*BAM!*

In another part of the forest, the battle between two people was taking place.

With one giving off certain flashes of light from time to time and the other being an amalgamation of shadows, combined with the darkness of the forest, they certainly created an interesting scene to say the least.

“Take this, assh*le!” Shouted Tom, who had thrown a punch towards Vildan, which had made direct contact with the latter’s face.

However, despite the fact that he had shouted it with such energy, it was apparent that his voice did not contain even a hint of the confidence he had shown before.

The reason for this was simple, and it was because even though he was attacking, in the same manner as had happened with Jay, his attacks seemed to have no effect.

‘Sh*t, where the hell are the others?’ Tom thought, being worried inside but not forgetting to keep moving in order to escape Vilda’s reach.

Unlike his opponent, who didn’t seem to be nervous in the slightest, Tom was quite the opposite, being a nervous wreck about facing someone like Vilda.

He had originally thought the latter was weak, as he, along with Nico and Kai managed to capture him with relative ease, going so far as to believe he could have done it on his own.

Thanks to this, he had been confident, but to his bad luck, this had not turned out to be the case at all.

Starting with the big blow he received with the hammer at the start, which had already caused him a great deal of damage, Tom had been realizing just how bad his situation was the longer the fight dragged on.

Not only were none of his attacks effective against the shadow coating Vilda had, but every time he had contact with the shadows, he was the one who sometimes got caught by the shadows and took a heavy hit.

As for the idea of running away, he had tried that before, and that was the very reason why he now had a bloody hole in his back, a product of having turned his back on Vilda, who took the opportunity to throw a shadow spear at him.

‘Just how did we manage to defeat this guy before?!’ Tom thought, several beads of sweat running down his forehead.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t find the answer no matter how much he thought about it, after all, his ego was so big that he couldn’t even believe in the possibility that the one who had defeated Vilda was not ‘them’, but ‘someone’._.

Specifically, a certain light mage who had shared several years of schooling with Vilda, having a notion of both his strengths and weaknesses which allowed him to devise a plan to take care of him quickly.

Even then, Nico didn’t have it easy, because even for someone like him, who had an elemental advantage over the shadows and a relatively large amount of information about his opponent, he had to acknowledge that Vilda was by no means an easy opponent.

Even in his high school years, the reason Vilda remained Nico’s rival was not simply because of their different attributes wich were direct opposites, but also out of his own merit, with Vilda possessing just as much talent and strength as the light mage.

An example of this was that in all the clashes they had while whey were in highschool, the amount of wins and losses of each, added together, did not come close to the amount of draws their clashes had resulted in.

And even though it had been quite a while since they had shared a classroom, Nico still estimated that their power levels had remained at a similar level, something he had been able to confirm the moment he had met Vilda.

So, if they both possessed a similar level of strength, how had he managed to capture Vilda?

The answer to this lay not in Nico, but in the class he belonged to, which was often overlooked when talking about Nico due to the personality of this mage.

Mages were known for their preparations enhanced by the enormous repertoire of spells they possessed, limited only by the branch they studied.

In this area, Nico was no different from other mages, so after some time of preparation, he managed to develop a plan.

Thus, having learned the route that Vilda normally took, the three of them set out, with Nico initiating the attack by invoking a spell known as Cage of Light.

This spell was used by light mages to trap monsters, so its resistance was considerably higher than other similar spells, however, that was not the reason Nico had used it.

Instead, it was its properties of slowing down the trapped target, along with completely illuminating the inside of the cage, leaving not a single shadow uncovered as the spell was created to be used against light-sensitive monsters.

With these preparations, an unsuspecting Vilda could do little more than get caught, but even in that condition, he had still managed to damage both Kai and Tom, which was certainly a hint for the latter to take note of.

Now, the person who was paying the price for this was Tom, facing a Vilda who apart from being incredibly angry, was also getting a huge power boost thanks to the environment they were in.

This increase was also related to why Nico chose a spell that specifically erased shadows, because it was shadows that made Vilda a danger, and the more there were, the stronger Vilda would become.

It worked similar to why elemental mages always formed an elemental zone before any battle, or rather, the elemental zones of mages worked by copying the advantages that esper with elemental abilities had on advantageous terrain.

Therefore, similar to how an esper with fire control would have almost unlimited ammunition in the middle of a fire, Vilda’s ability, which allowed him to mold shadows into any shape he wanted, made him, in a place with so many shadows, a fearsome opponent.

“!”

At that moment, as Tom was trying to create distance, his feet met with unexpected resistance, almost as if he had stepped in a mud puddle.

However, he was already quite familiar with this substance that was by no means mud, but something much worse.

“Let me go, dammit!”

Immediately, he tried to wriggle free, using his ability to the fullest, the shadows beginning to give way.

Although his ability was of the physical type and was not as unusual as Vilda’s, it was undoubtedly among the best of its kind, which was demonstrated by being able to oppose Vilda’s shadows.

Unfortunately, this opposition only lasted a few seconds before the shadows took on new energy and enveloped his legs completely.

“Argh! Sh*t! Wait, wait, wait! I give up! I give up!” Shouted Tom, seeing a small shadow-covered figure approaching him, carrying a hammer larger than the figure itself.

As he had already taken a blow from that hammer,, he knew extremely well how much damage it could cause, so Tom really didn’t want to have to go through that again, leaving him with no choice but to shout out that he was surrendering.

This was a big blow to his pride, but it was his physical well-being first, so he was able to accept this exchange.

“…”

In a matter of a couple of seconds, Vilda was already in front of Tom, the latter with several beads of sweat on his face from not knowing what Vilda would do.

A small silence then began, with neither making a move, one because he was considering his options and the other for fear of angering the other party.

Though of course, while neither was moving, that didn’t mean that nothing was happening, the example of this being the shadows that had trapped Tom, which kept rising and had already covered his body up to chest height.

“Haa…”

Finally, after a short time, Vilda let out a sigh as his large hammer dissolved and returned to the shadows.

“T-thank you!! I was in the wrong, I’m really sorry!”

Seeing this, Tom couldn’t help but rejoice, as this meant that Vilda wasn’t going to continue attacking him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m not a particularly violent or vindictive person, so just this once, I’ll let you off easy, in exchange for a small favor.” Vilda said.

“Ah! Yes of course, anything you want!” Tom exclaimed happily, seeing his way out of this complicated situation.

Thank goodness, his enemy this time had been someone benevolent.

‘Haa… now… he’ll probably ask me for money or something… which means that I can tell him I need to get my smart watch out and take the opportunity to attack him! I didn’t want to use it… but you’ve forced me to this…’ Thought Tom, still wanting to carry out his earlier plan.

While he had to admit that Vilda was strong, Tom still had an ace up his sleeve that he had in store for special situations that required more power than normal.

As for what this was, it was an empowerment pill that was kept in a small cloth pouch in his pocket.

He had been saving it to face Jay, who was the person Nico had said would be the most troublesome, and he still wanted to keep it, but in order to get out of this situation and continue with his plan, he would have no choice but to use it.

But for this, of course, he had to agree to everything Vilda said, or at least appear to do so until he was free of the shadows that kept him pinned to the ground.

“S-so, what’s the favor?” Asked Tom, who was now completely covered in shadows except for his face.

Showing a slight smile on his face, Vilda got a little closer to him and then replied, “It’s simple, just… grit your teeth.”

After saying that, the surrounding shadows began to gather on Vilda’s arms, forming thick, good-sized gloves.

“I wouldn’t want you to pass out on me anytime soon, after all.”

“W-WAIT-“

*BAM!*

With that last exchange of words, Vilda’s revenge session had begun, and apparently, it didn’t look like it was going to end anytime soon.

***

A few minutes passed, and the sounds of someone being beaten, which had been constant and rhythmic, were finally coming to an end at the same time that Vilda’s energy was beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

As for his opponent, or rather, object of practice, his face was completely covered in bruises and cuts, leaving him almost unrecognizable compared to his previous neat appearance, evidence of the punishment he had to go through.

Vilda’s gloves only confirmed the brutality of this beating, with the knuckles being stained with a reddish liquid.

Some people might perhaps say that this was too much or that it was not right to seek justice in this way, but for Vilda, that was not important, it only mattered to him that he had repaid what was done to him…. at the double.

“Now then, only Nico is left… I knew he an idiot… but this is something else entirely.” Vilda said, dissolving his shadow gloves.

Checking again that Tom was unconscious, Vilda then released all the shadows that held the first mentioned immobile.

As he did this, he let out a deep sigh, tired from the exhaustion of having used his ability to such a degree.

While he was completely surrounded by shadows, which translated into him having a huge elemental advantage, it didn’t mean that it was easy to make use of this, at least not at his rank.

To give an example, the shadows in the surroundings were like a huge lake, while his ability was like a bucket.

Normally, even if the bucket was full, once it was emptied, depending on the place and time of day, the difficulty of refilling the bucket varied greatly.

But in a place like this, as soon as he emptied his bucket, he could fill it, which allowed him to control the shadows to a much greater degree, at the expense of his bucket, that is, his body, carrying a lot more of pressure.

Fortunately for him, now it was time to give his ability a rest, at least for a little while, so he went on about his business, which now was to drag Tom’s body to wherever Jay was.

Who knows, maybe if he hurried, he might even be able to help him take care of the other two.

*Shoosh, Shoosh*

“…?”

From one moment to the next, he suddenly heard the sound of leaves moving in the forest, though not with the wind, but as if they were being pushed by something heavier.

Although the noise was low and could be heard relatively far away, thanks to the quietness of the forest at this hour, Vilda was able to hear it.

Not knowing what exactly what it was, the esper decided to prepare a shadow armor just in case.

*Swoosh!

However, at the same time his shadows began to move, a figure shot out of the forest at high speed, from the same direction in which he had heard the rustling of leaves.

“What the-!”

*Bam!*

Before he could say or do anything, the figure hit him hard, sending him flying.