"When facing bandits, be as civil as possible. Most Filipino bandits are decent people."

“Humans… Three of them, way stronger than you ”

“If they are not above D, I should be fine.”

A dark shadow bursted out of the trees as Favio charged in. 

“Wait, stop it! You're no match against them.”

The unclear silhouette swiped its axe down.

With a single motion, Favio just barely parried the arm, leaving him no room for a counter. Dust scattered from the dead ground the arm has struck. 

From that encounter, Favio’s left arm nearly broke. 

“Look what we ave ‘ere… Leave all yer belongins and that shiny snake on ya and y’ell be safe, we’ll even escort ya.”

“That sounds quite a nice offer but let me ask my familiar before accepting it.”

“Y-you're on stupid boy huh… Don't accept it, he’s absolutely lying like a lie-stained lying liar.”

“It seems that you are lying while he is saying the truth.”

The dust settled, revealing the a large figure of a muscular middle aged man. His wisdom filled eyes mismatched the rusty axe he held and the worn off city guard armor he wore.

“I apologize… To tell you the truth, I want to eat your sword.”

Upon hearing what Bakunawa said, the man smiled pervertedly as Favio wondered on why he smiled.

“Tha’s one lewd snake ye have! Tha snake seem to be very important to ya so jus yer belongins and it’s fine.”

Bakunawa’s eyes pleaded Favio to reject the offer. Favio thought for a moment and came up with the conclusion.

“I'm very sorry, but I would have to defeat you.”

“It seems that you have made your mind, kid. I'll have you die here then.”

He leapt forward and struck using its arm with the force four times of a normal sledgehammer’s. Adapting to the very powerful strike from before, Favio easily parries and countered.

A large wound opened man’s left shoulder, pouring out huge amounts of blood.

“... Yer good, kid. Looks like I've underestimated ya.”

“Is that so? Let's finish this with a duel then…”

Favio felt that his arm is lighter. He could do it, he could defeat this old bandit.

“I would like to have a fair fight with ya but I have to live. Bano, do it!!!”

Shards of ice and arrows erupted from the treez at very fast speeds a normal pre-Catastrophe human can’t see. 

Though Favio has a high reaction speed, his body can’t keep up with it.

Just about when a shard are about to reach him they suddenly fell to the ground as his body grew heavy.

“Looks like these are quite light, old man… Those won’t breach my gravity field for sure.”

Favio stood there, unable to move because he is just barely supporting his body’s weight. The man however, fell down.

“And boy, I quite like you. Thanks for considering my wishes.”

Favio looked back and sees Bakunawa in her Fiesta form. It seems that she had detached herself from him while he was fighting

And with that, two more people came out from shrubs. One is armed with a bow while the other one has a rapier made up of frozen earth.

“Why leap? You can’t dodge midair, how stupid…”

Bakunawa forms a ball of some kind of energy and throws it into one of them. Upon impact, he crashed down forming a deep crater.

“Pierce all enchantments, Dispel!”

Bakunawa had already made another of sphere but seeing that it won't affect the girl, she decided to dodge.

“Fight this one, boy. It'll be important for your growth as a warrior.”

Suddenly, the weight do Favio’s grew way lighter than before but there was no time to wander around.

With a familiar motion, Favio stroked his blade and it got coated by a pitch black darkness. 

This is the Void Phase, it allows to create a mysterious element that bends light and weight. It is what Bakunawa uses to fly.

Bakunawa dodged for the last time before transforming back into a tiny snake, coiling around Favio’s arm.

“Damn you!!!”

Favio moved back for a counter.

The girl moved according to his prediction and he parried the rapier as the Void on his sword was removed but that didn't stop him executing his counter attack.

“Ugh!”

A sharp pain ran through Favio's feet right after he struck the girl’s sword arm.

Looking down, he saw that his feet were filled with holes. Had let his guard down too much?

The girl waved her rapier then many shards of ice appeared however Favio knew that the sharp shards are not supposed to hit him.

Favio backed off upon realizing his dire situation as he deflected shards mixed with transparent wind needles.

His defensive skills might be the best but there are still some of the projectiles that got through.

Countless minor cuts filled his body, every movement made him lose blood and stamina.

(Dammit… With these scratches, it would be hard to fight for long.)

(Watch your mouth, boy. Don't swear in your mind, it dirties your image.)

(Then can you tell me what she did? A Hero couldn't do that unless-)

(That's correct, she's a mage and it looks like everything she could cast has something to do with piercing.)

(She must have created earth spikes huh...)

(You're quite sharp, boy. I'm impressed. I wish you would improve your talent to develop the most graceful- Dodge it!!)

An earthen javelin rose from where Favio is standing.

(No need.)

Favio transferred the Void Enchantment from his sword to the ground before him.

The spike growth slowed down and eventually stopped as the girl collapsed.

Bakunawa knew what Favio did. He used the Void enchant to increase the weight of the Earth to stop it from growing. 

Not only that, he also knew that the girl couldn't cancel any of her spells from that skirmish and drained all her mana by preventing her spell from reaching the end point.

(He is a formidable master indeed…)

Routes:

(A) Kill them

(B) Spare them

© Take them prisoners