She ignored his attempts to boost her morale. "There's over fifty of them!"
This conversation wasn't going anywhere. Fei needed to experience her power firsthand.
August raised his hand and pointed his fingers at the battering ram's construction site in the distance. In his mind, he found the nearby leyline.
He could use the binding stone's power, but the farther away from it he was, the more expensive it became to use.
Meanwhile, there was a leyline immediately beneath him. As Bastion, he had a direct connection to this leyline through the binding stone.
Plucking a thread of magical energy from the leyline was trivial, and August turned his attention back to reality after a few moments.
A pair of glowing orange squares snapped into existence around his outstretched wrist.
Burning runes scrawled themselves into the surrounding air, embers of light drifting off into the rays of the afternoon sun.
August pulled power from the leyline and pushed it into the spell in his hand.
The air shimmered with the intensity of the magic being cast. The runes became blindingly bright.
Too bright to read. Fei shielded her eyes, but still tried to watch, her mouth wide open in shock. Shouts rose up from the bandit camp.
August closed an eye and tilted his head to one side. With his spare hand, he placed it over his open eye.
He adjusted his hand, lined up his spell, and unleashed the power contained within it.
The battering ram vanished. Vaporized. Plumes of dirt, dust, wood, and ash rose dozens of meters into the air.
Flames roared out from within the explosion. The shock wave flattened the closest tents and knocked bandits off their feet.
Rocks and massive hunks of earth crashed down, taking out other tents.
A bandit went down when a chunk of wood punched a hole through his chest. Dismembered limbs began to fall among the debris.
"That should get their attention," August said. He lowered his hand.
"Head down there and see if you can't find the sorcerer. I'll back you up."
Fei turned her head back from the screaming chaos of the bandit camp to look at August.
Then she looked back at the bandit camp. She closed her mouth and swallowed.
"Yes, sir," she murmured.
Was that a little too much for his first spell, August wondered.
He'd kept the explosion fairly restrained compared to the amount of power he had drawn upon.
Most of it had gone up or down, to provide a theatrical effect. He was fighting bandits, not an enemy Champion or demons.
Fei charged down the hill. Her pace sped up after the first few steps, and she soon kicked up a cloud of dust as she sprinted toward the bandits.
A few dozen bandits gathered themselves in groups.
The closest to Fei stared at the approaching dust cloud, transfixed. Her scimitar tore through them before they reacted.
Their bodies hadn't hit the ground before she flipped over their heads toward the next group.
Blood mixed with the dust she left in her wake, and her scimitar gleamed red.
A collapsed tent went flying, and a giant stepped out from beneath it.
His armor was battle-scarred, but August made out old markings of the Imperial Army on it.
The breastplate fit too well on the man's gargantuan figure, so he had to be a deserter. Bandits couldn't afford tailored steel plate, especially when they're that huge.
"It's just one girl, ya buffoons," the giant yelled. August relied on his enhanced hearing to overhear the shouting. "Surround her so we can get her properly."
Properly? That sounded bad to August's ears. He guessed the giant to be the bandit leader, or close enough.
Sliding down the hill, August checked for any active magic.
A wise sorcerer didn't scan for magic in the middle of a battle, given the focus it required, but August wasn't in danger for the moment.
If he found the enemy sorcerer first, he could end this battle before it truly started.
Before he found anything, a series of yells brought him back to his senses.
A crossbow bolt slammed into the ground next to him. Another hit him dead in the chest.
The bolt snapped on impact and fell to the ground. Pain fountained out within August for a few seconds, as if somebody had punched him very hard in the chest.
Given a crossbow capable of penetrating steel plate had hit him, he wasn't complaining about a little pain.
The magical protection the binding stone gifted him made him nearly immune to non-magical attacks, but they still hurt.
And enough physical harm could kill, like having a fortress fall on top of his head.
The yelling stopped.
August looked over and saw five bandits. Three of them had stopped mid-charge, axes raised.
They wore leather armor and chain mail. Behind them were two more bandits with crossbows. All of them stared at him, eyes wide and jaws dropping.
August raised an arm. A glowing triangle appeared at the end of each fingertip of his hand. The bandits tried to turn and run.
With a snap of power, August blew a fist-sized hole in the torso of each of the five bandits. He didn't wait to see if they were dead.
Ordinary humans couldn't survive a hole where their heart should be.
The ground rumbled. August cursed, realizing he had forgotten his primary objective.
An inferno of flames rose up in a straight line from the middle of the bandit camp. Fei was nowhere to be seen.
Bandits scattered from the blazing fire, unsure if they were under attack by a third enemy.
Their tents burned, and soon the inferno engulfed the entire clearing.
August ran toward the flames. As the original blast faded into ash and smoke, Fei came back into view.
She had her arms crossed in front of her, eyes closed and tail tightly wrapped around her torso.
Opposite Fei was another woman. Her figure wasn't entirely clear through the smoke and haze, but she wielded a greatsword almost as big as she was.
"Fei! Counterattack her," August shouted.
Fei's eyes snapped open. She looked down at herself.
Pieces of her clothes fell off her body in ashen tatters, and her armor was blackened by something other than paint. But she appeared physically unharmed.
She looked at the woman opposite her and grinned toothily.
The two swordswomen traded blows. Fei struck at every weak point she could reach.
She dove behind her opponent and cut at her ankles. Despite the unwieldy size of her sword, the bandit swordswoman kept up with Fei's magically enhanced speed.
As the smoke cleared, August saw why. A glowing red hexagon hovered over the crossguard of the bandit's greatsword.
While looking at it, August felt the power slowly filling it up. This bandit was a powerful sorceress.
The inferno from earlier hadn't been caused by a sixth rank spell, which the hexagon denoted.
Maybe a fourth rank spell at most. If this girl unleashed a sixth rank spell, the power would level the entire clearing.
Shattering the barrier wasn't even a consideration. Half the town would vanish in an instant, and the rest would be turned to ash in the ensuing blaze.
And August knew she was casting a fire spell.
After all, he recognized the woman holding the sword.
A young woman with short brown hair, who looked just shy of twenty. Her cloak covered up most of her figure, but he knew what she looked like.
Petite, short, lithe, toned muscle, tanned skin, and blazing red eyes.
No, not red eyes.
Not yet. He didn't know her natural eye color.
"Sen," August murmured to himself, stopped in his tracks for a moment.
He was fighting against one of his Champions from his old timeline, and a former lover.