A windstorm ravaged through the interior of this citadel of black stone, strong enough to push a human being back.
And with that strong a force in his command, despite the fact that his God essence was burning like a river, Paul Arrakis the lord of storms hunted.
The sudden windstorm caught the assassins off-guard and while they scrambled to adapt, Paul's eyes glinted like a predator whose prey finally stumbled on its steps, leaving an opening for him to pounce.
Paul pounced!
Bam!
There was no slicing, no slashing; with his Stilettos, all Paul did was stab, stab in intricate, unpredictable, and devastating patterns.
3 more assassins were killed in an instant, leaving another severely injured.
The assassins were stunned.
Were they the assassins or was the boy the true assassin?
They may have worn masks to block their faces, but at this moment, under his black cloak with a hood, with those hollow eyes staring back at them with cold indifference and determination, these assassins felt their hearts turn cold.
Their target this time was no normal one, he was like a demented rampaging monster whose heart was dead long ago, relying purely on instinct and driven by deep seated hatred.
Bam!
Paul killed the fourth assassin, dodging this one's dagger stab and coiling his left hand around the assassin's own hand, trapping him long enough for him to stab his Stiletto through his skull.
At this moment, he already entered the state of zone.
His blood burned like a raging inferno churning from the depths of hell.
His brown eyes as deep as an endless sea were filled with absolute concentration, ruthless determination, and cold calculation as Paul fought with the clarity of combat that he had learned for only 5 days.
Only 5 days, yet he was this devastating already.
Up there in the elevated platform, looking down, the original assassin's eyes were narrowed as he observed the battle play out before him. At this moment, he was shocked to his very bone marrows.
A bystander won't understand why he was that shocked, but only he who had experienced this boy as a frightened kid who could only run away from battle, leaving his mom to die could understand the meaning of this much growth and difference within just 5 days.
'A monster'. He thought, but then, behind his mask, the corners of his lips widened. 'We were not incompetent after all'. He thought.
'Our target was just a monster'.
'I finally understand why the elders want him so much'.
'It doesn't matter though,' he chuckled slightly. 'In the end, even monsters die, succumb to defeat, and he will be no exception'.
It didn't take too long after this assassin had these thoughts when the reality of his thoughts started coming to fruition.
By now, Paul already killed 7 of the 20+ assassins that came after him.
No one expected him to be this devastating in battle, maybe not even himself, but somehow, here it was playing out in reality.
But in the end, Paul already far outdid himself, he already climbed to the highest scaling of power that he could reach in his current rank.
Considering that most of these assassins were intermediate awakened warriors made his achievement even more ridiculous, but in the end, monsters do have a limit.
Paul was burning God essence at a staggering rate and despite the fact that he had multiple times the God essence of any of the awakened warriors here, in the end, fighting so intensely caught up with his reserves of God essence.
His reserves of God essence dwindled.
And with it, the exhaustion followed. Paul's movements turned slower, his stabs turned less sharp, giving the assassins more time to react.
From killing one every few seconds, his threat slowly decreased, till he struggled to barely keep up, till he became the recipient of an absolute beat down.
Bam!
Scars were cut into his body through the gaps in his leather armor by the sharp daggers, some directly cutting through his leather armor.
Bam!
Attacks to the face left his face bloody and mangled up.
Bam!
His broken teeth littered the floor, his body springing up a river of blood but even as he felt dizzy, his legs wobbling, Paul never let himself stop moving.
He never let himself fall down, he never gave his enemies the satisfaction.
Standing on his feet, despite the terrible pain, he kept on fighting.
By now, pain was already second nature to him.
'Fight, fight, fight!' He kept on chanting in his head.
"Hahahaha!" The assassin standing on an elevated platform roared in laughter. "What a performance!" He clapped.
"Paul, what a show!" He said loudly amid the chaos of battle.
"If you were not my enemy, I would have loved to fight alongside you as a comrade, your bravado and crazy determination is infectious".
"I almost want to join the battle myself".
"My blood has not boiled this much in a long time," he laughed loudly. "Kid, you truly are an enigma".
"Do yourself a favor and lessen your pain".
"Just give up".
"In your f*cking dreams!" Paul still had the time to growl out this reply.
He was beaten, mangled, lacerated, his legs were targeted and ravaged, yet Paul remained standing even after 10 minutes of this intense battle.
By now, his God essence was already exhausted, yet he refused to fall.
In his vision, all he saw was darkness and a haze of blood but still by sensing the movement patterns of his opponent's God essence, he stayed fighting.
He felt his lungs burning, his whole body ached, his brain was frying from the pain, yet Paul stayed standing, and fighting.
'Fight, fight, fight!' He kept on chanting.
Standing on his elevated platform, the more this assassin watched, the more the look in his eyes changed. 'He'll go down now'. He thought.
12 minutes…, 15 minutes…, 20 minutes…, 30 minutes…
'How is he doing it?' This assassin's eyes narrowed into slits, horrified.
Without even his healing God power, Paul managed to last an incredible 20 minutes more. By now, his leather armor was torn on every side, blood littering the ground and injuries mangling his body, yet he refused to fall down.
The heavy blood loss made him feel dizzy and light-headed.
Paul felt like he would just fall down and die at some point. Well, that was the only escape. 'Fight or die'. He thought.
But then…
BAM!
The irritated assassin suddenly jumped from his elevated platform, slamming Paul to the ground with an aggressive knee kick to his chest.
Pinned to the ground, Paul growled like a beast in defiance.
"Give up you bastard!" The assassin growled back at him. "Bring the chains," he called. "Tie him up!"
Paul struggled amid the pain, amid the exhaustion as chains were used to tie him up tightly till he could no longer move.
Despite this, still in his head, all that reigned was. 'Fight, fight, fight!'
As the assassins heaved a sigh of relief, a voice suddenly reverberated.
"What a performance".
Silence.
That voice, did not come from any of them!