I’ve had enough of you! He thought.

He pointed his staff down towards the hazel-haired slingshot-wielder, deciding to give him a taste of his own medicine as he coalesced the loose stone in the surrounding area into balls of rock, gathering them around himself before shooting them towards the stocky thug.

It was thanks to his recent level ups, reaching “Level Four” that combat felt much more natural for him.

“No, no–! Gah!” The thug pleaded.

As the small, squeaky-voiced thug dropped his slingshot, he was met with a swift barrage of tennis-ball sized rocks that shot against him with non-lethal, but certainly painful aggression, knocking him out on the spot.

“…Magic without words?” The girl muttered, witnessing this.

The only conscious member of the trio of thugs clicked his tongue, flipping his curved knife around as he looked up at the airborne, blonde-and-black haired boy with his cat-like eyes.

“You bastard! You’re going to pay for that-!” The lanky man hissed out.

He found those words funny, as he was kept at a safe distance several meters high by using a controlled, perpetual gust of wind beneath both of his boots._.

“Am I now? Just give me back what’s mine and I’ll forget about this,” he said.

The words he used were pointed directly at the young, blue-scarf wearing girl who seemed to be the ringleader of sorts, but was staying out of the fight.

For a moment, the girl almost seemed ready to give in, but she yelled out towards the last standing member of the less-than-capable band of thugs, “–What’re you standing around for?! Take him out, Yuhai!”

Even with that command, the lanky man seemed hesitant to be the sole combatant against the young boy who wielded such magic.

He simply watched from above while the controlled flow of air continued to keep him afloat. It did make him feel as if he were trying to present himself as “above” these folk, but it was a tactical strategy–a simple one, at that.

I’m out of range from his blade like this. It is a bit hard to keep this going continuously for a prolonged amount of time, but I’ve been practicing this for a while now, he thought.

“What’re you waiting for, Yuhai?!” The girl called out again.

The cat-eyed man growled before letting out, “Alright, alright! I hear ya’!”

He was taken by surprise as instead of rushing forward immediately with that uniquely-curved blade of his, the thug named Yuhai reached behind his back and retrieved something that he couldn’t see for himself.

What’s–? He questioned.

But before he could figure out what Yuhai had retrieved, he saw it in action as the red-haired thug tossed a few small, black orbs in his direction, which he instantly blasted with a condensed shot of air.

BOOM.

“Ghh–!”

A flash of light blinded him momentarily as a concussive explosion released, but it wasn’t any sort of dangerous release–it was a smoke bomb.

He coughed out as smoke filled his vision, refocusing himself as he gripped his staff and released a strong gust of wind that blew away the smog around him.

“That won’t work–”

Just as he said so, having cleared the smoke, he looked down to find that Yuhai wasn’t below him anymore.

Huh…? He thought.

His instincts fired off as he brought his gaze up just in time to see the lanky thug jumping side-to-side from each wall of the narrow alleyway, closing the distance swiftly as he leapt towards him with a swing of that curved blade.

“–!”

Swiping his wooden staff, he summoned a protrusion from the right wall, creating a pillar between him and the knife, blocking the incoming strike.

He went back down to the ground floor, looking up towards the thug as he took a breath of respite.

But, the man was nimble like a feline–using the thin shield he had created as a new foothold as he continued his aggressive pursuit.

“–Ya brought this on yourself, kid!” Yuhai yelled out.

Though it was a surprising assault from the thug, he was only worried for a moment before he composed himself, this time pointing his staff toward the man as the air grew denser with moisture.

In an instant, water began to manifest in the air around him before coalescing into strings of aquatic rope, wrapping around Yuhai’s limbs and restraining him in the middle of his attempted slash.

“What the–?!” Yuhai let out.

“‘Water Bind’,” he said, “Pretty neat, isn’t it?”

With a movement of his staff, he manipulated the ropes of water to fully restrict Yuhai, leaving him bound on the ground as he now set his sights on the last target–the girl.

“I’ll be taking my belongings back now,” he said, holding his hand out.

The young girl, no older than him, clenched her teeth in frustration before smirking and sticking out her tongue, “Bleh!”

“Huh…?”

“–You can have your bag back…if you catch me!” The girl said.

Before he could react, the nimble, tan-skinned girl was off, using the footholds of the alleyway walls to scale up and take off on the rooftops.

“Hey, wait–dammit!” He began to race after her.

Though he wasn’t nearly as athletic as the girl, he made up for it by usage of magic–hoisting himself up to the roof in pursuit of her with a burst of air beneath his feet.

“Come back here! Hey!”

As he shouted out while racing across the rooftop after the girl, it was clear words were only a waste of breath.

It was shocking just how swift she was and coordinated on her feet; the girl ran like an olympic star–racing against the uneven tiles of the roof as if it were any ground, while on the other hand he stumbled about just trying to keep up.

Dammit…! I won’t catch her like this! He realized.

Across the tall tops of the buildings, he could see a lot of the city–especially the people below, with a lot of people beginning to notice, but not seeming to care much as this was probably just a natural element of the city.

As he chased behind the girl, he witnessed her reach the end of the roof, feeling relief as he opened his mouth to shout something corny like “There’s nowhere to run!” but just as his lips parted–she leapt.

“Huh?!”