There was a flash of light and a tree not far from where Jason was attempting to sleep burst into flame. He leaped up as a large group of men ran into the small rocky area. They screamed as they attacked, running towards where Vanya stood.
They must have mistaken her for a large man in the darkness, and their battlecries quickly turned to terror as the growing flames gave them their first glance at what they were really facing.
A few men turned tails instantly, only hesitantly turning back at a shout from their leader. "Hold your ground you idiots, there's only one of them." He was a large man, obviously attempting to give his men confidence, but there was still a hint of fear underneath.
The other bandits must have noticed that as well, as none ran to attack. The fact that none fled at all was likely a testament to their faith in their leader. Vanya, however, wasn't in the mood for waiting. She dove into the lot of them swinging her massive sword.
Jason didn't stick around to watch. He needed to get over to Nora and keep her safe like Vanya had asked. Nora stood a distance behind where Vanya was fighting the group of bandits, knife out, muscles tensed as if she were about to run into the fray.
Jason got to her just as the bandit leader shouted out again. "You three, take care of those two before they escape."
"Nora, I'm going to turn you invisible. I want you to find a rock and hide out behind it," Jason said quickly.
"I'm going to fight, I can fight better than you can!"
Jason wasn't even sure that she was completely wrong, but he still wouldn't have any of it. "Vanya told me to keep you out of the fighting, now do as I say." It wasn't exactly what Vanya had said, but he felt it was close enough, and there wasn't time for a lengthy conversation.
Nora looked angry, but the three men that the leader had ordered had already extricated themselves from the fight with Vanya and begun running towards Jason and Nora. They looked ecstatic to get out of fighting the huge demon in favor of the two humans.
Jason didn't blame them. From his quick glance at Vanya, it looked like she had already killed at least five men. How many were there?
He concentrated, and Nora disappeared, shocking the approaching bandits. Jason pulled out the large knife that Vanya had given him a few days earlier. It was designed to be used by demons and was basically a short sword to him.
The bandits recovered from their shock quickly. A disappearing girl was nothing compared to finding a demon this deep in the mountains. They could take care of this lone man and then find her afterwards.
The quickest of the three laughed with a wicked grin at the lone man in front of him. Jason took to keeping himself shifted into the village mason just in case, and looked far less threatening than he normally would.
The cackling bandit was nearly upon him when he suddenly tripped, skidding across the rocks and landing face up only a few feet in front of Jason. There was a tiny knife stuck through his left eye, a grin frozen on his face.
Jason tried to shake off the shock quickly. How the hell was she so accurate with those things? Unfortunately, the remaining two bandits had been more observant than Jason, and instantly changed course.
Jason intercepted the first man, swinging his knife. The bandit ducked the knife and Jason only just barely managed to grab his arm in time to keep from being run through. The other bandit ignored Jason, running at where he must have seen Nora throw the knife from.
Jason was significantly weaker in this body, so he shifted himself back to his normal body. He grew several inches, until he was significantly larger than the bandit who had thought himself in for an easy fight.
Jason shoved him away, and dashed towards the other bandit. He seemed to have locked on to where Nora had hidden, swinging his sword wildly in front of him. There was a crunch behind him and he swung, dropping his sword as a knife appeared deep in his arm.
Somehow ignoring the knife, the bandit managed to get a hold of Nora just as Jason caught up to him. He wheeled in surprise as Jason screamed, running his knife straight through the bandits chest.
Blood trickled from the dying man's mouth as he fell, and the weight of what he had just done slammed into Jason. He had just killed a man!
He felt light headed as he reached down and pulled the knife free. It took significantly more effort to pull it out than he had expected. There was a scream from behind him.
Idiot! He had completely forgotten about the final bandit who ran past him and found Nora. Jason could tell she was struggling, but despite the bandit not being able to see her, he easily held the girl down.
"One step closer and she's dead," he yelled to Jason, who stopped instantly.
What had he been thinking? What was the point of killing that man if he wasn't even going to protect Nora properly? Anger at himself mixed with his fury at the bandits.
How could these people live like this? Attacking a small group in the middle of the night while they slept, and for what? They barely had enough supplies as it was and certainly nothing of worth. Was a little food and a few scraps of old blankets worth killing strangers who had done nothing to you?
Jason allowed Nora to become visible again. It was just a waste of mana at this point. The bandit didn't take his eyes off of Jason. "Put the sword down or she's dead."
Jason set the oversized knife down on the ground. He had just killed a man, but he no longer felt sick. The man holding a little girl hostage was the one that should be sick. Jason had never really thought that he would be able to kill someone if it came to it, but he had done it without a second thought just a moment earlier, and at this moment, he wanted nothing more than to have this man's throat in his hands.
He held his knife against Nora's throat. "Now on your knees."
Jason looked at Nora, eyes filled with enough anger that his own seemed tame in comparison. If there was one thing he could rely on, it was her ferocity. He wasn't going to get on his knees.
"I said get on your knees right now," the bandit bellowed.
Jason ignored him, turning in horror just to his side. The bandit made the mistake of following his gaze, and he screamed, swinging his knife at the demon standing next to him. The knife passed straight through the illusion, but the damage was done.
Nora slipped partway out of his grip as he attacked the illusion and bit down on his arm. Meanwhile, Jason was already on top of him, knife still lying where he had set it down.
He crashed into the bandit and Nora, tossing all three of them to the ground. The bandit hit his head as he fell, but Jason didn't hold back. He grasped the man's neck in his hands. The bandit was a big man, but Jason was bigger with this new body, his hands easily squeezing his throat.
Jason barely noticed as Nora slipped free, grabbing the knife out of the bandits still hand. He wasn't struggling at all. He must have been knocked out by the fall.
Jason didn't care though. He hated this man more than anything. Why couldn't he just leave them alone? How many other people had he murdered for no other reason than to steal the meager possessions they had. How many other children had he threatened? How many people, just trying to live their lives, had he murdered?
He had to be dead by now, but Jason couldn't seem to let go. He thought of Nora's family, brutally cut down by people just like him. How many more just like him were out there?
This was supposed to be part of some great kingdom preparing for an existential war and there were this many people just roaming around murdering and stealing.
"Killing him isn't going to bring anyone back," came a voice in his mind.
The words didn't help in the slightest, but they did bring him back to his senses. He let go of the dead man, and found Nora picking through the pockets of the other man he had killed. Vanya had returned as well and was watching him with interest.
The shame and disgust came back all at once, and he had to force down vomit that tried to come up. He had acted like a wild animal just now. Purely on instinct and without any restraint. "You did what you had to do," the sparrow said in his mind.
That was a surprise. "I didn't figure you'd like me killing humans very much."
"I do not…well I did not," she said, voice sounding even more uncertain than she had become lately. "Perhaps the world is less simple than I thought," she said.
"That sounds like the understatement of the century," Jason thought, leaving the body behind and gathering his things.