Tales of the Lone Swordsman: Bermia - Part II (Solo)

Galen had just arrived in front of the bandit’s lair, home of the troupe of thugs who had been harassing Bermia, a village located in the Fortuneteller’s desert that Galen had sworn to protect. He descendent back to the ground, landing right in front of the entrance. He stared at the two skulls and sighed again, feeling slightly irritated by such a barbaric act, but quickly calmed himself. ”It doesn’t matter. Everyone has a chance of redemption. I’m not above god to judge them!” he reassured his beliefs and slowly walked towards the inside of the cavern. Galen did his best to remain as stealthy as possible: if possible he wanted to peek at the bandits before actually fighting them. He wanted to maybe understand what was driving them to their evil ways and what their plans were. Also, as a warrior, he wanted to have some leverage and get so see how they moved and acted in order to try and measure some of their fighting capabilities. Although being strong, far stronger than most humans on the planet, Galen knew enough not to underestimate people; he was brave and almost fearless, but he wasn’t reckless or suicidal.

As he sneaked through the lair, he could hear voices coming from the deepest part of it, but there was still a long way to go to reach that part. On his way, though, there were some bandits scouting the area; they were cautious, he had to give them that. There was a duo of bandits carrying guns walking around the corridors. One of them was on a larger area of the cavern and the other was coming Galen’s way. ”I can’t allow them to notice me right now.” he decided and in a swift motion, he reached the upper part of the cavern thanks to his flight technique and remained there. When the bandit walked below him, Galen dropped from the ceiling and attacked the back of the bandit’s neck with the knife of his hand, knocking him unconscious. It was quick and clean and, before his body hit the ground, the young man grabbed him on his arms, halting his fall. Then, he slowly lowered him until he managed to leave him in the ground without making a sound. Then, Galen tore off some piece of leather cloth the bandit was wearing and used it to cuff both his hands and foot; he didn’t want to have him following him if he woke up before he had finished dealing with the others.

Then, it was about time to deal with the other one. Galen sneaked through the place a little bit more and waited for the next bandit to turn around, offering his back. The bandit stopped to yawn and that was the perfect opportunity to strike. The young man dashed forward and was almost noticed by the man who began to turn back due to the gust of wind Galen generated, but before he could do anything else, the young man grabbed him in a rear naked choke and choked him until he passed out. ”Two down… Five to go…” he took a mental note as he cuffed the man the same way he did with the other one. With the two scouts being took care of, he could proceed to the deepest part of the cavern without any other problem.

- Hahaha! Those little fuckers!! You saw how they tremble in fear at the sight of us, right boss?! Hahaha! Maybe we should wear that boy’s skull as a mask when we visit them again! The old fucker’s son! Hahaha!

– Heh. Indeed. Those weaklings! Let’s drain every resource they have, then kill them all and look for another excuse for a village to sustain us! Heh. With my power, no one will be able to oppose me! – the large fat man with a round nose and a scar said. By his said there was a fearsome club tainted with dried blood on its spikes.

- Hahaha! You are amazing boss! The Roxil’s bandits will rule this desert!

– No only this desert, you simple minded moron! Heh! We will soon rule all of western lands! Living wealthy with an army of slaves to fulfill our every wish! And all those who try to rise against me will die! – he said in a cocky and cruel tone, grabbing a bottle and drinking all of it in a single gulp.

Galen frowned his eyebrows and gritted his teeth with their words. It was clear that they were rotten to the core, but, still, he didn’t want to kill them. Maybe if he defeated them they could repent for their sins. It was highly unlikely and he knew that, but it was worth a shot. Other than Roxil, the other bandits didn’t seem like much. All of them carried guns with them which meant that they probably didn’t have any mastery over their kis, nor any enhanced physical prowess. On the other hand, Roxil didn’t carry any weapon other than his club, and experience told Galen that it meant trouble. Still, he had received training from the Orin Temple and he was traveling for years in order to improve his skills; he was confident he could handle Roxil if it came to that and therefore, he decided to act, casting away his stealthy approach.

The young man walked towards the large area where the bandits were. They were sitting around a campfire and the place had plenty of barrels and boxes, probably from the stolen goods they had been acquiring. When Galen approached, the four thugs quickly got up, grabbing their machine guns, while Roxil only stared at his direction with curiosity. The thugs had the young man at gun point, but they waited for Roxil’s orders. The fat man threw his bottle on the ground and with his left hand, he embraced the hilt of his club, but did nothing else. – You must have three or four balls to come here. If you reached this area, it means you dealt with the scouts. Tell me, boy, do you have a death wish? Heh. – he asked, cracking a smirk with the corner of his mouth. His eyes were evil and they carved for blood, it was clear as daylight. Galen, on the other hand, had a very serious expression on his face.

– I’ve heard enough! I demand you put an end to your evil ways and repent for your sins, otherwise I will have no other option… I will have to beat you all! – and after he said that, the thugs exploded in laugher. The only one who didn’t laugh was Roxil, whose expression became completely serious. – Unload your magazines on this conceited little shit! – he ordered without a second thought.

And, without any delay, the thugs fired all their machinegun rounds on Galen. They were laughing as they did so, but the young man wouldn’t just let them have it. Galen bent his knees a bit and narrowed his eyes, opening both of his palms as he quickly moved both his hands at an amazing speed, successfully grabbing every single bullet fired at him. When they unloaded all their weapons, Galen was standing there unscathed with his hands unable to completely close as they were holding an impressive amount of bullets. Then, slowly, he opened his hands and allowed all the bullets to fall to the ground. As they fell, the courage of the thugs vanished at an even faster pace.

- M-monster!! This boy must be a monster!!! Save us boss!!!

Their screams were justified: they were but regular thugs with no skill at all. All their bravery came from Roxil’s power, and Roxil seemed unsurprised. The thugs retreated as much as they could, while their boss stands up. He was slightly taller than Galen and much larger and seemed really strong. – You bunch of useless shit! Alright, scream like a little bitch! The mighty Roxil will save your worthless lives again and kill this foolish boy. Heh. – he said, cracking an evil smirk on his face. In response to that, Galen slowly unsheathed his Broad Sword, staring at Roxil’s eyes with a fiery determination and bravery. – I will say this again, Roxil! Give up on your evil ways and I will let you all leave unscathed! – but his words only seemed to anger the bandit’s leader; he roared in rage and charged forward to attack, and damn! He was fast! Galen widened his eyes for a brief moment and then narrowed it again as he quickly back stepped to avoid a vertical strike from Roxil’s club. The attack hit the ground, cracking it like it was nothing. ”He is strong!” he noticed, but that didn’t scare Galen, who quickly somersaulted forward, spinning in the air a couple times and delivering a powerful strike with the blunt side of his blade to Roxil’s head. The attack hit and threw the large man to the ground, who screamed in pain. Galen retreated with a quick hop backwards, returning to his fighting stance, with his sword in front of his body.

- H-he hit the boss! W-we are doomed!!

Roxil growled but managed to get back on his feet with pure anger on his eyes. – Damn you, boy! You are the first to be able to hurt me! And you will pay for that! This lucky strike of yours means nothing! – he said and then, Roxil raised his club above his head and gathered some crimson energy on it. Galen widened his eyes again, impressed. ”Ki energy!” he noticed and, before he could say anything else, Roxil attacked him again with a vertical strike. Using all of his reflexes, Galen hopped back again, avoiding the strike, but, to his surprise, when the club hit the ground, a shockwave of energy was fired at him at an amazing speed. – Demon Smash!!! – Roxil roared as his attack tore the ground and managed to hit Galen straight on his chest. The young boy was fiercely thrown to one of the walls of the cavern, hitting it hard and creating a crater on it. He moaned in pain as he endured Roxil’s energy attack. The bandit’s leader, seeing how successful he was smirked again. – Heh. You see?! No one can stand against my special powers! – he said, with confidence. His men started laughing and relaxing a bit, but this was also short lived, as Galen slowly got out of the crater and back to the ground.

The young man was grimacing, but other than that he didn’t seem injured at all. – It was a heavy blow, Roxil, I will give you that… But! – he paused, cracking his neck by tilting it from one side to the other. – This won’t be able to defeat me nor injure me! Give up now! This is your last chance! – he said with a serious expression on his face. While the thugs got scared again, Roxil got mad and, once again, tried using his Demon Smash against Galen. Only this time the human warrior was ready. With a swift movement, he thrust his Broad Sword into the ground about 3 inches. Immediately after that a circle of energy, purple in color, surrounded Galen, creating a half-dome barrier that resisted the energy wave of the Demon Smash without any damage to it. – I-impossible! He stopped my Demon Smash! – he said in disbelief, but Galen didn’t stop there. Just after he stopped the Demon smash, he flared his light-blue ki aura around his body and dashed forward. His left fist glowed with yellow sparks of lighting and then he threw his hand forward, casting a thunderbolt from above, that hit Roxil. The bandit screamed in pain as the lightning stunned him, rending him unable to move, then, Galen reached him and unleashed the rest of the energy gathered on his fist in the form of a powerful ki blast in the form of a lion’s face. – It’s the end of it! Beast Thunder!! – he exclaimed, as the lion’s face exploded, sending Roxil sailing through the air, only to be stopped by the ceiling, hitting it hard and falling back to ground, unconscious and completely defeated.

- W-we are going to die!!!

The fear was clear on the other thugs, but Galen did the unexpected: he sheathed his sword and sighed. Then he stared back at the men with a serious and severe expression on his face. – I will let this be your lesson! Take your leader and go away from here! Start over with an honest life! If I ever see you spreading evil and injustice again, I won’t forgive you! This is your second chance! Make the most of it! – he said. The thugs were too scared to say anything in return, but it was clear that, if Roxil wanted to continue being evil, he would be doing so alone, knowing that there was people in the world fully capable of beating him. With that, Galen left the bandit’s lair and flew back towards the village of Bermia.

When he arrived back at the village it was already the middle of the afternoon. His return meant that the bandits were dealt with and the villagers celebrated. Burd approached Galen, holding his bag and smiled. – I see you came back, my boy! – and the young man nodded with a proud smile on his face. – I defeated Roxil and destroyed his morale and his men’s. I’m pretty confident they will leave and cause no further trouble! – he said with confidence in his tone. Burd nodded in agreement. – And for that we will be forever in your debt! – but Galen shook his head. – No, mister Burd. I just did the right thing! You people own me nothing. Well… Guess my work here is done! If you could spare a little bit of food and water again, I will be taking my leave. I will stop by the bandit’s lair to make sure they left! – he said, raising his thumb in a cool gesture and giggling a bit.

The villagers were more than happy to share some food and water with the Lone Swordsman and, as he promised, he left the village shortly after that. Galen stopped at the bandit’s lair, but they weren’t there anymore, leaving behind everything they stole from the village. This set the young man’s heart at peace: sometimes it was possible to end conflict without the need of killing. Combat was harder to avoid, but, still, it was good enough as it was. He was happy he managed to save the Village of Bermia from a terrible fate, and that the jewel of the desert would continue to shine and bring hope for those who crossed the Fortuneteller’s desert. With his work done, he continued to travel north, where he hoped he would be able to find the Korin’s Holy Grounds and Kami.

But this journey would still take a while to be fulfilled and plenty of new adventures were on Galen’s path!