Chapter 8: Pushed down

I rushed out of the wind barrier, kneeling in front of Father, my mother following immediately behind alongside Arthur. I could see the panic written on her face as she nervously contemplated what she could do.

"Cough! Alice, listen to me. Don't worry about me. If you use a healing spell right now, they'll realize what you are and try that much harder to capture you. They'll be willing to sacrifice a lot more if they know!" He stressed, his voice in a low whisper.

After a brief, trembling hesitation, my mother took out her wand and began chanting. I would've assumed that her stammered chanting was caused by seeing her husband injured, but for some reason, it felt like she was almost afraid of using her magic.

Father turned to us after giving up trying to persuade his wife.

"Mel, Art, listen carefully boys. After the healing spell activates, they're going to try to capture your mother at all costs. After I'm healed enough, I'm going to engage the leader and try to buy more time.

I think I can beat him, but not if I have to worry about protecting you guys. Take your mother back down the road and don't stop; Adam will open up a path for you."

"No dad! I'm staying with you. I can fight!" Arthur expressed.

"Yes dad! You saw us yesterday, we definitly can help you with this, please trust us!" I shouted too.

"LISTEN TO ME, MELIODAS AND ARTHUR LEYWIN!" Father agonizingly roared. This was the first time hearing his voice like this, the kind of voice that one would only use for desperate measures.

"I know you both can fight! That's why I'm entrusting your mother to you. Protect her and protect the baby inside her. I'll catch up to you after this is over."

I was shocked, trying to realise and understand what dad just said, 'Protect her and protect the baby inside her.'

Giving a look to Art, he was as shocked as me. Our mother was pregnant and we are going to have a brother or sister. I now understand why he told us to stay with her.

"I was planning on telling you kids when we arrived in Xyrus, but..." Not finishing his sentence, father just looked down sheepishly, still pale from the blow he received from the bald, axe-wielding boss.

"You can leave her for us, I will proctect her at all cost." I was determined as fuck boi.

"Okay, we will protect Mom, you dont have to worry about that dad." Spoke Arthur.

"Those are my sons." He gave us a hug before mom continued her chant.

My mother finished her chant at this time and both she and my father glowed in a bright golden-white light.

"Sonova— One of them's a healer! Don't let her get away!" the leader roared.

Art quickly grabbed my mother's arm with both hands and tugged at her to move while reinforcing myself with mana while I was behind them to protect them from any incoming attacks.

We reached the area Adam and the dual-wielder were battling a dozen meters down the road.

"Kids, hurry down, I got him!" Adam barked as he kept his opponent at bay.

The dual-wielder was obviously frustrated by the inability to neither reach us nor mother because of Adam. We hurried down the slope when I heard a faint *wizz* sound to our left.

Acting on instinct, I jumped up, bringing my wooden sword up and reinforcing my whole body and the sword to withstand the blow of the incoming arrow.

A splintering crack resonated as the arrow met the wooden sword. Fortunately, the arrow wasn't reinforced with any mana so I could easly redirect the arrow away.

'Fuck, it completely broke my sword, well it was a wooden sword after all.' I threw what was left of it since it became useless.

"What the— Ugh!" Was all I heard from the assailant before he was promptly impaled by an arrow fired by Helen.

"GO!" she exclaimed, nocking in another arrow and firing it at the leader of the bandits to support my father.

Currently, Jasmine, Adam, and my father, along with Helen, were each fighting a mage.

"Wasn't there four mages?" Arthur asked me looking with a perplexed look.

"Damien! Forget the plan, don't let them live!" The leader barked out.

'Who was he commanding?' I asked myself.

"... respond to my call and wash all to oblivion!" a faint voice finished chanting.

[Water Cannon]

From the mountainside, one of the scattered "archers" had his hands brought together, aimed at me. We were tricked. He had camouflaged himself during the chaos. He wasn't an archer or even an augmenter. He was a conjurer!

I didn't have much time to react as a huge sphere of pressurized water, at least three meters in diameter, shot towards us, increasing in size as it neared.

My mind raced trying to come up with options.

To my immediate right was my mother and Arthur, and to my left were Adam and his opponent not far off; and behind me, of course, was the edge of the mountain.

I turned my back to the spell willing all of the remaining mana left in my body, I pushed my mother, propelling her out of the way.

Unsheathing the knife Jasmine gave him from his waist, Art imbued it with mana and threw it like a boomerang, aiming it at the conjurer who was still concentrating on the water cannon. Barely curving around the edge of the giant cannonball of water, I heard the firm thud of the knife meeting skin.

The mage let out a shrill howl of pain followed by a string of curses indicated that the mage wasn't dead.

Losing concentration, the mage's water cannon lost shape, but unfortunately, there was still a surge of water strong enough to push me off the cliff.

The water spell made contact with my forearms that I crossed to lessen the collision at full speed pushing me with Arthur who was behind me off the cliff towards an unknown future.

TO BE CONTINUED --->

 --NOTE--

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