Chapter 4: Where it all began
There were 30 of the bandits, minimum, blocking all openings.
It made me wonder how the twin horns escaped after Arthur's 'death'.
A bald man with a heavily scarred face and the body of a bear, carrying a giant battle axe, spoke out. "Look what we have here. Pretty good catch, boys. Leave only the girls and the kids alive. Try not to scar them too much. Damaged goods will only sell for less,"
The mere thought of that made my blood boil, even though I had expected this. Emotions really do fuck up people.
I picked up a nearby rock, imbuing it with as much mana as I could as a spiderweb of cracks began spreading on its surface. Taking aim, I shot it towards the bald bandit and it hit right where it hurts.
He howled in pain, crouching down to a fetal position as I glared at him with the force of the entire weeb population. Or maybe not, some of those degenerates were into that thing.
Dad used this opening to his advantage, "There are only 4 mages and none of them seem to be conjurers! The rest are normal warriors!"
Channeling your inner adventurer, eh, dad?
"Safeguard formation!" He ordered.
Adam was behind us, brandishing his spear. Helen and jasmine to our sides and Dad and Durden at the front, parrying the archers.
"Gather and guard my allies, O' benevolent Earth; do not let them be harmed!" Durden chanted and a four meter tall earthen wall rose up in front of us.
Taking this chance Dad rushed forward, bludgeoning bandits to death with his gauntleted fists.
A bandit did try to sneak up to him, but an arrow through his chest stopped him in his tracks.
I had thought seeing someone get killed for the first time would be nauseating, but I felt nothing for them, no compassion, no pity nothing.
Guess I'm truly a shitty person.
Okay, I sound like an edgelord, let's stop.
"Warrior coming your way, Helen!" Adam shouted as he dodged the swing of a mace wielder, delivering a precise swipe to his jugular killing him.
Jasmine was currently engaged in an intense duel against an augmenter, whose weapon of choice was a long chain whip. She seemed to be at a disadvantage since her daggers didn't have much range. She was doing all she could to dodge the erratic movements of the whip.
By now the enemy had realized how much she was struggling as he jeered while licking his lips. "I'll make sure to treat you real well before we sell you off as a slave, little missy. Don't worry. By the time I'm done training you, you'll be begging to stay with me," he hissed.
I scrunched my face in disgust, if only I could pull that trick again...
I noticed Mom's hand inching closer to her wand, but hesitating as she glanced around us warily.
Ah yes, the whole incident with Lensa.
I tightened my grip on her hand, trying to reassure her without words. But that rarely works as intended as she took it as a sign of fear, and grabbed us closer to her.
Just then something crashed into our carriage, and going out we saw who it was.
I paled, the novel never did go into detail with how injured he was.
I'm surprised I didn't lose my breakfast.
"Dad!" Arthur yells.
"Honey!" Mother screamed, rushing over to his side.
I just stood there like an idiot, staring at my father.
Move, idiot!
That brought me out of my stupor and I walked forward.
"It's fine honey, my injuries aren't that critical."
Bullshit!
He turns towards us, "Art, Fay listen carefully, once your mother finishes healing me those bad men are going to try and harm her, I'll be able to manage their leader but not if I have to protect you three, so take your mother back down the path we came through and don't stop"
"No dad! I'm staying with you. We can fight! You saw us! We can help!" Art all but shouts at dad.
No, we can't. We're too weak now.
"Listen to me Arthur Leywin , Fayden Leywin, I know you can fight, that's why I'm entrusting your mother to you, don't worry I wont die I'll catch up to you soon so until then protect her ... and protect the baby inside her"
I would have gasped in surprise if I hadn't already known...or heard them copulating. Seriously this world needs better walls.
"I originally planned to tell you guys when we reached Xyrus but..." He didn't bother to finish his sentence and looked at us sheepishly.
"I understand, I'll protect Mom." Arthur declared, while I just nodded.
"Get ready," Dad said as Mom finished healing him, "They've got four mages on their side."
"Sonova- They have a healer! Don't let her escape" the leader roared, seemingly recovered from my little gift.
I grabbed one of Moms hands, Arthur grabbing the other, as we reinforced our bodies with mana, pulling her away to the clearing where Adam was fending off the dual wielder, "Hurry down, I'll hold him off"
While we were going down the slope I heard the faint *whizz* of an arrow. I saw Arthur parry it with his wooden sword, sacrificing it in the process.
"The hel-ugh" the archer was swiftly killed by an arrow fired by Helen.
"GO!" she yelled at us before firing another arrow to assist my father
Jasmine, Adam, Dad, and Helen were each facing off against a mage, with the 5th one hidden from view, preparing his spell.
"Damien! Forget the plan, just kill them!" the leader barked out.
"...respond to my call and wash all to oblivion!" a faint voice finished chanting.
[Water Cannon]
From the cliff, one of the so called archers conjured a large sphere of pressurized water.
And so, this one move sets of a chain of reactions that leads Arthur to become the Masochistic effeminate princess that he is.
Arthur and I glance at each other, and nod once.
Sorry for making you go through the pain Mom, I promise I'll make up for it.
Because without our powers, we won't survive.
The two of us pushed our mother out of the range of the attack with all our force, tanking the spell as we plummeted down the cliff.
"Sorry about this Mom, we'll return. I promise." Were my last words as I fell beyond earshot, me and Arthur drifting further and further away from each other.
"Keep him safe Sylvia." I muttered.
Time to meet Noctis.
________________________
I waited for Noctis to intervene, the ground getting dangerously close to me.
Uh, he's not asleep, is he?
Come on man, help me out here.
As I got nearer to the ground, and certain doom, my fear levels increased as I began dreading my death.
I don't want to die like this!
My vision began dimming from the lack of oxygen since I was unable to breathe during my fall, and right before I passed out I saw a flash of purple and felt a hand holding me.
________________________
I woke up in an unfamiliar place, it seemed to be a hospital bed. Wait that can't be right, this world wasn't that advanced.
"So you're finally awake." A mature feminine voice spoke, and I froze.
I turned my neck slowly, like a rusted robot, and met the purple eyes of none other than Seris Vritra.
Well fuck.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone