Chapter 104 Assassins Of A Fallen Kingdom
'Time to head back then' He thought, before stretching his trained body beneath his knightly armour.
"Booom!" A resounding boom penetrated his ears. His lips twitched into a frown.
He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a heavy rainfall of snow and mist almost reaching the clouds, and in it….. "Spirit" He exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Boom!!" From here, he could hear the soundwaves of what looked like a battle.
He leapt on and landed easily on the roof of a building even with though his body was adorned in armour with a sword strapped towards his waist.
"Boom!!" His eyes gained a fiercer glow as he saw destruction taking place in front of him.
"In my city," He said, before using the roof as a platform to jump up into the sky, leaping from building to building to quickly arrive at the location.
…....…..
This was supposed to be a quick mission.
Those were the thought of the Sloywoth assassins, the remaining attacking force from the Sloywoth kingdom.
Sure, they knew that realistically, a fight wasn't avoidable, but who would have guessed that the woman they were sent to bring would summon a water spirit this gigantic in the middle of the city?
The Vrymath Kingdom has 4 cities, and each city is now ruled by one of the fallen kingdoms except for this city which is ruled by the two of them.
And one of them, the Eser Kingdom was the first to fall and was now reduced to nothing more than a group of disabled beggars with nothing more to live for and an orphanage full of kids with no parents, all taking refuge under the guardianship of the last remaining ascendant of the Eser Kingdom.
He was the only remaining attacking force of his kingdom, just like them. However, that was the only resemblance they bore with each other, as in disposition and mannerism, they were far from being alike.
And because this is his city, he knew that the knight was already on his way, charging towards their direction with all his might and a sword in hand.
"Get back!!" He screamed at his associates.
"Bamm!!" And with a swift movement, they vanished.
A huge fist struck their previous position, sending fragments of rocks and snow into the sky.
"What do we do now, Commander?" A voice entered his ears.
He didn't need to turn his head back to know who it was. One of his associates had probably used his shadow to materialize behind him while he escaped.
As assassins of the hunter path, their strength lay in slicing off the heads of their victims as fast as they can, and not in a battle of might and attrition.
Nonetheless, they were still ascendants, and it wasn't as though they haven't fought a mage-rank ascendant before.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE HERE TO TAKE ME! COME ON, SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO" Annabelle said, screaming from the top of her lungs as he lay safely within the body of 'Mother Andiara'.
Strength-wise, she was strong enough to take care of all three assassins at once if she pushed her body to the limit. However, the leader of the group made her hesitate about her choice and caused her to summon her spirit instead.
"All of you, in position!!" The leader declared. His cold sharp words cut across the destruction of the rampaging spirit and the ears of the gathered assassins who instantly nodded in understanding and vanished from sight, each appearing in another position, forming a semi-hexagonal formation.
And in non-verbal communication, they each poured out their magical energy and formed a triangle with their fingers, while raising their hands in the air.
And together, they uttered as one "Liminus Sacred Art: Poison grave.
The air in the world stood still. Everything within the hexagonal formation was encased in a box of purple mist that ran towards the sky and impaled the clouds.
Everything was encased in….. Poison.
"This-- "Annabelle frowned as she could feel the poisonous substance in the air, slowing eating not only through the body of 'Mother Andiara' but also eroding her magical energy, slowly corrupting and disintegrating it.
Instantly, her magical energy spiked and her senses went ablaze.
A flash of purple. She barely registered it. A straight dense purple light shot towards her like lightning.
The dense purple light connected with Mother Andira's stomach generating a shockwave that propelled both her and her spirit backwards.
Mother Andiara coughed. Her almost non-existent lungs released a gasp of air as she exhaled in shock.
Immediately, Annabelle saw the purple light, which was a giant neatly shaped dagger pierced through the belly of her spirit and poisoning the insides until it disintegrates and falls off, causing mother Andiara to lose a huge chunk of her upper body from that attack alone.
Instantly, she channelled her magical energy to her spirit, pushing the dagger out as it dissipated into nothing but purple dust.
A normal ascendant would have lost a huge percentage of their magical reserves. But, thankfully, as a mage rank ascendant, she had enough magical energy to spare.
More than that, she looked around trying to find the position of the five men, however, the purple mist blinded her vision.
"BAM!!" Again. But this time, she couldn't even feel or sense it and could only react a second after Mother Andiara's reaction.
This time, it was an axe, fully embedded into the shoulders of her summon, eating through her body the same way the dagger did.
"Fortunately, I came along to bring you back to my king because I doubted that my men would even pose a challenge to you or your spirit. Surrender now or I won't mind bringing you back to my king unconscious" An amplified voice made its way to her ears.
She frowned. "What type of technique is this?" She questioned warily, wafting off his threats like they were flies buzzing around her ears.
"If you don't want to feel your flesh slowly decaying, I would suggest you stop avoiding the question and pick your next words wisely" The voice sounded out again, penetrating both of her ears.
She snorted. "Haven't you heard that a mage ascendant is capable of fighting two circles above theirs on the lower rank, and the most talented can go against three or four more circles higher".
"Bam!! Bam!!" Two axes flashed passed her eyes and immediately implanted themselves, into her summons shoulders.
Then a voice spoke out "If that is what you think Miss Annabelle, then I guess that you have never fought against an assassin in possession of a sacred art" He sighed loudly "However, if that is your reply, then I am sorry for what I am about to do next, Miss Annabelle".
The instant his voice fell, the world around her twisted, and in her vision, blades, daggers, axes, cleavers, and anything sharp enough to rip through the almost non-existent flesh of her summon appeared.
Annabelle gritted her teeth as she stared at all the blades pointed at her.
'I thought that assassins are supposed to be subtle' She thought.
"No" She shook her head "You are the one who has never fought a summoner before" She replied.
However, she continued to flicker her eyes all around her as her hands glowed brighter, preparing to change the tide of the battle to her favour.
With a glare, she opened her mouth, her voice echoing around her as her words flowed rhythmically, summoning another spirit from the veil.
"I respectfully speak to you, the warring woman of water and blood- -"
Somewhere within the purple mist, the leader of the assassins frowned as he sensed the sudden influx of magical energy in the air. He matched it with the previous rush of magical energy and instantly knew what was going to happen.
Without hesitation, he swung his hand down, releasing the weapons formed from nothing but purple mist.
And the weapons shot towards the gigantic body of Mother Andiara like arrows being freed from a bow.
"Seeping crest of lunacy and hatred - -"
The poisonous mana stood still, as though sensing the surging of another magical energy in its presence that threatened to infiltrate and subdue it.
"Assemble, daughter o - -"
"BOOM!!"A pristine red yet immensely and irrefutably radiant cut through the purple mist with a resounding earth-shaking blare, breaking through the hexagonal box like a hammer striking against fragile glass.
"DON'T YOU DARE CONTINUE THIS BATTLE IN MY CITY!!" A roar sounded, interrupting Annabell's summoning ritual as she felt the poisonous fog slowly dissipating.
"ARE YOU PEOPLE MAD?"The purple mist cleared up, and in her vision, down below stood a man adorned in shimmering black armour, wielding a sword twice the length of his hands in his right hand, and his aura... He was covered in a red crimson aura that shot up some metres above his head, easily making his presence known to the onlookers.
Although she was far away from him, she could feel the rage bubbling within him and venomously leaking in his words.
"LOOK AROUND YOU!! HOW DARE YOU CAUSE SO MUCH DESTRUCTION IN MY CITY?"