'What am I doing?'
'Do I even stand a chance against so many assassins?' Thinking of this, Geass' words reverberated in his head again. 'With 17 awakened warriors, and Geass, if we didn't stand a chance against 5 assassins, do I stand a chance now?'
'Do I stand a chance against over 2 dozen assassins?'
At this moment, with his Stilettos in his hands and with the assassins charging towards him, all intent on bringing him down to capture him, time seemed to slow down to a crawl before Paul as he contemplated.
'Why am I even here?' He thought.
From the beginning, he already guessed that his journey to the west was a lost-cause. After all, why should the assassin even keep his sister alive?
First, like the assassin himself admitted, he never expected that Paul would have the guts to simply walk into Greenland City because he asked it.
Second, even if he knew that Paul would come, Paul was lacking in information. He could even kill his sister on the way and he would have no idea, still embarking on a journey to the west to Greenland City.
And like the assassin himself just admitted, he sold Sophia off to a slave caravan, but was he lying or was he telling the truth?
Honestly, Paul didn't know which one was the truth but at this moment, what he was sure of was that he didn't feel the presence of his sister.
Sophia was definitely not in this black citadel.
Another thing that he was sure of though was that his sister was not dead. If Sophia died, he would have felt a violent reaction from his telepathic connection with her. Honestly, Paul failed to think of a life with his sister dead.
All he saw was gloom and death in a world without Sophia.
The world to him was already gloomy enough as it was, he didn't want more of that gloom and was why he traveled the distance west to come for her.
But…
'Do I stand a chance?'
At this moment, Paul was at a crossroads. His sister was not here, and he was facing an overwhelming force that could overpower him easily.
Every instinct of combat that he learned told him to just give up since his newly gained knowledge about combat finally enabled him to gauge the overall combat level of the assassins through the way they moved.
'They're not as strong as the earlier assassins but still, in a one on one, I'll struggle to bring down one of them'
And more than 20 of them charged towards him at this moment.
Paul took a deep breath.
Did he stand a chance? No.
Was he going to go down without a fight? No.
Why? Simply because he was yet to rescue his sister.
'Me not standing a chance doesn't matter at all'. He thought. 'What matters is rescuing Sophia by any means possible'.
'What if I don't stand a chance?'
'Still, I will fight'.
'I will fight, survive, and fight, survive till I win'.
Caught in a crossroad, Paul was left in a dilemma at first but finally, he got the answer that he sought. 'Fight or die!' He decided.
'Fight!' 'Fight!' 'Fight!'
He closed his eyes, and then clarity settled in his head.
'Sense the God essence, detect their movement, trace their residuals, then counter them'. He chanted in his head, acting in accordance as he channeled his own God essence.
Then, he moved…
Whoosh!
Inside this castle, everywhere was airtight and locked since there were no windows but at this moment, a wind seemed to blow out of nowhere and riding the wind like a hurricane, the boy in brown leather armor and a black cloak moved.
Like a hurricane, Paul's right hand wielding his Stiletto moved.
The assassin did not see it coming.
Bam!
In one attack, Paul's incredible speed caught his opponent off-guard as his sharp pointed dagger stabbed through the chin of this assassin before its tip burst out from above his head.
1 strike, 1 assassin dead.
'The essence of combat is murder!' Paul chanted in his head, he moved.
There were over 2 dozen assassins surrounding him at this moment, Paul was not short of targets to go after.
Immediately after his first target, he pounced on the next, using the Stiletto on his left hand this time even as more of the terrible wind blew.
The assassin tried to dodge but it was already too late.
Bam!
This time, the pointed end of the Stiletto stabbed into the ear of the assassin, bursting out through his other ear as blood flowed through the slits in his mask.
He was still alive but after that horrible attack, his eventual death was certain.
2 strikes, 2 assassins dead.
Paul moved…
Those first 2 assassins were the only ones that he managed to catch off-guard, killing easily. The others finally settled, acknowledging his threat as they faced him with the same respect they would give an Advanced awakened warrior.
That was where Paul's struggles began but with his hollow and sunken eyes, Paul never acknowledged it, only chanting. 'Fight, fight, fight!' In his head.
5 days of traveling to the west, going through towns, villages, the wild, and a city, Paul fought against a myriad of demonic beasts and humans.
One thing that he learned during this time was the ability to sense God essence as humans circulate it through their body to attack.
In 5 days, he was able to integrate this into his combat style.
He may not be a master yet at wielding the dagger, his style still flawed, but by sensing the way the God essence of his opponents flowed, trying to empower their bodies and attacks, Paul learned to read their intentions.
At this moment, this was the only thing that kept him alive, but staying alive did not mean that he stayed unscathed.
The battle was intense, and bloody.
Since it was a battle between Heimdalls and a Cosmopolitan of Paul's stature who wielded Stilettos, it was not devastatingly destructive and loud since with their daggers, their combat styles favored finesse and precision over destructive outbursts.
And in this muted background, the intensity of steel reigned.
With so many enemies swarming him, Paul started accumulating injuries immediately after killing the first 2 assassins but he remained unyielding, white energy flowing through his body as he used his healing God power.
His healing power from the Divine God Apollo was not only usable under sunlight. Over the days of practice, Paul already learned to store sun power under his own skin, safekeeping it for healing in the dark.
Inside this enclosed citadel, this was what Paul used to heal himself.
Since the battle started, a strange wind had been blowing since, courtesy of Paul, his storm control God power and after a few seconds of it picking steam, it finally crescendoed, transforming into a full-blown wind storm!
And in this storm, the lord of the storm, Paul Arrakis hunted!