332 Chapter 332: Murderous Reunion (2/2)

And then three silver flashes, so quick that I almost couldn't follow them with my eyes. The next thing I knew, my Constellation spirits were cut apart. As the shadows faded away, Rei turned to grin at me, twirling the katana almost casually in his right hand.

”Monsters and Soul Beasts won't work on me, boy.”

”We'll see about that,” I replied. As if on cue, a scorching blast of destructive mana engulfed a stunned Rei before culminating in an explosion.

”?!”

Canis Major bounded forward with a howl, after he had unleashed Sirius. Rei staggered out of the devastating spell, his body smoldering and parts of his flesh burned, but he was still grinning. He slashed out with his sword, beheading the gigantic wolf.

”Not bad, eh?”

He was upon me before I could react, and I crossed both of my swords to parry his sword strike. Spinning around, he kicked me in the chest before sending me flying a few meters away. The breath knocked out of my lungs, I lay sprawled on the ground for a second before scrambling back to my knees and bringing Hei Yue up to deflect Rei's next strike.

Rei grinned as he struck again. This time, I managed to catch his katana with both Hei Yue and Bai Ri, but he continued to bear down on me. Increasing the pressure of his weapon, he slowly forced his curved blade closer to my face.

”!!!”

Then Ursa Major's immense paw swatted him away…or would have, if Rei didn't react in time and flip away from the powerful swipe. He retaliated gracefully with a slash, but Ursa Major intercepted the blade with his claws. Even so, blood trickled down the thick, brown fur that covered his paw, and the huge bear growled.

Right when he landed, Rei was struck by a golden pillar of light. He roared in agony, writhing for a few moments, before tumbling out of the powerful spell. As he did so, he managed to bring his katana up to parry a swipe from Leo's deadly claws, but despite successfully defending himself, the sheer strength of the blow sent him hurtling across into the forest.

”Ugh…!”

Flipping himself over, he managed to bend his knees and slam his feet against an unfortunate tree, causing its trunk to buckle and splinter. Then he launched himself back at Leo, spinning rapidly before unleashing another shower of shadows.

However, the king of beasts stood firm. Golden mana erupted from his body once again and obliterated most of the shadows. The remaining shadowy spikes struck Leo, but found no purchase against his supposedly impervious fur. After all, Leo's fur was the same material that was used to weave Hercules's legendary armor.

While he was distracted by Leo, Ursa Major lumbered up behind him to crush him with his massive paws. Rei's eyes darted backward, even without him turning his head, and he smiled as he sheathed his sword.

I suddenly felt a chill.

”Ursa Major! Retreat!”

Too late. Hundreds of shadows burst out of the ground and impaled the huge bear, almost ripping him apart. The massive Constellation spirit dissipated in just a few seconds.

”I told you, didn't I?” Rei sneered, his voice filled with scorn. ”Soul Beasts won't work on me, boy.”

”…”

I glared at him, but didn't respond to his provocation. Nearby, Leo fired another Regulus spell, but Rei cleaved it apart, allowing what little energies remaining to disperse harmlessly against his body and blade.

”Don't feel bad. It's just that it's a pretty bad matchup. I've been trained to kill a large variety of people, summoners being one of them.” he grinned. ”But I must say, you've put up quite a good fight, boy. You and your friends.”

At that, I glanced at my team. My friends were still holding out against the fifteen Assassins for now, or…that number had been reduced to twelve. None of them had fallen…yet. But I could see the injuries piling on them, and exhaustion showing on their faces. In contrast, the Assassins were withdrawing and watching them intently, displaying no sign of weariness. In a battle of attrition, the ones with higher numbers would eventually win out. Even more so, it appeared that Harrison had risked everything on a quick and decisive battle in hopes of taking all of them out, but his plan had failed.

They had only defeated three, at great cost to themselves. This wasn't looking good at all.

”Damn it…”

If I fell here…if I failed to stop Rei, he would then proceed to slaughter my exhausted teammates. He might not even have to, at this rate. His disciples were quite clearly having the upper hand for now.

”Leo!”

I decided to launch a coordinated attack, hoping to catch Rei by surprise. Both my Constellation spirit and I charged forward from two different directions. Even if it was Rei, he still had to split his attention between two enemies, and could only guard in one direction. I also noticed that his shadows mainly came from behind him. If that was the case, what if we attacked from the sides?

”Ah…sorry to disappoint you.”

”!!!”

Rei casually parried my swords, and he kicked me. I spun away, winded, but managed to thrust Bai Ri at his throat, which he effortlessly deflected with his katana before retaliating with a strike that I just barely managed to parry with Hei Yue.

”You seem to misunderstand my shadow spells.”

”Grr…?!”

I watched in horror as shadowy spikes erupted from Rei's right side and impaled the roaring Leo, annihilating him. Gritting my teeth, I tried to push back, but Rei's elbow rammed into the side of my head, knocking me over. While I managed to deflect his katana, he followed up with a kick to my gut that sent me flying.

Rolling to my feet, I lunged at him again, and he grinned as he parried my strike.

”Checkmate.”

”?!”

I sensed an immense surge of mana below me, and I threw myself to the side in reflex. And not a moment too soon, too. A microsecond later, hundreds of shadowy spikes burst out of the ground, and would have torn me apart if I had still been there. Despite my prescient evasion, I still ended up getting grazed by at least a few dozen of those shadowy spikes. Blood spurting from my mouth and several dozen wounds, I crashed heavily onto the ground.

Summoning spell…I need to summon something…

Before I could complete another spell, Rei stood over me, ready to deliver the finishing blow. His katana flashed downward, and even as I raised both my swords, I knew I couldn't deflect his blade in time to avoid getting my head stabbed.

Clang!

”?!”

Rei's katana never reached me. Instead, he stumbled back and spun around to swat aside something with his weapon. A familiar-looking dagger clattered on the ground a meter or two away from me, its silver edge laced with poison.

”You…!” Rei's face contorted in fury as a familiar figure stepped out of the foliage.

”Yes, me.” Anastasia smiled brightly as she came into full view, dressed in a thick, verdant winter coat, dark leather boots and a snow cap that still allowed her long, green hair to flow out from underneath it, instead of that flamboyant, frilly green dress that she usually wore. ”Hi~ Miss me, everyone?”