Noah had come to realize that after delegating and sending his friends to fight. He himself didn’t have a job. Luckily for him, there were golems to fight.

Mana moved through every part his body, ash he grew from six feet to twelve, his skin grew golden fur, and his mane of hair grew more pronounced. Red hot armor molded onto its form and solidified along with a maul.

Immediately a golem half his size ran up to attack the lion man’s shin. Pounding fist after fist into Noah’s durable form.

With his knowledge of crafting, Noah grabbed the golem by its midsection and began to pull its core apart.

A wrenching sound could be heard as the golem ceased to function. Dust and a strange liquid seemed to pool on the floor.

More golems came, and Noah faced them with all his might.

Minutes passed, and eventually, the wave of foes ended. Noah took a deep breath before someone snuck upon him.

“Oi! Noah! Over here!” Everest caught his friends, attention before motioning towards a large group of spirit masters organized by Glearsora and Stone.

“I’ll go help the townspeople first!” Noah yelled.

Everest smiled, but the expression didn't make it to his eyes. He was worried for his friend but knew better than ordering someone like him to stop.

Wura’s spear proved to be easily the strongest tool they had against these golems. The liquid slipped into the cracks and then expanded when it struck a golem. Destroying her targets from the inside with minuscule mana. When she was hit, the liquid would seep in and weaken the limb that connected with her armor.

Ceres cut swaths through the golems with her enhanced halberd, while Damian would jump in and deal the lethal blow. Shattering the creature’s cores with ease.

By the time they finished the first wave, they noticed a group headed towards a makeshift stage.

“Looks like we have a long day ahead.” Wura sighed.

“You know. I’m starting to think Kyrion attracts trouble.” Damian joked.

“My master does not attract trouble.” Ceres protested.

“Ceres, to Kyrion trouble is a question and the answer is yes. Somehow some way something will happen eventually. Either by his hand or someone else’s.” Wura corrected.

“Master Kyrion said he doesn’t like trouble.” Ceres scratched her head.

“He doesn’t like other people forcing their trouble on him.” Damian stated.

“I haven’t seen him cause trouble since i’ve been here with him.” Ceres said proudly.

“Four days ago he summoned a woman made of water on the boys side of the hot spring. Then proceed to trounce around time in his skivvies.”

“He was delirious from blood loss.” Ceres defended.

“What about when you broke his jaw trying to feed him?” Damian raised an eyebrow.

“That was on me.” Ceres said.

“And she was wearing a shirt. You didn’t see anything, water doesn’t even have those parts. And. Skivvies Damian. Really? They were underwater combat battle suits. Or professional swim trunks.” Everest appeared in their circle.

“T-those parts?” Damian muttered, his face flushed.

“No time to be bashful Damian, we have work to do.” Everest pointed to where students were gathering.

“We can talk about this later.” Wura said as she led the way.

“Or not at all.” Damian mumbled.

“No. I’m getting all sides of this story.” Wura said as though it was set in stone.

A white wolf observed four men escorting a golem that held a prisoner outside the small town. No one had followed them as too much was going on, and the spirit masters visiting were preoccupied.

This wolf, however, had a bone to pick with these soldiers.

One of the guards in the back of the line didn’t notice as a wolf seemed to approach from behind and decapitate the fledgling spirit master before pulling the corpse away.

The maneuver was silent, and it was clear that none of the guards expected any trouble, so they made it another mile before someone looked back and noticed one of their own was missing.

“Someone killed Kenneth!” One of the three remaining soldiers stated.

“I’m sure he just went to relieve himself. It wouldn’t surprise me if he wanted some privacy to relieve himself.” Said the second.

“Kenneth has Kidney rot. So he needs to piss alot.” Said the third.

The wolf went some distance and removed the tainted flesh from its system before returning.

“He’s been a while. I’ll go check on him.” Said the second soldier.

“These guys might be Idiots.” The wolf thought.

“Don’t go alone. I’ll come too.” Said the third who followed behind.

“The golem is a practitioner tier, weapon at its peak so I’ll be fine with it by my side.” Said the first.

“Correction, these guys are Idiots.” The wolf skulked forward as the soldiers were now out of sight.

A long blade made from ice appeared between the wolf’s teeth, and the creature quickly bisected the remaining guard with practiced ease.

The golem reeled back to trample the wolf.

The white wolf turned the blade forward and jumped through the golem. Piercing its core.

Nicole dismantled the spell keeping her in before summoning a greatsword coated in blue flames. The pommel of the blade had the symbol of a three-headed dog, while the rest of the weapon was mostly hidden. She swung once the stone cage shattering the bars with ease. The sword vanished as quickly as it appeared, and she climbed out.

“Took you long enough.” Nicole said bluntly.

“Now, now milady. I had to wash some filth from my mouth. That Kennath was disgusting.” The wolf said.

“Leon, this is why I told you not to eat everything you kill.” Nicole chastised.

“I’m sorry milady. Just instincts don’t like me wasting food.”

“So. Shall we get your revenge?” Nicole asked.

“What they did to Bliz was unexpected. I guess telling people I have a beast spirit that’s a wolf is easier than telling people I'm a wolf with a human spirit.” Leon barked out a laugh.

“It is quite rare for a beast to have another beast spirit.” Nicole stated.

“Yet they possessed my human. I ought to chew them up and spit them out. The worst part about the whole situation is the fact that I’ve been stripped of my abilities. Now I’m just a glorified snow wolf.” Leon stated.

“You could try becoming a spirit. I have a friend with an Ice affinity who would love a companion like you.” Nicole scratched the wolf’s chin.

“Is that so. Well, Bliz was convenient I guess I should move on though.” Leon shook his fur and led Nicole through a path deep into the forest.

Kiara fired shot after shot of ice arrows which helped to stagger golems and allow others to capitalize and take them down. In the distance, she saw blades begin to fly high up into the air and towards the town.

“Everyone! Find some shelter!” Kiara yelled before running into the building.

Stone clasped his hands together and spoke a few intelligible words as a barrier rose. The falling swords seemed to slow significantly, giving everyone outside enough time to evade as the two forces collided.

Glersora unsheathed her long straight sword, which she then slashed multiple times in succession. The force from the blade seemed to knock the swords coming down on them out of the way.

Noah used his body as a shield. Protecting a family that was out of the range of the barrier. His body was pierced by multiple blades, most stopped by his armor, but quite a few managed to pass through his arms and legs.

Ceres and the others watched in horror as their friend was stabbed multiple times. From inside the barrier, they were trapped but protected. Only able to watch it all play out.

Kyrion saw the swords come. He didn’t really care. The person he was chasing was leaving quickly. He wasn’t losing a friend who was in danger. Not if he could help it.

A sword fell from the sky, and pierced Kyrion's left foot. Cleanly and with hardly any resistance.

“Aggg!” Kyrion yelled more in surprise than pain as he pulled it out of his foot, and the wound began to fix itself.

Looking down, Kyrion also noticed that a black sword made of fire seemed to have pierced his chest. It hurt but hardly did any damage. The head of the weapon was curved and jagged as though it was meant to inflict pain.

Oddly enough, the damage done to Kyrion's body was negligible and he walked out of the jagged weapon.

“You should be whimpering in pain. Why aren’t you whimpering in pain?!” Lisa said, a bit freaked out.

“A foot a foot. I stubbed my toes all the time growing up. The surprise hurt more than the actual damage. Being stabbed doesn’t hurt. It’s the surprise of being stabbed that hurts. You stabbed me when I pulled out the sword so it was like I was only stabbed once. Do you follow?” Kyrion stated matter of factly.

“Are you insane?”

“How many times are people going to get that wrong? My name is Kyrion. I’m not a monster, I’m not insane. Now stupid is a possibility along with weak, fragile, and ugly.” Kyrion casually walked behind another tree and disappeared.

“Not this again.” Lisa began rapidly slicing at the tree with her black sword parts that were cut off seemed to die almost immediately.

Sadly Lisa left herself wide open to a kick that connected with her chin that held enough force to kill an average person or fledgling rank monster, break the neck of a practitioner and hardly budge an expert.

Lisa, being a practitioner, soon found herself fifteen feet in the air as sword after sword from above seemed to impale her. As a corpse made its way to the ground.

“I d-didn’t mean to….” Kyrion stopped as he noticed Lisa’s body began to put itself back together.

"Not this again." Kyrion pushed out the mana, trying to manipulate him again, and ran off. Hopefully, he’d make it in time to save Tiffany.

After the first wave of swords fell from above. A man with a black blindfold and black hair descended from above his body, surrounded by floating blades.

“Hello, everyone! I’m sorry but I’ve been hired to capture someone named Kyrion as well as destroy his will to fight back. Though I clearly wasn’t told he’d have this much assistance. Not that it matters much. The destroying of will was an ad on. Bring out the child and I’ll go.” The Eyeless man said.

Stone walked forward and stomped, causing a wave of force to push the man back. “You come here, attack the villagers and then go making demands. For someone, not guild affiliated, you sure are bold.”

“What are you going on about?” The Eyeless man turned his gaze towards Stone and raised his hand.

Swords flew at the bald, bearded man. Cutting the wind with a wide enough splash range to hit students if he dodged.

Stone clapped his hands, and the blades fell to the ground inert.

An arrow of ice flew towards the eyeless man and pierced his shoulder from inside a windowed room.

“Out of my range….” Swords began to rise and point in the general direction of the hotel.

Damian had appeared coated in a yellow aura aiming to disarm his opponent.

The Eyeless man easily evaded the attack by jumping backward.

This maneuver led him into a sticky weblike cage that quickly began to burn as he was impaled by a spear of strange metal.

The Eyeless man sent out a wave of power that pushed all of the children on him away as his wounds sealed and burns healed.

Swords rose from the ground again, only this time a woman in pink robes intercepted him. Sword strikes made to kill were made. Forced the blindfolded man to adjust his focus. Drawing a sword from the ground to use for himself.

The first clash of blades told Glersora one thing. This man is way more skilled in swordplay than her. Which wasn’t an easy feat. She was quickly one of the best swordswomen on the continent.

The eyeless man smiled as he jumped backward and adjusted his stance to mimic hers.

“Sakura style, petals grow.” The Eyeless man said aloud.

Glersora was taken aback. How did he know the name of that style? She discovered it in a tomb said to have been sealed for a thousand years. It was the only one of its kind.

“How do you know that style?” Glersora prepared to strike.

“I spared with someone who knew the style. A long time ago.” The Eyeless man smiled.

Glersora was taken aback, which left her open.

The eyeless man sliced his sword upwards towards Glersora’s throat.

Glersora parried the attack and thrust forward at the Eyeless man’s heart.

The two danced around each other for quite a few minutes. Neither was tired from the physical exertion.

Ceres removed the swords pinning Noah to the ground, and he was able to move away from the people he saved. Many were lucky, some weren’t, as a few corpses littered the area.

The people Noah saved, a mother, and her two children, bowed to him before running to shelter.

Noah, however, was bleeding profusely from his arms and legs. A vial of blended blue pomegranate juice was given to him by Wura.

After drinking it, his body began to rapidly heal at the cost of his own mana. From lion man to just a giant, as his transformation ended. The boy soon fell as his energy left his body.

Ceres carried Noah into the hotel to rest as the group followed.

Kiarra was on them in seconds. “Is he alive? Please tell me he’s alive.”

“He’s alive. Just needs to rest.” Wura said.

“Stay here all of you. I’m going to catch up with Kyrion.” Ceres demanded.

Ceres ran after Kyrion rather or not she'd be on time was something only time could tell.