Chapter 15: Deadly Battle

[Kolvar Grandum? Him?] A distant memory resurfaced in Zaos' mind. When the former Zaos was still studying in the sacred academy, he had met an individual with that same name.

He was a dark elven male around Zaos' age from an Elite clan. As the youngest son of the Arch-elf clan leader, Kolvar was not allowed to inherit the clan head position. Because of this, he decided to join the church of eternal darkness, hoping to slowly climb through the ranks.

During their time in the sacred academy, he and Zaos had become good friends, but a rift had formed between them after the latter had defeated Kolvar during the final exams.

[He still holds a grudge over that matter? The hell is wrong with this kid?!] Zaos was furious and frustrated. He was being targeted because of some kids' squabble!

"That's enough of that, let's get this over with…" Shadow's figure abruptly vanished.

[Sh*t!] Zaos quickly readied himself for an attack.

He suddenly felt a killing intent aimed at his neck and hurriedly crouched to avoid the attack.

*Whoosh!*

The sound of a blade cutting through the air could be heard as Zaos rolled out of the way.

"Impressive… " Shadow reappeared as he watched Zaos re-enter his defense stance.

"Your reaction and senses are exceptional, either it's a perk from your royal bloodline or you unlocked your vampiric genes…" Shadow spoke calmly, "I might as well play with you then…"

Before he could finish, Zaos had already taken the initiative, he lept towards him with his daggers drawn.

"Haha… " Shadow laughed, he was about to casually deflect the attack when his expression changed.

Zaos' strike hit an afterimage as Shadow reappeared a few meters away.

[Tsk! Slippery b*stard!] Zaos cursed. He had used his phantom elemental weave previously hoping to stab his opponent with his unblockable strike. Unfortunately, the other party was too cautious.

"Weird… why did I sense danger just now?" Shadow muttered, feeling perplexed.

"It seems you're not an ordinary elf, you can even make me, a high-elf, threatened by your attacks despite you being a rank below me." Shadow looked directly at Zaos as he spoke, "if that's the case, I'll show you the reason why high elves are superior to elves…" As he said so, he started to multiply, from one to two to a total of eight figures.

Zaos' expression changed drastically, he couldn't discern which of the figures was the real Shadow. Even his sixth sense felt genuine killing intent coming from all the Shadows!

[Is he deceiving my senses?] Zaos guessed.

"I'll send you off now boy!" The Shadows spoke in unison as they charged at Zaos.

[No good!] Zaos swiftly got into a defensive position, the speed at which Shadows approached was too fast for him to outrun them, and the lack of hiding spots in this barren battlefield contributed to his plight.

[I have to resolve the deception first!] Zaos quickly activated an elemental weave he had conceptualized using his understanding of his elemental property.

"Die!" As the daggers of all eight Shadows came thrusting towards him, Zaos' elemental weave finally took effect.

Abruptly, all the Shadows became blurry and illusionary, Zaos then sensed a faint killing intent coming from behind him.

[There!] Zaos quickly twisted his body, avoiding the attack and throwing a counterattack.

Shadow who had missed his attack was stunned to see a dagger hurling towards him instead. His lapsed reaction made him unable to dodge the attack and he was pierced in the throat.

Shadow collapsed while trying to stop the bleeding from his neck, his eyes wide-open in disbelief.

After a few seconds of gasping for breath, Shadow took his last breath and seized all movement.

"Haha! I did it! I took out a high-elf!" Zaos exclaimed, excited that he had managed to catch Shadow off guard by using his elemental weave to negate the effects of Shadow's own elemental weave.

His excitement grew as he realized that Shadow's blood hadn't triggered his bloodlust. He could still control himself, although it required more concentration to keep himself sane.

Zaos walked over to Shadow's body with a smug face, he was about to retrieve his dagger when he felt an intense killing intent coming for the 'corpse'.

[Wha-] Zaos was startled and swiftly retreated, unfortunately, it was too late to fully dodge the attack from that range.

The 'corpse' had thrown a dagger aimed at his heart!

Zaos barely managed to dodge at the last second causing the dagger to pierce his right chest instead.

Zaos ignored the dagger and stared at Shadow in fear, however seeing as the other party sat motionless after the throw, he eased up a little.

[He deceived my senses to make me believe he had died but he still had some life force within him?] Zaos' expression was grim as he stared hard at Shadow's corpse.

[Is this a high-elf? They can survive for over a minute even with such injuries?] Zaos shuddered.

Zaos moved away from the corpse out of caution. His sharp movement stimulated the dagger lodged in his chest. He winced as he forcefully removed the dagger.

Before long, the grotesque wound it left behind began healing.

[My vampiric physique is almost on par with the physique of a high-elf.] Zaos smiled wearily as he gazed at the wound. His initial excitement from taking down a high-elf had diminished.

He shifted his attention back to Shadow, after making sure he wasn't moving and his senses weren't deceived, Zaos approached the latter once more.

[Drinking blood should aid my regeneration…] Zaos thought but he quickly denied the idea, [I don't know if he poisoned his blood before dying, this individual is too dangerous.]

Zaos reached out his hand and retrieved his dagger, after that, he proceeded to unmask Shadow.

Behind the hood and mask was a plain-faced dark elf, his hair had begun to gray and he had a few wrinkles at the corner of his eyes.

[What do I do now?] Zaos thought after glancing at the unfamiliar face of his enemy.

[I can't possibly tell the clan I killed a high-elf, but I have a target on my back…] Zaos fell into a dilemma.

He pondered for a bit before having an idea, [should I kill Kolvar? Get rid of the problem from the source?] He speculated on the feasibility of his plan.

[From my memories, he isn't close to his father and lives away from the main manor of their clan…

[And he wouldn't expect his servant to have died at my hands either, so his guard will get down.] The plan felt logical to him.

[I'll have to act fast then, I can't give him time to notice any abnormality and retreat or hide. It seems I won't be returning to the mercenary city anytime soon.] Zaos decided.

He cleared the scene and buried Shadow's body before swiftly departing to Kolvar's home.

[Prepare yourself, you little sh*t!]