บท 33: Escape
I swung my blade, demonstrating a Sword God technique that had been imbued in my muscle memory. The cold edge of Blue Fang sliced into the assassin, cutting through cloak, armour, skin, flesh and bone. The short sword in my hands cut through his chest, tearing gashes into his organs. In that instant, I mused that cutting into a human felt no different from cutting into a wild beast. In the end, we are all just walking bags of meat.
Blood sprayed out from the assassin, showering my clothes and the wall in a thick coat of the crimson fluid, as the man let out a pained gasp.
Today, I killed my first human. And something in me changed forever.
"Bronn!!!" The large, brutish companion of the man I killed bellowed angrily. His glare turned murderous, as his grip on the warhammer tightened. Crazy veins popped out from his vascular form. "You killed Bronn! You bastard! I'm going to rip you apart!!"
I grunted as I reached back and broke the wooden shaft of the arrow embedded in my back. I couldn't remove the arrow head just yet, or blood might start pouring out. The pain was intense, but still manageable. I had never been shot with an arrow before, and it was definitely not something I wanted to experience again.
The North Saint Kaballah was a lot more calculative in his response. I could his eyes analysing, recalibrating his initial assessment of my threat level. My speed when I rushed forward to slay Bronn, the chain-sickle user, had clearly exceeded the capabilities I had displayed so far.
He smiled, one that was unlike the previous twisted amusement he had been experiencing prior.
"Shi shi shi, so you have been hiding your true strength. Smart. Lull your enemies into a false sense of security. I can respect that." Kaballah straightened his back and the mana that flowed through his veins grew stronger. His gaze that stared at me now felt different. Colder and no longer holding a sense of amusement.
"I was still feeling torn about having to kill some kid... But you aren't a kid to me anymore. You're a killer now. As a warrior, I acknowledge you, North Saint Notos."
North Saint Kaballah moved. Twice as fast as he did before. I barely had the time to raise my sword up before his blade clashed with my own. Once again, I was pushed back from the overwhelming force of his true Saint-rank strength. The difference this time, however, his attacks were no longer so one dimensional.
Previously, he had been executing simple slashes and thrusts, with the addition of his Spiderman-wire bracelet thing that mixed things up at times. Now, North Saint Kaballah was executing complex flourishes that blended feints and strikes that hid his killing intent.
North Saint Kaballah was no longer making jokes or comments. He had the singular focus of a man determined to kill another. All of the tricky and deceptive North God techniques were being put into play. If I wasn't as proficient as I was in the North God style myself, I might not have been able to see through his cunning swordsmanship.
Though I managed to maintain an unyielding Water God defensive stance, his blade occasionally slipped through the cracks and left thin cuts and gashes along my arms and one particularly deep one on my cheek, below my left eye. These were only the attacks I was forced to let through, in order to defend against more lethal slashes that would have left me fatally injured.
It was clear to see. I was slowly and steadily being overwhelmed. Forget counterattacking, I couldn't even let up for even a single moment less my head gets lopped off.
I felt like this was the first time I really experienced the actual strength of a Saint-rank swordsman who was seriously trying to kill me. All my previous spars against Ghislaine was against a Sword King who only revealed 10, maybe 20 percent of what she was truly capable of. And I had proudly called myself a North Saint when I couldn't deal with a true North Saint with just my swordsmanship? What a joke.
However, at the same time I also felt like I was learning a lot while crossing blades with Kaballah. Perhaps it was because I knew that a single misstep would cause me to lose my life, but being in a true life-and-death battle tempered my combat prowess tremendously.
I could feel my heart pumping and adrenaline surging through my veins. My senses were heightened to the point where I felt like I could see through the movements of the enemy in front of me before he even made it. Every unnecessary thought was silenced, and every single iota of my attention was solely poured into staying alive.
Everything I ever learned about swordsmanship, all the times I swung my weapon; it felt it was all for the sake of this very moment right now. Everything up to now was leading me to this battle, and this battle would be the culmination of all of my training in swordsmanship.
Deep in the recesses of my mind, I knew that though I was still being pushed back, the gap between Kaballah and I was also slowly closing. If the stakes weren't as high as it was, I might have just wished for this battle to continue on for as long as I needed it to.
"Waaagh!" A massive warhammer suddenly slammed into the wall next to my head, and broke the wall into dozens of sharp shards that exploded everywhere. I had to close my eyes and retreat while enduring the sharp shards that pattered against me.
The tall brute brandished his weapon and struck again. He was slow. His Battle Aura reorienting his mana to focus more on strength than speed.
I recovered from the surprise attack and rotated my body to cut into the brute's leg. My sword sliced through his calf, letting out a spray of blood, but wasn't deep enough to cut bone. His thick muscles prevented me from doing so. I was about to follow through and finish off the wounded brute, but I was interrupted.
North Saint Kaballah's blade arrived at the next moment, glancing against Blue Fang and creating a shower of sparks from the contact. In that instant, the two of us North Saints locked eyes. Kaballah's usually narrow, slanted eyes were open now, and his sky-blue pupils were filled with killing intent.
Then, I swivelled out of the way of a few arrows shot at me, but was forced to take another one that struck my forearm.
Fuck that hurts!
I used Earth Magic to move me away, sliding me out of Kaballah's range as I tore out the arrow stuck in my forearm. Blood sprayed out and an intense, blinding pain blurred my vision for a moment before I numbed the pain with warm glow of healing magic. The open, bleeding wound knitted itself together in front of my very eyes.
Kaballah used his 'web slingers' to launch himself at me.
I summoned my strength and clashed blades with the assassin, "Fuck off Peter Parker!"
He swung back with greater force, "Who the fuck is Peter Parker!? I told you, my name is Kaballah!"
Suddenly, Kaballah reached up to undo the clasp on his cloak before tossing it at me. The large width of the cloak darkened my vision, impeding my line of sight on the North Saint. I lengthened the cutting edge of Blue Fang with Battle Aura, slicing through the cloak and anything else that could have been hiding behind it.
The cloak was cut in half, but Kaballah was nowhere to be seen.
Instinctively, I swung back and managed to catch the North Saint assassin who had reappeared behind me and was trying to carve me in two.
Clang!
The particularly strong blow blew me away, before a wire flew past my head and stabbed into the wall next to me. My eyes widened as Kaballah rocketed towards me, his speed amplified by the wire pulling him and his killing blade next to me. My arms were still numb from the force of his strike, and I would not have time to defend myself. I was going to die if I didn't do anything.
Now!
I activated the spell I had prepared and stored in my mouth. The moment Kaballah was about to swing his blade at me, I opened my lips and expelled a torrent of liquid fire aimed at the man's face, catching him off guard.
The orange, fiery glow of the fire illuminated the dim alley, and there was a sudden wave of unbearable heat that swept through the alley.
"KUAK!" North Saint Kaballah cried out, either in pain or surprise, I couldn't tell, but I wasn't going to wait and let this opportunity slip out of my hands.
"YOU FUCK!" He screamed, wildly swinging his blade in an attempt to fend me off while his face burned. I pressed forward, taking advantage of his distraction. Now that I revealed all my cards, it was time to go all in.
Fwoosh!
A plume of fire burst out of my back while mana tinted green was layered on Blue Fang. I rocketed forward and attacked Kaballah who was still flailing around, holding on to his face and screaming in pain.
Full credit to the man, because he was still able to react despite being in obvious agony. His blade intercepted Blue Fang, and he followed up with an acrobatic flip that simultaneously launched a kick at me.
I evaded the kick by going down low. My short height being an advantage at times like this, even though it was usually always a disadvantage. Short limbs meant having a shorter reach, and having a shorter reach meant that the opponent's sword would reach my body before mine could reach his.
[Ice Knife] and [Wind Blade] was casted at the same time, which materialized spells that were exactly what their names implied.
Kaballah, who was still blinded from my initial Fire spell, dodged frantically, while relying on his forearm blade to block and deflect what he could. I could tell the man was relying on pure instinct right now to stay in the fight.
Mana was gathered into my left eye and a moment later, a focused beam of searing Fire magic shot out and carved through the North Saint's torso. The Advanced Fire magic, [Scorching Ray] only barely grazed the left side of the assassin, who was able to sense the intense heat from a distance and managed to move slightly out of the way. But it was enough to draw out a scream of pain from the man who immediately retreated while nursing his wound.
Instead of chasing after Kaballah, or finishing off the wounded brute, I instead turned tail and ran towards Eris who still lay unconscious on the other side of the alley. Somehow, during the course of the fight, our positions had reversed and I ended up on the side nearest to Eris.
Mana surged out of me. Triple [Earth Dash] to launch me away from the duo plus a [Rock Pillar] beneath Eris. The rock pillar grew from the ground, carrying Eris along with it. I leaped in to the air with the help of [Earth Dash] and [Air Steps], and caught her in my arms.
Holding the unconscious Eris in my arms, I felt tremendous regret. She had only gotten caught up in this because the assassins were targeting me. If only I was stronger... damn it!
I looked back and saw the four archers nocking their bows. I waved my hand and a shield of ice was materialised behind my back, catching four arrows that been loosed by the archers.
Fire once more erupted from my back – [Afterburner], and I immediately rocketed away from the scene. My only concern was getting Eris back to the safety of the Boreas household. My second priority - gutting whoever was responsible for this ambush.
And I knew just who to get those answers from. Thomas!
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