Chapter 59: The unwelcomed visitor

Dialogue "sample"

Thoughts 'Sample'

Techniques [sample]

Author notes -sample-

Chapter 59: The unwelcomed visitor

The assassin jumped at Siegfried and brought his sword down with tremendous force and speed.

But Siegfried's expression was completely calm, even if his opponent was currently physically superior to him thanks to his magical enhancements, this was no new scenario for Siegfried. He was used to fighting stronger or faster opponents, this was how he increased his skills in the first place.

"Die!" The assassin slashed at Siegfried, but this one was able to easily read his moves and dodged the attack.

The assassin poured even more mana into his muscles and continued his barrage of attacks. Vertical slashes, horizontal, sideways, stabs…Siegfried seemed to always be an inch away from being cut but managed to avoid them all while keeping his calm face.

'Not yet…I have one shot at this, I need to wait for the best opportunity. This spear will only last one attack.' This is what Siegfried thought, but to the eyes of the veteran assassin leader, it may have seemed like Siegfried was mocking him.

"You bastard!" The assassin's face had grown red with rage. "How can you read all of my attacks?!. A kid like you should not have a skill like that."

"Maybe you are not as good as you think, old man. Tell me, how many decades have passed since you failed to become an actual Magus? The one who hired likes to call people like you…worthless failures."

This seems to do the trick. The old assassin gave a primal growl before enhancing his body to its very limit. His muscles had grown at least five times what they were at the beginning, making him look like a savage gorilla.

"Come" Siegfried waved him with his free hand.

"Ahhhh!" The assassin seemed to have lost his mind and entered a berserker state. He yelled and charged at Siegfried like a wild beast. Although his speed and power seemed to have increased greatly.

Siegfried saw the attack approach and knew that this was the opportunity that he has been waiting for.

He patiently waited until the assassin entered his range and attacked him. "Second stance…Nine-headed dragon flash!"

Siegfried avoided the sloppy attack from the assassin and performed his counterattack in the form of nine flashes of light that hit the main vital points of the other man. The moment his spear hit the last point, the shaft of the spear shattered into a dozen pieces.

Meanwhile, the assassin gave a bloodcurdling scream as he was sent back by the force of Siegfried's move.

Once it hit the ground, it remained there, immobile…dead.

"That takes care of that…" He looked back at the forest where his classmates were fighting.

'I know what I said…but I can't help to worry a bit. Am I growing softer in this life?... I wonder.'

His worry did not last long as he started to feel the weakened auras of his classmates approaching.

Iris came out of the forest and walked into the clearing while carrying both Edward and Iria.

Siegfried approached them and Iris dropped Edward and Iria on the ground, they were both unconscious but didn't seem badly hurt. He then observed Iris's state. She looked exhausted but her wounds did not look life-threatening, her most important one seemed to be a deep cut on her leg.

"Here." Siegfried passed to her his healing ointment. "I don't know where Edward keeps the healing potions."

Iris took the ointment and started to apply it.

"Thanks...this is enough. My wounds are not severe enough to need some high-grade healing potion anyways."

Her eyes moved to the limp body of the assassin that Siegfried had just killed.

"You won, huh? Not really surprising."

"Quite. These assassins were a bit lacking. I think Charles Artois had underestimated our capabilities a little bit."

Iris looked shocked. "Artois? Are you telling me that these guys were hired by that pompous asshole?"

"Yes, but I was their only real target. You guys had become collateral damage. I'm sorry about that." Siegfried explained.

Iris looked intensely at Siegfried before offering him a smile, something very rare to see in Iris.

"It's fine. I learned some things from my fight. Even if I was born with the wrong affinity for my family…I can still carve my own path."

They then heard someone behind them, clapping.

"Well said! One should always carve its own path. And the more blood along the way...the better"

"What?!" Siegfried turned his head looked at the newly arrived person with shock. He had not felt a single thing, not even a sliver of mana from that individual.

The man was casually walking towards them. He was a tall individual, in his mid-twenties with long black hair that covered half his face, one the revealed half they could see a half-closed eye and a cruel smile.

When Siegfried tried to get a feel of this person's cultivation, he got another surprise, he still could not feel a thing from the man, it was almost like he wasn't there at all.

"What is this?!" He said in frustration.

The man chuckled. "Can't feel my cultivation, is that it?. Don't worry about it, it is much higher than yours."

"Iris, stay with them." Said, Siegfried.

"I can fight too!" Complained Iris.

"No…not against this person and even less with an injured leg, you would just get in the way." Said, Siegfried.

Iris clenched her fist, but she knew that he was right. This oponent was on a whole other level compared to the assassins that they had just defeated.

"Here, use this!" Iris handed Siegfried her magical sword.

"Can I even use this magical sword?" Wondered Siegfried. These swords are supposed to be designed to be exclusively used by the Castel family.

"I'm not sure if it would do much in your hands. But it should be better than nothing." She had noticed that Siegfried was missing his weapon.

He took the sword and immediately felt a faint connection.

'Maybe it is because I have the same affinity as Iris and this sword was getting used to channel fire mana…Unfortunately, I don't know much about magical weapons yet.'

He gave the swords a few swings to get used to the balance and weight.

"Alright, swords are not my thing, but I will give it a try." Said Siegfried before looking at the other man, who had been patiently waiting for Siegfried to be ready, like he knew he had nothing to worry about.

The man gave Siegfried a confident smile. "Let's start then."