Kain didn’t see the shot, or who fired it. He didn’t need to. The only people with guns in the barn were bandits. There couldn't have been too many people they’d be inclined to shoot at. He heard his mother's voice for a moment. He smiled. If his mother hadn’t gotten up to help Mrs. Fidel, he wouldn’t have gotten involved himself. It was a bittersweet smile, but Kain didn’t fear death. Killing him would probably cause a big enough stir that they’d avoid trying to kill anyone else. He hoped it would go down that way at least. For all he knew, the negotiations would break down and—

Wait a minute.

It felt like a year had gone by since he heard the shot fired. His eardrums no longer rang. In fact, unless he had gone deaf from the shot, the barn was almost silent. The room had quieted down when the bandit pulled out his gun, but it wasn’t this quiet.

Kain looked around for the person who fired the gun. From the sound it had to have been rather close to him, too close to have missed.

Was it not a bandit?

For a moment Kain wondered if a rescue team had come to their aid. They didn’t. The man who fired at him was unmistakably a bandit. Something was off about him though. He was looking at Kain like he was a titan. His gun was practically falling out of his hands as he stared, wide-eyed at Kain. He wasn’t the only one, the reason the room was silent was because everyone was captivated by what their eyes were saying was in front of them. Kain look around again, this time he could see nothing but eyes focused on him. There was a mix of shock, fear, and reverence in them.

What the fuck is happening?!

Look at your hands.

Kain was confused, but he raised his hands to his face all the same. His eyes shot open, but only for a moment. He closed them quickly and shook his head. His brain struggled to comprehend what he had just seen. Reopening his eyes, reality was still the same. He was glowing red.

—————

Red sahir was impossible. At least that was the case for malsirs, when they used sahir it would invariably manifest blue. Whether it was a nohel using it as a shield or a mesheer using it to bend the laws for the world, it’s color was the same. Red sahir did exist however, but only in rublee and granfirs. Granfirs were types of metals that ‘conducted’ sahir and rublee was a type of crystal that actively absorbed it. Sahir, when traveling through either, appeared red. Many academics over the years had their own varying hypotheses concerning the phenomenon. The prevailing one today was that sahir’s pure, unblemished form was red. Its blue form was the result of malsirs being unable to filter out the impurities. That narrative painted blue sahir as a counterfeit, causing many malsirs to seek out ways to manifest its red form. It caused quite the stir around the Lysken. Many nobles and organizations offered ludicrous rewards for malsirs that could use sahir’s ‘true form’. Many scammers and the like attempted to fool those offering the rewards, some even did, but none of them could really use red sahir. No one could. Even though multiple decades had passed since its concept reached the populous’ consciousness, not a single malsir that could wield it ever appeared. It was soon renamed to ‘sahirlah’, god’s sahir.

————-

Kain knew all that. He had spent many years reading up on sahir, learning its uses, effects, its history. So he knew the red glow around his arms could not be real. Malsirs didn’t randomly awaken to the ability to use sahir, they trained for it, intensely. Even nobles weren’t known to casually awaken to the ability to use sahir.

But here he was, not only having discovered his powers as a malsir but it wasn’t just sahir, it was sahirlah. Kain almost sat down to marvel at what was going on, but the bandits rudely interrupted him.

There were originally twenty of them in the barn, standing with their guns in their arms to intimidate the women and children. The sound of the gunshot caused a couple more to rush in. They were greeted with an intense red light. When their eyes adjusted, the sight of Kain, with his red glow, standing on top of one of their brethren came into view. Fearing what it meant, they fired at him immediately. Kain instinctively ducked. He wasn’t harmed, but a few stray bullets found their way into a couple of the women that were somewhat close to him.

One of the bandits that ran in then yelled at the rest of them, “What are you guys doing?! Shoot him!”

It was too late. Seeing the women get shot caused mass panic. The bandits had kept the group calm by telling them they wouldn’t be harmed if they cooperated without a fight. The women's deaths proved that statement false. They all got up and ran. It was an enclosed space and there was only one exit, but 600 people versus 25 at close range was not particularly in the bandits favor. Before the bandits that were on the perimeter of the hostages could react, multiple women were rushing them. They were promptly stripped of their guns, swords, and daggers. Some were even killed in what amounted to a stampede. The men at the door would have fared the best, they were already on alert and there was a slight gap between the hostages and them. Unfortunately, Kain was on them immediately.

When he ducked earlier, he hadn’t dodged all the bullets shot at him. In fact, he had voluntarily put his forehead in one of the bullet’s paths. He watched in horror as it flew towards him, his body unable to move fast enough to dodge it. It was a terrible experience. Accepting that death was inevitable was one thing, watching it’s approach was another. It gave him way too much time to think. So much time, he realized he had way too much time to think. It was like he was watching the bullet in slow motion. It confused him, enhancing his theory that this was all a dream he was having.

The dream didn’t end there however. In thinking about that fact he had too much time to think, he had forgotten that the bullet would kill him when it hit. Or it would have, if sahir barriers weren’t rather good at shielding against that sort of thing. The bullet smashed into Kain’s head and fell to the ground a compressed piece of metal. Kain saw this, blinked a few times, slapped himself, and ran at the men that shot at him.

Two of them had already reloaded and fired again, both of their shots hit. Unfortunately for them, the result was the same. Kain smiled, dagger still in hand, and went to work. The bandits pulled out their weapons and swung at him, his dagger wasn’t glowing like he was so they assumed he was only a novice. A novice wouldn’t have the reserves to hold their barrier very long. It was five on one, with some coordination they should be able to take him down.

Kain had other ideas. He flat out tackled the closest man to him and slit his throat when he was pinned to the ground. It was a simple tactic. He too understood whatever was happening wouldn’t last forever, so he had to take them down as quickly as possible, no time for fighting. The remaining four bandits had surrounded him while he killed their comrade. They all wielded thick bastard swords and swung them heavily at his back, trying to apply as much force to his barrier as possible. If they could pin him down, all the better. Sadly, their swords didn’t merely bounced off of Kain’s barrier, they broke. The bandits were stunned. That didn’t usually happen. Kain, unperturbed, was quickly tackling his next victim. It didn’t take long for all five of them to fall. Kain chucked to himself when he was finished.

She would be so mad if she saw this. All that training and I’m just tackling them.

Kain looked towards the riot that was going on behind him. He didn’t see his mother and he wished to find her, but he stopped himself. She was strong, she wouldn’t be easily run over. He turned back towards the door and walked out. While he still had the sahirlah around him, he was going to kill as many bandits as he could.