Three Days Later - Lupinus Town Outskirts
The forest north of Lupinus was old and dark, the kind of place where sunlight struggled to reach the ground. Yume moved through it like a ghost, each step placed with predatory precision.
"Swift, wide perimeter scan."
The falcon materialized and launched skyward. Yume's consciousness slid into the shikigami, and the world expanded.
Through Swift's eyes, he saw them—the bandit camp three kilometers ahead. Crude shelters arranged in a loose circle. Campfires. Movement everywhere.
He counted bodies. Twenty-three. More than the mission briefing stated.
His eyes narrowed. Several wore armor that was too good, too uniform. These weren't just bandits.
One figure commanded attention—massive, easily matching Yume's height, bellowing orders. But it was the other one that made Yume pause. A woman in dark robes, standing apart from the others, her hands glowing with sickly green light.
Two mages. The intel was wrong.
Yume pulled back to his own body, mind racing. This changed things. Twenty-three targets, two confirmed magic users, unknown capabilities.
He could retreat. Report back. Request backup.
His hand moved, and two Pandora Orbs materialized from the eight that comprised his arsenal. They orbited him slowly, pulsing with absorbed light—perfect spheres of condensed darkness.
No. He'd spent six weeks preparing for exactly this. Time to see if he was ready.
"Sky, Sea, Gama—come forth."
Shadows erupted. The twin wolves materialized, immediately sensing his tension. Gama emerged, yellow eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"Listen carefully," Yume said, voice cold and steady. "We're outnumbered and they have two mages. This isn't suppression—this is a hunt. Sky, Sea—you take the flanks. Anyone with a weapon who isn't down in thirty seconds becomes your target. Gama, you're my shield. Swift maintains overwatch and calls out the mages' positions."
The two orbs rippled like liquid darkness, reality bending around them as they reshaped. The transformation came with a sound like tearing fabric, space distorting briefly. When it cleared, Yume held twin gunswords—sleek, deadly, humming with dark energy.
"We hit hard, we hit fast, and we don't stop until they break. Understood?"
Three sets of eyes gleamed in response.
"Then let's paint the forest red."
***
The first sentry died without knowing what killed him.
One moment he was leaning against a tree, bored. The next, a darkness bullet punched through his throat. He collapsed, gurgling, clutching at the wound.
The second sentry turned at the sound—
Sky's jaws closed around his leg, crushing. Bone snapped like kindling. The man's scream was cut short as Sea's fangs found his throat.
The camp erupted.
"ATTACK! WE'RE UNDER—"
Yume stepped into the firelight, and suddenly the world was chaos and thunder.
Both gunswords roared. Darkness bullets tore through the camp like a storm of black stars. A bandit's head snapped back, skull cracked. Another took a round through the shoulder that spun him like a top. A third's knee exploded in a spray of blood and bone.
"THERE! KILL HIM!"
Eight bandits charged, weapons raised, screaming war cries.
"Shadow Hands."
The ground erupted. Dark tendrils burst from the earth like the fingers of some buried god, massive and terrible. They wrapped around legs, wrists, throats—and *squeezed. Bones cracked. A man's scream turned to a wet gurgle as a tendril crushed his windpipe.
Yume walked forward through the carnage, firing methodically. One shot, one target. No wasted movement.
An arrow whistled past his ear—too close.
He pivoted, tracking the archer. The man was already nocking another arrow, face twisted with concentration.
Yume's shot took him through the chest. The archer fell backward, arrow clattering from nerveless fingers.
"SPREAD OUT! DON'T LET HIM—"
"Gama. Sonic devastation."
The toad's maw opened impossibly wide, throat sac swelling to the size of a barrel, and the world turned to sound.
The sonic blast was a physical thing, a wall of compressed air and noise that hit like a war hammer. Five bandits caught in the cone simply ceased—eardrums ruptured, eyes burst, blood exploding from nose and mouth as their brains hemorrhaged. They dropped like broken dolls.
The survivors stared in horror.
"M-MONSTER!"
Three tried to run.
Sky and Sea were waiting.
The white wolf hit the first runner from the side, jaws locking around his arm. The crack of breaking bone was audible even over the chaos. The man screamed as Sky dragged him down, teeth finding softer flesh.
Sea took the second runner at the knees, hamstringing him. The man fell hard, and the black wolf was on him instantly, fangs tearing, blood spraying across dark fur.
The third runner made it five meters before Yume's bullet found his spine. He collapsed, legs suddenly useless.
"ENOUGH!"
The roar carried weight, carried power. The massive leader stepped into the light, and Yume finally understood why these bandits had been so effective.
The man's entire body ignited. Not fire—magma. His skin cracked like cooling lava, orange light bleeding through. His fists dripped molten rock.
"You made a mistake coming here, boy! MAGMA FIST!"
He launched forward, impossibly fast for his bulk. His punch came like a meteor strike.
Yume dove right. The fist cratered the ground where he'd been standing, flash-cooking the earth to glass. Heat washed over him in a wave that singed his hair.
He came up firing. Three shots, center mass.
The darkness bullets hit the magma armor and evaporated, unable to even touch the man's skin.
"Nice try!" The leader grinned, gold teeth glinting. "My Magma-Make magic burns away everything you've got! You're finished!"
Another magma fist. Yume called a third Pandora Orb, the sphere rippling and distorting as it transformed into a large shield. The impact shattered it, fragments of darkness scattering.
The force sent Yume skidding backward ten meters.
[Warning: Enemy magic type creates elemental disadvantage. Recommend tactical adaptation.]
No shit.
The leader pressed forward, each step leaving smoking footprints. "What's wrong? Running out of tricks?"
Then the woman's voice cut through the chaos, cold and sharp:
"Poison Mist."
Sickly green fog erupted across the battlefield, spreading fast. Where it touched, grass withered and died. A wounded bandit caught in its edge started convulsing, foam bubbling from his mouth.
Yume's eyes widened. She's trying to kill everyone—her own allies included.
"Sky! Sea! Fall back to me!"
Both wolves disengaged, racing toward him as the poison fog expanded. Yume dismissed the shield and gunswords, letting them revert to orbs. He reached for the shadows—not just his magic, but the darkness itself, the absence of light between the trees.
"Night's Embrace."
Pure darkness erupted from him like a tidal wave, colliding with the poison mist. The two magics warred, green and black churning together. The darkness won—consuming the mist, devouring it, spreading out to envelope the entire battlefield in absolute black.
Inside the zone, Yume could see perfectly. His Darkbound Legion magic made the darkness his ally.
But everyone else was blind.
"WHERE IS HE?!"
"I CAN'T SEE!"
"SOMEONE LIGHT A FIRE!"
Two orbs rippled back into his gunswords. Yume moved like death through the shadows. Shadow Shift carried him behind one bandit—throat slash with a blade that extended mid-strike, silent kill. Another bandit swung wildly at nothing—darkness bullet through the temple. A third tried to run—Shadow Hands erupted from the ground, dragging him down screaming into the earth itself.
"DISPEL IT!" The leader's voice was panicked now. "DISPEL THE DARKNESS!"
"I'm trying!" The woman's magic flared—green light pulsing, trying to burn away the shadows.
Yume turned his attention to her. She was the bigger threat. That poison magic could end this fight instantly if she got another clean cast.
"Swift, mark her position."
Through the falcon's eyes, he saw her exact location—forty meters away, hands glowing, beginning another spell.
"Gama, sonic strike on my mark. Coordinates transmitted."
The toad swelled, angling toward where Yume indicated.
"Now."
The sonic blast lanced through the darkness like an invisible spear. The woman's spell died as the sound wave hit her, shattering concentration. She staggered—
Yume was already moving. Shadow Shift. Reality bent. He materialized behind her, both gunsword blades crossed at her throat.
"Don't."
She froze, feeling the cold metal against her skin.
"Call off your partner. End this. Or I open your throat and let you drown in your own blood."
"You—you're bluffing. You're a guild mage, you don't kill—"
"Why don't you ask your comrades about that?" Yume's voice was ice. He pressed the blades deeper. A thin line of red appeared. "Oh wait. You can't. Most of them are already dead."
Her breath hitched, genuine fear flooding her eyes.
"Now call him off. Or join them."
Her voice cracked: "BOSS! STAND DOWN! HE'S GOT ME!"
The magma light flared brighter as the leader roared in frustration. "DAMN IT! FINE! EVERYONE STOP! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Yume waited five seconds, then dismissed the Night's Embrace. The darkness receded like a retreating tide.
The battlefield was a slaughterhouse.
Bodies everywhere—some dead, most wounded, all broken. Blood soaked the earth. The stench of burned flesh and voided bowels filled the air. Of the twenty-three bandits, maybe ten were still conscious, and all of them looked like they'd seen hell itself.
Sky and Sea emerged from the shadows, both wolves painted red, eyes gleaming with predatory satisfaction.
Gama crouched in the center of the carnage like a grotesque monument.
And Yume stood with blades at the poison mage's throat, purple eyes cold and empty.
"Smart choice," he said quietly.
The gunswords rippled, reality distorting around them as they reverted to their true forms—two perfect spheres of darkness that resumed their slow orbit around him.
***
One Hour Later
The survivors sat in a tight group, bound and guarded by Shadow Hands that writhed like living things. The magma mage had been the hardest to restrain—Yume had to wait for his magic to cool before binding him, and even then he'd needed Gama's weight sitting on the man's back.
The poison mage glared at him from her bindings, fear and hatred warring in her eyes. "You're going to regret this. We weren't freelance—someone wanted this road disrupted. And when they find out what you did here—"
"Let them come," Yume interrupted, cleaning blood from one of his orbs. The sphere pulsed as if hungry. "I could use the practice."
He'd already sent Swift ahead with a message. The authorities would arrive soon.
[Mission Analysis Complete]
[COMBAT REPORT - LUPINUS BANDIT SUPPRESSION]
[Enemy Composition: 23 hostiles (10 KIA, 13 captured)]
[- 2 Mages: Earth-Make/Magma variant (captured), Poison-Make type (captured)]
[0- 21 Standard combatants (8 KIA, 13 captured)]
[Engagement Duration: 14 minutes, 37 seconds]
[Tactics Employed:]
[- Overwhelming force application]
[- Environmental control (Night's Embrace)]
[- Coordinated shikigami assault]
[- Adaptive combat response to elemental disadvantage]
[Casualties:]
[- Enemy: 10 KIA, 13 captured]
[- Allied: 0]
[- Civilian: 0]
[Personal Status:]
[- HP: 87% (minor burns, left forearm)]
[- MP: 33% (Night's Embrace + sustained combat)]
[- Stamina: 61%]
[Kill Attribution:]
[- Direct (Yume): 5 confirmed]
[- Shikigami: 5 confirmed (Sky: 2, Sea: 2, Gama: 1)]
[Notable Observations:]
[- Intel was incomplete. Enemy force 15% larger than briefed.]
[- Magma-type Make highly resistant to darkness-based attacks.]
[- Poison mage demonstrated willingness to sacrifice allied forces.]
[- Suggests external backing with no loyalty structure.]
[- Night's Embrace proved extremely effective but MP intensive (34% expenditure).]
[Mission Assessment: SUCCESS]
[Objective completed. Target neutralized. Collateral damage: Minimal.]
[Recommendations:]
[- Develop counter-strategies for elemental disadvantages]
[- Investigate external backing mentioned by captured mages]
[- Practice MP conservation for extended engagements]
Voices approached through the trees. The authorities arrived, and the captain's face went pale when he saw the carnage.
"Sweet gods... what happened here?"
"Bandit suppression," Yume said flatly. "As requested."
The captain walked through the camp, stepping over bodies, staring at the devastation. His guards looked equally shaken. "This... this is..."
"Necessary." Yume's tone brooked no argument.
"You're just a—how old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Seventeen." The captain's voice was hollow. "You did this at seventeen."
Yume said, purple eyes meeting the captain's. "I do what's required to get the job done."
The captain seemed to struggle with that, then finally nodded slowly. He took the mission completion form Yume offered, signing it with shaking hands.
"The prisoners mentioned they had backing," Yume said, collecting his documentation. "Someone who wanted this road disrupted. If you find out who during interrogation, send word to Fairy Tail. I want to know."
"You think they'll come after you?"
"I'm not sure," Yume replied. "Just being cautious."
"The town will be grateful," the man said. He glanced toward the poison mage, his expression darkening. "We'll be sure to send word the moment we get a lead on their backing. If this goes deeper than a few bandits, you deserve to know what's coming."
"I'm counting on it," Yume said, finishing with his papers.
He turned to leave, and his shikigami began dissolving into shadows that flowed back into him. Sky and Sea vanished last, both giving the authorities one final predatory look before becoming darkness.
Behind him, the authorities began the grim work of processing the dead and transporting the captured.
Yume didn't look back.
His first real combat. Ten dead. Thirteen
more broken and captured.
Mission complete.
The theory had translated to practice.
He'd killed when necessary, without hesitation, without remorse. Not because he enjoyed it, but because the situation demanded it.
Just like every mage who understood that sometimes mercy to wolves was cruelty to sheep.
The morality of it didn't concern him. Results did.
The shadows whispered no answer, but they followed him anyway—loyal, patient, hungry for the next battle.
[End of Chapter 3]