DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Legend of Zelda or any of it's characters. I DO, however, own the plot to this fanfiction and my OC's.

Okay, this took longer than I planned b/c I ended up rewriting this entire chapter from scratch because the fight scene in it didn't exactly flow too well. * grimaces * This chapter was also supposed to be part of chapter 11, but I cut it in half so that I could revise this part better...

Anyhoo, that's enough from me.

ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

Death is Painless

"He... He vanished," The mayor muttered in disbelief.

"He used a transportation spell," Impa explained as she rushed to Zelda's side and helped her up.

"Why would he...?" Ilia started to ask, but she trailed off when she noticed the curtain in Talo and Malo's house shift.

"He didn't want the kids to see him kill that guy," Rusl said after following her line of sight.

Ilia stared at her feet and made a face.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Everyone turned to face Faron Woods just as a pillar of fire erupted upwards. After a few seconds it faded, leaving a massive cloud of smoke in it's wake.

"That spell," Zelda gasped in disbelief at how powerful it was.

"Has he lost his damn mind!?" Impa exclaimed as she stared worriedly at the rising smoke.

The villagers wordlessly looked to the sheikah for an exclamation.

"To put that much magic into a spell is dangerous. If a magic user uses all of their magic at once they'll lose consciousness and under extreme circumstances they could die from magic exhaustion," She explained, her voice strained, "Not to mention that a blast that big in that specific location could cause the ground to collapse."

That was the last straw for Rusl. He broke into a mad sprint towards Faron Woods.

"Where are you going!?" Uli called after him, her arm outstretched.

"I have to make sure he's okay!"

Zelda started after him, but was stopped my Impa. "You're not going anywhere until that wound is properly bandaged."

"But-!"

"You should listen to her, Queenie," Kawl grinned as he leaned against a tree. He made a sour face when Impa flung a needle at him. He titled his head to the side, causing it to lodge in the tree instead.

"You should've ran when you had the chance," Impa growled.

"And be soft and cowardly like Iasik? No thank you."

The sheikah was momentarily puzzled by what he meant, but her eyes widened when she realized the ivory haired man was no longer there. "When did he... Dammit!"

"I wouldn't stress over it. Iasik isn't, or should I say never was, a threat to you.," He nonchalantly stated as he turned his back to them. He felt a thud in his back and slowly turned back around. "You rude little bitch. What the hell made you think it was okay to shoot an arrow at someone with their back turned!?"

Zelda instinctively took a step back, momentarily frightened not by his anger, but his lack of reaction towards the arrow sticking out of his back. Surely he should've doubled over in pain instead of calmly turning around, right?

Impa too felt as if something was off about this man, but momentarily decided to ignore it. "Don't fear him, Zelda. And don't let him trick you into fighting by his rules. They didn't exactly fight by yours when they kicked you out of the castle."

"Y-yes ma'am."

Without another word the female warrior charged and kicked Kawl square in the chest. He was, just like when he was hit by the arrow, unfazed. He grabbed her foot and swung his sword down. She hastily blocked the sharp blade with her gauntlet, wincing at what she was sure was a broken wrist, and twisted to escape his tight grasp. She jumped back and flung a fist full of needles at him, all but one hitting his sword arm.

"Moves like that don't work on me, Ms. Bodyguard," He drawled before kicking her in the gut.

"Oomph!"

"Ah! Impa!" Zelda exclaimed as she ran over to her side.

"I'm fine," she assured her as she hastily stood up, cradling her wrist. She threw down a smoke ball and whispered a strategy in Zelda's ear.

"Got it."

Zelda notched an arrow and released it the second the smoke cleared enough for her to see Kawl's outline. It flew true and embedded itself in his abdomen. He grumbled to himself as he yanked it out.

"How are you not in any pain?" Zelda asked. A single bead of sweat trailed down the side of her face and into the cut on her cheek, making it sting. She absentmindedly rubbed at it.

"I can't feel pain."

"Bullshit!" Impa snapped.

"I'll have you know it's a medical condition!" Kawl argued, shaking his fist at her.

"Great. Of course we got stuck fighting the painless freak," Impa grumbled.

"If he can't feel pain, there's nothing stopping him until either him or we die," Zelda whispered, her resolve wavering. She wondered if Link had ever fought someone like this.

"Please tell me you have an idea," Impa whispered.

Zelda closed her eyes and thought for minute. "One. Do you still have that serum that thins the blood and prevents it from clotting?"

Impa nodded, immediately understanding what the queen wanted her to do. "Yeah. I've been saving it for a situation like this."

"Should I distract him while you prepare it?"

"It would help."

Kawl cleared his throat to regain their attention. "Whispering is rude, you know."

"Like we care," Impa retorted, visibly annoyed.

Zelda took a deep breath and drew her arrow back, concentrating until the tip was surrounded by a blue light. She fired the enchanted arrow and it landed at Kawl's feet, instantly freezing the ground. He hastily jumped back to keep his feet from being frozen and glared at her.

"You damn Hyrulians and your lousy magic. You cowards only use it because you know you can't win in a fair fight," He scoffed, a look of disgust on his face as he stared at the spreading ice.

"You're just jealous because you're too stupid to use magic," Zelda argued, tilting her chin up stubbornly.

She fired another arrow, this time lacing it with wind magic, causing it to move so fast it was barely visible. It hit Kawl in the ribs and he charged towards her, his sword raised high above his head. Zelda hastily summoned a magic shield that burst into a million pieces the second Kawl's sword made contact with it. He was about to strike again when Impa slammed into him and jabbed a dagger coated in a purple liquid deep into his thigh. While she was at it, she decided to punch him in the jaw.

"How many times do I have to tell you that small blows like that have no effect on me!" Kawl snapped, jumping back and removing the dagger. "Wait. What it this stuff on the... You poisoned me, didn't you, you sneaky bitch!?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," Impa answered, a sly smile playing across her lips.

Kawl stared at her unblinking as he wiped the dagger off and sliced his leg open where the sheikah had stabbed him. Zelda couldn't stop herself from clamping a hand over her mouth and gasping as blood poured from the wound. Kawl too stared at the abnormal amount of blood and sighed regretfully.

"It wasn't poison, it was vampire root," He stated matter-of-factly. He smirked. "Well played, Ms. Bodyguard."

The two woman stared in silence as the Sunscorgian's legs gave out and he fell face first in the dirt. Blood quickly pooled around his legs and his eyes dulled as death took him.

"Go find Link. I'll tend to your leg later," Impa said as so walked over to the assassin's corpse.

Zelda tentatively nodded and ran towards the rising smoke that flowed from deep within Faron woods, ignoring the piercing pain in her leg.

A/N: It's been a while, I know. Please don't kill me!

MALO: (peeks through curtains) REVIEW!