Remember my guard ran away the last time I had to fight for my life.
He attacked when the fist attacker swung her sword towards him. He was getting attacked from around and despite how hard he tried to dodge and avoid; their speed was outstanding.
Their movements were smooth and fluid-like and they attacked uniformly like a group of dancers. He could not get his sword stained with blood but he had already received two cuts.
He was both attacking and dodging but he was losing out on the two and Alessia on the side was trying to help him as the tails of her snakes swung left and right attacking fast and swiftly but they were still overwhelmed.
He decided to focus on dodging and defense while studying their attack pattern as they seemed unbreakable due to that smart crafty attack plan.
They were doing it uniformly alternating it swiftly yet he could see a pattern in their movements which included their attacks, rests, and dodges.
Just a few seconds of studying and he felt confident enough to strike first. The person behind him on his left that left him a stinging wound on the back of his left arm had him stabbing backward swiftly.
He smiled when he could feel that feeling of penetration and even with his vision tinting, he did not take a second of break and used the breakage in their formation to take a step back and with his two swords crossed, he uncrossed them swiftly slashing the dark figures before him.
That familiar metallic warm wetness splashed against his face and he felt empowered with the fact that he had taken four of them down effortlessly.
There were more approaching. He closed his eyes using his heightened sense of sound and touch. A loud hiss was heard.
Thud!
With his eyes closed, he still knew that one of Alessia's snakes was down and he has to end this all as fast as he could.
He listened to the breath, their heartbeat as well as the sound of their swords cutting through the air. With every attack made, he had to accept a few hits.
They were so many and he was a man with only two hands and two swords there was no way he could make multiple attacks at once or at least that was what he believed at that moment.
He was trying not to get killed to the best of his abilities. The sword skill he prided in himself was put through a death and life test.
Swish!
Bent his knees, he took a shorter appearance must shorter as he attacked their legs. They must have not expected that as all he aimed at, met his sword and further stained his sword with blood.
That slowed them down enough for him to land an attack on their upper body each hit stronger than the first.
The last to get hit was sliced in a slanted clean cut that sent the upper part of her body sliding off before and the upper and lower part fell together to the wooden floor of the room staining it with blood, water and whatever was in the woman's guts.
The smell that wafts in his nose had him making it a rule never to do such a strike again in an enclosed space. With that, he moved to the approaching footsteps, heartbeats, and breaths.
He could hear their heart beat faster and they were going to lose that pattern they made most likely trained with for years because he was sure that such flawless movements will require intense training for years.
It felt like choreography performed by a group who have been together for years but it was not meant for entertainment but held so much strength and killing intent with every movement they made.
"Stop!" he heard Alessia scream when he raised his sword towards the last beating heart he could hear. The woman's heart only raced more and he could also hear Alessia's heart beating so fast.
He paused and opened his eyes to the woman who was on the floor as he had kicked her leg so hard, that he heard a cracking sound before raising his sword for the final execution.
He raised his head from the woman to Alessia whose snakes lay beside her both dead. She was covered in blood that he could not see the real color of the beige gown she wore earlier.
"Why?" he asked as he looked at her confused. She almost died was she trying to plea for mercy?
"She might know who is behind all these. Don't you want to know?" she asked him as she gestured toward the woman urgently.
Liam turned swiftly but the woman was already sliding to the floor, dead. He pulled off the black veil that covered her face and the first thing he noticed was the sewn lips.
He was taken aback as he moved back only to fall on a body on the floor.
"So, you can get scared?" Alessia teased him in disbelief.
"Who sews the lips of human beings together for goodness' sake?" Liam asked in shock as he could not understand why this world held so much horror and it seems they were trooping to him in their multitude.
"The dark sisters," Alessia replied as she walked towards him and squatted before the woman on the floor before closing her brown eyes that were widely opened even in death. "Rest on."
Liam narrowed his eyes. That was a very basic name. They showed it off in their black and red clothes. "What do you know about them?" This was the first time someone had something to say to him about his assassinators.
"They are very dangerous and you are very lucky to have survived their attack. They include black magic in their fights and it is impossible for . . . wait. They use poisons too. Are you okay?"
She looked so worried, he wanted to laugh and tell her that she was only worried about nothing but it all stopped with a smile when he looked down.
His blood was mingled in their blood on the fabric of his cloth like red paints of different shades on a canvass.
In truth, they were the best so far and they had left more than two dozen wounds on his body and he could feel all those wounds small and large sting.
"Are you okay?" Alessia asked as she stood up looking at him very worriedly now. She raised her hand and touched his forehead. "You are having a fever."