smile in his face, his reflexes lead him to catch the gem mid-air of his remaining hand, slamming it against Wesly's chest. 

"GO TO HELL DUMBASS"

The moment the gem shatters against his chest, a freezing blast occurs. Their entire surroundings grow cold, ice forming on the walls, ceilings and floor. A pillar of ice spikes burst forward, creating a giant gaping hole through his chest, blasting out of the hole in the house. His remaining hand is completely destroyed in the process, now nothing but pieces of flesh remains. The sound echoes, then vanishes. The noise outside stops, the sudden pillar of ice shards probably halted everyone.

Wesly's face looks shocked. Scared. Angry. There's so many expressions on that face that it's difficult to differ, his mouth is gaping for air. Don't make that face. You've mercilessly killed so many of my people. You deserve this. This is the ending that was waiting for you. Please die in agony. The Captain has made fun of many people dying, torturing them even in their final breath. 
And even more so. The Captain is filthy rich with all the pillaging and stealing he's done. A flashback comes to him. He's flashed a greater healing potion to a dying man once.

"You want this? You'd live if you had this you know. That's unfortunate."

The moment his adrenaline goes away, he's dead. Without delay, Saito goes to reach for Wesly's bag, only to realise he has no hand to pick it with. With no shame, despite his willingness to die here, if he quickly approaches his bag, flipping it open with the piece of meat he has left. His eyes widen with hope. It's there. Reaching it with his mouth, he pulls the lid off the potion and then reaches his lips onto the potion. He then leans backward, drinking it all at once, spitting it aside once empty.

"Hey Wesly. Did you want your potion? That's unfortunate."

The Captain wasn't even alive anymore. But saying those words in this moment, he felt justice.
Greater healing potions act quickly. Lost limbs can be restored. Critical wounds can be healed.
Smoke immediately began lashing out of his words, gradually healing itself. His face tenses in pain.
Within few seconds, he'd recover his left hand. Driven by the moment, he lowers himself down and grabs the Leader's sword. Beautifully carved, easily distinguishable from others. Walking out from the hole in the wall, most bandits had rallied over, wondering what had happen. As his right arm slowly heals, regenerating itself, he raises Wesly's sword toward them and screams.

"WHO'S NEXT?"