Ash is heading to the northeast, where Astra should be. The adventures mentioned that they found him near a lake. I went around the forest as I started to get anxious as I couldn't find the lake.
I was looking from the top of the tree and in the distance I saw the trees parted. I was desperate, so I went to check it out.
As I was getting closer, I heard the sounds of metal crashing, which I assumed was Astra and the assassins. I immediately used shadow cloak to blend in with the shadows that were cast by the trees around me.
I climbed a tree in my shadow form without making a sound. When I looked in the direction, the sound was coming from. I spotted Astra fighting near a lake with about 20 assassins.
He was overwhelmed in numbers, and he lost his mask. The assassins were no amateurs. I am once again amazed by his incredible battle sense. Even in this impossible situation, he was holding his ground.
As I was watching the fight, I continued to be amazed by him. If I ever went against him head-on, I would probably lose. But that's nothing to be sad about as my fighting style isn't even designed for fights like these.
My fighting style is for assassinations and escaping. That's how I have been able to survive for so long before I regressed.
After the fight ended, I could see him on his knees supporting himself with his bloodied sword.
The sean of a lake and a peaceful forest was disturbed by the bloodied ground and dead bodies lying around.
I checked if I had everything, my gloves, my voice changer, and my mask. After i saw everything was fine, I was about to approach him but decoded not to as there was still hope in his eyes to survive. I have to wait until he understands that there is no hope.
I would kill all of those four bastards but I unfortunately still need them to fight agents the higher ranking chaos beasts that they once joined hands with to destroy the world by bringing out a pillar and destroying them.
Pillars or at last that's what the scholars called them. Thay are the reasons why gates started to open. The gates were opening because one of the pillars wasn't stable enough.
Pillars support the two worlds preventing them from crashing into each other. Pillars are like the power source that provides enough energy to space and time, the only thing that keeps us apart from the other dimension. In other words, something like a wall that keeps the two dimensions separated.
I watched Astra for a while it looked like he was going somewhere. In the end, he entered a cave and put a few talismans at the entrance.
He limped in and sat while letting the wall support him. He brought out all the healing potions he had and drank them. They were just mid grade, but they were able to help.
He started healing himself when he suddenly stopped. ' Now that I think about it, he should be out of mana '
The poison was also spreading very fast it was also deadly. He tried to bandage himself, but I could see how every move made him flinch I pain, not to mention he bled even after the wounds were covered. They were simply too big even after drinking the potions.
His face started to get pale from all the blood loss, and the arm that he used to pressure his wound with started to lose strength. He finally understands that nothing in his arsenal will be able to get him out of this situation alive.
I reapered from the shadows, going through the talismans with no problem as they were meant for chaos beasts.
" I'm quite impressed with your fight and your achievement to last this long. " His eyes became alerted when he saw me.
I walked in the cave and stopped in front of him. He looked at me with emotionless eyes. I parted my legs and bent down my knees, looking at him in the eyes.
I activated my Kramo Bone symbol in the eyes and felt his emotions. Anger regrets hatred disappointment. His mind was also chaotic.
' Is he the one who sended all the assassins after me ? Is he sent by the concubine or the empress ? '
Gosh, his mind is full of questions, isn't it. " No, im not the one who sended the assassins after you, and I'm not affiliated with the Great Empire of Light in any way. " I said with a confident smile.
He stared at me without commenting on my remark, I ignored that and with the same smile as the first time I said, " I followed you here. Do you wanna know why ? " I asked, intrigued.
" No." Well, his answer didn't matter to me anyway. " Good, then we can get right to the point. Sign this, " I said while showing him a soul contract that was sapouse to bound him to me. If I ie he dies. And if I wish to, I could destroy his soul with a simple thought. No dain person would sign this. But u his situation he doesn't have much choice.
" Why do you think I would do that ? " he finally said something. I smirked and said,
" First, I can save you. Second, im sure you don't want to die before taking revenge for your mother. "
Reading his mind, he finally realized that I knew everything. " How am I sapose to trust you ? " Such a silly question, but in his mind, I could already see that he knew my answer.
" Don't you already know ? You don't have a choice. " He weakly smiled, looking down on his wound. He gathered all his strength left, and finally, the moment I had been waiting for, he signwith a piece of his soul.
After he did that, I pulled out one high-grade healing potion. I didn't have more as they were expensive as hell. And there was a good reason for that. They were so good that they were considered a second life. Even mid grade healing potions are quite expensive, but everyone has at last one. As I said, they are expensive as hell, so Astra can't afford one.
I held the potion in front of his face and helped him drink it. He gulped down the whole bottle, and the wounds on him could be seen healing. after he was more stable, I gave him mentality recovery potions with the water from the lake that I met Nata at.
He looked at the potions for a while, and I said, " it's not poison. " After he heard me, he snickered and drank the potions. I don't know where that snicker came from as deactivated my Kramo Bone symbol.
I moved and sat beside him while being supported by the wall. " Your hand," I said. He understood what I meant by it and gave his hand to me. I checked his pulse and injected his veins with my mana, examining him.
Even though he was almost fine, it's not a full recovery, and it would take a while as his body was stiff and cold. I don't want to stay here more than necessary, so I gave him a small bottle that was thin and was less than five cm tall.
It was my blood. It's dark red, almost black, as my bloodline mastery is better now. But even if it was wholly black, its propensity isn't as good. Back then, even my blood felt omnios to people. This blood of ours gives us great recovery abilities, that's why, like cockroches, we survive, and we have a longer lifespan.
I gave him the bottle, and he looked at me again. When I was about to say it was not poison, he drank it. ' Good, I don't like repeating myself. '
Hs eyes showed surprise as his body was as good as new. even with the high-grade potion, he wasn't able to move fully, and there is something that fixes that flaw in the potion. It's a big deal as there are only a few things that can achieve this effect, like fairy dust.
He looked at me curiously and said, " Blood ? "
" Yah, " I answered, trying to keep it short.
' Fucker, even knowing how blood tastes '
" You good now ? " I asked " aww is the princes worried about me ? " I looked at him with killing intent and responded " What did I said about calling me that " I added mana to my wisper making it sound cold while it was echoing like the wispers if the devil.
" I'm good now master " he said while reminding me of William. ' Well, at last master sounds good hmph '