Out in the dead of night, a small group of goblins were running through the fields, making their way into a tunnel that went under the walls of Einshard's borders. These were no ordinary goblins, as these ones had a red eye with a scar on the back of their necks.
They exited the tunnel that lead to the massive forest that was was untouched by either kingdom, leaving only one group to occupy its land.
The goblins approached a lone building.
The base of the "Blood Eyed Bandits".
The goblins scrambled to enter the building, which caught the attention of everyone who was inside, except for a single person who sat on a throne of sorts. The leader of the bandits, Anak
"It seems some of my minions have returned, but I don't recall you being allowed to return empty handed..." Anak said, looking up at the goblins.
"There seems to be less of them than normal, not to mention they're missing weapons, something must have interfered." Said Raze as she appears from behind the throne.
"Perhaps... Come forth, let me see what interrupted your work." Anak said, making the goblins step closer to him.
Anak took his staff and tapped it on the head of the goblin, allowing him to see its memories.
Moments passed as he went through the memories, until...
"UNBELIEVABLE!" Anak shouted, snapping out of his spell before he cast magic to set the goblins on fire.
"Boss?! What did you see?!" Raze said, shocked as everyone else was at the sudden outburst.
"That rat bastard that managed to escape us is responsible! It's been a thorn to my side thinking how he managed to slip away, and now he's interfering with my plans!"
"What should we do boss?" Raze asked him.
Before he could respond, the door opened again and another bandit walked in.
"Boss! We spotted a group of female adventurers entering the forest, four to be exact."
"Capture them immediately! We made the mistake of letting one escape, we will not let these ones escape either!"
"Roger!" They all shouted before leaving.
Once the room was empty, Anak sat down on his throne.
"Curse you Kazuma... Just you wait, I will have my vengeance." Anak said.
-Earlier in Axel-
It was a pleasant morning in Axel. Sitting in the comforts of their mansion, Aqua, Darkness, and Megumin were enjoying a nice breakfast, prepared by Megumin herself.
"This is good! I didn't know you could cook so well Megumin!" Aqua exclaimed as she stuffed her mouth with food.
"Well I did have to cook all kinds of things to feed me and my little sister, you pick up a thing or two that way." Megumin said.
"Well it certainly paid off, this was an excellent meal Megumin!" Darkness said.
As they were eating, they were suddenly interrupted by a knock at the front door. They looked at each other in confusion before Darkness stood up to answer the door.
The other two watched as she walked out of the room and heard the sound of the door opening.
"Hello- You?!" Darkness exclaimed in surprise.
"Hello, I need to have a word with you." Said a female voice before footsteps were heard, indicating she suddenly walked inside.
"Hey- Hold on! You can't just enter and demand to speak with us!" Darkness cried out as she went after the visitor.
Soon the two entered the dining room, revealing the visitor as Sena herself.
"It's the mean lady who took Kazuma away!" Aqua stood up, pointing and shouting at Sena.
"Correction, I will be taking Kazuma, but first I have a question for you three. Have you recently come into contact with him?" She asked.
"No, and even if we did why would we tell you?!" Megumin shouted from the table.
"Because I could easily have you all put on trial for assisting that terrorist. Nonetheless, I was hoping to gain some extra information from you, but it seems like we will be moving on with our plans."
"Plans?" Darkness asked.
"Some of our guards reported seeing someone with a similar description as Kazuma running through the Belzerg borders. We concluded that he may have escaped to another Kingdom, as such we are preparing a force to safely traverse, locate, and capture Kazuma. We intend to depart tomorrow, as such I only came here for any extra information. Now that I am done here, I bid you all farewell, may we never meet again under similar circumstances." Sena said before leaving.
Once they saw that she was a good distance away from the mansion, the girls panicked.
"AHHH, what do we do?! They're probably gonna find Kazuma and arrest him again!" Aqua cried out.
"Should we go find Kazuma first? We've gotten stronger now." Megumin suggested.
Over the last few weeks, the three had been farming for exp, raising their levels up, boosting their stats.
"Perhaps, but the question is if we are able to defend ourselves from the bandits that William spoke of. Even Wiz said they are a powerful group." Darkness said as she tried to make a decision.
"But we have to go! If we don't, who knows how long until they find Kazuma!" Megumin said.
"What should we do?!" Aqua cried out.
Darkness thought for a moment before coming to a decision.
"Pack up girls, I'll head over to Wiz's shop and let her know." Darkness said, leaving to prepare to head out.
The two scrambled to finish their meals before they ran to their respective rooms to prepare themselves.
Darkness quickly reached Wiz's shop, needing to inform the Lich of their plans.
"Darkness! Welcome, how can I help you?" Wiz asked.
"We recently learned that the authorities intend to cross over to Einshard tomorrow. We intend to go before they do."
"I see... Then let me prepare a few things, I'll meet you at the mansion by nightfall."
"Why so late?" Darkness asked, as she, as well as the other two were eager to leave right away.
"If we try to cross the Belzerg border by day, we may be caught, as such we should leave by night." Wiz said, explaining herself.
"Understandable, then tonight we move." Darkness said before leaving the shop.
With the plan set, Darkness returned back to the mansion where she prepared her things, as well as inform the other two of the plan.
Eventually night came, and as such Wiz had arrived at the mansion where the others waited.
"The time has come girls, we set out for Einshard tonigh, and look for K. I acquired one of Kazuma's posters, but removed the extras so we have a way of finding him once we get to Einshard. I did a bit of research and found that the closest city to the border is Lorm, so we will start there. We may have to face the "Blood Eyed Bandits", so be ready for a fight if it comes to it." Darkness said.
"I made sure to bring some Coronatite and potions for us. I went looking for them once you told me you planned on looking for Kazuma. These should come in handy for Megumin and Aqua especially." Wiz said.
"So now it's come to this, we go after Kazuma and see if we can even find him before the guards do. Do you think we can even do it?" Megumin asked wearily.
"Of course we can!" Aqua said, giving her a thumbs up.
"But then what do we do if we find Kazuma? What if he hates us, or doesn't want to come back?" She said, tears forming in her eyes.
"We talked about this Megumin... If he truly resents us, then we accept that. The only thing that we must do is make an effort where we failed to do before. We may have betrayed Kazuma before, but we will not do it again." Darkness said, reassuring the girl.
"R-right... Thank you Darkness. I'm ready to go!" Megumin said, calming down.
"I'm ready too!" Aqua said excitingly.
"As am I!" Wiz said.
"Then let us go! Wiz!"
"Right! Teleport!" Wiz activated her spell, a magic circle formed underneath them before they disappeared from the mansion.
-Meanwhile, in Lorm-
Kazuma was on his way to Lorm. After the events at Sol, he wanted to quickly return to Lorm to possibly warn Lily and Dale. Luckily the village had given Kazuma a horse to ride on to make the journey back, which he managed to figure out how to use after a few times of falling off.
"Dammit, why are they making my life a problem again?! Is it just by chance, or is it because I escaped from them before? Just what are they up to with controlling monsters?"
Kazuma reached the gate where he left the horse at a stable that he was able to pay to store there for the time being. From there he ran as fast as he could back to Lily's house.
He unlocked the door as fast as he could and once he was inside he started calling for her as he ran up the stairs to her room.
"Lily?! LILY?!" He shouted as he knocked on her door.
Shortly she opened the door, her face clearly showing that she was asleep but had been woken up.
"Kazuma..? What're you doing back so soon, I thought you were gonna be back tomorrow... And why are you so noisy, its late-" Lily was cut off as Kazuma had suddenly hugged her.
"K-Kazuma?! What're you- What's going on?" Lily asked, clearly confused.
He let her go, the panic on his face going away.
"Sorry, something happened during my quest, so I was worried something could have happened to you." Kazuma explained.
"Well, let's go downstairs and you tell me what happened." Lily suggested.
"That sounds good..."
The two went downstairs where Lily made some hot chocolate for the both of them. There, Kazuma told Lily about what happened at Sol, the kidnapping of villagers, Hans running off on his own and getting kidnapped, but most importantly, the goblins that had the symbols on the back of their necks.
"Wait, so those people who attacked you that day when we found you, their symbol is the same as the one's on the back of the monster's necks?" Lily asked, to which Kazuma nodded in confirmation.
"Then this is concerning, there is a type of dark magic that allows one to control monsters, the symbols are a way of identifying who the monster's master is. If someone is controlling monsters and are kidnapping villagers then we need to tell the guild. It's closed right now but we can tell them in the morning."
"Alright, then I should head to bed, after today I can feel the exhaustion catching up to me." Kazuma said as he got up.
"I can agree with that, especially since someone woke me up." Lily said, giving Kazuma a glare.
"S-Sorry, I was just concerned." Kazuma apologized.
"Don't worry, at least you had a good reason for it. Goodnight Kauzma." Lily said as she went upstairs to continue her sleep.
"Goodnight." Kazuma said as he watched her leave.
Once she has gone to her room, Kazuma stood still for a moment.
'Just what the hell is going on...' Kazuma thought to himself as he went upstairs.
Kazuma could barely sleep that night, with too many thoughts running through his head.
He didn't expect the bandits to have caught up with him like this. It was possibly only a matter of time before they went after him.
He could only hope things would get better in the morning.
-In the "No Man's Land" -
The girls had teleported from Axel to the Capital, from there they had to quickly leave. While it wasn't publicly announced, they were party members with Kazuma, making them allies of a "terrorist".
It had taken them some time to go from the Capital to the border, where they managed to sneak past the guards and made their way through the forest.
"Ugh... This place is so creepy..." Aqua said as she look around.
The forest was dark, only being illuminated by the moonlight.
"Be on your guard, the bandits could be anywhere in this forest, and they are dangerous." Darkness said as she kept a sharp eye on their surroundings.
"But with Wiz here, maybe we can take them down easily?" Megumin said as to calm down their nerves.
"You really think it's gonna be easy little girl?" Asked an unfamiliar voice.
"Who goes there?!" Darkness said as she drew her sword while the others took their stances.
From the shadows emerged Raze and many other members of the bandits surrounding them.
"You seem to already know who we are." Raze said
"So you guys are the bandits here? What do you want with us?!" Megumin asked.
"Yep, that's us, we're the "Blood Eyed Bandits", and as for what we want, well... We just want to capture you guys. Boss ain't happy that the last guy managed to escape, so we can't let you go either."
"Wait! The last guy, who was he?!" Darkness asked.
"Just some annoying prick who humiliated me and caused problems for us. Bastard would've been worth a ton of money if we had gotten him earlier."
"Was his name Kazuma?" Wiz asked.
"Yeah! Asshole stole my underwear to distract me and ran off!" Raze said furiously at the memory.
"That sounds like him..." All four deadpanned.
"Wait a minute... You know him? Hold on... I remember now! He had a party before he was wanted, a crusader, an Arch Priest, and an Arch Wizard. And judging by your appearances, you seem to fit the bill nicely. Except for you, I don't know who this addition is." Raze said as she pointed at Aqua.
"Huh? Addition?! HOLD ON, I'M THE ARCH PRIEST! SHE'S THE ADDITION!" Aqua cried as she pointed at Wiz.
"No way that's true." Every single bandit who was present said monotonously at once.
"EHHHHH"
"I mean, look at the two of you. She's wearing proper robes and seems more mature, you on the other hand are childish and you're wearing a skirt that's so short your butt is basically in view at all times." Raze said.
"Grrr... Why you... Megumin!"
"Right! Burst!" Megumin chanted one of her spells "Burst". It was a type of explosive magic that had a much smaller explosion, like a grenade or a bomb, rather than a full nuke.
The explosion knocked Raze and a few bandits who were blocking their path away, giving them the opportunity they needed to run.
While most of the bandits chased after them, some stayed to help the ones affected by the blast. Once Raze was on her feet, she gave her orders.
"Head back and tell the boss what's going on, I'm going after them." She said before darting after the girls.
The girls ran as fast as they could, but the bandits were gaining on them.
One managed to get ahead of them and blocked their path, but Darkness moved ahead. The bandit drew his knife and went for a strike but she blocked it with her sword before delivering a swift kick to his side.
"Keep moving!" She said as she continued to run with the group.
"Wiz! Don't you know any spells to slow them down?!" Megumin asked before she saw a few bandits to their side, taking care of them with another "Burst".
"Bottomless Swamp!" Wiz chanted, turning the earth behind them into a swamp that caught several bandits in it. However it wasn't enough as more showed up.
"There's no end to them!" Aqua cried out.
As they were running, they soon came close to the base of the bandits. They came to a stop as the path ahead was blocked with more bandits, and the leader of the group.
"So this is the band of people who have been causing me trouble now huh." Anak said as he looked over the group
"Who the hell are you?!" Megumin asked as she pointed her staff at the man.
"Why, I am the leader of this group of this lot, Anak!" He said, introducing himself to the girls.
"So you're the leader. In that case, we heard from one of your members that another adventurer came through here recently, his name is Kazuma." Darkness said.
"Ah yes... That boy. We captured him quickly once he entered the forest, but unfortunately he was clever and managed to escape. Even now that boy is a problem, one that I may have to deal with soon."
"What do you intend to do with him?!" Megumin asked.
"Simply put, we're gonna kill him. And that's what's going to end up happening to you if you make this difficult."
"If you intend to bring harm to him, then I'm afraid I will have to stop you." Darkness said as she took a stance, the others following suit.
"You think you'll be able to stop me? I'd like to see you try. After all, you all would make great puppets. However... You, in the red, are you a Crimson Demon?" Anak asked, surprising everyone.
"Y-yes, what of it?!"
"Interesting, it has been a while since I have seen another one." Anak said, peering deep into her eyes, making her realize.
"Wait, you're a Crimson Demon too?!" She said to the surprise of the other girls.
"Yes I am, pleasure to meet a fellow Crimson Demon. I am quite interested in this, I offer you a chance to join me! Join me and my bandits, or else you will meet the same fate as your comrades there." Anak said.
"Like hell I'm gonna join you! You guys are crazy, and you even plan to kill Kazuma!" Megumin said, refusing his offer.
"What a shame... it should have been nice to have another skilled mage like you in our group, but you've made your choice. I guess you will do fine as a puppet. Get them!" Anak ordered.
The bandits that stood by Anak charged forward, weapons drawn. Darkness stood in front of the group and blocked all of them before knocking them back. It was now that some had emerged from the shadows. Wiz used "Light of Saber" to handle the ones that were coming from her side, while Megumin used "Burst" for the ones on her end. Aqua stayed in the middle of the group as she casted any recovery magic that was needed, while casting buffs for them.
During this fight, Raze had finally caught up, standing beside Anak.
"Good to see you're still standing." Anak said to Raze.
"Of course, I was simply caught off guard." She said as she watched the fight.
Without a doubt, this group was strong. The mages were able to take down their fighters, while the crusader was keeping the other ones at bay with her impregnable defense.
"Let me take on the blonde one, she's their main defense, and leader." Raze said.
"Very well. Don't let me down."
Raze nodded before she walked over to the group.
The bandits who were fighting Darkness noticed Raze approaching, knowing that she was going to fight the dispersed.
"So, you must be a strong fighter if the others knew to stand down." Darkness said as she kept a sharp eye on the new contender.
Raze reached to the dual knives that were on her back before getting ready for a fight.
"I did train my whole life to fight, just something I needed to do to survive out here."
"Well, as a crusader, I will protect my teammates to the end." Darkness said.
"Let's see how long that pride will last!" Raze said before she swiftly attacked Darkness.
Raze swung her daggers at Darkness who was able to block them with her sword, but the impact they both felt.
Raze slid her daggers off the sword before spinning around for an overhead stab, but Darkness managed to grab her arm.
Despite this, Raze managed to kick Darkness, forcing her to let go of her wrist.
The difference in their classes was obvious. Raze was a thief, resulting in high agility and speed, whereas Darkness was a strong crusader, with high strength and defense. It would be difficult for either to land a deciding blow on the other.
Raze went in again, lunging one of her daggers forward while having the other behind her. Darkness blocked the first dagger, but had to dodge back as the second one went under the sword and nearly cut her. She swiped the dagger that she was blocking to the side before slashing at Raze. She managed to dodge the attack but she felt the strong wind that came with the swing.
Thinking she had the opportunity to attack Darkness while she recovered from her swing, Raze quickly dashed at her, but was caught off guard as Darkness spun around to deliver a kick to Raze's side.
Raze was knocked back a few meters, but before she could even recover from the hit, Darkness was already on the move, sword coming down to strike her. She managed to narrowly dodge the attack, but the impact was so strong that it left a small crater.
"Tch! This one is becoming a problem..." Raze said.
"Surrender now!" Darkness cried out.
"Surrender? Hahaha! What a joke! We never surrender!" Raze said before charging at Darkness with renewed vigor.
Off to the side, Wiz and Megumin were keeping the rest of the bandits at bay. The numbers slowly dwindled as they took down more bandits, rendering them unable to fight anymore.
"She's been fighting that bandit for a while now, do you think she can beat her?" Aqua asked as she watched the fight.
"I don't know, while Darkness' defense is incredibly high, it does not make her invincible, and that bandit seems to be very skilled compared to these ones." Wiz said as she took down another bandit that was lurking in the shadows.
"But she has to win, otherwise we might get-"
"DARKNESS!" Megumin was interrupted by Aqua who cried out in panic at their crusader, causing the other two to freeze up and look behind them at the fight.
Raze had initially started her assualt like before, with Raze dishing out attacks relentlessly, yet none damaging Darkness as she continuously blocked the attacks. But the tables soon turned.
"Lurk!" Raze had ran into the dark forest, seemingly having dissapeared.
Darkness looked around to try and find her, but Raze had already went for an opening, slicing Darkness' arm where her armour didn't protect her.
She spun around to try and strike back, but Raze had already disappeared again, only to make another cut on Darkness.
"It seems that annoying pervert was good for something, he did teach me how to use that skill "Lurk"".
"No way, is Darkness gonna lose?!" Aqua cried out from their group.
"Wiz! Do how much mana do you have left?" Megumin asked.
"I still have a lot, I haven't used up much powerful spells yet, why?"
"I have an idea, but I need more mana, you taught Kazuma drain touch right?"
"Yes, but what do you need- Oh! I see!" Wiz grabbed the back of Megumin's neck and began pouring mana into the little wizard.
Meanwhile, Darkness was now on her last legs as she had taken a considerable amount of damage from Raze.
"It seems that you were only full of talk, but your words weren't enough to earn your victory here. Any last words before I end it here?" Raze asked as she got ready to deliver the final blow.
"Yeah... I... Will not fall here..." Darkness said with a grin on her face.
"So confident, but not skilled enough. Now it's about time you di-"
"EXPLOSION!" Megumin cried out her ultimate spell.
A pillar of circles appeared over the bandit's base before it was blown into oblivion.
"MY BASE!" Anak screamed as he stared at the massive fire ball.
In that moment, Raze was so shocked by both the amazement of the explosion, and also that their base had just been destroyed, that she failed to notice Darkness charging at her before it was too late. Due to her injuries, Darkness' aim was thrown off, and made a large cut on Raze's side, one too big for her to get up after she had fallen.
"AGHHH, YOU BITCH!" Raze screamed.
The only response she got was Darkness' cold glare before she kicked her head, knocking her out.
She then turned to her comrades, who were giving her looks.
"What?" Darkness asked.
"Note to self... NEVER piss off Darkness..." Aqua murmured, the other two nodding their heads in agreement.
"Come on!" Darkness shouted.
Once Wiz gave Megumin enough mana to run, the three ran over to Darkness before they ran down the path leading to Einshard.
They were getting close to the border, the gate was on the horizon. But as they ran, they heard Anak scream.
"GET BACK HERE! I WILL NOT LET YOU GO AFTER ALL THIS! HELL STORM!" Anak chanted his spell with great intensity, an enormous amount of massive fireballs appearing from the sky, aimed solely for the girls.
"I won't let you! Cursed Crystal Prison!" Wiz chanted her spell to counter the fireballs.
Most of the attack was turned to ice, while the rest had simply hit the ice that had formed, causing most of the ice to disappear, but the ones that remained had fallen around Anak, forcing him to come to a halt as the group had gotten away.
"We did it!" Aqua cheered.
"This is it girls, Einshard is just up ahead. Once we get there, we find a place to rest, then look for Kazuma." Darkness said.
"This is it, now's our chance to find Kazuma!" Megumin said excitingly.
"I'm happy for you girls, I just hope Kazuma won't be too angry when he sees us." Wiz said.
That thought lingered in the back of their heads, the thought of Kazuma being extremely angry with them, but it was an outcome they were prepared for.
Anak had returned to the smouldering crater that was his base. His people stood there as he returned. Raze was sitting on the ground, a bandage wrapped around her stomach.
"Boss! Did you get them?!" Raze asked as she saw him return.
"No, they got away! Damn those rat bastards... They've made it to Einshard. But if they're there, looking for Kazuma, then they'll be in Lorm." Anak said, thinking about his next move.
"Everyone! Ready the monsters! We're gonna hunt us some adventurers..." Anak said.
Holy hell this was a doozy to write, but here we are! We're getting into the final stretch of this story, the two stories of Kazuma's life in Lorm and the girl's plan to find Kazuma are starting to cross. And the bandits are now plotting something to get his revenge! Also this is the longest chapter I have EVER written.
