The full moon shone brightly in the castle. The Silver-Haired Thief Brigade was currently facing off against Claire and Rain, along with a retinue of castle guards. Under normal circumstances, Kazuma would have been the first to suggest an escape route along with a simple plan to abandon the mission. But he felt so... strange, but powerful. The mana, stamina, and adrenaline rush he was feeling were empowering him to be bold.

To attack. To hurt.

It was only logical, after all. Wasn't it fair to defend yourself during a quest? Those foolish guards decided to attack them, so fair was fair.

"Assistant-kun, do you have a plan?" Asked his accomplice, Chris.

Kazuma felt himself grinning without cause, "Of course, let me handle it."

Chris whipped her head to the left at the sinister tone he used in worry. "All by yourself?"

The boy nodded. Claire decided then to charge forward and take a swing at him, which Kazuma swiftly dodged. Surprised but not deterred, Claire swung in an arc behind her while turning and Kazuma caught her sword arm with ease.

"Would you like to be the first?" He smiled at her. Activating Drain Touch was effortless and Claire's energy was easily absorbed into Kazuma's own body. She screamed as her life force was drained away and collapsed to the floor. For a moment, Kazuma considered letting her go and moving on.

Just for a moment.

Instead, he put his left foot on her back with a strong grip on her right wrist still being held in the air by Kazuma.

Rain stepped forward with a furious look, "Let her go! Lightning!"

Chris responded in kind, "Skill bind!" Suddenly, Claire's staff stopped producing electricity and ceased to function.

"What?!"

"Nice job, big boss." Kazuma complimented. Redirecting his attention to Claire, she turned her head somewhat as much as she could to glare directly at him. "You know, you wouldn't know this, but there's a certain kind of satisfaction I'm getting from seeing you on the floor like the lap dog you are."

The insult had its intended effect as Claire struggled fruitlessly in his grip. "Ah, ah, ah. Keep moving and I can't stop what happens next."

The woman scoffed at him. "I'm not afraid of you, scum."

Kazuma ceased any smiling and wore a frown. "You should be." Without a moment to waste, he twisted her wrist.

CRACK

Claire's screams were almost something to behold. Kazuma let her broken wrist fall useless to the ground as she weakly held it close to her body.

"Assistant-kun!" Chris yelled after recovering from shock at her friend's brutality.

"Damn you! Guards! Execute them!" Claire ordered as she crawled back to Rain in hopes of healing. It was beautifully pathetic for someone of her stature. To think this was the person who doubted Kazuma's competence. All those claims she made against him earlier that day about how useless he was to his party, who did this woman think she was?

Turning his partner in crime, he asked, "Oi, Big Boss."

"Y-yes?"

"Why don't you go on ahead? I'll take care of everyone else."

"No way! You can't take on all of these guys by yourself!"

Kazuma felt a laugh coming out at that statement but held it in check. "Fine, but I'll take care of things however I want to."

"Just don't hurt anyone too badly!"

The assistant thief didn't respond as the guards rained down upon them. Chris would hold out fine, Kazuma knew. If he could dodge these inept guards, so could she. As such, he didn't even glance in her direction. Unfortunately, he didn't have his sword to finish up quickly and he doubted Chris would let him borrow hers. Formulating a plan quickly, he set it into motion.

He froze the ground the men ran on and saw them flail on the floor struggling to regain their footing. Running forward, he grabbed one guard's face, covered his mouth with one hand, and did the same with the other hand on another guard.

"Create Water."

A flood of water flowed down their throats and filled their bodies. Kazuma poured more power into the spell and the men practically drowned on the spot. Once they fell unconscious or died, Kazuma didn't sweat the details, he attacked the last few and used Freeze to create an airtight seal around their noses and mouths, which would cause them to suffocate without help.

With the guards writhing on the ground, the boy turned toward the lowly mage. "Hey, healing lady." Kazuma pointed a finger at Rain, who stood up from her attempts to heal Claire, ready to fight. "I suggest you ignore that sad thing to take care of your useless guards, or I'm afraid they won't make it." He said with a mock of concern and a finger pointing behind him.

Claire grew furious, "Curse you!" Rain looked torn between finishing her healing of Claire or helping the men, but she offered an apologetic look to Claire. The swordswoman nodded, "Go ahead, I'm not going anywhere."

Rain ran to the men in a wide arc, giving Kazuma a wide berth in caution. Turning to Chris, Kazuma saw the guards had already fallen at her feet. Judging by the lack of blood on her person, he supposed she knocked them all out the old-fashioned way. Signaling her to escape with him to the Princess's tower, she nodded and together they left the hapless heroes behind with the first-floor guards barely managing to break open the wire at the stairs. A hero in blue armor had only just arrived to join them.

"That was needlessly cruel, assistant-kun," Chris commented as they ran along the top of the castle towards the Princess's room.

Kazuma almost sucked his teeth, "It got the job done quicker."

Chris shot him a look that looked like a disappointed grandmother but made no further attempts to talk. Fine by him.

Getting to the two large double doors, Kazuma pushed them open without delay. There, standing in her crusader outfit was Darkness with her eyes closed, with all the regality that befitted her station.

"Evildoers, I shall not allow you to harm the royal family. Prepare for-"

"Bind!" Kazuma yelled.

"Wah!" Darkness flopped to the ground unceremoniously with her sword clattering to the ground next to her. "You brute! Not even allowing me to finish my speech!"

"Keep going!" Chris yelled as they swiftly ran past Darkness before she could even get a glance at them. Her excited breaths told Kazuma she already was off in imagination land.

The princess stood at the back of the room with a small but powerful sword. She gave them a steely-eyed look and unsheathed her blade.

"Know that the Royal Family is incredibly powerful, and I have been practicing my skills since I've been old enough to walk." She readied herself for battle but was stopped by Megumin putting her arm out in front of her.

"Megumin-san?"

Megumin smiled confidently. "Hold on, Iris! Let me handle... this?" The mage stumbled in her line delivery as she took a good look at the two thieves. Her eyes began shining in excitement, "Ooooh! Wow! So cool! Hey, do you two have a name for your gang? Can I join?!"

"Megumin-san! That's treason!" Iris chastised.

Kazuma should have realized that his party would start their shenanigans even at the worst of times, but he should have known better than to believe in them at all.

Playing up to Megumin's predilection for all things over-the-top, he held his left hand over his face while using the other to point at the mage.

Lowering his voice a bit, he began, "Is this the famous mage with the strongest explosion spell? I've heard about you."

Megumin almost started vibrating in her boots. "Really?! You have?!"

"Of course! From one hero to another, can you please step aside so that the Princess and I may have our final battle?"

"Right away!" Megumin immediately stepped to the side with gusto as the princess stared at her with a shocked look.

Well, that was surprisingly easy.

"Sacred Break Spell!" The Bind done on Darkness immediately was undone without much fanfare. Her panting ceased as she recollected herself.

Never mind.

Darkness immediately tried to regain what little dignity she had and got up shakily while picking up her sword. "Y-your luck has ended, thief!" She said lamely.

The blue-haired demon got up from her plush seat with a bottle of alcohol already half empty. "Who the heck are these two? Are these the people storming the castle? I'll catch them myself for some extra bubbly."

Just then, both Rain and the Mitsurugi blocked the exit with a now healed Claire trailing behind, her sword now in her opposite hand. Some castle guards followed her at the ready.

"Stop! You're surrounded, surrender while you still can!" The sword hero yelled, brandishing his Cursed Sword.

The Silver-haired thief got close to Kazuma and whispered, "Assistant-kun, we're in serious trouble here!"

Kazuma gave her an odd look. "Why are you so worried? Don't you steal things all the time?"

Chris appeared as if that statement would have popped a blood vessel. "I do that without confrontation!"

"Then there's no time like now to try something new."

"What?! No way! We need to grab the treasure and escape before we get caught!"

"It might be a little hard to steal it, so we should do it together."

"Alright! On my mark, and then we escape. Got it?"

Kazuma feigned acceptance. "Got it."

Standing side by side, both Kazuma and Chris ran forward with one hand outstretched. "Now! STEAL!"

After the brief flash synonymous with the move faded, Chris was overjoyed to find the necklace in her possession.

"Alright, now let's get out of here!" She grabbed Kazuma's wrist and made to move when she found him holding against her pull. "Assistant-kun?" She stared at him quizzically.

"Sorry about this, Big Boss." He drained her a bit of her stamina for an extra boost of strength.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She asked sluggishly. "Gimmie back-"

Grabbing the hem of her shorts and top, he threw her directly out of the only window in the room. Her yell could be heard as she plummeted down into the water below. She'd be fine, he was sure.

"I can't just give up an opportunity to show off like this." Kazuma smiled, holding Chris's dagger in his hand. He looked up and saw the moon fully cleared of any clouds. He felt a large surge of power and grinned.

Turning to all the occupants in the room he announced, "Now, which one of you want to be first?"