Edwin sat alone in a locked cell. There wasn’t even a toilet in the room, and his anxiety made that situation very rough for him. This wasn’t the first time he was taken, he would probably guess it was the fifth. The longest time he spent in a cell was probably eight full days.

His parents probably owed the Church money again, and wouldn’t pay. They probably thought he was strong enough to defend himself, so they didn’t even bother, but once again he was blind-sided. He noticed a familiar face in the crowd, the day he fought Chris, and since then, he was a bit worried. It wasn’t until he felt those stares again that he was sure they were coming.

A man entered the room, blue eyes, black hair, and a scar across his cheek. “Look at you, all grown up. Last time I saw you, you were this big,” the man gestured a height on his body, around his chest and then started to chuckle. “You know the drill, no funny business. If you do anything stupid we will target your brothers next, yada yada.” The man seemed very used to this type of thing. Edwin knew there were a few others outside the room, so even if he could beat this guy here and now, he wasn’t gonna get away.

His fight with Chris reaffirmed his entire experience with these guys. Those who are strong and fast can take out a mage before they can cast a single spell. This time Edwin didn’t resist, it hurt less that way.

“Has the letter been sent to my family yet? I wanna get a gauge on how much school I’ll miss this time.” Edwin’s calm demeanor wasn’t fabricated. He didn’t want to be in this situation, but once he was here he resigned himself.

“Now that we secured ya, the letter to the organization and your parents should be sent out before the end of the day. So it might be a while, but we’ll try to keep it quick,” The man showed genuine concern.

An hour passed since he was locked up. The man keeping watch over him cycled out for someone else. This guy maintained his disguise, mask and all, and didn’t speak a word to Edwin. This coldness was more of what he was used to. He was hungry and there was no way he was getting anything out of this guy. He sat staring blankly at the floor, but then he noticed the door begin to slowly creak open.

***

It took a while for Jenny and Haven to get used to the spell, and it took a decent amount of their mana, but they managed to hold out. Chris blasted the door with a gust of wind, making their entrance seem natural. A man wearing a white mask jumped up from the shock. Walked outside, looked around, then shut the door. Then he fell to the floor unconscious.

Chris slipped his hand away from Haven’s as they were now in a closed off space, and slammed his fist into the back of the man’s head, careful as to not kill him, and silencing his fall. He grabbed Haven again, and together they proceeded. The process of silently knocking people out continued until they reached a door. ‘This is a lot easier than I thought, maybe I could’ve saved him myself,’ Chris smiled at that thought.

Chris slowly pushed the door open, careful to silent any creaking that could alert any more guards. When the door was pressed open, Chris noticed only a single guard left, and quickly dispatched him. Edwin was about to scream, but quickly Chris and his friends appeared in the room. “Calm down, it’s just us. We came to get you,” Chris spoke softly and clearly, “Why were you kidnapped?”

Edwin explained the gist of it, the Church kidnaps him anytime his parents owe money, because otherwise they won’t pay back their debts. He accepts it to protect his younger brother and older sister, and because now he’s pretty much used to it.

‘So this is the Church’s doing, that makes things a bit more complicated,’ Chris thought to himself. Suddenly he heard Haven cry out and turned around.

The man with the scar was holding a knife to Haven’s throat. “Well lookie here, looks like you made some friends. I’m proud of you bud, but I can’t let anyone get in the way of the job,” he laughed a little, “I can’t believe a bunch of kids knocked out the rest of the squad, I guess you’re taught pretty well at your fancy little school.”

Edwin cried out, “Wait, what are you going to do to them?” The man shrugged, “It depends, how much did you tell them?” The glare he shot to Edwin froze him to the core. It held pure intent to kill.

While the conversation was going on, Haven wasn’t just panicking. Even though he was worthless with a sword, he still had to train himself to face one head on. He pooled a small ball of mana together in his palm, and aimed it at the man’s arm. He focused it to make sure it had enough umph. With the glare sent out, it shocked Haven, and he fired upwards before he was prepared. It snapped the bone in the man’s arm, and the knife went flying. Haven launched himself away, tumbling to the ground, and quickly jumping back up.

“Mother fucker!” the man cursed, arm dangling down, swinging back and forth, unable to be moved. “Kids these days. To think a bunch of snot nosed brats could use chantless magic. Well, that doesn’t mean any-” He was cut off. Jenny had launched a silent windblade at his legs, slicing deeply into one of them. The man fell down and she screamed as blood began to spill out. She wanted to help, and was scared. She didn’t realize just how strong Chris’ weekend training had been making her, especially since barriers were used in magic battle class.

Chris stepped forward as the man clutched his leg, “Jenny, Haven, this is what I’ve been training you for. So you can defend yourself, and so you can protect others,” Chris leaned towards the man, “What are you going to do to us if we know that the Church is behind this incident?”

The man began to laugh, “Who would’ve thought a little brat would be so intimidating,” the man glared at the boy, “The church won’t let this go. They’ll go for you, your family, your friends and their family. You’re fucked!” The man cackled out, clutching the wounded leg.

Chris’ face drained of all emotion. He turned cold. He held his finger to the man’s head, and fired. No hesitation. The mana was focused, and it put a puncture through the man’s skull, killing him instantly.

Jenny, Edwin, and Haven began to scream, until they saw Chris begin to shake. Chris sobbed, “I’m sorry everyone, I-I, he knew what we looked like, and-and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I drug you all into this mess, I’m so sorry.” Chris fell to the ground, sobbing into his hands. Tears fell quickly out of his filled hands. Haven approached the man, removed the keys from his belt, and unlocked the door to Edwin’s cage.

“Thank you,” Edwin began to tear up, “I never thought anyone would care, and I was so rude to you all. Thank you so much!” Edwin stood up, and exited the cage.

‘I killed someone. I took someone’s life. It wasn’t an accident, I knew what I was doing.’ Thoughts raced through Chris’ head as he sat on the stone floor, crying his heart out.

Edwin spoke up first, “That was the right call, don’t beat yourself up about it too much. If he lived, you all would’ve been targeted, your families too. I would know.” He reached down to Chris. “Thank you for protecting all of us.” Chris’ breathing settled, and he grabbed Edwin’s hand, hoisting himself back up.

“What should we do now? Won’t they come after us again?” Jenny questioned, doing her best not to panic.

“At best they’ll come after me again, but no one else saw you from what I can tell. Even then, it will be a while as the man on the ground was their leader, and if the other guards are in the shape of the one I saw you dispatch, they shouldn’t want to mess with me for a while either,” Edwin stated calmly, “For now, let’s head back to school, as it’s getting late.”

Chris handed him a crystal, explained how it worked, and they headed back to school. They found Lily in her room, acting far more nervous than normal. When they flung the door open, she jumped up. “Don’t worry, it’s just us,” Jenny assured. They explained the jist of what happened to her, as to keep her in the loop, but no one wanted to bring up Chris’ killing of the man.

Jenny spent that night thinking to herself, ‘Chris killed someone today. I know it was to protect us, but he did it so quickly. The look on his face was terrifying,’ She shook thinking of the situation. She had almost forgotten her contribution, ‘The injury to his leg was bad, and if it wasn’t properly healed even that could have killed him. I attacked him out of fear, but Chris didn’t make a move until it was to protect us.’ Jenny slowly calmed down, reassuring herself that Chris was willing to suffer and carry that burden for her and his other friends.

Haven laid awake in the same room as Chris that night, “Are you asleep?” Chris squeaked out a fake laugh, “I totally can sleep right now,” Chris took a deep breath, “Did I do the right thing? I mean I took someone’s life today, on purpose too,” Chris choked back his guilt. Haven sighed, “He threatened us and all of our families. I know that look on your face, it was the same look you had when you fought that Orcish Boar to protect me,” Haven paused for a moment, rolling on his bed to face Chris, “You protected us at the cost of that horrible guilt you’re feeling. Was the price worth it?” Chris began to weep, “It hurts so bad, but I-I, I would do it again if I had to.” Haven looked into the darkness towards Chris, “And that’s why I’m not scared, because I know that you’d do anything for us, just like I would too,” Haven began to chuckle a little, “I mean that guy might’ve died from just me and Jenny anyways. I almost blew his damn arm off.” And with that, the two fell asleep, feeling just a little better.