From a distance, Fred Franklin observed the battle on the bridge with detached interest. Beside him, a hooded figure remained crouched, one hand resting on her knee. She was still recovering from her injuries, but that wasn't the reason why she wasn't participating.
"Rei and his disciples are among the best in our guild," she informed Fred. "You do not have to worry about them succeeding in their mission."
"They had best work fast," Fred remarked, glancing at the shelter. "The military might move out any time now to save those kids."
"Rei and his disciples will eliminate those students and their teacher before military reinforcements will arrive," the female assassin assured her employer's son. "As I said, they are among the best and most highly trained killers. Even I don't dare to contend against Rei."
The bald assassin didn't take too kindly to other assassins interfering with his missions, and so they stayed out of his affairs, with the exception of his disciples. Only Selina Wright was insane enough to tease Rei, but she had an almost indestructible and unrivaled summoned spirit as her guardian.
"But are you sure the Holy Spring is with that boy?" the hooded assassin asked, tilting her head up. Her face remained hidden under shadows, so Fred didn't bother glancing at her.
"That's what the Dark Church goons claim. If they turn out to be wrong, then you can go settle your business with them. It's none of my business."
"It's only natural to make mistakes," the assassin replied generously, her head lowered. Fred scoffed at that.
"For the sake of your assassin guild, I hope your mistakes won't cause you to fail the Dark Church."
*
The battle atop the bridge had gotten pretty fierce and intense by now. An explosion rocked the creaking structure as Teacher Fielding exchanged blows with Rei. As their punches and kicks clashed, shockwaves rippled out and hurled abandoned vehicles into the air, smashing metal and shattering glass. Small fires broke out as the poor vehicles crashed back to the bridge, their fuel igniting from magical sparks and ferocious impacts.
The students weren't faring much better. Craig, Sheila and Lily had formed a circle, their spears and sword ringing as they collided with the assassins' katanas. Elsewhere, Jin Hao and Aoi were back-to-back, elemental magic whipping around them as they fought to keep a couple of assassins at bay. Dong Fang Yue Chu and Harrison Reed had engaged them in close combat, the former's fiery fists and kicks protecting him from the sharp blades and the latter using superlative skill to deflect the katana before it could cut through him. Theodore and Bu Fan formed an unusual duo, fighting against a couple of assassins with their lightning magic, the former actually able to keep up with their superior speed despite wielding such a heavy hammer. Bu Fan had a few surprises of his own, conjuring a skeletal shield to protect him from being carved apart and unleashing lightning bolts from behind his defensive artifact.
Above, Zhang Hou Zi soared with his wind magic, hastily conjuring strong barriers of air to blow away katanas before they could sink into our flesh. Harvey had disappeared somewhere, probably laying low and seeking cover under the vehicles. I was glad that he didn't recklessly try to engage the assassins when he was still relatively inexperienced.
Yang Bai was clashing with one of the most senior assassins, and their duel was going evenly.
I had summoned a pack of Canis Minor and unleashed them upon our foes, but they were skilled and smart enough to largely avoid my Constellation spirits and go straight for me. As assassins, they possessed the techniques to take out summoners, being aware that as long as they eliminated me, my soul beasts would disappear along with me. That was why they regarded me as the priority target.
If that was the case, it wouldn't be very effective to use summoning magic against them. My Constellation spirits would prove too cumbersome and a mere distraction at best. The assassins were using their incredible speed and stealth to avoid my Constellation spirits, ignoring the powerful creatures as they focused upon me.
Clang!
Drawing Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, I parried a katana that was aimed for my neck. Gritting my teeth, I fought as ferociously as I could, exchanging a few blows. The opponent was taken by surprise by my ferocity, and I seized the chance to kick him in the neck the moment I forced an opening by deflecting his katana aside with my swords. Unable to withdraw my swords in time to slash him, I instead launched a kick from below, my foot slamming into his neck and throwing him to the ground with a bone-crunching crack.
However, as expected of the assassin, he survived that blow. With a howl of pain, he rolled away and jumped back up to his feet, but I was already striking at him. He parried Mo Ye with his katana, his movements still graceful, but Gan Jiang came from the other side and cut opened his eyes. He shrieked as he staggered back, blood spurting from his face.
I wasn't able to finish him off. Before I could ram Mo Ye into his chest, I was forced to spin around and parry a lethal strike from another assassin. He was trying to plunge his katana into my back, and at a great area too. If he had succeeded, he would have severed my spine. At best, he would have killed me instantly. At worst, he would have paralyzed me.
These assassins…they were really skilled and trained to kill, their every strike aiming for a vital point.
I knocked away his katana, but he reversed his grip and followed up with a riposte, pushing me onto the back foot. Even as I slowly adapted to his speed and strikes, Alicia appeared behind him, placing her gun right at the back of his head and pulling the trigger.
The assassin went down, blood gushing from a hole in his head, and the light fading from his eyes. I spun around and kicked the blinded assassin, who was still able to attack despite his crippling injuries. He grunted as he crashed into a car, and managed to hold up his katana to parry a strike from me – more from instinct than because he saw it coming, what with his eyes blinded and all.
Unfortunately, he failed to see my second sword coming, and I plunged Mo Ye into his chest, finishing him off.
"Kusu yarou!" one of the assassins shouted when he saw two of his comrades slain and he dove at me.
"Temee no hou ga kusu yarou da!" I yelled back, surprising him when he realized that I could also speak Japanese. Basically he was calling us bastards, and I retorted by telling him they were the bastards. He snapped out of his stupor when Alicia fired at him, cutting her bullets apart with his katana, but ignored her as he lunged at me.
After all, I was the prime target. The one in possession of the Holy Spring at the moment. As long as they took me out and grabbed the Holy Spring, their mission would be achieved. I suspected that wasn't the only reason why the Dark Church had ordered my assassination, though. They probably held a grudge against me ever since I nuked the three-thousand strong monster army the other time.
Not that I cared. What bothered me was the fucking Dark Church sending assassins after me and disturbing my quiet life. I just wanted to rise through the ranks of my school and get into a prestigious university, eventually becoming a well-known mage like my dad. They had to screw my life over and make things so much more complicated and deadly.
At least it wasn't some great family from above hiring assassins to kill me just to "teach me my place" or some bullshit reason like that. They actually had a genuine reason to kill me because I was a danger to their plans, and not because of some "he's trash who's getting too close to our daughter, therefore he must die!"
"Kisama!" he shouted as he slashed at me, but I parried his blade with both my swords. He pushed me back with sheer strength, but I stood my ground for a few seconds before kneeing him in the crotch. He yelped as he doubled over, and I took the chance to decapitate him. He managed to block Mo Ye, but Gan Jiang sailed over from the opposite side and sliced through his neck, causing his head to fly off in a fountain of blood.
I then stepped in to hack at the assassin who was currently occupying Alicia's attentions. He whirled around to parry my swords, only for Alicia to swiftly shoot him in the back. He cried out and staggered forward as Alicia's rounds opened up bloody craters in his back, and I seized the opportunity to finish him off with a stab.
Craig and the others were still holding out against the trio of assassins, but just barely. I exchanged a glance with Alicia, and we went to support them. To our far right, Dong Fang Yue Chu managed to blast an assassin away and off the bridge with a torrent of flames, but he had been bloodied. Harrison was holding his own, beautifully deflecting his opponent's attacks with his bare hands.
The young lieutenant, Yang Bai, was still holding his own against an assassin, his saber clashing against his opponent's katana numerous times. Neither of them was getting an advantage, and I was relieved that the soldier was occupying the attention of that senior assassin. His movements were sheer blurs, making it difficult even for me to follow his attacks. Yang Bai's speed and reflexes matched the senior assassin's, with holy lights flashing from his saber to pierce the swiftly evading killer. I doubted I would have lasted that long against Rei's senior disciple.
Kaboom!
Theodore smashed his hammer onto the ground, discharging a massive blast of electricity that electrocuted his two opponents and sending them crashing onto the ground in spasms. He then lumbered over to one of them and mercilessly pulverized the guy by slamming the full weight of his hammer against the assassin several times. With his bloody work done, he then moved on to the second fallen assassin to repeat his grim task.
"Brother Fan, watch out!"
Zhang Hou Zi managed to conjure a wind barrier to protect Bu Fan from the blade of an assassin. Bu Fan nodded his thanks, and then electrocuted the other guy with chained lightning, the web of electricity wrapping around the stunned assassin and flooding his body with destructive currents. Between the two of them, they took him out.
Alicia and I reached Craig and the others, but the trio of assassins tormenting them immediately withdrew. Below, the assassin who Dong Fang Yue Chu had blasted off the bridge was crawling into the river bank, coughing and spluttering from the foul water. His katana cleaved a pursuing Cyclops Rat in half, and he dragged himself ashore and jogged away, presumably to meet up with his comrades.
Boom!
Behind all of us, an explosion erupted as a glowing Rei's katana crashed against Teacher Fielding's reinforced arms. Knocking Rei's katana aside, Teacher Fielding punched the bald assassin in the solar plexus, but he managed to parry it with his elbow. The crunching blow sent him skidding several meters back, knocking cars off their wheels and sending at least one plummeting into the river below.
"…oh…looks like time is up."
Despite having failed his mission, Rei didn't seem all that disappointed. He sheathed his katana, but Teacher Fielding wisely didn't charge at him. The guy was being relaxed for a reason. He cocked his head toward the shelter. His surviving disciples gathered behind him, having also followed their master's example and disengaging from combat. None of us pursued. We were far too exhausted and drained to continue a pointless battle.
Besides, we could see a group of soldiers exiting the shelter and heading in our direction.
"Looks like your reinforcements have arrived. Ah…I really wanted to fight a bit longer. Looks like you've gotten stronger again, Fielding. I thought you were supposed to be retired from the military."
Teacher Fielding's scowl deepened, but he remained silent.
"Hmm…I hate to admit it, but it appears that you're the better teacher." Rei glanced at his fallen disciples in dismay, but made no move to recover their bodies. "Well, no surprises there. I was always better at killing than I was at mentoring."
With a shrug, he turned and waved in an almost friendly manner. His disciples were all melting away in the shadows, and at the same time Harvey chose to finally show up, crawling from underneath the wreckage of a car.
Rei grinned, but his smile was directed more at Teacher Fielding than anyone else.
"I hope we'll meet again shortly, Fielding."
Then he was gone, as if he had never appeared to begin with.
Teacher Fielding clenched his fists, his teeth gnashing in fury.
"I certainly hope we won't…but if we do, I'll definitely kill you next time, you bald bastard."