Bandits Fall

No matter how much Mallory questioned everything about her ability and those she came across, it was not like an answer would come to her right away.

Her ability was just something to make use of and could provide some guidance but it could not fully predict what kind of actions they would take in the future.

Free will played a big role in fate and probability so when one event was more likely to go one way, it could bring surprises by going another way that was less likely to happen.

Since she could not fully predict what was going to happen in the future besides other's incoming misfortune, Mallory would have to wait until later when events actually took place to know if she needed to act.

Visa City and the Seshat Familia were under threat from unknown forces and anything could happen in the future.

Enemies could turn into allies, allies could turn into enemies.

Between the remaining time left for Visa City to fall, anything could happen so it was best to look out for any signs that could point towards a way to prevent it and to remain vigilant towards others that could possibly pose a problem.

More bandits moved towards the location of Mallory and the others from the location of the main camp they had set up nearby.

Each of them were displaying their hostility and aimed to kill anyone that interfered with their plans or had stepped within their territory.

It was becoming more and more clear that they had something to hide and could not be persuaded to talk things over especially when their allies had already done the same.

Their allies were injured or dead so it made it even more difficult to make them stop their assault.

Seeing their hostility and murderous intent mixed in with their auras, Mallory could not sit still so she met them head on along with those with her.

Hiiro and Tia were hiding away with talismans to protect them if anything happened to go wrong.

Two forces met together in a frontal confrontation which had caused any projectiles to be deflected away by Mallory who had took the role as the protector at the front.

Any kind of ranged advantages the bandits had would be negated as the arrows missed their targets allowing Mallory, Swaine and Nia to get close enough to attack them.

Valis was thrust forward at a speed that was difficult to follow by ordinary human eyes.

Her stats and instincts of a level two were brought out in the battle as each of her quick and powerful spear thrusts broke past their guards.

Nia was in a similar situation due to her being the same level while Swaine had not been able to take down a bandit with a single attack but it was enough to assist in the battle to let Nia and Mallory to have less pressure on them.

Loud metallic clangs rang out as weapons collided at times along with the screams of pain that came from the bandits.

"Gaah!"

"Keep pushing!"

The bandits had lower numbers with every passing moment as they took on more fatal wounds.

Their number advantage had started to drop once again until few remained and had started to regret fighting against such a group.

The agile movements of Mallory and Nia had been a big help for them to be able to move and leap around so that they could avoid harm as they found various openings in the enemy formation to exploit.

Mallory was able to gain more Excelia for dealing with those that were harmful to others and could pose a threat to others in the future if they were left alone.

She gained more Excelia from each time Valis moved in a way to intervene between the enemies attacks towards others around her and protected Swaine or Nia.

So many bandits had fallen under the combined efforts of three people which had shown the difference between ordinary people and those that had the favour of the gods.

Those that remained alive among the bandits had been restrained allowing Mallory and the others to gain access to the camp they had set up.

A little interrogation began to try to extract information from those that remained while Swaine had gone around the camp to search for anything that would be of help.

Many crates and other valuables were found inside the camp along with some restrained people which had further shown that they had been involved with the recent attacks on the road.

Many valuables had been stolen and those that had been able to live during the bandit attacks were held captive.

Their state of health and conditions were not that good since some had some old or fresh injuries from the attacks or their recent treatment while others had been weak from not being given enough food or water during their time held captive.

Meanwhile another group had started to make their way through the cave entrance in a similar manner and had survived several ambushes due to them carrying talismans.

They made their way towards the other side of the cave allowing them to make their way towards where Mallory's group had arrived which had caused the two groups to reunite after being separated.

The additional Excelia gained from their protection from the talismans had helped to further increase Mallory's gains during the time that both groups had been separated.

Mallory saw Franco approaching followed by his group then smugly said. "We got here first."

Franco rolled his eyes and sighed. "Sigh.. you do not know the troubles I had to go through to get here…"

His gaze turned back towards the new recruits in his group that had brought him various troubles.