As the black chain wrapped itself around his leg he could feel his mana depleting. The purple vine was sucking away his stamina while the black one robbed him of mana. If it was any other person without his insane constitution, this surely would have been a fatal move for them.
"You want my mana, have it then" shouted Shawn with a smile as he stopped supressing his mana, releasing torrents of his mana in waves assaulting everyone in the vicinity. The sudden change in mana pressure was so great that it disrupted the assassins mana causing their abilities to deactivate for a split second which was all he needed to escape.
Shawn flash stepped the second the binding were released going towards the closest assassin. They were all momentarily stunned by the sudden assault which allowed Shawn to close in on her while she was coming back to her senses. Shawn plunged Cro-Van deep into her chest, causing her to scream out waking the others from their trance.
To Shawn's surprise the assassin's body suddenly got enveloped into black smoke and disappeared taking Cro-Van with her. Shawn's eyes darted to the end of the alley where he saw her reappear kneeling on the ground clearly in distress with Cro-Van sticking out her chest. Cro-Van was enveloped in the same black mist she was before disappearing.
Shawn squinted in frustration as he saw that his kill was unsuccessful even though he was sure that the bleeding was enough to kill her. The others now back to their senses attacked once again with the same vine-chain tactic but this time the one who seemed to be the leader had locked Shawn in melee combat with her dagger.
.......
Nicholas sat in a dark room without a shirt on showing off the many scars that littered his muscle filled body. The scars showed evidence of the hundreds of battle that this body had been through. He glanced off into the general direction of Shawn and smiled imagining the battle that was taking place that required Shawn to release his mana to this level.
He had no intention of helping Shawn whatsoever, if he couldn't overcome this then he would never make it as a disciple. It was his battle and it was his responsibility to finish it. Speaking of troublesome disciples, where is Shira he wondered as he tried to sense her mana. But unfortunately it seemed as though she was trying to hide for some reason but he decided to to worry about that and went back to training instead.
........
The leader's mind was racing 100mi/h trying to get a hold of the situation. She was without a doubt going to kill this man but she was unsure how she was going to beat him and that mana wave they got blasted with worsened the morale of the whole assassin group, this was no normal man they were fighting.
He was a monster who individually surpassed all of them in speed, strength and stamina, which meant it would take full cooperation with the now weakened group to even have a chance of coming out on top. His mana alone was enough to put them all in a state of recoil, even causing her to get a little dizzy.
She wasn't exactly sure how to continue the battle until she saw number 7 teleport his blade away after being stabbed. This was obviously the best outcome of that exchange, without a way to deal significant damage it wouldn't be that much of a handicap even if he was slightly stronger than her and with 4, 5 and 8 providing ranged support her and 2 would be able to overpower him.
The leader pulled her own blade and ran towards Shawn, attempting to pierce his body but as soon as she was about 4 feet away. Barely within striking zone, a silver flash in the corner of her eye caused her to instinctively dodge and as she did she saw the new blade that appeared in his hand.
This new weapon was a pristine white color with strange markings etched into the blade. It's white curved edge was immaculately sharp and it boasted a fearsome aura around it. It was clearly a weapon made from a powerful beast that was definitely in the B class atleast. Very troublesome, she thought as she stepped back slightly.
[slight rumble and sound of metal grinding]
Shawn jumped backwards and a second later the black chain shot form the ground in an attempt to grab him and the purple vine shot from the wall which he easily sliced before jumping back even further into the alley.
Shawn's senses sharpened as his eyes darted around the battle field, picking up all sort of information from the battlefield. This was heavily taxing on his mind, he needed to be looking and listening for the chain/vine that popped out of the ground or wall.
He had his mana sense activated fully to be able to discern which of the figured were clones and which were actually present. And he was still in combat with two people who were only slightly weaker than himself, forcing him to bridge the gap to victory with skill instead of power.
The leader attacked again swinging her blade wildly trying to overpower Shawn with her speed. Shawn on the other hand had to stay on the move, dodging chains and vines preventing him from doing any actual damage with Fang. He wasn't even able to make a single wound on her, each time he was close the other assassin behind her would jump in at the right moment to prevent the blade from hitting it's target. Almost like she could predict what he was trying to do.
As if to make the battle even more difficult a strange purple arrow flew through the air. The projectile barely grazed Shawn but as insignificant as it was, somehow it managed to drain a chunk of his stamina. Slowing him down just enough for the leader to land two clean hits on him.
[-60 health]
The 6 combatants and Shawn left on the field were left in a strange sort of dance. Shawn was constantly on the move, ducking and flipping around the alley dodging the projectiles and chains that were trying to restrain him. And while doing that the to assassins were chasing Shawn, trying to wear him down which seemed to be working as he movements slowed and got sloppy. Causing even more attacks to land on him.
"Wow, you are actually pretty good. I think you got a little stronger, I'm better but it's evident that you are on a completely different level from the last time we met" said a voice from the neighboring roof top.
As soon as Shawn hear the voice it felt like an anvil landed on his head. This was the slight mana fluctuation that he was detecting throughout the battle, it was her.
Then another thought dawned upon him, she was why he couldn't get his [War God] ability to activate even though he thought he met all the requirements.
For some bizzare seemingly twisted reason the system saw Shira as an ally. Even though the there were 11 opponents, even though Shawn didn't see it this way technically there were two of them here.
"The hell do you want" asked Shawn seemingly annoyed, even though there was a small, very, very minute part of him was glad that she was here if it meant he could finish the quest he was given. For some reason he felt like failure would not be pleasant.
As the new character appeared that the leader was unable to detect whatsoever, her mood visibly deteriorated. From the way they were talking they knew each other and at the same time it sounded like she was stronger than him. Without a doubt they had just lost any hope of capturing the target, and fleeing felt almost impossible. They would without a shadow of a doubt hunt her down and kill her, even if she escaped the city, she was doomed.
"Shut the hell up. I would love to watch them gut you but I still want to fight you again. Plus, I think the old man would be a little sad if his new star disciple suddenly died and to a bunch of 3rd rate assassin no less. In fact it would be a great disgrace on our dojo, soooooo just shut up and take my help" she said as she casually walked towards one of the assassins who was casting the restraints on Shawn.
In one swift move, even faster that Shawn could keep track of Shira stabbed her hand through the chest of the assassin in one motion. Spraying blood all over her hand and clothes, killing the assassin instantly before turning around and wiping the blood off her body.
"So, weak not even a warm up".
"Stop, that's enough don't do anything thing else". As Shawn said that he pulled his arm free of the vine and summoned Fang, to his hand before stabbing it into one of the assassins that was holding him. And with one quick motion he slit the throat of the leader who was preoccupied with trying to figure out what to do about Shira.
The 3 assassins left on the field were reasonably shaking with terror. This was supposed to be simple and yet all of them were going to die over it. They knew better that trying to run, it would only worse their punishment. One well placed strike from Shawn and she was no longer breathing, leaving only two assassins alive.
Shawn walked over to the assassin who could teleport and picked her up by the throat. "Where the hell, is my blade. Return it now" he stated making it clear that this wasn't a negotiation.
She wanted to barter the blade, which he seemed to really want for her life but before she got a chance to talk Shawn squeezed harder.
"No need to talk, just action. Return Cro-Van and you'll get a fast and relatively painless deat. Don't and your journey to hell will not be pleasant" said Shawn as he stared into her eyes causing her psyche to shatter. She returned the knife and Shawn kept his promise, ending her life quickly and painlessly.
Shawn quickly stopped Shira, who had her foot on the healers throat ready to crush it. There was a ferocious look in her eyes as she looked down at the fragile human, beneath her feet. She really seemed to have a dislike towards them, not that Shawn was overly fond of them either.
"Stop, we still need at least one alive. I have some questions and she has some answers. You can do whatever with her after I'm done" said Shawn as he stared at the unconscious assassin who seemed to be in pretty stable condition, the only problem is she was unconscious and Shawn didn't have any healing magic and neither did Shira.
They needed to carry her somewhere safe where they could, "question her" without on lookers and waiting here for her to wake up might take forever which Shawn was not willing to wait out.
The unlikely pair quickly gathered themselves before fleeing the crimes scene. The plan was to head back to the Dojo and keep her there until she woke up. Shira said the master would be fine except that he wasn't to fond of torture but he shouldn't really care after he found out they made an attempt on Shawn's life.
While they were walking back gathering many stares Shawn was deep in thought. To the point where he was walking with what he considered to be his greatest adversary. He was mostly thinking about the fact that he probably would have lost without Shira's intervention.
Shawn could have lost his cool and spiraled into despair like he did when Shira beat him but he didn't. He just took a deep, calming breath and enjoyed the battle that just took place. If he lost his cool every time he lost a good fight then was he really a warrior or was he an obsessed child who bitched when he didn't get his way. If he was tired of losing then there was only one road to take, it was long and most likely agonizing but it was what his soul hungered for, the path of war.
But there was something that Shawn just realized for the first time. His emotions seemed to be spiraling out of control a little too frequently, it felt like the slightest thing could just set his anger of and he would go on a killing spree. He wasn't necessarily opposed to that but he stood nothing to gain from it so it would just be a net waste of energy. It wasn't really that big of a deal but it made him feel as though he wasn't really in control of himself, which he did not appreciate.
He scrutinized all his moves noting where his movements were sloppy and where his techniques and executions were flawed. He could have done a few things differently throughout the battle but it was more than likely that the results would have been the same but it was nonetheless a great experience. Both in regards to fighting as well as the points he had earned.
As Shawn left the alley, he could see that the streets were filled with people going about their business almost like a whole battle didn't just happen which resulted in some brutal murders. Why was everyone ignoring it, he wondered as he looked at the human faces that seemed totally unphased. Was murder allowed here, he wondered as he looked around.
Shira chimed in as she saw the look on his face, "one of them put up an illusion barrier and there were some anti-noise runes that canceled out the sound of screaming. Anyways since they're dead, it is all deactivated so we should probably bounce" she said as she scaled a nearby wall and began running towards the dojo.
[Expirence gained: 260 experience : 2 levels : 4 points]
[Quest complete]
[11/11]
Rewards: Map + key
[Status]
Name: Shawn
Title: War God
Level: 12 (20/400)
Class: Gun Slinger
Age: 18
Species: Greater Dark Elf
Current state: Flaw analysis
Points: 4
Passive: Stealth, Futile struggle, greater mana sense
--Physical*
*mana 4996475
*speed 800
*health (290/600)
*strength 850
*stamina (109/ 600)
--Shooting*
*range lvl 3
*accuracy lvl 3
*instincts lvl 1 {allows you to predict opponents movement based on subtle visuals like, twitching in muscle fibers and shifts in breathing)
--Skills
One Will {all weapons made by your powers are bound to you and can be brought back to your hands at will}
Mana Onslaught
Intense Bloodlust
Mana Barrier lvl 2 {blocks mana attacks}
Flash Step lvl 2 {quick traverse 10m}
--Crafting*
*forging lvl 3 {making weapons}
*building lvl 3 {making everything else}
*luck lvl 3
*transmuting
--Weapons
Cro-Van. {skill : 2x throwing speed}
Fang. {skill : blade will split into two at will} {will poison target if hit}
Jack and Jill. {skill : Red dot}
Razor {skill : chance to shoot 2 bullets}
Razor Bullets. (14) {slash}
Alloy bullets. (0) {puncture}
Grenades. (0) {impact, heat}
--Mount
Cactus {Bicorn}