Shinra melted away from the window, and looked at the other 7 townhouses around the fountain. They were all lit up, as was the entire cavern, but when he snuck to look inside the rest, all but one was empty. The last town house on the other side of the fountain had 4 men in it as well, but no women. They were also playing cards, but their game seemed much more intense. ‘8 men are out here, which means another 10, at least, might be waiting inside the big house.’ Shinra thought about it. He’d killed a lot of people in the last few months, but this was the first time he was planning to kill, and the number was quite high. He needed to be strategic, or one group of 4 mages could easily stop him.‘I guess this is what it means to be an assassin. I have a mission, and I need to carry it out.’ He hadn’t thought about it much, but the System didn’t tell him to defeat the Guild, or win battles against them. Just kill them. He needed to think about how to do that most efficiently.
[Quest Update: Assassin Guild Destruction] [Assassins killed: 20 ] [Assassins killed by Shinra: 12 [Assassins remaining in Akasooki: 17 (estimated)] [Hours Remaining: 37] “Sachron!? Are you dying in there, or are you just trying to delay losing all your money?” a man yelled from the front of the house. This was followed by rough laughter from the rest of the card players. A few more minutes passed, and Shinra remained calm, waiting in the dark. ‘I think one of them will come to check on him soon. If I can take them down one at a time like this, it will be much easier,’ he thought. His first victim, Sachron, apparently, had bled quite a lot, but it was mostly behind the counter, and shouldn’t be visible in the dark. Of course, to Shinra, the cooling blood shone in the dark with a pale red glow. He wanted to keep the bodies apart as much as possible, so he laid a path. First he switched the light on in the toilet. Then he flushed it again, with the door open, hoping the men
[Quest Update: Assassin Guild Destruction][Assassins killed: 21 ][Assassins killed by Shinra: 13[Assassins remaining in Akasooki: 16 (estimated)][Hours Remaining: 37]The spike went through him, tearing flesh and leaving searing pain. Shinra heard it hit the wall behind him, then passed through it as well. ‘Damn that was a powerful attack!’ he managed to be impressed even as he was bleeding all over. ‘The other guys definitely heard that. I need to move.’He glanced at the big man, but he had just toppled over at the foot of the bed, his blood spreading around him. ‘I can either fight here, or escape through the window…’ but that would let them get more people together. He wasn’t confident one on one with these guys, let alone 16 to 1.‘Shadow strike is wicked! Can it cut through weaves because it is a shadow? Is it some sort of magic… am I a mage now?’ There were too many thoughts in his head, but he heard movement in the house and knew he didn’t have time. “Garen? Sachron
Shinra, in a short amount of time, had metamorphosed into a completely different person. The most change had happened to his vision, and his ability to process data. Even now, as the dark Scimitar sliced towards him, his body was reacting to the output of Daemon prediction, while noticing that his core was brighter to his vampire eyes than the other Assassins were.He half turned to avoid the scimitar thrust, then bobbed and weaved to keep from losing his head to the quick horizontal slash the attack changed into.'This guy uses that huge sword like it is a fencing foil. I need to be careful.' He tried not to think about his wounded chest, his limp arm, or all the blood he'd lost. He jumped back into the hall, creating some space, but also letting the assassin out of the doorway where his swing was hampered.Shinra noticed that his free hand was still tracing signs in the air, and that his midsection kept getting brighter. 'What sort of spell affects someone's belly, and why cast
“Father!” Sardi then said out loud, perhaps too loudly. The vampires all looked at him as he looked from the General to Cardual and back.Eltast wore a grin that almost split his face, and Selena had a gentle smile, as if taking pity on him. Cardual looked at him blankly, and Mimi was still focused on Wintersbane. Mimi was very focused and Sardi could tell she was using high level spells, because he couldn’t see most of the weaves, just the lowest 3 levels.“She can use human magic!” Sardi needed to stop blurting his thoughts out loud. At this, Eltast roared with laughter, and even Cardual’s lips seemed to twitch.“Young member of the Imperial family, do not worry, General Mimi is a mage prodigy, your friend is in good hands.” Selena said to calm him down.“Well, I wouldn’t call him a friend, but Sheriff, I mean, Major Wintersbane is a good person.”“Quite powerful too. That venom attack would have killed most humans immediately,” Cardual offered. It seemed that no one was goin
Cardual was moving as soon as the bone bullet was fired at his daughter, but, somehow, the human moved faster! ‘How did he…?’ but Cardual realised it wasn’t speed he lost to, it was instinct. The human moved before he’d even known what he was doing.‘That boy is a warrior. A foolish one, because he has no sense of self preservation,’ Cardual thought. He was surprised again when the mage’s magic bullet blew the head off the skeleton warrior that had been hiding under the pile of zombies nearby. Then Cardual was beside the boy, and it was bad.“Eltast, secure the perimeter. Selena, check to make sure there are no more enemies biding their time in here. Mimi, you need to help this boy right away, it’s bad.”Eltast didn’t say anything, he’d already flashed away to the furthest breach in the Manor’s wall.“Yes, my Lord,” Selena said. She drew a symbol in the air and touched her eyes, and Cardual knew she was enhancing her vision with blood magic.Mimi turned from the Major to survey
Cardual was too late. He wasn’t sure what spell his daughter cast, but her lips glowed crimson, and she pressed them to the boy’s and then forced air into his lungs. She kept breathing into his mouth, steadily, like a heartbeat. Time seemed to hold still, and then she raised her head and smiled. At first Cardual couldn’t tell why, but then he noticed the slight rise and fall of Sardi’s chest. She had done it, somehow. That was the breathing of a living person, not a vampire.“What have you done, my dear?” Cardual had let his professional mask slip, utterly amazed by what she had done here. ‘Human magic is indeed powerful,’ it sent a shiver through his spine. His daughter was powerful, and dangerous.Mimi smiled up at him, a smile he hadn’t seen since she was a little girl. “I saved my betrothed. It was the least I could do, right?” Her head dipped a little after she spoke. She was drained of energy. Cardual knew that magic tired her, and she was injured earlier, and jus
[Magical brightness detected, abilities impacted] Shinra didn’t want to see the pop up from the system, but it didn’t surprise him. Just seeing how insubstantial his Shadow Strike was, he knew he was in trouble. ‘This is not a good match up for me. So much for taking them down one at a time,’ he thought. This showed a glaring weakness of Shadow Strike, because light and fire based armour wasn’t uncommon. They usually dealt damage to their assailants, and, apparently, nullified the effect of his Shadow Blades. ‘What kind of Assassin lights himself up like an Angel though?’ The shining scimitar sliced towards him, and he bent over backwards, falling back into the bed. He rolled out onto the far side. ‘Shit. The sword is stronger too.’ As it sliced over his chest, he felt the light and heat impact him. ‘Do I have any skills that will help?’ Truthfully, he was so excited about Shadow Strike, that he hadn’t considered anything else. His Vampire vision had faded before the bright