A Hand-Woven Universe 138 137. They don't stand a chance...

While the clocked ticked down for the fire, Noone began to scour the courtyard to the bandit camp. He started with the corpses of the people he had killed. Fourteen people in total. In his own mind he wondered if that should bother him. But he also couldn't help the fact that even if it should, it didn't.

One by one he looked through the various wooden buildings around the outer perimeter.

He moved quickly, making sure to keep track of the time. Despite high hopes initially, after looking through each building he found nothing of note.

Some held food. Some held grains. One held various weapons however from what Noone could tell, each one was only at the basic level in terms of price – most were even on the border of being rusted over. It wasn't worth the energy to carry them to the next town to sell them.

"It looks like anything of value will be within the caves." Noone thought. He silently wondered if had had been tricked by Clayton. He didn't put it past the man. He knew that Clayton would be infiltrating directly into the caves from the back entrance. This means anything of special note would probably be picked by him first.

"Well whatever." Noone thought. "In for a copper..."

At the very least he could probably get a few gold coins for the trouble. "I wonder what the worth of a human life is in gold coins?" Noone thought stoically, deciding what how much gold he would have to get to be okay with spending his night doing this.

Noone walked over to the fire blocking the entrance of the cave. The fire acted like a curtain - obscuring but not completely – the men on the other side. Noone was basically face to face with the bandits, looking them in the eyes.

Each one's eyes were filled with malice and hate. Some more than others. Some eyes seemed to be red with hate to the point Noone thought they might try to burst through the scorching curtain between them. He figured these were the close friends of those he had killed.

Despite the brewing seething hate though, it was eerily silent except for the crackle of the fire. Even Noone with his stoic disposition couldn't help but feel a tad uncomfortable.

Not one to be particularly subtle, Noone sat down in front of the flame. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. This riled the bandits even more.

"Good." Noone thought. He kept his divine sense trained on them, worried one of them might try to launch their weapon or shoot an arrow through the fire. Something that Noone did notice was the people at the front most of the group were all men. This made Noone frown. It wasn't that he expected there to be very many women in a bandit camp, however he had heard earlier that their captain – captain Jess – was female. So… where was she? Noone wondered if she was in the back, or perhaps already taken care of by Clayton without anyone noticing?

Suddenly, Noone noticed something that caused his breath to catch.

A single thread of energy.

Noone almost didn't even notice it, and didn't believe his senses. But after focusing in on it he was sure… On the other side of the flame, a deep red thread of energy floated in and out of existence.

Noone grew excited. Although the size was a quite a bit smaller, Noone had seen that color of energy before. It was the same deep read that he associated with Hoar and his energy.

Without waiting for even a moment Noone used his divine sense to snatch this rogue red energy from the space of the universe. Immediately it entered Noone's mind without resistance, and then was sucked down to his core and burned up by his life flame.

Noone's eyes shot open.

"Eight percent." Noone grinned. That one little red strand had brought him 8% closer to his next breakthrough. Although this seemed like a small amount, it was almost equivalent to a month of standard energy cultivation relying on just the natural energy around him.

Noone only had a minute left before the fire dispersed, but he used that time to quietly ponder why the thread had appeared.

Finally, he came to a conclusion which he was satisfied with. The circumstances he had seen this color of energy – both before and now – led Noone to believe that it was the desire for something being catalyzed through the humans and tainting the space around them.

Noone knew there should be about 70 people on the other side of the flame curtain… If he was right, then it took that many people to just get one strand of red-tinged universe energy…

A calm smile spread on Noone's face as he opened his eyes to look at the men on the other side. An unknowing chill travelled up their spines when they saw his expression, but it just as quickly passed – restoring their unmitigated malice.

After a few more moments, Noone noticed the flame flicker oddly in his divine sense and he stood up, carefully training his full attention on the bandits.

They too had noticed the flame shiver slightly, and realized it was on the verge of burning out.

A smile was shared between the two, promising equal shares of violence and bloodshed.

Suddenly, like magic being dispersed all at once the flame disappeared.

There was nothing between Noone and the 70 angry bandits. There was only a moment's hesitation before the man at the front of the group took his first step towards Noone.

Instead of drawing his weapons, Noone did something no one had been expecting.

The bandits were prepared for a fight – and even for a slaughter. Their hearts were hardened to tear this unsightly bastard limb-from-limb no matter how many people they had to sacrifice in the process.

What they weren't prepared for though – was for Noone to turn tail immediately.

And that's exactly what Noone did.

It only took Noone a couple of seconds to cross half the distance to the exit of the camp, showing no sign of slowing.

The front most man – who seemed to be in charge for the time being – was utterly shocked when he saw this.

He choked over his own words for a moment before he finally managed to spit them out in rage. "GET HIM! HE MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO ESCAPE!" He screamed with such ferocity that he was on the verge of tearing his vocal cords.

Noone smirked when he heard these words and glanced back to see the mass of people rushing out of the cave all at once.

From out of everyone's earshot, a small faint voice began mumbling to herself.

"One, two, three…" She counted. The front most bandits rushing out of the cave in a full sprint – honestly believing Noone was trying to escape.

"Four, five, six, seven, eight…" Her hand was raised above her head. More bandits followed, a rallying cry began to develop naturally as they charged.

"Nine, ten, eleven." A red bottle glistened in the moonlight. Their cry loudened as the charge took on even more momentum.

"twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen!" She said fifteen with a deep heft, launching the red bottle in her hand towards the entrance of the cave. The bottle easily passed inside, landing on the ground only feet from where Noone's bottle had been dropped.

The crack of a bottle was heard through the entire camp.

When Noone heard it he smiled, turning around just before the exit of the yard.

The bandits only had a moment to be confused… before the screaming started.

Like fish being forced through a small canal, all of the men had been condensed into such a small area – the single cave exit. This made them perfect targets for a concentrated attack: the other bottle of liquid fire, and Sarah who had been waiting a little further up the hill above the entrance of the cave.

Screams of sheer agony which caused one's blood to curdle echoed through the entire hillside. Pain! Torture! Suffering! Noone quickly did a head count and could see the melting bodies of almost 40 people who had been caught in the entrance of the cave when Sarah threw the bottle in.

Sarah quickly made her way down into the outer courtyard of the camp, catching the eye of the fifteen men who had already made it into the open before the bottle was thrown.

All 15 looked on in a mix of horror and anger. But mostly, they were too stunned to react in any way. Their minds had been shocked frozen at the sight and the sounds… and the smell! This whole time it had looked like Noone was working alone. Not once was there any hint of anyone else there to help him… Until it was too late.

Sarah was now in full view of the fire she had caused, and she frowned, unable to take her eyes away from the screaming men trapped within the flame… her stomach felt sick but she grit her teeth forcing herself not to throw up.

Her eyes hardened as she turned her attention to the fifteen men she had let pass.

Learning from Noone's example, she wasted no time – not wanting them to regroup enough to give her trouble. Noone stood by the entrance to the camp, standing guard in case anyone tried to flee. However otherwise he did not interfere. Only a smile played on his lips as he watched Sarah advance.

Just as he benefited from the experience of his own fights, she too would gain a lot from doing this herself.

However, Noone wasn't going to stand by and let her get seriously injured either. But… he had a feeling that she would be fine.

A black and red flash of light spawned bramble-like chains across the ground. Immediately the sound of grinding metal rings filled the air as the summoned chains spread across the earth.

They easily bound the feet of the men, and wrapped around their legs piercing into their calves with small rough spines. The injuries were shallow and they weren't debilitating, but it was painful enough to be distracting. And most of all… it worked on multiple people.

Noone lamented again not having any sort of spells he could work with.

"Maybe I should invest in some more bottle magics? The liquid flame is really useful… but… expensive." Noone thought as he watched Sarah crush the skull of a bandit beneath her heavy pole-mace.

The smell of burnt flesh was now overwhelming, it seemed the wind could not disperse it fast enough.

"I will ask Alaviv about what other kinds of anyone-can-use magics exist, later." Noone thought.
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One of the two spiked ends of her chain pierced through another bandit's soft stomach.

"Yeah…" Noone thought as he watched. "They don't stand a chance."

Chapter end