The woods were still, Talise’s spell continuing to prevent unwanted visitors from penetrating the area designated with the Naked Bear spell. Levi couldn’t sense any intruders within the area either, but the immediate outer shell of the perimeter was a different story.

Magic power tinged with bloodlust emanated toward the group, clear as day. Someone was trying to intimidate them.

Oscar, Lorelei, and Talise had clearly noticed it alongside Levi, he could tell by a subtle shift in their attention. Noelle and Beth remained clueless. Noelle was a normal person uninitiated with magical combat while Beth was a child, the subtleties of mana detection weren’t in their wheelhouse.

It wasn’t much to worry about. Based on the perpetrator’s magical signature he wouldn’t stand a chance against Oscar and Talise together, let alone Lorelei. No sane mage would dare take on a witch, even an adolescent one.

So why was it Talise had asked Levi to stay behind?

“Nooooooooooo…,” whined Levi as he watched the group sans Talise dwindle from view. “You know someone’s out there, let me stay with them!”

“Sorry buddy, but I need someone to throw them off my scent. I have to stay here and balance the ley lines to try and keep this under control. You go out there and distract them for me, ‘kay?”

“Make someone else do it!”

“Don’t worry, you’re qualified! This is something I know I can leave to you, so please? I have a feeling you’ll be the man to resolve this whole thing.”

“Don’t push your job off on me...”

And so, Levi sulked off back into town, far behind the others and eminently vulnerable to attack.

Levi had yet to even make it outside Talise’s boundary boundary that a figure stood in his path, but it was a white-haired girl instead of the unknown would-be assailant.

“Lorelei? Weren’t you with the others?”

“I was, but I slipped away,” she replied, “I don’t need to carry out a ritual to cast illusion magic after all, so it was a simple matter.”

“Yeah, but why are you-“

“And I don’t even need a spell to eavesdrop on you. What the hell was that back there?”

Always suspicious of something, that Lorelei. Levi had known her for all of a few days, but the fact that he couldn’t slip anything past her was already seared into his mind.

“Nothing important, don’t worry about it.” A dismissive approach was the best he could manage here. Hoping she’d drop it, Levi continued towards the trail entrance.

“Why would a coward like you walk into a fight like this?” Her voice was softer this time, less accusatory.

“No reason.”

“Then let me do it.”

Levi was taken aback. Lorelei had no reason to stick her neck out for him.Even with her overwhelming magical power, there was no need for her to engage in combat.

“I can win this easily. You know that.” Her voice wavered a bit saying this. Levi didn’t miss it. Despite all that power and incredulity, she was still just a kid deep down. Witches were best avoided, odds were high her freak outlier status had insulated her from the world of life and death magical battles.

“But you don’t,” he replied.

“Excuse me?”

“Lorelei…hurry on back to Beth. Doesn’t matter how strong you are, it would be distasteful to have someone young as you dealing with this.”

“You…”

“Go on, get out of here. Let me be an adult for once.”

Lorelei laughed. It started low and quiet, but eventually moved towards a fit of giggles. “You’re a funny guy, fighting so a dreaded witch like me doesn’t have to. I think…”

She tapped her foot twice and her body began to turn to mist.

“…I may just change my mind about you.”

And with that, Lorelei dissipated into the woods, back to her foster sister and the safety of the group.

By the time Levi had made his way out of the trail the sun was well on its way to setting. A wave of red light washed over the surroundings, lending the air an eerie glow.

But it was different for the man waiting for Levi. On him, the light looked positively crimson.

He was a wiry man with a thin and gaunt face. He wore a normal t-shirt and jeans, but the casual looked was marred by the countless belts holding knives wrapped around him.

“Fucking finally!” he exclaimed. “About time you got out of that damn boundary. Adrian told me to rough one of you up as a warning, but I’m so pissed I might just kill you instead!”

“So the big man isn’t here? Good news for me,” Levi breathed a sigh of relief. Adrian’s internal control of his magic was decently potent, even if Levi could outmaneuver him and get a hit in there was a good chance he’d inflict no damage. Facing off against someone different meant there was a chance the new assailant could be weaker.

A small blessing.

“I’m just as good, you punk. Caleb “The Claw” they call me,” he popped a knife from its leather sheath and tossed it up and down casually, a clear indication of skill.

“That’s your merc name?”

“Yeah! Hehehe, pissing your pants knowing you’re going up against a bonafide mercenary?”

“Nope,” said Levi, “It’s a job after all. Even I can try it out once.” It was a bluff, of course. His palms were sweaty and his heart rate had been slowly rising ever since parting with Talise. Battling a mercenary may have been preferable to a serial killer or a vicious monster, but it was still a bad situation to be in, and that was assuming that those things were mutually exclusive when it came to Caleb.

“Then you must know that nothing I do to you is meant to be personal? Hehehe…”

“We all need to make money somehow.”

Caleb was silent a moment before breaking down into a cackling fit. “You’re a funny guy, you know that?! It’s nice to meet someone who isn’t pissing their pants at the sight of me.”

Caleb punctuated the end of his sentence by throwing the knife he had been playing with. The throw had been enhanced with magic to increase the speed, but it was still slower than it could’ve been. It was an exploratory poke, meant only to gauge if Levi was even a good enough opponent to dodge it.

Levi moved his head to the side just in time and the knife flew past, embedding itself in a thick tree. His heartbeat pounded in his ears as he tried to look behind him to catch a glimpse of the knife while also keeping his eyes on Caleb.

“Not bad,” muttered Caleb. “I figured if you were able to be so cavalier about my profession you’d have some skill to back that attitude up.” The mercenary fluttered his hands about before snapping them to his sides-a new blade between each finger.

“Now…dance for me or die, you stupid bastard!”

Silver streaks sprung from Caleb and rocketed through the air. Nearly a dozen knives closed in on Levi, packed too close together for him to wave between but too far apart for him to sidestep.

Levi did the only thing he could and dropped to the ground. The knives passed him by overhead, but Caleb was already winding up for another throw. A new knife streaked out, and Levi barely lifted his head before a knife plunged into the ground where his face had been a moment earlier.

Levi began to push himself up, but Caleb had already restocked his hands with a knife each. One of the new knives flew forward, aimed straight for Levi’s forehead. Even if he managed to get back on his feet, the knife would pierce through his chest instead.

Doing the only thing he could, Levi tore the knife that had missed him earlier from the ground and swung it upwards as quickly as he possibly could. The two knives collided and fell to the ground.

Levi leapt towards Caleb as the other man was pulling back for another throw. Whoever attacked first would be the winner.

Caleb thrust his hand forward and the knife flew. It was over.

But…

He had miscalculated. Levi was faster than Caleb had expected, and the knife hit Levi in the shoulder before it had a chance to curve farther inward and do fatal damage.

“Ooooooohhhhh!” screamed Levi, cocking back his fist.

Caleb took a step back, but Levi was already on him. Levi’s fist shot out like a cannonball, plowing straight into Caleb’s face. Levi had enhanced the power of his punch with magic and felt as his fist easily broke Caleb’s nose, sending blood and spittle everywhere.

The mercenary lurched backward and crumpled into a heap, concussed and down for the count. It was over.

Then Levi’s body gave out.

His legs collapsed, sending him spiraling to the floor. Pain shot through his stomach, his head, his limbs. The agony was so great that all he could do was stay on the ground and clutch himself as he soaked his clothes with sweat. The scent of rust filled the air, and as Levi glanced over his hands he noticed the reason why.

He was sweating blood.

“Heh…heh heh heh...” Caleb chuckled faintly to himself as he began to rise, feet wobbly and unsteady. “Letting yourself get hit like that…didn’t your parents tell you not to take candy from strangers? It’s the same principal, you know?”

“W-what?”

“The knife, idiot! Take a closer look!”

Still in agony, Levi twisted his head towards one of the fallen knives. It would’ve been faster to tear the one in his shoulder out, but he didn’t want to risk the blood loss. Looking over the knife, he noticed a glistening substance, some sort of ooze, coating the blade. There was a scent as well. He could barely make it out over the smell of blood, but it was there for sure.

The blades were coated with olive oil.

Of course…

In Jerusalem, a garden once existed at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Olive groves littered the place, and the location itself was named for the product that came from them: Gethsemane or “Oil Press.”

The Garden of Gethsemane…the place where Jesus Christ went through agony before being betrayed by Judas.

“Damn it,” sputtered Levi. “You coated the blades in olive oil so you could cast a spell that causes the target to go through ‘The Agony in the Garden.’ This whole thing was a setup for a New Testament spell!”

“Great, isn’t it? A little bit of olive oil and even a tough guy like you goes down like a kitten.” Caleb leered over Levi now. If he wanted, it would be a simple matter to crush the other man’s skull. “This is a battlefield chump. Always gotta be looking out for traps and poisons, you hear?”

“So now what? Finish me off while you still have the chance?” asked Levi. Caleb’s spell worked by defining the target as Jesus Christ and inflicting the biblical agony on it, it wasn’t something most could keep up for very long. If Levi had to guess Caleb’s magical aptitude from how he handled the knives, it was safe to assume the pain would dissipate in ten minutes or less.

“I told you, didn’t I? This is just a warning. Be sure to tell your stupid friends how scary I am and that they should back off,” Caleb came in closer. “Hmmm...it was bugging me earlier, but I swear I’ve seen you before…”

The mercenary deliberated a moment before turning the other way. “Whatever. Just stay down and skedaddle once you can move again. Sniff around our business after this and I’ll kill you, got that?”

Caleb began to walk away. Soon his footsteps faded along with the remaining sunlight, and Levi was left alone on the ground with no choice but to wait for his aching body to recover.

“Trust me,” he said to himself. “I’m getting out of here soon as I can.”