Chapter 44: Mirror Match

*** Author's Note ***

Sorry for disappearing for a week. I really needed to finish all of my work in order to beat the deadline.

Now that I am done with another batch of paperwork, I am free once more to write.

Once more, I apologize for the long wait. :'(

Enjoy todays' chapter!

***

After carrying the corpse of the guard and hiding it in a cabinet, I covered the blood in case someone passes by with a carpet, which was quickly soaked with blood.

"Well that was a waste of 30 minutes of my life." I sighed in frustration as I gaze at the blood soaked carpet and the trail of blood that I made after dragging the lifeless body of the guard to where I hide it. After committing my first unwarranted murder, my mind was just all over the place. I always thought that I wouldn't let anything keep me from going home, but the blood that stained my ragged clothes made me face the cruel truth.

Even after months of being here in another world and throwing myself from battle after battle, I never truly believed that all of this is real. Even after I getting trapped inside the endless void, facing against a mage who casts spells like it was nothing, getting thrown into battles that might get me killed or captured, somewhere in my mind I still think that I am dreaming, that any moment I will wake up and find myself sleeping in my bed back at home. But now that I am drenched with blood, it just made everything so real. I am here. Far from home and with blood on my hands.

I shudder at the thought of my lost innocence, but I shook the feeling off as I need to move on. Mulling over morality can wait, this place isn't safe.

I grabbed the guard's spear before silently climb the stairs. I try to extend my Energy Sense but in my shaken state, I can only maintain about 5 meter radius, not as far as before, but the fact that I can still keep enough focus to maintain the skill is welcome. Step by step, I continued to climb the stairs, my senses earlier picked up three energy signatures in the upper floor and a lone one at the top of the tower.

Do I go directly to the top and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Kurt and the others? Or do I check on the three energy signatures from earlier and make sure that the upper floors are secured?

If I go directly to the top, I might be able to spot the others and reunite with them, but if the enemies find out I am here, I might find myself trapped at the top of the tower with no escape. On the other hand, it might be a safer bet if I secure the upper floors first, but if I take too much time, I might miss spotting the party once I get to the top.

What to do?

I continue to wrack my brains, trying to choose what my next step is as I reach the upper floor. That is when I arrived to my decision.

The others will be ok even if I am not with them. They got Philip to lead them, the Elf and Kurt to detect enemies and traps, and Ortho if they face a problem in need of magical tools. No need to worry about them. What I need to do is to make sure I am not discovered so as to not endanger the mission. That means I need to secure this tower for my hideout. I thought to myself and slowly and silently surveyed the rooms in the upper floor. Good thing there are no doors here as I was able to peek inside the rooms. There floor seem to be divided into three.

One room is for equipment, evident with weapons and armor lying about. I am tempted to take a fresh batch of clothes and maybe some armor for myself for I stink but I rein myself for fear that I might bump into a weapon rack and alert the others of my presence.

I then continued to walk sneakily to the other room and found that it was a small library of sorts complete with bookshelf filled with books and two tables and four chairs. Since I don't have time to read if I can even read the letters of this world, I proceeded to the last room. I moved extra quietly as once I am near the room, my Energy Sense detected the presence I felt earlier. Finally, I reached the opening of the room and there they are, three people sleeping in what I can tell is the barracks of the tower.

Moment of truth, quick peek and check if anyone of them are awake. I then sneaked inside, slowly and ever so silent. I even held my breath in fear that they might hear it and wake up. Tip toe, tip toe, tip toe. Step by quiet step, I finally reached one of the beds. As I stand over the sleeping figure, with the help of the pale light from one of the candles that is in the far corner of the room, I can see that the person before me is a female. I gaze at the other people and see that my Senses are right and they are all asleep. As I raise my spear to stab the sleeping woman in front of me, I find that my mind is ready to take her life, but something within me prevents me from doing so.

Shit. Conscience, don't bother me right now. It is either me or them. If I don't kill them now, they might wake up at any time and discover my presence here. Better kill them now even if it stains me with more blood than regret not doing it later after getting mobbed by enemies. It is either me or them. I thought as my hand shakes as I ready myself to take a life. It's not like they will even feel it. I will make it quick and painless. One stab to the chest. They won't even know that they are dead already.

After a few seconds of hesitation, I was already drenched with sweat. A bead fell on the sleeping woman and she slowly wakes up. No time to second guess! I quickly cup her mouth and stabbed the woman in the chest. Her surprised expression burns in my memory as I plunge the spear deeper to pierce her heart and light of life in her eyes begin to fade. Her hand that is grasping mine limply fell to her side as she finally breathes her last.

I guess this is it. No more turning back. I thought as I steel my resolve and sneak towards another sleeping guard. I stand over him and stabbed him in the neck with all of my weight in order to kill him in one strike. But thinking about it, it was a misjudgment as the spear pierced through his neck and severed his spine, instantly killing him, but it also caused the spear to get stuck in the bed. I quickly realized my blunder as I hear a yawn from the last sleeping guard in the room. As the woman guard stretches her limbs to check the noise I made, I quickly rushed towards her, got to her back and wrapped my arms in her neck for a chokehold. The guard was caught in the surprise attack but was quick to put up a struggle to free herself from my headlock. I can feel her Mana spike as she strengthen her body to break free.

Wordless casting? I didn't thought about that.

Most of the people I fought with need to chant in order to cast spells. But few of them, mostly the strong ones like the Crazy Wind Lady and Rebeccah can cast spells without uttering a word. Is this woman also as strong as them? I was alarmed as I feel the woman's strength increase by the second, threatening to break my hold. In my panic, I used my trump card. A split second Amplification to increase my own strength tremendously and squeezed her with all my might. I was expecting for us to struggle with each other as our strength clash, but there was no such thing. My own strength overwhelmed hers as I heard a crack followed by the guard's body suddenly going limp.

I put my fingers on her neck to check for vitals, as expected, she was dead. My God! What have I become? I was only trying to make her unconscious. But I killed her! I looked around in the room, gazing at the dead bodies around me. I felt my stomach churn and I vomit at the sight. Shit… I didn't want this. I thought as I wiped my mouth and walk towards one of the tables. I felt dizzy and almost fell face first to the floor if I wasn't able to lean against the wall. Slowly, my body slid until I am sitting on the floor, drenched in my own sweat and with the blood of the tower's guards. I thought I was ready. Ready to do anything. But in the end, I am not. I thought it would be easier now that I have killed multiple people, but it is not. The shock was still there. I took quick breathes in an effort to calm myself down. After a 5 minutes, I was able to calm my nerves and I started to ascend towards the top of the tower.

On my way towards the stairs, I stopped by the armory and grabbed a pair of gauntlets and a sword. Although I don't like using weapons and swinging one in battle would more likely injure me than my enemy due to my inexperience, it will still be useful if I get to sneak behind an enemy. I didn't bother with armor, since wearing one will more likely get me detected by enemies with the noise of clanging of metal. After strapping the sword to my waist, although still a little lightheaded, I continued to climb the stairs of the tower.

Once I reached the top, I saw a man standing on the far side of the tower facing the illusion wall. I crouched and hid behind a barrel near the stairs to observe the area. He's just standing there, blankly staring at the wall. Good, he didn't seem to be aware of my presence. Now, to sneak behind him and shank him to oblivion. I joked to myself in order to calm my nerves as I stealthily crouch walk towards him. Once I was only a few steps away from him, I remembered something, I forgot to unsheathe my sword before sneaking towards him. Oh well, I'll just unsheathe the sword silently. No fuss. I thought as I unsheathe the sword, which produced a *Shing* sound us I take it off the scabbard.

The sound alerted the man and he quickly turned around to face me. I am still at least 10 steps away from the man, he will surely see me before I reach him so, thinking quickly, I unsheathed the sword and threw the scabbard at the face of the man. The guard has quick reflexes and batted away the scabbard, but the split second distraction was all I need to capitulate at the opening and swung my sword, aiming to cut him vertically in half… Which he easily dodged by taking a single step to the side. The sword hit the stone and I felt my hand went numb from the vibration from the pipe that was transferred to my hands. Meanwhile, the man didn't miss a beat and kicked the sword from my hand and threw a couple of punches which I parried. He threw a straight punch which I blocked with my right hand, I then took a step forward and ducked under his quick hook. Upon reaching his chest, I then launched a body blow to the solar plexus with my full weight behind it. He clearly doesn't have enough time to block or dodge the attack, and a blow to the stomach with full force behind a metal covered fist will surely cause devastating damage, so I expected him to crumple down in pain, gasping for air. But what happened next was beyond what I expected.

A split second before my fist hit his stomach, I felt his energy spike, not in his whole body, just the area that was about to get hit. As soon as my fist touched his stomach, I felt a strong force travelling from his body towards my fist, as if he attacked me with his stomach, threatening to crush my own hand. I quickly summoned my Aura to cover my whole body, in an effort to counteract his energy attack and jumped back just in time to dodge a front kick. Thankfully the man didn't chase after me and was intent on just standing there and looking at me, as if he was curious and studying me. I take a defensive stance and continued to use Shell, not letting my concentration down in case he suddenly attack me. Shit.

Damn it. I lost my greatest weapon, the element of surprise. What's worse it that my left hand hurts. I threw a quick glance at my gloved hand. Judging from the stinging pain emanating from it, it must have gotten fracture. What was that technique? I was sure my attack would land flawlessly, but I was the one that got hurt instead. I must end this quickly before he calls for help. But… How? If I attack carelessly, he could just do what he just did and I will be the one getting hurt.

"So… An intruder eh?" He said with his hands on his waist. He doesn't look bothered one bit even with me in front of him. "Judging from the blood on the rag that you call your clothes, you must have killed the ones from bellow?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"What if I did?" I asked back, trying to buy as much time for my Ki to heal my injured hand. After a quick Visualization, I found out that it is not as injured as I thought. Just light yellow, which means slightly injured, but it will still take another minute or two to heal it in fighting order.

The man just smiled and replied. "Then I will have to thank you. Those bastards assigned me to tend to the Illusion Wall at this Gods forsaken hour while they slept like a baby. Just because I have the smallest amount of Mana of the five of us. Not to mention that I am a fighter, not a mage like them. Serves them to get their throats slit open." His laughed.

A fighter huh. Well that explains how he moves better than the other mages I faced before in an unarmed combat.

"I don't know how you got pass the Illusion Wall undetected but I guess I could count you being here as a blessing from the Gods." He then cracks his knuckles and neck as he slowly walks toward me and stopping just 2 meter away from me. "I don't care how you got in. That's a problem for the higher brass to solve. However, if I catch you and turn you over to them for questioning, I will gain their favor. Then, I will finally be free from this dead end job of supplying mana to the Illusion Wall." He then readies his stance. "Do put up a fight. Standing here for hours is so boring. You will be my entertainment tonight." He smirked.

My fist is almost healed, but I can't wait for it to fully recover. I don't know how the man fights, or the technique that he uses, but I don't have the time to find out. It seems he is not thinking of calling for help, for now. So I must take the initiative and end this as quickly as possible.

Clenching my fist tightly, I reinforced my Shell with more Ki, it doesn't help much in strengthening my attack power, but it does boost my defense by a great deal. Then, with a quick step, I covered the 2 meters of distance between us in a blink of an eye. I then threw a quick jab to his face which he easily dodged by weaving to the side and he throws a punch of his own. I slapped away his hand before trying to backhand him straight to his infuriating smirking face. He effortlessly blocked my attack and grabbed my hand. He then pulled me towards him and delivered a body blow. His punch was heavy but I was ready for the attack and tighten my abdominal muscle to absorb the blow. My body bends as his punch hit my gut, but I will not take his attack without dishing one of my own as I flick my head up to headbutt him in the chin.

A sharp crack can be heard as back of skull meets chin and I regret headbutting him as I get dizzy from my own attack. Granted he also was forced to take a few steps back as blood starts to flow from his mouth.

He wiped his chin with his sleeve and seeing his own blood, he laughed. "You got some moves there. Finally. A fight with someone who can throw a punch. Let me see more!"

This time, he is the first one to charge as I was forced to be in the defensive by his flurry of punches. His fighting style is so different from the disciplined fighting style of Kurt where every step, every attack has a purpose. Compared to him, this man looks like he is just wildly throwing punches after punches, trying to overwhelm me with the volume of his attacks. I block and parry his attacks like crazy, but a few of his punches goes through and hit me. It doesn't hurt much, for they are more based on speed rather than power like a boxer going for the win by getting more points in the score card. But if I let this continue, the damage will pile on and it will be dangerous. After swatting away one of his attacks, I buckled up and charged at him, intent on tackling him to the ground where I believe I have the advantage.

Little did I know… It was a trap.

"I knew you would do that." Said the man as he raised his knee to welcome my face.

I feel the bone in my nose crack as I face plant directly to his knee. Where did this man learn how to fight like this? I thought people of this world learn martial art and stuff. But this man fight like he is in a street fight.

Just like me.

I feel like my pride of my street fighting prowess is on the line and my rage starts to build up. Instead of retreating from his counterattack, I made my Ki explode as I Amplified my Aura and power through his attack. I then grabbed him by his waist and lifted him up before slamming him to the ground as hard as I can. I can feel my Ki reserve drop fast from using too much Ki for Amplification and I quickly turned it off and used my more energy efficient Shell.

"Gah!" He shouted as his body bounced on the stone floor while also making a crack on it with the impact.

Chance! I thought as I quickly dashed towards the downed man to finish him off. But as soon as I was about to mount on him, he kicked me away with both his feet, making me fall on my back. Using the force of his kick, I quickly rolled back to my feet and charge at him once again. This time, he was also on his feet and met my charge. Our hands locked with each other, trying to overpower the other but failing to break the deadlock. My Aura seem to be stronger than his, but his body is stronger than mine. There is a way for me to overpower the man, but I dread using Amplification again, for I fear that I will empty my tank before taking down the man in front of me. Adding to my anxiousness is the fact that he is not using the technique he used to block my attack earlier. What if I use Amplification and he use that technique to counter it? It will surely not end well for me.

"This is how a fight should be! Show me more." Still smiling, the man uttered as slowly but surely, he begins to push me back and overpower me.

Instead of pushing back, I used his strength against him by performing a circle throw. I pull him towards me, put my foot on his waist and fall on my back to throw him overhead. I then quickly rolled my body back to mount him and threw a punch to his face. As expected, as soon as my fist hit his face, I felt his energy spike once more, this time it is on his face, and my fist got damaged once more by that mysterious technique of his. I groaned in pain as I felt the bone on my fist really break this time and he used this chance to push me off of him.

Both of us were panting in exhaustion as we slowly get to our feet while staring each other down. Then suddenly, the intense atmosphere was shattered as we heard a voice coming from the parapets.

"You boys seem to be enjoying yourselves." The woman chuckled. "Oh, don't mind me. Do continue. I will just watch." She smiled as she begins to float in the air like she is lying on a comfy sofa.

Sweat comes flooding on my face as I recognize the face of the woman calmly floating in the air. I hope the others have already completed their mission and got out. For I don't think I can survive this one.