Emperors War

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"How many times is this now?" Dr. Life & Death asked out into the room. Even for the lifeless Dr. Life & Death concern was visible over his face.

"This would be the Thirteenth attempt that I know of. There was the nine I killed, the two killed by Mavis, the one killed by Cap and the other killed by Sampson." Vance responded back as though killing nine people was the same as breathing air. The lack of concern or care for the butchering of the a.s.sa.s.sins was evident just looking into his eyes. Vance would never give a d.a.m.n about those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds that snuck in the dark and tried to steal a life.

Vance at least had a semblance of respect for that b.a.s.t.a.r.d One Eye who tried killing Aker up front and openly as opposed to whoever had been pulling the strings, sending a.s.sa.s.sin after a.s.sa.s.sin to try and snuff out Aker from behind.

Vance had been vigilantly keeping an eye on Aker and watching over him, but he wasn"t completely on guard and it almost cost him Aker"s life. Awhile a go Aker was in his cell practicing his swings when an a.s.sa.s.sin tried to attack Aker from the shadows. Thankfully the a.s.sa.s.sin was fairly low level and Vance just happened to be checking up on Aker earlier than normal that morning. Usually Vance would show up about thirty minutes after Aker woke up and would watch Aker"s progress as he practiced, but that particular morning he had shown up slightly ahead of schedule to talk with Cap and Sneed. After meeting with them, proceeding down toward Aker"s cell he came upon the a.s.sa.s.sin preparing their poisoned darts for throwing.

Without thinking and without hesitation Vance pulled the knife out of his uniform and tossed it at the a.s.sa.s.sin who was solely focused on his prey. The surprise of feeling the knife rip through the back of his neck caused his eyes to go wide. The last visual his eyes took in was the sneer of disgust on Vance"s face as he gasped for air. For this a.s.sa.s.sin dying in this manner was rotten as when he took the job, he was told he only had to kill a small boy who had no backing or protection who would be locked in a cell.

Could there be anything in this world that would be easier or simpler than killing a small boy locked in a cage? Regret oozed from the a.s.sa.s.sin as the light in his eyes faded and was replaced with eyes staring blankly into the abyss.

Vance shivered at the thought of what would have happened if he would have showed up just five minutes later or even at his normal time. Aker"s skills have improved drastically but he had zero training in regard to how to detect an enemy and be aware of surprise attacks. Aker"s strength and battle prowess had made a huge leap recently and if this a.s.sa.s.sin was to confront Aker from the front it was unknown who would have emerged victorious. However, facing Aker from the shadow and it was a forgone conclusion that Aker would have had no defenses and would have certainly died a miserable and unfulfilled death at his hands.

The anger in Vance"s eyes reflected his hatred for the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that would sneak attack Aker in his cell of The Pit. Now they weren"t only trying to force Aker to his death in the arena, but they were even attacking him while caged in his cell.

The day after the failed a.s.sa.s.sination attack on Aker Vance visited early, but this time he was holding a jet-black mask in his hand.

"Put this on" Vance called out as he tossed the mask at Aker.

Catching the mask Aker gave it a quick look over and instantly his face went sour. There was no way that Aker wanted to wear the mask that Vance had tossed over.

Vance could see the hesitation and unwillingness in Aker"s demeanor and most noticeably his eyes, so he called out "You need to wear this mask at all times when you"re out of your cell. Even when you"re in your cell you can take it off only when I"m around, outside of that you need to have it on. This is the exact same mask I wore for years in The Pit and I lived my whole time without taking it off as well. Let it be a symbol of your vengeance and unwillingness to succ.u.mb to them and let it be a homage to your master. From now on you want the world to think of that mask when they think of Aker. That mask should come to represent you and will allow you to stand strong."

As Aker heard Vance"s words, he found it hard to refute him. He would wear it and allow it to become a symbol of his revenge and wear it out of respect to his master, the more Aker thought of it the more he was willing to accept it.

Putting on the mask Aker turned to Vance his eyes now covered but full of expectation "How does it look?"

Vance patted Aker on the shoulder and looked down at him "Boy, it"s scary enough to give your enemies nightmares."

Vance"s face was full of smiles. For Vance this mask was extremely sentimental as it was the same mask he wore and fought with while he was in The Pit, but it was also given to him by Sandra.

After the a.s.sa.s.sin had tried to kill Aker, Vance had made arrangements with all of Aker"s teachers to have someone watch over him at all times. Vance then had his mask altered to fit on Aker so that he could give it to him to wear. For Vance, seeing Aker in the mask was also a reminder and reaffirmation of his desire to get revenge as well.

From the very first a.s.sa.s.sination attempt until everyone was sitting in the room discussing the next steps there had been thirteen attempts on Aker and as far as any them were aware Aker was oblivious to it.

"How many more of them do you think they are going to send? The last one was pretty strong, I"m afraid that you were the only one strong enough to stop him, had it been one of us by ourselves there is nothing we could have done." Cap was there when they spotted the last a.s.sa.s.sin and seeing that a.s.sa.s.sin only Vance had enough strength to take him down. For Vance it was a brutal fight in which he did get stabbed but he acted as if it was nothing and just had Dr. Life & Death patch him up.

"Your right, if they were to send someone stronger it would be difficult but that is doubtful. From what I hear that was the top a.s.sa.s.sin they had, and they had brought him in from outside. Since he failed, I don"t think they will be able to find another more powerful a.s.sa.s.sin anytime soon. They still don"t know how the a.s.sa.s.sins are failing and I"ll continue to cover it up. At this point the a.s.sa.s.sins aren"t the most troubling, what"s most troubling is I heard they have been secretly working on bringing someone in to handle Aker in The Pit." Sneed offered up his thoughts on the a.s.sa.s.sins as everyone listened intently.

Sneed had become enormously wealthy and he carried a significant amount of weight in the Underground Empire. While his weight wasn"t enough to get Aker out of The Pit it was enough to run interference and pick up information that they could use to keep Aker safe.

"What ya meanin by they are bringin someone in?" Mavis had quietly been listening as they discussed their next steps for Aker, but hearing they were bringing someone in to take care of Aker who was not an a.s.sa.s.sin was confusing.

"I don"t know the specifics, but I know it has something to do with the fighting in the arena. I had heard that the person showed up a month ago, but they have been preparing this whole time, I"m not sure for what but what I heard was that they would be ready to reveal him in the next day or two." Concern filled Sneed"s voice as he spoke, not knowing what the danger was made it all the more difficult to cope with.

"Should we tell the Little boy? Is he ready to hear that they have been secretly trying to kill him while he"s not in the arena?" Sampson asked the question that had been on his mind. Everyone had agreed not to tell Aker so he could focus on his skills and training. If Aker felt like an a.s.sa.s.sin could attack at any time it would become exceedingly difficult for him to train any longer. How could he do any of the medicine, forging, cooking or combat practice and magic fighter meditation if he was constantly hyper aware of his surroundings. For everyone here it was imperative that Aker remain oblivious no matter what. Usually when Aker was training he was solely focused on his task which was part of the reason he was able to grow so quickly, this wouldn"t be possible if he became aware of the a.s.sa.s.sins.

"No, he"s continuing to grow at an absurd rate. If they are planning on attacking him in the arena then that"s fine, he"ll just have to deal with it, that shouldn"t affect him while he"s doing his training. In fact, it would probably motivate him if the challenge is enough, his fights for a while now haven"t pushed him at all. If he hears about all the attempts on his life while he is training, how could he not become cognizant of his surroundings? We need to let him continue to grow." Vance spoke matter of factually and none of the others here had any disputes with his thoughts. Everyone here desperately wanted Aker out of The Pit and everything they were doing was working towards that end.

"How much longer do we need before we can pull the trigger?" Cap asked Vance and the rest of the room.

"We have to wait until everything is perfect. While everything is in motion, nothing will work yet. In order to guarantee its success, we need at least another year and perhaps up to a year and a half." Vance said while shaking his head.

"Can he survive that long?" This time it was Sneed who cut in. Of everyone here except for Vance he knew best how much they wanted Aker dead.

"He"s going to have to, there is no other option right now. So far, he"s been handling these Level 1 Basic magic beasts easily, but it feels like they are trying to lull him into a trap. It looks as if their attack is two p.r.o.nged. They are attacking with the a.s.sa.s.sins while getting something ready for the arena. Admittedly this time their planning has had considerably more thought put into it." Vance"s face remained stoic and a glint of murderous intent flashed across his eyes. He couldn"t wait for the day that he ran his sword across Blane"s neck and watched the life drain out the unwillingness and struggle would be Blane"s last remaining thought.

Until then everyone here had only one goal, protect and grow Aker, just like they had been doing for the last couple of years.