Å̸̟̪̻͙̟̅̋ ̴̭̝́͌m̴̖̫̥̲͈̑̀̈̉͝ō̶̠̠̭̬̘̈́͂̓͆n̵̦̗͎̒͊s̷̨͙͕̩̩̆ţ̷̩̂ȇ̶͔̭r̶̼̝̲̈͗̾̄...(1)

After checking up on Dawn, Dusk found that she was mostly unharmed. Her hair and clothes were dirty. Presumably from roaming around in the forest, and she did have a few scratches here and there but that was it. Ralph also did rip her skirt off somewhat but Dusk managed to kick him away before he completely shredded her clothes.

'Hope Lucius won't mind too much...'

It would be troublesome if Lucius got mad at Dusk for this situation. He wouldn't be able to deny the blame either since it really was his fault, though not entirely.

He showed concern and care towards Dawn in an attempt to calm her down. Of course, It was all an act since he lacked that level of empathy but it seemed like he succeeded regardless.

Now there was only one thing left for him to do.

"So, kid. You ready to get knocked out? I'll show you some mercy by finishing this whole thing in one hit." Ralph approached Dusk with his sword over his shoulder.

"You're underestimating what I can do here..." Dusk replied as he took out the silver knife from his leather sheath, it was the one he had created back in the mansion. He brought it with him since he knew there was a high possibility he would have to face danger in the forest.

------------------

Ralph watched the child in front of him bring out a silver knife from the leather sheath strapped to his back.

"Oh? Nice knife you got there...but can you even use i-?" Ralph was about to taunt Dusk but then the child in front of him suddenly disappeared.

His eyes widened in surprise as Dusk reappeared right in front of him, leaving a cloud of dust in his path.

"What the fu-" Ralph was about to express his shock but even that was cut off as Dusk stabbed towards his face with a cold expression.

Ralph parried the strike with his sword creating what he thought to be an opening but just as he was about to slash horizontally a mana-infused kick aimed at his side blew him away.

He managed to keep his balance by plunging his sword into the earth but he couldn't contain his astonishment.

'What the hell...' he looked at the child with shock written all over his face.

The child that he assumed to be a naive, idealistic brat had the look of a killer in his eyes. Those blue eyes seemed to peek into his very soul, calculating the endless ways he could be sent to the afterlife. Sally who was much further away noticed the unusual situation as well.

But Ralph shook his head and cast away such thoughts. He convinced himself that the boy's attacks were just a fluke. Besides, he also let his guard down.

"What's wrong? Aren't you coming?" Dusk asked Ralph. His voice filled with bloodlust, unbefitting of an 8-year-old.

"Tsk, Don't get cocky just because you landed a lucky hit!" Ralph shouted just like most third-rate villains.

He willed mana into his feet and sprung to land a vertical slash at Dusk. Time seemed to slow down as Dusk merely sidestepped to dodge the attack before saying,

"If you use your opponent's momentum against them, then at times you won't even need mana."

Before Ralph could process what he had just said his nose was slammed hard with Dusk's elbow.

Ralph growled in pain as he grasped his nose which had started bleeding.

'What the hell is the deal with this kid?' He thought while glaring at Dusk.

---------------

The mercenary in front of Dusk was glaring while grasping his bleeding nose.

"Weren't you going to knock me unconscious? I'm still standing." Dusk mocked the mercenary.

Hearing this the mercenary Ralph, let out a battle cry before launching himself towards Dusk again. This time instead of blowing him away Dusk decided to clash.

The mercenary slashed at him repeatedly, each of his attacks was formidable as they were coated with red mana. But Dusk was extremely skilled in fighting against all kinds of weapon styles. Swords just being one of them. He parried the slashes with his silver knife.

However, At times he had no choice but to evade. Although to a spectator it may look like Dusk was ahead of Ralph, the truth wasn't so simple. In terms of raw strength Dusk knew that Ralph was stronger than him. Dusk's body was that of an 8-year-old and even though he did train it, it wasn't anywhere near reaching its physical prime yet.

There was also the fact that his knife was worse in quality than the opponent's sword. They seemed to be made out of the same material but the craftsmanship of the sword was much better. This was due to his lower expertise in smithing. He was able to imagine a decent blueprint for a hunting knife when using his magic but he was no master craftsman.

But there were two things he had over the mercenary.

Mana control and technique.

The clash of rhythmic slashes and swift arcs drawn by their weapons continued, the sound of the silver clashing against silver could be heard as sparks flew in the dark forest environment. Besides the sparks and the glowing moon, the only thing illuminating the night with light was the mana that seeped out of the two warriors engaged in battle.

But this continuous clash was stopped all of a sudden as Dusk had decided it was time to make more decisive blows.

He parried another slash from Ralph's sword, creating an opening that he didn't miss to exploit. He shot an uppercut toward Ralph's jaw making him stagger. Then he drew two diagonal slashes on the mercenary's chest. The slashes coated with extreme amounts of mana caused two deep gashes to form through Ralph's leather armor, making him wince out in pain.

"Is this all you have? I entertained you with a clash of blades to gauge your technique but it seems you're nothing much besides raw strength." Dusk let out a sigh as if he was disappointed.

"YOU BASTARD! DON'T GET COCKY!" Ralph growled in anger.

"Ralph! Just finish this already! How long are you gonna make me wait?!" Sally shouted from the back.

"Fucking....FINE! OH, I'LL FINISH THIS ALRIGHT!" Ralph yelled before Red-Mana started swirling violently within him. It quickly moved towards his sword and then transformed into flames. Causing his blade to be enveloped with fire.

'Fire magic...'

Realizing that the opponent was about to use magic, Dusk got himself ready. He focused mana into his fingertips. Preparing his own attack.

"Recreate Water, Structure: Wall, Modify temperature to the boiling point.."

"DIE!" Ralph shouted with anger and vigor. He swung his sword with all his might, causing a blazing wave of flames to approach Dusk with threatening speed. Dusk knew that these flames would do more than just burn his clothes if he took it lightly.

"Recreation: Scalding Water wall, complete."

Dusk muttered to himself before drawing an arc with his fingers. Causing a wall of water to appear within. As fire and water collided, steam and vapor engulfed the battlefield obscuring everyone's vision.

He modified the water wall's temperature to its boiling point to combat the flames more easily. He knew that hot water being at a higher temperature is converted to steam in lesser time which by stopping combustion, extinguishes fire faster. His skill in chemistry turned out to be quite useful in battle.

Dusk decided to use this opportunity to dish out more damage to his opponent and do something more. He enhanced his eyesight with mana before silently running through the smoky area to find his opponent. He found Ralph investigating every direction to find him but he failed spectacularly as Dusk propelled himself towards the mercenary with mana, before landing his knee on the poor man's jaw.

"Gah!" Ralph grunted painfully before stumbling. Dusk didn't stop there he willed mana into his feet before using Ralph's body like a trampoline to shoot himself into the sky. Ralph cried out in pain again as he was smashed to the earth, causing a small crater to form on the ground.

As Dusk shot high into the sky he managed to get a bird eye's view of the area around him. He scanned the area to search for the female mercenary. He found her in a moment with his enhanced eyesight. She was waving her hand trying to get the smoke away from her with an annoyed expression.

"Recreate Knife, Quantity:Three, Composition material: Steel, Modify the structures into that of throwing knives...Recreate..." He continued to mumble to himself again as mana started to gather around his hand.

"Recreation complete." as he said that three small throwing knives formed in his hand. He gripped them between his fingers before throwing them at his target. The knives landed on his target accurately stabbing her on the legs and arms.

The female mercenary screamed with pain at the unexpected attack.

"You think you have the time to focus on her?!" suddenly the voice of a man could be heard. Ralph had jumped towards Dusk similarly by coating his feet with mana.

'Oh? Not bad' Dusk couldn't help but think.

But he wasn't given the time to comment anything more than that as Ralph slashed at him vertically. But Dusk being as skilled as he is, dodged the attack by twisting his body mid-air. Then he shot a kick toward Ralph, aiming at his face.

But Ralph who had grown a fear of getting hit on his already swollen jaw was vigilant of not being hit anywhere around his face again. He managed to stop the attack with his free hand.

"Heh. Don't think I'll let you target my jaw again!"

He smiled as he succeeded in blocking the attack.

"Impressive. But not unexpected." Dusk smiled too before revealing a highly concentrated amount of mana within his hand.

"Recreation complete, Storm gust."

"Huh?" Ralph could only widen his eyes in shock before he was blown away by a strong gust of wind.

Meanwhile, Dusk was propelled in the opposite direction, he landed safely with acrobatic maneuvers while Ralph crashed to the ground.

As he stood up straight and patted his dusty clothes he noticed that the female mercenary was coming forward with a murderous expression while Ralph was getting up too.

"Looks like things are going to get even more interesting," Dusk said to himself as he looked forward to testing his combat capabilities even further.