Joseph tried to cut his rope from a stone with sharp edges, which he had picked in the woods when the black zombies had tied his hands and mouth. He had been hiding it under his arm-band.
At the same time, someone had arrived at the cottage. All the masked assassins guarding the place bowed down when the person climbed down from his horse. It was their leader, the Jason of The Order of Assassins.
"Welcome, leader," greeted a masked assassin, but Jason ignored him.
He was a huge bald old man with no facial hair, not even eyebrows. He had a round head and a huge round body. He wore a sleeveless shirt and baggy gray pants. He looked more like a common thug than a leader of such a dangerous organization, but it was his camouflage to avoid looking suspicious.
"Is he in there?" He asked.
"Yes, sir. He is in there," answered an assassin before he followed his leader into the cottage.
Joseph heard someone approaching his room, so he quickly pushed the stone under his arm-band. The door opened, and he saw a huge man struggling to enter the room. He somehow fit in and walked to Joseph.
"Who are you?" Joseph asked as he eyed his huge stature.
The man smiled. "I am Jason Adamos, the fifteenth leader of The Order of Assassins. You must have heard about the assassins, right?" Joseph stayed silent. "You must have," Jason added. "Or why would you be asking around about us?"
"So you know about it," Joseph reacted.
"Of course. What would you expect from our superior intelligence network?" Jason grinned, his yellow teeth being visible. "We know everything that goes around here." He grabbed Joseph's hair and pulled it.
"Ah!" Joseph winced as it hurt.
"Now, should I kill you and your friends too…" Jason phrased, glaring into Joseph's eye. "Just like my men massacred your tribe?" Just as he said, Joseph was enraged.
"You dastard!" He shouted and struggled hard, but when Jason punched his face, his fist as big as his face, he humbled down.
"Struggling would not do you any good, Joseph. Was this your name?" Jason said. "I want to know why you are here." He pulled his hair and raised his head to his eye level. He stared into his eyes, which were filled with sadness, rage, and emptiness. "Are you here for vengeance?"
"So what if I am?" reacted Joseph in a shaky voice as his head hurt from the fist he received.
Jason looked at his man and laughed. "By yourselves? Are you that naive? What happened to the elders of your tribe? Were they that scared to send children here?" He laughed again. "Warrior tribe, my ass."
"We children are enough to exterminate you." Joseph glared into his eyes. "Kill me right here or you will regret it."
At this, Jason laughed again. "You will die soon, do not worry. Your friend Tyler is having a death match with my son. My son will kill your friend there, and my men will kill you here." He continuously glared into his eyes. "Do you know why I travelled all the way here? It was to see despair in your eyes, but it seems like you will only face despair moments before your death."
After he said it, he left Joseph's hair and began to leave. He turned before he somehow exited through the door and said, "Enjoy your last moments here."
He stopped at the assassin guarding the cottage. "Kill him once my son finishes that other tribal savage." The assassin nodded before Jason sat on his horse. "I have to prepare to send the sphere to the lady. Find the third of them immediately, and kill him too. I want to see their heads upon my return." He left after he ordered them. The assassins could see the horse struggled to carry his weight. It looked like it could drop down any moment.
Joseph was relieved to know Tyler was okay, and he was fighting against Jordan, who happened to be Jason's son. "So, the governor is the one letting them spread their wings," He thought. It all made sense, but it made him worried about Tyler as well. He worried more about Kyther, as there was no news of him.
"Phew, just how far they had gone?" He asked himself while he panted as he was exhausted from all that walking. He hid in the woods as he saw some assassins passing by. "They are getting more frequent. It seems I am close to my destination."
Suddenly, someone put a blade to his neck from behind. "Who do you think you are? Did you think you would trespass on our area and we would not notice?" It was an assassin who kept an eye around the cottage to check if some enemy approached them.
Kyther raised in hands and slowly turned. "I am sorry, but I am looking for my friend," He said. "Have you seen him? He is a blond young man." Suddenly, he grabbed the blade of that assassin and jabbed him. "And no one can stop me until I get to him," He mouthed as the assassin hit the ground and passed out.
He was about to move ahead, but an idea struck his mind when he looked at the knocked-out assassin again.
Meanwhile, Tyler started jumping on one leg as the other leg was wounded. It surprised Jordan when he realized he had got a handicap in a death match. "Are you sure you could fight like that?" He asked and circled his war hammer above his head to show his strength.
"I am enough for you with one leg," responded Tyler, and pulled his sword and dagger out. He continuously jumped on one leg and monitored the movements of his opponent.
Jordan showed simplistic movements and approached him directly. He swung the war-hammer in a vertical top to down motion. Tyler jumped away and evaded the attack, but at the same moment, Jordan kicked him.
He did a back hand-spring to nullify the damage and again started jumping on one leg after landing safely. "You still do those simplistic moves. I am afraid we will have to get your corpse out of here at this rate." He smiled.
Jordan ran to him and continuously swung his war-hammer in horizontal arcs. Tyler continued jumping back until he stepped on a pebble and lost his balance. He could see the war-hammer approaching him from the left in slow motion.
"Arrgh…" He quickly turned in mid-air and blocked it with his blades, but the force was enough to throw him away. He dropped, rolled away on the ground, and stood up again.
"Master Jordan! Smash his brains out!" A girl shouted from the crowd.
"Yes, master Jordan! Show him his place!" Another girl shouted to get his attention. "Send him to his grave!"
"As you can see, I have the support from the commoners. I am the favorite for win," Jordan mentioned arrogantly.
"Oye, oye, there are some violent women out there," Tyler remarked as he heard those comments from the crowd.
"I will grant their wish happily. Prepare to die." Jordan ran towards him and swung the war-hammer again in a vertical motion. This time, Tyler crouched and dodged it. He stood up at a safe distance and began to jump again.
He side-flipped with all his strength when Jordan tried to take his remaining leg. As the war-hammer was heavy, it took time for Jordan to get into position again. He was in Tyler's range.
"Got you." He swung his sword towards his neck. Jordan could see his death coming in slow motion. He had only one choice now to save his neck. He left the war-hammer and jumped back to dodge the swing.
"Phew." He took a breath in relief when he dodged the blade by a hair. Suddenly, Tyler front flipped and launched another attack on him. Jordan jumped back and continued dodging the swings, as Tyler did not want to stop now. He continued jumping forward and slashing air.
Jordan had never seen such agility. He had realized Tyler contained superior abilities than he, but he could not afford to be defeated, for obvious reasons.
Jordan continued jumping backwards in fear even if he wore a metal armor. He hit the wall all of a sudden and realized there was nowhere else to run. The governor looked tensed while watching all this.
"Come on, Master Jordan! Show him what you are capable of!" shouted a man in the crowd.
"Stop running and face him like a man!" Another one shouted, annoyingly.
All the people in the crowd agreed with him and shouted together. "Face him like a man!" "Face him like a man!" "Face him like a man!"
Tyler smirked. "What happened to your supporters?"
"Hey, Tyler, you will do wrong by killing me." Jordan tried to negotiate in the last moments. His forehead had sweat dripping from it. "I will give you loads of money, the amount your seven generations would not have seen."
"Do you really think I am fighting for money?" Tyler was about to slash his neck, but had to stop mid-way when he heard something shocking.
"We have your friend," Jordan blurted out as he saw the blade approaching him.
"What?" Tyler was shocked.
"Yeah, we have your friend. What was his name?" He tapped his chin while remembering. "It was Joseph."
"What did you do to him?" inquired Tyler with an angry face.
"Nothing," responded Jordan with an evil grin. "Until now, at least. But…"
"But what?"
Jordan signaled Tyler to pull back his blade, and he had to do it.
"If you win this match and kill me, your friend would lose his life. But if you lose this match, I will kill you but spare your friend. What do you say?" Jordan had a devilish grin on his face when he said it.
Tyler was in a tough situation now. "You dastard…" He hissed.