At first, panic flared up inside me and I realized that I was going to die.
Then cold calculations took over and I lunged forward. Gemini made twin black and white streaks as they arced toward the Assassin's neck.
"You…!"
The Assassin who used poison swore as she ducked backward and tried to block my swords with her daggers. She kicked me away, but I dodged by bending backward. Hurling my twin swords at her, I dropped to the ground and used my hands to support myself while I launched a kick toward her neck. She blocked my foot with her forearm before staggering back.
"Why are you still putting up a fight? You're going to die in ten seconds! Or less!"
"Then I'll do my best to kill you in ten seconds," I replied coldly. "You'll be accompanying me to hell."
"Tch!" the Assassin clicked her tongue as I increased the pressure of my kick, but managed to knock my foot away. I whirled about to get back on my feet, and the poison Assassin seized the opportunity to recover.
She then retaliated with her daggers, but my Gemini twin swords spun toward her neck, forcing her to deflect the deadly twin swords from severing her head from her shoulders.
While she was distracted, I drew both Gan Jiang and Mo Ye and bisected her at the waist. Or tried to, but credit to the highly trained Assassin, she leaped upward to dodge what would otherwise be my killing strike. Her daggers flashed down in response, but I knocked them away with Gan Jiang and Mo Ye before counterattacking with a riposte that drew blood from her cheek and chest. She staggered back, then widened the distance to retreat.
As I straightened up and took a deep breath, I noticed that I was still feeling fine. Just in case, I reached up and felt for my pulse. Yup, my heart was still beating normally.
"Your ten seconds are up," I informed her coolly. "I thought you said my heart is supposed to stop?"
The ponytail Assassin's eyes widened. "How is that possible?! My poison should be fast-acting. There's no way you could have…"
I didn't reply. I had no idea why her poison didn't work on me, but I wasn't going to let this fluke go to waste. I had to kill her before her toxins finally took effect, or before she cut me again.
The Assassin parried my strike, but found herself being forced into the defensive. As sparks scattered between us while our blades clashed, I pushed her back step by step. Behind me, the civilians retreated further into the shelter, only to stop when they realized that the Frenzor Assassins were still massacring the bodyguards and soldiers.
Unfortunately for the poison Assassin, she couldn't rely on her Frenzor pals to come to her aid. I was confident that I could kill her before they reached our position.
"You…!"
The poison Assassin shrieked at me, but I didn't pay any attention to her. Instead, I dive to the side in reflex when I heard a voice and sensed an enormous surge of mana behind me.
"Richard! Duck!"
Craig's voice. While I dropped to the ground, a crimson spear streaked across the shelter and hammered into the ponytail Assassin's chest. She croaked in shock and disbelief, dropping her daggers and clutching the shaft of the demonic weapon. Not that it cared.
Raising my head, I watched impassively as Craig's demonic spear pierced through her heart and continued hurtling forward, bringing its target along with it. With a deafening crack, it pinned the Assassin to the wall, stabbing deeply into the reinforced concrete as easily as hot knife through butter. The Assassin slumped and hung over like a puppet whose strings had been abruptly cut, her head and limbs splayed untidily in suspension. Blood trailed the shaft of the spear before dripping down in huge rivulets, along with the steady stream that erupted from her ruptured chest.
"Sorry for stealing your kill," Craig told me as he raised his hand and recalled his crimson spear. He continued to limp forward, relying on Theodore. "But we don't have a lot of time."
I shook my head. "No, it's fine. If anything, I'm grateful that you caught her off guard. Saved me a lot of trouble."
"How were you able to resist the poison?" Sheila asked, still leaning on Theodore. "I don't think that Assassin was lying about her poisons."
"I don't know. Maybe she forgot to apply the poison to the dagger?" I scratched my head in bewilderment. I was curious too, but now wasn't the time to care about it. The Frenzor Assassins were catching up. Vincent and Alicia had split off to join the dwindling soldiers and bodyguards while the civilians were still in a disarray.
"The Holy Spring!" One of the civilians blurted out. He was next to Vincent Violet, being one of the few who had chosen to remain behind to fight instead of run. To buy the others time to escape by putting his own life at risk. "You went and trained at the underground Holy Spring, didn't you? That must be the gift you received from the Holy Spring! The attribute that you gained while cultivating next to the Holy Spring...an immunity to poison!"
"…really?"
Wow, that sounded anticlimactic. I was hoping for an extra elemental magic or something more impressive. You know…like…maybe regenerative powers, or near immortality, or four different types of magic. Maybe void magic or spatial magic. Maybe the ability to destroy my enemies with one punch. Or dark magic. Something that protagonists received. Something that might be a lot more visible and impactful. But no, I just received a simple immunity to poison.
That said, it ended up saving my life. If I hadn't attained that attribute, I would have died from the Assassin's poison.
Vincent Violet was giving the man a strange stare, as if he was puzzled by something. Alicia noticed his bewildered expression.
"What's the matter, Father?"
"No…I was just wondering how he knew about Richard training next to the Holy Spring. I don't remember telling him that. Only Teacher Fielding, the Holy Spring facility staff and I should know about it. We didn't inform the City Council…"
"It's not unusual for these sort of things to leak out, and the Holy Spring facility has close ties with the City Council," the man replied. "Besides, we have more important matters to worry about."
Vincent nodded. "Indeed."
"Let's go!" Harrison ordered, still helping Dong Fang Yue Chu up. Lily was now able to walk on her own, and she caught up with Theodore, Sheila and Craig, but she was still hobbling.
"You guys go ahead," I told them. They were far ahead of the civilians, and they were about to turn around and guide them to leave in front of them, but something occurred to me. "You guys might want to scout ahead and make sure the surface is clear. I don't know if that Assassin brought any friends."
"Good thinking," Harrison agreed. "We'll do that then."
"What about you?" Dong Fang Yue Chu asked, glancing at me.
I gestured to my Celestial Guardians. "I need to stay behind to maintain my soul beasts in the material world, or they would disappear and those Frenzor Assassins will be upon us in a jiffy. Don't worry, once everyone is out, I'll follow shortly." I glanced at the stairs. "I'll try to seal them in after I get out of here."
"Don't be too reckless."
As my friends left, I headed toward the civilians. They were still scattered in various groups. One of the Frenzor Assassins got through the thinning line of soldiers and bodyguards and pounced on one of the groups.
"Oh no, you don't!"
Vincent puched the massive Assassin, but he only succeeded in staggering the guy. The berserk Assassin turned to glare at him through his skull mask, and then raised his neuro-gauntlet to eviscerate him.
"Father!"
Alicia fired off a few shots that pinged against the Assassin's head, but with little effect. Even so, she managed to buy enough time for her father to withdraw to safety.
At that moment, White Tiger pounced on the Frenzor Assassin. With a roar, he mauled the Assassin with his claws, pinning the huge human to the ground. Lightning seared and blasted the Assassin, but still the guy refused to die.
But he wasn't going to remain alive for long.
At my mental command, White Tiger leaped to the side. Having already summoned Sagittarius, I unleashed an Alnasl arrow at the downed Frenzor Assassin. The flaming arrow slammed into him and detonated.
"Huff…did I do it?"
Lowering my bow, I tried to peer through the flames, but was horrified to see the Frenzor Assassin rise up. His black, synthetic bodysuit had been burned off in places, and part of his body had been incinerated. There was a gaping hole in the left part of his chest, his shoulder and part of his arm missing.
Even with such grievous wounds, the guy was still not dead yet. Hell, I didn't understand how he was able to stand.
"Watch out!"
Vincent suddenly shouted. The closest group of civilians were stumbling over and trying to scramble away from the hideous sight, but I doubted that he was warning them. Instead, he knocked Alicia over and shielded her with his own body.
"Father?!"
"When a Frenzor Assassin dies, the combat drugs and artificial chemicals inside him will react to cause a bio-meltdown. He will essentially nuke the entire area! Everyone, get down!"
He glanced at me grimly. "Save as many as you can!"
I suddenly understood that what he meant. The range of the explosion upon a Frenzor Assassin's death was so huge it would end up killing a lot of the civilians. Cursing under my breath, I recalled Black Tortoise to form a water barrier while conjuring Scutum Sobiescianum.
But…there were so many civilians, and most of them were out of range of Black Tortoise's water barrier. How could I protect all of them?
And then there was Alicia and Vincent, who were right next to the Frenzor Assassin. I couldn't let them die as well…!
The Frenzor Assassin's body swelled and I sensed a spike in his mana, a violent surge that was going to erupt in the next two seconds.
I had no choice. I couldn't hesitate.
So I made my decision.
"Black Tortoise! Scutum Sobiescianum!"
The Frenzor Assassin exploded. I was struck by acidic chemicals, the vicious stuff burning through my skin and the sheer force of the blast dealing mortal wounds to me. Hitting the heavily reinforced wall, I slumped down, but was relieved to see that I was still alive. Wiping the chemicals away, which burned my skin, I saw that my immunity to poison had saved me once again. I had no doubt that much of these chemical sludge was toxic.
"Alicia! Principal!"
I had Black Tortoise surround them with his water barrier. The few civilians who had stayed close to them, including the man who suggested earlier that I had gained immunity to poison, benefited from the protection as well. Another three survived because I shielded them with Scutum Sobiescianum.
However, five times that number had died in the blast. Simply because I had chosen to protect the tiny group with Alicia and her father in it over them.
"Richard?!" Alicia was hurrying to me when she saw that I was hurt. In contrast, her father stayed where he was, his face a mask.
"…you shouldn't have…"
His shoulders slumped down, and he shook his head with a sigh before glancing at the carnage. So many people had died. Their bodies were a corroding, fuming mess, eaten away by the chemicals. Some of them were still alive, screaming and shrieking in pain as their bodies writhed in hellish agony, but without any healing mages, there was nothing we could do for them.
In the distance, the remaining soldiers and bodyguards were still dealing with the remaining Frenzor Assassin. All of them had been too far away for the suicide bombing to hit.
Vincent took a deep breath and turned to stare at me.
"I can't say I'm not grateful, but…you chose to sacrifice the majority for the few. You shouldn't have…since you have the ability, you should have saved as many as you can, not…"
"Father!" Alicia protested. The principal clenched his fists and took a deep breath.
"Personally…as a father, I am very grateful. I would have done the same in your position. I really am thankful to you for choosing to save my daughter over the majority. But as the director of Jing Tian Academy, I…I…"
"That's enough," one of the other civilian survivors cut in. It was a stocky man with a square jaw and an expensive but tattered suit that had bloodstains all over it. Dried blood had caked one side of his face, but he ignored it. Another city council member, no doubt. "He chose to save us. The decision has been made. It's too late to tell him what he should have or should not have done. He will have to live with the decision from now on. That said…" he turned to me. "I am grateful to you for saving our lives."
"I'm not a hero," I said hollowly, realizing that I had betrayed my dad's ideals. All that talk about becoming a hero like my dad, and in the end I chickened out and chose to be selfish. "I…I wasn't thinking. I acted on reflex…"
"Because you saw that my daughter was in danger." Vincent nodded. "Like I said, as a father, I am grateful."
He then glanced down, his eyes hard.
"But morally wise…I know I should not feel happy…I should not feel this relieved…that so many people died in our place. Sorry…I shouldn't take it out on you. I am probably more frustrated with myself for feeling this way."
"We will all share this guilt from now on." The stocky man placed a hand on Vincent's shoulder, and then glanced at me sympathetically. "And I understand…that you'll have to shoulder this burden the most. But remember that we will all share in it."
"Thank you, I guess."
Behind us, the other Frenzor Assassin exploded. At long last, the soldiers and bodyguards had managed to subdue him, with great cost. By the time the dust had settled, only three soldiers were left, all sporting severe injuries.
Not a single bodyguard survived the battle against the Frenzor Assassin.