"¡¡Boom!!"
The great steel sword clashed against the shield of darkness at the same instant the swordsman launched his attack. I quickly pushed Luna away and looked at her.
"You two are in my way. Get out of here, I'll take care of him," I yelled at them.
"Hahaha, I didn't know you could use magic, but that won't change anything," the guy said as his sword swung towards Luna.
"Tank!!!"
I threw my shield of darkness towards Luna, blocking the guy's sword at the last moment. Quickly, I grabbed Luna by the hand and pulled her towards where Gloriana was, hiding behind a tree about two meters away.
"Run, you must be safe!" I shouted as a ball of darkness formed in my hand and I threw it towards the swordsman.
"Boom!!!"
The ball of darkness was hit by the swordsman's sword. I looked back and saw that Luna and Gloriana were already running, so I took a slight sigh and looked back at the swordsman. This one was standing still, without any damage to his body; the explosion had not caused him anything. At that moment I created an arrow of darkness and quickly began to shoot one after another.
"Is that all, kid? But it's amazing that at your age you can use magic and think in desperate situations Who are you?" he asked.
"Me, well I'm just a 10 year old boy named Asher Frostblade, and you?" he asked with a smile.
"Hahaha, you're funny. Okay, I'll tell you. My name is Brack Rosevelt."
Rosevelt is a familiar last name, but where did I hear it or read it?
"Wait, that last name is from one of the noble families," I thought.
The Rosevelt family is a family of gentlemen that has been around for many generations and to this day still wields great power across the continent. But then, what is this Rosevelt family guy doing in a slave market? Did something happen in that family that led to this? I didn't know what it was, but this guy is definitely not weak.
I created two arrows of darkness in both hands and launched them. Without wasting any time, Brack easily dodged the arrows; he seemed to be able to see the direction of each one. Then I made a quick move: I concentrated one of my arrows in my hand and tried to connect it like a thread tied to an object, but this thread was made of mana. I managed to form the thread, which stuck to the arrow of darkness.
"Boom!!!"
Several arrows were destroyed, but caused a huge explosion on the spot. I looked at the arrow attached to a mana thread and launched it while maneuvering it with my index finger.
"Wow, you're amazing, successor," Encrid said.
"Don't bother," I replied.
The arrow moved quickly, and when it reached Brack's sword, he disappeared from my sight. Suddenly, he appeared in front of me as his sword moved to the side.
"¡¡Tank!!"
"¡¡Boom!!"
I activated my shield and at the same time created a ball of darkness. At the instant of impact, I directed the ball of darkness towards Brack's arm, causing an explosion so large that I covered myself with my shield.
"Leap."
I jumped back and looked at the curtain of dust. The ground was blackened from the continuous explosions. I looked towards where the explosion had occurred and suddenly a knife flew towards my neck. I moved my body slightly and the knife grazed me, but the wound was not deep enough to worry about.
I looked back into the dust as Brack ran out with his sword swinging up and down.
"¡¡Boom!!"
The sword collided with the ground just as I jumped and activated my shield to protect myself from the impact. The ground shook as a four-meter line with a depth of three feet was created due to the impact. At the same time, I created another ball of darkness and threw it quickly. Then, I generated another ball of darkness.
"Dry sound."
Brack dodged the two balls of darkness and ran towards me again. I created a fire arrow and aimed at his sword.
"¡¡Boom!!"
The sword flew and Brack's hands were bloody, but…
"Kuara… Coff."
"Drip."
I spit out blood. I looked at my abdomen and there was a foot on it; It was Brack's foot. He had counterattacked at the same time that I shot the arrow towards his sword. I looked up just as a fist headed for my face.
"Boom!!"
The fist hit my face and I was pushed back several meters. My eyes were wide as blood poured from my lips and hit marks adorned my face. I looked up just as another fist approached, but my body moved on instinct and I managed to avoid the blow.
"How did you avoid it? Well, that doesn't matter, you'll be done, kid," Brack said.
I felt something hard on my waist: it was the mana crystals. I put my hand in my pocket and took out three crystals.
"Swallow".
Without thinking, I swallowed the crystals, but an explosion of mana occurred inside my body. The mana moved at high speed. I stood up, although the mana was very strong and I felt like I would faint at any moment, but I resisted and quickly created an arrow of darkness when Brack was close to hitting me.
"Boom!"
I dodged the blow easily and at that moment I launched the arrow of darkness. My body filled with mana and I began to shoot arrows of darkness frantically.
"Boom!"
"Panting".
The manna was exhausted; I only had a few seconds, but I launched dozens of arrows and balls of darkness towards Brack.
"I've finished now…"
"Deaf sound."
I heard a sound of faint footsteps. I looked towards where my attacks had landed before and a silhouette appeared: it was Brack. He didn't have an arm and was very injured, even more than me, and yet he moved with difficulty. He stepped back and I tried to create a ball of darkness, but it didn't work; He had no mana and the only weapon he had was the magic sword, but he had no mana to summon it at that moment.
The magic sword could be summoned once my mana reached the moon tattoo, but I was out of mana at that moment and couldn't move due to the intense pain in my body and fatigue from having used up all my mana. He was trapped as Brack slowly approached; Although he was in bad shape, for swordsmen that is not so much of a problem.
I checked my pocket and there was a single mana crystal. I pulled it out as he pushed me back and brought the glass to my mouth. It had no taste whatsoever, but as I swallowed it I felt a lot of mana flowing throughout my body like a great storm in the ocean.
"Damn it!" Brack shouted.
I quickly created a ball of darkness and threw it.
"¡¡Boom!!"
The ball of darkness hit Brack's face, followed by a resounding sound and something fell to the ground; Brack fell to the ground. It was finally over, but my condition was very serious. Suddenly, Brack raised his head, looked at me, and swung a knife at my leg.
"AHAHAHAH, shit…!"
I screamed in pain as he sat down on the ground. I looked at Brack's body; he was already dead. Then I looked at my leg: a piece of metal the size of my arm had gone through my leg.
"Panting".
Sweat broke out on me as I felt dizzy from blood loss.
"It looks like you need help," Encrid said in my head.
"What can you do if you are just a sword?" I replied.
"Well, just give me some mana and I'll heal you."
"…"
I thought so; I was low on mana, but without hesitation, my mana moved and headed towards the black moon-shaped tattoo. The tattoo disappeared and a dark energy materialized in front of me, taking the form of a black and purple sword.
"Now just hold me and I'll start healing you, but I'll only be able to do it to a certain point since there's not much mana," he said.
I held it and suddenly my body started to feel much better. I stopped feeling fatigue and the wounds on my face began to close, although not completely. With all my strength I pulled the knife from my leg; Blood spattered, but the wound began to close quickly.
"That's it, I can't heal you anymore, child," Encrid said as it began to disappear and then the moon tattoo returned to my arm.
"Well, thanks, I think I owe you one."
"Hahaha, don't worry child, you are my successor and you should not die for a simple swordsman," Encrid replied.
"Sigh".
I looked at Brack's body. It was my first fight with a swordsman and although I thought he wouldn't win, I did. But if he hadn't had these mana crystals, the story would have been different. Fortunately I was not killed in this combat, but this led me to think that the knights of the continent are even stronger, at least as a 5th circle magician.
This fight makes it clear to me that my future fights will be on a large scale and when that happens, I must be strong enough.
"Sigh".
"Luna and Gloriana should have already reached a safe place; "I better look for them."
I didn't know where those two went, but it's possible that some of those slave guards will find them...
"Now that I remember, Luna said something about the knights of the royal family… Then they should be here; I must hurry and arrive as soon as possible."
I got up from the ground and finally looked at Brack's body. I frowned when I saw it; If it wasn't for this guy, none of this would have happened. Hundreds of children died because of Brack and if he hadn't stopped him, who knows what he would have done in the future; more and more would have died. Therefore, this fight was not only in vain; I also helped many children not to have a life like this.
If I didn't have my past life experience and tactics and surprise attacks, I would never have won against a swordsman; but fortunately I am someone different, someone who comes from another world with a new life.
"I hope they're both okay," I thought as I ran.
I didn't know if they were safe but I had to make sure they were.
***
-Change of scene.
—Perspective of Luna Hazard.
"Panting".
We're almost at the entrance to the slave market. The knights would attack at the entrance when they arrived. It was not in very good condition, but we managed to escape with the help of Asher, who was a swordsman, one who has the strength of a knight. But if he was dead, the swordsman would have already caught up with us, so there is only one answer:
"He won".
It might be the most logical thing to do, but what if they both died at the same time? They were possibilities too, but she wasn't too sure he would die that easily. Finally, we were about a hundred meters away when we heard explosions and several voices.
"It's the gentlemen, they're here," said Gloriana.
"We're here quickly, we can't wait any longer," I said, trying to hurry up and get to the knights, who were only a few meters away.
The fire and hundreds of knights with shining armor and large swords made of very strong material were very close. The fire in the market facilities was the most surprising thing; everything was in complete chaos. Market guards were running everywhere while others were fighting for their lives.
Finally we approached and a gentleman who seemed to be the leader saw us and his expression quickly changed from cold to completely worried, as if he were a father seeing his children.
"Princess, are you okay?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm not hurt."
"You're not hurt, are you, Miss Luna?" He looked at me and I nodded.
He sighed in joy and then continued speaking.
"Since the two of you are here, we should go."
I looked at Gloriana when she spoke.
"Wait, we can't leave without Asher," Gloriana said.
At that moment I was alerted; He couldn't let the knights know about Asher and before he could speak, the knight spoke.
"Miss, who is Asher?"
"He was the one who saved me from a swordsman and protected me. "I should be fighting with the swordsman right now," Gloriana shouted. Her eyes were full of concern.
"I understand, I will look for him personally…" Unable to finish, a new voice shouted from the distance behind me.
I turned my head and saw who she was; It was Asher. He was very injured, his pupils were half closed, his breathing was strong and he was staggering; He was weak and very injured.
"How… did he manage to get here," I thought.
"Are you okay?" Asher asked.
Gloriana lunged and hugged Asher. I looked at the gentleman; He was looking furious, he seemed to be very angry at seeing Gloriana hugging a slave, or rather, a commoner. Knights hate commoners so much and that's why the knight in front of me was angry...