45: Encounter with an old acquaintance (Trial part 9)

(Nathan POV)

As much as it seemed unbelievable, I knew that my senses were not wrong. There were wizards around us and Kizen's body did not have the ability to use magic. That was the only reason I was not able to detect the presence of wizards. I ran back into the castle. The most concentration of mana was in Cecilia's room and that was my destination.

(I can't feel the presence of magic at all. Kizen do have a talent for magic but he will never be able to handle a wand let alone cast a spell. That was the only reason I could not recognize this feeling from the start.)

I ran with all my might. The moment I climbed the stairs, my feet immediately came to a halt. There were about fifteen or so, men in front of me, all fully weaponized. Their faces were hidden in masks and only their eyes were visible. They all looked at me. I backed down slowly and my hand reached the hilt of my blade which I had tied to my back in the tunnel.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? The bratty king of arcadia. Just my luck." A man walked from behind the guards.

"I was so devastated when I went to your room and you were not there. I was worried that you might have died." His tone contained mockery and resentment.

"But man is this my lucky day or what. Here I was thinking of going into the princess's room and helping my ally kill your little sister but can you believe the level of my happiness when I saw you here. Now I can kill you myself." With that he and the rest of his goons pulled out their knives. I let out a breath and also pulled out my sword.

"Shut up and tell me how did you get out of your cell?" I asked as calmly as I could.

The guy in front of me was none other then the spy I had captured some days ago. The fact that he held a grudge against me was quiet understandable. I did not care about any of that but there was something in is speech that bugged me.

"And what do you mean by your ally. Who is in my sisters' room?" I could feel magic coming from a little far away in the corridor and that was where sisters' room was located.

(I need to get to Cecilia...… fast. I don't know what is going on here and not how these people got into the castle but if wizards are involved then it all makes sense.)

"Still acting all arrogant I see. Well, no matter. Your attitude will all change in but a minute." He said as he jumped towards me.

It did not even take him a second to reach my position. He was fast. While holding his knife into a backward grip he immediately struck my neck. He was well trained.

(Going straight for the neck I see. And your speed is nothing to joke about. Too bad........... I am faster)

I pulled out my sword from the sheath. As the proximity between his knife and my neck decreased, I spun a bit so that the back of my neck was not in his range rather than the side. The knife then was simply blocked by my half-sheathed blade.

"TCH" I could hear the disappointment in his voice. "I thought that I would be able to kill you in this one blow." I pulled out my sword completely and pushed him back. He jumped and rejoined his comrades. "But it seems like our intel that said that King Kizen cannot even hold a proper sword was as wrong as out intel that said than it will be piece of cake to kill you." He smirked at me. "To block that attack of mine, you are decent at least if not a master in the sword arts." He complimented me.

"I asked you something." I totally ignored his remark. "Who is your ally and how did you get out of your cell." I grabbed my sword with both hands and took a stance.

"If I tell you that, will you let me kill yourself quietly?" He grinned at me.

"No! I am the one who will be doing the killing here not you. So, you will die weather you tell me or not." I said nonchalantly.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" the man started to laugh uncontrollably. "Man, that's what I love about you. Outnumbered one to sixteen and still acting all arrogant." He snickered. "You can see that you are in no position to win right? I can just order all the assassins and there won't even be a speck of you left."

"No actually its you who do not get it." I pointed at him with my sword. "I will give you an advice. Never take on a king in his own castle unless you have at least half the castle at your side or an army that can conquer the entire thing without a sweat."

"What are you talking about." He was clearly confused but he was not dumb. With those words he had guessed that something was not right.

"Kill him" He ordered and all of the assassins attacked me.

(Shit. I can take on many opponents at once but sixteen is way too much for me to handle.)

They all jumped at me with their knives. At first, I tried to parry all their attacks but it was way too much. Before I could get a wound, I jumped back. But they realized that I was trying to gain some distance and spread out. They were trained in assassination but I was a simple swords man. Moreover in Kizen's body, my fighting power was halved. All my practice was with a dual wielding style and with a single two-handed sword I could never get the same results. They were nimbler and had greater speed. Holding light weighted knives, they could run way faster than me who was holding a heavy two handed sword. Amounting to all that, I got surrounded in no time. Now they were attacking from all sides and I was but one guy with a single sword. I did not take long to get my first cut. As I was trying to block the knives from the left my arm on the right got cut. I turned and slashed him but he immediately jumped back. At the same time another on attacked at me from behind. I turned and intercepted him.

(I need another weapon if I want to have a fighting chance against them.)

Thinking that I tried to grab his hand so I might disarm him but he realized what I was aiming for and backed off while slapping my hand away.

I quickly regained my posture and turned to look at the other assailants who were attacking me. I blocked two of them with my sword. Another came close to me through my blind spot. I was already preoccupied. Pushing them away I diverted my attention to the attacker whose knife was inches away from my ribs but it was already too late to stop him. The only thing I could do now was to grit my teeth and endure the pain that was about to come. I twisted my body as much as I could to save my body but it was not enough. The knife tore through my skin and tissues. I felt a sharp pain on my side. I gritted my teeth to not screem. I removed one of my hands from the sword hilt and punched his knife hand in such a way that he let go the knife. Due to his momentum, he lost his footing and stumbled a bit. With all the force that I could muster, I brought down my sword on his head using the other arm.

*THUD*

His body fell with a small sound. It was not an achievement. At this point the death of one of them did not mean anything. They were all prepared and fully healthy while I was bleeding from various places and had a deep cut on my side. The battle was totally not in my favor. I Crouched and picked up the knife of the dead assailant. At least I had two weapons to defend now.

"WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG. ALL OF YOU ATTACK AT ONCE" The spy shouted in a fit of rage seeing one of his men fall. All the other Assassins listened to him and attacked me at once.

(OH SHIT)

I stood my guard ready to do all I could when an arrow came flying from somewhere and struck one of them on the neck. He made a croaking sound and then fell down. All the attackers immediately fell back as they searched for the archer.

"Finally!" I let out a breath. "I thought I was really going to die this time." I took my stance again readying my self to fight.

"Took you long enough."