Resting atop a hill, like a dragon upon its mountain, he watched the sunset on a day he was to complete a dangerous job. The sun slowly disappeared behind the mountains in the distance.

I should get going.

His legs had fallen asleep so he had to lift himself up by holding onto a low hanging branch of the tree he had been leaning against. While slowly regaining the feeling in his legs he made his way down the hill, nearly falling multiple times.

A soft wind had started blowing through the trees. To his ears, it sounded almost like voices from another world. Following a narrow dirt path that led through the forest revealed more noises. Birds singing, small animals crawling around on the forest floor, and he could swear that he heard the howling of wolves in the distance.

I should hurry.

The sudden fall of raindrops caught him off guard. And the rain was accompanied by a wind that howled around him as trees bent to its might and leaves were ripped apart.

Did someone anger Akash?

The wind ripped his hood from his head, revealing his snow-white hair.

Dammit.

He grabbed the hood and pulled it over his head again, forcing it to stay down with one hand. As he made his way through the forest the wind became even stronger, slowing him down. He leaned against it with one shoulder, trying not to get flung away like the leaves were.

If this doesn't end soon I might get there too late.

He forced his way through the forest almost failing at times but he made it. He had followed the path all the way through the forest and now stood at its edge, looking over the landscape. The path he had followed had now become wider and split into two. One led towards a valley to the west, the other to where he was headed. The winds had calmed a bit but travelling was still difficult. And his feet sank into the muddy path with every step he took, as the rain continued to patter down on him.

This is bad, I will leave behind footprints and my movement won't be silent. . . . . That stupid noble, who does he think I am? That stupid nickname of mine sure tends to get me into a lot of trouble.

He continued to plod through the mud, luckily both the rain and wind had calmed down over time and he could now walk more easily. Noticing that it had become nearly too dark for him to see he opened a satchel on his belt and took out a small lantern. Opening the small door on its side revealed a dark red crystal inside. He tapped it once and it started glowing faintly another tap increased the brightness even more.

Should be good enough.

The path he had been following now became narrower and went on in between two large hills but instead of continuing on, he turned and climbed up one of the hills. The ascent was steep and it was still muddy.

Shit . . .

He nearly slid down the hill but managed to get to the top, although not without nearly losing his lantern.

Just perfect, why is it that every time I have to do some dangerous job the gods decide to hate me?

His gauntlets, shin armour, and boots were covered with a thick layer of mud. He tried to wipe it off on a nearby tree but the results weren't as good as he hoped.

Simply perfect.

Walking along the top of the hill was even more difficult than following the path, it was far muddier. The squelching of his boots was loud in the silence of the night, which was only rarely interrupted by the "hoo" of an owl somewhere in the forest that surrounded the area.

Shit, if they hear my approach it's over before I've even begun.

But as he approached the place he was heading for he heard laughter and chattering. It became louder and louder as he came closer and closer. He followed the hill and a large, brightly lit up military camp revealed itself to him.

At least they are partying. The soldiers are probably mostly drunk.

The camp was surrounded by the hill he was currently on and the forest. As he came closer he could catch a few pieces of a conversation.

"Hey why . . . why don't you . . . come . . . drink with us?" One of the soldiers said to one who was apparently standing guard.

"Go away, I need to watch out for enemies while you people party your brains out!" the soldier sounded quite annoyed.

After dimming the lantern and putting it back into the satchel he took a last look over the camp.

I can easily move around the camp on top of this hill . . .

As he sneaked past the guard he heard the soldiers whisper something to himself.

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"Partying like this cause of one win, idiots all of them."

Poor man.

He sneaked along the hill, trying to figure out where the tent of the commander he was here for was. It took him a while, sneaking around trying to find some clue until he finally overheard a conversation coming from inside one of the tents.

"Commander, do you really think this is a good idea? What if someone attacks."

"Oh don't be ridiculous! No one knows our current location and we have people patrolling the forest."

A shiver went down his spine.

There are people patrolling the forest? Shit! What if one of them has seen me?

He took a deep breath to calm down.

It's unlikely that I was seen. The only presences I can feel are coming from that camp.

As he concentrated more and more he felt a few more presences deep within the forest behind him.

Good, they aren't close enough to have noticed me. But this means that I have to be done with this job by the time they find my footprints.

He took another deep breath and reached behind his back. He took the cork off a small vial and a sudden rush went through his entire body. It felt as if another part of his body was inside of that vial. He moved that part in front of himself, it was blood.

Alright, I just have to wait until that other person leaves.

He didn't have to wait for long until he heard the soldier that had spoken to the commander leave.

Alright, it's now or never.

He slid down the hill and right through the small opening between the ground and the tent wall. Before the commander could properly react his throat was already slit. The blood had been formed into a small, thin blade. Before the commander fell over he rushed around the desk in the middle of the tent and caught him. After he laid down the man he took a look outside the tent.

Most soldiers sat around fires talking to each other. There was an opened tent on the other side of the camp. Two soldiers stood in front of it, seemingly guarding it, and inside were multiple large barrels.

Must be the oil barrels, perfect.

He sneaked back out through the back of the tent and climbed back up the hill. There were a few large bushes he could use to get to the other side where the oil barrels were. He again concentrated, trying to sense the presence of the soldiers patrolling the forest.

About ten people on this side of the camp I'd guess . . .

He closed his eyes, concentrating even harder.

Three people on the other side . . . the others must be too far away . . .

He sneaked through the bushes, trying to avoid the soldiers. But a sudden rustling from a bush next to him made him stop immediately.

Someone who can seal his presence?

He tried to be completely quiet.

Has that soldier already noticed me?

He moved the blood blade, which was levitating behind his head, towards the bush and scattered it throughout it. One of the blood drops landed on something warm. He quickly formed the blood back into the blade and made it rapidly cut through whatever was in that bush. A damped howl made him realize what he just killed was a fox.

That scared the shit out of me.

He was even more aware of his surroundings as he continued on. Every sound he heard made him stop and hectically look around, trying to find its source. It took him a while to get all the way around the camp but he managed to avoid the soldiers successfully. The tent was now right in front of him. He reached into one of his two satchels and took out a bright red crystal.

Alright, just gotta burn these barrels, and then it's over.

After taking another deep breath he lifted up the back wall of the tent and sneaked in. He tried to stay hidden behind the barrels as he opened up one of them. Tapping the crystal once made it emit a small flame. He lifted up the small crystal with his blood and held it above the opened barrel and then proceeded to ram the other barrels causing them to fall over with a loud crashing sound. As soon as it happened he escaped through the back wall of the tent and let the crystal drop into the oil. It started to burn immediately and the fire quickly spread to the oil on the ground.

"Hey, the oil storage is burning!" a soldier screamed.

The fire also started spreading to nearby tents.

Good, it worked out perfectly. What did I even worry about?

Revelling in his success he forgot to concentrate. An arrow flew by his face, he barely managed to dodge it.

Shit.

He quickly grabbed a mask from his satchel and put it on. It was a mask in the shape of a black skull. He moved the blood back to him from the burning tent and formed it into multiple small spheres. As he quickly backed away and dodged arrow after arrow he noticed two marksmen coming out of the bushes from both sides.

"Got you now!"

It was almost too quick to be seen with the bare eye, but he pulled the two guns he had on him from their holsters, loaded them with his blood bullets, and channelled Aura through the guns to shoot out the bullets. Both marksmen fell to the ground the second their heads were pierced with the blood bullets. He heard a lot of yelling coming from behind him which made him smile a bit.

"Shoot him! Shoot him!"

But he was too fast for the arrows to hit him. After a short while, he was suddenly stopped by a falling tree followed by smoke that quickly surrounded him.

"There you are you little shit!" It was a rough and deep voice.

When he concentrated he felt the presence of someone as large as a bear. A scream was followed up by a large hammer almost hitting him right on the head.

He's fast.

He reached behind his back again and pulled the corks on four other vials. Blood rushed out of them and he immediately created multiple needle-like blades in front of himself.

Let's see how you like this.

Using his two guns he shot the blades to where he felt the presence, the blades went straight through the person.

"Argh. You little bastard!"

Shit. Don't have enough time to figure out where his head is in this smoke.

He loaded two more blades into the guns and shot. Another scream followed quickly. But again the blades went straight through him. Suddenly there was no more presence. The hammer came down from above nearly crushing his neck.

So that one can seal his presence pretty well.

"Quit dancing around like this." the man had gotten louder and started to sound more forceful.

Good, he's the type to get angry quickly.

He reformed the blades again making them blunt so they wouldn't go straight through his enemy. His next two shots landed well. The bullets went straight into his body.

Now die.

It felt like he was trying to burst out of a very tight space. The man started screaming from the pain. But they were quickly drowned out by a loud ripping sound. He could smell blood and innards.

Disgusting. And to top that doing this is bloody exhausting.

Running away was harder now with him being exhausted but luckily all his pursuers stopped at the smoke cloud to see what had happened. He had his blood return to the vials and put the corks back on, his heart still beating fast. Due to his tension, he didn't even notice that he was bathed in sweat. To calm down he stopped behind a tree surrounded by bushes.

Should be far enough.

He sank down and tried to calm his breathing while putting the guns back in their holsters and taking off his black skull mask.

I hope none of them saw me . . . would be bad for business.