Not knowing how much time he had, Canning quickly teleported in front of Sazar who put the shield forward as usual for protection after a missed swing with the sword.
Canning punched the shield so hard it sent Sazar tumbling backward. His arms were waving outwards trying to help in regaining some balance but by the time it worked, it was already too late.
Canning had moved fast enough to reach the exposed and tumbling body of his opponent and gotten a clean shot at his body. One punch to the chest and Sazar's ribcage cracked, inducing excruciating pain in the middle of it.
Before Sazar could fall, Canning grabbed the hand with the sword and as he threw another punch towards the chest, Sazar put the shield in between to block. Canning hit the shield and then punched the arm he was holding. The hit was clinically aimed at the elbow and caused a dislocation that Sazar loudly screamed because of.
Canning slapped the sword on its side, sending it flying away from Sazar's hand before he ducked and twisted the dislocated arm to his opponents back. Sazar was defenseless as his only good arm was locked in the shield and the dislocated one was being put through the wringer. The shield that had protected him several times now was the burden leading to his downfall.
He was screaming in pain but no one was coming to help him. He wanted to curse but a punch at the back of his chest gave him a mouthful of blood he could only cough. Whilst still holding the dislocated arm, Canning moved closer to Sazar and raised the dislocated arm slightly. The screaming intensified to the point that it made him choke on his own blood and started to cough once again.
"I would say rest in peace but, there is 'no rest for the wicked' " Lord Canning said just loud enough for the screaming Sazar to hear him.
The man who was screaming in pain suddenly stopped, his eyes opened in surprise before a little nudge on his arm brought back the screaming.
"You! You're one of the-" Sazar tried to say but another punch on his spine couldn't allow him to finish his sentence.
He fell on his knees weakened but his face showed the determination of someone who wanted to run for his life. He used the shield as support to prevent his body from falling forward. If he could only escape, everything would be fine, he thought. He could probably use his connections and this newfound information to get his revenge on the man standing behind him. Even though he wanted to escape, he too knew the chances of being left alive were almost zero.
Deep down inside he regretted not accepting his opponent's request to teleport elsewhere. From the corner of his eye, he watched his opponent pick up the sword and walk back behind him. Sazar tried to move the shield to at least get a hit in but the moment he moved the shield he fell to the floor face first. His back could no longer properly support his upper torso in an upright position.
Canning stepped on his back and put the sword on Sazar's neck, this was the position of an execution.
"When you meet Lord Ollie in the afterlife, tell him for me that it was nothing personal. But it wasn't business either," Canning commented.
"Wh-" Sazar tried to ask.
Having said what he wanted to say, Lord Canning pushed the sword down. With the matters outside settled, he teleported to the place where he had last felt the dark energy come from. He reappeared outside a white building with a broken door, several figures lying on the floor just after the entrance. The screams of a man could be heard inside but Canning was more focused on a motionless body lying on the floor near several other bodies of badly beaten young girls.
Anger at his own negligence and a hint of regret started to build inside him for not coming to the campsite earlier. He moved to check Annabeth's breathing and was relieved to find that she was still breathing. The other young girls, who had bruises, cuts and swellings all over were breathing just fine too. Another sigh of relief followed, knowing that all the slaves had been rescued and none died.
The bandit stopped his screaming as soon as he saw that it wasn't one of his comrades to walk through the door. He could only make small grunts in pain as he waited for the man to hopefully ask him questions. While the man was inspecting the girls, he racked his brain for useful information he could use in exchange for his life. Although his chances were slimmer than a dieting stick insect, he had no choice but to at least try.
Like any parent that believes their child is a saint, Lord Canning had already formulated how the entire fight between Annabeth and the nightmare wolf bandit could have gone. In his mind, the nightmare wolf had probably faced Annabeth but then moved to attack the young girls. In that instant, Annabeth would have probably been desperate to save the girls and got forced to use darkness magic. Given how Annabeth had collapsed in front of the girls, right between them and the bandit, it seemed possible to him. She probably collapsed due to magic exhaustion after protecting the girls from further harm.
But like such a parent, the truth they couldn't accept was that their child was a demon spawn.
Canning hated this particular group of bandits and his emotions easily clouded his judgment, for instance, this moment. He conjured a water sphere as big as himself and sent it to the grunting nightmare wolf bandit. And then another sphere, and then another.
The bandit struggled to breathe as he attempted to break free from the water sphere but as soon as he did, he would be trapped in another one. He managed to break free from the first two but could not manage to hold his breath long enough to break from the third. Canning watched as the bandit drowned and a deafening silence ensued. Where he could have asked the bandit what had happened, he chose a path of punishing the likely perpetrator first.
Satisfied with the result, Canning turned to the girls and used the basics of light magic to create small healing spells that he used to give them some first aid.
He tried to apply the same magic to Annabeth but was surprised to find that she had no injuries at all. Aside from having exhausted all her magic and the blacked-out state, nothing seemed to be wrong with her.
Lord Canning picked her up and carried her back to the wagon. She needed to get some rest while he figured out what to do with the slaves they had just liberated. It seemed he needed to cash in a few favors.