Chapter 22

Peter and Sarah rushed towards the entrance with James following after them. When reaching the door, they saw Anthony standing in the middle of the street, frantically looking around.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind could be felt, followed by aloud cracking sound. Anthony was still standing in the same place but now he was pushing against a shadowy figure holding a knife, with the ground gradually breaking apart underneath the two of them.

The figure attacked again but this time instead of blocking, Anthony evaded the strike and followed up with a kick, but it missed entirely.

Anthony and the shadow continued to fight with stronger and stronger shock waves coming from their direction. The children attempted to rush in and help, but fortunately James noticed in time and managed to hold the two back.

Anthony was slowly starting to gather shallow cuts on his body but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He wanted to drag the fight out as his assassin was visibly tiring out. He was confident in his ability to avoid serious wounds and as far as he could tell he only needed one good hit to end the fight.

Then the unexpected happened. The shadow tried to stab him with his knife. At first it seemed to miss, but the blade started extending at an incredible speed and managed to stab him right through the heart.

The assassin was confident in his success, until his vision went dark. Anthony simultaneously grabbed his head and the hand holding the extended knife. First he broke the knife blade that was still in his chest, then he strengthened his grip on the assassin's head and slammed it into the ground.

He did this repeatedly, slowly forming a crater beneath them with blood and chunks of broken teeth slowly gathering all around. But he was slowly losing his power and suddenly collapsed.

James was devastated and completely forgot about the kids, now running towards his collapsed brother.

Meanwhile the assassin slowly got up. It wasn't the easiest job he had ever done but it was the most lucrative and he was successful. All he had to do was get rid of the witnesses and get to a doctor with his payment.

He started walking towards the children who were kind enough not to hide from him, but when he got close an invisible force was stopping him.

The two children could have seen something that only a few people ever got the chance to, but they were understandably preoccupied.

[Two administrators have proposed intervention. Waiting for remaining administrator's approval.]

[All present administrators have approved of intervention.]

[DEUS EX MACHINA]

In front of the previously celebrating assassin, three ethereal figures started taking form. Two of them walked towards him while one stayed behind observing the situation before speaking to the others.

{I hope you know what you're doing.}

{Of course we do. This was bound to happen sooner or later, we might as well do it now that it has some meaning to it.}

The response came from the figure who seemed to be leading the three. She then stepped in front of the shadow and did a punching motion. The only thing the man noticed was that he could no longer feel his body from the neck down, that was also the last thought he had before dying a quick death, leaving behind a headless corpse.

The figure staying behind was clearly dissatisfied and voiced his problems openly.

{Now that you're done what are we supposed to do? We're stuck here for another hour.}

The figure who hasn't spoken so far answered in a dismissive tone.

{I advise sticking around, there might be something interesting happening. But if you're really bored you could always visit your kid. Knowing you, you probably didn't even introduce yourself properly.}

{At least I didn't come up with some silly nickname, Miss shoulder demon.}

While the visitors were bickering, something was happening that could be described as interesting.

Peter was desperately trying to find a way to help Anthony but he was struggling to think of something. Then he remembered the ability he read through earlier that day. He tried using it, as it was the only way he could attempt to heal a punctured heart.

[Monster in the dark used.]

[Error: Conflict with ability Undead Guardian!]

Peter was horrified. It was obvious that he wasn't the only one attempting desperate solutions, but it seemed like him and Sarah might have just sabotaged each other, until the rest of the messages became visible.

[Attempting conflict resolution.]

[Resolution found: Creation of independent entity Night Guardian.]

[Warning!]

[Creation of Night Guardian will deplete the usage of Monster in the dark and Undead guardian without providing a familiar.]

[Do you want to proceed?]

"Yes!"

The two shouted simultaneously. As soon as they did so, the hole in Anthony's chest started to get bigger and two blurry symbols started to appear in the hole left behind. Soon he started to open his eyes and slowly sat up on the ground.

Aside from the lethal injury getting bigger, his skin also became a little dry and his nails started to darken until they became a shade similar to Peter's. This change didn't stop at nails however, as his bones also started to darken which was visible due to the aforementioned hole in his chest.

As he got up he was clearly confused and disoriented, but he did manage to regain his senses and tried to figure out what happened, starting with the most obvious question.

"How am I still alive?"