Joseph tried to cut the rope again when Jason left. He was trying continuously, but it was not an easy task. Slowly but surely, he finally got rid of the rope. "Finally…" He took a breath of relief and untied the rope on his legs.
At the same moment, an assassin entered to check on him. Joseph jumped on his shoulder as soon as he entered and flipped him to the floor. He pulled out the dagger the assassin carried on his waist and slit his throat.
Joseph wiped away the sweat on his forehead and stood up. "Mogu, can you hear me?" He expected Mogu to answer his call, as it was important for his next step.
"Joseph? Yes, I can hear you," Mogu answered.
"I am coming to you."
"Oh, my prince charming is coming to save me," Mogu said in a girly manner. "But you have to hurry. These evil people will take me to someone I do not like. I do not want to go. Save me, Joseph. Take me with you, oh my hero."
"When are they going to move you?" asked Joseph, trying to ignore the cringe as he took out the mask the assassin wore.
"In a while. We do not have much time," responded Mogu.
Meanwhile, Tyler watched Jordan going towards his war-hammer. "Would you let me win and die, or would you win and let your friends die? The choice is yours." Jordan lifted his war-hammer.
Tyler thought for a moment and threw away his blades. He cracked his fingers and said, "I will choose my friends."
Jordan grinned at this. "Great choice." He approached Tyler and swung his war-hammer horizontally towards his head. Tyler ducked and attacked his legs with his other leg, the one that was wounded.
"Your other leg?" reacted Jordan in surprise as he dropped to the ground. He realized Tyler had been faking his handicap all this time, just to catch him off-guard.
Tyler jumped on his chest and stabbed his shoulder to immobilize his arm. He then gave fists to his face rapidly. "Do you really think I care about Joseph?" He punched his nose, and blood came gushing out of it. "You do not know him." He continued punching him in the face. "He is not like me, or Kyther."
The governor stood up, seeing Jordan getting such a brutal treatment. The people in the crowd closed their eyes, as they could not see the bloodied face of a noble. A supposed noble.
Tyler did not seem to be wanting to stop. "The one you have captured is a real monster. He is the strongest one of us. Now that you have shown him your base, he will go for your Jason's head first." He punched and one of Jordan's tooth broke.
"Jordan will be dead in a few minutes if he continues using his face like a punching bag," Niko commented as he noticed the tensed face of the governor.
Tyler was about to punch again at the almost lifeless face, but he halted his fist mid-way. "I could kill you at this very moment, but I would not. I would spare your life." He stood up and faced the governor. "I think I am done, my lord."
"It was a battle for death," mentioned the governor. "Why are you sparing his life?"
Tyler glanced at the bloodied face and answered, "I have a greater penalty for him. It will be to live his life in humiliation." He bowed and asked to leave, "If you could pardon me."
The crowd was stunned silent. They could only stare at Tyler leaving through the metal gate and the corpse-like body of Jordan lying alone in the middle of the arena.
Joseph took the attire of the assassin and exited the room. He slowly walked outside, trying not to catch the attention of the assassins. He passed by an assassin who stopped him in his way. "Stop." His steps halted as he heard it. "Where are you going?"
There were two or three more assassins as well, who looked at him suspiciously when he did not answer immediately. He signaled to the woods with his thumb.
"Is it your turn to watch the area?" asked the assassin with doubtful eyes. Joseph nodded abruptly. The assassin eyed for a few seconds and said, "Alright."
Joseph ran into the woods after taking a breath of relief. The assassin guarding the cottage asked another to check on Joseph. He went inside and came running after a few seconds. "He escaped!" He said.
"What?" The guard suddenly realized the man who had just left was Joseph. "Go behind him." He pointed to the way Joseph had gone. "It was him." All the assassins around the cottage, except the one guarding it and two others, ran into the woods.
After a while of their leave, daggers came out of nowhere and killed the two assassins at the cottage when they least expected it, and only the one guarding remained. "What is happening?" He looked around in confusion and shock. "Who is there?" He pulled out his blade as his confusion slowly turned into fear. At the very moment, he felt someone standing behind him. He was about to turn, but he did not when he heard the person speaking.
"Don't move or you will lose your life just like the other two." It was the voice of Joseph. He placed a dagger on the assassin's neck. "Throw your blade away."
"You… You had gone into the woods. How come you are here?" asked the assassin in disbelief as he threw away his blade.
"You are forgetting I belong to Rakhtars. I have spent my entire life hunting in the woods. You can't win against a rakhtar in this terrain," answered Joseph. "Now, tell me. Where is your leader's base?"
The assassin could feel the blade on his neck. He gulped. "You can kill me, but I would not tell you."
"Fine, as you wish." Joseph suddenly stabbed his right shoulder. As the assassin was about to scream, he covered his mouth tightly. The assassin struggled hard and dropped to his knees. "I will kill you, but not so easily," Joseph added. "I will keep hurting you until you give me the location of your leader's base."
The assassin had tears in his eyes because of the pain, but he was still stubborn. "Do whatever you want, but I will not tell you." Joseph stabbed his thigh this time. He was about to scream, but Joseph covered his mouth again to suppress his voice. "Would you still try to be stubborn?"
Joseph was about to stab his other shoulder this time, but the assassin raised his hands partly somehow and signaled him to stop. Joseph removed his hand from his face. "I will tell you. Our base is ten miles to the north of here. Let me go, please," blurted the assassin. Joseph had got what he wanted, therefore, he now had no use for him.
"Thank you for spilling the location easily." He slit his throat and walked away. The assassin felt betrayed and fell with a thud. His final moments were to see Joseph's lifeless, cold eyes staring at him as he took his final breath.
Kyther, after a while, spotted a cottage in the woods. "What is that? Is that a cottage?" He guessed he could find a clue about Joseph there. As soon as he reached the cottage, he was puzzled to see dead bodies of assassins lying on the ground. "Wait, why are they…" He went and checked the dead body of the guard assassin.
"Someone has slit his throat and had stabbed him in multiple places. His body is still warm. It means it has not been long since he died." He went inside the cottage to search for some clues. He entered the room where Joseph was kept. He found a corpse of a man in underpants. "It seems like…" He could not comprehend completely as what had exactly happened, but he had an intuition that Joseph must be behind it.
He rushed out of the cottage to find some traces, but there was a trouble waiting for him. As soon as he reached out, he found a bunch of assassins surrounding him. They were the ones who had gone behind Joseph, but they returned when they had found no trace of him, only to find their dead comrades.
"Oye, who are you?" inquired an assassin in suspicion. "You do not look like one of us. Unmask your face."
Kyther hesitated to unmask his face. At this, the assassins pulled out their blades.
"I said, unmask your face!" repeated the assassin in anger. "Should I cut your head and check it for myself?" He stepped ahead and was about to head to Kyther, but Kyther began to unmask his face at the moment.
"You are one of them!" shouted another assassin when he saw Kyther's face.
"Ah, actually, you are right. I am not one of you," Kyther said in a light-hearted manner while scratching his head awkwardly. "I apologize. I will not do it again." He began to walk away casually.
But the assassins were not ready to let him go. "Attack!!" shouted an assassin, and they all jumped at him.
Kyther sighed. "Ah, here we go again."