“Damnit, you hardly play fair when there’s so many of you, how cowardly!” He snorted. Exchanging glances the men all rushed Khondis. Grunting he got into a defensive position. His ears flicked in horror. Some how he had overlooked the feeling of ten more people, all hooded assassins. They all emerged from the thickets in a blur. Before he knew it he had thirteen being pouring down on him in a blood thirsty rage. Taking in a breath, he could feel the sword ready to unleash itself, the hilt was hot in intensity. The sword was vibrating, just as he was on the brink of letting it do it’s thing- everything stopped, as if time stopped.
“Wh-Wha?” Khondis stitched his eyebrows together, “It’s not possible?”

It honestly was like nothing more than something one would read from a story book, or watch a troupe of performer’s act out on the stage. Something she had heard plenty of but never witnessed. With how everything was moving so quickly, it left her mind feeling as if it was being left behind with her entire body moving away from it. Having man after man appear from the brush of the forest closing in on Khondis with fluid expertise, she felt lost in her own actions. Hands yearned to move and yet she could not do such a thing. Feet wanted to run in all directions but the earth held them bone, immobilized.

Perhaps what got her was how little anyone paid attention to her just standing there. Did the ruse of the outfit really fool these men into thinking she was one of them, or was it really that they seen her as little threat which in turn would make them pass by her.

Her heart swelled into her throat watching with bridled fear at Khondis quickly losing the upper hand, her voice trembling somewhere deep within her body wanting nothing more than to be of use in some way, shape and form. But she had no skills in fighting and she doubted any of them would pay much attention to a woman throwing a tantrum.

Perhaps that was why the gods seen it fit to step in, where she could not.

A firm hand gripped softly to her shoulder as the vision of three darted out in a precise run making her eyes widen with awe and confusion. Her mind’s eye fell over the forms with wonderment as she slowly began to realize that the newest additions to the fight were on their side. The Elites. Which that could only mean….
Wyllow turned her eyes to her side only to grace upon the stern expression of the man who once held the shackles of Khondis- Hunter.
“How?” it was the only word she could voice without over thinking the moment.

The quaint smile spread over his charms while eyes of green stayed peering out to the scene of men and women. “Just trust me.”

It wasn’t like she had anything else to do.

Khondis grunted as blood sprayed in all directions, squinting he watched as the Elite Guards took out five men in one fell swoop. The other eight men leapt back and surrounded them, even with the Elite Guards they were still outnumbered. As he regained composure three of the four Elite guards stood around him just as alert and ready.
“About time someone showed up, holy shit. I didn’t want to use the sword.” One of the Elite guards looked over her shoulder and smirked.
“You might be a cocky little prick, but you’re not a very skilled swordsman.” the other Elite’s giggled.
“Oh shut it. I haven’t done anything yet, if I get going too much the sword goes off like a bomb, what am I supposed to do?”
“I’d pay to see that.” another Elite piped up. Khondis glared over his shoulder at the girl. They had been almost silent up to this point, and he would have preferred it had stayed that way. For some reason battling brought out their personalities, it pissed him off.
“Ha ha, let’s just do this already. Why isn’t that lazy ass Hunter out here anyways, just standing with Wyllow, guh- he’s just as useless.”

Before anything else could be said the eight men simultaneously charged, the sound of metal rang loudly as the field flooded with red, in no time another two hooded thugs fell to the ground, it was starting to show that the Elite Guards were very skilled at what they did, only the assassins left were causing to be more of a match up.
Darting side to side Khondis somehow found himself taking on two of the men once again. Pulling into a leap he bound over head, coming down he slammed into a bulky man with an elbow, both tumbling to the ground, leaving the man cloak-less. He had long brown hair tied in a ponytail and a gruff beard. He was human, go figure, he had seen more than his fair share of humans as of late. Many were migrating from their homeland due to a failing economy, many taking up knave work to pay the bills.
Getting shoved from the side from the remaining man he barrel rolled through the tall grasses, grunting his got to his feel quickly, bringing his sword up just in time to block an attack. His sword grinding with the second hooded knave he could feel pain in his teeth from grinding so hard. The sword was ready to let loose any built up energy it had, but he refrained from letting his mind go that far. If he did, he would easily cause harm to more than just himself. He was highly tempted, but he knew better.
“Piss off already.” Khondis grunted. Pressing all his weight into the sword he managed to throw the man from him, bringing his blade around it glided through the chest of the man, he crumpled holding his chest screaming. The wound had been extremely deep, he didn’t make noise for very long.
The long haired human stood up gazing at Khondis, looking over he realized he was the only one left standing. Putting his hands up he started laughing hysterically.
“What in the hell…” Khondis raised his eyebrows.
“I’m sorry, it’s just so funny that you had to get a bunch of Casbael loonies in on this just to protect your sorry hide. But I suppose it’s my fault for waiting for so long.” the human shrugged his shoulders.
“What are you talking about…” Khondis studied the man for a moment. He looked familiar, and at the same time, he aura was completely different then any person he had met before.
“My name is Rotend Drydent. You killed my father you bastard.” The human got extremely serious, glaring at Khondis at the same time bringing his hands down. His eyes were a deep red, and pierced right through the young Ecchial. “You murdered him, and you took what is rightfully mine.” Khondis looked down at the sword.
“Tondris…” He muttered.
The Elite Guards seemed to be looking towards Hunter for guidance as they held their stance around the lone assassin.

If she hadn’t been standing here witnessing every strike, every blow counter and counter claim of that sword, she might have started to laugh hysterically. Everyone seemed so gung ho to have that sword and it was honestly beginning to drive her crazy. It was the proverbial game of cat and mouse, but unlike the usual scenario, there were thrice as many cats and still one mouse. It was uneven for both sides. Only one cat would get the mouse and then the others would turn against the fellow comrade which would only make the process repeat itself.

Tapered ears flitted in a small barely noticeable twitch to the smug chuckling that bellowed out from the taller ecchial holding strong on her shoulder.

Giving a curt wave of a hand, the three woman shifted there weight to stand perfectly erect – hands falling still by there sides as if they were nothing more than wooden soldiers. Though there eyes told a different story. They shifted, glowered and worried in anticipation to what they could and couldn’t do without Hunter’s direct orders. They may gripe about the man, but it was still clear who held the reigns of there abilities.

“It always did amuse me to watch the archon race with there squabbles and there natural perverse need to have everything deemed to themselves.” Hunter’s voice held the quality of pure authority, while those eyes were thick with a electricity that she never thought she would ever see in any being.

Eyes of red narrowed dramatically but the rest of the body made no attempt to move more than it did in the soft sway of ones own weight.

His hand slipped away from her shoulder to allow his heavy boots a slide forward in the grass, not really advancing towards the hostile and antsy archon, but rather to put a stress on the situation that only a member of Casbael could do. He beckoned her forth with a swish of fingers, as she felt herself moving in accordance with it; she was nothing more than a puppet to him. Partly because she felt certainly a lot safer in his presence and secondly, she didn’t want to pull the threads of the circumstance away from him. If he was going to hold the entire moment in his hands, then it was better to follow his verbal or other orders with simple compliance.

His hand lifted – she seen from the crook of her eye the three elites stiffen drastically- their bodies coiling in on themselves ready for a simple flick of an eyebrow to pounce. They were trained so near perfection that it made her humble further to the idea of Casbael. If they were elites and Hunter was a master it only raised the question…. how terribly strong was a guardian? “What you fail to understand is, while the lad here may have taken your father’s life the sword at his side-” Hunter let his gaze slide to that of Tondris; “Is in rightful ownership of Casbael.”

“Bullshit.” The archon snapped through a hiss of clenched teeth. “You damn glorified hogs sit up on your golden thrones tossing your commands left right and center; staking claim to anything you wish even when it is clearly not yours to take.” he sliced a hand through the air, “But all you spout is nothing by meaningless words that fall on deaf ears. I will take back the sword that belongs to me even if I have to slice my way through you six.”

Why did she have to be included?

Hunter gave a flick of a brow to the spill of words from the man. “So stubborn even on the eve of your own death. You should learn to pick your battles, but that seems rather folly to be saying now when the weight of the scales are against your favour.” she worried her bottom lip through her fingers, “See what you fail to understand is;” Hunter smirk deepened, “During the entire brawl and clash of swords, you didn’t take the time to take in your surroundings.”

What did he mean by that? Wyllow lifted her roan eyes to that of the man tracing them quietly over him – back and forth- looking for some sort of flag that told her the meaning of his words.

Hands shot up to cover her ears in a pitiful whine from the ear splitting bestial cry as a hand pressed against her stomach in an attempt to shuffle her backwards.

The craggy earth beneath them crumbled and shifted from the immense weight of the beast slamming into the ground, eyes widening in a horrified sight to the gleaming red scales that would only belong to one beast.

Guardian Rera.

That’s what he meant by not taking in your surroundings. The guardian had come out from the temple herself to attain the scene of gore and words. It only amazed her further that the guardian herself had come out to begin dealing with the situation and yet she had waited until everyone of the assassins except for the one perished. Was it a way to test the elites and Hunter or was it just because it had happened that way.

Thick talons curled into the ground as the massive long neck that held the crown of the beast coiled back- her mouth opening in a grungy reptile hiss revealing the hundreds of dagger like serrated fangs, as the whipping tail slammed through the jungle atmosphere in a chaotic fashion.

She wanted to scream and cower away, but seeing how none of the elites moved nor Hunter, she realized they weren’t in any danger… yet.

Rotend on the other hand, lost his balance in the trembling of the earth – how she didn’t, would be forever confusing in her mind- those piercing red eyes were so wide that it seemed rather the white’s were trying to devour the irises.

“Can you not get into trouble every time I send you out for something so bloody simple Hunter?” Rera’s mouth moved very little but that did nothing to stop the pungent weight of her words slither out.

Hunter shrugged to his lady guardian before he began to laugh. “Now Guardian Rera, I doubt that would be fun for either of us. You must admit, you do love to make an entrance.”

She snorted hard making the dirt fling wildly into the air. “Hardly the point, but please don’t tell me this is what I came out here for? One pathetic little archon weakling, certainly you could have pulled your smug head out of your ass and stepped in to assist with this.” she was certainly swift with her words and cursing. Hunter again didn’t seem fazed by it.

“With the stink of blood in the air, I think it should be clear Mistress Rera that there were more men but your elites and-” he opened a hand to Khondis, “The freed Copper took care of the rest. Seemed our archon friend here was just going over his attainment to the blade that Copper is holding. I thought I would be a merry jest to let him rant and rave before anything else.”

Rera wrinkled her leathery lips as the flash of a pinkish irises was looking over him and unfortunately her. “Remind me why you are the master?”

“Perhaps at another time Mistress, what would you like to do about Sir Rotend?” Hunter’s smile never faltered making her only wonder, was he crazy?

“Saundria, Marila and Venira apprehend the archon and Khondis Copel. Make certain to separate them before putting them in the cells dears. I really don’t think we’d liked to hear the calamity they would be certain to drive up through the halls of the temple. In the morning we will ship the archon out to Guardian Joey so she can deal with her own damnable kind while,” her eyes glinted, “Khondis you fall under my jurisdiction. Otherwise I’d think to send you to Guardian Joey as well seeing as you came from Loki. But I don’t think that will be required.”

Wyllow tensed at it all. They couldn’t honestly capture him again, he just almost even-handedly took out the sins, that wasn’t even remotely fair.

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