In one moment, a man stepped toward Miko.
"The woman is mine."
Miko screamed: "Tai, please—"
I cut off both his hands.
I looked at him with complete calm and said: "She's mine. Not yours. And if anyone dares to touch any member of my family, I swear I will put them through a hell they've never lived and never heard of."
I cut off his head. Picked it up and threw it toward the rest of them.
"Come on then," I said, voice sharp with anger. "All of you."
While the air was thick with tension, a large man with a serious and intimidating face stepped forward.
"I challenge you to a duel."
"What kind of duel?"
"I'll draw a circle big enough for both of us. Whoever steps outside it loses."
He added: "If I lose, I take my men and leave you and your family alone. But if you lose, you accept whatever we say."
"Fine."
After agreeing, we moved a short distance from the carriage.
I could hear his men laughing, surrounding the carriage, certain their leader would win.
One of them said: "How are you going to beat him when you're half his size? Have you lost your mind?"
The duel began. His men were already moving to restrain my family.
Miko screamed: "Get away from us."
I turned and saw his followers going after Miko and the siblings.
"Your men are attacking my family. Pull them back."
"The duel has already started," the big man said. "It's too late."
I felt I'd been played. I released my aura — black and red — and said:
"Get away from them. Or I kill every single one of you."
They froze. Every one of them stepped back from my family, fear plain on their faces. Their eyes, their hands, their entire bodies shaking.
I turned back to the big man.
"Let's finish this."
The duel went like sumo — he tried to lift me, topple me, or force me out of the circle. But I was ready for him.
I let him come forward as if I was going to grab him, then sidestepped, pressed down on his foot, broke his balance, and kicked him out.
He was out of the circle.
Everyone stared in silence.
I looked at him. "I won. Take your men and go."
He acknowledged the defeat. They left.
But his followers didn't accept the result.
They split into two groups — one came at me, the other went for Miko and the siblings.
Ten men with poisoned swords came toward me.
The leader stepped forward and said: "Go to your family. I'll handle my own men."
I turned toward Miko and the siblings — and found a fat man had taken Miko hostage, sword at her throat, his hands all over her.
The moment from Nino's letter hit me like a wall.
I felt the veins in my head rise to the surface. My vision went.
I grabbed my head and started screaming. I fell to my knees. My aura came out — black and red, unstable, churning like it was reflecting exactly what was happening inside me. It was causing damage, sending a violent storm in every direction.
I forced myself up.
One step — and I was standing behind the fat man.
He turned, fear already on his face. He raised his sword toward Miko and two more men closed in on me.
I bound the fat man with the wire and cut him into pieces.
I drew the sword and cut the other two in the same breath.
Their bodies fell like snowfall. Their blood rained across me and Miko.
I wasn't fully conscious. I nearly went down — but Miko caught me and checked my condition. She couldn't identify what was wrong, so she treated what she could.
I took her hand. It was shaking.
I leaned close and whispered: "Listen carefully. I've put a barrier around the carriage. Get inside and protect the children."
Miko held me and said: "Are you sure? I want to stay and help you."
I looked at her. "Protecting the children is helping me. I refuse to let you die."
While Miko was helping me, I felt something strange nearby.
I looked toward it.
The same child.
He didn't look at me. He just said: "Stay back." Then he was gone.
I put my hand on Miko's head, smiled, and said: "Thank you."
Her cheeks went red. "You're welcome. I hope you don't forget it."
Miko went to the carriage and closed the door. I went toward the bandit leader to help him.
On the way, a man came flying at me. I stepped aside and watched him hit the ground — one of the leader's men, clearly thrown.
When I reached the leader, he'd already reduced the number to five.
I grabbed his shoulder, smiled. "Ready for another round?"
He smiled back. "Yes. Let's end this."
He took two. I took three.
I grabbed the first by the neck, pulled him away from the other two, and slammed him hard into the ground. Blood sprayed across my face and eyes.
The second and third came together.
The second had a sword, the third had a knife and an iron chain.
I grabbed the sword and bound it to my hand, then moved backward and let them follow me.
I picked up a discarded shield from the ground and threw it at the second man.
The chain fighter assumed I'd go for the second man and came at me instead.
I smiled, raised the shield, and hit him low and hard across the head.
He flew and landed face-first.
I grabbed the sword man by his left hand, threw him down, and stepped on him. I raised the sword and cut off his head.
I took a breath. Lit a cigarette. Walked to the chain fighter.
He was still alive.
I raised the sword to finish him — and he laughed.
I looked down. The chain was wrapped around my feet.
He yanked it. I hit the ground. He'd set his knife on the floor below me so I'd fall on it.
He jumped on top of me, enhancement magic on both hands, and started hitting.
His punches were fast. I blocked each one.
I grabbed his left arm. He grabbed my right.
I smiled at him. "Checkmate."
I let my hand go slack so the sword dropped, then caught it with my left. He reached for it — I headbutted him across the forehead. His head snapped back. I drove the sword into the center of his chest.
He raised the chain, pulled the knife from the ground, and tried to drive it into my head. I blocked it with the scabbard and shoved him off me.
We stood again. His movements were slowing. I used the scabbard as a weapon.
He raised the chain and wrapped fire magic through it. I activated enhancement on the scabbard and moved.
He charged screaming. I raised the scabbard like a sword.
He swung the chain. I met it with the scabbard.
I pulled the sword from his chest and cut him apart in quick strokes. Grabbed his head and threw it forward with full force into the carriage. His body dropped.
My fight's done. But has the leader finished his?
That question passed through my head as I fell back onto the ground from exhaustion.
Footsteps came toward me.
It was the leader.
He sat down beside me and said: "We're done. But… you've been through experiments. That's obvious from the way you fight. You're not an ordinary person."
I smiled. "I look forward to beating you again."
He smiled too. "Same. I'll come back to beat you."
I walked to the carriage. Tired — really tired.
But my mind was on the child.
Who is that child?
When I got there, I found Miko, Carmela, and Seijo all in tears.
"What's wrong?"
"We thought you were going to die."
I smiled. "Thank you for crying for me. Come on — let's go to the forest."
I put one foot into the carriage.
They rushed me all at once and held on.
I fell backward onto the ground with all three of them holding me, their tears running down my face.
I think I've finally found where I belong.
Miko said: "Are you alright? Do you need treatment?"
"I'm fine. I'm used to fighting."
We got back in the carriage.
Their questions were endless after that — They kept asking me one question after another.
Once the questions were done, they guided me toward the elf forest. Two weeks of travel — mountain roads, riverside paths, dense forest, all of it. I should also mention that we avoided a certain forest along the way that was said to be full of monsters.
We passed along its edge. I asked Miko: "Why didn't we go through it? Isn't it a shorter route?"
"That place is dangerous. You don't know what's in there."
Right after she said that, a roar came from inside — strange and deep and wrong in a way that settled the question immediately.
A chill ran through my body. I understood in that moment exactly how dangerous it was.
When we finally arrived, the welcome was warm.
Every elf in sight had an arrow pointed at us.
"Leave. You and everyone with you."
End of Chapter 45