First came Silas' counterattack, aiming towards the Knight's weaker areas that could attempt to cripple him, this being his ankle in this case. After all these were humans, so they would be vulnerable to things like this. Even monsters were probably vulnerable to things like this. It was a smaller target, but it could work with how Silas was currently positioned.

---

Silas Cripple Attack: 5 - 25 Distance Bonus - 26 Melee Weaponry - 10 Skill Bonus + 10 Small Target Bonus = -46

Hit! (Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 9 Damage

---

Silas' attack was so incredibly spot on and the target precise enough that he hit an unarmed part of the man. His toughness still staved off an incredible amount of damage, but he still managed to slice the man's ankle, the man growling out as once again the blade cut the man, whatever the power was that was boosting his strength making the attack deal even less damage. Still, the Breathing and Inner Ki Techniques were definitely making his physical attacks deal more damage. Still this definitely caused him to slow a bit in terms of movement speed, allowing Silas to move back. There were no ladders or drain holes nearby, but getting up on the nearby stone wall that acted as a fence for some of these houses was something that could be done with a bit of quick climbing work.

Silas also received four new notifications.

---

Silas Climbing: 66 - 20 Climbing = 46

---

The stone wall, which was flat, was a small bit hard to climb, but given Silas' height and physical strength, and some climbing ability, he was able to pull himself up a little quickly, not as quickly as one would have hoped, but quick enough.

The mage, in the meantime, had been chanting another spell, this one still being chanted, power beginning to gather around the staff as this spell seemed a bit bigger than the others, the mage, seeming angry now as he was angrily glaring at Sasha now.

Ren, in the meantime, aimed his hand towards the mage, deciding to use another Power Siphon, and then another. This seemed to drain the remaining power of the shield as the one around Ren seemed to glow for a few moments and seemed to be strengthened. Still, the spell shield of the mage was down for now, but his spell chanting was nearing completion, Undine also making a move. The small girl made of water waving her hand at Ren as that same glowing, soothing looking water ran over Ren's form to heal more HP, another 50 HP being healed.

The spell shield was down, so Sasha had an apt opportunity to attack now, needing to try and disrupt the mage from casting whatever powerful spell he was chanting, a spell more powerful than whatever did triple digit damage to Ren probably being incredible deadly.

The Fighter seemed to notice Silas on the wall and had an idea as he also seemed to debulk now, but suddenly he used his hammer and smashed it against the wall Silas was on to try and knock him off of the about five foot tall wall, the entire wall seeming to crack and shake a bit, saying "Get down from there, you'll hurt yourself!" As he hit his hammer against the wall, deciding to try and not get too close to Silas while he was on higher ground. Sure Silas may be smart, but this fighter didn't seem to be all just brawn, as he seemed to have a small bit of brain as well.

---

Silas Balance: 59 - 19 Acrobatics + 5% Foot Technique Bonus = 35

---

Silas would have fallen off, but the knowledge and ability of the Foot Technique seemed to aid him, helping him quickly keep balance and move to get away from the crumbling part of the wall, but this, unfortunately or maybe fortunately depending upon how he looked at it, put a little more distance between Silas and the Fighter.

Lucian looked over the pm that Silias had sent, Damnit! the warning was right! But, they were all too far away for Lucian to do anything. He thought quickly, organizing his thoughts, trying to think of a solutions as to how to get to the place in time if they needed him. He would likely have to take a train, trains did come often, but if he just missed it, then he would likely take another ten to twenty minutes. If it is just One gamer and one person after them, they could probably last a good twenty minutes of struggle, or so he would conclude. He would just do his best to make it on time, Lucian would rush to the train station, just making it on time to hop on before it would leave the station. Damn It! I wish I had a teleportation spell...He though to himself, placing his thumb in his mouth and biting down on it. All he could do is place his trust In the others that they would be alright, and that they would last long enough for him to help. Though if they did fall, this would be the worst course of action as he would just be practically handing himself over as well.

The mage turned to face her, trying to fend off her attacks with his staff. Sasha managed to slice into the shield, dealing more damage. That was good, because it told her that the mage thought she was a threat. Which meant she was doing something right. Instead of counterattacking, he started chanting something incomprehensible. Blots of darkness began to form on the tip of his staff.

"That does not look good at all." Sasha muttered, ready to begin her assault anew. However, Ren was up to something as well, because at that moment the barrier shimmered and faded. She wasn't sure if it was down, but there was no time to waste. Sasha threw a horizontal slash aimed at the man's throat. As lethal as the attack would be if it connected, it was also a feint to distract him from the dagger going for his gut.

The mage cursed inwardly as his shield went down, but he kept chanting, suddenly noticing a blade slashing at his throat. Unfortunately the man spotted both attacks and, with the mobility of a staff, aimed to parry both of them while keeping up his chanting, which was no easy task at all, especially with his chanting.

---

Sasha Waskizashi: 40 - 20 Melee Weaponry - 5 Skill Bonus +10 Dual Wielding Penalty = 25

Max Damage!

Damage Dealt: 18

Sasha Tanto: 2 (Critical!)

Critical Hit!

Damage Dealt: 32

---

The robe seemed to block a good bit of damage from the slash of the Wakizashi, it seeming like some kind of armor. The stab to the gut though was something the man could not avoid, it being precise and strong enough to bypass whatever toughness the man had as it struck a slightly weaker spot in his gut, but the robe's protection still blocked some of the hit. A few skills leveled up from this, including Dagger Mastery and Critical Strike, but without an extra boost then getting this guy out in one hit wasn't going to work, but certainly Sasha was dealing some damage to him.

The man kept chanting through the pain though, it clearly visible on his face. Somehow or another though the incredible pain seemed to fuel the rage going through him and the power of his spell, his chanting finishing as he prepared to fire off his spell right there, a little quicker than normal.

---

Mage Spell: -33

---

His spell, unfortunately, managed to fire off as he raised his staff in the air. A blast of blackish lightning shot from the end of his staff, bolts of it leaping forth and targeting Sasha, Undine, and Ren all at once.

---

Mage Spell (Target Undine): 38

Miss

Mage Spell (Target Sasha): 97 (Fumble)

Miss

Mage Spell (Target Ren): -16

Hit! (Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 113

---

Undine was luckily not hit by the spell, the man's aim for the lightning bolts being off on the elemental and way off on Sasha. In fact, it was so off that she didn't even have to dodge, the spell instead going way off the mark and heading towards the Fighter who...

---

Mage Spell: -10

Hit! (Max Damage)

Damage Dealt: 170

---

The Fighter cried out loudly in pain, crying out loudly as the dark lightning bolt slammed him. Ren was also slammed as well, crying out loudly in pain, both targets of the spell falling to one knee as the dark lightning. The man's own really tough body saved him from dying, but for Ren, if he hadn't stolen some of the strength of the mage's shield, the shield around him having been destroyed by the lightning, then Ren would have hit below 0 HP.

---

Ren Endurance: 29 - 15 Vit - 2 Skill Bonus = 12

Fighter Endurance: 8

---

Ren was stunned, cringing and coughing in pain as that did even more damage then the last spell, breathing very heavily, not looking in very good shape, Ren's HP very, very low, but so was the Fighter's now. The Mage cursed loudly.

"Dammit, I thought these guys weren't supposed to be a threat!" The Mage quickly moved back from Sasha, the Fighter cursing loudly as well as he quickly got up, not stunned.

"Dammit aniki, every time ya loose one of those spells, ya usually hit me! They just got lucky though this time, lets just cut it here and..." He smirked. With Silas far away on the wall his eyes darted towards Ren as it was clear as he began to move towards Ren, who Silas was closer to fortunately, what the plan was. Even if they couldn't get all three of them, getting the one who was in bad shape was a good plan indeed.

Silas had now climbed up the wall evading the crack in it caused by the knight earlier. He now stood on top of the building and suddenly saw lightning struck on both Ren and the knight. This was bad. Ren was in really bad shape, and the knight had his eyes now on the weakest instead of Silas. Luckily for Silas the distance between the houses was very small so he could tried to jump over them. He got to the end of the roof of the house close to Ren. The knight closed in on Ren, and seemed to already ready his hammer for the final hit. If Silas didn't land his attack correct it would probably be over for Ren.

He calculated in his head when the right time to jump was. He had a good sense of timing as he trained that with squash. He needed to know how and where the ball landed in order to get full potential out of the next hit. And that was the same for this situation. His falling speed and the speed of the knight closing on Ren had to that way that Silas would fall right on top of the knight. "Time to test some of my new abilities out." Silas mumbled to himself. "Hiragaiya Tamashī no Nesshō" he said apparently correctly followed by "Energy Strike." this all was mumbled so the knight wouldn't hear or notice him. If he was right the breathing technique was also still effective. Hopefully some of his other abilities might work like Critical and Precision Strike as those two would be very useful, and his Aerobatic Strike would already be active in this attack. There was a life at stake, so Silas needed to go all out.

Now was the moment. Silas jumped off the roof as his katana began to glow bright blue and if his calculations were right, and luck was on his side, he would the knight right on his head or one of his shoulders. Either of those places would be enough to stop the attack. If the attack was successful, Silas wouldn't stick around to continue fighting the knight but instead rush to Ren, pick him up and bring him to a safe place. "Ren, are you okay." Silas would say still sounding monotone but with concern in his voice. "You need to get out of the battlefield and rest. Do you have potions? You can get one of mine otherwise."

As Silas used the Hiragaiya Tamashī no Nesshō he would feel a powerful energy burn from within as his own spirit fueled the strength of his entire being, increasing it. With the power of the Breathing Technique and the Inner Ki Technique Silas would indeed feel a good bit of power flowing through him as all of his abilities were strengthened a decent amount, or at least his physical ones anyway as he poured a good amount of MP into the Tamashī no Nesshō to increase his physical abilities by a good 12%. This attack, combined with Precision Strike and Acrobatic Strike, would be a woozy indeed, if it did hit the man who was going for Ren, either trying to grab him or hit him. Either way, the fighter needed to be stopped. Luckily, before Silas went to attack, the Breathing Technique also Leveled Up, strengthening him even more.

---

Silas Falling Strike: 54 - 27 Melee Weaponry - 10 Skill Bonus = 18

Hit!

Damage Dealt: 28

---

Unfortunately the man seemed to parry away a good brunt of the powerful attack, so that it didn't get through her armor, but a good chunk of the powerful energy fueled attack got through, stopping the man's attack as he grunted, stepping back, the man already in pretty bad shape himself as his HP was pretty low. When Silas picked Ren up he would notice that Ren was... somewhat oddly slender and very light. In a sense, he was very easy to carry, Ren not complaining as with that lightning attack he wasn't really in enough shape to as he was still a bit stunned by it.

"I-Im fine..." Ren's cold tone was still there, but not as much. "I-I can still fight but... thanks for the save..." Ren was grateful for this, then listening to Silas saying that he could have one of his potions, the young boy shaking his head. "Im fine, save your potions I have my own, but I also have Undine. Undine, Life Water." The girl of water now appeared near Ren once again as she had been left behind when Silas had ran off with Ren, the girl teleporting from where she was over to Ren as if rising out of the ground like a small stream of water. The girl waved her hand, that same glowing, soothing water moving over Ren, healing a good chunk of HP once again.

"But you're right... I still can't really move thanks to that lightning spell... so take Undine with you and go help Sasha. Undine, Aqua Shield." Ren pointed his hand at Silas. Silas would suddenly notice a sphere of water surrounding him, yet despite that he could breath just fine, this probably being a shield meant to slow or stop attacks using water resistance, the small water elemental, of which was only three feet tall and indeed looked like a small girl made of water, yet also not made of water, moving over next to Silas now since Ren had instructed her with that statement just then to go with Silas.

In the meantime, the mage moved back over to his brother, magic gathering in at the head of his staff as he suddenly launched a bolt at Sasha. It was no spell like the one Ren got hit with, more like a much bigger, more concentrated version of Ren's mana bolt that looked more like magic than mana. Even if it didn't seem as powerful, it still looked plenty dangerous.

---

Mage Dark Bolt: 11

Hit!

Damage Dealt: 66

---

The bolt hit. It did not hit as head on as it would have though, thanks to the foot technique, Sasha able to dodge enough to avoid the complete brunt of the blast. She still got hit pretty badly, but not as much. It still hurt though, alot.

"Bro, what should we do?" The fighter spoke now.

"Lets just get outta here Satou, we can deal with them later and next time come more prepared. Besides, this Capture Space can't avoid detection for much longer, we need to split before some real big fish show up since we spent more time than we should have" The mage, after telling this to his brother, turned to face Sasha. "You got lucky this time girl, but always make sure to watch yer back, cause we will make sure to grab it when ya least expect it!" The mage raised his staff, a black flash of light enveloping the two as the Pseudospace shattered. Next thing after that, they were gone, the area clear, and the three Gamers out of danger... for now...

To somewhat help the situation, a window appeared for Sasha, stating the following, her HP and MP completely healing to full after her level up.



Silas also would have gained some EXP after that, but not enough to level up. In fact, Silas was only one Experience Point away from Leveling Up, which seemed kind of unfair if one thought about it. Still, the fight was over for now.

Ren decided to set up a quick PM for Lucian and Mike, to alert to them that they were ok.

Lucian sat anxiously on the train, taking his time to respond to Mikes question earlier, He just finished typing it out secretly when Lucian received a new message, Ren?! Lucian quickly opened the message to see if the other were okay or if the train would be the cause of him being to late.

After reading it over, he let out a sigh of relief, They had not been killed or captured. All was well for the moment. Well, since I am out of class now, and still on the train, I might as well meet up with them still and see what is going on and what our plan of action will be from here on...He typed out another message. Sitting down on the train for this played to his advantage, as he looked like he was just tapping his legs, the fact that he did it in a rhythm making it look like he had a tune stuck in his head making him blend in even more. No need to draw unwanted attention, especially if the group already had a run in with some people who are after then.

To her horror, the mage continued to chant his spell through her attacks even though they landed. Black lightning shot out from his staff across the battlefield. Sasha thought they are doome, but only two people were struck. Ren, who collapsed from the second hit, and the other hunter. Evidently the spell wasn't too accurate.

Sasha had leaped back from the mage when the spell went off. When he ran off to his comrade's side, she couldn't react in time. Instead, the small man took the opportunity to fire a dark bolt at her. This time it struck its intended target. Sasha yelped out in pain and stumbled. She saw the mage glare at her.

"You got lucky this time girl, but always make sure to watch yer back, cause we will make sure to grab it when ya least expect it!" he spat.
"Yeah? You too, shit head!" Sasha retorted just in time. The mage broke the pseudo space and vanished. Sasha ran over to Ren's side. He seemed quite injured, but as long as he wasn't dead it was easy to recover.

"Fuck..." Sasha managed to mutter. The gravity of their situation was sinking in. "They were much stronger than we were... We're going to need to level a damn lot faster. "

Luckily Ren was okay. He had his water nymph (as Silas would call it) and some potions to heal himself. The water nymph also summoned a shield of water around him, but Silas was too busy to notice. He looked back and saw Sasha getting his by a lighting spell of the mage. The villainous duo left soon afterwards, which probably was better for them as well as for us.

Silas rubbed his forehead. "That was something." he said. "Ren almost got killed out there, and you don't look so good as well." Silas said to Sasha. "And to imagine that these people were just around the level of 20, there are people out there a lot stronger than that. And they also will come and hunt us down." he said worried, though still with his monotone voice. The fight was very hard, and all got injured pretty badly. He himself got off the best, although if he would get hit it most likely would either be an instant KO or if he was lucky he would have a tiny bit of HP left. Luckily he managed to dodge all his attack and successfully landed some hits on the knight.

Silas looked around and saw his bicycle in the distance. He quickly put his hand in his pocket to feel if the ring that he bought for Tomoyo was still there. Luckily it was. "So what... to do now? I kinda need to get home to my girl before she gets worried. But is it even safe to do that?" he said to the group.

Before Ren decided anything he had Undine use Life Water on himself again twice to heal his HP back up to full. It took another very, very large chunk of MP, but the feeling of the pain of his wounds vanishing was worth it. "Dismiss Elemental." Ren figured keeping Undine around right now wasn't that good of an idea as he needed his MP to regenerate. "Well, my house is literally right here. We are, in fact, standing inside the gate." Ren gestured to the house that was right behind the entire group. A nice looking house. Nothing super fancy, but it was... quaint.

"We can either go in here and wait an hour for things to blow over, as they can't interfere with us while we are in 'normal' places. Or we could perhaps go to some place that has one of the others that is helping us. Either Saito's shop or the Ban Dojo, as I guess that is where you two have been training, which I take it the training has been going well judging from how you two fared." Ren stretched a bit, sighing some in relief as all of his pain was indeed gone. Immediate healing affects were really nice. "Besides, if they either had reinforcements or wanted to kidnap us, I am pretty sure they could have. My guess is, they underestimated us and were also under time constraints. Otherwise, we probably would be knocked out and on our way to either becoming slaves or going to a Mana Factory, both of which are fates worse than death according to Saito Tatsumi, the person me and Lucian talked to."

Ren walked over to the front door of his house, unlocking it and opening it. "So how about it? Wanna rest in here for a bit to recover your stamina" Which was true, as that intense battle would have left them all a little winded as leveling up or any other healing affect did not heal stamina and fatigue, "Or do you want to head somewhere else?"

Sasha threw her hands up in an exaggerated shrug. How they would ever be safe again was beyond her. Suddenly this whole gamer business seemed like more than she was prepared for.

"I'll wait till my health regenerates. I have no idea what is safe anymore."

She invited herself into Ren's house, the same house she chanced upon when she was was trying to escape. Funny how it turned out to be Ren's home. "You have something to drink? I'm parched."

Silas nodded in agreement with Sasha. It was better to rest to the closest place possible. And seeing as they literally already were inside of Ren's house they could just rest there as well. Hopefully his parents wouldn't think it was weird if their 15 year old son comes home with an 18 and 19 year old. But as it was around the beginning of midday his parents would probably still be at work. And although he thought Genji was nice it may be better to take it safe and stay here.

He saw Sasha enter the house without any manners. Okay, Silas himself wasn't the most social or nice person, but he had his manner at someone else's home. Silas entered after Sasha, he took off his shoes and placed them at the doorstep and entered the house. He assumed that Ren also assumed the Japanese culture, as he did know that not everyone in Japerica followed the Japanese culture. Sasha probably was one of those people.

"You're sounding intruding Sasha." Silas said but quickly turned his head to Ren. "But I would like a drink too."

Ren did indeed follow Japanese culture, taking off his shoes and putting on the slippers when he entered. "Its just me and my uncle here, and by that I mean its just me here since he's rarely around. Parents are off in some other part of the world doing something I don't really know or care about." Ren heard the ill mannered Sasha ask for a drink, Ren ignoring that, but appreciating Silas correcting the rude woman for him. "Ill get some tea..." Ren walked to the kitchen after that, letting Sasha and Silas follow him if they wanted to. "Feel free to sit in the living room and watch TV or just relax on the couch or something."

The living room, which was connected to the kitchen through just the fact that one could walk there and get to it since they were in the same general space after going down the foyer, as this was a more western style house with Japanese touches, had a couple of couches and a large TV sitting on a cabinet meant to store things. Inside were several consoles. Two bookshelves were on either side of the TV, filled to the brim with games and DVDs.

After about ten minutes, Ren brought in a tray with two cups of hot, good smelling tea, setting it down so that Sasha and Silas could take a cup, Ren not serving himself any. Sure Ren may be cold and distant, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be a proper host. After that he sat down on one of the two couches, first sending a PM to Lucian. Ren thought of sending one to Mike, but he was still at school.



"Its clear that these guys are gonna keep coming, so we need to start being more prepared for when they do. It also means that... we... sort of need to start working together a little better. Not trying to be a Party Leader here... " Ren said that last part with hesitation. It was clear that Ren probably didn't have any, or many, friends. Maybe it was his appearance or general demeanor, but still, he probably wasn't used to being with other people, "but none of us can take them on alone... and until we grow strong enough so that guys like them are pushovers, we sort of... need to be a proper... er... Party..." Ren sort of sheepishly scratched his head, clearly not used to having others in his home or even talking about being "Friends" of sorts like this. So far it had been a formality, them being together, but now they needed to be and work together for survival, and being distant with one another, as Ren was trying a little harder not to be now, wasn't going to solve anything. Trying, of course, being the key word here.

"So... any ideas?"

Sasha rolled her eyes at the guys. How did this 'manners' matter when Silas asked for the exact same thing? The couch looked comfortable, so she sat at a corner, closing her eyes in fatigue. She kept her mouth shut when Ren came back and accepted the tea with a curt thank you, and gulped it down.

Ren joined them at the living room and started to discuss their problem. That being bloodthirsty hunters were on their scent and they were little more than rabbits to them. Okay, they managed to fend them off, so maybe deers.

"It's going to be a pain in the ass sticking together. And if they bring more people, or stronger hunters... We'd just be gathered for a great harvest." Sasha shifted in her seat. "We could hole up in a dojo until we get stronger..."

Erica sat on the train, headphones on her ears and blaring music. Her headphones were great though, so the music couldn't be heard except by her. She tapped her foot randomly while her eyes were closed.

The motion of the train was making her a little dizzy, but she was enjoying her last few months outside of the temple. Yes, she fought a lot of monsters, met a strange person, and was still coming to terms with her new life, but it wad better than spending all day in the temple.

Silas nodded to Ren as symbol of thanks for the tea. He grabbed the tea from the table and took a sip from it. It was still a little bit hot, but luckily he could withstand that. He sat back in the couch, making it himself comfortable. He had to hold back by not putting his feet on the table, but he thought the others wouldn't appreciate it if he would do that. He quickly finished the tea, although tea isn't exactly his favorite drink. But in most games tea-like drinks regenerates health and mana, so maybe it would work in the real world too? Maybe?

Ren quickly joined them and Sasha started to speak about how they may bring more Hunters and almost suggested that they could hide in the dojo (presumably the Ban Dojo) until they get strong enough to easily defeat them. "I don't know about you Sasha, but I got a life outside of this whole gaming thing. I have a girlfriend who must be worried to dead right now..." Silas looked at the ring in his hand. "Don't you have parents or siblings or something? At least people you care enough for to not make them worry about you?" Silas spoke.

"Well as interesting as holing ourselves up in a dojo would be, I'm not sure if the dojo would appreciate that. As for people, there is my Uncle, but he's barely around, and my parents, as I mentioned before, are off in some other country so I have no idea when they would even get home. Still, we should rest here for a bit. I sent a PM to Lucian and assume that he is on the way, so we can talk up a plan when he gets here, he should be here soon enough." Ren drank his own tea, sighing softy as he did so, and Silas was indeed correct. The soothing, warm tea did recover a bit of MP. Not HP, since it was foods that did this, but Silas didn't actually take any damage. The tea recovered 15 MP since it was made warm and fresh.

"Don't really think we need to wait for Mike with... how he is. Still, regardless of how we go about this, we need to get stronger, which means we may need to dedicate more of our time to training than normal... and maybe getting money to buy some better equipment or other such things from the Auction."

Lucian read the pm while sitting on the train, I guess we are going to make some plans so that next time we don't have anyone getting caught out so easily then. He closed the message box, the train was steadily getting closer to his target goal. What surprised him was how well his memory was working, he had only been to Ren's once, yet even without looking at his map, he remembered clearly the route to get to the house.

He looked out the window, but quickly changed his focus as he saw something in the reflection. He smirked, and typed a quick message to Ren.

Getting up out of his chair, Lucian walked over to lady with headphones on, he tapped her on the shoulder, "Excuse me, but are you looking for others like us?" He then held out his hand to shake and greeted her, "My name is Lucian, as you can see."

"Hey, this is an emergency here. Superpowered kidnappers are out to get us. You're not going to have much of a 'normal' life if we get caught, you know, " Sasha retorted, annoyed at Silas's lack of urgency. She didn't have a good plan either, but it was obvious they couldn't go around as usual. "Don't have siblings. I'm sure I can come up with some excuse for my parents."

Sasha chewed on her lower lip as she waited for the Lucian to join them. Nothing on the television was registering in her mind. "There's also the option of sparring to train..."

The girl startled a little bit and looked up in confusion. She blinked at what she saw, "I uh..." A certain French Duo was playing loudly in her ear, a nice long live version of a very old song many had heard of. "I'm Erica. I can't say I've been having much luck finding anyone like you." She frowned a bit, "Or me for that matter." she gave a shy smile.
"Um, you can have a seat. No one has sat here the entire trip." She motioned at the seat next to her.