01.51 - Fighting the Evil Lord of an Intragalactic Empire!

"Not the reaction you had expected with your little charade?" Seth asked as his gaze alternated between us. "You're not the first assassins sent my way. You know, I wanted to make an example of the fools that allowed our supply base to fall, but you two will do as a substitute. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to send your severed heads back to Minuial."

I looked at the transformed Tia. She looked back at me.

We stood there in silence while the guards pointed their weapons at us and all other present officers took a fighting stance.

I used ‘Know Your Enemy’ successively on everyone in the room.

Tia just shrugged her shoulders. “Guess it’s showtime.”

“Seth is a Level 300 Hero,” I said. “The rest is mostly fodder. No need to hold back.”

Tia went right into her dragon form. Her tail swung around, crushed the closest guards, and sent the other ones near her flying against the opposing wall.

I disarmed the closest guard to acquire his sword and collected a few more blades before the first officer came into melee distance.

He swung right at my head.

“Too slow,” I said while avoiding the slash.

I countered with a kick that sent him flying too.

“If the rest of you fight like this, you better surrender.” I said. “We are not out for your blood.”

That seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Two fireballs flew toward Tia.

She took the hit without even flinching.

An ice spear followed suit.

Didn’t even scratch her scales.

Additional guards had arrived in the meantime.

They surrounded me.

I meanwhile floated my now twelve blades collected from the other guards.

Three newly arrived guards attacked me at the same time, aiming at my vitals.

Their movements were sluggish.

I predicted their directory mid swing and blocked the first enemy with my own weapon, while directing the other blades under my command to counter and disarm the other two.

The first attacker tried to parry, but failed to resist the blowback from his own attack clashing with my defenses.

One of the other two blocked the first few attacks, but ultimately went down after a series of slashes.

The other one barely managed to block my first assault.

Guess that’s some elite guards true to their name.

A dozen more guards went down before Tia managed to crush the main entrance with her tail, blocking off the route for their support.

A few minutes later, only five officers and Seth himself were left on the other end of the hall.

One of them just concluded a long incantation.

The ground between us and them began to crack.

Conjuring an earthen wall in their own base of operations?

Guess they got a bit desperate.

Too bad for them that both Tia and I knew some Geomancy too.

We forced open a rift in the wall and hurried to the other side.

Just as we stepped through the narrow rift, a volley of ice spears rained down on us.

Two grazed me before I managed to protect us with a Mana Shield.

As the dust settled, and the assault calmed, we looked at the remaining enemies.

Two casters, and three melee fighters left.

“I’ll take care of them,” Tia said.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll eliminate Seth.”

“Eliminate?” mocked his voice as he approached quickly.

A fraction of a second later, Seth’s blade met one of mine.

Looks like my target tried to take back the initiative.

An arc of lightning formed between the tip of his left index finder and me, without any warning or incantation, but my Mana Shield closed in the last fraction of a second between him shifting his palm into my direction and the lightning connecting.

Not like it would have mattered too much, my Special Resist was through the roof. No need to let him know that though.

My psy controlled blades honed in on Seth, while I went for a direct charge with my main hand sword.

He blocked my main attack, while one of his remaining officers shielded him from my blades.

Right after that, a current ran from Seth’s blade through mine.

“Gotcha,” he announced triumphantly while still blocking my main blade with his own.

He grabbed a dagger with his left hand, then stabbed my left lung and turned the blade, while releasing a second charge of electricity.

A victorious smile formed on his face.

I smiled back at Seth like a mad man.

That seemed to irritate him.

He twisted his dagger once more, then pulled it out to aim a second time, but before he could attempt a follow up attack, the wound was bathed in a light blue hue and closed.

He seemed surprised and confused in equal proportions.

I used the confusion to launch six psy controlled blades at Seth.

His officer interfered again, jumping in at the last moment and shielded him from my blades.

He protected Seth with his last breath, while getting stabbed himself in the meantime.

Loyal to the end, I wonder if David would have done the same to protect my ‘father’.

Lucy, Tia, or I sure as hell wouldn’t.

Meanwhile Seth was dual wielding his sword and dagger out of necessity.

It was a struggle to the very end.

My blades cut his right leg, he struggled to keep steady.

Then his left arm, his grip tightened for a second, then his dagger fell to the ground as two of my blades slashed into his torso.

There was very little resistance left.

The floor was painted with his blood.

He continued his struggle as more and more swords dug into his body.

Then, with a swift slash, I severed his head from his shoulders.

The headless husk collapsed.

Honestly, I had expected a bit more pushback from my supposedly destined nemesis.

At least if the System’s Envoy’s were to be believed.

Maybe I should have taken him prisoner?

No.

He had destroyed countless worlds… past, present, and future past.

The rebels probably would have liked a piece of him too…

…but what’s done is done.

Then again, this was not supposed to be an official act of our faction.

Leaving a witness would just complicate things in the future.

While I was busy with my inner monologue, Tia had taken out the remaining officers on her own.

My gaze swept over the demolished command center one last time, as I walked toward Tia, who had changed back to her human form.

I patted her on the shoulder.

“Good job,” I said. “Let’s bail. Lucy should have met with the rebels by now.”