The Assassination (2/2)

Haalfrin grunts in pain, and he rolls to cover behind another bush. He's spent his last couple days practicing with his Name powers, so he's gotten pretty good by now in withholding his Aura. Compared to his rampage at the battle of Gahl Ridge, his Aura is only a small trickle that makes his attackers feel a little uneasy.

Upon being hit, Haalfrin's first instinct is to flee to the woods and start picking them off guerilla war style, but he immediately shakes the thought out of his mind.

'I'm trying to die right now,' Haalfrin reasons with himself, 'Mind as well just charge forward and say that I fell to the cowardly poison when I meet my family.'

As Haalfrin runs through the woods dodging arrows with his quick, enhanced running speed, he continues contemplating what he's going to do.

This time, Haalfrin really has no reason to care about winning, since he has no mission to complete now, no general to slay, and no comrades depending on him. 'It's just me against some assassins in the woods. My death isn't going to get anyone killed but me this time!'

'Even still,' he thinks, 'I'd like to experiment with my new Name's ability for a moment, at least.'

Haalfrin turns around and plants his feet on the ground, swatting away one of the arrows out of the air, while two more slam into him – one in the leg, and another right in his gut. He nearly keels over from the pain – especially the gut wound, but he chooses to finish manifesting his second Name ability first.

Briefly, Haalfrin looks up and sees some of the assassins are in view now. With all the running about he's been doing, Haalfrin had stumbled upon some of the hidden archers.

The air tremors briefly, and Haalfrin glows a shade of silver that only he can see. The silver aura stretches out - seemingly of its own will, and it shoots towards one of the trees. A long, staff-shaped branch breaks off, and it whips down.

Haalfrin looks at the attackers with killing intent… and the long staff shoots down and starts beating one of the men – jabbing him in weak points and knocking the bow out of his hands.

Haalfrin is momentarily confused, but everything makes sense after he puts all the pieces together. 'I have the lingering will of Kaalhyme with me. Kaalhyme was a spear user. None of the ambushers had a spear on them, so the Will went for the most spear-shaped object it could find.'

This all happened in a moment, and Haalfrin still has the other archers to deal with.

So, Haalfrin picks up a piece of tree bark from yesterday's thunderstorm, and he charges toward the line of archers. He holds the tree bark in front of him as a makeshift shield against the arrows.

The mage captain sees what Haalfrin is doing, and he waits behind an uncovered tree root. Haalfrin passes by, and the captain leaps out with a deadly strike right to the heart. Haalfrin ducks down and shifts on his feet to the left, causing the whirring blade to graze his shoulder.

Haalfrin tries grabbing the captain's wrist by dropping his tree bark and reaching out with his now free hand… but the captain certainly didn't overextend. The captain retracts his grip in time, then whips his sword around at a different angle, going for Haalfrin's hand.

Just when Haalfrin is about to lose a few fingers, he lets go of one of his hands on the hilt - the one that was about to cut him. The captain's sword strikes the hilt, causing it to falter in its path.

Right at that moment, when the captain is off balance, Haalfrin makes a whipping motion with his other hand, and the possessed tree branch shoots over and punches hard in the side of the captain's ribcage. The only reason he isn't run through is because the man has a mana shield around his torso… though a strong shield can't prevent you from being knocked over.

The captain is still knocked off balance even more, and he staggers to the side – feeling jittery inside from getting a heavy blow to the side… Despite the fact that his mana has gotten rid of most of the poison by now, Haalfrin isn't in good shape either, as he's still dizzy and wanting to vomit.

Unfortunately, Haalfrin's poisonous affliction is still dangerous, so he's too slow in following up with his aggressor's next attack as the Captain leaps forward first with his sword outstretched.

Haalfrin blocks the descending blade with his only good hand – this time having both eyes working properly, and managing to actually grab the sword by the hilt – stopping it in its tracks. Sadly, Haalfrin is still in the body of a child, and now that his strength is directly pitted against the captain's, he's knocked off balance and thrown to the ground.

The captain lunges forward as Haalfrin is trying to roll backward. Haalfrin retreats, when he feels himself back up into a tree. In that moment, the captain's sword stabs the tree right where Haalfrin's head was before he angled his neck to the side.

With the sword momentarily stuck in the tree, Haalfrin, with his shorter arms and shorter sword, tries using the close quarters to get a stab in. However, the captain draws a dagger and swipes at Haalfrin's fingers again.

To save his fingers, Haalfrin quickly tosses his sword to his other hand. When the captain presses the attack with a heavy side swipe, Haalfrin tries blocking it with his sword…

Since his sword is now in his bad hand, he can't keep a good grip on the hilt, and the blade is knocked out of his hands.

Before Haalfrin can dodge again, the captain reaches out with his hand, and a strong force holds Haalfrin in place.

As the "boy" is struggling to break free, the captain barks out a laugh, "You really weren't bluffing when we trained earlier!? What kind of mage can't even protect himself against telekinesis?"

All it takes is a simple mana circulation technique to keep another's mana from touching you directly.

In his heart, the captain is cursing. If he had known his target really was so weak, he'd have just gripped him in the air and stabbed him while he floats helplessly in the air.

"My mistake," the captain mutters. 'Something about you was making me nervous… and I actually suspected you were hiding your strength on the training grounds. That's embarrassing!'

It must've been the Death Aura Haalfrin couldn't keep hidden completely.

Haalfrin's eyes shift to the side, where Kaalhyme's possessed stick had just finished up beating the other, magicless assassins into a senseless pulp. The stick whizzes over and deflects the captain's next strike.

Mage's can't keep too many spells up at the same time. Haalfrin's attacker was using telekinesis and a mana shield around his body. Knowing he's going to have to use body reinforcement and a weight-anchoring spell to avoid being knocked off his feet by the staff, he knows he's going to have to give up one of his spells.

So, being the cautious man that he is, Kanus's captain chooses to give up the telekinesis spell instead of his mana shield.

Now that Haalfrin is set free, he dives to the side to grab his sword again. With Kaalhyme's will now here to back him up, the fight with the bodyguard is back to a draw once again. Since Kaalhyme's Will is inside an inferior vessel, he can only use a fraction of his real strength.

Despite this, the staff has some real advantages Kaalhyme himself can never have in real life; the staff possesses the same magical output he had in life, yet he possesses an aerodynamic and light body, meaning he can throw himself around at incredible speeds. Given the precision Kaalhyme had in life, the staff is very accurate with its blows, despite going very fast.

Everything looks like it's going well, that is, until the captain notices that the "enchanted" stick has very basic movements, as if a peasant is wildly waving around a stick.

Haalfrin notices this too, and he wonders in his mind briefly, 'Perhaps, since it's just a sliver of his spirit, the staff might have some basic instincts, but none of the intelligence?'

While dodging Haalfrin's attacks, the captain quickly gets ahold of the stick's attack patterns, and he manages to grab the staff. After shifting his body reinforcement completely to his hands, he overcomes the staff's innate durability spell, and he breaks it in his palm.

Despite being the Will of a mage far greater than the captain himself, the staff is still a piece of wood on the end; it can't withstand a 2nd gate mage's grip.

Haalfrin feels the weakened strand of Will return to him, and he thinks, 'I'll have to find a proper spear for you later… probably in the afterlife.'

The captain has Haalfrin on his knees after another swing with his telekinesis.

Staring down at the young mage, the captain doesn't do anything like ask Haalfrin for his final words; in his mind, he's just a barbarian who doesn't need to be treated with chivalry.

He's about to behead Haalfrin when the "barbarian" uses the strand of will again to possess another twig on the ground – The stick this time isn't nearly as straight.

Clearly, going for a long, straight stick was the biggest concession Kaalhyme's Will was willing to make; being asked to possess a misshapen twig is just too much!

Even still, the Will senses Haalfrin's attempt to go down without humiliation or surrender, so it reluctantly enters the twig invisibly.

Haalfrin motions for the twig, and it shoots up. Since the captain is using Telekinesis and his mana shield, his arms aren't reinforced against attacks (the arm not being a vital). With a mental capacity only allowing 2 spells at a time, the captain has no time to react as the twig impales itself through his forearm – right between the two forearm bones.

There's a very thick nerve there, and the captain howls in pain. His aim is thrown off, and the strike misses Haalfrin's head.

Haalfrin tries leaping to his feet and striking the man in the heart, but coupled with his leftover delirium from the poison, as well as his wounds and bruises everywhere, his strength gives out, and he buckles under his own weight.

The captain pulls out the twig and steps forward to deal the final blow (again). Haalfrin feels his death is near, and he looks at the captain with triumph.

Due to Haalfrin feeling Death's proximity, his black Aura explodes out and suppresses the captain. The captain has a much weaker heart than Kaalhyme, so he reels back in fright. After all, being a powerful mage can't save you from having a weak heart.

Still, as the captain sees Haalfrin struggling to his feet, the captain feels crushing fear. Instead of running away, he cries out like a cornered rat and strikes at Haalfrin.

… And just when Haalfrin closes his eyes peacefully, ready to accept the final blow…