Doran’s left arm seemed to move on its own as his short blade was used to block each sword and dagger strike from the scar faced woman, her every swing and thrust was followed with a small step forward to which the Fioran knight followed with his own backstep. For every clash of steel, there was a bright spark that briefly illuminated the quickly darkening ally. Roy took one look back to Reagan before taking casual strides towards Susan and her opponent, though the reticent man only made it a few steps before the red birds and rats from earlier swarmed him and the woman. Susan’s blue eyes never looked away from their target as she used one hand to continue attacking Doran and the other to slice any creature that attempted to come near her.

“Your attacks are obvious, priesty boy.” Susan sneered before thrusting her dagger forward, aimed for the man’s chest with its blade shrouded in aura.

“And yours are sloppy.” Doran responded before using his free hand to strike the woman’s dagger hand, the force of her thrust added with the strike caused the woman to lose the grip on her weapon. The small blade was sent flying before it pierced itself into the cobblestone road behind the swordsman, the woman gave a low growl as she continued to press Doran with her sword.

Behind the pair, the man named Roy was still making a casual pace to aid Susan in her fight. Though now he was being interrupted every few steps by a leaping rodent or diving bird, both of which he handled as easily as his female comrade did. Every creature that tried to attack him was met with either a strong kick or punch, splattering the creatures back into their liquid state. At one point the swarm of creatures went to strike him all at once, Roy responded by activating the battle art Flow and effortlessly struck each rat and bird which came near him.

The man almost rolled his eyes as he continued to walk towards Susan, who at this point had pushed Doran back with her onslaught. He was wondering what was taking his partner so long, Roy believed in his younger allies' words despite how ragged Reagan had been run. If Doran had been defeated before then he should have been rather weak, but here he was keeping up with Susan and not even using a single battle art. He glanced up to see one of the swordsman’s red birds was circling above the dueling duo and he quickened his pace.

Doran was slowly being pushed back still, though he didn’t seem worried, he looked as though he was waiting for a moment to counter attack as the woman quickened her strikes. Susan was steadily losing her smirk as she let her combat prowess take hold, each time she changed the rhythm of her attacks Doran followed suit. Even when her strikes became erratic, she couldn’t get through his defense.

“Alright, I’m done playing with my food.” Susan quickly smirked again before throwing a kick aimed at Doran’s head, forcing the holy man to lean back to avoid the hit. In the same motion as her kick, the woman quickly drew three of her knives from her thigh before throwing them at a downward angle as she aimed for the swordsman’s chest.

Doran’s eyes grew wide for a brief moment before he managed to awkwardly leap back, the woman’s aura shrouded knives shot down like crossbow bolts before burying themselves deep into the stone road. The two sword fighters locked eyes for the briefest of moments, yet they both knew what was coming next.

Susan planted her sandal clad foot before using it to spring forward, Doran took a sideways stance as he moved his blade to his right hip and prepared a wide slash. The red bird that soared above quickly dived to Doran’s side, the two sword fighters were just about to clash as the blonde woman saw her victory in sight.

Before Susan was suddenly pulled back into an awkward position just as Doran swung his blade outward. Despite the sudden jerk which let the scarred woman avoid a strike, she let the momentum carry one of her feet up and forward, Doran casually leaned back to avoid what he thought was a kick…

Only for Doran to feel the familiar, cold sting of a blade bite into his face. He didn’t need to touch his face to know that his blood had spurt from a long gash that trailed from his jaw up to the corner of his eye, though his eyes were indeed locked onto the bent over position of his opponent and her older male ally.

The man called Roy had caught up to the pair and had grabbed the hood of Susan’s cloak before the pair had a chance to collide, her face looked to the sky with how far she was pulled back while the man’s gaze was locked on Doran’s sword. Susan stood on one foot while the one she kicked with was pointing to the sky, in her toes was the dagger she originally held in her left hand which pointed up in the same direction as her foot. The blade was smeared with fresh blood. The holy man didn’t realize how close they had gotten to her second weapon, nor that she had such a dexterous ability that allowed her to make use of her open-toed footwear.

“Want to tell me why you ruined my win?” Susan grumbled, only for Roy to reply curtly.

“Does your win involve your head rolling on the ground?”

The woman gave a confused grimace before looking back to her opponent, her grimace turned to shock as she saw what her partner did. The edge of Doran’s blade had suddenly become longer, a narrow, red blade-edge had somehow attached itself to the three foot blade and added another four feet to his weapon. Susan quickly realized that if Roy hadn't pulled her back when he did, her head would have indeed rolled on the stone street. But the pair’s eyes grew even wider at what they saw next.

As the sun had fully set, they could barely make it out, but they saw it nonetheless. As Doran took another combat stance, Susan, Roy, and Reagan saw the fresh gash on the swordsman’s face instantly close and stop bleeding, aside from the small trail of blood there was no sign of there ever being an injury there.

“So… Reagan?” Roy asked loudly. “What was it you said, about cutting this man’s throat?”

“I fucking told you! This guy isn’t normal.” Reagan was fully beginning to panic at this point, not only was Doran healing fast and surviving fatal blows… He was moving faster and it seemed like his strikes were hitting harder as well. The swordsman didn’t move this well earlier that day and the young assassin couldn’t figure out what had changed. None of them had long to think as Doran lunged forward, his new blade already swinging down to claim a blow on the woman who was still in her awkward stance.

Susan cursed as Roy gave his comrade another strong pull with surprising strength, the woman used her planted foot to help spring back with her new momentum. Doran’s red blade arched downward and barely missed the blonde woman as she was flung backwards, though her ally wasted no time in counter attacking. Roy thrust his open hand forward before he quickly spoke out.

“Tier Two: Night Lash!”

Upon those words, purple light formed into a circle with a sneering face at its center before four black tendrils shot forward from the magic sigil. Doran swiftly raised his sword to strike away one of the lashing tentacles as he leapt back, the swordsman began to swear at himself for constantly being put on the back foot. He didn’t have much time to think as the magic tendrils continued to lash out at him. The swordsman’s eyes darted back and forth between the four appendages as he bobbed and weaved, attempting to find an opening to make a counter attack.

Behind the magic circle, Roy’s fingers were bending and curling as he manipulated the tentacles to whip at and reach out to his target. Behind him, his two comrades were gathering themselves to help out their magic casting friend as they knew their time was running out. Doran was just about to find his opening when Roy finally found his own. One of the four tendril had just been struck away by the swordsman’s red blade a mere second before another one was sent shooting forward as though it was a black arrow. Doran didn’t have a chance to react before the attack struck and shattered the thin red blade into pieces, the man felt the strike in his bones as though he just got hit with a club. The pale man was stunned for a brief moment but that’s all his opponent needed, the tentacles quickly wrapped around the swordsman’s limbs before Roy threw his magic casting hand backwards and pulled his target into the air and flew towards him.

Battle Art: Shatter Point

Roy concentrated as he closed his other hand into a fist, his aura turning black as it collected around his balled hand. Without losing any momentum from his earlier motion, the man sent his aura clad fist forward while the swordsman flew towards him without any means of stopping. Doran couldn’t even try to struggle against the tendrils iron grasp as he shot towards the next strike.

One strong step and the solid blow from Roy connected to the holy man’s gut, Doren let out a loud grunt of pain as it felt like his opponent’s fist pierced through his body and shattered his bones. The tight grip of the black tentacles suddenly released as the swordsman was sent flying backwards, his forward momentum being completely reversed before he came crashing to the ground after being airborne for only a few moments.

“Nice job, Roy!” Reagan called out happily, now holding Susan’s dagger in the event he was needed.

“No way he’s getting up from that hit.” Susan agreed. Though Roy kept his guard up, still in his striking stance. The pair looked at their comrade with confusion as he stood there in silence, though their confusion only grew as they heard a man speak. Just not the one they were expecting.

“So, you can cast magic and use advanced battle arts?” Doran groaned and struggled to say as he slowly sat himself up from the stone road. The swordsman glared at Roy, now knowing which of these three was the strongest, or at least the most troubling to deal with. “Castors really aren’t easy to deal with.But I can’t just run away and let you walk free, knowing you three are up to something.”

Doran staggered a bit as he stood back up, he felt an intense pain in his body and he already knew that he was bleeding internally. Several of his organs had been ruptured and even some of his bones had been damaged from that last blow. If he were anyone else then he’d be dead, but he felt his injuries healing by the time he was back on his feet. The aching in his form slowly faded, his stance appeared unsteady for the briefest of moments before he regained his composure. The looks of shock and confusion on his opponents faces quickly switched to irritation.

“Susan, Reagan, formation C!” Roy called out his order as he and Doran charged at each other. The younger assassin was still feeling exhausted, but he couldn’t sit back to watch his seniors continue to fight against the strange swordsman. The three assassins all readied themselves to do a final clash with Doran.

Doran’s eyes repeatedly darted between his three opponents, quickly gathering which one was the most dangerous. His short blade was ready to make a killing blow at the man named Roy, though the sudden change in pace from his foes made him change his plan of attack.

Reagan ducked behind Roy and hid from Doran’s eye while Susan dashed to the left before she planted a sandal clad foot against the side of a building, using it as a springboard to shoot herself right at the charging swordsman. Her sword, poised to thrust into Doran’s head, was quickly knocked off course by a deflecting blow from the man’s shorter weapon. He didn’t have a moment to launch a counter attack as he was suddenly being assaulted by a kick thrown by Roy, Doran’s jaw felt a throbbing pain as he was thrown off his balance.

Reagan wasted no time in the opening his older ally made for him, the young man launched himself from behind Roy and thrust his borrowed dagger at the mildly stunned swordsman. Only for Doran to move his open hand to take the blow, the man’s right hand felt the cold sting of metal pierce clean through it before his fingers wrapped themselves around the guard and locked the blade in place. Roy and Susan quickly launched their next attacks as Doran began to pull the young man to the side, using the blade pierced through his hand as a guide pole.

Roy’s next attack was interrupted as he had his young comrade thrown into him, the holy man effortlessly forcing Reagan off his sturdy stance before allowing the blade to be removed from his bloody palm. Susan paid no mind to her friends being tossed aside and kept her razor focus on the target at hand, her own blade striking and knocking the swordsman’s blade out of her way to make a new opening before he could recover. The woman’s sword changed course, switching from a side swipe to a downward strike.

Doran didn’t even flinch as his left hand was jerked to the side, he instead swung his right hand up to meet the woman’s sword. However, unlike before where he let his hand become injured, the man didn’t intend to receive a new injury. Though his wound was already closing up, Doran’s blood poured from the gash and shaped itself into a simple five foot long sword. This red blade was thicker and stronger than the previous one and easily blocked Susan’s slash, there was an audible clash of metal against metal despite the red sword once being liquid.

“Fuck!” Susan cursed as she was practically tossed back from Doran’s counter strike, Reagan didn’t waste a single moment for another strike as he and Roy aimed for a pincer attack. The two concentrated and Reagan almost winced as he forced his next attack.

Battle Art: Phantom Fists

Roy’s right arm became shrouded in aura before becoming a blur of incredibly fast punches.

Battle Art: Flow

Reagan once again moved his body as though it were water, slipping past Doran’s guard and placing himself behind the swordsman.

Despite the situation being dire, a barrage of fists to the front and a dagger at the back, Doran’s face remained calm and collected while his opponents were growing more frantic for the battle’s end. The swordsman’s short sword moved to intercept each blow from Roy’s fist, though the razor sharp edge of the short sword was connecting to the aura coated fist, there wasn’t even the hint of a cut forming on the man’s limb. Reagan, though battered, bruised, and still exhausted, threw everything he had into one thrust aimed square for his target’s spine.

Only for the short blade to be once again blocked. Doran didn’t even turn his head to get a look at Reagan’s strike, he only bent his right arm behind him so the flat of his blood blade to stop the weakend assassin’s dagger from piercing Doran’s flesh.The young man didn’t have any time to even be insulted at the casual block before the pale man twisted his stance, the assassin’s forward momentum caused him to slide off of the red sword before his body was sent forward.

Reagan was sent crashing into his blonde ally, who had just recovered from the swordsman’s pushback. Without missing a beat, as Doran twisted his body, dodged the flurry of punches from Roy, and made Reagan and Susan collide together, he took a wide step back and swung his blood blade at the older man. The holy man’s blade suddenly lost a foot in length as a crimson arc shot at Roy, the red blade was barely dodged as the experienced fighter lowered his stance to avoid the attack. Despite the attempt, Roy still received a deep gash on his shoulder as the blade effortlessly cut through the man’s clothes, skin and even part of his collar bone.

The cut was so clean that Roy didn’t even feel pain until he felt the spurt of his blood hit his face and travel down his arm. The assassin trio looked on in shock as the swordsman held both his blades in a ready stance and said nothing, his gaze said everything:

Surrender or die.

They didn’t understand anything. Despite how many openings were made in such a short span of time, they didn’t land a single hit on Doran. And now here he was, using his own blood as a weapon once again!

“I think it's about time we stopped playing.” Doran said coldly. “It doesn’t matter how many times we repeat this, you won’t be touching me again. I don’t wish to return you to Velina’s embrace, but I will if you don’t give me a choice.”

Roy held his now injured shoulder and looked back to his comrades, Susan was still good to fight but Reagan was already running on fumes before this confrontation started. His own injury was going to make this fight even more difficult, his left arm was already beginning to feel heavy and he doubted he could keep going. The situation for the once advantageous assassins only turned even more against them when they heard new voices calling out.

“Doran! We’re coming buddy!”

“Slow down, Sir Cyrus!”

Two male voices came from the alleyway behind the assassins.

“This way, Shorty!”

“I told you to trust Carlyle!”

Two hurried voices came from the alleyway to the right.

“It’s about time they showed up.” Doran said to himself as his opponents suddenly gained new panicked expressions. He could understand their worries, they were having trouble with him but now they had four more opponents to deal with. From where he stood, he saw that the assailants only had an alleyway to their left they could run down, but that was would be cut off by the town wall.

Susan and Roy looked at each other as they heard the rest of the travelers close in on them, it had barely been three minutes! First they failed to eliminate their target and now their escape time was cut in half. The two nodded at each other as they knew they only had one recourse left.

“Tier two: Night Lash!” Roy raised his hand up into the air just as all four of Doran’s ally’s rounded their respective corners. Doran shot himself forward but every traveler’s advance was cut off as the same magic circle from before formed at the injured man’s palm, the swordsman saw the circle glow much brighter than before and reflexively stopped charging.

Roy showed signs of strain as twelve black tendrils erupted from the circle and shot into the air before curling down and assaulting Doran as well as the two alleyways his comrades were running from. Cyrus, Collin, Abby, and Silvern all emerged from their paths just in time to see these dark tentacles come flying at them. The quintet all attempted to either dodge or bat away the magic spell with their weapons. Eight of the tendrils were aimed at the guild members and knight while the other four shot down the empty alley and gave powerful slams against the decrepit buildings.

“Move!” Roy ordered his friends as the assassin trio quickly fled down the same alley, Doran called that they couldn’t let the assailants get away which elicited a frustrated grunt from the beast woman who had just been knocked back. The assassins were quickly coming up on the town wall as the old buildings began collapsing around them. Without missing a beat, Susan and Roy readied a blow of an aura infused sword and four tendrils striking the thick stone wall. The hole which emerged was just large enough for the trio to frantically dive through before the old buildings collapsed behind them and cut off their escape route.

Just as the assassins escaped, the spell Roy had cast fizzled out. The magic circle dimmed and the tendrils melted into shadows, leaving Doran and the others standing there stunned and looking at the rubble which used to be part of a small town. Cyrus quickly ran up to Doran and asked for what happened, only for the swordsman to reveal he hadn’t learned anything. He had planned to take one of them alive if things went too bad, though he didn’t expect one of them to be able to use magic. Collin could only look on in shock, he had no idea people would be willing to destroy so much just to get away, the young man was just glad no civilians were hurt throughout the chases or this fight.

Silvern and Abby on the other hand, could only stare at the red sword in Doran’s hand as he and Cyrus spoke. The spear fighter and swordsman spoke, mentioning how hard it’d be to track the assassins at night and through those thick trees. Doran turned to Silvern to ask if Becky could track them down only to be cut off.

“Before you ask, yes. But after seeing that, I doubt they’d be easily tracked.” Silvern gestured at the destroyed buildings. “Besides, we don’t know what they’re capable of and I’m not putting her in unnecessary danger.” Abby wanted to roll her eyes but she understood the care he put in for his animals.

“But something you need to answer, Cyrus.” The beast woman said as she glanced between Doran’s red blade and his face, her next question made the young knight flinch and take a step back from Cyrus and the holy man.. “Why are you traveling with a vampire?”

“That couldn’t have gone any worse!” Susan said sharply as she and her male comrades ran.

“Sorry, it’s my fault.” Reagan apologized as he struggled to keep up.

“It’s fine, Garren gave us a job and we’ll finish it.” Roy replied, using a single black tendril from a small magic circle to wrap his injured arm and cut off the bleeding. The trio weaved through the dark forest, aiming to recover some and attack again. Only for a deep voice to come from Susan’s pocket.

The trio quickly halted their escape as they heard a command.

“Susan, I need you and the others here in Heimdallr. Things have become complicated.” The voice was deep as well as gruff, showing signs of age and experience. The blonde woman and her allies all gathered around as she took the well cut ruby from her pocket and began speaking.

“But the knight is still alive, not only that but there’s some guild rats and a freak with the church with him too.”

“I don’t know if that knight is who we think he is though,” Reagan said. “He’s a lot younger than I expected a renowned and respected knight to be. I think I would have had him dead to rights without much of a fight if it weren’t for his friend.”

“That’s because he’s the son of who we were expecting. But I need you here, Auren is making things harder than it needs to be and there’s something odd in the Evergreen.” The man’s voice said, coming across as stern and commanding even through the red gem.

“What do you mean?” Roy asked.

“Just get here, now. I’ll explain everything then.”

The trio of assassins all suddenly stood upright and loudly declared ‘sir!’ before the gem went quiet. Reagan looked behind them and towards the town they just fled, he cursed under his breath as his older comrades knew they’d be seeing that group again. All three of them silently swore that next time, things would go differently.

Miles away sat a man who just set a red gem on a moss covered tree stump, his green shirt loosely fit around his toned frame, resting on his hip was a sword that seemed to pulse with some dark energy. A purple stone was embedded in the guard of the blade and had a sneering face etched into it. His aged, gray hair was combed back and he stood tall and proud. Behind the man was a veritable army of humans, goblins, orcs, and other races as they looked to the swordsman with respect. He turned to face the crowd and looked around him, the vibrant, green trees were thick and the fresh scent of spring was in the night air despite the current season.

“Master Garen, what’s the plan?” One of the goblins asked.

“We continue the operation, I’ll keep the city guard busy while we wait for those three to come back. I want all of you to continue searching the forest, our missing comrades have to be here somewhere.”

“And what about those travelers?”

“They’ll come here and meet their ends.” The man named Garen took a step away from his position to reveal the corpses of a knight and two adventurers who bore guild tattoos laying at his feet. “Just like everyone else who’s dared to get in our way.”

Garen looked up at the night sky and scowled, his scarred face showed no compassion. “We won’t be denied our justice, this age of guilds and rulers shall come to an end.”