Move out

The blade flashed, becoming a twinkling silver star that came rushing down. In the last moment, Rumius closed his eyes, and world went black.

SCREEEEEECH!!!!

The sound of metal grinding on metal shook Rumius's nerves, sending rattling chills down his bones as if an edge was being ground against it. In the moment, and just slightly , Rumius allowed his eyes to peak open.

A figure stood before him, soaking the deadly blow. For a second, the promise of the mysterious demon who had brought him here resounded in his mind. But it was quickly banished.

This was not him. Not unless the towering man had somehow changed genders, shrunk, and gained a whole new level of agility.

The figure wore a tight fitting suit of black clothing. The material appeared to be padded leather, commonly used medium armour that could be brought in most city markets. Rumius had never seen any leather, or even any material, dyed so completely jet black as this.

Two moulds in the front of her chest quickly revealed her gender and two horns jutted from the top of her head. The weapon she favoured was a long, crimson dagger, curved and wicked with a flat blade. Its handle that was a twisted piece of metal, like an ancient vine stained in rusting blood. 

Another scream of metal on metal rang as the dagger slid down the length of the blade all the way up to the hilt, locking the weapons together. Rumius watched as his defender bodied the white assassin, using her thin frame to send the assassin sprawling back. He was obviously surprised by her sudden appearance, and nearly lost his balance in the process.

Rumius was more than thankful to have been defended. The chilling certainty of being split in half down to the waist made him swallow and his knees weak. 

His instinct was to immediately ask who she was, but a second, trained part of him sent the question away instantly. There would be time that later. 

 But she's only one person! Did she bring the cavalry? Or is she does she intend to go down with me? Huh what? Maybe the plan is to run? If so I best be prepar-.

Rumius turned behind and the thought automatically banished itself as he noticed how the other assassins had completed a loose circle around them. They were surrounded, cornered, and with no way out. 

" Do you have a plan?" Rumius asked straightly. " If not, I can use my magic to create a diversion. It's not much but the dust and sand might help us escape!" 

The lady didn't even look at him. " Don't think you can run from these bastards. Chasing wounded prey is their specialty." The demon's reply came curt and cold. " Just stay there. Don't do anything."

Hearing these words, Rumius instantly fell silent. His fists balled up, but he still nodded. 

Sidelined. Again.

Rumius eventually looked up at the female demon who was looking around one last time at the rapidly encroaching circle of assassins. She whispered: 

" KONTRAAK:"

" Baneful Shadows." 

The darkness around them seemed to swim, and quickly rose. Moulds of dripping darkness rose from pools of shadow in the ground. Rumius stepped back in alarm as one wispy appeared behind him and solidified. Two crawled out from the black leather of the woman's armour, and another from her shadow. Two more emerged from the shadows of two eager assassins who were slightly further away from their pack. 

The six shadows were faceless, and of exactly the same physique as their summoner. Barking a curt order, the female demon gathered her followers into a triangle, the shape of a spear tip, meant for breaking ranks and piercing through the enemy. Unfortunately, all the shadows were armed with only daggers and knives, which took away a great deal from the formation's power. 

Rumius felt a hand on his arm and turned. His unlikely defender had a certain look of confidence in her eyes and she pulled him along. " Stay close and behind me." She ordered.

Then with a soundless roar, their entire formation charged. The tip of the spear was aimed for a particularly large gap between two bandits in the encirclement, bent on forcing their way in by ploughing through the sole two defenders. 

The instant contact was made, all hell broke loose.

From their actions, Rumius could tell that the first two assassins were hesitant to break the encirclement. They were evidently mistaken that they still held the upper hand, and it was a mistake they paid for with their lives. 

Screams rang as each spot of white was stamped out by three vicious, black, stabbing, and slashing shadows

The pitted patter of footsteps as the remaining six assassins ran in a doomed attempt to help their comrades reached Rumius's ears. The idea to quickly turn around and fire off a spell to disperse them, or ideally even dispatch one of them briefly passed his mind.

" About turn! Engage the enemy! Let not a single one of them escape!" The voice of the female demon rang in his ears.

Rumius watched on rooted, as six black figures clashed with their white counterparts. Shouts rang and blood spilled as six individual skirmishes broke out across the narrow mountain path. Steel met steel, making sparks fly, and blood stained the ground. However, it was soon evident that the shadows were no match.

Only the female warrior was holding her ground, while her clones were all gradually being beaten back. Their blows landed only to be blocked by chain mail, and their daggers could not compare to the reach that the curved swords of the enemy offered. Every hit they ate considerably decreased their strength and shrunk their size. 

No. No…I need to do something. We're going to lose at this rate! 

Rumius shoved aside his new ally's order to standby. He's been sidelined on too many battles already. The magic he'd spent so long training, all those grimoire that he'd spent hours reading. If not now then when will he get a chance to use it again? There's no way he's completely useless!

I'll show you. Just you watch me! One blow. That's all I'll do. one decisive blow to turn the tides of the battle! 

Rumius quickly scanned the battlefield. Mana boiled in his hand, emitting a soft glow.

There!

In the direction he was looking, a shadow, greatly shrunken, was barely holding out against a furious barrage of blows that was so fast, they appeared like a storm of light. 

Right now it's six against six. If we can't win by quality, then we will just have to make up for it with quantity! 

Planting his foot firmly, Rumius raised his hand as the raging mana in his palm reached a tipping point. 

Ive learnt my lesson, I have to be even faster. I can't give them time to react! The speed of the spell, the accuracy of the spell, I need to improve them too. The blast I need must be instantaneous, spontaneous and enough must have enough power to eat through chainmail. 

lmagine it. Imagine it and bring it to life! 

BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

SCRREEEEEEECH!!

The quasi-invisible projectile tore through the air, so fast that a shrill scream was left in its wake. The blast left a good feeling in Rumius's hand. Powerful. Fast. Extreme. One of the best he'd done so far. 

But when Rumius looked up, the colour drained from his face. 

The white cloaked assassin was unscathed. But as for the shadow fighting him, it was standing where the assassin had previously. And with its head removed from its body, it began crumbling away to ash.

He reacted to it? 

 He pushed the shadow into the line of fire! Wait but how? Reaction time magic? How did he even..?

Rumius would never get the answer to that question. He was forced to abandon it as in the next moment, the assassin shot towards him, his saber raised and pointed at his heart.