Paul Point of View
While everyone was looking at Luke, Paul was looking at Alex.
He would not allow Alex to escape again, especially when he had the advantage of space being locked. The second Alex's hands moved to his blades, Paul was chanting his most powerful lightning spell. He was going to shock Alex in an attempt to capture him.
Paul did not care that he would shock Alex with 300 million volts of lightning, placing Alex near death; all he needed was for Alex to talk. To tell him where Christopher and the women were located. Three Dark purple circles appeared under his feet, and a ball of raging purple lightning was created and hovered in front of him.
{lightning Orb}
An ominous grin appeared on Paul's face at the idea that he was about to fry Alex. Just as Paul was about to send the ball of lightning towards Alex, Alex blinked from his spot.
Paul knew too well what happened, 'Crap, is there any use in going after this guy.'
'What kind of shit talisman did those cheapskates use' Paul chided inwardly as he saw Alex appear between two mercenaries.
Without hesitation, Paul sent the lightning towards Alex and the mercenaries. Paul did not care whether the mercenaries headed towards Alex to defend their comrades or those around Alex lived or die.
As paul sent the orb, he thought, 'There comes a time when we must sacrifice others to achieve our goal! '
Although there was a low possibility that the lightning would hit Alex, it was still a possibility for paul. A chance he would not let go. Besides, he had already wasted thirty percent of his mana creating it. What was he supposed to do, cancel it?
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Alex Point of View
Alex saw the lightning coming towards them; if he took a direct hit, he would receive damages. If he wanted, he could send black light to cancel out the purple lightning provided his black lightning was more robust, but that would just be revealing himself. Or he could direct the purple lightning to pass through his blades to his hands then consume/cancel them out once they reach his hands with black lightning. If he did this, he would not reveal that he could use lightning. But canceling such a ruthless attack would be a waste; he would inadvertently be saving the other two mercenaries that were closing in on him.
Alex Blinked to Luke's side, moving him out of the lightning range to the back of the barn.
At the back of the barn, Luke attempted to slice Alex with his dagger in a fit of rage. Alex saving him made him look suspicious to the others.
'Why the hell are you holding me? Do you not know that we are enemies?'
Avoiding the dagger, Alex blinked to the front of the barn door away from his hostile 'friend' Luke.
The lightning ball hit the exact spot Alex was standing previously. Upon impact, the lightning ball kept expanding into a circular-shaped lightning field, imprisoning the three mercenaries and electrocuting them to death. While paralyzing the fourth mercenary that was on the edge of the lightning field.
"phwwwwwwt," Alex whistled loudly, bringing everyone's attention back to him at the front of the barn, "'Old friend,' who side are you on?"
Alex's other assailants watched what happened and thought that Paul was ruthless. Knowing that Alex could escape, he still sent such a devastating attack to kill his own allies. It stunned everyone about their situation. Their entire plan hinged on Alex not being able to use the space element. Their minds were in a funk.
_why did he save Luke?_
_what would stop him from picking us off one by one?_
_Isn't his blades also covered in poison? Is this even fair?_
_we need to leave now_
_why the hell did we have to involve ourselves? Once he goes, he will look for us?_
_fuck why the fuck is the party leader so greedy? Dragging us into this shit_
_who was it that said it would be easy? Show me the bastard, and I'll show him easy!_
_Crap, is he going to escape again?_
Everyone had an internal debate except for the green and pink hair girls. They did not know how strong Alex was, but they had Six bodyguards in the background. To them, they were practically safe.
"Don't worry, old friend, I have no intention of escaping. Didn't I confess earlier that I have made too many mistakes and hope to correct them," Alex said jovially while closing the barn door.
"I haven't practice close combat in a while. Maybe you all can help me see what my limits are."
Alex did not plan on escaping because he could not without revealing his skill (rift walk). Where was he supposed to run to with a pack of hyenas behind him? There were a few available nodes, but they were all inside the barn. His only option was to meet them head-on, but that didn't mean he couldn't play mind games with them.
Alex closing the barn door was just that, mind games. His assailants could escape from the windows, but the effect of thinking that there was no way out but through him would take a toll on their minds. Further alluding that they did not have the upper hand in this squabble. He wanted them to be afraid.
'Fear can make some people do some crazy things.'
Alex knew killing them all would be extremely difficult. This was why he exposed that he still could blink with a space-locking talisman drafted and went after the two mercenaries. He wanted everyone to rethink their every move! This was also why he blinked Luke from the lightning attack. He needed them to reevaluate who was friend and who was foe.
Even when Alex went after the two mercenaries, his options were limited. The only node available was the one between the two mercenaries. Alex could not blink behind them and kill them quickly like he usually would. If space wasn't locked, his first targets would be those that were still hiding.
Once the barn door was closed, and all the attention was on Alex, Alex removed his hard mask exposing James's third son's face (infinity mask). Everyone that was there made sure to have a good look, some thought of escaping and fighting another day with such information.
Alex's ensuing words jolted the mind of everyone, "Have you ever heard of an assassin that exposes his face to potential witnesses and allowed them to escape?" Alex laughed viciously.
Alex's first target was to wipe out his "old friend" Paul. Paul was a pro, so he would have more spells, more mana, and more experience.
As Alex was advancing in Paul's direction, someone in the shadows hollered, "Don't allow him to fight one on one. One person pin him down while the others launch attacks from a distance. Keep switching and attack together, drain the bastard out mana."
Upon hearing the voice, the atmosphere of fear that Alex created was dispelled.
The green hair girl immediately intercepted Alex; she was fighting with two daggers covered in flames. The pink hair girl stayed at a distance and was sending wind blades in his direction. Head-on, Alex was directly forcing her back while avoiding the wind blades of the other girl. This scene made everyone realize Alex was just one person.
Then came a barge of attacks: wind blades, water blades, lightning, rock avalanches, and shadow sneak attacks from Luke.
"Luke, are you really trying to kill me?" Alex asked humorously.
Alex would constantly dodge, flip backward, jump in the air, or blink to avoid the attacks. This was possible because of his skill precipitation.
The green-haired girl had to avoid them too. Alex would always return to meet her, never switching for a new opponent. No matter where the girl went, Alex followed; he was setting her up to die. They were both wounded; Alex could have avoided some attacks, but he chose not to pressure the green-haired girl.
He also did not want to use ghost fade yet; he saved it to surprise the others, specifically for those that were still hidden and hollering commands.
Alex continued to push the green hair girl back while avoiding a barrage of attacks. Luke joined them in close combat so did the pink-haired girl. Now it was three people pining Alex down and the other raining spells from a distance. Alex was at a disadvantage. He was constantly backing away.
Their plan to drain Alex of mana was working until the bastard blinked to a corner and consumed a mana potion, stamina potion, and health potion. Before returning to the green-haired girl. Their little skirmish routine lasted for ten minutes until Alex blinked behind the adventurers, slicing two of them behind their knees before flashing back to the green-haired girl.
Alex did not intentionally avoid the others; he needed them to be near an open space node. If the adventurers remained in their original spot, they would have been fine. But to hurl their element at Alex, they moved around to get the perfect pitch and hit shot. From the beginning until now, the battle had lasted twenty-seven minutes. Luke and the pink-haired girl would continue to flank his right and left every time he met the exhausted green-haired girl.
Alex blinked behind the green hair girl, kicking her in the back with so much force, causing her to cough blood. She was sent flying and rolling toward the stable dark side where his shadow troll was waiting to greet her warmly.