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“Hey, so what are we grabbing for lunch today?”

“We still got deer.”

“Arghhhh man, I don’t want to eat salted deer meat any more.”

“What the fuck, are you a child? Get over yourself.”

“Come, let’s disguise ourselves and chow down on city grub.”

“You…” The man grunted. He bloody hated this conversation that happened every goddamn week! There was nothing he could do, though. If he beat up the other guy, he was in for a beating. If he did nothing, his ears were going to fall off. He threw his head into the ground, trying to ignore everything.

After a minute of rambling, the man shouted, “Argh… Come on, someone’s burning the meat!”

“What are you on about now?”

"Man, look up. There is literally smoke on the ceiling.”

He did, and his day instantly got worse. “What idiot did that? It takes forever to get the smell of smoke out of the cave.”

Both men stood up to check the problem in the kitchen. They walked out of the section of the cave they rested in and then knocked open the door to the storeroom they were sitting in.

“Mutt head, what the hell is this?!” A brownish smoke had completely filled the halls.

“How am I supposed to know!?”

Then a sword came cleaving down.

Thud.

And the first man fell.

“Wha–”

A vague figure emerged from the smoke, with a flaming hand holding a bundle of nuts.

The fear grabbed him. What was he supposed to do–

–His thoughts were too slow as the sword rose from the body of the corpse to claim his life. Syrus knew best any life was easily taken, including her current one.

[Twelve.] (Syrus)

[We have to be reaching the end.] (Luna)

[...] (Eva)

[At least in this camp.] (Syrus)

With the information they grabbed from the books, they knew the rough location of at least three different bandit groups that agreed to join in on the attack. These weren’t the only locations of bandits in the territory. There were many small and big groups who abused the very public fact of Arisea Station's lack of surveillance in the wider area around the city to hide. These people attack traders leaving the city or even use the area as a base to harass and raid the lands in other countries. There were likely a number of criminal nomads who just lived off the land, but for some, when there were targets nearby, it was hard to not attempt an attack on such a tasty treat.

This was the second location they hit.

A natural cave formation that had been expanded and resonated into a hideout. The entrance was hidden and hard to find, as it was a concealed ladder entry on top of a cliff face. Syrus determined there was another large entrance somewhere that was likely covered by boulders, but they weren’t going to give up the surprise attack by searching.

Messy brown hair covered their head, paired with purple eyes. Brown-greyish rags covered their clothes, and a cloth was wrapped around the lower half of their face to deal with the smoke.

The hallway opened up, and a small crowd of bandits came rushing out, finally alerted by all the commotion.

For most, the idea to raid a bandit camp alone was suicidal. Let alone attack a second one after destroying one.

However, most people weren’t Syrus, who had far more human combat experiences than most people and a greater deal of strength. It wasn’t like there was no risk. There was plenty, which was why they chose the method of a surprise attack.

Would a proper assault be better? Yes. The town would’ve loved to know where a couple of camps were settled. However, they were afraid of what could happen. What if the attack mentioned was going to happen in a day's time? Maybe it was months away, but what if it was tomorrow or the day after?

It was that fear that drove them to this decision.

Syrus was quick to suggest this idea. A quick bloody solution to their problems that could protect the city’s folk.

Luna agreed. She had her misgivings, but she believed she had no room to argue and held the same fear. The people of the town were kind people, and so she made her choice.

Eva reluctantly agreed.

[...] (Eva)

The wires released from her wrist and whipped towards the legs of the guards.

Eva was disgusted.

She knew what Syrus would say, was going to say, wanted to say. I’ll handle this, don’t worry, rest in the soul space, etc. Eva would be lying if those words didn’t sound so sweet.

The sharp wires wrapped around and dug into their skin, and Syrus, along with a pull from Eva, tripped two of them.

The first time Anlesa killed some, it was a desperate struggle to survive and protect their family. The second time was Luna’s madness-filled rage.

Outside those two moments, every time they had fought someone, including previous bandits, it had ended non-lethally.

Syrus was a hardened mercenary who, while the main job was monster killing, they knew she experienced war.

Luna had long sealed off feelings of empathy outside selected people and was used to awful sights from her experiences of visiting harsh areas as a propaganda piece where she saw the aftermath of horrendous events.

Eva was a simple girl.

Poor, tired, but she never did anything that bad.

But she wanted revenge.

Desperately.

And she wasn’t blind to what that was going to entail, and it won’t be a desperate struggle.

Eva didn’t want to lock herself away. She promised herself that.

Still, that didn’t mean she had to like every part of it.

Syrus rushed in with her sword ready for counterswing, and her sword erupted in a blaze.

[Do we want to capture any of these ones?] (Eva)

[The one in the back right.] (Syrus)

[On it.] (Eva)

They would be finished with this place soon.