"Enough chit-chat..." he said. "Come here and die."
Things changed at Eugene's words. The eyes of both combatants sharpened like blades while each of their breaths carried the weight of a hundred tons, all of it serving as a warning for the other.
It happened.
The whip of the leader dashed into the ground. It broke through layers upon layers of the mountain as it went down in a straight line. Eugene's aura disappeared as he switched to using mana again.
Dozens of arrows of fire formed above the leader.
Blink.
The arrows streaked through the night sky like falling meteors as they made their way to the leader's head while the launched whip rushed out of the ground and toward Eugene, taking hundreds of pieces of stone, dirt, and rubble with it.
They both ignored the other's attack as they charged straight ahead. Hexagonal shields appeared around Eugene while the bandits' leader relied on his own physical prowess to avoid the fire arrows, causing him to take a few scratches and burns.
The duo appeared in front of each other. Eugene launched a wide straight at the man who tilted his head to dodge. He raised his leg to kick Eugene's stomach at the same time, but Eugene's hands were ready to push his leg away.
In moments, a tempest of martial arts moves broke out in the air. Tens, no, hundreds of kicks and punches flowed out from both party each second as they engaged in intense close quarters that made even the fighting knights and bandits stop and bite their nails.
"See, our young master isn't one to lose," Keith said as he swung his sword down on the glasses clad attendant that was with the leader.
Keith's blade was relaxed and his posture was even more lazy. No one here knew, but he was engaged in a very difficult battle that couldn't compare to the one his master was facing.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU'RE YAWNING!?" The glasses shouted and Keith covered his mouth.
He had lost his intense battle against the yawn.
"Well, you should have been more interesting if you were going to take offense."
The attendant stopped jumping around and came in front of Keith, his eyes darting toward the fight between his leader and the child noble who ended up being a powerhouse beyond anyone's imagination.
"You can watch if you want," Keith said, stifling another yawn. "I can beat you anytime, it doesn't matter if you keep your guard up or down."
The attendant bit his lips to the point blood flowed out of them, he knew it was true, overwhelmingly so. He thought buying time here would be good.
"Is that child... a part of the zodiacs?"
Keith raised his brow at the man's question.
Zodiacs, he had heard of them a rather lot. In fact, almost any one with a child, taking care of a child, or at the age of being called a child had heard of them. The twelve rising stars of the continent amongst the youth with the youngest being 7 right now and the oldest 17.
Monsters was how they were best described. Geniuses in their fields that were sure to leave behind the rest of the world and advance things by dozens of years with their talent alone, from business to science, magic, swords, the zodiacs were all masters being taught by grandmasters.
Keith scoffed.
"Zodiacs?" he said. The attendant narrowed his gaze further at his words, suspecting his guesses to be correct. "Our young master is not a part of something like that."
"!"
"He's even greater."
The attendant scoffed. "He's strong, sure." He pointed at the battle again, making Keith shift his gaze. "But he's getting pushed back."
"The Dark Moon Bandits, we are not the people..." the attendant propped up his glasses as he smirked. "The true Dark Moon Bandits are our technique!!"
The knights around gasped and groaned. Surely, it seemed that their young master was shrinking with each meeting of their weapons.
"So that's what he meant when he said he'll 'take the bandits.'"
Keiths cryptic murmurings made the attendant's eyes shake. Then, a loud bang sounded out. He moved at once to see the raging battle in the distance. Standing even with his sword in hand, the young master of Hall had a small smirk on his face...
... while their leader had flown away and crashed into a hut, breaking it in pieces.
"GRAH!" The leader shouted and sent his whip out again. Eugene countered it by running upwards. A sight almost impossible to believe broke out as the young boy started floating in the air, no, sprinting on it.
No one here knew about the hexagonal shields of Eugene's honeycomb defense. Dodging the whips with nimble movements, Eugene rushed ahead toward the leader who had got his footing back.
The ground was completely gouged out everywhere his whip landed and the flaming arrows that served as Eugene's arrows completely destroyed his the huts around, making a clearing that would only be left by a natural disaster in the middle of the forest.
As Eugene came in front of the leader, a stray strike of the whip landed on his torso. He was pushed back in the air but used the shields immediately to stop himself. Practicing it on Keith was rather helpful, but he had entered the limits of his concentration, and the leader seemed to have noticed that.
"THIS IS IT!" He screamed. "You're strong, kid. Maybe after 5 years I wouldn't have stood a chance, but the switching between your Ki Dantian and your Mana Core has made a great toll on your body!!"
The man raised his whip up high and swung it toward Eugene again.
"DIE NOW!"
Eugene clicked his tongue and whispered.
"Indeed, it sucks to switch all the time between the two. Why does logic say one can't use both?"
Mana and Ki were opposing forces. One was external and other internal, one changed nature while the other harmonized it, the two could never act together.
"...[Synergy]"
The air around Eugene compressed as he placed two of his fingers on the base of his sword.
The Ki Core in his Dantian spun like a raging tornado and his purple black ki filled his sword. Charged Ki, Aura, a sight that no one would expect from a child that young.
But that wasn't the end.
"Uh-oh. KNIGHTS! RETREAT!!" Keith stuck his tongue out and sent an urgent command as he rushed away from the battlefield, his eyes still on the young master.
The air around Eugene compressed.
He could see light distorting as all the mana around coalesced in Eugene's hands, his Mana Core raging more than a forest fire.
"[World's...]"
Eugene dashed ahead. He disappeared from everyone's sight as his hand moved forward on the blade, covering it in his mana over his Ki.
The knights and bandits held their breaths.
"FUCK! DIE YOU BASTARD! FILMSY TRICKS WON'T WORK!!"
The leader filled his Aura Ki in his whip and spun it around himself, creating a dome of death that destroyed even the air that came in its radius.
"[End...]"
The quiet voice boomed strangely loud. Right in front of the leader of the bandits, a flash of pure black filled the people's eyes. The spot where his blade should have been was darker than even the night, like a void had appeared in thin air.
His movements were slow, like a firefly tracing over a lake, his hand guided the blade in a single, cutting motion that took away everyone's breaths.
"[Slash]"
.
.
.
For a split second, the wrath of gods descended down on the Earth, threatening it with an all encompassing Death.
An End.