'Water?'
Ignoring his instincts Sarkar struck, dagger flashing as it tore through the air towards the General.
Just before it struck true, the water seemed to gain life of its own, wrapping around his legs like a vice and throwing him backwards.
'MageKnight.' He should've seen it coming.
Flipping in the air, Sarkar landed deftly on the ground, eyes taking in the surroundings. Yet he didn't need to search for his attacker, as a boy charged out past the commander's tent, a sword held in two hands.
'Oh, so not a MageKnight. Fun.'
Darting forward, Sarkar backhanded the child to the ground, reinforcing his attack with just enough mana to injure not kill. There'd be time for pleasure once the job was done.
'I can't wait to feel the resistance as I tear his limbs.'
Thanason had yet to turn, to make any movement that showed he had noticed anything. It was a good thing he had set up the dome beforehand.
Flaring his mana, Sarkar shot forward, instantly reappearing behind the General. This time, the dagger sunk true, twisting as it bit in the General's back.
Thanason's yellow eyes widened in shock as he fell, the poison working instantly. The General looked up, eyes wide but unmoving as the poison paralysed him, keeping him still as he slowly bled out.
The deed was done.
"HAHAHAAHHHHAAHHAAH..I DID IT!!! ME!" Sarkar roared.
Deactivating the dome and invisibility, he stepped before the cliff, assuming the position where Thanason had stood. His eyes sparkled, arms outstretched as if experiencing enlightenment.
The sound of running footsteps grew louder. A wide smile peeled back in his face.
'I do love it when I don't have to run for dessert.'
Sidestepping easily he dodged the thrust. Turning rapidly he kicked forward, sending the boy crashing to the floor.
"A sword wielder…what's your name, little rat."
The boy clambered back to his feet, eyes flitting between Sarkar and the General. "Fuck you."
"Well then…"
In one clean movement Sarkar drew his sword. Not from his sheath, he had no sheath.
He drew it from the air, from mana, the long sword materialising in his hands. Forged from a fire that seemed to cast too many shadows.
----------------
Noah stepped back, gritting his teeth.
Everything had gone to shit in a matter of moments.
He had failed to stop the assassin, and the General that he was tasked with keeping alive was now bleeding out to death.
'Fuck...if this was Arthur, he would've somehow done it.' That bastard made anything seem possible.
Hefting his sword, he considered his options.
'He couldn't run, he'd just get killed. So…it was just fighting.'
"Combustion" the Assassin growled, his voice dark and guttural. His large frame erupted, a scalding mist seeped from his skin. His muscles trembled, shivering with explosive energy.
Leaping backwards, Noah barely dodged a slash that charred his armour, eating away at it.
Trying to counterattack he stepped in close, but the scalding red mist assaulted him, forcing him to step back out of range before he could attempt a strike.
Skipping back out of range he reevaluated.
'Running, impossible. Fighting? Also impossible.'
"You. Will. Die," the assassin called, voice dripping with sadistic amusement.
'Is that all that I can do? Just die?' The thought was insulting.
In a blur the assassin reappeared before him, clasping his hand over Noah's face and lifting him off the ground.
He screamed, dropping his sword as the scalding mist charred his skin.
Agony consumed his every thought.
'I'm going to die! I'm going to die!'
He could feel his skin bubble, his body writhing from the unbearable heat.
But, unbidden, an image tore through the agony.
Arthur.
Covered in blood, eyes wild and wide as he dragged a soldier to safety.
'I was wrong.'
He had looked down on Arthur. A noble. Weak. Unable to use mana.
And yet, it was always he who did the impossible.
'So in the end…I was wrong. I guess, it's me that should be looked down on.'
It was a truth that hurt.
For all his hating, for all he went through. He had been a victim to it all. In that way, he lost to Arthur.
'I was wrong....'
The mist didn't seem to burn as much anymore. Not that it had decreased in its fiery agony, only that, he no longer felt it. As if he was apart from the pain, beyond it.
No, instead he felt cold, as if his body had become a blizzard.
The winds around them picked up in speed. Howling. He almost heard a whisper in its unintelligible screams. A whisper like 'welcome.'
'…..but you know what. If that bastard can do it, so can I.'
Gritting his teeth, Noah drew his dagger.
The assassin still chuckled, completely unaware of the change in Noah's demeanour.
Everyone who had a talent to become a MageKnight gained the mana technique 'Mana Surge' after the trials. But Noah, he had two mana techniques.
Mana Burst could only be used for a moment. But what it lost in endurance, it more than made up for in power.
"MANA BURST!!!"
Mana flooded his arm, raging through his veins like a tsunami.
In one rapid movement, the dagger sliced through the inner elbow joint of the assassin, causing him to scream in pain as he dropped Noah.
Noah dropped to the ground, stepping away immediately, grinning despite the pain.
'I might've been wrong about Arthur...but hell if I'll lose to him.'
With that understanding, something within him clicked.
A blue screen blinked before his eyes.
[BLESSING OF THE SKY: (THE SKY IS A CANVAS EVERCHANGING : PROVE YOURSELF)
BLESSING OF THE SEA : (THE OCEAN IS UNYIELDING: PROVE YOURSELF)
BOTH CONDITIONS FULFILLED. BLESSINGS ARE HIGHLY COMPATIBLE
COMBINE BLESSINGS?
YES/NO
Lips trembling, Noah screamed, forgetting that he only needed to think the answer.
"YES!"
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then power surged into him like a storm.
Frost rippled across his scorched body, extinguishing pain. Extinguishing everything, all feeling, gone. His eyes bled into an icy blue, hair losing its colour. Mist spilled from his skin. A cold blue mist.
[THE WILL OF BOREAS HAS BEEN BESTOWED UPON YOU.
WELCOME, APOSTLE OF THE NORTH WIND]
—————————-
[3RD Person Omniscient]
Stretching out his hand, the cold mist seemed to condense within Noah's palm, forming a blade of shimmering ice.
Sarkar narrowed his eyes, wary. Too many things had changed, too many new variables.
Noah raised his sword, pointing it at Sarkar. "Let's see, who here dies."
Red fire roared in furious reply as Sarkar charged forward in a flurry of strikes. Each blow was deflected, each one redirected and dealt with as the blades met with a hiss.
Yet, for all of Noah's power, Sarkar would not be denied.
Slowly at first, but for each second that past, Noah was being repelled more strongly. Dodging a strike, Noah stepped to the side, then he ducked under another strike only to be completely open to a furious kick that crashed into him.
He flew backward from the force of the blow, yet the wind around seemed to cushion him, allowing him to land on the ground like a feather.
Clambering to his feet, Noah charged forward again, performing a horizontal slash that made ice ripple out from the edge of his sword. However the ice melted as it got close to Sarkar, turning into steam before it met flesh.
Pressing forward he met each of Sarkar's strikes, attempting to force the assassin on the backfoot. Yet Sarkar never looked more than contemptuous as he batted away each strike. Noah flicked his sword back preparing to parry a thrust, yet at the last moment the attack changed into a slash.
White hot pain burst through Noah's side, blood pouring down his body.
"I told you" Sarkar snarled.
"Fuck you."
Freezing the wound, Noah thrust forward with one hand, the mana seemed to form instinctually, coalescing in a storm of ice that threw the assassin back.
Reforming the blade, Noah released a flurry of strikes as he charged forward, each one turning into a steam as the ice melted right before it hit Sarkar.
By the time he was close, Sarkar had been entirely engulfed by steam.
Darting to the side Noah unleashed another flurry of strikes as more waves of wind and ice hit the assassin from the left, doing little damage. But it didn't need to.
Using Mana burst he blurred to the opposite side instantaneously. Sarkar turned the wrong way, facing the opposite direction to where Noah charged in.
He screamed as Noah's blade dug into his back.
Noah staggered backward, barely missing a furious backhand. With a soft exhale, the icy mist around him disappeared, his eyes and hair bleeding back to their original colour.
He looked utterly exhausted, drained as he staggered backwards, barely keeping on his feet.
Sarkar charged forward, rage contorting his every feature. He raised his sword above Noah like an executioner. "Your name, boy?"
Noah looked up, a half smile on his lips. "Y-You first."
"Sarkar"
"Noah."
"Any last words boy."
"Yeah actually. Goodbye."
"Wh-"
Sarkar's words split off into a scream.
Looking down he saw a spear head jutting out of his chest. It was a black spear, with white runes webbing across it. It seemed to radiate power, strength, honour.
"Took your damn time" Noah groaned, collapsing onto the floor.
Sarkar turned to see a boy. His eyes widened in shock, and something else.
Something that almost seemed like fear…if Sarkar could ever feel fear.
"You!"
"Me" Arthur replied simply.
Seeking his mana, Sarkar raised his hand, webbing fire and earth together to form a comet.
But, nothing happened.
There was no fire, no earth.
Nothing.
"What did you do!" Sarkar screamed, stumbling away from Arthur.
Arthur smiled, tilting his head slightly. "You failed." He walked closer, his scarlet eyes unblinking. "The General lives."
Sarkar's eyes almost popped out of his skull, swivelling as he saw Thanason.
Alive, breathing softly. The wound in his back was gone, the bleeding stopped. "Impossible."
"So I bought you enough time then" Noah called.
"Yeah."
Sarkar dove for his mana again, body shaking. But nothing responded. "The penalty for failing an assassination…how did you know about it? It should be impossible….you, you're not human. You should be dead."
Arthur tilted his head, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Death can't have me, not yet. So it'll just have to settle with you."
Sarkar staggered, legs going weak with blood-loss.
"Me?" He whispered. "Dead? Who are you to speak upon me?" He raised one bloody hand, pointing it towards Arthur. "I am Fear! Death has no hold over me. I am the Tyrant of fire and earth. Nothing holds me!"
Shadows swirled around Sarkar, growing deeper, larger, growing with his rage. "YOU HAVE NO SAY OVER ME!!!"
Arthur staggered back, his legs growing weak, his heart beating faster.
Everything seemed to grow dark around Sarkar, a swirling darkness, obscuring his body. Only his eyes could now be seen, glinting through the void.
"[ ] [ ] [ ]"
Arthur couldn't grasp the words, they weren't said using sound. But as soon as they were uttered, he dropped to his knees, body shivering, refusing to obey him.
Then…
The shadows vanished, revealing the MageKnight again. Only this time his eye were blank. His body still, refusing to kneel even beyond the call of death.
Arthur and Noah regained control over their body's with a gasp.
Staggering to his feet, Arthur warily drew closer.
The MageKnight didn't move. Didn't respond, he just stood there.
"He's dead" Arthur finally announced with a sigh.
"What the fuck was that?" Noah gasped, still shaking.
"That…was fear. Pure fear."
—————————
Arthur POV 3rd Person.
"Fear…I don't understand' Noah stammered.
Warily moving forward, Arthur pulled out the relic 'Ascencion' from Sarkar's still standing corpse.
"Well…he couldn't use magic, the desperation must've allowed him to awaken his Aura. What a monster."
In the end, it had all been worth it. His plan had worked. It wasn't a good plan, requiring absolutely diabolical amounts of luck to have actually succeeded.
But with all that shitty luck he'd been handling these past months, he deserved a little plot armour.
'Thanks for that Sun.'
In his hands, the former weapon of the old commander thrummed with power. It was the only thing Arthur could get his hands on that could actually kill a fully fledged MageKnight.
He and Noah were far too weak to be able to do any real damage.
But a relic. A relic could do it, especially if the assassin was for some reason unable to wield mana.
"You want my blood?" Arthur asked, turning to show the gash on his bloody palm. He had made it to heal the fake General.
"That still sounds so wrong…but yeah."
Chuckling he collapsed onto the floor next to Noah. Within moments Noah's injuries began to heal.
"So then, why don't you tell me the entire plan now?" Noah sighed with relief, clutching his side.
Arthur sighed, laying on his back, looking up at the stars.
It was a beautiful night sky today.
"That General over there is not the real General, it's a body double."
"Wait, so you had me risking my life over a body double?"
"If you hadn't, the real one would've died. Raleigh, the enemy General, has an ability to make assassins over night. Thanason knows this, so he left a body double behind believing that if the body double died, it would mean the mission has failed. "
"Because it's fake."
"Exactly.
A failed mission would exact the penalty of Raleigh's skill, stripping both the assassin and spymaster of their mana. But the thing is, Raleigh had never actually divulged the true requirements to activate his abilities penalty.
It was probably a hidden card that he had kept for himself. For some reason, successfully killing the target, even if it's the wrong one still counts as a mission success, maybe it's as long as the assassin believes it to be the real target."
"So what's the advantage of sending the assassin?"
"Why don't you let me finish and maybe you'd find out" Arthur snapped. In the novels there were never any nosy side characters disrupting the MC's smart monologue.
"Alright alright."
"Thanason's plan was to directly confront and kill Raleigh. He left behind the body double in hopes that Raleigh would fail the assassination and lose his ability to wield mana, dismantling any potential trap set for his arrival.
But because he didn't know the truth of Raleigh's ability, the entire trap had actually been reversed onto him. By sending the assassin, Raleigh prepared for the case that Thanason wouldn't confront him, and then prepared a trap for Thanason if he does.
Thanason would willingly walk into expecting that Raleigh would lose his mana…"
"But if he doesn't…then Raleigh just made the General walk straight into his trap" Noah finished.
"Exactly.
But because we stopped this assassination, we've reversed it back. By saving the fake General, the assassination failed. Meaning that whatever trap Raleigh has set, has now failed. So Thanason should be able to get him as he originally planned."
"Damn" Noah whispered. "How do you know all of this?"
Arthur smiled. "Who knows, maybe I'll actually tell you one of these days."
Noah laughed, his voice loud against the night sky and the sounds of battle down below.
After a moment, Arthur joined.
Both of them laughed under a sheet of stars. The sound wild and free as all laughter should be.