It had been five minutes since Leo, Mia, and Xander reached the forest, however, they were unable to find any trace of the bandits.

"What if we split up?" Xander suggested because they will be able to cover more ground this way.

"Yes, that is a good idea," Mia replied.

Mia then put her hands into the bag she carried and took out two rocks she then looked at Leo and Xander with a helpless smile on her face.

"I do not need one," Leo said as he moved towards the north.

Xander moved towards the east and Mia towards the west from where they stood.

---

It had been ten minutes since Leo started to search for the bandits alone, but he was unable to find anyone. His main goal now was to find one of the bandits and kill them to see if his Crystal is actually able to absorb the power of other Crystals.

A flash of red light rushed towards Leo from his right side, however, he easily dodged it. The flash of red light was fire condensed into the shape of a rock.

"Nice dodge kid," As this voice came into Leo's ears, he saw a man who was in his mid-20s standing opposite to where he stood.

Leo took out his dagger and tightened the grip on it. From the look of it, his opponent would be a tough one.

Leo summoned his clone also. The man smiled seeing this.

"It looks like you are an amateur after all," The man said arrogantly as both his palms lit up on fire. Then he sent the fire towards Leo's water clone which caused the clone to evaporate. The fire came too quickly, hence the clone failed to dodge it.

A smile formed on Leo's face as he was covered by the vapor. Leo then rushed out of the vapor with his frenzy active towards the man. This was the same tactic he used with Emilia, however, the distance between him and the man was more than with Emilia and this man had much more experience in fighting compared to Emilia.

The man raised eyes, seeing Leo charge towards him through the smoke as he had not expected this to happen, but he did not let it get to him as a ball of fire formed in front of him.

He was waiting for Leo to get close. Feeling something was wrong Leo stopped in his tracks and sure enough as he did this the smile om the man's face went as he started to run towards Leo with the ball of fire between his palms.

Is it an explosive type of attack? If then he would need to get back before the man reached him.

Leo retreated with great speed as he did this the ball of fire between the palms of the man started to die out and soon there was nothing left.

'Fuck how did he know about the explosion?' The man said as he clenched his jaws "No matter, I'll just kill him with my next attack."

Leo rushed once again towards the man he was running out of time with frenzy so he had to end the battle quickly and save it for more battles since it is unknown how many bandits there are.

The man took out his sword and pointed it at Leo as he too rushed towards the opponent.

Leo summoned his clone just before they reached each other. He then made the clone attack the man.

The man knew this clone was unable to do any damage to his so he completely disregarded the clone and kept rushing towards Leo, however, just as his sides reached the clone's Leo made the clone explode. This time he did not control the direction in which the exploded water went rather he let them go out in all directions.

The man had not expected the clone to explode he was unable to see as his vision was covered with water but before he could get away from where he stood his heart started to feel as if it was being pierced with needles and his body felt as if it had lost all its strength.

Looking down the man saw a hand and a dagger pierced through his skin and his heart.

"Damn... You," Were his last words as his body fell to the ground.

Leo's Crystal showed no reaction to the man's death. So does this mean his Crystal was unable to absorb others power but then why did it absorb the assassins element?

It was now that sounds of rapid footsteps came into Leo's ears.

Damn, another one? However, when Leo looked towards the direction from where the footsteps originated he saw a familiar face. It was none other than Xander.

"It looks like I was too late," Xander sighed "Good work Leo," Xander added in praise.

"Do you know if there are more of them?" Xander asked.

"No."

"Then I guess we keep searching."

---

Emilia finally finished putting out the fire. She looked towards the direction of the forest where Leo, Xander, and Mia had gone. She was tired, but she had to help them. So after mustering her courage and the remaining strength, she had left Emilia left for the forest.

---

Mia and another person stood opposite to each other.

Mia was much better at long range compared to short but her opponent was good in short range, so she had to try her best to not allow her opponent to reach her because if he does it can prove fatal for her.

The man attacked first. Mia also used her first attack which was 'Light Pierce'. A long line of condensed light shot from her palms and towards the man.

Seeing this the man changed his direction, however, as he did this the line of light also did the same.

This caught the man off guard, he stopped in his tracks to defend against the upcoming attack, but as he did this another beam of condensed light rushed towards him.

Mia's attack with light was not illusionary as if it were to find a target the line of light would be able to pierce through it.

But contrary to what the man thought would happen the two lines of light stopped and vanished before they reached him.

"Stand down and I won't kill you," Said Mia as she had no plans to kill the man.

"Fine, I give up," He said as he dropped his sword and raised his hands.

Mia started to walk towards the man so she would be able to confiscate his sword, however, when she neared him an evil grin rose on the man's face as the man stood up and struck towards Mia with his palms, but just before his hands reached her two orbs made of water came from behind Mia and the man's face blasting him off from where he stood.