Chapter 25. Anti hero

The mans hand fell to the floor along with the gun in it with a scream of pain. He stepped backwards holding his arm with his other hand just staring at the bloody gushing from his wrist. It took a moment for the other bandits to realize what happened and I took the advantage. Whipping my hand back to the man I had punched in the face I slit his throat wide open. A spray of blood came out for a moment followed by a river down his neck. Now the bandits were aware of what was happening. First of other two with a gun took aim at me from above on the next floor and fired. I was quicker however and grabbed the man whose hand was cut off using him as a shield. His cries of pain stopped after I felt two short forces against my grip of him. I let the body drop as I dashed for another bandit. He was in a middle of drawing his sword, leaving him open for an attack. I slashed him across the body then quickly followed up with my dagger across his neck. I moved to the next man charging me from behind. He swung downwards as I stepped to the side dodging his swing. I twisted my body towards the man and kicked him square in the face and followed up with my other leg kicking him in the head again. I took the advantage of him being stunned and moved to stab him however I could see another bandit charging at me behind the bandit in front of me. I waited for the man to get closer before I grabbed the man using him as a shield from the thrust from the charging bandit. The sword went through the bandit and almost stabbed me as well... almost. I pushed the bandit back along the swords blade knocking the sword from the other bandits hands. The bandit fell onto the blade as I moved forwards to attack the now unarmed bandit. He tried to kick towards my head however I blocked it with my right hand and caught it with my left. I sweeped his other leg off the ground sending him down onto the floor as I plunged my dagger into the mans heart. Thats five, only four more left. I looked up to see that the other two with a sword were holding two people as shields with their swords at their necks. I pulled my dagger from the mans chest and stood up staring at the two, then I could see the girl that I was talking to prior look at me with a grin. I saw she was readying some sort of ball in her hands that looked like a ball of energy. I returned the grin with one of my own. I sheathed my sword and dagger and looked up to the two men who had reloaded their guns.

"I'll give you four the chance to leave unharmed, that is if you throw your weapons down and walk off" I said out loud.

The four broke into a laugher "Your not in a position to make demands, Like we said cause trouble and we kill you and the person closest to ya" one of them spit.

I sighed loudly and shook my head "Your loss" I said as I swiftly reached into my coat and pulled two shadow daggers. The girl also moved at this time sending the ball flying at one of the bandits backs while the other bandit was about to be attacked by three small blue fire balls. I in turn threw my daggers straight for the two bandits with the guns. The first bandit attacked was the one getting hit by the blue ball, he flew forwards losing grip of his sword as he flew in front of me. The next was the one attacked by the three fire balls. He flinched backwards at the first ball then the next set fire to his back. The last one ended his life as he fell forwards in a blue flame. My daggers had hit their mark hitting the two marksmen dead in the forehead killing them instantly. The man hit by the blue ball was crawling towards me as he grabbed my foot. "Your, gonna pay fo-for this" He said with a husky voice. I lifted my foot up making him lose grip of it "Your not a position to give demands" I said as I stomped him in the back of the neck. With a loud crack the mans spine broke. I sighed before looking up at the group of people staring at me. This time I was expecting fear and panic but was met with happiness and thanks... This was the reaction I was hoping for at the orphanage. The reaction didn't have any effect on me, I'm sure if it was back in the orphanage it would be different. With a slight sigh I moved to pick up the bag of valuables and threw it onto the table. I then turned and walked out the door. Since I still had money and didn't pay for my food or drink I starting looking for another place to eat at but eventually I just wanted to lay down from the alcohol.

It wasn't long until I had the inn in eyesight, I was planning on resting and asking the Living Shadow more questions. Sadly fate had other plans as the fox girl had caught up with me "Hey! Wait a second!" She said as she ran to catch up to me.

I stopped and turned to face her as she ran up to me "What" I asked bluntly.

"I was going to ask you, where you learned to fight like that" she said out of breath.

"Self taught, why does it matter" I asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come with me, to make sure those bandits stop bothering this town for good" She said with a growl.

"Why would you care, more importantly why would I want to help" I asked as I turned away.

"Because their bad for my work and were hired to kill you" She said.

I stood there for a moment thinking over what she had said. Hired to kill me? It must be by the noxian squad leader, If I can get to their leader... "Fine" I said briskly. My head was still a little fuzzy from the drink but I should be fine in a fight.

The gril smiled as she turned and took a few steps away then she turned to face me "My name's Ahri, I never got yours" She said before waiting for me to follow.

I sighed before responding "My name's Blade".

We started hiking along the side of the river through vines and trees. The area was rather thick with both since no one bothered to cut them down. We caught breaks every now and then with a clearing. Ahri would talk to me about the bandits and what they have done. In turn I got a little bit of information on Ionia. The town I was in was one of the major towns of Ionia but I doubt you would be able to tell. At most I would guess the town held maybe 3000 people. Not a lot. However I'm sure there's clans of people hidden in the massive amounts of forest this island had. I wasn't sure why they didn't clear the area out. There was multiple dangers for not doing so. We had been hiking for around an hour and the sun was starting to hide behind the large mountains and trees this island had. Any light was a blinding beam that you would prefure to see from far back. Around this time me and Ahri had stopped to catch our breath, she was moving more then she should since she took the job of scouting to make sure we weren't walking into a trap. However she was wasting more energy then I would prefer. I myself had gotten used to climbing and jumping from tree to tree. It got easyer as I learned and now I can handle it without looking.

"I don't think we will make it before I fall asleep" She said stretching out and laying back.

"If you fall asleep I'm leaving you behind" I said.

"But you don't know where the camp is" She responded.

"I can always go back to the town" I shot back.

"In the dark?" She asked. That was the problem wasn't it. Even if I knew where the town was I wouldn't be able to get there in the dark. Making a torch would be stupid with all these trees and I doubt I could find any other source of light.

"What are we going to do then" I asked with a sigh.

"I think we might camp out, we might not be able to make a fire but Ionia is rather warm this time of the year" She replied.

"How far are we from the bandits" I asked.

"Hmm, Maybe half an hour" she replied.

"Maybe?" I pointed out.

"I've only ever gone there once" she shot back as she sat up. I sighed shaking my head before looking for a decent place to sleep. It wouldn't be the first time I've slept in a tree. I found a decent one that went rather high up and started climbing.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked as she saw me start climbing.

"Scouting, securing then sleeping" I replied not stopping. She didn't bother stopping me and for a moment I thought she would have followed me but she moved off into the forest. Even if she was abandoning me I could go back to the town in the morning so I didn't pay much attention. One I reached a height I didn't mind I cleared away small twigs and small branches jutting out of the tree branch and laid against the tree. I was rather high up, maybe seven stores high. The only sign of people I could see was the sight of the town far away just at the edge of my sight. I could also see what looked like smoke in front of me, the area looked like the camp since it was coming from a small cave rather far away ahead of me. Eventually the wind and night put me to sleep.

-Authors note-

Thanks for reading I just wanted to let everyone who reads this know if I didn't post on a certain day I likely took a break. I'm planing on only taking breaks on sundays and thursdays so don't expect a chapter on those days. Also what did you think of the last chapter? I think it might be my favourite chapter so far, I enjoy build ups like at the end of it. Thanks for reading. -Blade6309