The sky grew gray as chaos started to sweep the town of Lers. News of a large army gathering at the west side was spreading fast as most people were trying to flee. During this chaos, Nel was heading towards the east side of the town, dragging Allisa along behind her.

"Where are we going?" Allisa asked Nel.

"We need to leave town immediately," Nel replied.

"What about Max and Melvin? They're still in the town somewhere."

"Don't worry about them. I'm sure they'll make it out safely. What's important is getting you away from this town?" Allisa suddenly stopped running, pulling her hand free causing Nel to stop. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Tell me what's going on," Allisa demanded.

"I'll explain later now come on."

Allisa remained where she was. She was in no mood to be left in the dark this time. Nel could tell that so she gave into her demand.

"That man, Zagrab, was a member of the Rats, a dangerous bandit group. In fact, due to his power and skill, I believe he was one of the leaders. After I killed him, I sensed four very powerful mana levels on the west side of town."

"It's because of me," Allisa said, irritation building. "They came here because of me, didn't they?!"

Nel remained quiet, which was enough to tell her all she needed to know.

"How many?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know," Nel replied, obviously lying.

"A lot then," Allisa answered for her. "Where's Max and Melvin now?"

Nel looked down to the ground, wanting to avoid the question. "On the west side." She said reluctantly. Allisa's eyes were wide open when she heard the news. If it was correct, then they were close to whatever was gathered at the west side of the town. "Don't even think about it," Nel said sternly. "you won't be any help if you go. In fact, you'll just be in the way."

"Because I'm so weak. That's what you saying isn't It." tears started to flow down Allisa's cheeks as an overwhelming sense of helplessness came over her.

In response, Nel approached her and reached out her hand in comfort. "That not what I'm saying, I'm just-"

"ADMIT IT!!" Allisa said screamed as she bashed her hand away. "You've always thought that just admit it! This was a mistake, wasn't it? I shouldn't have come! If I hadn't, then these people would never have come and this town wouldn't be in danger!" She took deep breaths in order to continue her outburst. "If I never came, then everyone would be safer. This is my fault, and I can't do a damn thing about it. I'm just some helpless girl who can't even defend herself and hide behind other people in order to save my worthless life!"

Nel then smacked Allisa hard. "Finished?" She said to her.

Allisa held her hand up to her stinging cheek.

"We need to get out of this town know." She respited herself. "I am confident that Max and Melvin will meet up with us." She turned her back on Allisa while preparing to set off again. "Both of them will protect you with their lives, regardless of your strength," Allisa looked at her, still had finally stopped tearing and was starting to regain her calm. "as would I," Nel added. "Regarding what Yuki said, I agree that you lack the proper conviction at the moment. But," She turned to face Allisa. "I believe that the time will come when you are fully ready." She then approached Allisa and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Because I have faith that such a time will arrive soon. And you will have the power to protect others."

"Nel." Allisa wiped away some of her tears.

"For the time being, have faith in your friends. They will be fine." She then withdrew her hand and started to walk away. "Now let's go." Nel took a few steps forward before realizing that

Allisa was still not moving. She remained in place for a few seconds before finally saying something. "Nel. I'm sorry. I do have faith in my friends." She fixed Nel with a determined look.

"Allisa?" Nel saw that her eyes had flair within them that Nel hadn't seen before.

"But, I'm going to make sure they make it out." Allisa then started running in the opposite direction.

"Allisa no!" Nel's plea was too late as Allisa ran towards the west side of town as fast as she could. Nel recalled the look in her eyes just now. It was the look of conviction. "That idiot," Nel said to herself before running after her. "She's going to get herself killed."

Kobra

The clouds grew darker as the Rats surrounded the west plaza. Yuki, Max, Melvin and the three children stood face to face with the four supposed leaders of the foe before them.

"Who are they?" Max asked.

"Not a clue," Yuki said, lowering his blade.

"How stupid are you two!?" Melvin yelled, pointing at the banner. "That's the flag of the Rats! That big bandit group that's struck terror into every village around these parts of Rosaria!"

"The Rats?" Yuki and Max said cluelessly in unison.

"Yes!" He then pointed to the man with the greatsword. "And that guy with the mustache is Kobra!"

"He is?" Yuki said, before taking a good look at him. "Oh yeah. That's the guy I beat a couple of weeks back. So he survived."

"What, that stash face?" Max asked folding his arms. "He doesn't look so tough."

"You shut your mouth!"Yelled the dark-haired man beside Kobra. "You will address lord Kobra with respect!" Kobra held out a hand calming his underling down.

"I'm glad you remember me, Yuki Akoga, because I haven't forgotten you." He placed his hand on his chest. "I still carry the scar from the wound you gave me. I thought I would die, but fate gave me a second chance, and I will use that to kill you in order to restore my dignity and title as one of the greatest swordsmen in the world."

"Wait." Max interrupted. "You mean you couldn't kill him. Man, you must suck."

"Shut up! I thought I killed him!" Yuki defended himself.

"Well he's obviously alive," Max said looking at Kobra. "Hay stash face!" he addressed Kobra. "I already called dibs on this sword bastard so wait your turn!"

"Yeah! Come back late after I kick this brat's ass! Then I'll take you on again!" Yuki said.

"Will you idiots focus!" Melvin yelled. "In case you haven't noticed, we have bigger problems at the moment!" he pointed at the large mob of people before them.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kobra replied. "Then I'll guess we'll just ransack this town in the meantime."

Yuki fixed a disgusted look at Kobra. "All right, fine." He said begrudgingly, as though the prospect of fighting him was a hassle.

"Hold on!" Max interrupted grabbing ahold of Yuki's tunic. "We're not finished.

"Relax." Yuki brushed Max off, keeping his gaze on Kobra. "I beat him once already so this won't take long. After that, I'll cut you up into ribbons."

Max took a look at Kobra scowling. "You better not lose." He said.

"Don't worry." Yuki started walking forwards towards the large mob. "I'm not about to lose to someone like him."

Kobra uprooted his blade and started walking towards Yuki. Tense moments passed as the two walked towards each other. They then reached their opponents and walked a few more steps past each other before coming to a complete stop.

The spectators watched with eager anticipation as the two stood motionless. Both men then grinned to themselves.

Suddenly, both turned quickly, bringing their swords together in a violent clash. They then pushed back, skidding along the ground. Kobra lunged his large blade at Yuki. Despite its considerable size, Kobra moved quickly with it. Yuki brought his blade up, blocking the blow before moving in to strike himself. Kobra instinctively dogged and brought his sword down again.

Yuki dodged and swung his sword in a low arc towards his opponent, who quickly brought his blade down to block the strike. Kobra forced his blade up causing Yuki to lose his footing. With the opportunity given, Kobra swung at Yuki with a blow that would cleave right through him. Unable to dodge the blow, Yuki inverted his sword, blocking the strike, knocking him right and in seconds recovered his footwork. He regained his grip on his sword, not even out of breath, and faced Kobra with a large grin on his face.

"Not bad. You allot better than last time."

Kobra faced Yuki chuckling slightly.

"What's so funny?" Yuki asked. All of a sudden, his arms went numb and flopped to his sides. What? What's happening? My arms...

Yuki's sword then fell out of his hands, falling to the ground with a loud crash. Yuki then fell over to his front and laid motionless. Max, Melvin, and the three kids looked in disbelief as Yuki just collapsed.

"What are you doing?!" Max yelled.

"My...Body" Yuki lay there motionless and helpless. "I-I... Can't... Move..." he struggled to speak. Kobra gave off sinister laughter as Yuki struggled to look up at his opponent. "Bastard...What did... You do?" Kobra approached the prone Yuki. And embedded his sword in the ground before sitting down so Yuki could see his face.

"Do you know why I am known as 'Kobra?'" he asked.

"W-What?" a searing pain was radiating throughout Yuki's body, as though someone was sticking thousands of needles a second into him.

"A cobra is a mighty snake," Kobra explained. "Slithering across the desert floor, looking for its prey. When threatened, it raises up, displaying its glorious might." Kobra gestured to his greatsword. "Then, in a single, decisive blow, delivers a poison that renders its prey helplessly and at its mercy."

"What...did you do?" Yuki demanded. Kobra pointed a finger at Yuki's right arm. Creaking his head with what little control he could, he saw on his arm was a small cut. "What?"

"Your skills are impressive." Kobra continued. "That small cut was all I could do. But it was enough to deliver the poison."

"Poison!"

"Among the Quintara desert tribes, there is a particular tribe that deals in unique poisons." Kobra got up to collect his sword, then embedded it close to Yuki's head. Examining the sharp edge of the blade, Yuki noticed small holes dotted on the blade. "The poison currently circulating through your veins is a particularly nasty one known as 'Basilisk curse.' As you've witnessed, it renders you helpless, and gives 30 minutes of agony before death finally takes you."

"Y-you coward!" Yuki spat out with rage.

"Coward? I'm afraid you wrong. You see, I don't use it on just anyone." Kobra wrenched the blade out then embedded it somewhere close before taking a seat. "It's reserved for people like you. The ones who seek a glorious death in the fires of battle." He gave Yuki a sinister smile as he stared up in anger and defiance. "You see. There's nothing I like more than to watch ideological fools die from what they believe to be a cowardly death. So relax, I won't kill you. I'm perfectly content with sitting here and watching you die with your pride and honor in shatters." Kobra then gave off a crooked laugh and Yuki laid there helpless.

"W-why you!"

Max and Melvin vs Fero and Quarla

Melvin, Hal, Paul and Oliver stared in horror at the motionless Yuki.

"He... lost," Hal said in disbelief. "He cheated. You heard him."

"Yeah. Yuki wouldn't lose to him. He can beat this guy." Oliver said with hope. "He had to have cheated."

"Regardless if he did, we're still in big trouble," Melvin said, reaching slowly for his wand. Damn it.... I'm no good at these kinds of situations.

"HEY!!" Max shouted, attracting the attention of the Rat. "Poisoning him was a cowardly move, stash face!!"

There was a long, awkward pause, blowing across the men of the Rats like the wind as they pondered how stupid someone must be in order to anger a man as feared as there leader.

"STOP MAKING A BAD SITUATION WORSE!!" Melvin yelled at Max.

"Such disrespect," Hachren said with irritation, putting a hand to his head.

"That's the second time he's called you that," Quarla said casually.

"Such defiance, such a beautiful tempo." Fero said with glee before out to Max, extending his right hand. "Boy, I must lock fists with you!"

"No problem! I'll take you all on!" Max boasted.

"Are you nuts!" Melvin said in an attempt to stop him. "The swordsman couldn't even defeat the leader!"

"So. I'm way stronger than him."

"You imbecile," Hachran said, waving his arm out to visibly display his outrage. "You're against the four rodents, second only to Lord Kobra. On top of which, we have 50 men strong behind us. You honestly think you can take us all one?"

Max punched his fists together as he grinned. "Like I care. Just means I'm gonna have to clobber all of you before I get a shot at the sword bastard down there."

"Wait!" Melvin interrupted. "You said the 'four rodents.' But there are three of you."

"You noticed, you quite observant," Quarla said, putting a hand to her hip. "Zagrab, the 4th member of the rodents, left before us."

"Yes, he was too eager to kill our target," Fero said.

"Target?" Melvin looked at the still Yuki. "You mean you're after someone else?"

"Yeah. We were hired to kill off some blond girl wearing some strange clothes. She's supposed to be in this town."Quarla said. "Though considering she's against Zagrab it's likely she's dead."

"A blond girl?" Max started to come to a horrible realization.

"Strange clothes?" Melvin was coming to the same conclusion as Max.

"Yeah, um," Quarla thought for a bit before turning to Hachran "What was her name again?"

"Allisa Reed," Hachran stated.

Max's eyes widened upon hearing the name, as though someone had just shot him in the gut.

"They're after Allisa." Melvin was also taken back by the announcement. Before he knew it, Max had started running down the street back into town. "Wait, Max!" Before he could even make it far, Fero landed in front of him, cracking the pavement on impact. "What the?" Melvin looked back to where Fero was, over a mile away. "..... He jumped from there?"

Fero rose from his perch and faced Max. "I won't let you leave." He then changed his stance ready for combat. "Not until you help me create beautiful music from your screams."

"Out of the way!" Max demanded.

"Not until we write a symphony of pain." Flames then engulfed Max's right fist.

"I said MOVE!!" he yelled as he threw the ball of fire at Fero. Fero dodged just as the flames were about to make contact, twirled and kicked Max's left side hard enough to send him through the wall of the building opposite him.

"I told you." Fero said menacingly "You won't leave until I have my symphony."

Max got back to his feet, brushing off the rubble. Damn, this weirdo's tougher than he looks.

****

Melvin looked at the fight with concern. He knew Max was tough, but for him to be kicked through the building so easily, told him that his opponent wasn't an ordinary foe. There was also the distance from where he had jumped, which gave Melvin the impression that he was using Mana focusing to increase his leg strength considerably. The three boys were a little preoccupied with Max's ability rather than whether or not he was safe.

"Did you see his hand?!" Hal exclaimed jumping up and down. "It burst into flames!"

"He's some kind of monster," Paul said.

"Listen," Melvin attracted their attention, "You should get out of here. It's not safe here."

"Chain."

Suddenly, strange chains came from the ground and tangled the three kids. All of them struggled but were unable to move.

"Sorry, but I prefer an audience."

Melvin turned to the one who he believed to be the caster. A little girl, slightly older than him with a frilly black dress, approached him before curtsying.

"Quarla, one of the four rodents." She then pointed to the man beside Kobra. "That guy theirs Hachran." She then pointed at the man who was facing Max. "And the sadist there is called Fero."

Melvin drew his wand. "Hold on!" He told the kids.

"So you're a wizard too," Quarla said. "Don't bother, those chains can't be broken. Not unless you want to harm those kids."

"Damn!" Melvin swore to himself. "What do you want?"

"Nothing really. I just need to kill 30 minutes until the swordsman's dead." She drew her own wand and held it out in front of her. "So, why don't we have a wizard's duel?"

"A wizard's duel?"

"And I'm not talking about whatever kiddy things you've done before, like using spells to disarm or incapacitate the other." Quarla gave Melvin a sinister look. "I'm talking about using spells to kill each other."

Melvin didn't like the options. The chains she used was a simple binding spell that he could easily break, but would harm the children. He was also worried about Allisa but knew Nel was with her so she should be safe at least. His only choice was to defeat Quarla. He turned to the kids and cast a barrier around them.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked.

"Don't worry. You'll be safe in there." He reassured the kids "Just wait a bit and I'll get those chains off you as soon as I can."

He turned back to Quarla, raising his own wand. "You know, I really don't like hurting pretty girls like yourself. But I'll make an exception with you."

"My, how chivalrous of you." Quarla then raised her wand and quickly lunged it down. "Ice needle!" Four, sharp ice needles were then launched at Melvin.

In response, Melvin formed a barrier around himself to absorb the spell. Unlike the one Melvin used around the kids, this one was a mobile barrier which was weaker in comparison to the solid one protecting the kids. It was a simple thing used to protect a wizard in combat. Melvin then cast fireball at Quarla, who also had a barrier around her.

"Nice. Impressive for a kid." She held her wand in front of her again. "Let's see how you block this. Earth Grave!" The ground then shot up in front of Melvin. Although his barrier held, the blow knocked him off his feet. Melvin got back on his feet and countered.

"Lightning blast!" A torrent of lightning shot from his wand and impacted on Quarla's barrier.

"Not bad again." She then regained her posture, preparing another spell. "But I'm just getting started."

****

Having regained his footing, Max let out a fire breath at Fero. The force was powerful enough to burst right through the building he was standing behind as well as the one behind it. "All right, that must have got him." He said to himself.

"Up here!" Fero called from the building Max was behind.

He then leaped from that height, extended his leg and summersaults as he fell. Max jumped out of the way before he hit the ground, shattering the pavement, creating a mini crater from the impact. Max was taken back abruptly by the shock wave created from this.

Fero, who was unharmed, stood at the center of the crater facing max. "Nice move. I'm getting such a vibrant tempo from just these opening moves."

"You're no ordinary weirdo, are you?"

Fero gave Max a look of displeasure. "Weirdo? I am a musician."

"Come on! What musician would kick hard enough to break the ground!"

"The kind who gains inspiration thought the fire of battle." Fero then waved his arms in front of him, almost as though he was composing an orchestra. "The cry's of pain, the sound of bones breaking, the screams of agony. There is nothing more inspirational then thought the symphony of battle."

"So you're a weirdo and a sadist," Max said with an indifferent look.

Fero resumed his normal composure. "I told you," He then lunged at Max with his leg extended. "I'm a musician!"

Max raised his arms together and blocked the attack. The sheer force following the impact forced Max back, leaving new groves within the pavement from where Max's feet skidded. "And I told you to get out of my way."

Flames then erupted around Max's body, forcing Fero to leap away before he was burnt. As he did, the flames then resided.

"But it looks like I need to go through you," He then sharply lowered his arms, coating them with Flames. "So let's hurry up and get this over with!"

Fero smiled as he stood up straight. "Since your arms are still intact after taking the full force of my kick, you're definitely a strong opponent. Well then, I guess I should start taking this seriously." He then prepared this combat stance. "You're about to find out why I am one of the four rodents."

****

Quarla lifted her wand into the air. Melvin starred anxiously, wondering what she was about to through at him next. Quarla then fixed an evil look at him as she began to chant. "Spears of the frozen north. Give form and rain retribution."

"Above you!!" One of the boys within the barrier cried out a warning. In response, Melvin looked up in response, and in shock saw gathered above him was a countless number of razor-sharp ice spears began forming above his head.

"Crap!" he swore to himself.

"Heaven ice rain!"

Melvin raised his wand as the ice fell towards him, realizing his barrier could not hold against the onslaught.

"Flame wall!" A torrent of fire formed above Melvin, melting the ice before they could touch him. He then faces Quarla again and chants his own spell. "Winds of the West, heed my call and blow the foe away with your violent torrent. Gust shredder!" A violent torrent of wind then shot from Melvin's position straight for Quarla. Unlike Melvin, Quarla stood there smiling as the wind crashed against her barrier, uprooting some of the ground in the prose. "What!" Quarla then pointed her wand at Melvin again.

"Forces of nature take form and crush those who bring ruin. Boulder Charge!" On her words, the ground formed into a bolder which charged straight at Melvin.

Knowing his barrier was too weak to block it, and since he couldn't think of a way to counter it, Melvin dodged the charging bolder, letting it crash behind him onto the barrier around the kids. He then got back to his feet panting. His opponent was hitting him with relentless attacks, forcing him on the defensive.

"You really are something," Quarla said to him smiling. "Not only can you cast level 2 spells, but you have also stayed alive longer than anyone else." Melvin huffed and puffed as he faced his opponent. "You also seem to be able to cast all Four Element Magic's, unlike who can only use earth and ice magic."

"Why are you doing this?" Melvin blurted out.

Quarla looked at him confused.

"You have a lot of power. So why are you using it to hurt people?"

Quarla gave out a sinister laugh. "What do you mean? The whole point of magic is to hurt people. It's nothing more than a weapon you use to kill your opponent."

"You're wrong. My master taught me that magic is something you use to protect the things precious to you. It's a science to perfect in order to make the world a better place! It's not something used to kill!" Quarla laughed even harder at his response.

"Ha ha ha! You really are just a dumb kid! At the end of the day, magic has only one purpose. To kill. No matter your ideas or beliefs, it's the sole reason it exists."

Melvin was starting to get angry at Quarla's belief. "Is that what you master taught you?" He asked with spite.

"No. He was an idealist like you." She said with humbler in her voice. "He believed that magic is some omnipotent force that could save the world from death one day."

"If that's what he taught you, then why are you like this?" Melvin asked, trying to find some humanity in Quarla.

"Because I believed that magic was a weapon used to kill, nothing more. And I proved that to him by destroying every bone in his body before I ripped him to shreds with ice."

Melvin's jaw dropped as he listened in disbelief at such vile words. "You..... You killed your master!"

"Of course I did. That's the point of a master. It's someone you aim to surpass in order to gain the power you want. That's the whole point."

Melvin had heard enough. "YOU BITCH!!" he yelled as he fired fire at her, which harmlessly bounced from her barrier harmlessly. "A master is like a father figure. Someone to aspire to and respect and hope to surpass one day. How could you take his life like that?!"

"Boy you're annoying." Quarla was starting to get irritated by Melvin's ideology. "I just told you my reason. It was to gain power, nothing else." She then waved her wand around in front of her. "I'm getting bored now, so I should just finish you off." She then lifted her wand to the sky. Melvin braced himself for whatever spell she was preparing. "Guardian of the earth. I summon thee to my side. Golem!" The ground spout in a violent upheaval as the rocks began to attach themselves together to form a massive human-shaped monster.

"A familiar?" Melvin stared in horror at the massive creature formed in front of him. It then swung a giant stone fist at Melvin. It was slow, so he managed to dodge.

He then cast fireball at the creature, but it bounced harmlessly off its rock surface. It then swiped at Melvin who dodged again. At that moment, Quarla attacked again with ice needles. Since Melvin was preoccupied, he didn't pay attention to his barrier, therefore, one managed to burst through. Fortunately, it cut along his side and didn't pierce anything vital. Damn, that was close. Melvin thought to himself as he put his palm over the cut to heal it.

"Don't you see now." Quarla taunted him. "This is the purpose of magic. It's a weapon to be used to kill, nothing more!"

Melvin assessed his situation. It looked very grim. Between the Golem and Quarla's magic, it was a miracle he was still alive. Suddenly, the duel was interrupted by the loud sound of one of the buildings behind them coming down.

****

Fero moved his leg back preparing to lunge at Max again. Max prepared for his next attack. Due to what happened last time, it was clear that if he used his flames to counter his moves instead of using them to attack like before, he might be able to catch him off guard and hopefully end the fight with one blow. Fero then lunged at Max, twirling before extending his leg.

During his attack, Max created a fire barrier in front of him by swinging his fist while it was engulfed in flames. However, Fero leaped over the barrier and came down on Max. Expecting the attack Max moved the left to allow his kick to hit the ground. Fero, however, landed on his hands then span with his legs open wide, striking Max in the face, then recovered and kicked Max low in the legs, knocking him over before finally striking him in the stomach, sending him crashing through the walls of another building.

Max struggled to get back up, coughing up some blood. "W-what the?" He said to himself while still recovering from the violent blows.

"You're still intact. You’re quite resilient." Max struggled back onto his feet. He noticed that this time he was kicking harder than before.

"Ok weirdo, just what kind of ability do you have anyway."

"I guess there's no harm in telling you. It's simply mana focusing on my legs." He gestured towards his legs. "By focusing mana into my leg bones, feet and muscles, they are strong enough to shatter steel, which you have just experienced." He then looked back at Max, who was still struggling to get to his feet. "Though it's not as special as you. Not only are you still alive after being kicked so many times, but you can also use fire through mana focusing rather than mana channeling." He then pointed at Max's chest. "There's also that scar you have on your chest. Adding all that together, it means you're a Salamander." He then grinned at Max "Am I wrong?"

Max fixed him with a stare while wiping some blood trailing from the side of his mouth. "So what if I am?" He asked in a stern voice.

"Ha! That makes this more interesting. Besides, I just came up with a great new melody with that last attack. Even before that, I gained much inspiration from our short bout." Fero started to sound disturbingly excited. "Come, let us continue this bout. Let's write a beautiful symphony together."

"You know I'm getting really tired of this." Max burst fire from his hands. "Let's finish this!" he then lunged at Fero with his flaming fists.

"Predictable" Fero dogged again and twirled to counter-attack. Max, out of mostly instinct, grabbed Ferro's leg, then with his other flame hand, punched Fero clean in the face. The force sent Fero flying back, knocking his hat off, but, miraculously, landed on his feet again before grabbing his hat.

However, he was definitely injured. His cheek was clearly bruised by the punch along with a few burn marks. His right leg, on the other hand, was scorched to the point where it was bleeding due to server burns. Even his trousers had been burnt in the place where he had been grabbed.

"Looks like I got you that time," Max said, slightly mocking him. However, the attack was not without its cost on Max, grabbing Fero's kick nearly shattered his hand bones due to the tremendous force behind them. In fact, his hand was going numb. If it weren't for his Dragon strength, the blow could have easily shattered his entire arm.

"Not bad," Fero said, trying to console his pain as he got back to his feet. "You managed to read my movements at that time. However," he then disappeared. "I won't let that happen again." He said behind Max. Startled he quickly let off a swing of flames to ward off the potential attack. When the flames died down, Fero was nowhere to be seen.

Where is he? Max desperately looked around searching for him. "Above me?" he instinctively looked up.

"Below you." Upon hearing the voice Max looked down. It was too late to react as Fero kicked him high into the air.

"Damn it!" Max said to himself as he flew upwards.

"I'm not finished." Fero had jumped higher than Max and then spun fast in mid-air with his leg extended. By instinct, Max held his arms over his chest in an attempt to block it. Fero struck Max hard, sending him rocketing into a building below. Max violently crashed into the building, causing the entire structure to collapse in on itself.

****

Melvin was distracted by the sudden collapse of the building behind him. Was that Max? He wondered.

However, due to the distraction, he failed to notice the Golem swinging at him. It first hit Melvin's barrier hard, sending him colliding with the barrier around the kids hard enough to shatter his own barrier and crack the other barrier itself.

"Damn it," Melvin said in pain. The last bow felt like something broke as he coughed up blood as he fell back to the ground.

"Are you ok?" Oliver asked Melvin, looking concerned.

"Just..." Melvin groaned as he picked himself up from the ground.

"Ha ha ha! Looks like you finished now." Quarla mocked. With Melvin's barrier down, she wasn't far off the mark. Due to reliance on magic, wizards tended to be physically weak due. Melvin fell under that category. And he knew that he didn't have time to erect another barrier.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it with such a weak opponent?" Fero had landed close by following his latest attack.

"You're one to talk." Quarla pointed at the collapsed building. "I'm pretty sure your guy’s dead."

"No. I still hear his violent tempo."

"What?" Quarla never really understood Fero's music and often found it creepy. She looked back at the building when there was a small explosion of fire.

Max emerged from the rubble shortly after. He was about to come after Fero again before he noticed the Golem, and the kids wrapped in chains and inside a barrier, with an injured Melvin struggling to his feet. He then noticed Quarla.

"Are you the one responsible?" Max asked, pointing at the kids.

"That I am," Quarla said, provoking him, slightly amazed that he was still alive.

Max then ran towards her.

"Hold on." Fero interrupted, coming in-between Max and Quarla. "Your fight's with me." Max stopped in his tracks. He knew that charging Fero again wouldn't work. He stayed his ground while he thought of a plan.

Meanwhile, Kobra and Hachren along with the rest of the rats watched the fight before them.

"This is quite entertaining, wouldn't you agree?" Kobra said to the immobile Yuki, who was trying to inch his hand towards his sword. "Don't bother," he said to with a shrug. "It wouldn't be any use to you anyway in your current condition. Just sit back and watch the show until your death."

"Sorry..." Yuki replied, a strained smile formed on his lips as he flashed his eyes towards his opponent. "But I... Can't die j-just yet."

"Defiant to the end I see." He then returned to the display in front of him. "That Boy fighting Fero." He addressed Hachren. "He's quite formidable isn't he."

"I believe so my lord," Hachren replied. "No one's been able to last this long against him before. Especially when his more sadistic tendencies kick in."

"I'm looking forward to hearing what he comes up with," Kobra said with a smile. "Quarla's opponent put up a good fight as well. But I think it's safe to assume it's over now." He turned to Hachren again. "Have the men ransack the town after the fight. I'm sure they are itching for some action." He said with a grin as he returned his gaze to Yuki.

"MAX! MELVIN!" Both men were then distracted by the cries of a girl entering the fray.

"Is that...?" Hachren began in disbelief.

"Well, well," Kobra said as he got to his feet. "Things seem to be getting interesting." A large grin appeared on his face.