Chapter 6 - Bandits 2

"Are you done checking me out? But I'm sorry dude, I'm not gay, so you will have to find another target" Marc moved his attention to the watching bandit leader, trying to bait him too, or at least make him angry.

It's absolutely not because Marc enjoys teasing others...Okay, that's a lie.

"You use Wind Magic?" asked the bandit leader after analyzing Marc's Paw Magic as he fought the bandit minions.

"Eh, you are actually gay..?" Marc asked a question of his own with a fake surprised expression over his face, not at all giving up on teasing the bandit leader.

"…" Marc and the bandit leader just looked at each other in silence. Marc with a mischievous expression, while the leader had a serious one.

"Man, you are boring! Can't you take a joke? That's so sad…" Marc said with a dejected expression and felt 'sorry' for the man. But the bandit leader didn't mind his words at all.

"…" Silence again took over the place and all that can be heard is the wind whistling by the trees.

"Okay, you win! Yes, I use Wind Magic, happy now?" Marc confessed that he uses Wind Magic, though it's not true and he won't bother correcting the bandit leader's misconception.

The bandit leader stayed mute once again, almost like he's immune to Marc's taunts. He just stood there seemingly waiting for Marc to make the first move. That was until Marc asked a question that took him by surprise.

"I see you have set up some type of trap magic!" Stated Marc, like he was absolutely sure of his conjunction.

"!?? How did you know that? How is it possible that you know my magic before seeing it?" The bandit leader quickly asked with a trembling voice after being surprised.

"Ehe~ I didn't. But you looked like a man with a plan, so I just asked what seemed logical as you are waiting for me to make the first move. But thanks for being honest." Marc said to the bandit leader before he knocked his head and winked with his tongue out like he just succeeded in doing a harmless prank.

That was the bandit leader's bottom line. He actually got cheated by a child into revealing his type of magic. Although Marc doesn't know what magic it is specifically, he now knows its conditions for it being activated, and that before they even started fighting. It made the bandit leader furious, but he still didn't move a step.

"Nice one kid, you got me there for a second. I see you are a tricky one, but you can't beat me!" The bandit leader complimented Marc while shaking with anger.

"And you are stupid! You don't know shit, everything can happen in a fight. Maybe a dragon flies over us and drops a huge shit on your head breaking your neck or something…" When Marc rebuked the bandit leader, a bird flew over the bandit leader's shoulder and dropped a little white bird poop on it.

"…" the whole world fell silent at this event.

1 second, 2 seconds…, 5 seconds after.

"HAHAHAAHAHAHAA!!!!!!!!" Marc fell on the ground after putting together what just happened, laughing his eyes out with tears in them. While the bandit leader also had tears in his eyes, but he's on the verge of crying.

…

After Marc and the bandit leader got their bearings back, they both got serious, or at least Marc got as the bandit leader has been serious from the start.

"Come brat!! Show me what you got and you aren't all words." The bandit leader said.

"Okay, old man here I come," Marc said before he began running straight towards the bandit leader, but after only a few steps forward the ground began shining under one of his feet. A vine quickly came up afterward and wrinkled around the foot, holding it in place.

"Got you!" The bandit leader exclaimed with glee, happy that he can teach this annoying brat how to behave. A few meters in front of Marc another spot on the ground began shining green, and a wood spike grew out in the direction of Marc's chest.

Marc didn't panic at all about this though as he has been in many unexpected situations like when a parachute won't come out, or an oxygen tank doesn't work properly when diving, and many more.

As the wood spike came closer to hitting him in the chest, he raised his right hand where a paw already can be seen. Marc called this technique to instantly transform his palms into paws *Fast Draw* just like a gunslinger can instantly draw his gun and shoot.

The wooden spike connected with the paw. After being connected for about one second-

*PA...!!!*

It got repelled back into the ground after using *Counter*, though not exactly where it came from because Marc's aim isn't up to date yet. Then he proceeds to touch the ground where the vines came from that are holding his leg, making a little crater and destroying the magic circle. The vines transformed into particles making Marc a free man again.

(A/N: Marc can't make things 'disappear' yet, that's why he didn't touch the vines directly but instead touched the ground and destroying the magic circle.)

The bandit leader got gobsmacked, and Marc took full use of it and ran forward once again. As he got closer, the bandit leader came out of his stupor and activated a magic circle in front of himself where a mushroom grew out. It then suddenly began releasing a smoke screen hindering Marc's view of the bandit leader.

The bandit leader used this time to set up new traps around the place while taking distance from Marc, afraid if he uses *Pressure Shots* at a close distance.

And indeed the bandit leader's judgment was good as Mark used *Pressure Shots* to blow the smokescreen away. He repeatedly slapped the air sending air paws all over the place, creating paw prints all over the place.

*PA!**PA!**PA!**PA!**PA!**PA!**PA!**PA!*

When he stopped the bandit leader was already at a distance again like at the start of the fight. Marc looked around where his attacks hit all over the place, and he decided to once again run forward the bandit leader but ran in the tracks from his earlier attack, as to not directly step into any traps again.

This time multiple magic circles lit up all over the ground where thick wood spikes came out of each of them, pointing in the direction of Marc. He evaded some of them at first before he had to repel the fatal ones. Then he used *Pressure Shots* again as a diversion. The bandit leader defended against it by making wood logs coming out of the ground, shielding him like a fence.

While the bandit leaders vision was obstructed with his own spell, Marc tensed all his muscles in his arm before he slapped the air in front of him with all his strength and used *Pressure Cannon*, sending a big shockwave in the direction of the shielded bandit leader, who thought he was safe behind his little shield. But as the paw-shaped shockwave hit the wood logs, it traveled right through it, hitting the bandit leader on his shoulder and proceed to hit the trees behind him.

*PA...!!!*

"Arghhh!!!" The bandit leader yelled with pain in his voice before his defensive spell broke down because of a loss of focus together with the other hidden ones' traps. Magic circles lit up all over the ground before they broke, and turned into glitter in the air.

Marc quickly sprinted toward the bandit leader and put his paw on his head and-

*BAAM*

Marc repelled his head into the ground mercilessly, knocking him out cold.

"Guess that did the trick!" Marc told himself and clapped his own shoulder for a good job.

****

(A/N: This is how Marc's first fight tuned out and I hope it's okay for a first fight scene. Marc had problems in this battle with mobility as he can't rebel himself yet. Although the *Nikyu Nikyu no Mi* (Paw-Paw Fruit) has the potential to be OP, Marc hasn't mastered it to that degree yet.)

(A/N: I have been asked if Marc will be a wimp and not kill, and to answer that is NO. Marc will kill at some point, but not yet as he hasn't ever taken a human life before.)

(Words: 1414)