[25] She Comes Knocking

"I smell blood." Ashe's nose twitched as she produced a visible frown and her brows creased.

She had become long accustomed to the taste of blood, and with her enhanced senses thanks largely to her curse, it was extremely easy for her to pick up the scent of something she was much too familiar with. There was no mistaking it, being something she was quite keen on; undoubtedly so, this was the smell of freshly made blood. It assaulted her nose unlike that of tired blood.

However, she smiled. Evidently, there was a show to be had.

At that moment, Maria's eyes opened in a daze as she looked around. Them she puzzledly turned towards her personal guard.

"Why have we stopped?" She asked.

"An enemy," Ais stated.

"The guards are dead."

Her hand was already in the grasp of the blade at her waist, and she was preparing to set out. Unlike Ashe who steely smelled blood, she simply knew the guards were dead based on her ears alone. There was no sound of fighting, nor was there sound of scraping metal. However, the lack of such sounds only served to enhance her conclusion.

"The enemy is human." She stated firmly as she opened the door to the carriage.

Unlike beasts which attacked in whichever way they pleased, or kicked off commotions at any time they wanted, humans were much more deadly in their silence. And thus, with no sound of battle or movement, while the carriage was still stopped, she concluded the enemy to be human.

However, she did not expect this show of utter disregard.

Just as she stepped out, she was surprised to find a man standing steely in front of her with no awareness as to hide himself.

Slowly shaking the crimson blood off the blackened dagger in his right hand, he smiled and spoke "Ah, there you are, I was getting quite bored of this little game. Did you guys really think me so weak as to have this band of 'guards' to protect you?"

Ais narrowed her golden eyes and stared expressionlessly at this eccentric figure in front of her. The area was mystifyingly foggy, and she could barely see more than a few feet from herself, however, she could see him.

He seemed oh so calm, without a care in the world.

Blonde hair that was lightly combed to the right side, exposing a bit of his pale left scalp. Pale blue eyes that seemed to directly cross against Ais's golden. He looked a bit older than Ais, and she herself concluded him to be in his early twenties.

"Though, I would be happy to take another soul before my final prey. I would like to ask, is there any chance you could just hand the princess over?" He smiled as his calm voice sounded out.

"You see, I wouldn't like to dirty my hands too much."

Ais looked at the corpse at his feet, then stared back emotionlessly at this man, "The guards?"

"Just a means to my prey." Was the simple reply that came.

She nodded, grasped her hilt tighter, allowed the blade to glimmer into the cowering sun, and charged forwards with swiftness.

Her sunburn eyes had already focused on its target—the neck.

There was no hesitation in her movement.

However, just as her blade was about to pop off the head of this assassin before her...

The figure before her disappeared in a blur.

"No, no no. You seem to take me for the other guy, don't you? For Brian, right?" The voice appeared by her side.

Ais turned her head rightways to see a blackened dagger hurriedly incoming towards her forehead in a bid to dig into it. Swirling the misty white fog in its speed.

Shifting her weight lightly, she allowed her own descent, and felt the air whiz at her hair as the dagger passed by.

However, she wasn't done, she activated her skill <Circular View> in an instinct. In just the right time, she saw within her mind the vision of another dagger headed towards the back of her head.

As quickly as she could move her body, she jumped leftward to escape the graze of its blade.

Ais, returning to a full standing posture, stared at the man in the same emotionless nature. As traces of her golden hair fell, she could feel a slight ooze of blood at her neck.

It had been too close, a bit slower and her throat would have become clogged with blood.

She stared at the area--he was gone. She could hardly see anything, however, his figure was nowhere left to find.

"Impeccable reaction time." The voice soothed her ears, this time, sounding a bit farther.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking my prize." She somehow imagined the same calm smile, "after all, us assassins aren't truly meant for frontal collisions."

Ais couldn't see the carriage in her field of vision, even her desired ability was of no use in helping her navigate this fog.

However, she remembered the actions of herself and the direction the fight had taken. It was time to do a bit of backtrack.

Yet, as she walked around, she found herself lost as her brows creased. The only thing within her vision were trees.

"This fog..." she couldn't help but mutter with a slight frown.

....

Maria looked towards her right.

'What?' She frowned.

"Hello young lady," the blonde headed man smiled as he looked towards her.

"I presume you to be princess Maria Springfield, am I right?" He asked.

"You have the wrong person," Maria replied bluntly.

Did he think she was stupid? Would she just sit here and allow this assassin to take her life? Huh, you ask, how was she so sure this man that had mysteriously appeared within the carriage was an assassin?

Could it have something to do with the icy blade at her neck? Or could it have something to do with Rain's sword pointed at his throat? Or maybe it was because of the small wave of heat radiating off of the fireball directed at the man by Arthur?

The innards of the royal carriage was spacious and allowed for some movement beyond simply seating. However, one thing was certain, Ashe-the person sitting at her left-didn't seem to so much as flinch. Her arms were folded and her eyes closed.

"Who are you?" Rain narrowed his eyes as his blade met at the man's neck. Even with the secondary dagger of the man blocking his advance, his hand was firm.

"Why young man, you don't know who I am? Don't you realize how grave your situation has become?" He produced a visibly feigned shocked face as he turned to look at Rain.

"Once the guild sends in one of the Specialists like myself. The case has become much bigger than previously thought. After all, we Specialists are within the highest strengths in our respective ranks." He smiled, quite a tauntingly prideful smile.

"Is that so?" Arthur arched a brow, keeping the fireball at the man's face.

"Why of course, you see..."

While the man continued to blabber, Maria took the chance to simply think within her mind, 'Radiance.'

There was no light this time, it simply happened in an instinct as her body was covered in that same familiar armor.

'Isn't this man way too easily distracted?' Maria thought as her gauntlet held onto the dagger at her neck.

"Ah," He turned to look at her, "so this is the reason you could defeat Brian?"

"I have to say, quite a nice armor you have there." He produced a nod.

"Thanks," Maria replied as she began to guide her mana.

"Why, you know magic too?" The man questioned.

"Indeed." Maria nodded, "I'll show you."

"<Mana Barrier>."

The man watched with a slight smile as a mana barrier appeared onto the body of every single person within the carriage--except himself of course.

"Interesting, simultaneous casting? You shouldn't be that adept at magic, am I right?" He still held his light smile.

"All thanks to my armor," Maria smiled and turned towards Arthur.

"Now, if you will."

The older brother of her's gave a prideful and cunning grin. Whoever said a fireball needed to be thrown to produce it's desired effect? After all, couldn't the slight shift in mana allow it to manifest its power in an instant?

The fireball began to burn brighter as it grew in both hue and size.

"Explosion." He spoke calmly.

Boom

...

Hearing that loud explosion, Ais immediately turned towards its source. The fog swirled within the air at the direction she looked towards.

Frowning slightly, she began her chase in haste.

....

Maria produced hasty coughs as she began to regain her stance. Looking around, as much as her vision allowed, she saw the broken pieces of the once luxurious carriage covered by a field of white fog. Unsurprisingly, however, the horse, her guards, her brother, and the rest were nowhere to be found. They could very well be just a few feet from her without her knowledge, however, it didn't seem likely.

Maria tried activating her ability <Ruler's Path>, which allowed her to see hidden entities, however, it failed to work. It would seem, a fog could not count towards the notion of hidden entities. So, she concluded, this ability of her's did not work on environmental effects.

"So this is the small plan of the little girl, who the higher-ups want killed so dearly, is capable of? For someone who finally made them quiver in their boots, this is quite a shame." A tsking voice reached her ears, and she could hear the patting of clothing. Evidently, he was seemingly dusting away at his clothing.

"Quiver in their boots?" Maria asked as her eyes wandered the area, she couldn't see anything but fog. In fact, it seemed as if it was increasing in intensity.

"Why yes. Here I was, in the midst of training, then I get a summon for action. Usually, they would have three tries at assassination using the regular members before shifting to the Specialists once the situation called for it. Yet, it didn't happen this time. However, I thought to myself, why did they want to kill this girl so badly as to take me away from my training within the labyrinth?" She could hear unhindered footsteps echoing towards her.

"She gave me a basic rundown: Last time, they lured a demonic beast to your location to test your guard's strength and see how they would react. Then after, based on their analysis of your blonde bodyguard, they sent Brian, a person that could truly remove her from the battle with his ability to render an area into another dimension and to fully stop the movements of a person once eyes meet; sadly, that younger master friend of yours joined the battle unexpectedly. And even more unexpectedly, the princess could actually put up a fight." Maria felt as if a grin was directed towards her.

"Now, this isn't usually how they operate. They wouldn't try multiple attempts at taking a person's life within the span of a single week. I began to think, why would they do so this time?"

"Then I naturally came to a conclusion; they were scared to kill you. Not scared of what would happen if they did, but what would happen if they didn't."

Maria's mind began to race as her thoughts spun. A reason for them to be afraid of repercussions, not of her dying, but of her not dying fast enough? Was there someone powerful pushing them to kill her? If so, why couldn't the person do it themselves? More importantly, who had she found fault with?

"Next I began to think of my choice of action. And though I thought him as a bland and uneventful personal, I'll be paying you back for Brian's mistake"

"I hope you don't mind."

Brian? That was the name of the first, she came to conclude.

However, it wasn't enough, she needed a bit more information.

"Who are you really?" She asked, her first step.

If this man continued to be as talkative as he was, this should carry out in her favor somewhat.

Silently, she called upon her radiant blade as she grasped its hilt.

"Why young lady, you may call me Alex." There was a small chuckle.

"Alex, codenamed Reaper."

"Alex the Reaper; A rank Specialist division." The voice now sounded behind her.

The next moment, Maria felt an overpowering force grasp her neck as her vision met with the ground.

"How about we start with a bit of pain?"

He spun his dagger and ruthlessly stabbed down.

"Oh?"

However, his dagger refused to move as he felt a forceful strength clutching at his hand.

"You stink of blood." A sneered voice beat in his ears.

Turning his head slightly, he came to face with a fist.

He smiled.

With a cracking speed, he left Maria's neck as a blackened pole appeared in hand in time to block the assault.

A low thud met his ears.

However, he still found himself knocked backwards as his figure found a small flight.

Maria produced faint coughs, holding onto her throat with her left hand, she began to stand as her right hand held her sword.

"Thank you," she spoke towards this crimson eyed companion of her's.

However, her companion was already fully focused on the man before her.

Maria turned in the same direction and saw the length of the man ascending back into a stationary still. She saw the pole in his hand crumble apart into a black gas, before transforming into a dagger. He now held two such blackened blades at hand.

With a small frown, her eyes glimmered a faint golden light.

[Name: Alex Monta

Strength: B

Speed: A

Mana: B-

Skills: Shadow Smith (U), Fog of War (A), Dagger Wielding (S)

Overall: A+]

[Shadow Smith: Allows the creation of items of the darkness attribute using your mana. The strength of the item is based on mana rank and the item can be willed to change sharp or form.

<Mana Cleave> each created item is given this special attribute that allows the ability to cut through or break mana, which in turn allows the ability to cut through or break magic.]

[Fog of War: A fog descends in your immediate area. Within this fog, everybody aside from yourself is slowed down considerably by 1 rank; and anyone with lesser strength rank, by 2, than yourself directly passes out. Duration lasts for 5 minutes, Cooldown of 1 hour.

Auxiliary: Allows the use of the skill <Displacement> regardless of whether the fog exists or not.

*You yourself are able to attain perfect vision within this fog.]

--- [Displacement: Allows the creation of an illusion of movement while still maintaining current position or vice versa.]

[Awakened Blade: <Reap>; By tasting the blood of a target, steal one skill of theirs for your own use for 15 minutes--the target is unable to use this skill within this duration. This ability cannot be used again for 1 full day after initial use.]

Maria thought to herself, 'so that's why he is the 'Reaper'?'

She had to say, she thought it had more to do with taking the life of a person, not their skill. However, this was much better than her mindless notion of him possibly possessing the ability to claim a soul. She came to the belief that codenames where not to be fully trusted.

She also held another thought, however. This was the first person, aside from herself, who had this many skills. Much more so, looking at a base level, this very skills seemed to compliment each other.

And also, since when were there such things as auxiliary skills? Was the set of skills under her main skill, <Ruler's Soul>, also classified as auxiliary skills?

She turned to look at Ashe, "if you choose to fight him, don't let him taste your blood."

'What was this girl saying?' Ashe narrowed her eyes at the man with such thoughts in her head.

This man before her, as calmly as he stood, as smiling as he gleamed; reeked wholeheartedly of blood. Though dried, it was blood nonetheless. The smell wasn't simply a small sting, no, to Ashe, this smell was a smell that couldn't be rid of no matter how many times someone was to bath. This was the smell of a killer; this was the same smell as herself.

The scent of people who constantly dirtied their hands in blood; yes, it assaulted her nose quite keenly.

"Although I don't know the full details but, young crimson eyed miss, you don't seem like the type of person to help out. Even when I held my dagger at her throat, you didn't so much as flinch, why did you help out now?" The man asked.

"I was simply catching my breath within the carriage, after all, I have to calm my racing heart or else your prudent smell of blood could affect me." Ashe sneered.

"Now, isn't that interesting? You can actually smell it?" His eyes lightly squinted and a grin crept across his face.

"The smell of us killers, the smell of human blood upon us murderers. Etched in our soul, forever to identi-"

He suddenly came to a stop.

"Say, haven't I seen you before somewhere?" He tilted his head.

Ashe's eyes narrowed.

"Ah, right, aren't you that little miss who killed her way out of the research center?" He grinned.

A click resounded in her head.

Her fangs grew.

It was him.

He was one of them.

She was about to charge when she spied something glimmer through the fog.

A blazing spear flew towards the man in haste.

"My God, you talk even more than I do."

However, Alex Monta kindly slashed down with his right hand as the blackened dagger glimmered slightly.

As the spear of fire was directed bisected before him into nothing more than shards of flames, he couldn't help but take a look beyond the two girls back.

There was the red headed boy; the black-headed boy holding his twin swords in both hands and his mystifying pair of eyes staring squarely at him; finally, there was the blonde bodyguard.

As the fog began to slowly wallow away, revealing a prancing dusty track through a hue of trees, Alex Monta smiled.

"Well, isn't this a bit unfair?"

The sun was beginning to slowly fall amidst the sky, signaling a late afternoon, and he held onto both of his daggers in a ready stance.

"However, I don't mind a small show of force before reaped souls." He chuckled lightly.

The next moment, his figure blurred and he disappeared.

A moment later, he appeared to have already crossed half way. And as he advanced in a great rush, multiple clones of himself seemed to flash here and there; disorienting to glance at.

Maria frowned and looked towards her brother, "any ideas?"

If this had not been within a forest, he would have surely produced a flame trail to burn directly towards the man.

However, instead, he grinned as multiple <Flame Spears> began to appear at his front.

Just looking at a glance, it seemed he had poured quite a lot of mana into the spell as more than enough seemed to outline his vision.

"Bombardment." He slashed his hand forwards.

Glimmering Spears of orangish hues shot through the sky and directly towards the assassin. Their light slightly illuminated by the sun.

However, Alex Monta smiled as his flashing figure combined into one. He swished the glimmer of his two lengthened daggers at his front.

"You know what makes you fire mages so weak?"

He abruptly came to a stop.

"Most of your attacks, once cast, are linear!"

His hand flashed as his dagger directly hit the tip of the spear directly at his front.

"One."

A small boom echoed out as his blade bisected the attack and crumbled it down into mere sparks of flames.

However, this was only the beginning.

Both of his hands began to flash at once.

"Two, three, four, five." As if to prove a point, his voice echoed out as he began to count.

Each spear of flame that reached his position was directly bisected as clouds of flames filted in his immediate area.

"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten."

To the point that the group failed to see him due to that blocking ray of crumbling flames.

"Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Fifteen!"

As the final spear was destroyed, and the flames disappeared. The group squinted their eyes, he was gone.

Until...

Ais widened her eyes as soon as she saw the shadow within her <Circular View>.

She immediately raised her blade, spun around, and attacked as the clanking of metal against metal echoed.

Being at the back of the group, it seemed she had been his first target.

His two daggers made a barrage of ease against her silver sword.

Just as she felt herself losing speed to this man and being pushed further, she saw two blackened blades headed at his back.

The eyes of the boy glittered in a frightful light as he held his stance within the air, the two blades at his hands were held horizontally and slashed at the back of the man.

Alex Monta blurred, disappeared, and the attack missed its target.

At that moment, Ais felt the graze of a cold weapon brush her figure before she managed to dodge.

Touching the crimson liquid at her cheek she turned back forwards and saw the man at the forefront of the group.

He held the right dagger at his lips as he smiled.

'Oh God, I forgot to warn them too.' Maria instinctively thought as she immediately sprung to action and charged forwards with her sword drawn.

"Don't let him taste the blood!" She yelled.

Blades of golden light wallowed from existence in front of her as they charged towards the assassin.

However, watching the blades narrowing closer, Alex simply smiled and took a lick from the bloodied dagger.

"<Reap>."

His blackened dagger produced a faint cloudy fog as he instinctively allowed the fog to enter into his head.

Alex the Reaper had activated the awakened form of his shadow smithing blade.

His was the power of an S rank art wielding skill. This was what Rain aspired towards. Tha ability to resonate your soul with your weapon and bring out an awakened skill from it. After making a bond with your weapon this was the height of an awakened skill. Yet, each varied.

At that same moment, Ais felt a previously familiar energy leave her body.

Something had been taken from her.

...

"15 minutes." Alex Monta unhurriedly looked at the radiantly shining swords headed towards him.

He spun his daggers into motion, crouched lightly, and charged towards the assault as his feet crushed against the rocky texture of the ground and produced dust.

"Let's play young lady."

His body blurred and the daggers at his hand began to transform.

The two blended into one, and soon, Alex Monta was met with a desolately blackened pole as his weapon.

As he continued to move forwards, he spun the weapon with both hands.

Clank Clank Clank

Maria's golden blades begun to crumble and break at direct contact with the pole as fragmented golden light fell onto the rocky hard ground before beginning to dissipate at his feet.

This was the day Maria learned her golden blades were made from the mana of the world and that they could be destroyed under the right conditions.

Unhindered by Maria's stunned glance, Alex Monta blurred once more as his figure appeared at her back. In an instinct, he was already swinging the pole horizontally with a single arm.

However, he abruptly hit the ground with the base of the pole and flung himself upwards.

His body agilely flipped as he landed not too far away.

"This ability is quite handy indeed." He unhurriedly raised himself as he turned towards the direction of the force he had just dodged.

He squinted his eyes.

"Well, this is another surprise. I wouldn't think the raging beast actually acquired the ability to control her own power."

"Anyway..."

He grabbed at both ends of the pole and broke it into half with a single snap. Surprisingly, however, the broken pieces both grew fully into two new forms; still the same poles, however, they had grown a bit thinner and lost a large margin of height.

Spinning the two weapons at hand, he smiled towards the gathered group, with each person starring daggers at his figure.

"Now, how about we have round two?"

He tried to step forwards...yet.

He abruptly looked towards his feet to see his legs wrapped in a rope of flames. He couldn't move.

He looked upwards to find a barrage of heated fireballs headed towards him. Clearly made by the red-headed boy not too far away.

He looked within his mind to see Ashe charging at his figure, her hands having transformed into beastly claws.

He saw using the <Circular View> skill he had just attained to see the duel wielding boy narrowing closer at his right.

He saw the blonde headed guard moving towards his back.

Finally, he saw the princesses blade drawn towards his left.

"Oh..." Alex Monta finally produced a frown.

"I guess it began without my knowledge."

A dark aura began to radiate from his body as a chant left his lips in an unhindered haste, "darkness overshadows light. Nothing hinder's my sight. With my hands, I steal the light of the world!"

'He knows magic!?' A single thought ran through everyone's mind at that time.

"<Descent of the Night>!"

In an instant, the dark mana exploded into the surroundings as everyone was directly sent tumbling backwards.

The next moment, the light of the world disappeared and everyone's view was plunge into darkness. The area had truly descended into darkness, absolute darkness.

However, amongst all that, Alex Monta's pale blue eyes shined through.

"My turn."

First was the barrage of flames,

The two weapons instantly combined into one in his hands as they wallowed into the shape of a wide shield as he quickly held it into the air.

A bombardment of sizzlingly hot flames hit the makeshift defense as they crumbled into mere shards.

The next moment, his hand flashed and the shield became a single sword already headed towards the rope that bounded his feet. With the rope breaking free int sparks, Alex Monta was now free as his eyes wandered around the area.

Within this illusionary space, he would run free.

However, at that moment, his body abruptly felt a full pound of force crashing onto it as it flung backwards.

He skidded and landed across the darkened space and he felt his stomach churn. Standing stringently with sword in hand, a cough of blood escaped from his lips.

"It doesn't matter if the lights are stolen," a sneering voice entered into his ears.

"You still reek of blood."

Within the next moment, Alex Monta saw three figures headed towards him.

Those three figures were one and the same; the only difference being that two of them looked to be in a hazy film of gray light.

All their eyes were closed as they trailed towards his smell.

Slowly, as his weapon transformed back to twin daggers and he grasped them tightly in his hands, a notion of thought appeared within his mind: Did this girl, this escapee of captivity, really think him so weak as to fight against him alone using nothing more than her nose and slight skill?

With a grin plastered on his face, Alex Monta decided to become a bit more serious.

His body began to melt into the atmosphere. Slowly, he became nothing more than a pair of pale blue eyes.

This was the dark attribute magic <Descent of the Night>.

With his white teeth stretched out in the dark, he decided; he would toy with this kid—till death.

After all, no matter how accurately her scent was, this was his domain. A domain that would last till his mana depleted or he canceled it willingly. In here, he could truly become a reaper.

....

At the same time, elsewhere, Maria looked around and saw absolute darkness in her vision.

However, she wasn't without options.

Those same ten golden blades that had been destroyed began to wallow out from nothingness at her front, slowly, they spun together in a cone as they guided her forwards.

Her pinkish eyes were slowly turning rigid.

....

"Huh? To use darkness against a fire mage?"

He brought his hand forwards as a ball of fire begun to spin atop his palm.

Slowly, it grew larger in size and greater in brightness as his sneering face was illuminated by the light.

"Truly, he obviously hasn't heard of my genius."

...

Rain swerved his body around to see a radiating ball of flame amidst the darkness. He knew naught of how he had gotten here. Further, from that glowing ball, he could also see a low glimmer of gold.

"This two, even with their differences, seem to think alike." He couldn't help but comment as he proceeded towards the source of light.

...

Ais's eyes narrowed onto the glimmer of gold ahead. Immediately, she increased her pace.

....

Alex Monta frowned slightly, he could see the two mediums of light from the corner of his eyes. Right then and there, he decided he would have to make a change of plans.

He wasn't going to toy with this kid any longer, no, he would immediately put an end to her life.

His body immediately flashed as he raced towards the coming figures before him with his daggers in grasp. Amidst the darkness, he was fully hidden save for his pale blue eyes.

Now, he wondered; without him standing still as before, would this girl be able to defend against him, much less land a hit?

He closed his eyes, removing his presence entirely, and allowed the skill <Circular View> to map out everything for him and relay it into his mind.

'No matter how strong her nose is, there is no way this young miss should be able to outwit me in my own domain,' Alex Monta held this thought.

His body appeared between the two phantasms, directly disregarding Ashe.

Immediately after, his hands flashed as the two daggers imbued themselves within their heads.

Pulling them back out as the phantasms began to dissipate in a smoky haze, Alex Monta expertly dodged the flurry of punches directed towards his front.

His right leg hooked upwards, hitting the chin of the girl before him and knocking her within the air with a mighty thud.

However, he wasn't done.

His eyes still closed, he directly propelled towards the descending girl as he jumped at her figure.

"Skewer!" His deepened voice proclaimed.

He opened his glimmering eyes.

The daggers ruthlessly pierced into her body as a scream of pain rang out from her lips.

'Ain, lend me your power.'

As her body tumbled onto the floor, Alex Monta's hands flashed as he created another set of smaller daggers.

With a simple toss of his weapons, each blurred and blended in amidst the darkened realm, headed towards her body.

'Fighting off an assassin when you could as much run away, have you grown attached to that group?'

As soon as his feet found contact with the ground, and he heard the low thuds of the daggers. Alex Monta dashed towards the girl.

'I simply do not like to lose.'

Looking at the girl drenched in her own blood, he showed no hesitation.

'*chuckle* Fine I will lend you my power, after all, this is the first time you called me by my name in a long while. However, it seems to me that man has the ability to cut through my azure flames; they are made from mana after all.'

His eyes gleamed as a blackened dagger appeared within his grasp.

'-Of course he could see, he has the higher soul standing after all.-' She grimaced.

'However, I won't be using it as a means to fight,'

He directly leapt in for the kill and his dagger ruthlessly pierced into the girl's throat.

'I will be using it as a marker.'

Her eyes blazed an azure light.

Looking at those blue eyes that stared into her own, Ahse's eyes widened when she realized the dagger had pierced into her neck.

She couldn't speak, clogged with blood, it was almost as if she was drowning. Above all, this was the first time she had truly felt coldness in her body. It was Frigid, encompassing her mind.

'So, this is how it feels to die?' She couldn't help but ask herself.

Her eyes wanted to close, her mind began to pass, her head blackened.

However, even still, the flames began to cower her eyes.

At that same time, her body began to undergo that same change she was oh so familiar with.

Widening his eyes, Alex Monta immediately jumped backwards, pulling the dagger out.

His feet landed onto the ground in soundlessness.

At that moment, the air erupted with azure flames from the young girl's body.

The area immediately lit up with an Azure light as it consumed the darkness itself.

Exploding outwards, it drenched the world in an azure hue.

At that moment, cracks seemingly began to appear within the dark sky above, spreading in fine lines.

Alex Monta finally delivered a curse from his mouth as the dagger in his hand became a sword. With this much light, his domain would break.

His figure blurred and he began to cut through the flames.

He himself knew it, he could feel it, he could feel the heated temperature rising and the light gleaming from those flames.

He was already too late.

Boom

With one final push by those azure flames, an explosion ripped into the air as the entire domain shattered!!!

The light is the orange-hued sun immediately eclipsed into the world.

At that same moment....

Clank

He cleaved the golden blade into fragments and he jumped backwards.

Clank

He continued to move backwards as his hand continued to cleaved the second blade.

As the shards of gold fell onto the hardened ground at his feet, Alex was not one bit happy.

He was currently rushed for time, if he didn't finish this soon, she would appear.

Looking at the cone of gleaming swords that headed straight towards his face, Alex instantly turned his sword into a shield. Hunkered down, and stayed put.

The shield quaked with each force pondered onto it, and the crashing sound reminiscent of gigantic waves reached his ears, still, he held strong.

With the crashing subsiding, he turned the shield back into a blade, just in time to see the princess headed towards him.

Finally, he grinned, his prey had brought herself towards him.

However, at that moment, several streaks whizzed through the sky as they sought a target.

It was impossible for the <Circular View> he had acquired to see and react to something so fast when he was already in the midst of preparing to behead this girl.

The spears of flames instantly embedded into his body as blood splurged from his lips and he came to a full stop.

His insides began to burn up and the flames instantly began to spread through his body.

Alex Monta cowered onto his knees, he raised his head in a frenzied howl of pain.

Maria stopped dead in her tracks, as so did Ais-who was beside her, she could see her brother behind the assassin with rain standing by his side. Her brother's eyes gleamed a frightful light; Maria turned to look at the figure behind her which was burning in a frenzied haste of azure flames.

However, at that moment, a voice rang out.

"Well now, this is the first time you've truly disappointed me, Alex Monta."

A figure began to take shape in front of the kneeling assassin. Bluish hair wallowed out into the world and flapped within the night wind. A blackened hat sat atop the figure's head with a crown of leaf surrounding its helm. An attire reminiscent of a maid made its way into the battlefield. Browned boots lightly tapped onto the ground. A blackened rod held within grasp of the figure's hand. Finally, the eyes staring dead at the kneeling man before her with a slight smile.

This girl that came from absolute nothingness was nothing more than a bit taller than the kneeling figure before her, yet, she carried herself above him with all due importance.

Still holding to his life in minimal, Alex Monta grew a fearful and apprehensive expression as he felt his face crumble down. Right now, the last of his worries was the pain he was feeling and the fire spreading across his body.

"Master." He muttered dreadfully through clenched teeth, afraid to even so much as whimper at her front.

"Where did you come from?" He forced himself to say.

Staring into those crimson eyes, although he knew what awaited him, he knew his fate, he couldn't help but ask.

She shook her head, "I sent you, my dog, to do my bidding in place. Yet, here, you bring me failure beyond repair. Truly, like always, your curiosity has gotten the better of you."

"Please, wai-!" He stuttered to say but failed so bitterly so as only blood splurged from his lips and stained the earth.

"Don't you want to know where I came from?" She smiled, the blackened pole she held grew a frightful light.

A gathering of ash gray clouds slowly began to form within the air from nothingness.

"Simply put, I've been here the whole time."

A roar of thunder exploded into the air and reverted into the ears of everyone within the area.

A single streak of white lightning crossed the night sky as it descended down in an instant and struck directly atop his head.

Alex Monta screamed at the top of his lungs as the current ran within his body. He deeply convulsed as his limps and figure quaked with immediate pain.

His heart grew in an extremely rapid hasty beating. For a moment, his eyes blurred and the world struggled to stand still.

However, It suddenly stopped, his lifeless eyes staring at the figure before him. Still within deep fear.

He drew his last breath, in an instant, he was fried down.

"Who are you!?" Maria instantly jumped back as she asked this. She could feel a deep fear awakening from inside her heart. This was the first time anyone had given her this much apprehension.

As the assassin's body fell down in a dusted grace, the girl slowly swerved around and produced the calmest of smiles.

"Who am I?" She placed the pole at her shoulder, and gently adjusted into a natural posture.

"I am a Crow."

"I am the true 'assassin' sent to kill you, Maria Springfield." A frightful light seemed to glimmer from her crimson eyes.

"Alice Aldridge of the A rank Crow's Throne." She slightly shifted in her stance as her hair blew.

"That is my status."

The sun settled at the background and the moon began its rise.

"Oh?" She suddenly looked towards Maria's right side and gave a light smile.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, my dear friend, Ais William."

***

This is the image I used as Inspiration for this new character: https://keep.google.com/u/0/media/v2/181vdtVjp9qEJU5U7ihJfWAeqkHAGLqcUnoxAI9sNUjN0fTd1omud4zPhHU42vM4PSapLKDA/1vNOMBE-cUv2fqCuLjDmC1m3bueZ1C34QnzHGpWoKpNNIJr4-xJ4TLyRKIEHH96ZgroQoDz9m?accept=image/gif,image/jpeg,image/jpg,image/png,image/webp,audio/aac&sz=1344