Siruzen was stunned. He could not sense this man even when he was standing in front of him. "Hold on a second. Don't move I will be right back" said Abel. He turned around and dashed towards the stream. When he arrived at the bank he peered into the flowing water but could not find Kane's Plain. The flowing water might have carried it downstream.
Siruzen did not dare to move an inch. He knew that it didn't matter if he ran or stayed put. He would still die today. The damn brat actually had a master, this was too diabolic even for someone as cunning as him. He could only blame his rotten luck for being assigned this shitty task and the worst possible scenario occurring...
"So you like bullying kids eh?" said Abel who was suddenly very close to the snake. "Senior, this junior didn't know that the child was your student. The great hawk Mistral is my teacher. If you let me go just this one time, I promise that this matter will be forgotten" pleased Siruzen. His master Mistral was a mid-tier warrior-level great eagle. Mentioning his master was a form of deterrence. As for letting go of the matter, this stupid human can forget about it. He was going to report his ass as soon as he survives this encounter.
Abel naturally knew who Mistral was. The eagle's head was worth a fortune and was wanted by all the hunters association branches in this part of the Dyssiodian empire. He was about to interrogate the snake but quickly took out his bow from his storage ring and swung it at the space behind him.
There was a loud bang of colliding metals and Mr. Abdul suddenly materialized holding the combat knife that was passed against Abel's bow. The impact threw Siruzen who was close to Abel a few feet back. "How do you keep blocking my attacks? Is this how you train the boy? By putting him in mortal danger?" Mr. Abdul asked multiple questions with a hint of indignation in his voice.
"You don't need to know how I keep blocking your moves. You only need to know that I am immune to any form of assassination. How I train the boy is none of your fucking business said Abel as he jumped back and took Siruzen's sword which was still stabbed into the ground. He immediately appeared before Siruzen in a flash and kicked the poor snake flying more than a few dozen meters deeper into the forest. He then crashed into a tree. An arrow of light immediately pierced his body and pinned him to the tree.
"Arrrrghhh," screamed Siruzen as he spat a mouthful of blood. The arrow did not hit any of his vital organs but he could not pull out the arrow from his body unless he cuts his body into two. "Do you know who my master is? He will flay your flesh and…" Siruzen could not continue as he felt an immense threat of death.
"Hang in there champ. When I'm done here I will get back to you and you can tell me more of your wonderful master" said Abel who was lowering his bow and had a gentle but creepy-looking smile on his face. He then turned around and looked at Mr. Abdul and said "you have tried to kill me twice but I will bury your body here today".
"I was sent by the hunters association castellan. He asked me to secretly watch over that child and make sure nothing happens to him. We both have the same goal only that your methods are cruel and dangerous, relying on the kid's special body to pull through. If we work together and with the resources of the Storm Cradle sect, I'm certain the boy would rise above all our expectations" said Mr. Abdul as he decided to come clean.
Abel chuckled loudly, "this is where you are wrong. Our goals are not the same. I have my reasons for coming to that shit hole of a city. Kane had just recently developed abilities that will help me achieve my goal. The problem is just that helping me would put a lot of strain on his conscience and morals. So I plan to give him what he wants, power. I will do that and make it look like I keep making sacrifices for his cause. When the time to decide arrives, he will already be biased on my side and would have no other choice but to help me. Now die for me".
Abel jumped backward in a bid to create more distance between himself and Mr. Abdul. He shot ten light arrows consecutively in almost an instant at Abdul. Abdul didn't try to dodge as he put his hands behind his back. Crystal-clear water poured out from his cuffs and formed very long water whips which trailed behind him.
He swung upwards with his left hand and the whip flew out masterfully and knocked all ten arrows away from their trajectories even before they got to him. "I won't let you taint that boy's soul with your sinister plot" shouted Abdul as he swung the other water whip at Abel.
Abel dodged the whip by rolling to the side before firing a volley of another ten arrows at Abdul.
Bam!
The whip hit the ground, creating a deep gash on it as rocks were turned to dust. He quickly drew his right hand behind his back which dragged the whip behind him. He then swung his left hand which was still in the air and the whip knocked away the incoming arrows.
He took a deep breath and fired a high pressured stream of water from his mouth at Abel who was still on the ground. Abel held up the side of Siruzen's sword with both as the stream of pressurized water clashed with it. The force of the impact could not break the sword but the force from the impact pushed him deeper into the forest.
Abel borrowed the force to eventually stand on his feet before dashing deeper into the forest. Abdul raised both his hands in the air and water began to fly out from the stream and pool itself above his head forming a gigantic ball of water. He quickly followed after Abel. Siruzen who saw the fight from a safe distance grew increasingly worried. Any of these two humans were as strong as his master, they might even be stronger. He hoped that the blonde man would get killed so that he could get rid of the arrow pinning him to the tree.
For some reason, Abdul was able to catch up with Abel even though he wasted some time before chasing after him. He didn't think much about it as this area had a lot of trees and would be disadvantageous for archery. He swung both hands upwards sending the two water whips flying at Abel before a column of water from the water ball also shot at Abel.
Abel clapped his hands together and a huge wall of earth rose from the ground to block the attacks headed for him. Bang! The water-based attacks slammed into the rock wall and cracks began to form on it. Abel sent his bow into his storage ring, gripping the sword with his right hand, he dashed out from behind the wall and headed straight for Abdul.
Abdul continually swung his whips at Abel but he kept dodging them with the lunge skill as he kept dashing around the place in a zigzagging manner and was steadily getting close to him.
Abel got close to Abdul and swung the sword at his midsection in an attempt to cleave him into two. Abdul who seemed like he was in a desperate situation revealed a sneer as the part of his body that was about to be cut by the sword turned into water. His body separated into two and the top part jumped upwards and the blade struck thin air. He then controlled water from the large ball of water to cascade down the area behind him as Abel who met no resistance from hits sword swing was still speeding past his body and was already behind him.
Before the waterfall could hit Abel's body, he was suddenly jerked backward like a ragdoll as his body was pulled back along the path he took before arriving at the spot he was at before, behind the now broken rock wall.
"Wow, that was a close one. You almost clapped me there" said Abel as he jumped on what was left of the rock wall. "You can see the future, that's how you keep blocking my attacks," said Abdul as his face turned dark.
"Nope, not yet. I only had a hunch that I would be in danger if I charged headfirst into you so I took precautionary measures and as expected you revealed your trump card. Now let's do that again shall we?" said Abel as he got ready to attack again.