The staff wielder came fast, spinning his weapon like a storm. Elias blocked the first strike with his sword but he barely dodged the second. There was something different in the way he handled it. The man smirked looking at Elias taking a step back. He came with more force in the third attack and caught Elias in the ribs. Elias staggered back with his eyes changing colors.
The man twirled again, "have you thought that you are invincible." the man snorted, finally feeling the confidence of winning again. He used a more ruthless attack to get rid of Elias at once. but this time Elias caught the staff mid-spin and yanked it down. Before the staff wielder could balance himself, he drove his sword through the man's thigh. The man screamed with horror as Elias twisted the blade, then yanked it free with more force.
The staff wielder fell on the ground at once with a shocked look on his face.
The hooded one stepped forward now. Unlike the others, he carried no weapon yet he was the calmest Elias had seen in the group. The way he was looking at Elias, as if he was trying to see through him.
"You are better than they said," the man spoke softly. "But you could not win against me."
Then he moved with a force that could not belong to a human. He closed the distance in a blink with a smirk on his face and threw a fist straight into Elias's gut. He grinned. "You are going to lose, Elias." Then he threw another fist into his jaw. Elias's sword clattered to the ground with the impact.
The man grabbed Elias like he weighed nothing and threw him over his shoulder, but Elias twisted midair, landed in a crouch, and kicked the man's knee. It bent but didn't break. Elias's eyes narrowed. He knew the strength he had used in the kick. The man should have broken a bone or two.
"Is that all you have." he narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth but did not accept the loss. He stood up and attacked Elias again with more force. They fought hand to hand with force, ready to rip each other apart. The man was becoming more and more ruthless but Elias had found a pattern in his fight. He would look at left arm but attack at right gut. His expression was cold but he was slowly losing his strength.
Elias blocked a strike and landed a punch across the man's cheek. The assassin retaliated, slamming his elbow into Elias's shoulder. They locked arms, straining. Blood dripped from Elias's lip and his legs trembled under the force.
Then he reached into his coat and pulled his last dagger and held it tightly. When the man twisted in the air and attacked him again, Elias buried it deep under the assassin's ribs. The man froze and his eyes went wide.
"How.. I was their disciple. I was going to be… immortal." the man whispered in a low voice full of shock and disbelief.
Elias panted heavily, covered in blood but only a small part of it belonged to him. His gaze fell on the ground. Eight corpses lay scattered around the broken road.
He leaned on the carriage for a moment, letting the weight of survival settle into his bones. The last one was strongest, he was going to be an immortal. Could lord Velmore already have access to immortals? No, that could not be possible. He was just a baron in the countryside. Then could it be they knew he was working for Seraphina.
His eyes narrowed at that thought. He had many questions in his mind but there was no one who could provide answers and he did not have the time to linger on them. He dragged each body off the path, climbed into the driver's seat again, and nudged the mule forward.
Elias barely had time to catch his breath. He had wiped the blood from his jaw and straightened his spine, and turned the mule's reins with a grim sort of victory when a low crunch of gravel made his fingers freeze on the reins.
A man emerged from the mist rising off the forest road and stood in front of him blocking his way again. He was a broad shouldered man with a cold look on his face. He was not wearing the black attire that belonged to assassins. With a cold look on his face, he stared at Elias even when there was a good distance between them.
A human could not see this well from this far. He was clad in simple black leather pants with no shirt to cover himself forget about armor. There was no weapon visible on his body yet he moved with absolute confidence. He didn't even bother with a mask. His eyes glinted like polished obsidian, and his expression was unreadable.
Elias's gaze narrowed. Something about his gait was wrong. He was not raging after seeing him killing so many people, he seemed intrigued as if he had found a new toy.
The man stopped a few feet away from the carriage and looked at the pile of the dead bodies with a tilt of his head.
"You have done an Impressive job, Elias." he said with a nod of satisfaction, "you have killed eight trained killers, and yet you live without a scratch on your body."
Elias didn't respond. It was not like he did not have wounds, they all had healed by now.
"I watched you." the man continued tilted his eyes back to him, "you are not trained to fight like them. They have perfect moves and every time a new assassin attacks you, you are pushed behind. But in just two or three attacks, you have learned their ways and then defeated them in their own game.
Even the most skilled fighter could not copy the fighting attacks this easily. And if you have been this talented, you would have been hidden for so long, Elias. You aren't just skilled, you felt them coming before they struck. And you move like your bones remember more than a mortal life allows."
He tilted his head, studying Elias like a specimen. "Are you a born immortal or one made in blood and fangs?" The man had an amused smile by now but it made Elias's jaw clenched. He said nothing but his grip on the reins tightened by now.
The man smiled faintly. "Ah! This silence but you knew, even that answers enough sometimes."