Mane got out of his room when he sensed the appearance of several life auras. There were people approaching their camp, and it didn't look like they came with good intentions.
"You felt that?" Mane run into Ivor when he came out of his tent. The older gentleman had a frown on his face as he looked in the direction that auras were coming from. Now that Mane was outside his tent he could hear the distinctly faint sound of several hooves striking the hard floor.
"Yeah," Mane replied. He wasn't surprised that Ivor was here. Since the man was a Heaven Realmer, it wasn't surprising that he was able to make out the auras of people who were not trying to hide their presence in any way. Mane would have been more surprised if Ivor didn't show up. Soon the noise got louder, and Lam also exited his tent.
"Who do you think they are?" Mane asked as he and Ivor walked a few metres away from the tents and stood in wait for what was coming. Lam walked beside Ivor.
"The only people that would dare come out this openly at night are…" Ivor started
"Bandits."
Neither Mane nor Ivor was afraid at all. It was confidence that stemmed from absolute belief in their strength. As for Lam, he wasn't worried. Bandits were usually just Animal Hunters or Fighters. The larger bandit groups had a few Thrashers within their ranks but rarely did a Bandit group recruit a Predator. Since Mane was a Peak Level Thrasher, nothing from the camp of bandits would be enough to threaten him. Besides, if a Predator did show up, Ivor was here to protect them. Lam didn't know how strong Ivor was, but he reckoned that he was strong enough to dispatch a Predator. After all, he didn't deny it when Mane called him a Nightmare.
"This would be your first time meeting people outside the village," Hildegarde remarked as she sat atop Mane's shoulder.
"Yes. Unfortunately it wouldn't be a very pleasant interaction." Mane replied by turning his head away from Lam and Ivor so they didn't see his lips move.
The three males stood there in silence as they waited for the bandits to show up. Although it was dark, the stars in the sky illuminated the surroundings well enough to make out the image of their tents within this desolate land. So they didn't deceive themselves by thinking that the Bandits wouldn't see them. And they were right. Soon the approaching Bandits were close enough for them to make out their forms.
They were relatively large men with bulging muscles and covered in red paint. They rode war horses of varying speciation, no doubt spoils they had plundered from others over the years. Many of them were shirtless and covered in scars, proof of the constant battles they had been through, and they carried a body odor that suggested that bathing wasn't really a priority for them. The fragrance of wine drifted off their bodies, and with Mane's distinct sense of smell he could make out a fishy smell wafting from their bodies, but he didn't know what that was.
"Oh what do we have here?!" Once they were close to Mane and the others, they stopped their charge.
"A fat pig and two pretty boys?!" The one who rode the largest warhorse had a large smile on his face when he saw the large build of Ivor, and the delicate features of Mane and Lam. Although Mane was robust and strong, his pretty face made him seem like someone who had never been through any fights, so they automatically added him to the list of pretty boys.
"HAHAHA!" the entourage of beastly looking men burst into laughter when they heard the words of the man who led them; the man who seemed to be their leader.
"Three Thrashers. The others are only mob characters." Mane thought silently to himself as the bandits laughed amongst themselves. Among the large group before him, there were three thrashers. The rest were Animal Hunters and Fighters so Mane didn't even regard them as threats. And to be honest, he didn't even regard the Thrashers as threats. The three Thrashers were the ones at the forefront of the group. Two Entry Level Thrashers and an Established Thrasher. The Established Thrasher was the one leading the group, and the other two seemed to be his deputies, for they flanked his left and right side.
"Red Heaven Bandits," Ivor had a small smile on his face when he mentioned the name of the bandit group. It seemed that he didn't care about their insulting description of him.
"Oh, you have heard of us," The leader smiled broadly when he heard Ivor mention the name of his bandit group. He looked very pleased that Ivor knew who they were.
"If you know of us then you know that we don't show any mercy to those who don't meet our demands?" the leader smiled cruelly and said.
"Yes. You are famous for capturing men who crossed you and selling them as slaves in the Black Market. You are all rapists, and you have never let a single woman you have come across go without each and every one of you forcefully having your way with her. And if the woman does survive, you sell her to the Black Market as a slave as well."
As Ivor spoke of the despicable matters this group had indulged in over the years, his smile never left his face. But it wasn't the same for the two teens who stood next to him. Lam's eyes blazed with anger when he heard the despicable things that these bandits did. The group before him was made up of at least 30 men. Yet each of them would take turns forcing themselves on a woman, and when that woman survived the ordeal, they would still sell her as a slave! They were basically animals. Mane looked confused at first, but soon his expression became cloudy when Hildegarde explained to him what 'rape' was.
"Good good good! You are very well informed! Hahaha!" The leader laughed boisterously when Ivor was done speaking. Instead of him to be ashamed at the kind of reputation they had built over the years, he was actually pleased with what he was hearing.
"What a savage man!" Hildegarde spat out seeing the man's gleeful expression. "Indeed," Mane agreed. He wasn't a righteous individual having killed several people and beasts within his short life, but even he was enraged hearing what these people had done over the years.
"Make sure they taste despair when you kill them!" Hildegarde stated hatefully. As a female fairy, she was absolutely enraged to come across a group of rapists with no morals at all.
"Despair? Sure" Although Mane answered simply, Hildegarde knew that he was enraged as well. She flew off his shoulder and flew right next to him.
"Seeing that you are so well informed, we won't make things hard for you. You are as round as a ball, which means that you must have a lot of money and food. Hand those over, along with the two pretty boys next to you and we'd let you go"
The leader smiled cruelly and ordered. Ivor smiled faintly, right when he was about to reply, the leader continued with another demand.
"And bring out your women. Since you know so much, you must have hidden your women so that we wouldn't take them. You better bring them out if you want to live!"
Once he was done speaking, all the bandits took out their weapons. And there were a variety of them: clubs, axes, hammers, spears, and machetes. They all had menacing looks on their faces, the bandits, as they sought to pressure Ivor with their momentum and have him meet their demands. They were basically offering Ivor one thing: Listen to us, and only you would survive.
Ivor was bemused. He, a Nightmare, was being threatened by a bunch of ants. Usually he quickly took care of pests like these immediately they crossed him, but he delayed deliberately so that he would expose Lam to the cruelty of the outside world. That was why he spoke of the bandits' history and their reputation. It was all for Lam's benefit. He wanted Lam to know just what kind of dastardly men roamed the world. And seeing Lam's angry expression, it seemed that he had accomplished his mission.
Right when Ivor was about to take action, a beautiful voice traveled from the one of the tents and into their ears.
"What's going on?" Like a beautifully strummed melody, the voice captivated the hearts of all who heard it. The beautiful figure of Lily appeared from within her tent. She rubbed her eyes groggily as she wondered what was going on.
"What a beautiful woman!" the leader licked his lips as lust clouded his eyes. The eyes of all the bandits were filled with lust as well, and several of them were already licking their lips.
"Hahaha! What a good day for us! We just finished enjoying some 'treats', and now an even more delicious snack shows itself! Bring me that woman! We would enjoy her this night! Hahaha!" The leader laughed perversely.
By now Lily was aware of her surroundings. Feeling the several lustful gazes on her she instinctively shivered in fright and clutched her arms fearfully.
"Yes Leader!" the deputies screamed in excitement and urged their horses forward, eager to claim the beautiful flower a few metres away. But they had hardly moved when they stopped their charge.
*Shink*
Along with the sound of a sword leaving its scabbard, the heads of the two deputies fell onto the ground. Even in death their eyes were still clouded with lust with their tongues outside their mouths.
"This…"the leader mumbled fearfully when he saw the heads of his two deputies fall onto the ground. He looked to the source of his fear, and saw a handsome figure with a sword in hand. With hair that shone brightly like the sun and eyes that resembled the blue sky itself, the handsome boy he previously disregarded looked like a death god to him.
"What did you say?" Mane asked simply, yet the bandits shook at the tone of his voice, and they experienced fear they had never felt before. Since the time Mane restored his connection to Edict, his strength had been recovering at a rapid rate. He was only a peak Above-Mortal Realmer yesterday. But today he was a Profound Realmer! And now that he was surrounded by darkness, his aura was further strengthened.
"He called his sword here?" Ivor was dumbfounded by what he saw. Unlike the others who didn't understand what was going on, he saw exactly what happened. Mane stretched out his hand, and the sword that was strapped to his bag pack flew into the boy's grasp! He had never seen that before, and was fascinated by it! But even that paled in comparison to how easily Mane dispatched the Thrashers.
Since they were trying to get into the camp, they had to pass by Ivor, Lam and Mane first. Before Ivor could even make a move, Mane's figure flashed and he appeared next to the two Thrashers. His speed was so insane that they didn't even see him arrive, and they definitely didn't even see him swing his sword. They lost their lives so simply, and they didn't even have time to react to the sudden threat.
"This ability? It's like that of Weapon Masters! But he is an Asgardian, so how is that possible?" Hildegarde was stunned when she saw Mane summon his sword. Even the gods could only call the weapons they were bound to. But Mane had summoned a sword he had only acquired a few nights ago when he slayed the assassins. And even more fascinating was that the sword was completely submissive and increased Mane's abilities by two-fold! This was an ability possessed by only Weapon Masters, a race she knew had been wiped out due to the greed of the gods. So how was Mane able to do something only the fabled Weapon Masters could?
"Please wait!" the leader tried to bargain upon seeing Mane's strength. The boy was clearly a Predator! There was no way he could face a Predator.
"Red Heaven Bandits? Do you know how vast the heavens are, or the kind of power that they hold? Yet you dare call yourselves by that name!" Mane chided as he took slow steps towards the shaking bandits.
"Your arrogance is forgivable," Mane remarked, and the Bandit Leader breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Thank y…" he started, but he never finished his sentence. Why? Because Mane was standing next to him. No one saw him move except Ivor. And before they knew it, the head of the Bandit Leader was in Mane's hands as his empty neck bled profusely. The barbaric man fell of his horse with a thud.
"But I cannot forgive you for insulting her! You dare have such evil intentions toward my friend! For that, you will all die!" Mane's eyes shone in the darkness as he made this declaration. The bandits screamed in fear as they tried to get away. They were only Fighters and Animal Hunters. There was no way they could stand up to someone who had dealt with their leaders so simply.
But Mane wasn't willing to let them go. And the sneaky Ivor commanded the space elements to trap them here. So no matter how far they rode, they couldn't get away from the camp.
"Please!"
"Argh"
"Monster!"
Several pleading voices were heard as Mane cut down the bandits.
"Ironic. The monsters call another a monster," Hildegarde scoffed when she heard them call Mane a monster. How could such beasts call another by a title that only they deserved?
In less than two minutes, Mane had dealt with all the bandits. As he stood within the sea of blood that he created with his own hands, illuminated by the moon and the stars in the sky, with his hair flowing freely in the wind and his sword coated in blood, Ivor watched him in silence.
"He isn't a Thrasher. That boy is a Predator!" he realised. Next to Ivor, Lam stood there with a pale face as his stomach made gurgling noises. He quickly bent over and threw up. Lily who stood furthest away from the battlefield was no different. Seeing this, Ivor didn't console them. Still gazing at the moonlit figure of Mane, he spoke with a solemn expression,
"You should get used to this. This is what the real world is like"
Then he dragged the twins towards his tent, leaving only one figure standing. Within the darkness of the night, this lonely figure stood silently. His hair gently swayed in the wind as his clothes fluttered gently. Like a Death God surrounded by a sea of blood he gazed into the distance, a hint of melancholy exuded from his figure.
"Sigh. I lost my temper."