The assassins, Jakov and Agatha, looked at Thanatos with disdain. They only show a disgusted and annoyed expression after hearing their target brag.

"You are very confident after having your back burned in a surprise attack. You couldn’t even notice I was an assassin, didn’t you?"

"Oh, don’t misunderstand me. I’m giving you credit for hiding the smell of explosives among the old stuff. But don't flatter yourself, my buddy here noticed your act in a minute. I was just checking you a bit thoroughly to make sure I could torture you without problems." Thanatos looked at Castess and told him his orders. "Run back to the base and bring anyone available. Adel should be in the office. I’ll deal with them in the meantime. Wait for my signal."

"I-I understand, but what about your back?"

"if you compare us to an apprentice, you will die an even more pathetic death. You think we are going to let that man leave this place?" Agatha began to spin her sword with one hand. "I’m an assassin from The Hand. I have completed over a hundred jobs. We have already studied you and your syndicate. All of you are going to die at my hand."

"Hey, stop talking like I’m not here too. The master sent us both to clean up the apprentice's mess. I’m pretty sure I was the one who did like 80% of the surveillance at night while you were sleeping." The contrast in attitude between Jakov and Agatha was almost like a comedy skit, but Thanatos used that moment of relaxation in his opponents to act.

"NOW!" He pulled out a healing potion and drank it. Castess dashed towards a broken staircase in an attempt to climb back up onto the street. The assassins got serious in a moment and jumped at Castess.

Thanatos's back healed as he ran to intercept them. He extended his hand and formed a ball of electricity in his palm. "[Lightning ball]" The sphere advanced toward the center of the two targets. Jakov grabbed one of the colored daggers hanging at his waist. It was the violet one.

With a swift attack, the ball of electricity disappeared. There was not a single trace of the attack. Thanatos couldn’t believe what he saw; the violet dagger had absorbed his spell. Some kind of anti-spell weapon? No, the colors must mean that each dagger has a different property.

Jakov threw a yellow dagger at Thanatos; it was aimed at the middle of his face. He dodged without a problem. Jakov attack with another dagger in his right hand, this time it was orange, the strike was much faster than before, the blade manage to pierce Thanatos skin and cut his arm.

He tried to attack with his claws, but Jakov disappeared. No, that was wrong. He teleported toward the yellow dagger he had thrown previously. A weapon that increases your attack speed and a teleport? This bastard is loaded. Jakov was almost behind Castess. Thanatos wanted to follow him, but Agatha was aiming at him with her sword.

The woman's slashes were fast and precise; Thanatos barely dodged them. His right cheek, his abdomen, and left leg were graced. It seemed the sword didn’t have poison or anything like that, at least Thanatos couldn’t feel anything wrong in his body. Still, the problem was that Castess was about to be caught by Jakov.

Launching a magic attack was useless since he had the magic dispelling dagger, but he couldn’t go himself because Agatha attacks kept him at bay. Shit, this woman is making sure I can’t leave. Think idiot. If you do nothing, he’s going to die. Thanatos tried to come up with a plan, but time was running out. He saw the assassin jumping at Castess's back. There was no time left.

SLASH... Thanatos's left arm flew away after being cut by Agatha. There was no way to pass Agatha without suffering injuries in such a short time. The choice was obvious. He had to take the risk and go help Castess.

Thanatos aimed his claws at Jakov's back. He dodged to the side and, with a quick movement, he stabbed Thanatos' arm with a green dagger.

"[Strengthening]!" Thanatos mana covered his arm and the dagger bounced like a stone hitting the ground. The sound of the blade scratching the reinforced skin echoed in the basement. Before Jakov could attack with the purple dagger, he used more mana. "[Fireball]"

Thanatos aimed the ball of fire at his foot. Before it was absorbed by the dagger, it exploded on the ground and dispersed the fire.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Castess screamed as the explosion sent him upward and out into the street. He gasped for air as he stood up and continued running to his carriage.

Jakov slashed through the flames with his violet dagger and absorbed the fire. Useless, my dagger can absorb any element you make with magic…! He felt a hand grabbing his arm. Passing through the fire, Thanatos reached him and began to crush his arm. Before the immense grip crushed him, Agatha slashed at Thanatos' remaining hand.

Thanatos tried to back away, but his hand refused to move. It was like his movements were being stopped by an invisible force. Agatha spoke with a cold and murderous tranquility. "[Blood control]"

The sword clashed against the skin, sending flying sparks everywhere. She only managed to scratch below the reinforced skin and draw a bit of blood before Thanatos jumped away from them.

Thanatos's magic spell was strong, only a specialized weapon like Jakov's daggers could physically harm him. Not only that, his magic resistance was incredible. [Blood control] only lasted for a second. Agatha was aware that he was strong, but she had no idea to what extent. It was no wonder an apprentice ended up dying to a man like this.

"Did you use some kind of magic to prevent me from moving?" Thanatos shook his hand to make sure he was free. "It seems too weak to control me for long."

"What? Agatha, have you already used your magic on him? I didn’t even notice. Are you sure you did it?"

"Shut up, idiot! If it wasn’t for me, he would have crushed your hand. Also, your green dagger bounced off like nothing." They bicker like siblings having a fight for the most mundane thing.

Thanatos couldn’t help but compare them to the apprentice Sebastian. He was a child who enjoyed killing and playing with his opponents. These two were similar, but at the same time, too different. It was hard to describe. Maybe it was the air of maturity around them that gave him a calmer impression. Whatever the case, he was going to use every little moment of rest.

"[Heal]" Thanatos' arm grew back.

"Ah man, stop doing things behind our back like a rat." Jakov complained.

"Me, a rat? You really want to die, asshole. You are the one letting your adversary heal in front of you, idiot."

"Annoying. How much mana have you used already? He may have as much as you Agatha."

"Yes, maybe he does. You aren’t a fighter, right Thanatos?" Agatha asked as she looked at her sword.

"Why do you say that? Just because I can use magic?"

"No, it is because I can feel we are similar. Your physical abilities are good, but the real power is in your spells. You fight in close quarters against weaklings and only reveal your spells against strong people. I know because I do the same." She put her sword back in the sheath and raised a single finger.

"We are the same and for that I would fight you seriously, [Blood pool]" The blood on the floor and his skin, along with the blood from his missing arm, went floating toward the tip of her finger.

All the blood converged into an orb. The original arm on the floor looked like an old grape. Thanatos finally realized why her sword didn’t have any special abilities or properties. "You prefer to fight with magic. That explains why the weaker one was using special daggers instead of you."

"Weaker one? You have been talking too much since this fight began. I collected the rainbow daggers on my own. I haven’t even used them to their full potential." Jakov's expression changed into a murderous glare, and so did Agatha's. Playtime was over. They were going to kill Thanatos and then focus on the rest of the syndicate. It didn’t matter that Castess got away.

Thanatos took a battle stance, he could fight without worrying about anything else. They stared at each other for a moment…

"[Blood spears]" Several spears went flying from the blood orb toward Thanatos. He dodged and smashed them as he ran toward Agatha. Jakov ran in front of him and with another clean cut he almost severed his leg.

The orange dagger was too fast. He kicked at Jakov, but he raised the blue dagger in his other hand. A blue shield appeared and blocked Thanatos's kick. The impact reverberated along the immense shield. He attacked with his claws, but Jakov teleported away.

The spears continued to rain down on him as he smashed them. He looked at the orb of blood. It was still around the same size. Shouldn’t the orb be smaller after all these attacks? No, stop assuming things. She may be giving her own blood to maintain the attack.

Thanatos's deduction was correct. Agatha was a blood mage that could use her own blood to attack. She made a cut on her finger where the orb was resting. That way, she could keep using her blood and create the illusion that the attacks were infinite.

While Thanatos was busy with the blood spears, Jakov snuck behind and, with his red dagger, launched a fire slash at Thanatos' back. He noticed and dodged toward Jakov. He threw a punch, but Jakov took out the blue shield.

At the moment the shield appeared, Thanatos opened his hand and used a spell. "[Necrotic wave]" A dark mana emerged from his hand and passed through the shield. Thanatos wasn’t sure, but it looked like his hypothesis that the shield could only block physical attacks was correct.

The necrotic mana sapped the energy from Jakov's limbs, and he couldn’t move. Thanatos dashed to the side and smashed Jakov's skull into a thousand pieces with a punch... That should have happened, but instead Thanatos was frozen still.

"[Blood control]" Agatha stopped him, unlike the first time she stopped him completely. She was using a ton of mana and keeping someone as strong as Thanatos still made her head ache and her nose bleed. "Hurry up, Jakov! I can’t hold on for too long!" She yelled at her partner to move.

Both men stood still. The first one to move would be the winner. They used all their strength to break free and move. Jakov's arm twitched first. The effect of [Necrotic wave] was disappearing. He changed the daggers in his hands.

Any attack would be useless since Thanatos could use [Strengthening] to defend any part of his body. He needed the violet dagger to get around his magical defense, so he combined the violet and green daggers and demonstrated the true power of the rainbow daggers.

The green and violet lights mixed together, making a slash with both properties, a poisonous attack that could bypass magic defenses.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Thanatos's soul screamed and broke free from Agatha's control. Just in time, he caught the attack with his claws. It wasn’t enough. Agatha threw a circular blade made of blood at him. He couldn’t get out...

Shadows crashed on top of Jakov, but he managed to teleport by combining the orange and yellow daggers. The circular blade was repelled by a fire sword.

Jakov and Agatha saw three people standing in front of Thanatos. They knew exactly who they were. The upper echelon of Underworld came to rescue their leader.