Lirsan’s ten assassin subordinates simultaneously jumped out of their hiding spots and rushed towards Aleks in an attempt to kill him. Despite the fact that ten assassins had used their abilities in order to kill Aleks, none of their attempts to take his life seemed to bear fruit. He continued to sit while ignoring them completely and all their attacks couldn’t penetrate his body. They frantically searched for an opening and the scene became almost comical as Aleks visibly yawned.

Lenia ignored them completely and rushed towards Lirsan who was also emanating an aura of power of his own. She didn’t have the luxury of being complacent as her opponent was on an equal level as her. Their battle soon became ferocious as Lenia used her shield to block the assassins attacks while attempting to strike at him with her sword. His swift movements made it difficult for her to target him but he couldn’t do much damage to her because of her high defense.

It was becoming a battle of attrition between the two of them and Lirsan was beginning to feel anxious. He never expected to be in this kind of situation and knew that he had lost his chance to kill Aleks. An assassin’s advantage was in attacking without being seen. Now that he had lost that advantage his only hope was that his subordinates could kill their target as quickly as possible. However, they didn’t seem to be able to do any damage at all to Aleks which confused him all the more.

“I suppose that’s enough. We still have more fools to take care of this evening! Soul Marionette!”

Strange ethereal strings that only Aleks could see sprung from his body and whipped towards the ten assassins that had tried to kill him. They wrapped around the assassins causing them some initial shock and pain before they found their consciousness beginning to shatter. They cried out in anguish but there was nothing they could do. Their consciousness had been completely obliterated and the ten now stood firmly at attention like puppets on a string.

Aleks finally stood and walked forward towards where Lenia and Lirsan were still engaged in battle. Lirsan had felt a strange power from the direction of Aleks but he was too preoccupied with Lenia to notice exactly what Aleks did.

“Lenia, it is time to end this. Fall back.”

Lenia pushed Lirsan’s dagger back with her shield and she slowly moved back towards Aleks with her shield at the ready giving Lirsan a chance to finally notice that his subordinates were no longer attacking Aleks.

“What the hell are you fools doing!? Kill him I said! We must hurry!”

Aleks chuckled once more, “Oh, they won’t be following your commands anymore. They belong to me now.”

With a wave of Aleks’s hand, the ten assassins quickly surrounded Lirsan before he could react. He was beginning to feel a sense of dread and his eyes furtively glanced around looking for an escape path. With his abilities, he felt he could easily escape their encirclement but before he could make a move Aleks raised his arms and opened his mouth wide beneath the mask.

“Banshee’s Wail!”

An eerie shrieking sound exploded from Aleks’s throat. The shrieks were innumerable and ghastly as visible wraiths violently poured out of Aleks’s body. Taking the full blow of the Banshee’s Wail, Lirsan had no means to resist. His willpower was completely eroded and he became paralyzed in fear while gripping his face roughly through his mask. He felt as if the bowls of the nine hells had opened right in front of his eyes sending him into an uncontrollable panic of extreme fear.

Without the ability to move and no longer aware of his surroundings, Lirsan remained gripping his face unable to even cry out in fear. He couldn’t move his body at all and his senses no longer gave him any sense of awareness. He was a sitting duck, completely and utterly immobilized.

Aleks made a simple gesture and the ten assassin marionette’s slashed towards Lirsan, each of them piercing his body with their daggers simultaneously killing him without any effort. Lenia finally relaxed her body but she was breathing heavily from the fighting. Aleks walked slowly towards Lirsan’s body which had slumped to the floor after having his body pierced by the ten marionettes. He knelt down over the body and placed his hand over Lirsan’s chest. An ethereal glow entered his body from Aleks’s hand and Lirsan once more gained new life.

“Rise puppet, we have work to do.”

“Yes master.” The puppet replied, his wounds had already begun to visibly close and he stood up without any trouble.

Lenia just watched from the side not wanting to interrupt Aleks as she slowly regained her calm and relaxed her muscles. Her body had already begun to heal and her vitality was slowly returning to her.

“Lenia, you did well.”

Even though Lenia couldn’t see Aleks’s face, she could feel the warmth in his words and imagined that he must be smiling at her. Her face was already flushed from fighting but she could feel her cheeks warming up more.

“Thank you master! I tried my best!”

“You did excellent. Your battle prowess is admirable and your reflexes and reaction time was befitting your level and power. I am happy with your performance.”

Lenia clutched the hilt of her sword firmly while holding it at her side and she smiled with excitement at his praise.

“What now master?”

“The Paladin and his knights were already searching for us throughout the district and he should have been able to detect the assassins. Now that I have used my power, he is definitely on his way here. We should prepare to welcome them but this time we need to be a little more careful. We should have my puppet and the marionettes ambush them. After that, we make our move. I don’t have enough SP to make all of the knights into marionettes immediately so we should whittle their numbers down a bit. It would be a simple matter to kill them all with ‘Banshee’s Wail’ but I have a very important use for them!”

Lenia looked at Aleks curiously with her head tilted slightly to the side and asked, “What do you plan to do with them Aleks?”

“You should know that the gods and their kind, they receive power through the potential in their worshipper’s souls. This isn’t the only way as there are some exceptions to this, but Tihr has a huge presence here. I want to remove that presence, even if only temporarily. However, that isn’t enough! I want to hurt him and drive his followers away! Even if it is only a trickle, it is worth it! I will turn as many as those knights as I can into marionettes and I will make that half blooded angelic scum into a puppet and then I will send them all into the Cathedral of Tihr and massacre everyone in it! All those who were sick or injured during the riots who are still being healed or resting there, all the priests, clergymen, clerics and knights. They will all die while crying out to their brothers, not understanding why their own friends and protectors are killing them mercilessly!”

Aleks began to laugh wickedly, “What do you think their faces will be like Lenia when they see the ones who are supposed to be protecting them, killing them instead? When they start to burn down their own Cathedral and killed the helpless, will they lose faith in their god? I will blow up that entire building and leave nothing but ashes and the dead! Then I will consume all of their souls before leaving this wretched place!”

Lenia observed her master laughing and felt chills, “I don’t really get it master but is it really necessary to kill all those people?”

Aleks calmed himself and glanced towards Lenia before saying in a harsh tone, “I would burn down the entire city if I could! But, we don’t have the time. The Federation of lords will definitely call back some of their powerhouses to restore order to the city so we must leave before then. We can’t afford to fight the entire country, not yet anyway.”

“Puppet, take these marionettes with you and set up an ambush outside. Keep yourselves hidden and once the Paladin arrives with his knights you are to attack and kill as many of them as you can. The marionettes won’t last long but you should be able to wipe out a number of them if you strike swiftly and stealthily. As for the rest, leave them to me. I will take care of that Paladin personally. I need to test out all my new abilities after all.”