Chapter 9:
One by One
The bars and inns closed their doors earlier than usual. It was the final night before the festival and the last chance for a warrior's purge. They didn't bother waiting for the roads to clear or the street lamps to go out. Once the last light faded and darkness swept the city, the battles began. The knights and soldiers quickly responded but put little effort into concealing the havoc after these past bloody days. They were just cutting revelers down as fast as possible and taking fewer prisoners.
Noah neither joined nor wasted his time watching any of the fights. Instead, he hurried to the warehouse while invisible and searched the area. If the Harajin were coming, it would be after the last light had faded, and Noah had no doubt they'd turn up. They'd arrive in some form or fashion and try to kill him rather than make the trade.
He had to convince them that a fight wouldn't be worth it, and it would be better if he did it without killing them, especially Grond, as Cyrilo could find out and turn on him. That meant he'd have to be careful with his magic, using it sparingly so that Grond couldn't learn anything and share that information with others.
Noah reached the warehouse before the Harajin and worked fast to set the scene to his advantage. Klein eventually arrived, with Grond and Tora keeping their distance and surveying the situation. He focused on a dead body lying outside, near the pier's edge. He recognized the clothes, the dropped knight's sword, and the smell of blood. Klein waited in the shadows, not daring to approach.
This couldn't be real, could it? This stranger, having slain three Harajin, to be lying there in a pool of blood was preposterous. Could he really have fallen victim to the Red Revelry? Klein checked the warehouse but found no signs of occupation. He waited, letting a minute pass, then two, three, and several more, never taking his eyes off the body while his ears picked up the sounds of fighting throughout the city.
Patience was an assassin's most outstanding quality and a staple of Harajin training, but still, the doubts eventually came. What if this was a trap? He could wait out a human threat, not a mechanical one, and the longer the body sat out there, the greater the risk of someone else discovering it.
This was not something he could simply walk away from, not after everything they had lost since coming and everything they risked by staying. He took a chance and hurled a dagger at the body. It pierced the side beneath the ribcage and dug deep. No reaction. Klein braced himself and stepped out of the shadows, approaching the body.
"Not one more step." He heard it when he reached the halfway point between the warehouse and the pier's edge. A ship was docked nearby, and while he could not see anyone there, the voice had originated from it. "You move at all, and the deal is off."
"The same to you. Show yourself."
Noah stood up, bow in hand, and trained on Klein. He had the drop on him. "Show me your hands. You try to use any hand signs, and you're dead."
Klein complied, raising his palms to show he wasn't holding anything. Noah's spells were active, and he separated from his clone and got into position by the body. It was a makeshift scarecrow wrapped in his clothes from the previous night and dabbed with blood. The Harajin would never have dared move if he had just left the goods exposed without it.
He set the fungal antidote and mystery potion down next to the body, wrapped in his mana, and by the time his clone made it to his position, it had worn off, and they appeared as if out of thin air. They were placed precariously at the edge of the pier, so easy to knock over.
"Here is how this is going to go: you are going to explain Bakudan to me, every single facet and detail. When I am satisfied, I'll depart and leave these three items to you. You go home with your prizes, and my curiosity is sated. No one else will ever know what happened here or what you tell me. We can all walk away from this."
"How can I know you won't sell this information to others?"
"You can't. You're just going to have to take the risk. With this sword and antidote, you can secure an alliance between the Harajin and Uther, and this antidote I stole from your friend is clearly valuable to you. Are they not worth it?"
Klein took a deep breath. "Yes, they are worth it."
No more words were spoken; he bolted towards Noah with sickles in hand. Noah fired his arrow and hit only Klein's cloak. The way he moved made the fabric flap and billow, hiding his real movements like an octopus's tentacles. Noah sent his clone sprinting to the side to draw his attention and reached for another arrow in his quiver. Before he could even feel the fletching, he saw Grond charge towards the supposedly-abandoned bottles, along with the third Harajin, Tora.
Noah grabbed the bottles and sword and chased after Klein. The Harajin's speed and reach turned him into a storm of blades, and Noah's clone could only move as fast as he could, so he focused on dodging Klein's attacks and studying his movements, scrutinizing the few occasions when those sickles passed through the illusion.
Klein was utterly silent, despite his constant movement. None of his footsteps made a noise, same with his cloak, and rather than magic, it came down to pure skill. Unfortunately, using his clone like this burned through his mana at an exorbitant rate, so Noah could only maintain it for a short while.
Klein realized something was wrong just before Noah's mana gave out, letting him step into the place of his clone and cancel the spells. He finally blocked one of his attacks with the knight's sword, then disengaged and spun around to launch a kick to the side of Klein's head. Klein dodged and closed back in, swinging both sickles at once like the mandibles of some giant beetle. Noah stepped back just far enough to escape, though they came closer to his face than he would have liked. Nevertheless, Klein pursued him, one blade after another.
Noah managed to dodge one of his swings and land a hit of his own, but Klein reacted instantly and pulled away from the sword as it cut him, thereby lessening the damage. He opened up some space between him and Noah, leaving Noah shocked. The way he moved, rolling over in midair the instant the blade touched him, was almost inhuman in terms of agility and reaction speed. Was that a monk enhancement or training? He could only hope the other two weren't similarly gifted. He'd find out in a moment, for they were coming to join in the fight.
He pulled away from Klein and led him along the pier. They sprinted parallel to each other, hurling and dodging throwing knives, with a few even knocking each other out of the air. Like before, Klein used his cloak to block and deflect the oncoming attacks. The flapping and twisting fabric would catch the blades and direct them away from his body.
Noah continuously moved to keep Grond and Tora from sliding into his blind spots. Like Klein, they used their cloaks to conceal their actual movements and ward off attacks, so they were always in motion, never letting Noah get a precise lock on them. Their technique was the same as Klein's, so Noah's analysis with the clone served him well in surviving their onslaught.
Even when he did land a hit, their reaction speed was so good that they could pull away from his blade as it cut them. These Harajin well surpassed the hobgoblin, ogres, and other armed opponents he had encountered thus far. It had been centuries since he faced opponents near this skill level. His body was strong, but theirs were shaped since birth for combat. Were he in his prime, he could kill all three without even needing magic. Unfortunately, that life was long ago, and his skills were rusty.
Continuing to move back, Noah stepped on a piece of rotten fruit. The momentary loss of balance was all Klein needed to get past him. Noah spun around to try and catch him and found only empty air. He sensed Tora approaching and turned to block, only to feel blades slice his arm and leg. Klein had appeared from the darkness and attacked him from behind. Blood poured freely despite his leather armor; even worse, Tora had disappeared from view.
'Bakudan.'
Noah managed to pull away from both Grond and Tora. The moment he turned, Klein appeared in his blind spot and attacked him, but Noah dodged his attacks and got all three in his view. He was starting to figure out their tactics, and now he just had to deal with their poisoned weapons.
He knew it from the wounds Klein had inflicted and could feel his movements slowing and his senses becoming foggy. He could power through as long as he didn't take any more hits. Tarnas had made a big deal about Grond poisoning two knights, meaning whatever was on his blades was the greatest danger. He'd have to deal with him first. They were still on the pier, giving him an idea.
He charged back into the group while keeping his eyes fixed on Grond. The Harajin scattered, and as expected, Klein and Tora activated Bakudan as soon as he averted his eyes, while Grond dared not cast it under Noah's gaze. About to enter Grond's range, Noah suddenly stopped and spun around, aiming behind him with his sword. He wasn't trusting any of his senses, only his hunch, and that was all it took for him to slash Tora across the stomach. It was deep but not fatal.
No time to celebrate—he escaped Grond before he could go on the offensive. Klein was nowhere to be seen, but Noah knew where he was and how to flush him out. He kept his eyes focused on an area of space and pulled out the poison bottle he had looted from Oritz. He smashed it against the ground, spraying glass and liquid in all directions, with several shards and droplets hitting an invisible shape. Noah replaced his sword with his bow and fired an arrow, striking the invisible Klein in the shoulder.
"So that's how you do it, how you get so close to your victim. You approach from their blind spot, and just before entering their field of vision, you activate Bakudan and become invisible. When they look around to find you, your friends attack or play decoy. You release the spell and close in as soon as they look away again. You can't move while it's active, so you can only use it to lie in wait or fight when you're in a group.
It doesn't matter how much blood you spill to protect your secrets. I'll squeeze them out of you, bit by bit. Tell me what I want to know while you're still capable of talking."
Klein and Tora were temporarily down, but Grond was itching to cut Noah's head off. Noah returned his bow to his ring and faced Grond barehanded. Noah should have been at a disadvantage without a weapon, but freeing his hands put him on equal footing.
Whenever Grond reached out with a blade, Noah would aim for his wrists to block the attack or direct it away from his body. It was easier said than done, as Grond was an expert in his blade work, and Noah avoided injury only by the skin of his teeth. His hands were a blur from the motions, and he did his best to tough it out. When the perfect moment finally arrived, Noah went on the offensive.
He delivered a kick to the balls, a chop to the windpipe, and a punch to the solar plexus so fast that not even Grond could react. Noah finished by kicking him off the pier and into the shallow water. The pain from Noah's attacks left him unable to think, let alone stand up, and his wet clothes weighed him down. It took all his strength just to keep his head above the water and breathe while the fungal spores and poisons were washing off his weapons.
Despite neutralizing Grond, Noah failed to prevent Tora from sinking her sickles into his back. Both lungs were punctured, leaving him struggling to breathe and racked with pain. Regardless, he turned around and kicked her square in the chest, knocking her through the air in a similarly breathless state. He turned around and drew his new sword just in time to counter Klein's attack. Unfortunately, with these continuous assaults, he didn't have a moment to take a potion, and Tora's poison was taking effect, this one devouring his mana.
Now that it was one-on-one with Klein, Noah could finally take the offensive, if only for a few seconds. He disengaged and then closed in again, slashing and stabbing with all the strength and coordination he could muster. The sword's weight in his hand had become so familiar that Noah almost didn't regard it. While the intricacies of specific styles were still beyond his reach, he had relearned and remembered how to feel through a blade and use it as an extension of himself.
Noah wasted no motion, as his damaged body needed every spark of strength to function. Even with two sickles, Klein couldn't get past Noah's guard. His sword was hitting its marks, all his attacks aiming for body parts that weren't moving, thus unprotected by the Harajin cloak.
