Killing intent flashed across the battlefield as Imagine suddenly reappeared behind one of the attackers. As soon as Azemo saw Imagine's target he opened his tome and tossed it into the air. The second (skill) Hover activated, Azemo instantly teleported Ceravin at the person Imagine targeted.
The two attacks went off in a split second and Azemo was confident that he had just ended one of the assassins.
After he withdrew Ceravin, Azemo noticed that the man was unscathed. He was certain that the blows had found their mark but for some reason they seemed to have no affect.
As Azemo was wondering about the strength of the man's defense his sharp demon eyes picked up something. Out of the corner of his eye, Azemo saw a cloaked figure being healed by another assassin while the cloaked person coughed up a bucket of blood.
'Must be a damage displacement skill.'
It had taken Azemo about half a second to come to his conclusion but that short amount of time was an opening and four melee fighters jumped in.
Bellania had been oddly still for the beginning of the fight but as people charged in head on, her eyes gleamed in excitement as she rushed to meet them.
Imagine had already sunk back into the shadows before anyone could touch her and she made her way back to Azemo who had engaged the melee fighters with Bellania.
At the moment the brawl was at a standstill as the attackers used great teamwork to keep Azemo and Bellania at a distance.
Finally Azemo got an opening. A sword chopped down at him with frightening speed but to Azemo the speed meant nothing as he deflected the wild swing with his left gauntlet stabbing the blade of the right gauntlet into the attacker's neck. The strike was perfect and the sword user had no chance to recover as the blade found its mark.
As Azemo pulled the blade back, once again his attack did no damage as the cloaked figure spit out even more blood.
Besides the four that moved to engage him and the one who was healing the cloaked figure, Azemo had no idea what the others were doing, but he had no time to think.
"Ima go after the cloaked one."
Imagine did not respond but Azemo soon felt her presence receding.
The four melee attackers were annoying, but Azemo did not need his full attention to deal with them so he followed Ima's progress. Nothing mattered if they could not deal with the one soaking up all the damage.
Imagine appeared again from the shadows, teeth bared and claws outstretched. Even though she came from a random angle the trained killers would not fall for the same attack twice.
A chain user intercepted Ima causing chains to wrap themselves around the tiger monster's body.
Azemo had started out using his gauntlets because he knew that he could not hold back anything, but as he saw Imagine in danger he reached into the room bag on his back.
In the blink of an eye a bright silver spear penetrated the shadows as Azemo hurled it in desperation creating a new technique, Meteor.
The spear was like a silver bullet as it soared towards Ima's captor. A burly woman with a shield rushed to block it but the spear just punched a hole through her shield and her body not slowing in the slightest.
The chain user saw the death of his companion and made the split second decision to let go of Ima. In doing so he was able to dodge the spear and Shining Starlight sank into a rock right behind him.
While he saved his own life, the second Imagine was free she lunged forward and bit the head off of the cloaked figure. A lifeless body crumpled to the ground and a tiger blurred into the shadows once again.
Azemo saw the success of their combined attack and began to fight with renewed vigor, he could actually kill again.
The governor who had been standing back, just watching, was enraged with the death of his most useful ally and he brandished his weapon.
As the group saw their leader enter the fray all but the one keeping Reginald at bay, moved in. Reginald was too uncontrollable to be used in team attacks.
"Imagine and Bellania can you deal with the governor?"
Azemo did not have much hope in defeating seven trained killers alone, but he believed that he could at least hold them off for a while. If the two tigers were able to take down the governor in that time the fight would be won.
The attackers only heard ferocious growls as Azemo communicated with the sisters and it gave them the feeling that they were fighting a wild beast.
Using the slight opening created by his fearsome growls, Azemo rushed the seven assassins while Bellania turned to face the governor.
"You damn cat dare to face me." The governor wielded a blunt metal club that was nearly three feet long. As Bella stepped to face him he swung the club at a blistering speed. As he felt confident in his attack he began to smirk but out of the shadows another tiger barrelled into him, biting at his neck.
The governor was able to block the attack with his left hand but Ima had opened a wound on his wrist. As he lost focus, Bella dodged the attack and covered her sisters retreat with a vicious claw strike.
Azemo could have easily teleported Ceravin to finish the job, but it was taking everything he had to deal with his opponents.
They fought in a way that made it difficult for Azemo to ever attack. The four melee fighters surrounded him attacking in patterns Azemo could not discern. The other three assassins used their range to control his movements so that he could never retaliate.
As Azemo felt a blow on his back he healed it with (skill) Flames of Death feeling the power of (skill) Retaliate building in him. He swung his gauntleted fist towards an attackers head but before it hit he had to dodge away and used the (skill) Retaliate infused blow to stop a chain from wrapping around him.
Azemo was fighting a battle on multiple fronts and he was trying to use his body as bait, while he had Ceravin teleporting in and out but one of the three ranged assassins was the perfect counter.
Wherever Ceravin appeared a slow looking bubble would encase the dagger before it could land it's attack. Even when Azemo tried to teleport the knife directly into a body, the bubble somehow found it and did not let the attack land.
As for Shining Starlight, Azemo had long since teleported the spear back to his side. However, the spear could not be used as a tool for attack and instead was used to defend the tome.
Infused with (skill) Hover, Shining Starlight, was whirling and twirling blocking any and all attacks aimed at Azemo's tome.
It seemed that the killers knew about the importance of a demon's tome, so they were doing their best to exploit the weakness.
With both skirmishes that were happening at the same time neither side could gain purchase, but in the fight with Azemo, his attackers were using a lot less energy.
Azemo felt that he would lose if he let the fight continue the way it was so he took a risk.
After being dissuaded from attacking with a chain attack, Azemo reached out and grabbed the chain. The four melee attackers immediately moved to attack Azemo but he ignored them yanking on the chain.
The user of the chain was dragged towards him as Azemo displayed a burst of demonic strength. Azemo felt attacks hit his body but as (skill) Flames of Death went to work the chain wielder was right in front of Azemo.
Without hesitation Azemo used the training he got from (martial path) Finishing Blow to unleash the perfect attack.
Finding the chink in the man's armor Azemo's hand sunk into the mans chest ending a life.
Azemo felt reinvigorated with his kill but his rapidly depleting mana brought him back down to earth, he could not be so careless with (skill) Flames of Death anymore.
Meanwhile the governor was covered in bloody claw and bite marks but they were all on non vital areas. Bella and Ima were hitting their target but they had yet to inflict a serious injury.
As Azemo glanced over he saw Bellania tanking a direct hit from the governor's club and as her body was knocked away his heart broke. He could not handle that the two cubs he had raised were being injured.
The lapse in Azemo's concentration gave the perfect opportunity to his attackers. A spear brandishing woman drove her spear deep into Azemo's shoulder forcing him to the ground. The rest of the attackers did not hesitate to attack the downed demon.
Azemo felt like a cornered animal as the rest of the assassins moved towards him.