To Protect Without Sympathy

His boots landed on a path, sunlight struggling to pierce through the dense trees.

He walked forward with an unsheathed blade, ready for a fight.

Further down the path, he found a clearing. A small village with wooden logs bound together tightly, standing in place around it, the entrance was sealed off with a wooden gate, standing beyond a river, a bridge connecting to it. Venator began marching on the bridge, approaching closer to the village's gate.

"The magic's range reaches all the way to the town itself? Interesting." Venator commented.

Venator stopped as he stepped down the bridge, just a few steps from the door.

"She said to not harm them, so burning isn't much of an option." He thought to himself, as he started placing his hand on the gate to open, the noise of flame alerted him from behind. In a swift step to the side, a ball of flame slammed into the gate, missing Venator. From the top of the bridge, a figure stood on it with a fist consumed by fire.

"Nice reflexes." The figure said in a mocking tone, a man wearing simple attire stood in the middle of the bridge, hand aflame, staring at Venator with a smug grin.

In little time, Venator lunged at him, tip of his blade pointed towards the figure.

As he got close, the figure stepped to the side, Venator landed back at his feet turning around to face the man once more.

"It's just him, using magic is alright for now." Venator thought to himself, with his empty left hand, an orb of ice began forming on it. The figure threw another orb of fire. With a quick raise of his hand, an ice pillar formed in front of him. The flame struck the ice, dissipating quickly as it landed.

"Ah, another magic user. Why not join us? Did not know there were more." The man asked.

Venator stayed silent

With a hand of ice and a blade, he began attacking once more. Stepping side to side as he slashed at the constantly dashing figure, in retaliation the figure began throwing a few orbs of flame, hitting the river and the bridge itself.

Venator grew more tired and frustrated. He stepped back, sheathing his sword. Both his hands soon brightened with a blue and orange glow of fire and ice.

"More than a single one?" The figure said, now curious at the sight of it.

The fight soon turned into a fight of magic, shards of ice thrown around with fire being thrown at different directions, from the river to the forest trees and village walls.

As they fought, a figure from behind hit Venator, seeing this too late, he felt as a blade slashed across his back, falling on the ground as the figure kicked him in the chest.

Quickly, Venator formed a dome above him. He started checking for the wounds he sustained, feeling the sting of pain from it.

The two began trying to break the ice while he continued checking.

"The ice is working well against them, suppose ice is far better for this fight." He thought to himself, formulating a plan while still inside the ice dome.

The flame dissipated, now carrying an unsheathed sword.

The two placed their hands on the ice, as it stayed on, the ice began melting, ice turned to water trickling down the dome as they got nearer towards the inside of the dome. Venator prepared his sword, looking at the man with his blade ready.

A hole formed from the melted ice, taking out his hands, Venator thrusted his sword into the man, the sword went through his chest, the second figure stepped back in shock, with a snap of his fingers the dome shattered. The man was now dead on the ground, a hole through his chest with blood seeping out. The woman's face turned to anger, the flames in her hands turned to blue as she stared in rage.

She ran towards Venator, thrashing her arms around, attempting to hit him as he continued moving around.

In anger, she threw orbs of blue fire at him in her assault, the flames lingered on where they landed as Venator continued trying to dodge it. One of the orbs hit his shoulder, through the fabric, his shoulder became severely burned. A stream of fire beamed at him, quickly ducking down, he ran towards the woman, with a single slash, he slashed her stomach with the blade. The two lay dead on the ground as Venator stood. Injured but victorious.

The victory was short-lived. From the gate, people armed with swords to axes charged at him, screaming incoherently. Venator's face turned to shock at the sight, quickly starting to run away from the ensuing crowd.

"I can't hurt these people," He thought as they ran towards him on the bridge "But i can try trapping them."

In front, a large block of ice formed in front of him, blocking the entire crowd from going forward.

Behind the crowd, Venator summoned another wall of ice, trapping them, blocking a retreat and a way forward.

As the crowd realized this, a few began running to the sides.

Before they could escape, two more walls were erected, completely trapping the entire group as they attempted breaking the wall with their weapons, stabbing or slamming their weapons on the thick ice in an attempt to break free.

"That can hold them for awhile, if the ice doesn't break or melt fast." Venator said, staring at the crowd frantically trying to get out inside. He jumped down from the bridge to the river, water splashed around as he wet his clothing on it. The water was waist deep and difficult to move through.

The water quickly rose up as an object slammed down, steam began rising from the spot. Venator looked up, on top of the wooden wall, a figure donning a cloak looked down on him.

As the steam ceased, the figure landed on the ground.

"You killed Ebroth and Alerin, I was too late. Should have stayed for guard duty than get some food." The figure spoke with hatred. Fire continued burning in both his hands.

Venator, wielding ice and flame, started moving back to the other side, a ball of fire dashed at him, a quickly formed pillar rose from the water, stopping the flame in it's tracks.

More orbs of flame were slung at Venator as he continued trying to advance forward, steam formed around the river as it continued.

Out of the water, he unsheathed his blade, using ice and a sword once more. The figure showed a face of frustration as Venator got out, water dripping down his clothing.