In the time they had before the Templar troops arrived, Darko and Lydia worked to call in Assassin reinforcements. Within a day Darko had managed to get Johnny, Gautier and George over to Chefchaouen. Half a day after Darko's friends reached the city Lydia's two Assassins, who were in Seville, did.
Three days after the amulet was retrieved by the Assassins, a force of masked soldiers from the Tercio de Extranjeros rushed into the street the Templar base was located on. At the same time a small force of Tercios remained, blocking off the two ends of the road.
Luckily the seven Assassins were prepared and had formulated a counterattack plan. Lydia's two Assassins, both of them decent shooters, were stationed on top of the building directly opposite the Templar base and armed with MP 18 submachine guns. They helped to lower the Tercios' numbers by raining torrents of bullets on them.
Almost immediately the Tercios returned fire to the two of them, deciding that they had to be eliminated ASAP, since the MP 18 was a deadly weapon, so deadly that the Treaty of Versailles banned further study and manufacture of similar weapons by the Germans.
However, the Tercios were merely wasting bullets. Since the Tercios had returned fire the two Assassins, according to orders made beforehand, had abandoned their positions.
After consuming a hundred or so bullets, the masked Tercios realised that the Assassins were gone from their posts, and sent a small detachment of troops after them before returning their focus back to the Templar base.
The two Assassins made their way back to the Templar base through a short network of roads and alleyways, at the same time avoiding the Tercios. Entering the base through a back door, they went straight to Lydia Frye, their superior.
"Not bad," Lydia complimented. "We estimated about half a quarter of the attackers down from your bullets. Take a short rest now and be prepared to fight."
Darko and Gautier were stationed at the front entrance while Johnny and Dayton were by the back entrance, ready to ambush the soldiers.
A squad of five Tercios barged through the front door, fanning out across the living room and clearing it. Finding nothing of interest, the soldiers went on to clear the other rooms. As two soldiers crouch-walked by, Darko grabbed the second one, pulling him close and stabbing his Hidden Blade into the Tercio's throat.
The first Tercio, hearing sounds coming from behind him, wheeled around, only to be pulled down and killed by Gautier.
Attention raised by the sounds coming near the sofa, the remaining three soldiers faced it, training their bolt-action rifles at it.
"Whoever's there, put your hands up!" a Tercio ordered. "Put your hands up, now!"
Hearing the words coming from their comrades inside, three more Tercios entered the building to help.
"You take those on your side, I'll take those on my side," Darko mouthed to Gautier.
Gautier nodded in reply and mouthed back, "On the count of three. One…two…three!"
Using the fallen Tercios' bolt-action rifles, each Assassin shot three of the Tercios. Hearing sounds of gunfire, more Tercios rushed into the building, only to be fired on by the waiting Assassins.
After three more Tercios were killed, the soldiers stopped coming in, knowing that it would only result in their unneeded deaths.
Half a minute earlier, three soldiers stacked up against each other outside the back entrance. The leading attacker raised a hand, utilising his fingers to count down. Upon reaching zero, the three soldiers moved into the building.
Upon taking his first step into the building, the leading soldier spotted a projectile racing towards him. With accuracy he swiped it aside with his hand, giving a triumphant smile thinking that he had stopped the projectile. Bringing his hand up to see what the projectile was, the soldier swore.
Simultaneously, the soldier lost his mind and began hallucinating, swiping his rifle randomly and shouting, "Enemies, enemies everywhere!" Fortunately, the only other soldiers who could hear him were his two comrades, as gunshots coming from the front of the building prevented others from hearing the insane soldier.
"Have you lost your mind, sir?" the second Tercio asked.
The leading Tercio responded by shoving him in the chest with the rifle, before pulling the trigger once.
"Jesus, are you alright?" the third Tercio appeared as he examined the second one.
"Enemies, enemies everywhere!" the first soldier said as he shot the third man in the head.
Seconds later, the crazy Tercio collapsed, his energy sapped and very close to death. The last thing he saw were two hooded men emerging from their hiding spots.
"Let's go and see what's going on at the front," Johnny told George. "Quick, before we miss out on all the fun."
At the front of the building, Johnny and George took cover behind a table. "What happened?" Johnny mouthed to Darko and Gautier.
Gautier recounted everything that had happened there to Johnny and George, without making a sound of course. Just as Gautier finished explaining, they heard shots coming from above.
Lydia's Assassins, who were now on the rooftop of the once-Templar base, were once again raining bullets on the Tercios below, taking them by surprise one more time.
As the two Assassins were unloading their MP18s, Lydia spotted a group of soldiers forming a ring around a man. This man, though masked like all the Tercios present, was dressed differently and had a different set of weapons on him. Drawing her pistol, Lydia took aim and fired.
General de Rivera felt a bullet ram into his stomach, causing him to double up in pain. "I'm wounded, get me out of here, quick!" he barked at his troops.
"Right away, sir," the soldiers said in near-unison.
Lydia, realising that the man was none other than General Miguel Primo de Rivera, Grandmaster of the Spanish Templars, tried to fire off a second shot to kill him, but the soldiers around him made it impossible to do so.
Most of the soldiers were starting to retreat, except for a brave few brave souls. Those brave souls were mercilessly shot dead by the waiting Assassins.
"Damn it," Lydia swore as she came down to the living room. "General de Rivera himself was amongst those men. I managed to land a shot on him, but it wasn't enough to kill him."
"General de Rivera?" the Assassins were surprised. "He was present?"
She nodded. "But at least we've won this battle. The Tercios are retreating, and I believe we've put a dent in the Spanish Templars, physically and psychologically."
"What do we do with the amulet now?" Darko asked.
Lydia grinned. "Come with me."
Bringing the Assassins on the roof, Lydia held the amulet up for all to see. She presumed that it was the reason why the Tercios had come. Dropping it onto the floor, Lydia crushed the amulet with a foot. She picked the crushed amulet up before hurling it off the building.
From a distance, a masked General de Rivera, currently being escorted away by a ring of Tercios, saw what Lydia was doing.
"The Assassins will pay for this," General de Rivera muttered.