NoGift 41 THE HANDSOME BANDI

The carriage ahead was moving in a moderate pace. Beside it was a man riding on a black horse. He was wearing a white trench coat with an emblem of three swords intertwining on its left sleeve. Argent immediately recognized the emblem. It's the emblem of the Temple Knights. So one of the Temple's glorified assassin - as Clay called them - was escorting the carriage and its occupants to the capital.

Argent looked at the man more closely. He has dirty blond hair that was cut haphazardly. His dark blue eyes were filled with impatience. Even if he was sitting on a horse, Argent could tell that he was quite tall. Even at this distance, she could still see the disatisfaction on his face. As if he'd rather be in any place than here.

But Argent didn't care about any of that. If she wanted to save Clay's sister, then the biggest obstacle would be that knight. Which meant she needed to take care of that guy first. She turned her bracelet into a sword and took a deep breath. She tried to lower her presence as much as possible and then she followed the moving carriage by jumping from one tree branch to another.

Once she was closed enough, she jumped towards the back of the knight, raising her sword for an attack. At the same time, she threw a dagger towards one of the wheels of the carriage to stop it from moving. Two things happened simultaneously. One; the carriage swayed, the coachman had to force the horses to stop before they crashed into something. And two; the knight turned and caught Argent's sword the moment she slashed it on his back.

"So you're the mouse who's been following us. You showed your face much sooner than I expected. I thought I have to pry you out from your hiding place myself," he said mockingly. Then the exposed skin on his hand started being covered by magma like stones. Steam coming out from it, showing just how high its temperature was. He gripped her sword tighter and tighter until he melt the part he was holding and broke the sword.

Argent caught the other broken part of the sword before it fell on the ground and immediately jumped back. She looked at her sword, some part of it completely melted. But that didn't scared her. She attached the two broken parts of the sword and the nano-particles that made up the sword started attaching the two parts. In no time, her sword became whole again without any signs of damage.

The knight whistled. "That's an unusual sword. Give it to me," he said as if he's expecting that Argent would really give him the sword. Argent didn't answer and dashed forward instead. "Oh, so we're going to fight. Then I hope you won't die after five seconds." He jumped off his horse and took a fighting stance. Both his arms were now covered by that magmlike substance. Then he ran towards Argent.

The two clashed in the middle. Argent's sword landed on the knight's arm. The part of the sword that came in contact with the magmlike substance on his arm started to melt. Before Argent could move, the knight immediately punched towards her face. His movement was fast. If Argent was not using [Mizukodo], she probably wouldn't be able to dodge it. Although she wouldn't melt if she was touched by that magmlike fist because of her special constitution, it would still cause damage. She could tell that punch packed a lot of power. If that punch successfully landed on her face, there's a high probability that her jaw would be broken.

Argent slashed the sword on the knight's body. He didn't even bother to dodge and just welcomed her attack. The only thing she managed to slash was his clothes. The part of his body she attacked turned into that magmlike substance again. So he could cover any parts of his body with that thing. It's a powerful Gift. If not for her special constitution, she might think twice before fighting this guy.

The knight continuously punched her and Argent continuously dodged. But she knew it was only a matter of time before one of his punch landed. Because his speed was constantly increasing by every punch. After that last dodge, Argent vanished and reappeared a few distance behind the knight. Then she used one of the core techniques of Sui-Ryu style - [Habu].

A strong slashing force appeared and attacked the knight. The knight just sneered and easily dodged it. But then that slashing force curved like a snake and went toward the place where the knight was. It caught the knight off-guard. Before he could move, it already slashed his left shoulder. [Habu] was a sword slash that curved a few times before it landed on the target. It often took the target by surprise so they don't have time to dodge it.

The knight looked at his wounded shoulder. That attack, it surprised him so much he didn't even think of protecting any parts of his body. He laughed with glee. Heath Magnus was one of the youngest knight in the Temple Knights order. But because of his powerful Gift and outstanding fighting ability, he quickly rose in ranks despite his age. The only thing hindering him to completely dominate the Temple Knights' ranks was his uncontrollable bloodlust.

He just couldn't help but look for strong opponents to fight. Truthfully, if he could, he'd rather be a mercenary than a knight. But he couldn't leave the Temple because they basically owned him. Being a knight just restrained him of the things he wanted to do. Mainly, fighting. Those Archbishops always reprimanded him because of that. The last time he did fight someone, they punished him by being the personal bodyguard of that guy.

Heath escorted that guy to this backward country. He thought there could be nothing worse than that. But then that guy suddenly ordered him to escort some orphan teenagers to the capital of this backward country. That was so below his paygrade. But then who would have thought he would meet a strong opponent here? He almost wanted to thank that annoying guy for sending him here.

"You're good. Now let's get serious, shall we?" Heath showed an almost maniacal smile, completely letting go of his bloodlust.

Argent felt a chill. She could literally feel his blood curling need to fight her. If she prolonged this fight, she might end up getting seriously injured.

Heath covered both his arms and entire upper body with magma rocks - it was his Gift. It contained the same intense heat as that of a real magma. Anything that came in contact with it instantly melt. That's why fighting melee with him was completely disadvantageous to his opponents. But it looked like this guy didn't care about that at all. Which just made Heath totally happy.

Heath rushed towards the guy. When he did, the guy executed that weird sword technique one after another. This time he was ready. So he managed to dodge but one still landed on his stomach. If not for his Gift, he might be spilling his guts out now. He couldn't help but laugh. It's been so long since he had a fight like this. When he looked towards the direction of the guy, he was no longer there. But he didn't worry. He suddenly turned around and reached out his hand, grabbing on to the crook of the guy's neck.

"That was sloppy," he said. When the guy vanished, Heath immediately felt his presence behind him.

Then Heath suddenly noticed that something was wrong. Because the guy's expression didn't even change. His hand was now covered by his Gift. The skin on the crook of this guy's neck should be melting by now. But before he could think why, the guy suddenly reached out his hand and touched his chest. Then he slashed his sword upwards. He sneered. What could his sword slash do?

But then Heath suddenly felt pain. He looked down and saw the deep wound on his chest. His eyes widened in extreme disbelief. He let go of the crook of the guy's neck and staggered backward then fell down. "H-how...?"

Argent didn't care for him. She immediately ran towards the carriage. She saw the coachman running away, probably afraid that she would attack him next. She opened the door of the big carriage and saw six people inside. All of them were shivering in fear, they probably saw what she did to the knight. Well, except for one. The girl who has her hands and feet tied and has a gag on her mouth. She has long light brown hair with greenish tint at the tip and eyes the same dark brown as her brother's.

"Flora?" The girl's eyes immediately filled with vigilance after she named her. Argent pulled Flora out of the carriage and removed her gag and cut the rope tying her hands and feet.

The moment she did, Flora immediately struggled. "Let go of me!"

Annoyed, Argent gripped the girl's neck. "Stop. You're brother sent me. Now if you'd rather stubbornly fight me, then I'll be more than happy to leave you here. Nod if you'll obediently come with me." Flora remained silent, stubborness etched on her lovely features. "I'm not that patient, so quickly answer."

At the end, Flora still nodded. So Argent let go of her neck and pulled her away.

"W-who are you...?"

Argent stopped when she heard the voice of the knight. She glanced back. The knight remained down on his back, lying on his own pool of blood. "I'm a bandit."

Then Argent carried Flora and jumped to a nearby tree's branch.

*****

NOTE: [Water Dance] is now renamed as [Mizukodo] so as to be consistent with the names of the other core techniques of the Sui-Ryu style. (≧∇≦)/

Chapter end