Time seemed to have stopped as the sword strike made its way to Mikeal, and the maid also came in from the side to shield Mikeal with her body.
Mikeal's brow raised, his eyes opened to reveal a faint glow in his pupils.
"Flame Magic! Death strike!". He declared, crafting the vine-made sword on his right hand.
He lept his right foot off the ground as he closed the distance and clashed his vine sword against the leader's metal sword.
As the tip of the swords contacted each other, a wide-range explosion was released from that tip, one that started so small only to expand and cover a wide range, blowing away everything in its path. The people included.
The explosion subsided revealing the aftermath of the devastating attack from both sides.
The aftermath of the explosive left a five-foot-deep radius crater on the barren ground and had Mikeal and the rest out of its range.
Siveth had hurried to save the maid as she shielded her with her fur. If the maid was left exposed to the collision her body would melt before her brain could register what was happening.
Thankfully Siveth was there to help her through it. Her fur was strong enough to withstand the pressurizing heat and the explosion that followed.
And as for Mikeal and the leader?! They could have fared better.
They were both still standing their ground with heavy bruises on their body and their clothes burnt to ashes with little left to cover their privates.
'I didn't see wrong, did I?! That wasn't a hallucination was it?!'. The leader internally retorted, disturbed by what just happened.
He knew what he saw, what happened and how Mikeal had survived his death pierce. Yet, the leader seeks to convince himself otherwise.
He just couldn't bring himself to believe that what he had witnessed was real, that it happened precisely as he saw.
'That last attack required expending all my mana to use. Not only have I run out of mana, my body is in bad shape. If that spirit familiar decides to intervene now, it will be the end of me'.
Mikeal is in worse shape than the leader. Coupled with the bruises on his body, he also has holes in his skin. It is a miracle he is still standing.
That said, the leader is in no shape to take on a spirit summon, a first-class mage, as well as a battle maid that singlehandedly killed four of his men.
He hurriedly brought out a scroll he had kept hidden inside his inner chest pocket.
"I won't let you". Siveth yelled as she left the maid and hurried to catch up to the leader.
Unfortunately for her, she arrived too late. The leader had set the scroll on fire before she got to him. Also, as soon as he set the scroll on fire his body slowly dissipated from the leg upward.
"Marcus the piercer. Remember that as the name of the one who will eventually come back to claim the debt on your life". He voiced, his head turning into dust at the same moment when Siveth thrust in her paw.
With a disgruntled tone, Siveth lamented letting him escape from her when she had almost gotten him.
*THUD!*
Was the sound she heard accompanied by the wailing sound of the maid who hurried to check on Mikeal as he had collapsed on the ground?
...
*GASSPPPP~*
He inhaled heavily for breath as he jolted his upper body off the bed.
His breathing pace was not in sync and his form was dishevelled.
"I was beginning to worry about when you would wake up". She commented, her tummy lazy on the ground with her head resting on her paws.
"Siveth". He groaned, finding it difficult to utter another word.
"Don't force yourself. You might end up opening your wounds". She warned.
Mikeal saw that his body from the neck down was covered in bandages.
"Where are we? What happened to the assassin leader? And what about the maid". He asked, trying to grasp the situation.
"We are in a safe place, a tavern in a relatively small city. You don't have to worry about the assassin, he teleported away after his loss. And for the maid? She insisted on personally carrying your body until we find a safe place to lodge. Now she is recuperating her body in the room after this". Siveth explained, calmly.
"Now can you relax and stop straining your already weak body".
He let out a relieved sigh knowing the dangerous times had passed them by.
"Siveth... Can you tell me what I am to do now?". He sighed, already losing his will to live on.
Knowing that his father wants him dead so much so that he would send an assassin after him?...
'No! Father wouldn't work with a mage as an assassin. He didn't even know what a mage is much less have one in his vicinity'. He thought.
Things weren't adding up. The assassin claimed he was sent by the king, the same king that banished his son for using the abilities of a mage or as they called it, a cursed power.
Either the assassin was telling a lie or something else is going on here, something that involves a third party.
Either way, it is of no concern to him. Not only has he been banished, but he is also sent to a place of definite death with a one per cent chance of survival.
That doesn't change a thing and it also doesn't change that his father is responsible for his banishment.
"Get stronger". Siveth voiced.
"In this world, the ones with the rules are the strong. It is submissive to those in power and relatively cruel to those beneath it".
"You want to know what to do? Get stronger, go beyond the rules and be so strong that nobody will ever think to deem you a cursed one. Prove them wrong, show them that there is more to you than meets the eyes". She encouraged.
"Do that, and I will answer your questions. Your mother... I am sure you would want to know more about her, don't you?".
His eyes flinched. It is without a given that his curiosity could not be hidden.
"Then do that. Be worthy enough to request her information, do not just mope around waiting for the answer to come to you".
"To be stronger". He muttered, looking across the window to gaze at the beautiful sunset.
Mikeal clenched his fist as he added a new resolve to his empty list of to-do things!!
With his resolve pushed in an era of a thriving legacy of superpowered beings! The likes he never once would have comprehended while locked up in the northern palace.