Chapter 244 - The Masters Death (1/2)

Aegin leaned to the side to dodge the jab of a spear, using the momentum spin with his own spear and slice across the throat of his attacker before he spun back to the other way to do the same to another opponent. The opponent parried the blow, but didn't expect the dagger that lodged itself into his throat in the split second he took to prepare to move forward.

The clanking of metal on metal and the thumb as it hit the stone walls and sandy floor was easily missed in all the fighting. But the sudden shocked silence of the crowd was not. Aegin spied a chain and took two steps forward before he dug his spear into the ground and launched over a group, throwing three of his daggers down to take care of them as he landed and sprinted past Garrow.

”Show off!” Talo called out. Aegin was ready to turn and fire back some reply when he realised that Talo had been referring to Layton.

The young whip-user had been the closest to one of the chains and thanks to the reach of his whip was able to climb a fair way up before his attackers reached the base of the chain. The Guards in the stands had responded quickly as well however, and had come to the top of the chain to wait for him. To deal with this, Layton had used his whip to grab one of the huge beams that were incrementally placed around the inside of the arena high enough that no one on the ground could reach them, then he'd swung over to the next chain before the Guards had been able to respond. This sudden development had led to panic in the stands as Layton had begun to attack anyone who got close to him, no matter if they were one of the audience members of the guards.

Aegin wouldn't leave him up there alone. As he approached the chain, he took two large steps then threw his spear at one of the guards that was preparing to defend the top of the chain. Aegin didn't glance up again to see whether or not the guard had been hit, the shouts of surprise above were enough as he scooped up two discarded short swords and put them into his belt before swinging up onto the chain. He climbed rapidly, vaguely aware that the other Reapers had already made their way towards chains or were climbing already. When he reached the top, Aegin dodged a spear and grabbed the shaft before the guard could pull back. He yanked the guard over the Arena's wall and barely glanced down to watch him scream as he fell.

Turning the spear, he threw it up at another oncoming guard, then pushed off the wall and used his grip on the chain to flip over. He landed quite ungracefully on top of a fleeing audience member, but sprung up just as fast, drawing the two short swords and hurriedly fending off the guards that were approaching him.

He was still a fair distance from the Slave Master's box. At least a quarter of the way around the Arena. He couldn't afford more than a mere glance however as he let himself settle into the Havoi style, defending and using the guard's strengths against them so that he was far less likely to take any cuts from those could be poisoned spears.

Thanks to the Reaper's rapid progress up into the stands, the audience had cleared out as quickly as they could to avoid encountering the coming slaughter. It gave the Reapers more room to move.

Aegin quickly noticed however that despite their efforts, they may not be able to get to the Slave Master before his guards evacuated him from the premises.

And where was Ebony?

Aegin couldn't see her. She was not among the cowering slaves who screamed and whimpered in the corner, trying to appear as small as possible. Nor was she one of those the other guests in the Master's box were using as their human shields.

Ebony always served in that box. He'd even seen her earlier. Why wasn't she there now? What had happened to her.

Aegin was only about a hundred metres from the box when he realised he couldn't see Revierre either.

Aegin's efforts to move forward redoubled.