'Ari, how many illusions can you do at a time?'
'I can do a big illusion with many parts in it, so it's like I can do multiple illusions.' I nodded at her and stared at the confused assassins as they broke through the barrier. The big hole in the ground must have been something else for them. Considering their cultivation levels might be higher than or the same as mine, it was expected that they broke through the barrier pretty fast. I watched as they roamed around the empty space.
Both of them looked as if they were foreign. One of them was platinum blond with strips of regular blonds blond mixed in. He looked very pale as if he didn't have any blood in him. His eyes were electric blue or were they just regular. They were far away, so it was hard to tell. I could tell he was the lackey considering he was behind the other guy. The other one had copper brown hair. He was just as pale as the blond guy. It wasn't just the pale skin that was identical, but so was their eye color. His eye color was a shade lighter than the blond.
'Can you make multiple images of Hermon?' It would be faster to probably kill them off without them know what has hit them. It might be a sly way of defeating them, but Arthur and Lord Evander probably need help outside.
As soon as I asked, there were eleven to twelve Hermons. They all looked the same as the real thing. Ir was pretty hard to see through it too. Although It was a bit of an overkill, it would mean more time for us to attack. There were only these two that made it into the barrier. The rest must have been reinforcement. They must have gone to take care of Arthur and Lord Evander. I needed to finish up fast or stall enough time for Dad to come with reinforcements.
The assassins were quite shocked at first but recovered as if it never occurred. I slowly walked towards them with Fawn's sword in hand. When I was a meter away, they took off and split, trying to get all of them.
Ari was smart enough to make her illusion run and dodge from their attacks. My first target was the blond-haired man. It would be easier to take care of the ones that aren't that strong. He also looked a bit of a fool too. I softly ran towards him, trying not to make wind or make my footsteps heard. I barely touched the ground. I got my sword ready for a rear attack when I felt a presence from the back. It was more like sharp intuition of the approaching danger. I dodged to the right, using wind to soften my landing a bit. Dust came up and left a trail of where I was. I quickly moved out of that spot and masked my presence.
I looked to see the brown-haired man, with a dagger in his hands, where I was standing. He must have noticed me and attacked. I must have not masked my presence perfectly.
Did I slip up somehow?
"Come out. I know you are there."
I stayed silent to see if I could fool them a little bit longer. I silently walked, circling around them. His eyes followed as I moved, so I knew he had caught me somehow.
'Ari, stop the illusion that's only on me. I need you to hide though.' I could feel her squirming a bit from what I said. She must have been worried about me.
'Baba, they will see your face.'
'Don't worry. They won't be able to tell anyone how I look like.'
I knew they could see me from the blond man's slightly shocked face. I took a small step towards them. They were both intermediate stage, but I couldn't tell what level they were exactly at. It would be quite a handful to take on both since my cultivation was lower than theirs. I could rely on my sword skills, but I don't know if I will be able to catch up to their speed since they have longer legs than me.
"It's just a child."
"Why is it a child, though?"
They started to relax a bit as soon as they saw me. I honestly did not mind that considering that could be an advantage for me.
"So how do you see through my disguise?" I was curious how he found out where I was. I don't think it was ki like father. Even though he wielded a dagger, it doesn't look like he is a swordman.
The man raised an eyebrow while looking at me.
"How old are you?"
"You know how rude it is to answer a question with a question." I recalled mom saying that to Ami some time ago. I watched as a small smile lingered on the brown-haired man.
"I used the wind to search for you."
Was it something like echolocation? There was wind everywhere from the barrier so I couldn't tell. That was pretty clever and might come in handy in my future battles. I needed to try that later.
Both men were walking towards me with their guard down, but their guard wasn't completely down. I took a couple of steps back as they came forward. "Boy, do you want to tell me where the prince is?"
"He is all around us, isn't he?"
"They are all illusions, aren't they?" He must have used that wind technique to find out who the real Hermon was, but found me coincidentally. "If you tell us, we will let you go. We don't want any blood shed anyway."
I couldn't take any chances, plus I already consider Hermon as my friend.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Boy, don't play-" I watched as the brown haired guy turned and smiled. "I guess we have a guest, don't we?"