Instead of retrieving his weapons, he seemed to become one as he changed his fighting style. The more energy emanated from his fragmented armour, the more fiercely he acted. Those four arms that served him both for fighting and moving on the ground gave him an unfair advantage. And three of them could fly!

"His magic levels are increasing," said Ead.

And yet, he was not evolving. They didn't need his eyes to feel the power he was overflowing, being able to be one of the strongest Champion level elthean they had faced so far. That was the problem. They could finish battles because they managed to knock out their opponents or ended up running away, although this situation would not be similar. They did not know what the bandit was thinking or his intentions, but he intended to continue until the end.

That's how it would have to be when they faced Ariel and the Eroder, right?

"Focus on what's in front of you, not what happens next," Aer urged him.

Distracting him wouldn't work, let alone trying to slow his movements. How was it possible that he managed to stay on his feet despite the damage he had sustained?

"He's desperate," Nero said. "Sometimes that awakens this kind of power."

An enemy becomes more dangerous the more cornered he is because you don't know how far he will go to prevail. On this occasion, to be more specific, he was referring to a superior ability to fight them, even when he was the one who started it all. If trying to talk to them before would not have helped, now he would only waste their time. Calling him a bandit was perhaps not entirely accurate, even if it was more akin to an enraged robot ejecting a laser through the hole in his chest.

Although it was easier to think about it than to do it, they had to hold on. The light show had turned their confrontation into a struggle to avoid that deadly beam and not end up reduced to ashes or crushed by the elthean. Their speed had increased to the point of being unpredictable. As soon as they got careless, he would throw the chest beam again, jump to try to hit them with his fists, or both simultaneously.

"How do we stop him?" Finnian said, unable to think of any other idea but to end up as an omelette.

"We won't," Nero replied.

There were times when dodging was crucial, but they would only lose strength and give ground to their opponent, two things their friends were unwilling to allow. Just as a new bolt was heading their way, instead of dodging it and moving away from it, Nero went straight for it, leaping around it so as not to be harmed. His claws gave off a whitish glow, generating larger ones of energy. He launched a slash with them when they were close, disappearing where they hit the armour.

The beam was not interrupted, impacting the sand and lifting it, causing his vision to worsen. The bandit took advantage of that instant as he tried to crush them with his whole body. However, some sand arms intervened. Aer's bracelets, giving off a golden light, revealed the magic he had done to prevent the bandit from reaching them.

"It may not be as hard as the ground we are used to, but it is as malleable as water or air," Aer reminded them.

But that was not enough. After a roar, a show of red lightning lit up the sky, turning into a peculiar rain that reached them all. Then, before the bandit could attack them once more as they stood up, someone stopped him, though not in the way any of them had imagined.

A pink-furred elthean defended them, but it wasn't the sugar-cloud-like Ark he saw. A small seven-tailed fox absorbed the blast, preventing it from going any further or reaching them. The elthean's fur glowed for a few seconds, then took on the same red shade created by the bandit. Ark then generated a small pink sphere that caused a reddish explosion, similar to his opponent's.

"He absorbed the attack!" Ead exclaimed. "Not every Elthean is capable of doing something like that and returning it to the enemy."

That was why he was always so wounded. It was likely that he had other ways of fighting, but such an ability meant that he had to take the enemy's blows. Acquiring his strength, or a similar one, made him an unpredictable opponent even in the circumstances like those.

Rising awkwardly, Nero stepped in front of him simultaneously as Leith and Blanche ran towards them. They had seen the Bandit fall and rise again, though that did not imply that he had been completely defeated. He continued to move, even firing his chest laser skyward.

"Doesn't he ever get tired?" Finnian exclaimed as he sat up.

"Are you going to let him keep this up any longer?" Blanche said.

How easy was it to say that when she had just appeared, wasn't it? And even if they took the initiative to continue the fight, one only had to look at the elthean to understand that he wouldn't be so easily defeated.

"Why doesn't he quit?" Blanche said.

"Why don't you listen to me? There's something different about that elthean," Finnian said.

"It's an animated armour! Someone's controlling it from afar," Ead exclaimed, sparkling at the discovery.

"In the middle of the desert? Who would do that?" Blanche asked.

"The ruins!" Finnian said.

The elementals emerged to protect them when Ariel was around. The bandit could be very different, but it was the only logical explanation he could think of. The same civilization that guarded their entrances must have considered them a threat to attack them inside the sanctuary or wanted them to leave their home to take their problems with them.

"That's absurd."

"Do you have any better ideas, Blanche?" Finnian said.

She didn't even answer him, not because Aer's eyes saw the bandit being completely immobilized. A purple aura had trapped him, preventing him from moving or continuing to attack them. Even the lightning from his chest was contained in that force field, managing to subdue him. Confused, they soon sensed someone else joined the fight, and it was as diminutive as Ead himself. The fairy Kali made a stellar appearance not only by finding them there but also by achieving in nothing that had cost them great effort.

"We have to go. That's what Kali proposes," Blanche said, being the only one the elthean could communicate with.

"As if we were going to disappear so fast," Aer said, landing next to them.

"With Kali, it's possible. We have to help her a little."

And from the smile the Signer gave to him, it was a desperate idea. Getting there and stopping the bandit had strained Kali's strength enough to allow her to transport elsewhere. This rare ability consumed a lot of energy, too much if they all wanted to leave.

"When you say 'we', you mean just me, don't you?" Finnian said, raising an eyebrow.

"She just needs a little push from you to get us out of here," Blanche said.

Why did everyone want to use him as a human generator? Didn't they realize how much effort and stress he was put under when he tried things like that? With his partners, it was different. There was a natural communication between them so that it was less dangerous. But Blanche and Kali's intentions could not have given him a worse feeling.

"You've gotten stronger, Finnian. They wouldn't be fighting like that if it were different," Blanche reminded him.

Something didn't fit, though he didn't understand what it was. Not that he had much time to figure it out either, as the force field would break, and they would be back to where they were before. However, instead of prompting him or asking him once more, Kali flew over to him and touched him on his forehead with her tiny hand. A second later, the fairy sucked his energy. That act resembled someone snatched a part of his being, or at least trying to. It was such a brief moment that he did not know how to react, but what was clear to him was that doing it without his consent would not be forgiven.

His friends reacted first, interposing themselves between the fairy and preventing her from trying something like that again, although she must have had no intention of doing so either. As soon as Kali flew over them, she let out glowing dust that surrounded them.

Before they knew it, their vision turned purple, and both the desert and bandit suddenly disappeared, finding themselves in a new place.

"Who asked for an express trip?" Blanche said.

"Where have you taken us?" Leith asks the fairy. Why was he communicating only with Blanche and not with all of them?

"That's not what we should be worried about," Ead admitted.

Nero let out a growl, just as the others covered him, interposing themselves between him and them. They knew how he felt and knew that he had not agreed to carry out such a plan. Blanche stepped back, placing herself next to Kali and Ark on the opposite side.

"We're safe, aren't we?" Blanche said, calculating her words in the face of the new tension in their group.

"At what cost?" Finnian said.

He used Nero for support, as his hands were shaking almost as much as his legs, still dizzy from the sudden change of scenery. Perhaps Kali did not take all his energies, but doing so without his consent hurt him. Even when it would have taken them out of danger and out of the very wilderness that was going to give them so much trouble to leave him, it mattered the ways. He would have accepted if he had been allowed to consider it for a few more seconds.

"Try something like that again, and you'll regret it," Aer said.

"Is that a threat?" Blanche said.

"No, it's a reminder," Finnian interjected. "I told you before, and I'll tell you again now. You are a Signer from head to toe. Use what's at your disposal and stop counting on what others have. Because I do not intend to be used again as I have been used now."

"Weren't you the one who said we're on the same team?" Blanche said.

"Of course, but things aren't like they are on Earth, and they won't be," Finnian said sternly. "You want to do magic? Do it yourself, and don't turn me into a mere battery. Have I made myself clear?"

That was the problem. He and Blanche could have been friends in the past, except that she always wanted to control everything, no matter what she had to do to get it. But Finnian didn't intend to play along with her games, even if it made their journey more complicated.