Trapped, surrounded and out of tricks, Kodesh was just a second from death. He was stuck in a rut and death was brushing too close to his sunny eyes, almost dimming them of their radiant light.
Seven sumptuous golden hilted swords were slicing through the calm and still air at devastating speed, gaining more momentum like they were fueled by the very air they were swooshing through.
A heavy and clobbering war hammer was hefting through the air aiming precisely at Kodesh's copper haired head. It was almost like his copper strands of hair were magnetic, pulling the iron hammer with drastic and extraordinary intensity of their magnetic field.
A shining mace of shiny and sharp irregular stiletto spikes was also rapidly closing in with a terrifying premonition of death, its spikes almost tasting the blood convulsively pumping through Kodesh's veins. It was almost like the sharp mace wanted to liberate Kodesh's blood that was seemingly trapped inside his blood vessels and watch him bleed out and die of exsanguination.
The three armored warriors and a few more leathered warriors could already see Kodesh's life flashing before his sunny eyes but even on the brink of death, he refused to give up. Instead, resolution, steadfastness and an unyielding spirit fueled his desire to live even more.
His heart ached and longed to see his family so he had to triumph over adversities no matter what. He was a hero in his story and what hero fails their first mission? It was an uphill struggle of survival but he was going to go down swinging. His family relied heavily upon his victory.
Their precious lives were at stake and with that, he cast any modicum of doubt and fear into the abyss and liberated hope, belief and confidence from the rattling chains inside his very mind.
He knew the fight was more of a battle of mind than it was physical. Allowing himself to be broken emotionally and mentally would only spell disaster so he tightly clung on to hope and faith like his life depended on it. Well it did, hope and faith was the only thing that had kept him alive thus far.
He was fighting an uphill battle for an inexperienced warrior like him but it was also his first battle since he was assigned this mission so he had faith that the system knew he was powerful enough to fight through any challenge the mission throws at him. And not just to fight.. to win and most importantly, to kill!
Even with three deadly weapons descending and slashing towards him, he still refused to doubt. His faith was strengthed by his weakness and his dire situation.
'I am strong when I'm weak.' He thought to himself as he was staring at death through his sunny eyes, unfazed by its dark intent.
There is thin line between faith and being delusional. Kodesh wasn't delusional, he wasn't waiting for a miracle to happen. He knew his armor was sturdy enough to withstand the golden hilted sword to some degree so he had devised a plan in that fraction of a second.
The war hammer and the mace of sharp spikes could bludgeon his invisible armor, fracturing his bones and lacerating him so he had to avoid them at all cost.
With that, he focused his sentience on the two blunt weapon wielding warriors on his rear as he was glaring towards one of the spawns of the noble knight.
He didn't want to fix his gaze on the noble knight himself because he wanted to pull the wool over his eyes by making him believe that he couldn't differentiate his aura from the rest of his clones. He wanted to seem as incompetent as possible. That was how he was going to kill the betrothed highborn.
He had to weaponise being incompetent if he wanted to win against the odds stacked against him and most importantly to see the look on the noble knight's face when he takes him by suprise. The knight of nobility had taken Kodesh by suprise with a sneak attack and ended up slashing his chest open so he wanted to return the cold favor.
But before serving cold revenge, Kodesh had to deal with the six spawns. They were not offensive, but they were very effective in cornering Kodesh and feinting attacks to unsettle, confuse and throw him off his stride while concealing the real attack.
They could also use the master's abilities like the one that appeared behind Kodesh. It used the noble knight's invisibility aspect.
Now that Kodesh had learnt their flaws and most importantly their auras, he had a chance to make it out alive. It was extremely slim but it was still very much possible considering that he could try to use his weighty hand as a shield.
In the next split second, Kodesh tried to deflect the real golden hilted sword towards the guts of the short and stocky warrior wielding a war hammer. But the cunning noble knight had not committed his blade into the attack. It was just a deceiving feint. He was more similar to kodesh than he thought.
In the next moment, the war hammer was plummeting down towards his head, intending to crush his skull like it was an over ripe tomato, splattering its red juice like blood spraying through the air.
A fraction of a second behind the war hammer, was a sharp mace and now the golden hilted sword had committed to a slashing attack. The noble prince saw the opportunity and didn't wait for a second invitation.
In that moment, Kodesh could successfully dodge one attack from the onslaught while also blocking the other with his right hand, leaving him wide open for a sword attack, that's why the noble prince had committed to the attack.
He knew Kodesh was going to avoid the blunt weapons at all cost as they were going to crush his armor and break his bones. So he perceived that his slashing attack would be indefensible.
But even then, Kodesh didn't doubt, he still believed that he was going to win the battle no matter how dire his situation was.
In the next moment Kodesh yanked his head ever so slightly and the war hammer missed by a whisker. Moving his right hand diagonally backwards towards the mace, the backhand and the sharp stiletto mace collided midair, sending two menacing shock waves flying.
One was flying through the air, while another was a shock wave of agonizing and searing pangs of pain enveloping Kodesh's hand.
But the heavily spike mace was in a more sorry state. The side that collided with Kodesh's weighty hand looked more like hammer than a mace. It's surface smooth and bald.
In the next moment, the golden hilted sword was an inch away from Kodesh's chest, backtracking towards were it struck him the last time. Immediately, something out of a lightnovel happened. It almost seemed like a miracle but it was not.
Out of the blue, a ghostly shield radiating brilliant white light appeared from nothingness and as the slashing blade connected with the shield, the very blade immediately crumbled to shards.
Stunned and taken aback by the sudden appearance of the ghostly shield, the blue-blooded aristocrat felt his heart almost pounding violently, threatening to leap out his chest as his body feverishly trembled.
All of his comrades's mouth were agape. They thought they had him but just like a cockroach, kodesh somehow survived. He had weathered the storm but the fight wasn't yet over. He still had to conquer and vanquish his enemies.
Kodesh's eyes suddenly beamed with astonishment and an influx of resolve coursed through his veins. The sudden appearance of the shield made him as safe as a tortoise under its tough shell.
Back when he was in spiritual form at the mountain of Zion, the shield was guarding him, moving on its own. But somehow he forgot about it since he transformed back to physical form.
The shield was described as a shield of faith so it manifested because he didn't have any doubt in him that he would lose even when he was in a losing situation.
In the next moment, the white glass pierced the air towards the flabbergasted noble knight. Seeing danger looming uncomfortably close, the extra cautious highborn knight activated his invisibility aspect and tried to side step Kodesh. But it was just a feint, kodesh was using his trick against him.
In the next split second, the white glass made its intentions crystal clear as it cut through the air towards the aura of the blue-blooded aristocrat. The armor of burnished silver was the best armor money could buy but the razor sharp blade of the white bone hilted dagger made it seem more like bare skin.
It simply tore open the breastplate and plunged deep in his heart. In the next moment, the heart that was betrothed to a noble girl stopped beating as his invisibility aspect wore off. Immediately an unexpected and angelic voice whispered in Kodesh's ear.
"You have received a new ability."