Lead Assassin POV

As the lead assassin closed in on the boy who was knocked down after having his side sliced open by a thrown dagger, his eyes widened in surprise as he felt aura pulse out of the downed boy.

‘What kind of monster are the Ironcrests raising? Deadly silent magic and now aura? The reports say the Ironcrest family had a son 3 years ago, and after a while, they withdrew him from the public eye with only selected servants being allowed to see him. Unless there is another boy inside the room he came out from, this boy must be Luke Ironcrest. But he is too big for a 3 year old.’

With what looked like practiced ease, the boy pushed himself to his feet and dashed forward to meet us in battle.

***

Luke’s POV

The moment I turned my aura on full blast, I could feel it, I was on a timer. Now that my body is more developed and has more energy to burn, I start feeling the strain of doing a high-intensity cardio workout even though it has barely been a few seconds since fully unleashing my aura.

My world slows down as I rush forward while holding my stick in a defensive stance, ready to sell my life dearly to buy time for my grandparents and mum to get back into the fight or for backup to arrive.

As we close into striking range, the only ones who I see at normal speed if not faster are the 2 assassins, and the worst part is that I have an inferior weapon to them, and since they took a quarter off the top of my weapon, I lost my range advantage and now have the equivalent of a short sword. I would have liked to use the dagger that they threw at me, but after it opened up my side, it kept going and clattered to the floor somewhere further in the room.

The only advantage I have going for me at the moment is that I am at the doorway to my parents' bedroom holding the chokepoint so I can’t get flanked.

I wanted to cast another wind blade now that the 2 assassins were so close together but I did not have time before the first assassin took a stab at me.

I managed to parry the strike, but before I could counterattack, another stab from the other assassin came at my head. I could not raise my stick in time, so I ducked my head and shot out a low kick aimed at his knee joint.

My leg impacted the side of his knee and there was a satisfying pop sound as the assassin shouted out from the pain of having his knee dislocated and fell to the side. With that threat neutralized for the moment, I turned to the other assassin only to see a fist directly in front of me.

I turned my head along with the blow to reduce the impact, but it was not enough. I was punched in the forehead, this rattled me and opened a nasty gash above my right eye.

My mind may have experienced taking a lot of blows in my previous life, but it turns out that all the muscle memory for reacting after taking a blow did not transfer over to my new body and needs to be retrained.

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I staggered back a step while wildly waving my stick in front of me as I saw the assassin follow up the punch with a swing of his dagger, the pointed tip aimed at my midsection. The only thing I managed to do in time was to bring my left arm to my side.

Then I felt it, an impact. When I glanced down to my side, the dagger was buried to the hilt in my upper arm, and a moment later I felt the sharp pain in my arm and side. The bastard! He stabbed me!

The pain snapped me back into focus. I need to end this now!

As I roared in pain and anger, I released my stick, shot my right hand out to grab the assassin’s left sleeve to make sure he did not go anywhere, and gave my best soccer kick right between the assassin’s legs.

I felt the pop of the things that should never go pop as the assassin’s eyes went bloodshot, but apparently, this assassin is made of sterner stuff. As if by pure willpower, he kept on his feet as he roughly yanked the knife out of my body and pulled back for another stab that I had no way of defending.

The only way I am getting out of this alive is to do as Dad did to get his noble title, get stabbed in a hopefully non-lethal part of my body, and hope the dagger does not nick something.

As the dagger was coming down on my jugular, I tried to raise my shoulder to intercept the blow only to hear 3 thuds in rapid succession and the assassin’s whole body being pushed onto me. But the momentum of the assassin’s attack could not be stopped, and with the assassin now so close to me, instead of my jugular being stabbed, I got a long nasty gash on my back as the assassin pined me to the ground.

I react quickly and push off the assassin, only to notice that he is limp. When I sat up to get a better look at him, he had ice shards sticking out of him, 2 in the back and 1 in the back of his head. He was dead as a doornail.

When I looked up, I saw my grandparents running over, and the assassin whose knee I dislocated had a few ice shards sticking out of him but he was still alive and trying to back away.

When Grandpa reached the still-alive assassin, he held his staff by the butt end and with fine form, took a golf swing at the assassin’s chin, knocking him out.

“Luke! Amara! Are you ok?” Grandma shouted as she ran up to us.

I tried to take a breath before answering only to start a hacking cough that made me feel that I could not take in enough air. On my third cough, a spurt of blood came out my mouth and I started wheezing for breath as my left side hurt like a motherfucker.

Grandma quickly put her ear to my chest as I breathed and then looked at the wound at my side, she then shouted, “Rowan! Here! Now! I think Luke has a punctured lung.”

She then turned back to me and pushed me to lie down. As Grandpa ran over to check on my injuries, I heard the armored footsteps of the guards closing in on us.

That reminds me of my current aura situation. I need to shut that shit down fast before the guards see something they are not supposed to see.

I remember the exercise I did with Dad in the hopes that I could off my aura. After a few tries, I feel something in me stop, it is a weird sensation, I feel… still? static? I cannot put it into words as I felt the last dregs of stamina energy get consumed by the aura leaving me empty and terribly weak, even my labored breathing feels more labored.

When I am sure that aura has totally left my body, I relax the reflex that cuts off my stamina energy and strength flows back through my body.

As I feel Grandpa’s mana flow to my wounds, I ponder why I failed to cut off my stamina energy until now… but all that bullshit can wait for later. At the moment, my everything feels like shit and it is especially bad at the areas I got hit.

Soon my family is swarmed by guards ensuring our safety and securing the assassins. As the bustle of activity goes around me, the voices of the people around me start to become muffled and fade as I close my eyes, tired from a sudden wave of exhaustion, and sleep takes me.