A ploy.

Before them stood ten masked men, and he was so sure that they were assassins. Well, they proved them right as they lunged straight at them.

"Take this cloth, use it to cover your nose while you stay behind me. I'll finish them off quickly," Lord Darkwoods passed a black cloth at him and lunged at them.

His confidence was based on the fact that the assassins weren't much to begin with, giving him the impression that he could fend them off straight away.

Out of thin air, a sword appeared in his hand, and a green-like substance emanated from it. The masked men also brought out their swords from their waist pack, where it was sheathed, and it also emitted various colors.

As he lunged towards them, Leonel felt as though he couldn't breath. He felt his breath caught up to his throat as he struggled to breath and then his eyes went to the black cloth in his hand and immediately he brought it close to his nose and he instantly felt relieved.

'What was that? I felt like I almost died?' he thought as he stared at the cloth that is currently attached to his nose and then he remembered. 'This demon had once said he is a master of herbs and poisons, figures.'

He looked in front of him and the assassins weren't any different from him. He could see some of them on the floor writhing in pain and that somehow nipped some sense into them, as they suddenly covered their nose with a mask.

Lord Darkwoods had thought wrongly, the assassins weren't only ten in number but many more than that. As the ten assassins went down due to the intoxication of the poison, more assassins came but now with their noses tightly covered.

The demon lord swiped through the assassins whose race were unknown like the wind. His swords still smeared with his poisonous substance, his sword danced through their chests as he slashed through them as they kept coming but…

They kept coming, more than before and as each assassin died, a new one came. It became hard for the demon lord to fend off, even though he was quite strong enough, being at the peak stage of elemental master. But being the only one to defend was already stressing him out.

The demon lord kept pushing them down, and one man down, two men down, and the assassins kept going down. And when it looked like they were about to win, more assassins came in. Twenty armed men flew in and lunged towards him.

And then suddenly, to Leonel, it felt like time stopped as the demon lord stood majestically in the middle of the assassins.

He raised his sword in mid-air and plunged it deep into his heart. His cloth was immediately soaked and stained with the bright color of blood and it began to drip from his body, almost touching the floor but before they could touch the ground, his blood drops merged together and formed into huge blood clots and transformed into twenty blood- like swords in front of him.

"Attack!" he ordered, and the blood-like clot swords lunged at the assassins, killing them all in one go.

To them all, it felt like time stopped, but what actually happened was that the demon lord had released his paralyzing poison before using the demon race's famous technique - blood manifesting blades, which allows a demonic cultivator to manifest sword blades from their blood. It takes a lot of courage and demonic mana to do it.

'Shit! There's a reason why this guy is in the demon parliament. I wish I could wield swords like this,' Leonel thought before quickly rushing to the demon.

As everything cooled down, the demon lord fell down straight barely holding himself up with a knee. He had almost exhausted himself so much that he had to rest for a while, but it was a ploy. There were more assassins.

Suddenly, Leonel felt the breeze on his face. He swayed to the other side as the demon lord pushed him away.

"Run!" the demon lord shouted. He got up right back and slid his sword into the assassin in front of him. Blood dripped from his body, soaking the floor but the demon lord had no time to worry about his injuries. He used the last strength in himself to try and fend off the assassins.

Leonel felt his leg almost touching his head as he sped away at full speed. Well…he watched enough drama there. He should have left earlier. At least if the pretty face wanted to die, he would die a worthy death.

"Shit! All the silly movies I watch don't teach me a lesson. Why did I still wait there till he told me to go before I did? Perhaps he will be able to unleash all his power if I'm not there," Leonel muttered as he took a rest on the back of a tree.

The forest was ridiculously silent that even a person's breath could be heard and now, Leonel doesn't know if it was a good or bad thing. Win - win, he guessed. He can know if any assassin was almost near him, so does the assassin.

'How is he now?' he thought as he suddenly felt guilty. Well…he couldn't deny that he was feeling pity for the guy. The guy literally stabbed himself in the heart for him, just to save him.

He got that he was doing it because of the promise he made to his grandfather, but that loyalty is almost too much.

Still resting on the tree, he continued thinking about it, and didn't notice that an assassin had followed him there until he heard a creak between the woods. Instantly, his body went on alert.

He stood up with the help of the wind and positioned himself in a karate stance. When he was still in Britain, still bored as hell, he took up a karate class and welp, he assumed he was going to need it to work now.

He braced himself up for the doom coming to him. As he waited patiently, the assassin appeared before him.

"There you are, your Highness," the masked man said.

"Your highness?" Leonel raised an eyebrow. Still thinking, he saw through his eyes as the assassin lunged an attack at him and instinctively, he moved to the side.

"Your highness my foot! Guess you were only trying to deviate my attention. Who sent you? Why are you doing this?" Leonel asked. He decided to ask the lame questions that he had watched so many times in movies being asked when they were on the verge of death. It was no fun if he didn't do that.