511 Reinforcements arrive on both sides

Ester saw a blade swinging at her. She used the small puddle of the assassin’s blood to slide her legs and swiftly perform a split.

*Swish* The sharp blade could only cut a few strands of Ester’s hair as she instantly dropped to the ground with her legs open.

historical

The blade aiming for Ester’s neck couldn’t stop until it slashed another assassin and left a deep laceration.

The assassin glared at Ester. He moved his arm to swing the sword down, but he soon found himself falling to the ground when his legs were swept away by a strong kick.

The assassin extended his arms to stop himself. As he believed he could recuperate and stand up quickly, a strong grip radiating heat grabbed the back of his head.

“Wah?” The assassin uttered before his face was smashed to the ground with great force, killing him instantly.

Vincent extended his other hand and grabbed Ester’s hand. He stood up and pulled Ester off the ground with enough strength to lift and throw her light body in mid-air.

Ester’s radiant crimson eyes noticed an assassin about to swing his blade at Vincent. She glared at the assassin and swung her leg back while contorting her body still in mid-air to do an aerial cartwheel.

Ester had made a lot of progress with sigil training in the past couple of weeks. The book Vincent copied off Kazumi’s memory helped Ester learn to transfer control of her sigils to her legs instantaneously.

.....

One of the sigils above her red gloves changed color. From everchanging wind, it became heavy earth.

The closest leg to the assassin became heavy and hardened while wind gathered at the tip of her toes, ready to shoot her leg down with immense force.

The assassin perceived Ester’s attack and guarded with his sword promptly. The block succeeded, and Ester lost her balance, causing her to fall on her back.

However, the cost the assassin had to pay was great. His sword bent, and it became unusable to use.

The assassin quickly took out his dagger, but he became confused to see the woman smirking instead of trembling in fear.

“Nuts, goodby.” Said Ester before kicking the assassin in his most vulnerable area.

This wasn’t an ordinary kick. No, it was a mighty devasting kick produced by combining Earth Sigil to cover her foot with heavy and hard skin and Wind Sigil to push her heavy leg upwards with great force.

“Ooof...” The assassin squeaked before fainting.

Ester felt a pleasantly warm hand grabbing the back collar of her outfit. As she was dragged back, multiple arrows landed in the middle of her skirt. One arrow landed close to her thigh and scratched her.

“Ouch.”

Vincent became angry Ester had gotten injured. He threw the corpse riddled with arrows used as a shield on the ground and placed Ester behind him.

[Huh? I know the assassins retreated to shoot arrows... but why are there nine assassins with a bow in their hands?]

“It looks like the rats are hiding.” Vincent guessed more assassins were hiding to attack when he lowered his guard.

“Vincent, I can...” As Ester was trying to insist she could help now, the nine assassins shot three arrows each.

Vincent puffed a cloud of steam while focusing on the slightest touch. The steam froze in time, and darkness engulfed him. Kazumi stopped using Soul Invite, and the light returned.

Each arrow landing on Vincent’s skin pierced his flesh about one to two millimeters before disintegrating into green particles and entering his body.

The assassins froze in shock at the sight of arrows being useless. In their eyes, at that moment in time, Vincent was like an omnipotent being.

As the nine assassins were figuring out if Vincent could be killed with their strength, more reinforcements arrived, and they weren’t on Vincent’s side.

Three prepared fire balls shot from different corners toward Vincent *Boom* the assassins rejoiced at the sight of a cloud of dust quickly dispersing and revealing a large fire burning over seven feet high.

The assassin’s last resort worked. Vincent and Ester were engulfed in a large flame. The assassins deemed Vincent to have been killed because he was still in the fire.

“The target has been eliminated.”

“Take care of the witnesses.”

“Leave no trace behind.”

*Whistle* One of the assassins whistled. The signal was understood by many hidden assassins lying in wait for their perfect timing to turn the tides.

Multiple assassins approached from dark corners, and others jumped from rooftops. Now, on the ground were twenty-two assassins. Nine with bows, three fire mages, and the rest with swords.

Aceon looked at the frightened Tiffi. “Don’t worry my sweet dear daughter. Your father will protect you at all costs.” He reassuringly said.

Tiffi didn’t respond to her father as her tears made it difficult to see, and their throat sore from sniffling too much. The old maid beside her was embracing her while cautiously looking at what was happening to protect Tiffi from harm.

Tiffi peeked from over her maid’s shoulder and looked at the fire. She didn’t want to believe Ester had died before she could have a proper conversation or even become great friends.

When Tiffi started to feel she was a jinx again, she recalled what Kazumi had told her. She knew of a man hated by many. Tiffi questioned if it was Vincent, and if it was really him, then this wasn’t his first time encountering a dangerous situation.

‘Lord Vincent, please save Lady Ester. I want to talk to her again.’ Tiffi wished.

The assassins rushed to attack, but Aceon had already finished chanting the spell. All he needed to do was utter the final words of power.

“Earth Shard. Earth Shard. Earth Shard...” Aceon multicasted all the mana he had collected in repeated sessions. Hovering beside him were fifteen sharp projectiles ready to shoot at any moment.

The sword-wielding assassins scattered quickly, but not all of them could get away in time. Two were killed. One injured his arm, and two others injured their leg.

The ranged assassins prepare to shoot at Aceon with a barrage of arrows and fire balls. Just as they were about to shoot, multiple footsteps of many people running caught their attention.

“Damn it! The soldiers have arrived!” One of the bow-wielding assassins loudly warned.

The soldiers were Phil, James, Hop, and two more. They were on their usual patrol when the sound of an explosion caught their attention. Phil became pale white and rushed to check on his sister when the assassination happening in broad daylight shocked them.

The five soldiers rushed to attack the mages and the archers. They tried to evade the arrows as they closed in, yet the danger was too great with three mages and their spells about to be completed soon.

The five soldiers could only take the attention of the ranged assassins as they couldn’t approach, giving Aceon more time to cast spells.

Fortunately, more reinforcements arrived on Vincent’s side from the back.

Russo and Zefine appeared. Both saw five soldiers struggling to approach twelve ranged hooded men. A little bit further were the corpses of multiple assassins, causing the two to understand this was an assassination attempt in broad daylight.

There was also a fire burning and two human figures inside strangely standing without screaming in pain. They remained inside as if trapped, and the fire remained burning as if it was constantly fed fuel.

Russo noticed the familiar face of Phil. It was his job to take care of criminals, but he had to hurry and save Phil, or his sister would become sad. Additionally, his mother, who had gotten used to everyone in the mansion, would get sad along with her.

“Stay behind, Zefine. I will take care of this situation. Call for me if you are in danger. I will save you at all costs.” Russo reassuringly said.

Russo’s body became blessed by wind, and his speed increased. He dashed forward while using wind armor and fire armor together, making him a human torch.

“Damn it! A captain is here! We have to retreat!” One of the assassins loudly warned when the only man having multiple nicknames similar to human torch headed towards them.

Aceon shot another quickly cast earth spike at the fleeing assassins, but it missed. The assassins chose to flee from the front of the street as Russo, Phil, James, Hop, and two other soldiers were at the back side of the street.

*AWOO!*

“A dog?” It was one of the assassin’s last words as a pissed-off white wolf with radiant golden eyes and moving faster than an average wolf lunged and ripped his throat.

“Damn dog!” An assassin swung his blade, yet it missed when the white wolf moved as if she saw it from a mile away.

*Whoosh!* *Splatter* An ice lance impaled the assassin who missed landing a hit on Lupa. Shortly, a fire ball, and a sharp stone projectile landed on two assassins.

The remaining assassins saw reinforcements on Vincent’s side had arrived from the front as well. A mysterious, powerful white wolf was attacking while evading every attack easily, and four figures stood in their way.

Maria, Fliara, and Eliara were the three mages the assassins became wary about.

The fourth figure was the hooded Sakura carrying Jun Ye Rim with a pair of radiant snake-like eyes and Blemish flying about to surveil the area.

Jun Ye Rim informed what her vision linked to Blemish and what it was seeing, giving them a grasp of the situation.

“Damn it! Let’s take a hostage.” One of the assassins suggested.