Bal kicked off into a small jog, drawing his sword back until it was near his leg.

Hector suddenly stopped and grabbed Mercy’s hand. He spun himself and Mercy around before tossing her into the air over Bal’s head.

Once Mercy was behind Bal, she kicked off of an invisible wall, air gushing from her feet as she sailed down towards the back of his head.

Hector charged from the front, tracing fire through the air with the tip of his sword as he rushed forward.

Even just watching, Jon felt a surge of adrenaline rush through his body. Hector and Mercy didn't seem to be on good terms at all before the fighting, and now, they were working together with a level of teamwork that might have suggested years of experience.

Jon hoped it was enough.

In lieu of the approaching Hector, Bal struck the ground in front of him with his sword. There was a large explosion of ground, and Hector was knocked backward along with several pieces of debris. He landed and rolled hard on the floor.

Bal quickly turned and blocked Mercy’s aerial assault with his sword before he punched her with his free hand in her face, knocking her down as well.

Realizing the vulnerability of both of his friends, Jon quickly fired a shot at Bal’s back.

Bal dived forward, dodging the blast just in time. As he stood up, he turned around. Even though there was some distance between the two men, Jon could see the deadly cold stare in the man’s eyes.

His body shivered in thought.

Don’t stop…

Jon felt the fear of being cut down by his opponent's blade, but he figured that if that was going to happen anyway, he might as well keep shooting.

“Keep your attention on me!” Hector, having recovered from his previous fallout, had leaped forward into action, causing Bal to defend himself from Hector's sword with his own.

They swung at each other several times, deflecting each other's blows. A trial of fire recorded the directions of Hector's sword through the air as the men continued attacking.

Jon didn’t see Bal use any mana himself, but he still seemed to effortlessly fend off any and all of Hector’s attacks. Jon still didn’t know how mana worked, but knew sure enough that Bal was strong enough to handle anything they threw at him.

He decided to hold his fire, as both men were moving too fast for Jon to want to risk a bad shot.

The more the two men fought, the more Jon began to see Hector's plan of action. Hector had begun to shift his movements and attacks to make Bal change his position several times. He seemed to dance just outside of Bal’s range before he rushed forward with another attack.

He's leading him somewhere...

Mercy finally came back onto the scene, running toward’s Bal’s back.

Jon understood. Hector drew Bal's attention until his back was completely towards Mercy.

“This again!” Bal yelled. He quickly turned.

“Focus on me!” Hector yelled, snapping his fingers.

A small burst of fire appeared near Bal’s face, making him stumble backward.

Bal still swiped at Hector blind with his sword. Hector blocked the attack, but he was pushed back several feet.

Bal suddenly grabbed his sword with both hands and made a large horizontal swing, turning around so that he could cut down the approaching Mercy.

Mercy was prepared, so she immediately stopped her momentum and jumped backward, staying out of Bal's range.

“What?" He looked incredibly bewildered for the first time in the fight

“I said... focus on me!” Hector, having braced his sword behind his shoulder with both hands, took a couple of hops forwards and swung hard.

A giant wave of fire swept across the field, forcing Bal to block it with his sword.

Behind, Mercy had raised her tool above her head with both hands.

Energy suddenly erupted from the blade, shooting into the sky until it formed itself into the shape of a giant blade.

Even if Jon knew he wasn't supposed to be looking away from the fight, he still had to stare up into the sky in awe. He wondered if the blade had to be around the same size as his building.

Hector continued making more swings of fire, forcing Bal to have to break away and begin weaving through the attacks with his entire body.

When he found an opening, he broke off into a sprint away from the fire attacks.

Jon saw this and fired, this time aiming for the ground in front of Bal and forcing him to stop.

"I'm not done with you!" Hector went forward a large line of fire, blocking off Bal's path.

“Haaaaaah!” Mercy, ready with the attack, brought the giant blade of energy onto the enemy swordsman.

Hector quickly dived out of the way as the attack was long enough for it to even reach him.

Light spewed in all directions as the giant energy structure collided with the ground.

Jon’s heart had skipped a beat as it did.

Did they win?

“Whoo, girl!” Mallory yelled, still tied up by the spell. “That’s how you do it!”

Mercy fell to her knees, spent from just using the large attack.

When the dust cleared, Bal was still standing, covering the top of his head with both of his arms and his sword.

“Cute,” he remarked. “Very cute.”

Jon saw that Bal’s shoulder was dripping with blood that drained from his back, but otherwise, he seemed fine.

“My turn!” He yelled. He ran towards Mercy.

Jon quickly fired several times to stop Bal’s path, but nothing seemed to stop the man as he rushed past and deflected anything that came towards him.

I need something stronger... Jon thought. What would make his attack stronger?

Suddenly, Hector’s sword spun vertically through the air, creating a ring of fire as it soared toward's Bal's back.

Bal stepped to the side, allowing the blade to pass harmless away from the battle. He turned back to the source of the attack.

“Eat dust, shithead!” Hector yelled. He punched forward with his fist.

A large wave of fire flew suddenly forward towards Bal. As par for the course, Bal raised his arms in front of his face and withstood the entire blast. Fire blazed over his entire body, but Jon could still spot the man holding his ground.

Jon wanted to shoot, but he knew it do much to change the situation.

What do I do?

He turned to Mallory, still attending to his large spell.

What would Mallory do in this situation?

Mallory noticed Jon staring.

“Are you okay man?” he asked. "Or do I just have something on my face?"

Jon did want to know if Mallory was okay. The magic symbol on the ground had slowly drawn itself over his body up to his torso. Also tying him to the ground were several of his energy tentacles that had wrapped themselves around his body. Despite all of the weird things happening to him, Mallory seemed relatively unbothered.

“What do I do?” Jon asked him.

“...Keep shooting,” Mallory said. “That guy doesn’t have a secret strategy. He’s just gonna keep swinging at us until we're all dead, since he's that strong.”

“Keep shooting what?” Jon continued, hoping for a stronger solution.

“I don’t know." Jon figured if Mallory could shrug, he would. "You’re the guy with the gun. I’m kinda tied up here as you can see.”

Jon agreed with that sentiment. So, it fell onto him to decide what he would shoot.

What he would shoot?

It clicked in Jon's head that he was holding a blunderbuss. When meant that he could shoot whatever he put in it.

But it already had mana, right? So, Jon would shoot mana, like he always did, according to Mallory.

He didn’t shoot anything but mana, according to Mallory. But it was still a blunderbuss, right? He could put things in it.

Jon remembered his shooting skirmish with Graves. He had used the gun with ammo before.

But what do I shoot?

Jon looked around for anything he could use as ammo. He then spotted the pile of books left beside Mallory's legs.

Shoot the books…

Jon rushed to Mallory's side and began to shove all of the books into Mallory's side bag, which had also been cast down to the floor.

“Uhh… Okay…” Mallory said, looking on in confusion. "I guess I don't need that anymore, but..."

Jon looked up.

"Can I use your books?" he asked.

"Sure," Mallory answered, still alarmed. "I don't think there's anything in there about tactical engagement or-"

Jon had already put the bag on his shoulder. He opened up his blunderbuss. with one hand and reached for a book with another.

He shoved the book into the chamber of the gun, where it sat as if it was displayed on a pedestal. The way it stuck out of the chamber made it look like it wouldn’t fit in the barrel at all.

Jon looked up and met Mallory’s gaze.

"...You beautiful genius..." Mallory said, his mouth widening into a smile. "You're gonna shoot that?"

"Shoot the book?" Jon responded.

Maybe.

He closed the barrel of the gun.

It closed completely.

"Yep."

Jon flashed a smile that disappeared as fast as it did appear. He still had to try it out.

"...Go ahead," Mallory said. "I'll be fine here."

Jon nodded, then he ran at a moderate pace towards the battle.

As he was approaching, he watched the giant pillar of fire bellow out of existence.

Hector was barely able to stand, on his end, leaving himself defenseless.

Mercy was also straining to push herself back up into her feet, leaving Bal free to do whatever he wanted.

But now, at least Jon had a clear shot.

He pulled the gun at the hip and pulled the trigger.

The book flew out of the barrel at full speed, a large gust of mana carrying it through the air as it made its way towards Bal.

Bal quickly turned and swiped at the book.

There was an explosion of energy on contact, but Bal still managed to keep his ground.

It didn’t work…

However, Jon spotted the book in the air above the man. It was spinning, and it was still intact despite meeting the sharp end of a blade.

But it's powerful...

Jon snapped open the chamber again with one hand, using his other to reach in the bag and reload it.

Jon was impressed with himself, having never reloaded while running, but he couldn’t dwell on the fact too long as he had the attention of an angry man with a sword being focused on him.

Still, he was so happy with himself that he almost found it hard to be scared.

At least until he saw the swordsman running towards him with his sword raised in the air.

Panicking, Jon quickly tossed another book out of the bag at Bal's face instead of shooting it.

Bal quickly swung forward to deflect against the shot, but the hand-thrown book arced over his guard and landed on top of his face, blinding him.

Jon flipped the gun back into position and fired a second book

Since Bal was still scrambling to get the first book off of his face, the second one sailed hard into his stomach and knocked him away.

Yeah! Keep shooting.

Jon ran forward as he pulled the trigger again. And again. And again.

After being forced back several times on the floor, Bal finally caught his footing and began deflecting the attacks.

Jon had already reached into his bag for another book. He tossed it into the air.

Bal flinched, raising his sword above his head in anticipation.

The book wasn't tossed at Bal, but instead right over Jon's head.

Jon had already snapped his blunderbuss open, catching it in his chamber and snapping the gun back into place.

He pulled the trigger, shooting the book into Bal's stomach again and knocking him back.

Bal yelled in frustration, but another book hit him in the face while he was still on the ground, pushing him over his head.

Now, Jon was starting to slightly feel the exhaustion that came with the gun.

Mana… He must have been running out. His body was starting to heat up.

Is it the books? Jon wished he knew. It was a bad time to try to understand this stuff quickly in the middle of a battle.

Since he was still able to stand, Jon took it as a sign that he had more left to give. And yet he knew it wasn't enough to put down Bal permanently.

He shoved another book and fired at Bal, who had been standing back up.

Bal deflected the attack, but this time his sword was knocked out of his hand, sailing in the air behind him.

“You’re just gonna keep doing that all day?” Bal yelled.

“Yeah." He loaded another book.

Bal suddenly dived out of the way of one of Mercy's energy sword attacks. He tumbled towards his sword and reached out for it, but Jon shot it out of his reach.

Bal growled and ran after it. He swiped it off the ground and protected himself against Mercy's approach.

However, she wasn't getting close to attack him. She was holding both her own black tool and Hector's sword in each hand.

She tossed Hector's sword over Bal’s head. Hector leaped up in the air and caught it.

He and Mercy made simultaneous spins, summoning up their respective mana abilities as they closed in for the attack.

Jon decided to shoot a book for good measure.

The combined attacks created an explosion of fire and light, shooting up into a pillar before it all dissipated into nonexistence.

Bal was still standing between all of the attacks. His arms were outstretched to either side, blocking each of the sword attacks with his bare hands.

He had also caught Jon's book in his mouth.

Jon was ready to shoot again, but there was a sudden “Holy shit!” from behind him.

He turned and behind a panicking Mallory looking over his shoulder he could see the mass of caiman crawling through the floor of the forest.

Jon quickly turned and tried to shoot, but he was too far to be able to defend Mallory effectively.

“Stop!” Jon turned back around, Bal had been pulled from the fight by a black tentacle.

Further behind, Jon saw the wizard he had helped Hector knock off the caiman before. He was standing at the opposite end of the clearing, back within the area of the forest, holding his book open, and there was a smile on his face.

Bal was dragged all the way back toward him.

Jon couldn’t focus. He had helped to help Mallory and hoped he wouldn’t get hit from behind.

“Mallory, move!” Hector yelled, running towards his friend. Mercy was also running, her speed quickly overtaking Hector’s.

“I’m trying, man!” Mallory yelled. The symbol and the tentacles were slowly retracting from his clothes back down into the ground.

A loud roar shook Jon down to his core.

He turned around again to see that the giant caiman was breaking away from the tentacles.

Too much… Jon decided to focus on Mallory, but what could he do? The line of caiman was already closing in. The snapping was echoing inside of Jon’s ears again.

At least until he heard something else.

Gunshots?

“Is that a gunshot?” Mallory asked. He looked at Jon.

Jon quickly nodded.

“But, Jon, you’re-”

Just as some of the caimans appeared ready to take a bite out of Mallory, Genevieve had quickly divided into Mallory’s torso. They flew right above the ground for several feet until they crashed into the ground.

Jon already knew what it was before Genevieve said it.

“The farmers are here!” She called out, barely catching her breath. “The farmers…”

“Farmers?” Hector helped Genevieve up. “Here?”

She nodded. “Yeah! They’re coming!

She then looked at the monster freeing itself. “Oh, that’s a problem.”

“An problem a small army can solve,” Hector said. “How many of them are there?”

“Uh, like a lot. They’re here to help Jon.”

Jon blushed.

“Well, then, we could use it, wouldn’t you say, Jon?” Hector asked.

Jon nodded quickly. “Yeah.”

Hector brought his attention to Mallory. “Stay close. Save your mana.”

“Yeah, uh, duh. Not like you.”

Hector’s smile disappeared as soon as it arrived. “I don’t need mana for this.

As per Hector’s word, Mallory stayed close behind as everyone else cleared a path through the caiman in the forest.

It was harder to see the caiman on the forest floor, but for some reason, Jon had no trouble keeping up with it. He shot and kicked and swung his gun as he needed it. When there was a caiman he couldn’t see in time, Mercy had jumped in and helped him.

In turn, Jon would make sure to check his friend’s backs as they moved forward.

Friends. Jon didn’t know he had started thinking of them in that way. It seemed fine enough.

It wasn’t long until the gunshots got louder. Jon could finally see the group of phalanx of farmers making their way towards them.

Leading the charge towards the font was his father, who he had immediately caught eyes with.

Even over the carnage, Jon could hear his father’s call through the chaos.

The two groups finally merged.

“Jon, I-’

“Mr. Jassiter!” Hector yelled immediately. ‘There’s a giant monster caiman and we have to shoot it back into the hole it came from!”

“A what?” Jassiter was shocked.

“Listen to him!” Jon said.

Jassiter quickly nodded. “Giant monster caiman?”

“That a-way!” Mallory pointed back towards the clearing.

“This way!” Jassteir yelled. The group began to move faster. The outside of the circle was surrounded by farmers with guns.

In the middle, people were frantically giving out whatever bits of ammo they had carried in their hands.

“You forgot something!” Hector turned and caught a blunderbuss in the air. From its direction, he saw Rista giving him a toothy grin past her sweaty face.

Hector let the amped-up smile stay on his face this time, already opening the metal object for loading.

Jon and his friends guided the farmer through the forest until they made it back into the clearing.

As they continued, Hestatham made his way to the circle of farmers with a green trail behind him.

“No more purple,” he said, grinning. He started to spray the ground with fire.

“I don’t care what color, just kill them!” Hector yelled.

“Hi!” Jon yelled, waving at Hestatham in the air.

Hestatham saluted Jon with a free hand.

Once they were back at the clearing, they could see the monster tearing at the last tentacle holding it down.

“Shoot it! Shoot that blasted thing!” Mallory yelled.

Jon’s group went to the back of the farmers, defending them as the farmers focused their fire on the giant beast.

It roared as it was pushed back as far as it could move.

Mallory raised his hands in front of him.

The symbols raised over his body again, this time at a speedier rate.

“Let’s see how much you can fight now with a couple of blunderbusses shoved up your ass!” Mallory yelled.

“I’m sure he can’t hear you,” Hestatham said, turning his head so that Mallory could hear him.

“I don’t care if he can hear me. He can eat it!”

The tentacles raised themselves around the monster, grabbing it and dragging it back into the ground below.

Mallory made a few more wide gestures with his hands.

The broken ground had come together and miraculously sealed itself up.

As soon as it did, the caiman all exploded in a simultaneous burst of smoke.

“Holy shit,” Mallory said. “We did it! We did it!”

He smiled before he fell onto the floor.

“Mallory, are you-” Hector fell down, catching himself on his knees.

Genevieve fell completely to the ground, splayed out.

“I’m gonna take a nap,” she said. “Good night.”

The farmers started to cheer, some of them even shooting unloaded blunderbusses into the air.

Jon’s body was burning hot, but he slowly began to catch his breath.

He saw Mercy laying on her back. She looked up at him.

“Hi,” she said.

Jon walked over to her and laid down on his back as well, taking his place next to her.

“Hi,” He responded.