The lance throwing greatswordsman took his stance. His white sheen thickened.
In hindsight, Kaiz should have realized he didn’t primarily fight at range. He had the bulk of a man that swung his arms religiously. All that training never accounted for someone that could move like Kaiz, however.
Kaiz lunged forward, aiming a kick towards his lower torso. In that moment, he remembered a weapon made of manaform moved much quicker than a metal one. The greatsword rose toward him faster than he flew. If he stayed the course, he would get bisected. If.
[Stairs to Salvation]
A cloud formed in front of his foot, halting his momentum. It should have been enough to evade the liquid edge, but Kaiz did remember to never trust the length of a manaform weapon. He pushed off of it and watched the sword slice through nothing. His push created a couple meters of separation, but he never touched the ground.
Four lances sailed below him while he squatted midair. He leapt up as more flew. His leap sent him soaring above the swordsman. Or lance thrower at the moment as he kept firing them off like he had exhaustless mana.They failed to halt Kaiz’s flight, but they did make re-entry more difficult.
He had to slightly twist his feet to hit clouds at the right angles and adjust his dive. One lance nicked his mask in the process, but it was too weak to do more than dissipate on impact. It was the last one that was thrown before he had the point of a sword thrusting for his eye.
It was too late by then. Kaiz flipped.
[Wings of Liberty]
The spell, combined with the momentum his fall had built, accelerated him past the liquid blade. Both of his boots crashed into the man like a train.
Annoyingly, his barrier was top notch. Instead of crumbling under the weight, the drop kick merely etched his silhouette in the sand. Kaiz stomped on his forehead while he was down, but he only got two in before he had to retreat. Manaform swords could be swung from any position.
That didn’t mean he’d let him fully recover, though. As he started to rise to his feet, Kaiz feinted a forward rush. The greatsword slashed in front of his path.
[Stairs to Salvation]
Two miniature clouds formed below Kaiz’s feet. He used them to somersault over the sword's arc. The same two clouds emerged again, on the other side. He forcefully kicked off of them and planted both feet on the base of the would-be assassin’s neck.
He still met resistance, but he witnessed the white sheen lose a bit of its luster. Each hit Kaiz landed reduced it further. The force of the neck kick had shoved the swordsman face first into the sand so Kaiz took the opportunity to stomp on the back of his skull as many times as he could. Manaform swords could be swung from any position, assuming you could swing in the first place.
The lances didn’t require swinging. Or sight apparently.
Kaiz sighed as they manifested directly below him and forced him to withdraw. He was glad he hadn’t managed to get to their chameleons. Barriers weren’t necessarily a weak point of his, but that mostly came down to the fact he rarely encountered one strong enough to absorb so many of his kicks. A feature of picking his battles wisely.
When he did encounter one, and evading a fight wasn’t an option, he used [March of Revolution]. If his boots had the mana for it, he’d have used it now. They didn’t though and fighting both of the assassins, assuming their barriers were equal or similar, would have certainly killed him.
He glanced at the whirlwind..tsunami..tornado..water thing. It seemed luck was on his side tonight.
“Who are you?”
Kaiz snorted, “You ask now? After you attempt to kill me in my sleep?”
The man had stood up and taken his stance, “This village was abandoned years ago.” His voice didn’t have the southern twang to it, “We thought you were a brigand. I can clearly see now that we were mistaken.”
Hm. Quite the advantageous position. Can get away with anything with ‘I thought they were a bandit’.
“That was a powerful spell for a mere brigand. It’s still going now.” It was oddly silent for how destructive it looked. “Why don’t you introduce yourself first?”
“Captain Achim Stroman.” Definitely a northern accent, “My tactics are aggressive, but that’s what the realm requires.”
I’m sure.
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“Quite the small team Captain. I heard the Baron doesn’t send his men out in anything less than a ten man squad?”
“You speak of patrols. We are specialists. Our job is unique.” Kaiz leaned towards the ‘Captain’ being from Waldaun, “Now, identify yourself!”
They both knew this was just an attempt to stall. The longer they were locked in battle, the harder it would be for Kaiz to stop the other’s escape. Of course, only Kaiz knew that he had already given up on that objective. For him, this was just free information. There was much one could learn from an enemy that was stalling for time.
“Some have called me Tanzer.”
He smiled as he finished saying the name.
‘Achim’s’ body language gave him away instantly. Tanzer was a common alias, many had it. One such person happened to be one of the deadliest hitmen Kaiz knew. The woman, disguised as a man, had a noble body count of over half a dozen. She gave the name a cachet that none of her namesakes did. She also operated exclusively in Waldaun.
His momentary loss in composure didn’t reach his voice, “What are you doing in Struleren?”
“Where else should I be?”
“We are in lockdown. Outlaws roam the land pillaging and defiling.” Somehow, even while telling the truth he was a bad actor, “Return home.”
“This is my home.”
“...” There was an awkward pause, “I have never heard of someone of your skill around here before.”
“You haven’t? Well, let’s head to Silberg together and we can sort that out, Captain.”
The pause was longer the second time.
“Don’t have a good lie for me? Shame.”
Kaiz charged. Nine lances, in clusters of threes, hurled his way in response. Each cluster flew a meter higher than the other. Kaiz deftly tucked his knees in and jumped through that meter long gap. A greatsword greeted him on the other side.
It dove from above, cutting off his easy aerial retreat. Kaiz angled his right leg to the side and kicked.
[Stairs to Salvation]
His foot hit the familiar cloud and pushed him to the side. He rolled out of the strike’s reach and swept his left leg low. He caught an ankle. As expected, the man held firm on one foot, but when Kaiz brought his leg around, and pushed off another cloud to keep momentum, his spinning kick to the thigh broke his balance. .
Kaiz’s sole made friends with his helmet again.
A lance nicked Kaiz’s mask again.
This can’t keep going.
The skull trampling just wasn’t cutting it. Focusing on the head was never going to do any extra material damage, but he’d been hoping that the mental and morale damage would chip away at ‘Achim’s’ resolve. Which it might still be doing, but definitely not quick enough. While the overall fight clearly trended in Kaiz’s direction, it was unsustainable. His boots were getting low.
This was the limitation that every untitled felt. No matter how skilled, you were only as strong as your equipment. If a titled matched your gear, it was an uphill battle through a flood.
Hmm… maybe.
A potential solution popped into his head. Resourcefulness was how those with less fought those with more.
Kaiz circled around. He noticed no lances came his way as he moved. Maybe it was a sign the mental hits were hurting, maybe he accepted that he’d never hit Kaiz at a distance, or maybe he was also running low on mana. It didn’t matter, Kaiz only cared whether he realized what he had in mind. If ‘Achim’ did, he did nothing to stop him from positioning himself.
Once Kaiz was in the right area, his charge began anew. So too did the lance throwing. A different pattern of lances met him this time. He instantly recognized they were never meant to hit him, only to guide him into a specific position. Once past them, he confronted a perfectly placed diagonal slash.
Perfect!
Kaiz reached out his arm.
[Execute: Absorb]
His palm caught the manawater. Some of it broke down and displaced on contact, but Kaiz paid it no mind. He just needed the opening. While ‘Achim’ froze in a moment of shock, Kaiz tackled him.
[Stairs to Salvation]
Instead of heading for the ground, however, they sailed through the air. Kaiz continually lunged off clouds as he carried them forward. Before ‘Achim’ could realize or react to what Kaiz was doing, it was done. Kaiz released him and watched as he fell helplessly into his own spell.
He gasped, then disappeared into the maelstrom.
Kaiz landed and peeked in the direction of their chameleons. They were gone.
Would have been better if I caught one.
He shrugged. He was alive. That was enough.
Sleep ca—
Kaiz pivoted, a green glow emerged in his peripheral.
He came back?!
It turned out to be two glowing green bodies. One was Red, the other was a man she dragged behind her. She threw him in front of Kaiz.
“He’s alive. I’m gone sleep.”
Her second statement didn’t make sense, but Kaiz was too lost in his disbelief to notice. Even as she walked back to her house, he was stuck still staring in shock.
Since when could she fight?! Where were they?
He looked at the man she dropped. It was definitely the last of the assassins. Seeing him up close, he was definitely older. They all wore masks, but Red seemed to have ripped his off. He had none of the muscular physique the other guy had. He seemed thin and brittle by comparison.
That was, of course, a completely accurate observation and not Kaiz trying to explain why he found his fight so difficult.
No way this old man survives a kick to the spine. Look at him. He— wait. Did she say he’s alive?
----------------------------------------
The next day, Viz returned. He looked at the thoroughly pulverized buildings, then looked at Kaiz, then looked back at the empty, flattened piece of land, then finally down at the old man laying sprawled on the ground, “I thought I had a story to tell. What happened?”
“Well.”