13 Chapter 13: Assassin (1/2)

I watched as Chang Cheng was carried away, feeling a little better. Even though I didn't have any healing spells cast upon me (that would disqualify me), I was slowly recovering. My injuries weren't disappearing, of course, but the blood had clotted and dried, and the bleeding had stopped. Furthermore, I hadn't taken any physical damage in the last battle, so that helped a lot too.

I was finally able to stand. Teacher Fielding glanced at me.

”Um, so you still intend to fight.”

”Yeah, that's right.” I grinned as I swung an arm to test it. Good, it was working. Then again, that bastard Hal Gunther didn't do any serious wounds because he was trying to toy around with me, so that went in my favor as well. ”I feel a bit better already.”

”Okay then.” Teacher Fielding then glanced at the Crowley Academy section, where the students were shifting restlessly.

”You've got to be kidding me…” the girl with shoulder-length hair muttered. ”How are we supposed to go up against that?”

”I assume you don't want to, Elena?” Cecilia glanced at her, but the girl shook her head. The captain then turned toward a few other guys. ”Nick? Louis?”

The two guys she turned to also shook their heads.

”Did you see that gigantic phoenix thing? If I go in there, I'll be roasted in seconds.”

”Sorry, I'll pass.”

”Doug? What do you think?” Cecilia turned to the handsome guy with blond hair. He frowned and nodded.

”I don't mind giving it a shot if no one else wants to…”

”Wait.”

It was the guy with dark hair and narrow eyes. Everyone turned to him.

”You want to try, Albert?” Cecilia asked. The guy named Albert nodded.

”I have a plan. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but as long as I take down the summoner, his summoned beast will naturally be defeated as well, right?”

”That is correct.” Cecilia nodded. ”Do you have a way to target the summoner?”

”Of course.” Albert smiled darkly. ”Don't forget, I'm an assassin. I specialize in these sort of things.”

Cecilia studied him for a second, and then nodded. ”All right. I'll be counting on you then.”

Albert stood up and strode to the stage. As usual, I made sure to extinguish the flames out of courtesy and protocol. It would be unfair to start burning my opponents even before the match began. On the other hand, the rules allowed me to continue maintaining my summoned beast as long as I remained in the ring.

Which was why I refused to step out. After going through so much time and trouble to summon my Vermillion Phoenix, I wasn't going to dismiss it like that. As a side note, the rule applied to all enchantments, summoned beasts and Artificial Realities. So if Chang Cheng had won the last battle, as long as he remained on stage, he would be allowed to leave his Great Wall in the material plane until he was eliminated, or swapped out for a team member.

”I'm Albert Alain. Third year in Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy. My class is Assassin.” Albert's eyes were narrowed as he stared at me. I nodded. Since I already offered an introduction of myself earlier, there was no need to do it again.

”Nice to meet you.”

Honestly, it wasn't. I was aware of Albert Alain's reputation. He was known as the Ashura Killer, a skilled assassin who honed his skills in extreme speed and dual daggers. Already he was drawing his infamous twin daggers, Light and Shadow, and dropping into a stance. I could see the muscles coiling in his legs as he got ready to lunge.

Teacher Fielding glanced from him to me, and then raised his hand.

”Fighters, take your stances,” he began. ”Ready…fight!”

Albert Alain immediately charged at me. His speed was so fast that he literally disappeared from my vision, turning into a blur.

At the same time, my Vermillion Phoenix bathed the entire space in flames.

”Tch!”

Clicking his tongue, Albert quickly dodged the first wave of flames, hurling himself to the side.

I tried to track his movements, but Albert was too fast. He was already disappearing into a blur. The next thing I knew, he appeared behind me, his twin daggers slicing down for a lethal strike. Before they could reach me, a wall of flames erupted and forced him back.

Albert quickly retreated, and then began sprinting along the edge of the arena as my Vermillion Phoenix hurled tremendous torrents of fire at him. Despite their fearsome firepower, all that destructive force was for naught if none of them landed a direct hit on him.

No wonder Albert volunteered for this match. He was confident in his speed, and relied on swift, elegant movements to completely evade my powerful but slow attacks. Actually, they were Vermillion Phoenix's attacks, but you know what I mean.

Albert danced across the flames that were ravaging the arena, almost dismissing them. He was right to do so. Even though the inferno that bathed the coliseum was a terrifying sight to behold, the flames that blazed atop the ground were merely ”baby” fire spells. Most competent mages were able to hold their heat and damaging effects at bay with their innate magical aura. Even I was protected from my own flames by my own protective magical aura without needing to cast a proper spell. These were the most basic of flames – their purpose was not to defeat the opponent with fire, but to slowly wear them down, to exhaust their energy (in maintaining that protective aura) and also through gradual dehydration and heal exhaustion.

My opponent was currently perspiring profusely, huge rivulets of sweat rolling off his skin and evaporating instantly they came into contact with the flames. However, Albert was a well-trained assassin with impeccable discipline. He wasn't going to let the surrounding basic flames distract him from his current mission.