"Whoops…it has already gotten this late, huh?"I was so engrossed in my training that I hadn"t realized that it was already past evening, and that the sun had set long ago. I vaguely remembered Harvey asking me if I wanted to return home together, but I told him to go ahead because I wanted to continue practicing and honing my summoning spells. Thankfully, he agreed in his usual cheerful manner, and mercifully left me alone.
Not that I hated his company. It was better than being alone. Perhaps I should have taken him up on his offer, after all. It felt a little lonely walking home by myself…then again, I would have to take a bus most of the way, so we would have gone our separate ways after a few minutes of walking from the school gate anyway.
After putting away the equipment and locking up the training room, I proceeded to the school gate. At this hour, the campus was completely deserted. All the students and most of the staff had already gone home, and I was but a solitary figure traversing the courtyard. The gra.s.s and trees were largely cast in shadow, and the leaves rustled as a cool evening breeze blew through them. I shuddered involuntarily.
"…hmm?"
For some reason, I felt a chill, but I was unable to pinpoint what was causing it. Nonetheless, I was long used to this sort of thing, having been the target of abductions from the enemies my dad inadvertently made over the course of his career.
In other words, I should just do the usual tactic of shrugging off my pursuers…except that I had a strange premonition that this time was different.
These weren"t professional mages trying to kidnap me. The p.r.i.c.kle at the back of my neck told me it was something more ominous.
"…no, not monsters."
It was impossible for monsters to be within the safe territory of a city, not unless someone let them through a barrier. But the mages in charge of Jing Tian City would locate such monsters and flush them out in short order. Whatever the case, the feeling felt…human. And from experience, I knew humans could be just as monstrous as beasts.
Just look at Troy"s brother, for example. He was nothing short of a monster.
Stepping through the school gates, I hastened my pace and strode toward the bus stop. At this hour, the bus frequency had slowed down somewhat, which would be slightly detrimental to my escape plans. I had to time it properly. If I missed my bus, I would be left exposed for about twenty minutes to half an hour.
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And depending on the caliber of my a.s.sailants, that might be more than enough time to overpower me. And this time, being abducted to blackmail Dad would be the least of my worries. These people…I intuitively sensed that they were different from the usual kidnappers somehow.
I didn"t have to wait for long.
"!!!"
Three dark shadows dropped down from the nearby buildings, diving straight at me. I managed to jump a few meters back, avoiding a lethal strike from the person in the middle. A silver flash sliced through the air in front of me, and I could see several strands of hair drifting away as the blade cut through my fringe.
"Ugh…"
As I backed away, I took a good look at the three of them. They were dressed entirely in black, their features entirely concealed by hoods and masks. Sort of like ninjas, particularly with such ridiculous getups. That said, I did appreciate the view. I could tell that all three were women, judging from how their tight bodysuits clung to and emphasized their feminine curves and b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
However, it didn"t matter. They were still dangerous, and I wasn"t those kind of guys who looked down on the fairer s.e.x. I would be the first to admit that a girl could kick my a.s.s.
Just look at Cecilia or Kureha, for example. Even Alicia would give me a hard time, and I couldn"t afford to hold back against someone of her skill.
"!!"
The other two a.s.sa.s.sins came from the sides, flanking me. Their daggers streaked toward me in a deadly arc, aiming right for my throat and chest.
"Gemini!"
I managed to summon my twin swords in time and deflected both a.s.sa.s.sin weapons. Retreating while parrying their slashes and thrusts, I tried to a.s.sess what was going on.
Well, one thing was for sure. These girls certainly weren"t the typical a.s.sailants. I was used to people trying to abduct me without taking my life that I didn"t expect a.s.sa.s.sins to kill me.
And these three were seriously trying to kill me.
"Who are you?! Why are you trying to kill me?" I demanded. I honestly didn"t recall p.i.s.sing off any young master or mistress from some big family or whatever and earning their ire to the point where they would hire a.s.sa.s.sins to eliminate someone as insignificant as me.
No, seriously…why would anyone waste so much money and invest so much resources into hiring a.s.sa.s.sins, risking being arrested for premediated murder at the same time, just to "teach me my place" or because I was "trash" or some equally preposterous reason? If I was really that insignificant and "trash" then why would they ever deem it necessary to waste all these resources, money and time into a.s.sa.s.sinating me?
Typically, none of the a.s.sa.s.sins responded. They were good. If they were amateurs, they would spouting all sort of bulls.h.i.+t and giving themselves away unnecessarily, but right now they were totally focused on the job. Not that I ever expected them to. a.s.sa.s.sins were supposed to keep their clients" ident.i.ty a secret. Professional code of conduct and all that.
Kind of reminded me of some other so-called a.s.sa.s.sin who just stood around and did nothing while her contracted spirit did all the fighting, and talked endlessly like a twelve-year-old girl instead of doing her job properly. These professional a.s.sa.s.sins were worlds apart from her in terms of att.i.tude, even if they lacked her power.
Silently they struck as one, their daggers and knives flas.h.i.+ng toward me again. Their attacks were synchronized perfectly, the three of them moving coherently. They covered each other when I tried to counterattack, one of them parrying Castor, the other deflecting Pollux and the third trying to land a killing blow.
"Kuh!"
Flipping backward and avoiding a fatal strike to my throat, I desperately kicked out. The girl in the center managed to twist her body to the side, avoiding my foot, and her fellow a.s.sa.s.sins intruded with ripostes of their own, forcing me to the defensive.
"d.a.m.n it!"
I had to get to a distance, where I would have more of an advantage. The three of them attacking as one unit was too tough for me to handle on my own. They covered each other"s weaknesses, and attacked and defended flawlessly. They were making use of their numerical superiority to slowly overwhelm me.
Clang!
Parrying another strike from a dagger, I managed to twist around before I could get my carotid artery severed by a knife. Spinning to the side, I kicked out preemptively to halt another lethal attack before it landed, and then withdraw to evade another slash.
These a.s.sa.s.sins were good. They were efficiently aiming for my vital spots, and if I allowed just one to hit, I would die immediately. Not only that, I caught a whiff from one of their blades. The girl on my left, the one with emerald eyes – both her blades were coated with poison.
Of the three, she was the most dangerous.
"!!!"
The one in the middle, on the other hand, was the most skilled. No wonder she served as the vanguard. She was the fastest, and given how smooth and impeccable her attacks were, probably the most experienced. It was her dagger that almost sliced within a millimeter of my throat. And her knife almost ended up in my chest if I didn"t whirl away. Deflecting her dagger with Castor, I had to use Pollux to parry the poisoned dagger from the a.s.sa.s.sin on the left before withdrawing before she could stab me with her knife.
At the same time, the a.s.sa.s.sin from the right thrust her short sword at me. Of the three, she had the longest reach, since she possessed the biggest weapon.
"Huff…"
Perspiration dripped down my face. Outwardly, I wasn"t injured at all, but inwardly I was mentally shaken. The three a.s.sa.s.sins were superb. As I said, one wrong move and I would die. The reason I was still unscathed wasn"t because they were bad, but simply because I couldn"t afford to allow them to land a hit.
Once they stabbed me, it would all be over.
Fortunately, they weren"t the only ones with teammates.
"Leo! Canis Major!"
"?!"
The three a.s.sa.s.sins jumped back when my two Constellation spirits appeared. Leo swiped at the a.s.sa.s.sin on the left with his claws, forcing her to evade, while the a.s.sa.s.sin on the right had to flee from Canis Major"s jaws. The a.s.sa.s.sin in the middle ignored the plight of her comrades and continued to attack me, but I blocked her dagger and knife with both Castor and Pollux.
Then I unleashed twin waves of black and white mana at pointblank range. The a.s.sa.s.sin"s eyes widened, but she was too seasoned a veteran to fall for my trap. She quickly leaped away, blocking my attack with her dagger and knife before vanis.h.i.+ng in an explosion. A few seconds later, she landed and skidded a few meters away, her black tight bodysuit smoldering.
"Canis Major! Sirius attack! Leo! Regulus!"
While keeping my eyes focused on my opponent, I sent out orders to my Constellation spirits, both of whom obeyed. Canis Major"s jaws yawned and a torrent of destructive mana blasted out and struck the a.s.sa.s.sin with the short sword, knocking her off her feet despite her attempts to parry the strike, and sending her cras.h.i.+ng onto the ground with a grunt. To the side, the a.s.sa.s.sin with poisoned weapons was rendered unconscious as the full force of the golden, colossal beam collided with her before she could get away in time.
The central a.s.sa.s.sin narrowed her eyes, but determinedly surged forward without hesitation. She knew that as long as she eliminated me, my Constellation spirits would naturally disappear along with my demise.
Smart move.
I threw both Castor and Pollux at her, the twin swords curving around in an elegant arc before converging on her position. The a.s.sa.s.sin continued running, and then she flipped herself up and over my twin swords, allowing both of them to pa.s.s below her. In fact, she landed on them just as they converged, and then launched from them to lunge at me.
The a.s.sa.s.sin with the short sword rolled to her feet, and managed to evade Canis Major"s attempts to pounce on her, and dove at me. The two a.s.sa.s.sins dashed forward, even as my Constellation spirits slowly turned around. They wouldn"t be able to make it in time before the two girls reached me.
I didn"t need them to.
Lyra appeared in my hand, and I unleashed hundreds of near invisible garrote wires across the s.p.a.ce in front of me.
"!!!"
The more experienced a.s.sa.s.sin instinctively realized the danger and she braked abruptly, then jumped back to avoid the wires. Her comrade with the short sword, however, failed to notice the trap and she ran headlong into the wires.
I mercilessly sliced her apart with Lyra"s wires, rendering her body into several b.l.o.o.d.y chunks of meat. I showed no trace of hesitation. These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds tried to kill me. Women or not, I had no intention of showing them mercy. What? You think I would spare their lives because they were female, and because I somehow showed them mercy, they would fall for me and join my harem? Only delusional writers who wanted to indulge in wish fulfilment would resort to such stupid clichés. In reality, it was kill or be killed. If they tried to kill me, why should I show them mercy?
Realizing that she was the sole survivor (well, technically the a.s.sa.s.sin with poison was still alive, but she was currently incapacitated and unable to fight), the experienced a.s.sa.s.sin decided to abort her mission. Not that I was going to let her. Even as she turned to run, I was already transforming Lyra into a bow and aiming a newly summoned Vega at her.
"…"
The a.s.sa.s.sin glanced back at me, realizing that she wasn"t going to be able to avoid an arrow traveling at hypersonic speeds. Thrusting her hand into a pocket in her tight bodysuit, she grabbed something and threw it down.
Boom!
A smoke bomb! The a.s.sa.s.sin covered her escape and threw off my aim by obscuring herself entirely in smoke. I didn"t care and released Vega as soon as I finished casting the spell. In exchange for the hypervelocity speed of the arrow that would make it difficult for my opponents to dodge, as well as the immense power it possessed, the casting duration took quite a while. But most of the times, it was worth it.
The entire smoke was obliterated in a second. A golden conflagration erupted in the distance before fading away. I watched grimly as the smoke and sparks dissipated, revealing nothing but devastation atop the building where I last saw the a.s.sa.s.sin.
"…she got away, huh?"
Shaking my head, I turned toward the unconscious a.s.sa.s.sin, who had been knocked out by Leo"s Regulus. Leo and Canis Major were prowling nearby, watching over her vigilantly and ensuring she stayed down.
"Now…what should I do?"
It would be distasteful to kill someone who was no longer able to fight back. If she was still trying to kill me, I would kill her without hesitation, but when incapacitated, I had no real reason to take her life. Moreover, she was probably more useful to me alive than dead.
Remembering Dad"s interrogation methods, I slowly approached her. I was going to get some answers out of her, even if I had to cut off her fingers one by one to attain them.
"Would you mind entrusting that a.s.sa.s.sin to us, Richard?"
I spun around, taken aback by the familiar voice. Feng Hai and a group of mercenaries had finally arrived. Behind them, a helicopter was hovering silently, which explained why I didn"t hear them coming. Some sort of advanced technology or magic enchantment that completely dampened and concealed the noise of the aerial transport.
"Instructor Feng."
"Sorry for being late. We rushed over immediately when we heard that a student was being attacked just outside the academy." He glanced at the surrounding buildings. Someone must have contacted the authorities when they saw and heard the commotion. "But clearly, by the time we arrived, you already have the matter well in hand."
"I was lucky."
"Luck has nothing to do with it." Feng Hai shook his head, impressed. "You never fail to amaze me, kid." He gestured to his subordinates, who hurried forward to take the female a.s.sa.s.sin into captivity. His expression hardened as he glared at her. "Don"t worry. Whoever ordered this a.s.sa.s.sination on you, I"ll make sure to find them and destroy them. n.o.body attacks a student of Jing Tian Academy and gets away with it."
"We"ll squeeze whatever answers we can out of her," one of the subordinates who was carrying the unconscious a.s.sa.s.sin said.
"That we will." Feng Hai nodded grimly and then turned to me. "For now, at least allow us to escort you home."
*
Some distance away, the solely remaining a.s.sa.s.sin was limping away. Her entire right side was gone, a b.l.o.o.d.y ragged hole torn through her body. Her arm had disintegrated, along with a good portion of her shoulder, and even a small chunk of her torso. If it wasn"t for her transhuman physiology, she would have died from that glancing hit from Vega.
"What terrifying power," she whispered to herself, perspiration dripping down her torn and burnt mask. "That boy is a monster."
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to keep moving. An injury of this magnitude was nothing to her. As long as she could return to the base, she could receive treatment. A sufficiently advanced healing spell was enough to fully restore her right arm and ravaged body.
However, that wasn"t what concerned her right now. Shaking her head, she sighed in frustration and cursed under her breath.
"Mr. Franklin, it"s not going to be easy to eliminate the target this time…"