Chapter 62

James was fighting three barbarian soldiers at once, he looked worse than he felt, he was covered in blood and dirt, some were his own and some were other's. He was in hybrid form, it was a middle stage between fully transforming into their spirit animal and their normal human-like form, it was considered the best state for fighting because you had the benefits of both forms, the weapons that your animal form might have were also available in this form, the strength, the reflexes, sharp claws, and the fury, but they also had the control and thinking of an intelligent mind.

A hybrid James was much taller and had more muscle mass, his body had gotten furrier and the skin had hardened developing a natural armor.

His three opponents would be of no match against him alone, but they were taking advantage of their numbers, they were lending damage to him little by little, like he was a wild beast in a forest.

James growled showing his sharp teeth and lunged at the nearest man. The man didn't move and blocked the attack, he was not able to stop his momentum and fell backward with James on him, James tore into the guy with his claws abandoning the sword.

The other two guys had expected this and lunged at his back aiming their swords and intending to skewer him.

But just before they reached him two arrows flew into their skulls and their bodies fell on the ground completely still. James looked up his prey dead underneath him, at the two arrows sticking out of their heads.

He looked in the direction from where they had come from, there was nothing there just water, he was near the port, it was a small beach alongside the sea where kids sometimes came to play.

But as he looked, there was some movement in the water and slowly a big bubble started rising from the water, inside the bubble five people were walking towards him, the bubble dissolved when they reached the beach near him.

One guy from the group had a bow and arrow and his arrows were the same that had killed the barbarians. They were humans, he would have attacked them instantly if they hadn't killed the barbarians just now, and when they came closer he saw with surprise that one of them was a half-breed.

Derek stepped onto the beach while trying to get the remaining water out of his armor.

"There is sand in my shoes!" he swore and took them off trying to get the sand out.

"I gulped about a gallon of salty water and you are complaining about sand!" hissed Rin, her tail was wet and her hairs were rising straight up, she kept hissing at no one in particular.

"Who the hell are you?" asked the half-breed they had just saved, he looked like some kind of dog.

"Where is the fight?" asked Derek standing up straight.

"Where is the what?" he asked.

"The fight, the battle, we are here to help, " shouted Derek back. The guy was taken back a little.

"It is all over the city, I mean, I was heading for the castle though to meet the king, " he said.

"Fine then we will come with you, " said Derek.

James had no idea what was happening, he looked at the cat for some help, but she was too worked up because of getting wet, and he knew cats, she wouldn't give a straight answer for a long time.

"I can't believe we are safe, " said Ron.

"You know what this means right, that Marty was probably involved with them, " said Ron, Isanna was quiet right now, he thought she must feeling exploited but he didn't care and wanted to show everyone that he was right all along.

"Yeah, Derek really saved us, " said Fiona.

"How were you so quick?" asked Fiona.

"I haven't been alive this long in this business just by luck you know, the black hands finding us when no one was supposed to twice, that question like you said had been on my mind for some time, and then these empty ships were too good to be true, even if the soldiers are gone there had to be some of the crew on the ship in case they needed to retreat quickly, " said Derek.

James was listening to them wondering what they were talking about, they came out of the beach and onto a street, he also didn't want to be seen with them by the others.

As they stepped onto the market Street, they caught their first glimpses of the city, there were signs of fighting everywhere, broken houses and shops, the city was damaged badly, there were also dead bodies lying here and there of half-breeds and barbarians.

James pointed in the direction where the castle was, and a loud blast came from the same direction at that time.

"Good, it looks like the battle isn't over yet, " said Derek, and with a sudden burst of mana he ran forward leaving behind a trail of dust, Isanna was quick to respond her feet glowing yellow she too followed Derek right behind him at the same speed.

The rest of the group was left standing there for a second looking at their backs. Then James got on all fours and followed with the speed of a horse but still slower than Derek and Isanna, Rin jumped on the top of a roof and vanished out of sight, leaving Ron and Fiona alone beside.

"Do you have a special technique to move very fast?" asked Ron looking at her.

"No, I am kind of new at this, I mean if there was a horse around maybe I could try to tell him to help us, but then again you could just do that without any powers too, " said Fiona.

"Let's just go on foot, " said Ron, and they ran after them.

Ron and Fiona were having a deja vu, as they ran through the burning city. Ron was using his metal sense to try to get a sense of their surroundings, the barbarians were wearing armor after all.

"I think there is someone here, " said Ron stopping as he felt the sensation of metal which was moving around coming from a street.

"Let's go then, we should help out wherever we can, we should save as many lives as possible, " said Fiona and so they turned left into the street.

They started hearing more and more sounds as they ran forward, Ron now started sensing a lot more as they reached the end of the street. When they finally reached the end of the street, they came upon what looked like the city square, the amount of noise exploded as they found themselves in the middle of war, there were all kinds of half-breeds fighting a horde of barbarian soldiers.

"I think those half-breeds with no armor are civilians, they have joined the fight too, " said Fiona.

"You stay here, I'll help them, " said Ron.

"I am coming too, " said Fiona.

"You aren't ready yet, not for this kind of battle, and you said you haven't found a proper way to use your powers yet, " said Ron.

"I said I haven't found one to make me move faster, but here I can help, " she said and stepped forward. Raising her hands she closed her eyes, and then opened them, her eyes were glowing white.