The Climb
*****
[After 1 Day]
It was night and Arthur had prepared everything he needed for the assassination. He was wearing a black bodysuit which an advanced version of the Blade's training suit designed for assassination and stealth. The suit featured everything needed for him with a rope, knives, smoke bombs, explosive bombs, trackers etc. He even had a blowpipe along with hallucination and poison darts.
With everything ready and prepared in his arsenal, Arthur moved out of the manor for his first assassination in this world. He took a whiff of the nighttime fresh scent of the gentle breeze and was about to move when he heard his father call from behind him,
"Wait Arthur!"
Arthur turned back and saw his father walking towards him with a fast pace. His father soon arrived in front of him and took out a black mini sized box before extending it towards Arthur.
"Here, this is a teleportation device. If you ever get in any life threatening trouble or something, use this and you'll be transported straight back here."
Arthur took the teleportation device and after a moment of silence, nodded towards Nolan,
"I understand."
Then he raised a hand to indicate his goodbye to which his father nodded, and he took off into the forest for his mission tonight, a mission that is hopefully supposed to go perfectly right.
****
The Stormhearts.
They were a Dukedom that relied purely on the elemental power of wind.
To contribute best to their element, they used bows which harnessed the power of wind better than any weapon.
Even their Zenith, Helena Stormheart was a wind Menhir and used a bow for fighting and even though she was the weakest out of all Menhirs, her power was still a force to be reckoned with and her skill at scouting was unparalleled.
To practice and accommodate their powers of wind better, the Stormhearts lived in the mountain Clisparta mountain range which was located south of the Blade manor and at the edge of Caelum where they could scout and attack enemies with long range attack on any sign of danger.
Arthur travelled through the forest leading to the range with incredible speed, occasionally a monster would pop up but would quickly be killed with [Abyssal Shroud] or avoid them using [Nightfall Blind]. His experience at stealth from his past life was helping him immensely and he was grateful for that.
Although an assassination for every heir was must as a tradition of the Blades, it would not be done until he was 15 which was one year before he enrolled into CRATE at the age of 16. Usually those assassination mission would be arranged by the Blades rather than a person giving the mission but this time around Omar had changed it whole by giving him a mission at the age of 10. This was the power that a Sacra held.
'I wonder what he had done to get a Sacra?' Arthur wondered as he sped past the tress, a short distance left now.
Before long, he arrived in front of the mountain range and he was astonished at their height which pierced past the clouds into the embrace of the moon's light. However, the mountain used by the Stormhearts was the smaller than most of the mountains, due to which it didn't go above the clouds.
The Stormheart manor was situated atop that mountain and the reason they chose a smaller mountain was to hide themselves better and also use the cover of the giant mountains in the time of war. On the summit, a whole ring of archers were stationed around the boundaries to keep notice of any person who might come and the manor was also surrounded by guards 24/7 which also kept changing at regular intervals.
Besides these precautions, a movement sensor was also built deep into the heart of the mountain which detected any sort of physical movement not only on the mountain premises but also around a certain area of the mountain.
Although Arthur could have used [Spectral Steps] to traverse up the mountain by regularly replenishing his mana, the detection of movement around a certain area negated that notion. This was why Arthur was given a skill from the Blade vault yesterday by his father to traverse the mountain without any problems.
'[Status]'
His [Status] window instantly opened in front of him.
_____________________
Name: Arthur Blade
Class: [Swordsman]
Title: -
Age: 10 years
Stigmata: Darkness, Death (unmanifested)
Stigmata Affinities: Darkness(Deity) Death(Deity)
Stigmata Talent: Empyreal
Stigmata Rank: Novice++ (N++)
Guardianus: Hades
Weapon Art: [Blade Sword Art: Proficiency 17.4%]
Stigmatical Skills: [Abyssal Shroud] [Umbral Veil] [Spectral Steps] [Obsidian Screen] [Nightfall Blind]
Skills: [Assassin's Apathy] [Shadow Blend]
Pandemonium of the Olympians: [2 Years]
_____________________
There it was, a new skill that he had acquired from his father yesterday after carefully considering what type of skill he needed, [Shadow Blend]. He concentrated on the skill to see its description.
'[Shadow Blend]'
Immediately another holographic window popped up.
_________________________
Skill Name: Shadow Blend
Skill Rank: Journeyman
Skill Description:
Upon usage of this skill, user blends in with the shadows completely covering their physical movement and form. Using this skill, the user can travel in any shadow as long the shadows are linked and the travel speed of the skill depends upon the mana inputted into the skill. During the use of the skill, user must not be attacked by an opponent in his shadow form otherwise the skill will be cancelled. Moreover, when using the skill if light is shed upon the shadows in which the user is residing, the skill will be cancelled.
Skill Duration: 15 Minutes
Skill Cooldown: 1 Hour
_________________________
Arthur nodded at the skill description again, as if it was perfectly designed for this purpose. The only problem of the skill was the attack of an opponent and the shedding of light. As for the first disadvantage, Arthur hoped that by covering his physical movements with this skill the archers would not notice him due to which he wouldn't be attacked. For the second reason, today the moon was perfectly covered by the clouds, enveloping the whole mountain into a cold embrace with its shadows.
If luck was on Arthur's side, the moon would stay hidden and he could perfectly travel up the mountain into the shadows without any issue. And he hoped it would be that way. Without wasting any time, he started as he stepped into a shadow which was linked with the mountain.
'[Shadow Blend]'
Instantly, Arthur's physical form melted into the shadows like a liquid falling into the ground. He was short on time both in the skill and also for the assassination, so he started going up without inspecting the skill or his surroundings for a moment.
Arthur inputted a moderate amount of mana to keep his speed normal in the beginning and he kept his focus on the top. He would have to properly adjust his speed according to the distance of the mountain and the time of skill.
Before long, he finally reached the boundary where the movement sensor were located and upon further travel, they would detect any physical movement happening. Arthur didn't slow his speed for a second and without hesitation passed the barrier, now that he was in it he would go all the way rather than stopping and checking every second.
As Arthur passed the barrier, he efficiently kept his eye on the top of the mountain to see any barrage of arrows that might be coming his way. Fortunately, the skill worked perfectly and upon seeing this, he increased his speed even more now that there was no issue.
As he reached the half of the mountain, only [6 Minutes] of the skill were left and so he increased his speed even more. And so he quickly sped up to reach his destination on time but unfortunately a problem arose soon after.
The clouds covering the moon started to move because of the sudden increase of wind. Slowly but surely, the moon was revealed from a certain point upwards and so Arthur was forced to halt his progress up top.
Only [5 Minutes] of the skill were left now, and the next clouds were very slow in coming towards the moon. Fortunately a sudden blow of the wind accelerated the clouds again, and so the moon was again covered but the skill had only [4 Minutes] left now.
He inputted half of his mana and increased his speed even more without caring for any of thing that might happen now. When [2 Minutes] of the skill were left, the silhouettes of the archers stationed up top started to appear and Arthur could make out their structure.
They wore a slim body suit but which was equipped with thick cold resistance and they donned goggles like glasses that were specially designed to improve their sight and save them from the wind. They had a bow and a quiver slung across their backs and they were efficiently keeping guard towards the ground to see any intruders even though there was a movement sensor.
Only one minute was left now, and so Arthur inputted a little more mana and soon he was just ten meters from the top with only 15 seconds top spare. He quickly passed between the shadows of two arches and darted towards the pristine white manor which was almost the same as their own.
With only 10 seconds left to spare, he sped towards a wall of the manor with no inspection of the security around him. Finally with only 5 seconds left, he reached a wall and quickly crouched in one corner before his skill finally wore off and his form reformed back on the spot where he had blended before.
Quickly inspecting any signs of threat or recognition that someone might have noticed him, he composed himself after finding none. Now that he was on top, there was only the assassination left and fortunately he knew where the finance manager lived, thanks to someone. He exhaled a big breath before opening his eyes again, now fully cold and merciless.
"Let's begin Ghostblade."
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