The time to put his skills to the test had finally arrived. He wasn’t excited about the prospect of killing anyone, but something like this was bound to come up eventually. As the two bandits approached he was reminded of something Jelroy had told him and Eiden during the early days of their training.

“Remember, I’m teaching these skills to you so that you might know how to defend yourself or others should the need ever arise. There are many ways to use your skills for defense, and I encourage you to do so. Blows that incapacitate, strikes that leave one wounded and bleeding but alive…” Jelroy sighed and stepped to the weapons rack as he gazed into the distance.

Then in a low voice, he continued, “These are the techniques you should always try to employ first in order to disarm and frighten your opponents. However, not all situations can be overcome simply by defending or disarming. There will come a day when you are left with no recourse but to attack an opponent with the intent to kill. When that day comes, you absolutely must not hold back or hesitate. If you do you will die…”

“Fighting to preserve life is perhaps the best goal to keep in your mind when walking the path of the warrior, but it is not always possible. One of your main jobs as a warrior will be to examine a situation and decide in an instant if the battle you’re facing is one that requires the taking of a life, or if it can be resolved in another way…”

As the two bandits drew nearer to Cypher he quickly examined them as closely as he could. Was this a battle he could end without killing? He couldn’t say for sure, but something about their movements seemed… off to him. It was like they were moving in slow motion. It was as if the air had grown thicker and they were simply dragging themselves through it.

The strangest part, however, was that Cypher knew that he could move as if nothing were holding him back. He didn’t need to move to understand that. But what he did come to understand though, was that his senses had become far sharper in this moment of clarity. His thoughts, feelings, and even his entire body were focused on this battle and it was this focus that was empowering him.

In an instant, all his training, all the knowledge that Jelroy had imparted to him rose to the surface. He could see the openings in these bandits’ attacks. Picking them apart would be laughably easy. On top of that, there would be no need to kill them either. A smile emerged from his face as all his doubts fell away and he took a step forward.

“OUT OF THE WAY KID!” said the bandit to the right preparing a strike with his longsword.

Cypher dashed forward and ducked under the man’s slow strike. He then flipped his sword into a reverse grip and bashed the pommel as deeply into the bandit’s gut as he could. He then followed that up with a rising kick that sent the man flying backward several meters.

His partner stopped dead in his tracks and stared slackjawed at the kid in front of him. He had never seen a child move like that in his entire life and a spark of fear rose up in him.

“Well? Are you going to come at me too? Or should I be the one to come to you?” Cypher said as he turned to face the other bandit, his sword still in a reverse grip.

The bandit on the ground heaved and coughed up a bit of blood as he struggled on the ground. His partner saw this and gritted his rotten teeth before dashing forward with a yell.

Cypher dropped low this time and swept his leg in a quick rotation of movement sending the bandit crashing to his side unexpectedly. The man was unlucky though and fell onto one of his daggers which slid into his thigh all the way to the hilt. He roared in pain, but before even a handful of seconds had passed Cypher had knocked him unconscious.

Cypher heard the scrape of gravel under a boot behind him and narrowed his eyes. He jammed his sword arm backward impaling the arm of the first bandit who had taken that instant of distraction to try and attack Cypher. It was a slow attack on the bandit’s part. Of course, he had needed to drag himself to his feet and move into position. Given that his body still hurt from the previous attack he was careless in his movements and had given himself away before he could complete the attack.

“AHH WHAT THE FUCK?!?” roared the bandit as his longsword fell to the ground and his arm hung limp and bleeding. The man stumbled back and swung his free arm wildly. The sudden jerking motion caught Cypher off guard and the man’s elbow slammed into Cypher’s jaw with a thud.

Cypher staggered back a bit, more shocked than anything at the sudden attack. His jaw throbbed and the taste of iron filled his mouth.

“So this is what a battle is like…” he thought to himself. He was mostly unharmed but still shocked that he had let his guard down and allowed such a stupid attack to get through. He had been too cocky at the discovery of his newfound abilities. Jelroy would be upset if he heard about it and would no doubt make him run some kind of intense drill as punishment. He vowed not to make the same mistake twice and carefully tucked this lesson away within his memory.

It didn’t take long for Cypher to knock the struggling bandit out like the other and return his senses to the battle at hand. His first opponents lay defeated at his bootheels and pride welled up inside him. A smile broke across his face, but Cypher shook his head to banish his current thoughts.

Now wasn’t the time to let his mind wander. This battle wasn’t over just yet, several more bandits were now approaching from either side of the town square. The first two had clearly just been untrained in the ways of combat. However, these new challengers seemed to have a different air about them.

It was as if they could move as freely as Cypher felt that he could a moment ago. No, these two were going to be a bit of trouble and Cypher prepared himself. He held his stance in front of the door to the elder’s house and turned his head from side to side to better keep an eye on the both of them while spitting out a bit of the blood pooling in his mouth.

The two newcomers drew closer and his eyes darted over to the other two bandits he had just felled. The impression of the last exchange of blows ran through his mind quickly. He had done all that without thinking much about it. It was as if his body simply knew what to do. Then again, he had trained for hundreds of hours against Jelroy and Eiden.

While Eiden was a student of combat just like Cypher, Jelroy was a highly trained warrior. Not only that, but he was a Conductor as well! Training with someone so powerful had really changed him in ways he hadn’t quite expected. This was quite a shock to him and he struggled to understand how he had gotten so strong compared to ordinary people.

However, as with his thoughts from just a moment ago, these considerations could wait until later. Right now there was still danger to deal with and the two bandits were closing in fast. From what he could tell they would both probably be in striking range at the same time. This wasn’t good for him at all since he lacked a shield or a buckler of any kind and would only be able to directly block one of their blades.

The other he would have to…

“CLANG!!!!” The first sword slammed into the cobblestone in front of the door as Cypher turned to parry the bandit to his right. The bandit’s blade sunk deeply between two hunks of stone and into the strip of grassy earth between them. Before he could pull it out, Cypher jammed his boot heel down on the pommel of that sword and drove it even deeper.

It stuck all the way to the hilt and Cypher kicked the bandit in the face. He then turned to see the other about to attack again. Cypher raised his arm and blocked the incoming strike. The man was much taller than he was but their strength seemed to be in different leagues.

While the bandit was indeed strong, Cypher was somehow stronger and managed to fend off the attack and push the bandit back a few steps. He brought his fist around and slammed it into the face of the bandit with the stuck sword as he reached down to try and pull it free.

The man staggered back and Cypher turned once more to slash at the chest of the bandit on the left. The tip of his sword dragged its way through the first few layers of metal and left a long jagged line across the iron breastplate of the bandit. Confusion crossed his face then as he saw his partner holding his jaw and struggling to pull his sword free from the ground.

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” He bellowed aloud, but it was a shortlived cry as Cypher moved in again to attack even more ferociously than before.