Chapter 21: Death Does Not Discriminate

The winds tore through Aden’s face as he sped through the forest, his senses spread out in an effort to triangulate his Master’s position and potentially spot any other assailants lurking.

’What’s with this extremely pure Resonance energy? It rivals even that of Master…’

A flash of worry passed through his face, but he dispelled it almost immediately.

’What am I even thinking? Master is the absolute strongest, he can never die.’

A deep exhale left his lips, as his figure dropped to the forest floor with a thud, a small crater forming under him as he did so.

“Come out. All of you.”

Silence hung in the jungle after his words echoed out of existence, then low rustles travelled to his ears as multiple figures cloaked in dark outfits melted out of the cover of the trees.

Aden’s eyes narrowed as his pupils scanned the environment before him.

“One…two…fifteen…” He muttered.

The assassins perched on the branches of the trees, and surrounded him from above.

Their gazes bore on him, coldness residing within each one.

Their energies flared, causing the trees to vibrate in acknowledgement as an oppressive energy bore heavily on Aden.

A small groan left Aden’s lips as the earth parted under his feet, drops of sweat dripping down his muscular frame as his energy surged forward to counter theirs.

“Fifteen Attuned realm warriors ganging up on a weakling like myself, where’s your pride?”

The provocative words made no effect on the assassins.

Aden was actively expending massive amounts of energy to counter the pressure the assassins exuded, and he knew if he didn’t end them within the next two hours, he could actually die.

His lips parted to say something, but a loud explosion in the distance caused his attention to flicker for half a second.

That was enough for the assassins.

As his eyes refocused on the sight before him, apprehension took over as he saw that they had dissapeared.

His senses spread out immediately, but apart from the fleeing beasts and his Master’s, there were no other distinctive energies.

’Cowards, all of them.’

His eyes traced every contour of the environment, from the rocks to the trees to even the skies, but none of them gave away the positions of the assassins.

“Come out! I don’t have time for this!”

Annoyance crept into his expression, then abruptly, the winds blew wildly against him and caused his hair to block his vision for a moment.

He reached up to move it aside—

And three blades flashed into view, driving straight for his face.

Aden jerked backward on reflex. Steel passed so close he felt the air split, the edges missing his eyes by a breath, the energy they were coated with caused a cut to form on the side of his cheek.

The back of his palms moved to wipe the blood that flowed, but his eyes remained on the three figures.

As their bodies blurred forward, his jaw tightened before he moved to meet them halfway.

At the last moment, they split, one straight ahead, then the two flanking him from either side.

The oppressive energies that followed as their weapons closed in caused Aden to duck quickly.

The sparks from the collision of the blades landed on his back before he rolled backwards urgently.

’Their coordination is insane…’

Dodging the synergistic attacks that split the air around him, Aden’s heartbeat drummed in his ears as his eyes glowed.

Anticipating every movement, muscle patterning, and position, Aden managed to buy enough time to draw up a counter attack.

Taking three sidesteps and a dangerous bend backwards, Aden’s hands planted the ground as his legs snapped upward.

His heel crushed into the center attacker’s throat mid–lunge. The impact cut the breath off instantly as the body folded and caused dropped abruptly.

Aden didn’t rise. He twisted on his hands instead, dragging his leg low in a sweep that took the assassin on his right off his feet.

Steel flashed past where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.

He rolled through the fall, came up inside the third man’s guard, and drove his elbow straight into the base of his skull.

With a thud, the third collapsed. Aden didn’t waste any time and ran towards the second assassin who rapidly gained his balance.

His feet swept vicious arcs towards his face, but the assassin managed to dodge with a hair’s breadth.

Aden’s teeth clenched as the air twisted around his heel. Another arc swiped past the assailants face, and although it didn’t connect, the assassin’s face distorted as he crashed into a tree.

With heavy breaths, Aden blurred forward to finish the task, but was stopped by three Sais that flew into his knees.

“Ghhk…”

Clenching his teeth, Aden pulled out the two that caused the most disability and tossed them aside.

The third remained in his hands as he made his way towards the third.

As he grew closer, four kunais buried themselves into his back, but he remained undeterred in his approach.

***

The assassin scurried backwards as Aden approached, an oppressive almost primal bloodlust beared down on him as he attempted to stand.

A cold sweat ran down his back as he thought, ’What kind of monster is this?!’

***

As the assassin finally summoned enough energy to escape, Aden had already gripped his hands around his ankle like a vice and slammed him into the tree with enough force to shatter it.

A scream left the assassin’s lips as the collision knocked out the air from his lungs, but Aden wasn’t finished.

Using his body as a shield, Aden ran against a tree with devastating force and crashed against it.

One of the assassins who took cover there fell off, but a gleaming blade was prepared in front of him as he began his descent.

A smirk appeared on Aden’s face as he took the pained victim off his body and locked eyes with the assassin as he fell.

He could see a flash of confusion pass through his eyes but his speed only increased.

When he was mere inches from slicing Aden’s throat, Aden gripped his forearm, locked it between his feet, twirled his body to slam him into the ground, and snapped his arm sideways.

A loud scream sounded in the jungle, but only kunais were thrown by the hiding assassins in his defense.

The transparent energy around Aden became thicker and half visible, causing the weapons to fall with clanking sounds as they collided with him.

Aden locked eyes with the assassin that actively struggled against his grip before he snapped his neck with his thighs.

A sickening crack made the jungle fall silent, a calm wind blew over the corpses that laid on the ground, causing the scent of iron to waft through Aden’s nose.

Steadily, Aden stood up and looked upwards, sweat and blood dripping from his body as he muttered:

“Eleven more to go…”

***

In another location, two men stood face to face. They didn’t exude any energy, but their mere gazes caused the environment to react wildly.

In the far end of the forest, a bulky man stood with three others behind him.

“Commander Cedric,” one of them spoke, his body clad in shining armor as he gripped his longsword tightly.

Cedric hummed, his eyes never leaving the scene.

“Wasn’t it a bit excessive to send twenty of our best assassins for a supposedly dead noble?”

Cedric remained silent for a moment.

“We were sent to accomplish a mission, so it only makes sense to ensure there’s no room for failure.”

The man kept quiet and bowed his head.

Cedric sighed inaudibly.

Despite his calm words, he couldn’t ignore the confusion that plagued him.

A few weeks back, he had initially planned to send three stealth based operatives to carry out the operation, but Baldric had other plans.

Baldric had fully taken over the mission as instructed by Sir Redwyn and he was inevitably relegated to a mere second–in–command.

Although he was dissatisfied, he dared not voice his grievances to either of them.

And so, he was forced to watch as twenty of his best assassins in the Attuned realm and nearly all of the state-of-the-art Resonance restrictive traps that laid in their treasury being taken.

He finally couldn’t take it anymore and decided to confront Baldric.

And to his surprise, he actually gave a useful response:

“There’s more to this battle than either of you could ever fathom.”

Although the answer didn’t directly satisfy any of his questions nor alleviate his annoyance, the lack of amusement in his voice conveyed the gravity of the situation cleanly.

’Who is that man?’ Celdric wondered.

For as long as he was alive, he had only Baldric this serious on one occasion:

When he returned from the war. His childish memory clearly remembered the bloodied bandages swathed around his eyes and the wrathful expression that remained on his face.

That memory was etched deep into his memory and every mental change of Baldric’s that followed.

Cedric clenched his teeth and turned to the people behind him, his expression solemn.

“Everyone should head close to the kingdom. Get as far away from this jungle as you can.”

Their eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sudden request, but the expression on their commander’s face left no room for rebuttal.

As they vanished into the distance, Cedric stared at the two unflinching figures as he muttered:

“Will history have to be altered once again?”

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