Gordon smirked as his eyes locked onto Dante. He had shot another Cone Spiral at them while they seemed distracted, but his quick reaction saved her from the attack.
"You seem to be quite talented with the sword there, boy! Today is just full of surprises!" he applauded as his teammates stood beside him and stared intently at the two. Their wands are standing ready for Gordon's command. He began to laugh maniacally as he slowly pulled his hair back from his face, slightly making the two nervous as they stood ready with their weapons. His eyes beamed a bright orange as he seemed somewhat off track from before.
"First, you all decided to derail our original plan by butting your heads where they didn't need to be."
"Then you attack us out of anger before we retaliate and defend ourselves from this village's dangerous crowd."
"And lastly, not only is a noble being held captive… she's being held captive by a dragonborn of all things! Isn't that quite the story…?"
Rita perched up suddenly at the thought that he'd be able to try to pin this fabrication on not only her but the village if he or his group got away. She tried to stand but was again sat down by Bernard, who surprisingly had the strength to do so. His eyes were glued to her wound as he continued healing and speaking.
"Let the youngins handle this one, Rita. You need to learn to trust your teachings… and your student. He's more than capable of taking those runts down, especially if he has people that want to support him in the process…"
She looked to them once more as the Xavien quickly stood with Dante and Terra and faced off against the adventurers who were terrorizing the village. Their eyes intensely focused on one another before light flashes encompassed the field.
"Take on the rock guy; we'll cover you!" Terra yelled as she began to quickly fire off water-based spells. Each quickly reached their targets, creating a misty veil to blind the opposers. Dante nodded as he rushed through the mist, changing his grip on the wand-now-turned sword. Wielding an actual blade rather than his training, one felt seamless, as if the older weapon was much heavier than this. The thought thrilled him as he finally burst out of the smoke before Gordon.
"There you are!" Gordon yelled as he sent many spirals in his direction. Dante quickly evaded each as he approached, remembering his lessons from Rita over the past years. His sword began to slash each spiral one by one. Gordon's face shriveled as he began to back away while continually firing off his spell. He underestimated Dante's ability since he couldn't assess what he could do with a sword. With each shot of Cone Spiral, his wand trembled in his hand, causing him to tense up with each step backward.
"Gordon's being chased; we gotta stop him!" Henry said as he began to fire off his fire-based spells in his direction, but it wouldn't reach him as there was a wall of water that seemingly appeared out of thin air in a moment's notice. Terra looked confident as she could snuff out his magic due to her precise aim and speed with her water spells. A mismatch that Henry wasn't expecting to be in the village; he had underestimated the type of person he was hired to take for his job.
Truman looked frustrated as he pointed his wand at the ground before greenery sprouts began to bloom at his feet. Multiple vines started to tie his limbs to the ground, taking him by surprise. Xavien stood silently in the mist as he looked at the man with his pointed cedar wand. He then spoke in a rather tired voice.
"Dealing with other nature affinities is…quite tiring, so please…just sit there for a while," he said as Truman's burly body was fully restricted from moving an inch. The danger of the vines wasn't anything to be scared of, but their grip was another story. He couldn't break away from them with his own strength.
"Who the hell are you kids!? We weren't notified of anything like this!" he yelled as his body was pinned to the ground by Xavien's spell.
"We're just a few students passing through is all!" Terra yelled as she pointed her wand toward Henry, quickly sending a large wave of water into him. Causing him to be smacked against one of the trees in the area. The shock from the hit caused him to momentarily blank out as his body fell along with the water. Terra let out a deep breath as she focused on Dante. She didn't know how well he could handle the sword, but it seemed he was holding his own from her standpoint. She began to try to run over to help, but she realized something was amiss.
Turning back to the Tavern, she realized that some of the fire had gotten past her through the smoke, and some spots had caught fire from the attacks. She quickly pointed her wand to the sky to create a spell that could potentially take out all the fire in the surrounding area, but she felt her body slowly start to feel heavy. She looked at her hip quickly. A blue gem with an insignia embedded in it slowly faded as she realized what was happening.
"No, No! My mana is running low at the worst possible time…!" she whispered to herself as she began to try to continue casting. However, the water's magic was weak and could barely form, and fatigue was taking over her body from having to fight against rather formidable adventurers and keep up with them.
"C'mon, Terra, pull yourself together! You've gotta-"
Suddenly, myriad red streaks flashed above her and struck the Tavern's front walls, slowly beginning to spread a fire in the building. The man who had been washed away with her spell grinned as he dropped his wand out of his hand; he could send off one more spell before finally passing out from the use and damage. Her eyes widened as she saw the old man protecting Rita had been struck on his back but holding firm as he tried to pull her away from the bar, but she began to scream out loudly as she fought against it.
"No! No! I can't let it burn; I have to take it out! It's our-"
"Ngh…Snap out of it, Rita! Your safety comes first…before anything else!"
"Let me go, dammit! I can't let it burn down!"
"You've gotta have faith! Listen to me!" he grunted as he continued to pull her away from the building and to safer ground, wincing at every tug due to the burn mark he had suffered from the attack.
She kicked and flailed around as tears began to fill her eyes, watching as the Tavern slowly began to burn. This place was somewhere she helped build from the ground up, where years of dedication and hard work were produced to create a successful business for herself and the village to help function with their somewhat troublesome needs. But it was also the place where she and Eleanor first met. Seeing flashes of memories slowly burn down due to a spell by an awry adventurer wasn't what brought her to tears. But the feeling of not having the strength to do anything about it brought her to this state.
Terra watched as she continued to try to get her mana under control, yelling at herself to get it together to stop the blaze. Smoke filled the air, and grunts were heard behind her. Xavien's hand began to tremble as his hold on Truman was giving out. He slowly began to rise from the ground as the vines' hold got weaker.
"Crap…crap!" Xavien yelled as he watched his magic begin to wane. He knew he wasn't the most potent spellcaster since he'd get fatigued quickly from using a minimal amount of spells, but he couldn't let anyone else get hurt in the process, even if it meant putting himself in danger. He gripped his arm tightly and yelled once more to push out what mana he had left to keep Truman from leaving the spot he was in.
"You're…not going…anywhere you hear me!" he screamed as the vines pulled him down again, but to no avail. It seemed Truman was able to entirely free himself from the grasp. He grabbed his wand and rushed toward Xavien shortly after adjusting himself from the strain. He began to walk towards Xavien, who had kneeled to the ground, realizing just how fatigued he was from holding the spell that long. He coughed harshly as blood was seen from his spit. His body wasn't best suited for more potent spells, primarily if a struggle against it exists. He looked up to the man as he spit out the blood from his mouth. Truman looked down at him before pulling his own leg back and kicking Xavien in the gut, causing him to fall back and hurdle over himself in pain. Truman's eyes were filled with anger from being restrained for so long when he believed himself to be one of the stronger adventurers.
"You think that spell was somethin' special? You little punk!?"
Xavien's eyes gleamed once more as he looked at him once more and had a slight grin.
"I…knew it wouldn't hold an ogre-like you…for too long…" he slowly pointed in the opposite direction behind Truman. "But that doesn't mean they can't…"