There is still a lot I don't know about.
I ran, seeing the green scenery filter past me. I was out of focus. The thing I could only see in front of was endless trees and plants, the wind caressing my face as I sped up. I was not mad.
Because I didn't know what to feel. Because I didn't understand the whole situation. It frustrated me. It frustrated me so much. Malekai was saying some things to me, yet I couldn't hear them. I was too busy hearing my thoughts, trying to figure out the situation. Trying to understand a situation in which I did know the whole information. It was like trying to solve a puzzle but with missing pieces. It was inevitable that i was going to fail, but i had to make to with what there was.
They sent a fake. The real carriage containing the Orpheus Jewel was unknown to me and the rest of the assassins running with me. Malekai only said that Mr Samuel ordered them to do it, and for an unknown reason, which even Melaka is unaware of. The real location of it was a mystery, a mirage. It might not even have existed in the first place. But i was sure, it existed. The atmosphere in the room we were in was too heavy for it to be fake.
Secrets. There are a lot of secrets that Mr. Samuel hid from me. I may not be the smartest person in the guild, but I'm not the dumbest… I think, I don't know. What I know is that the situation doesn't add up. Why didn't he tell me? Does he not trust me? I doubt it. He made me his student, and that somes with a certain level of trust that one must earn in order to be that close with someone else
Is he worried for my safety? Even more impossible. He and his underlings try to routinely kill me every day, disguising it as training. Granted, it's a very effective method since I am leagues above my past self, but still, I doubt that he was worrying for my safety. Is it because the situation is even more complicated than what it seems, and thus he took extra measures against it?
An aching sensation started banging against my skull. Thinking about this whole thing is starting to turn painful. The inside of my head was like a storm of thoughts, a tsunami of information and I its master was trying to piece together with my own hands. It was starting to make me think that it was a nigh impossible task.
“Cosmo!”
Snapping me out of my thoughts. I gazed at Malekai who was looking at me with a worried expression. I questioned what was wrong, and instead of replying, he just pointed me in a particular direction. It was then that I saw an ice-like structure in a fan shape. It was huge, seemingly covering a part of the forest.
It was far. Too far. It may seem big from our point of view, yet I knew that it was too far from us to get close in a few seconds. There was only one person I knew of who could pull off an ice spell of that magnitude. A person that i wished to rip apart in my every waking moment.
“That bastard,” I muttered.
Malekai seemed shocked by what I said but I ignored it.
“We need to hurry.” Without waiting for a reply, a crackle of thunder sounded, as I made my way to that iceberg. The others followed, though a few steps behind. Here I come, you bastard.
…
The sounds of battle echoed. The surrounding forest was blazed, the wreckage of battle apparent as bodies lay beside them. Swords and staff littered the ground, the scent of burnt trees and human flesh mixing into an unglorious smell that would make one puke in disgust.
Samuel was in the middle of all that, and he didn't flinch. He didn't even care. Throughout all his years, this battle didn't even make scratch the top one thousand. He leaped to one side, dodging another frozen spear the size of a house. A man floated from above ground, looking over the whole battlefield with unrelenting coldness. The coldness spreads like an infection, freezing anything that even resembles life. Frozen statues stood under him, some in dark clothing while some in white clothing.
It seemed that there was no difference between enemies and allies with him. His attacks landed all the same, as if he saw every being in front of him as just an enemy, and no allies.
“Oy, come down here you little bitch. Fight like a man.”
“Stop with the playground insults Samuel. Come on you better than this.” Aki said, giggling as he sent a sword made of ice towards Samuel. It went past enemies and allies alike, and it soon reached Samuel Instead of dodging, he took heed to Aki’s advice and decided to pull him down himself.
He drew his blades, glistening under the winter scenery that was forming, as he leaped from the ground and slashed. There was no use of mana nor spell work, only pure brute force as the cold steel went against pure coldness. He cut through the gigantic icicle sword, as he made his way to Aki.
Aki’s expression made no change. He seemed to have expected it, no, he even wished for it. If the rumors about Samuel that circulated across the continent were exaggerated, then the trip was a waste. He opened his eyes wide and said, “Come you aesthetically retarded man.”
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Samuel didn't react on the surface, yet rage was piling up inside of him. Soon they clashed. Samuel swung both his blades, Aki meeting it with his fan that resembled the rage of frost. The energy frost and darkness clashed, making for a spectacular painting if there was an artist. Their battle heated the already exploding battle.
Aki blasted pure ice energy toward Samuel in, ironically, a fane-shaped area. Samuel reacted by wrapping his body in pure darkness. Screams were seemingly heard from the dark, Aki noticed it and laughed.
“You are a funny man Samuel. You see me as the enemy when in reality we are no different.”
“Shut up.” He stabbed yet Aki sidestepped without a care. He sliced and slashed multiple times in a few seconds, numbering in over a thousand. Yet Aki simply dodged or blocked.
“I wonder, does the little kid know of it? Indeed, he knows you are an Assassin of course, but how deep does he know? How much does Cosmo know the secrets of the [The Silent Night] Samuel Westwood?”
Aki seemed to have known that he triggered a nerve. Samuels's attacks became fiercer, and the pitch-black darkness that surrounded him started to encroach on him. Devouring him into a different kind of coldness.
“Just shut up.”
“Okay, I'll shut up, if you don't mind me doing this.”
Samuel’s instincts started telling him to get away. He then noticed a small but important detail. Why was Aki only talking and not fighting back? Why did he keep provoking him, leading him to attack blindly like a bull that only saw red? At first, Samuel believed that it was because he was making a game of this situation like always. Treating it as a sort of sick pleasure, something whose only purpose was to entertain him.
His tumultuous thoughts caused by Aki’s words led him to forget one thing. He was still an agent of the Pope. It all coalesced in a split second. He got away from Aki, yet it seemed that it was all too late as he saw Aki’s smirk.
“I'll shut up now when you die.”
Aki then muttered under his breath, “[Wrath of Winter]”
Pure ice energy that gathered unnoticed, started visibly forming like an eye of a storm. Its aura was likened to a primordial disaster that once devoured the whole world as a whole. With his entire mana backing him, he swung his fan in front of him, and what followed were freezing temperatures that went below zero.
In an instant, an iceberg that overshadowed the forest was created, freezing and reaping the life of anything that came across its path. Dark and white clothes people alike stood frozen like statues inside of it. Aki marveled at his handiwork, breathing a little harder as he just used a good majority of his mana in that one spell.
He floated back to the ground, sitting up against a frozen tree. Aki thought that this was a fun mission. He just got rid of Samuel Westwood and obtained the Orpheus Metal in the process. This day can't get any better. Of course, there were some casualties on his hand, but he thought that he could report it as they were murdered by the enemies. Whatever.
He whistled a tune, echoing within the frozen space. He smiled, gazing at the now-frozen Samuel. His eyes filled with rage as he seemingly looked back at him. His body was still wrapped in darkness, yet Aki doubted he could live through that. He was sure that even his colleagues would be dead when hit with that spell.
Tiredly standing up, he was prepared to grab the Orpheus Jewel and leave, when he sensed approaching enemies. And a particular person was with them. Aki widely smiled, thinking that his day could get better and that he thought he wouldn't be meeting him until that swung around.
He turned in a particular direction, standing beside the masterpiece he created, as he held his arms behind him. A proverbial silence followed. Yet it did not last long. A sudden burst of lightning entered the scene. He stood with a cold gaze, as he looked around the piece of art he just made. Aki looked closer and noticed that the little kid was different this time, as he was now just a kid.
The kid, seemingly understanding what just happened, then looked at his once-former teacher and stood rooted in his spot. His eyes shook, the grip on his two swords tightening. He looked at his teacher for a few seconds, as he slowly turned to Aki. He made the same gesture when he met Samuel earlier, as he opened his arms wide and said.
“Come you little shit.”
…
The sound of thunder was a constant sound that echoed. I whizzed past the trees, trying to be faster to reach the scene. I had a bad feeling. It was a terrible feeling. I'm not supposed to be feeling this way. Worrying about Mr Samuel is like worrying if the sun will still come up in the morning.
Yet there was an itching feeling inside of me, a voice that continued to scream at me to run faster. I knew it wasn't Mr Samuel since he wasn't the screaming type. But it didn't matter what it was, I sped up. A thought popped into my head, but i didnt want to think of it. No, i even thought that it was an impossibility like me liking school. IT was a sort of situation in which i would never allow, and i would simply do everything i can to stop it form happening. Even if it meant my own death.
Soon, I arrived. I halted, glancing around the wreckage of a battle that unfolded. Bodies were strewn around, their clothes seemingly opposite as it was dark and white. An aching feeling penetrated my heart when I saw that some of them were once my allies, even though they lied to me.
I searched for a particular person and looked up. The bad feeling that screamed at me was suddenly silenced as I saw who was inside the iceberg. His signature dark clothing that others in the guild matched, the smile that he once wore replaced with an expression of utter rage and hatred. His eyes were directed to a particular direction, as I slowly turned to where it was.
There he was. The bastard that once pushed me off into the depths of the abyss. One of the perpetrators that kidnapped me. One of the people who still to this day, fills me with intense hatred. I gazed deeper into him and saw that nothing has changed. Full head of white hair. Sleek unblemished clothes. A cold blue fan that he held within his hands.
He opened his arms wide and said.
“Come you little shit.”
The air froze between us. I didn't react. Instead, I looked indifferently at him, gathering my mana inside of me carefully.
“What did you do…”
“Are you blind? You must be blind, look with your two eyes. Come on, maybe I'm giving you too much credit. Okay, it's simple, your allies? Dead. Your oh-so-beloved teacher? Deader than dead. Simple right?”
He explained. Yet I couldn't hear it properly. It was a blur. Everything was a blur. The surroundings seemed to have been like a dream. My mind drew a blank. The cold and empty feeling that once invaded me that day started returning. Making its presence. Back then I struggled to control, but this time, I didn't care.
To hell with it.