Guard duty

Khan and the others remained speechless in front of George's ability. They had understood what the boy had done, but the event was still too surprising to put into words.

George had activated a spell. His mana had taken the shape of a small dark-silver knife. The weapon had clear ethereal features, but none of the bystanders dared to underestimate its power.

"Don't look at me like this," George exclaimed as a weak smile appeared on his face. "I need complete calm and entire minutes to cast this simple knife. My mana capacity doesn't even allow me to materialize it more than three times a day, so it hardly feels like an achievement."

George's words didn't manage to suppress the others' amazement. He had been a recruit for as long as them, but he could already cast spells.

"What element are you?" Khan asked as evident curiosity filled his mind.

"Spirit," George revealed before deciding to explain a bit more when he saw that the answer didn't seem to satisfy his companion. "It's pretty rare, but also rather plain. It's one of the most flexible elements, but that feature depends on the user. I've trained with swords during my life, so this is the only shape that I can create."

Khan remained surprised at how different the elements could be. Lieutenant Dyester's words made more sense in his mind after hearing George's explanation. Only someone who shared the same type of mana could know how to use it. The behavior of that energy could simply vary too much.

"It's stable now," George suddenly continued while grabbing the knife. "You should probably find something to cauterize her forearm before I cut her hand."

Khan looked around the crash site. Everything was drenched due to the incessant heavy rain. He knew how to start a fire with random tools, but he couldn't find anything to burn.

Dorian and Cora seemed completely useless in that situation. They imitated Khan, but they didn't come up with anything to help in the matter.

"You can use the almost intact engine to heat a slab," Ethel explained while suppressing the waves of pain running through her body. "Just tear it apart and bring it here. I'll tell you what to do."

Khan immediately stood up and moved toward the wreckage. The left engine had lost its external circular layer, but the wires in its insides appeared in one piece.

'I should probably tear the whole thing from its base,' Khan concluded since he didn't know what parts he had to preserve.

Mana flowed into his legs as his body crouched. Khan delivered a few kicks at the bent base of the troop carrier and continued until his foot pierced the metal. He didn't always manage to activate the techniques correctly, but his success rate was above eighty percent.

Khan repeated the process until the whole engine hung from a small piece of metal. He pulled the entire thing at that point while tilting the device on both sides until the slab gave in.

Khan then brought the entire engine back to his group and dropped it among them. He had initially failed to notice their astonished expressions, but they became impossible to miss after getting rid of the large machine.

"What is it?" Khan asked.

"Did you just dig a hole in a troop carrier with your legs?" Dorian asked.

"I used mana," Khan honestly replied. "It has even taken a while."

"That's what they are sayin-!" Ethel explained before her pain interrupted her line. "Perfect executions should be quite rare, but you have a high success rate. Also, you don't look tired at all after performing so many techniques."

"My attunement with mana is pretty high," Khan tried to play it humble. "That wasn't even a battle, so I could focus easily."

"What about the Tainted bear?" Cora asked.

"Luck," Khan promptly explained before changing the topic. "What now?"

"There should be a circular piece," Ethel explained. "You have to rotate it when I say so. Hopefully I can redirect all the involved wires outside and don't activate the flying device."

Ethel bent forward and frowned whenever her hand moved. She used her left arm to tinker with the various wires of the engine and took most of them outside. Then, she ordered to get a suitable metal slab.

'The teams appear very balanced,' Khan thought when he inspected Ethel and George.

The two recruits had initially been in the opposing team. They both had talents that shone in that difficult situation, and their mindset was also generally mature.

Instead, Dorian and Cora didn't seem to have any special talent or favorite subject. Khan had yet to see them fight, but George could literally cast a spell. They couldn't be better than him.

'The Global Army has probably put weaker recruits in my team to balance me,' Khan thought while Ethel continued to give orders, and Dorian executed them. 'The other team must have had stronger recruits for the same reason. It's a pity that one of them has suffered a major injury.'

Dorian began to rotate the circular piece of metal. Energy accumulated on the device and flowed toward the wires at that point. Sparks came out of those cables, and Cora placed a metal slab over them.

Khan promptly took Cora's hands and pulled them closer. The girl jumped again at that sudden physical contact, and her face became red when she saw Khan ripping off part of his trousers.

However, everything became clear when Khan took her hands from the slab and covered them with the fabric. Cora had forgotten to protect herself while heating the piece of metal.

Ethel, George, Dorian, and Khan pretended not to notice Cora's evident blush, especially since they were about to cut off one of their companion's hands. The situation was tragic. Some of them even cursed in their minds when they saw that Cora could waste time thinking about that stuff.

Khan glanced at George. It was time to amputate Ethel's hand, but the two boys reached a silent understanding when their eyes met. It was clear that they were the strongest of their group, so it was up to them to return to the plain.

"It's better if you bite something," Khan said while tearing a piece of Ethel's robe and folding it.

The girl didn't show any shyness when Khan uncovered even more of her body. She even opened her mouth when he neared the piece of fabric to her face. Her mind was elsewhere. She was doing her best to muster her courage before the procedure.

"Ready?" George eventually asked when he saw that the metal slab in Cora's hand had begun to change color under the relentless attack of the sparks.

Ethel nodded before stretching her arm. George grabbed her forearm and placed his dark-silver knife right above her wrist. Then, he pushed the weapon down, and the blade severed Ethel's arm without meeting any resistance.

'Powerful!' Khan commented in his mind.

Cutting a human arm was hard, even with sharp blades. Yet, George had barely needed to put strength in his movement to sever Ethel's hand.

Ethel gave voice to a grunt, and tears quickly followed. She continued to scream while her teeth bit hard on the piece of folded fabric and her left hand covered her mouth to suppress her noise.

The magic knife dispersed as George grabbed Ethel's injured arm and forced it closer to the scorching slab. The girl wasn't in control of her actions, and she opposed the body with kicks and pulls.

Cora's hands trembled when she saw the bleeding arm. The girl froze and found herself unable to push the scorching metal forward, but Khan promptly grabbed one of her wrists to help her.

Khan also grabbed the bleeding arm and helped George getting Ethel closer to the scorching slab. The two eventually met, and a sizzling noise resounded among the heavy rain.

Cora almost puked when that noise and Ethel's suppressed screams reached her ears. She had to close her eyes and let Khan guide her through the process.

"You can drop it now," Khan eventually whispered, and Cora saw that her arms pointed inside the engine among the recruits now.

The girl gave voice to a short cry when she sensed heat going past the protection on her hands. She instantly dropped the metal slab, and she instinctively hid her face on Khan's side. Her fingers also tried to stab his abdomen and back as she clung to him.

Khan almost lost his composure, but a helpless expression appeared on his face when he heard Cora's sobs. The last part had been too much for her. She had tried to suppress her emotions until now, but she was only a seventeen-year-old girl whose world had turned upside-down.

"You can't fall apart yet," Khan sighed while gently patting the back of Cora's head. "We have a long way to cross, and dangers might be waiting for us. Put your emotions on hold until we get past this."

Cora began to calm down under Khan's caresses. The girl eventually left his side and sniffed one last time before nodding.

"Thank you," Cora whispered while closing her eyes and moving on her side to try to sleep.

George dragged Ethel next to her and let her sleep by her side. The girl had fainted after the procedure, and only a long night of rest could help her with the trauma of losing her hand.

"Should we establish guard duty?" George asked while turning toward Khan.

Khan took out his phone, and a few calculations happened in his mind. The device had synchronized with Istrone's time after the teleport, so its hour was still accurate. Khan didn't know how long its battery would last, but the group could use the alarms for now.

"Let's wake everyone up before dawn," Khan ordered. "I want Ethel to spend a few hours meditating before starting the march. Walking at night is out of the question, so we have to use every hour with the sun to get closer to the plain."

"Who wants the first round?" Dorian asked before glancing at his two companions and heaving a helpless sigh. "I'll take it, but my phone is broken."

"Don't worry," Khan replied while setting the alarm and placing his phone among them. "I'll meditate a bit more before sleeping. Shout if you see something off."

"I'll do the same," George announced before nodding toward Khan when the latter shot a worried glance at him. "I still need to recover, and we need power more than ever now."

Khan couldn't change George's mind, and the trio soon created a simple schedule for the guard duty. Dorian then started his task while Khan and George began to meditate. Still, the duo exchanged a few words when their companion jumped on the vehicle to gain a complete view of the crash site.

"How strong are you?" George asked without opening his eyes.

"I'm strong," Khan replied.

"Some of us won't make it," George added.

"I know," Khan whispered. "I'm no stranger to death."

"But can you leave someone behind if the situation requires it?" George continued.

Khan didn't answer anymore at that point. He didn't want to let others die, but he wouldn't lose his life to play hero either. Still, revealing that information to George could lead to adverse situations, so he preferred to leave the boy in the dark.