Good and Bad Luck

The combination of Mallory and Swaine in a group was something that could not be underestimated.

Their unique combination of luck elements had a big part in how everything turned out around them.

One slight difference in probability or a slightly different action taken by others which had been influenced by something around them had played a major part in the events that were taking place.

Nobody noticed anything strange about anything that would change certain events around them but it was happening all around them.

Mallory was a magnet for bad luck and absorbed it from those close to her no matter how small that bad luck was.

It was not a talent or some kind of skill that had been shown on her status but it was more like a curse or natural physique that she had.

Perhaps it was much deeper and was related to her soul which had a natural attraction force to bad luck or karma that made her have to endure more than others during her daily life.

Whatever it was, it had yet to be shown on her status that had been placed onto her by Goddess Seshat.

Once the bad luck or karma had gathered, events took place that would cause harm to her or to get in the way of her daily life.

Most were things that would not leave her harmed by too much so she could endure it before moving on with her life.

Others would inconvenience her after items or tools she used would break all of a sudden after a small accident.

Her life was filled with twists and turns that she had to navigate through if she wished to get through them unharmed.

Mallory possessed the memories of her other life where she lived a long life until her bad luck finally caught up with her aging and weaker body.

She may have retained a lot of her personality and youthfulness of her current life but there were things that had been added to that through her awakening of her past life's memories and her Apotropaic Skill.

One thing for certain that she knew was that depending on the structure of the world she was living in, the more complex and dangerous the world was, the more her own bad luck could come to harm her in some way.

It was not completely a bad thing though considering that she was drawing away the bad luck away from those around her.

Any bad luck that those around her had that would get them hurt would be drawn to Mallory as she defended them.

That meant that any stray arrow that went off course towards them when they made a mistake like tripping or stepping from behind her would be less likely to find its target.

The bad luck had helped draw the attention to herself as the enemies focussed their fire around her.

Mallory could feel the growing Excelia each moment that she had directly or indirectly saved those behind her from harm.

Each small wave of Excelia had built up inside her body like a pure and holy trace of energy that needed to be put to use but she had no control over it.

Only the Gods could control that form of energy to help their Familia unlock their potential further.

While Mallory became a target and took on the worst of it all due to her possessing bad luck that helped to nudge events in a way that was less in her favour, Swaine had the good luck to be able to take advantage of certain opportunities that had been provided by them being focussed on Mallory.

One was unlucky and attracted unwanted attention while the other was unlucky and could make use of many helpful coincidences or opportunities given to them.

When a fast and agile cat girl was thrown into that group dynamic, it had caused events of the battle to suddenly shift in the favour of Mallory's group very quickly.

The archers were forced into close combat by Swaine and Nia who were both experienced in combat and had a status to help boost their chances of survival and their physical abilities.

The bandits had shown no special qualities besides having decent fighting abilities as a group so they started to fall one after another.

The barriers started to fall around the area that Mallory was standing in while a bandit had crept close over the rocks above her hoping to ambush those below.

The leopard cat ears of Mallory twitched slightly as she heard something close by then she reached into her bag. 'Oh no you don't!'

A kunai was in her hands which was thrown out as she turned her body around quickly resulting in the kunai flying out towards the bandit.

Their readied bow fired upon being released but it had gone further off course from the intended target. "Argh!"

The numbers of the bandits fighting in the area had begun to drop rapidly once they lost their advantage.

Their main reliance that let them hold their ground over Mallory's group was their knowledge of the terrain, their ability to make use of it, their ability to launch an attack from an advantageous position as an ambush, their ability to fight from a further away range to avoid harm and their larger numbers.

Those advantages were slowly taken away from them as they had to adjust their positioning to take down Mallory and those she was protecting and as their arrows were running lower on supply.

Once the element of surprise was gone without there being any major damage to Mallory's group, they had started to fall apart one step at a time until they were surrounded from the front, left side and right side losing their other advantages.

Just as the battle was coming to an end leaving few of the bandits remaining alive and those that had lived were full of wounds.

As Mallory watched each aura surrounding the bandits bodies disappear signalling their deaths, she felt no pity towards them or guilt for being involved in their deaths directly or indirectly. "Hah.."

Their auras were already blackened and dirty to the point that even if they tried to turn their lives around after being spared, it would be very difficult for them to be able to make up for all of the bad karma they had built up.

They had so much blood on their hands that it stained their auras which Mallory could see all around them and it was a sickening sight to witness for her.

She had met some sinister or evil people before around or outside of Visa City but they were not nearly as bad as the bandits she had come across.

If there was one person that had a similar aura to them that she had witnessed them the only person she could compare them with would be Clarice from her own Familia.

It made her slightly worried that someone in her Familia could be compared to the group of bandits in front of her if she was to judge them solely based on the auras that had been shown to her.

It scared her that she was not seeing all of the facts and circumstances while it had also scared her that she did not fully understand what she was seeing. 'Can I really trust this?'

It made her not regret killing bandits since they had such a bad karma or auras but there existed a similar aura close by which was a part of her Familia so she did not know if she could judge others fairly and justly.

If she trusted in her ability to see such things and acted accordingly then she feared making a rash and wrong decision but there was another problem if she just ignored it completely and ignored a potential danger around her.

Either path could lead to regrets from the actions she took but looking at the bandits before her, her heart had slowly settled down once she went over the information about the mission and what she had witnessed and experienced for herself. 'Hah.. just take it one step at a time.'