'How many of them are there?' I must've been killing assassin after assassin for the past five minutes. Considering the amount of dismembered limbs and countless corpses laying at my feet along with the pools of blood and dozens of organs scattered all across the clearing…there were quite more than a few of them. Lycaon was off somewhere in the forest, killing as many as he could along with taking out the assassins with long range that tried to take me out as soon as the battle began.
The fodder were abysmal at best, but even as a Mid Ultimate-Class being, it was still a bit tiring to kill as many of them as I did and the fact that the Crimson Hunter just kept analysing my every move was concerning. He was probably assessing my strengths and weaknesses and I was unable to at least send an attack his way considering that the fodder kept jumping in the way and taking the hit for themselves, sacrificing their lives in the process. Irritating as it was, it also showed the massive amount of loyalty they had towards their superiors, which was something I could begrudgingly respect if nothing else.
"We've seen enough." All of a sudden, every single one of the assassins stopped in their tracks as soon as the Crimson Hunter spoke. He spoke in a monotone and his voice sounded like there were dozens of echoes combined with it.
"All of you, go to Canis Lykaon's location and delay him for as long as possible. Five minutes should suffice." …Was he that confident he could be able to take me out without their help?
"As you wish." The other assassins muttered before they stepped back into the shadows and I felt them running towards where Lycaon was still fighting the rest of the assassins.
"Divide and conquer, huh? Good strategy, but what makes you so sure that Lycaon won't just kill all of them as quick as possible and then return to me before you can kill me?" The only answer I got was a soft, amused huff before I barely leaned out of the way of a blade cutting through the space where my head was.
That…if Air Current Sense didn't let me feel his muscles tensing…I would have been dead.
"That's why." The Hunter muttered before he disappeared again and I jumped into the air as high as I could and unfurled my wings, quickly blasting skywards. The only thing I could feel from his nervous system was amusement before I felt what seemed to be a hammer slam into the back of my skull and quickly blast me back down towards the ground.
"Arrrgghh-! Shit!" I yelped as I quickly recovered from slamming back first into the ground and pushed myself out of the crater just in time to dodge a dagger stabbing through the ground where my throat previously was, flipping and skidding to a stop about 50 metres away from him.
…Okita, I take back every single bad thing I said about reflex training, because that was way too close for comfort.
"Impressive. Your senses can't keep up, yet your body reacts instinctively to avoid any kind of danger, no matter how small, within a certain area around you." He muttered as he ripped his dagger from the ground, pulling out another one from behind me before spinning them and getting into a fighting stance.
'If I try to create a blade, he attacks. If I try to activate my Touki, he attacks. If I take my eyes off him for even a split second, he attacks. The daggers have a light blue sheen on the sharp edge, so they must be poisoned, which means I either need a blade to block/ parry his attacks or Touki to be fast enough to dodge them without injury, except…if I try anything, he the hell am I supposed to fight someone whose way too fast for my senses to keep up?! Even worse, how do I counter his attacks when I myself barely know from which direction he'll strike?' I was running through combat situation after combat situation, scanning the leader from head to toe trying to find a way to take him out as quick as possible.
It was a good thing I did because I barely caught the light green aura flashing dimly for a brief millisecond before he disappeared from my seconds and appeared behind me in the blink of an eye, blades singing as they sliced through the air towards my neck. I didn't even hesitate as my body moved to duck under the attack, blades sprouting from my shadow before piercing through his leg. Not even stopping from the pain, he slashed forward and I jumped back, though not fast enough as the blade scratched across my chest.
The skin around the cut was slightly bubbling, yet…the poison was not as agonizing as I thought it would be.
"…" Even the Leader was caught slightly off-guard, lifting his dagger to slightly glance at the blade before going back to staring at the bubbling cut on my chest. Not one to waste a chance, I activated Storm Knight Aura and Touki. I've only had a week to keep practise Storm Knight Aura, but I'd like to think I have a much better understanding of it and it just takes me a second to activate it now.
The leader just stared at me before putting the daggers back behind his back, making an X in front of his abdomen with his arms before a light green aura covered his body. His body was also vibrating slightly, the wind slowly circulating around his body as the ground under him trembled slightly.
I only had time to blink before my body began to move, a Gremory crest already forming on my fist before a poison blade manifested from it and I punched to my left, the leader reappearing there and barely dodging the attack as he cut me across the arm, the cut once again bubbling slightly.
"Urhg!" The speed was incredible, but so was the pain of having to force my body to move beyond its current limits.
Touki and Demonic Magic together was a very painful combination, especially if I used both to enhance my physical capabilities. I can see why Sairaorg said that I shouldn't try to heal myself with Touki whilst using Demonic Magic considering what's happening right now.
The leader was just staring at my slightly pink arm before I heard him hum in amusement and disappear once more. This time, my eyes widened as my body sensed attacks from three different directions, moving around all three before punching in a completely different direction. It connected with something and the leader came into the view, this time grasping my fist as a needle was jammed into my forearm.
"…Fuck." I muttered and pulled my fist away as fast as I could, the leader not even looking irritated as he and I both stared at my arm, which was changing from its light pink to a deep violet.
"The stem of Wolfsbane, three drops of Blessed Holy Water, a few drops of Silver Widow venom and a Weeping Crimson Oak leaf. The first dose of just Holy Water and Wolfsbane didn't work, so I had to use my own little concoction to make sure we finish the mission properly." The leader finally spoke to me, his monotone now gone as he sounded a bit happy at me grimacing in pain as I tried to move my arm, to no avail.
'Okita's Knightly Rules #1 & #4, Isaiah. How the hell did you forgot them?!' I shouted at myself, already hearing Okita shouting at the top of his lungs at me for not taking the fight seriously. Quickly taking off my shirt, I tore it apart before using the now crudely made cloth and tying it tightly around my bicep, stopping the blood and making sure the poison can't keep spreading.
"I guess I have but a few minutes to live, huh?"
"1 minutes, 28 seconds until you die. 1 minutes, 15 seconds until your stamina is depleted. 1 minute, 3 seconds until all you mana is drained. Think of this information as a final gift from your killer." The leader said in a slightly cheerful tone and I grumbled as I made sure to tie the knot of my makeshift bandage tightly, still keeping Electroreception and Air Current Sense on the leader at all times.
From what I could sense, Lycaon was still busy at his location, still fighting about 8 or so dozen assassins. It's going to take him more than a minute and ten seconds to get here back here and distract the leader long enough to take out a Phoenix Tear and possibly heal myself or slow down the poison for as long as possible.
If only I had the brains to inform Rias about the assassins or the time to read the runic inscriptions on the barriers, I could've have been out of here a few minutes ago and poison free, but no~!
I, in my utter and complete idiocy, decided to test how strong I am against a hundred or so assassins along with their five Mid Ultimate-Class leaders…and I'm about 90% sure the leader I'm facing right now is at least Peak Ultimate-Class, if not Low Satan-Class, because no way is a Mid Ultimate-Class this powerful. Not in the slightest.
'But what is with his speed?' I thought to myself as I got ready for another attack, the leader crossing his arms in an X once more as the green aura reappeared. If it was just a normal power-up spell or ability, why the pose? Also, from what I have experienced, the spell does not give his strength or mana a boost at all. It's entirely a speed boost, but not a speed boost at the same time.
If it was a speed boost, the momentum he had would have strengthened his blows and made them much more powerful, but instead, it just felt as if he just disappeared and reappeared at the location he wanted to be. It's almost as if he…shifted himself…through…space.
…I'm a fucking idiot, aren't I?
"OF COURSE MY FUCKING LUCK DOESN'T LET ME FACE A SIMPLE OPPONENT FOR ONCE!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, slightly startling the leader as the aura disappeared, though he kept his pose. I just growled as I glared at the leader. I can't use either Sandanzuki or Tsubame Gaeshi since (1) I need both arms to utilize both moves to the fullest and (2) Touki was already draining my stamina and if I used either move and missed, I would be too tired to dodge his strikes. Sword Birth and Canis Lykaon are too slow to be able to strike him, so that just leaves my runic expertise at my disposal.
"Time to figure out a way to nullify Space Magic with runes." I muttered as my glare slowly disappeared. My mind was racing as it searched through every runic alphabet I knew, trying to figure out the correct array and combinations of runes in order to completely cancel out his Space magic. So far…I've got barely enough.
'Contain might work if I used Nordic, but then he'll just dodge the runic barrier and try to take me out as soon as possible. 'Expand', 'Deplete', 'Disorient', 'Boost' and 'Power' might also work if I used Slavic for the first two and Lilithian for the final three, but then I'd need to use 'Assist' from Enochian to combine the two runic phrases together and 'Extend' from Celtic and Greek in order to fully bind them. I'd also need 'Follow', 'Attach', 'Absorption' and 'Redirection' from the Egyptian Runic Alphabet to make sure he can't get rid of the runic barrier and to make the runes are self-sustaining by absorbing his magic every time he tries to use Space Magic and then use that magic to power up the runes even further.
I could also just use all of these with Divinitin, but then I'd need at least 10 seconds to write them all into existence and I know the leader's not going to give me the chance to do that. Not when his victory is imminent.
'What I wouldn't give for a Balance Breaker right now?' Lycaon was now busy with the final two dozen or so assassins, so as soon as he finished them off, I'm calling him back to me as soon as possible and we're finishing this fight before the poison can take me out.
'As soon as I get back home, I'm training my ass off to get Sword Birth's Balance Breaker as soon as possible. I'll worry about Canis Lykaon's another time.' I thought to myself as I crouched slightly, my magic roaring to life as the leader disappeared and reappeared beside me.
"Expand, Extend, Contain, Disorient, Boost, Power." I placed my hand on the ground as soon as the leader tried to kick at my head, flipping away as the runes stretched out to cover the entire clearing.
"Deplete, Assist, Absorption, Redirection." I muttered as I stomped my foot on the ground, four different runic lines flowing out and towards the barrier edges. They crawled up on the thin air before linking up, forming chains in the air that circled around the clearing like a dome.
The leader was now blitzing me as fast as he could, probably figuring out what I was trying to do, but it's too late.
'Contain' made sure nothing goes in and nothing goes out, Boost tripled the power of 'Contain' and Power tripled the power of Boost. 'Expand' and 'Extend' made sure that runic seals at half the strength of the barrier's power formed around anyone trying to attack/ destroy the barrier, weakening them even further. 'Deplete' drained the mana/ energy out of all spells and 'Assist' boosted this effect by three times. 'Disorient' made sure that if he tried to teleport, his equilibrium will be shaken as if he was placed in a jumbo-sized blender. Up will become right, left will become diagonally down left, down will become back, etc. 'Absorption' and 'Redirection' did as they said, passively drain him of his mana and then redirecting and changing that mana into energy to power up the rest of the runes even further.
"Attach." I muttered as the leader appeared in front of me, this time a bit disoriented as he stumbled a bit and I grinned as I punched him in the chest, the Gremory crest appearing on his chest before blades shot out from it, sprouting like a bloody metal flower from his back as the Egyptian Hieroglyph for 'Attach' appeared on his forehead. The leader shimmered before he disappeared, reappearing a few feet away from me with no visible injuries, though this time he was breathing a bit heavily as he stared at me.
'So he has regeneration on top of his Space Magic, but by the looks of it, he's not a master at using it. He can heal fatal injuries at the cost of using most of his magic to heal that damage, which means that he can't waste any magic in the barrier without knowing what each rune does.'
"Follow." I smiled as I placed my right hand on my chest before removing it, revealing the Egyptian Hieroglyph for 'Follow' on my chest. 'Attach' and 'Follow' do just as they say. 'Attach' forcibly attaches the barrier to the leader, making sure that he's always in the middle of it and 'Follow' allows me to keep up with him, making sure to let me sense where he is at all times, so he can't run away.
"Hah…hah…" I was breathing heavily, feeling the massive drain of creating all these runes on my energy as I felt Storm Knight Aura slowly disappear. This is why I don't like using Runes in a fight. I still haven't figured out a way to create them during combat with as little energy as possible, unlike MacGregor, who can use Divinitin in the blink of an eye to create Satan-Class runes with just Ultimate-Class levels of energy. In fact, his strongest runic spell is something that can contain Elder God-Class level beings, but in return, it drains him of all of his energy, leaving him completely defenceless of other attacks.
"A final attempt at defeating me." The leader muttered before he took out his daggers, the green aura disappeared before a pure white one appeared around him. Of course, he has Touki. Why wouldn't he?! I just grinned as I stared at him, focusing on the rune on his forehead and it glowed slightly. He looked confused at my confident grin before I spoke.
"You wanna know something?" I asked and the leader nodded slightly, still keeping his guard up right before he choked as a blade sprouted from his forehead, piercing right through the back of his head before it exploded, sending jagged shards and brain matter flying everywhere as the Gremory crest still glowed dimly and I chuckled from behind my shield of blades.
"Never let an unknown enemy leave a rune on your body, because you never know what it does." I muttered with a grin as his headless body was still standing before it flopped into the gory puddle of blood and brain matter, its twitching slowly coming to a still.
"Hah…never knew 'Delay Activation' from Greek and 'Multiplication' and 'Explosion' from Enochian could work that well together." I muttered with a grin as I fell to my knees, grasping my still violet arm as my chuckles slowly died down.
… I was overconfident. Why the hell did I act like an anime protagonist? It seems my common sense had flown away as soon as I felt the assassins nearing me. …I can just hear Okita's lecture about common sense and constant vigilance in the near future. I need to up my physical training and stop focusing Runic and Magic Training for now. Yes, if I didn't have my magic and runes, I would've been dead now, but I'm not a mage. I'm a Knight. I need to be the fastest of the fastest and right now, it seems that was not the case.
"Whew~ Damn, pup. Didn't know you were that creative." I heard Lycaon say and I turned before chuckling, watching his four-legged wolf form walking into the clearing. His entire body was covered in blood and organs and dropped off him with every step. "
You're…one…to talk." I muttered with deep breaths and he chuckled before he dipped back into his shadow before coming out just as quick, now completely clean.
"Do you know what they are?" I asked as I pulled Phenex Tear vial out of my pocket dimension before tossing it back, frowning as I felt the slight burn in my chest cool down before it slowly build up once again. It seems the leader really did make sure his poison is able to resist Phenex Tears.
"From what I could get out of the fodder, they're vampire fledglings and this one was the master, though he was lower on the tier since he was still a Mid Ultimate-Class and not the usual Peak Ultimate-Class that all Vampire Masters are." I nodded as I stood back up, feeling my hands tremor slightly as I let out a shaky chuckle. This close…I was this close to getting killed. I was so close to losing all my hard work, just because I wanted to fight a few assassins. So, tell me…
'…Why do I feel excited? Why do I want to do it again? Why the hell do I want there to be more assassins that I can kill?'
"Calm yourself, pup. It's your first real death battle. The adrenaline will fade in a moment." Lycaon's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I nodded slightly as I took deep breaths, calming myself down.
"Okay…okay. I'm…I'm calm. So, let's get-!"
*BBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM*
I was cut of by a monstrous explosion and Lycaon and I looked to the left to see four figures crashing through the barrier before they smashed into the ground next to us.
"Gaki~"
"…Fuck." I muttered as Sirzechs walked out of the crater, Okita, MacGregor and Beowulf walking out. The crimson aura around Sirzechs' hand dissipated as he looked around, grimacing slightly as he noticed the pools of gore and blood along with me standing there, shirtless, bleeding and the entirety of my left forearm completely violet.
"Hey." I waved tiredly with a grin and Okita just stared before his hand blurred. Here it comes.
*SMACK!*
"SON OF A-!" I grunted as my right hand instantly flew to the back of my neck, feeling the scorching sting of Okita's signature neck-slap.
"Rule number fucking 1 and Rule number fucking 4, Gaki!" He shouted as he glared down at me and I sighed and nodded. I just knew he was going to start with that.
"I think I'm going to pass out now, but the leader is that guy and Lycaon killed the rest of them about six kilometres south-west" I said to them as I felt the burn in my chest get stronger, now stretching to my head as I saw small black blots in my vision. You know, he might have been an assassin, but I had to give the man props.
I've said it once and I'll say it again. When he made that venom, he makes sure it works.
"You can scold him later, Okita. MacGregor, take him back. Oktia, Beowulf, you're with me. Scan the area for any sign of who they are." Beowulf and Okita nodded, although hesitantly in Okita's case, before I felt them rush away, both heading to where Lycaon fought the rest of them. Speaking of which, I turned to him and he nodded before diving into my shadow, leaving me alone with MacGregor and Sirzechs.
"It's quite all right, Isaiah. Rest. We'll take care of this." I nodded before MacGregor placed his hand on my shoulder and the Gremory crest appeared under us before we disappeared. The last thing I saw was a nervous Rias, Akeno and Koneko sitting on Rias' bed and I smiled and waved slightly before all I saw was darkness.
A/N: First off, to all those who expected an amazing chapter for this fight, I apologize. Lately, I've been having this irritating headache that won't go away. It's not painful, but it is distracting. Also, it might take me a while to get back into that combat writing mode, especially when you consider that I've never been good at writing fighting scenes(I'm looking at you, Frost of Time Nidhoggr vs Nova). Anyway, I've just been reading fanfics, mangas and stories that have a lot of combat in order to expand my 'combat vocabulary' as I call it, but it will take a while for me to be able to use them.
Also, did you like me finally using runes for something, as short as it was? I wanted this to not be just a fight-fight, but a fight where I showcase Isaiah using stuff other than just straight up attacks or offensive magic?
Another also, for those wondering how he got that easily tired with Low Ultimate-Class energy reserves, not only is he not used to expending that much energy in one go(Okita focused mostly on physical combat and let him worry about magical training all on his own), but he also supercharged every rune he created to make them Ultimate-Class runes. The fact that he can't use his mana efficiently to create the runes during combat also messed with his mind and he created supercharged runes can also be used as a reason for him getting tired that easily.
Once again, I apologize if the chapter was not up to everyone's standards, but I do hope future chapters will be and I'll see you all on the 25th of December, where I will upload the next chapter of both The Unholy Wolf and An Arctic Trident. Until then… Ba-Bye~!