Chapter 25: 25 – Assassins

An elite group of assassins advanced toward the outpost with the sun rising behind them. Each one employed their own method of achieving stealth, whether it be through their bloodlines, combat arts, or pure physical skill. They quietly snuck through the tents and past the unsuspecting guards, who were focused on recent arrivals. In a sudden, brutal attack, two shadows pounced on the nearest soldiers, killing them both, one with a slit throat and the other with knives through his eyes' sockets. However, in a distracted amateurish moment of violent inebriation a sword fell, a resonating clink alerted nearby guards.

"Assassins!" a torrent of voices cried out.

"Two spotted southeast!"

"Rommien and Souriel are down!"

“Damn it! Get in position!”

The captain sprang into action, shouting orders. "Lieutenant Abaddan, take one man and flank them. Spotters, activate wards and drop two Protocols of Invalidation!" Grandiloquent words that meant to be on active spotting duty for assassin-type combat units and deploying countermeasures, supported by wards. Seven soldiers moved into defensive positions as word spread throughout the camp. "Rainel, beside me, we defend the spotters. And you Sheileina, my beautiful witch, you know what to do." 

The human squad moved cautiously. Some of them strode confidently, having obtained anti-assassin training, despite being ambushed by concealed attackers. Though the captain suspected a spy amongst the company, he had no time to dwell on speculations.

Both spotted assassins moved back into the shadows.

“Woinky? A fucking sword!?”

“Shiiitbag twitched strange, the fuuuck am I to do!?”

“Oink! Oink! Your fucking job!” Between squeals and snouts, she reprimanded her fellow assassin.

At the other side of camp shrouded figures prepared to strike.

“Damn it! Two spotters, Heiran, and a witch.”

"Leave the captain to me. Forget everyone else and get the two spotters. Signal Orjas and Yeres to make them their top priority, then the witch... Now!"

Ferraine’s fiery eyes burst alight, and she vanished soon after. She took an advantageous position in a blind spot near the human squad, and kept advancing, hidden by her race’s inherent cloaking capabilities. The female assassin moved like an unnatural smoke, a hazy mist, legacy of her bloodline. She then performed a combat art, creating a whistling sound with the exact frequency signaling the two spotted assassins to follow her lead.

"Incoming attack from the flanks!" soldiers shouted, as the squad scramble to defend their spotters. 

“Ahrgh!”

A spotter fell to several daggers in the chest and an elemental spear rammed through his nose. Ferraine, Orjas, and Yeres moved to the next one, but Lieutenant Abaddan arrived just in time to defend the second spotter from certain death, blocking the assassins' ranged attacks. After that first burst of action, the assassins stood in the open, their specialized assassin-type combat arts greatly diminished by the survival of one spotter.

“Fuck! They got Jhussel!”

Combat art after combat art burst into being by humans and putrajados alike. The witch began to recite an incantation, while the captain charged into the melee swinging his two-handed sword at the nearest shadow.

“Heee’s quick!”

“Damnoink!”

A clank boomed, followed by sparks, metal against metal, reverberated. Heiran used his short sword to stop the captain’s swing.

“Thaaanks!”

“Look alive,” he said towards the shadow as the lieutenant and two other knights began casting and engaged them in combat. 

Ferraine dashed towards the witch, she needed to go down, but two knights stood between her and her target. She pushed forwards, buffed with magik. The knights swung towards the incoming assassin but Orjas and Yeres stopped their attacks.

“Fuck! Shielena!”

“Cometh God of the Underworld, Shaktyur-”

The witch was finishing her casting when Ferraine, who furiously rushed her position, buffed herself again and used a mid-range assassination art. “Silent Assailant!” Which severed the witch’s left arm.

“Arghh! My arm you bitch!”

“Sheileina!”

Her magik hanged in the air for a couple seconds before shooting out randomly.

“Incoming!”

Everyone scrambled to dodge the black-goo missiles falling from the sky. 

“Ah!” Ferraine had been struck on her right shoulder which burned from the corrosive touch of the witch's coral flames. However, she didn't have time to assess the damage as the surviving spotter and lieutenant descended on her.

With a spotter still alive and the witch not yet out of commission they needed to act quickly as the longer the fight dragged on their winning odds decreased exponentially. Heiran was evenly matched with the formidable captain and neither could assist their allies. Two knights fought back-to-back, shields raised, like a single tower, while two agile shadows unleashed flurry of attacks on them. Sheilena cast a spell on her severed arm to stop the bleeding temporarily. After the initial shock, she started casting again, one-handed. It could be her last spell in the battle, but she refused to go down without a fight.

Orjas and Yeres clashed in an intense battle, while an injured Ferraine struggled against two relentless pursuers. A barely conscious Sheilena mustered the strength to cast a powerful spell that would lock their enemies in place.

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“Oh, Lost Disruptor of Vengeance and-“

At the last moment a fifth shadow swooped in, slamming into the witch and interrupting the final, critical part of the spell, the locking part. Slllamagga crashed down bringing the witch along with her.

“Ah! Fuck!”

“Shit!”

Magik surged forth, unguided, striking a knight and paralyzing him. Orjas and Yeres capitalized on the opportunity and dispatched the knight in a flashy manner, the knight's head rolled to their feet. Momentum tipped in their favor and they pushed forward. Yeres and Orjas found their next target, the spotter, who ran but not fast enough. The lieutenant and the last surviving knight tried to stop the two feralis assassins, but only managed to halt the baakin, Orjas. Yeres continued on and plunged a dagger into the spotter's heart, ending his life. Only three soldiers remained.

Upon the last spotter’s death, the assassin squad could almost taste victory. His ward would soon expire allowing them to freely stealth and stalk from the shadows once more. All fighting creatures understood the current situation, the tide had turned in the assassin’s favor but Yeres, overconfident, moved toward the captain, attacking from behind.

“Yeres wait!”

Taking advantage of their decomposing team fight, the lieutenant and a knight dashed towards the assassin’s leader, while their captain buffed himself, turned around and struck the attacking shadow in her abdomen.

“Ahrg!”

Without any more time to lose Heiran began the Deathblade Dance, while Ferraine and Orjas met an enraged lieutenant and knight midway and engaged in a ferocious battle.

Before finishing the bleeding yoinkolin assassin the captain’s acute and trained senses detected a surge in the aether, a signal of powerful arts.

“Liutetant Abaddan! Rivallien! Fall back to me now!” 

“What?!”

“Geeet the fuckers boss!”

“Bastards!”

But his warning came too late. Heiran vanished from sight and entered the shadow realm, causing his world to become shrouded in a gray blur while he dashed through it, his prey stood well defined and in focus as he moved. 

A two-pronged attack struck the knight, with Ferraine attacking head-on while Heiran struck from the shadows. To inexperienced creatures, it appeared as if blades manifested out of thin air. Heiran’s daggers hit flesh, the knight fell to the ground, breathing his last moments on this world, bleeding out from multiple cuts in his body. The captain and lieutenant linked up, back-to-back, ready to fend off the attackers, who promplty turned their attention to them.

“This is it, captain! We’ll die here!”

“Get a hold of yourself, Lieutenant Abaddan!” the captain replied, determined. ”We won’t fall to these putrajados’ lesser arts! Steel yourself!”

“Here they come!” the lieutenant shouted, shadows withing arm's length.

Three shadows moved in perfect synchrony, they knew how this would go down. Heiran lunged forward, showering the captain in a hail of blades. The captain stood his ground, fending off the orc’s attack, but with each strike, he lost more ground. The lieutenant stood guard, shields raised, deflecting the ranged attacks cast his way. Both defenders had cast Soldiers Pact, a close-combat defensive buff between allies, a last-ditch effort that lowered their attack prowess in favor of defense. They hoped the fight would turn into a slow attrition battle, giving them a chance. But their attackers had other plans. Slowly and without arousing suspicion their attacks separated their targets, until their backs ended open for attack.

“Abaddan, turn around!”

"Argh!”

“Abadaaan!”

But it was too late for lieutenant Abaddan. The assailants switched targets, and while the captain managed to defend himself from Ferraine’s attacks, Heiran slashed liutenant Abaddan in four weak spots in his armor. Moments later, the lieutenant laid dead in a pool of blood.

Ferraine could take no more. She needed to tend to her wounds, and Herian’s three underlings ran low on stamina. The orc emerged from the shadows.

“Ferraine look after your wounds. Orjas, go help Yeres. This one is mine.”

“But-”

“Go!”

The three shadows retreated, leaving the assassin orc to face the human captain alone.

“You made a fatal mistake, putrajado. You're not good enough to take me on your own.”

“We'll see.”

And with that, Heiran disappeared into the shadows once again.

X had seen most of the fights from a privileged position, first row into the carnage. At the climax of the violence, he convinced Slllamaga that they stood a better chance with the shadows than with the humans. Not a difficult thing to do, as she felt almost the same. She just needed a little push. And after that, he had ample time to witness their inhuman fights. Things he’d never thought possible, more combat magik, and well, blood, guts and tears as any conflict should be. 

Tired and hungry, X sat beside Slllmaga on hard ground. She was lost in thought trying to find a way to stay alive for a while longer. Understandable. Near them, the sounds and colors of Heiran and the captain’s fight flashed intermittently, appearing more extreme than what he had seen so far. Their fight continued into the other side of camp, and while X would’ve liked to see it, his eyes fell on the camp’s center where a small bonfire and food awaited him. He dragged, with words, Slllamaga over and indulged in a feast. He felt closer to paradise with each bite, the taste of fresh roasted meat took him back home.

Under an autumn sun, with fresh blood and guts covering the ground around him and while fighting raged on in the distance, he smiled wide, life after all smiled back at him once more.

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