After falling out of the water pot, Henwy coughs vigorously, as he could finally breathe again. He then begins the task of removing the needles stuck into him, but he quickly feels the severe numbness in his body caused by the needles' poison. I may have escaped the water pot, but I'm not...
After removing them all, he notices the unconscious Aiden and the bladed fish demon about to attack him, seeing more demons join the fight. Without any strength and unable to stand, he sees the demonic spawn pounce on the young smith and his life flashes before his eyes...
"Come on, I know you can do it! Get up on your feet!"
...
...
...
"Dad...?"
Henwy was born as the youngest child within the household, living alongside his mother, father, and his older sister Hayley. He was raised in a loving and caring household, until his parents were slaughtered by serial killers right before him and her sister's eyes.
Just when the serial killer was about to take the lives of him and her sister as well, they were saved by the assassin leader, Slogo, who slayed the serial killer. Now more determined as a result of the pain and suffering they endured, Henwy and Hayley both promised to become assassin to protect each other, as well as prevent other people from enduring the same losses they had to experience. Henwy later states that if a demon is slain, tens of lives would be saved. He mentioned that defeating a serial killer will save hundreds of lives. Eventually, after managing to move a boulder, they convinced Slogo to introduce them to a cultivator.
Unfortunately, at the age of 17, he became the secretary of the Assassins in Hayley's place, since Hayley died at age 25. Henwy coddled the guys of the Regulars as if they were his own older brothers.
With resolve coursing through his veins, Henwy fought against his physical limitations, rising to his feet. Crimson patterns adorned his face as he seized his blade, swiftly dispatching the blade-wielding fish demons threatening Aiden's life.
"Are you okay?" Henwy choked out, concern etched in his voice.
"Henwy... don't worry about me. Save... Alxton... protect the swords!" Aiden's fading voice urged.
Suddenly, Dagon senses a blade approaching him and ducks down in the nick of time to avoid Henwy's slash. Seeing the assassin, he becomes confused at how he managed to escape his Prison Pot, thinking that since he believed he would die, he did not focus on him, though the demon instead interprets it as credence to his deep concentration.
As the assassin attacks, Dagon points a vase at him and unleashes his enormous tentacles, emerge from his vase to grab him and Alxton, snapping his blade and destroying the work shed. Dagon wonders what Henwy now thinks of his new elastic tentacles since they cannot be slashed. "That swordsmith can wait! First, the assassin!"
"I wasn't really trying either! This time im going to crush him for sure, then absorb him!" He added, then shocked to watch the tentacles grabbing Henwy and Alxton suddenly fall apart.
Now with his own completed blade, Henwy thanks Alxton. "Thanks, Alxton. This sword will help me defeat the demon."
"No! All I did was... follow the instructions of the former chief!" Alxton denied.
"That's right. The former chief forged my first kunai as well when I was 19. He died to heart disease." Henwy recalled.
"No matter how many times you replace a sword, it won't change a thing!" Dagon exclaims.
As he wields his new blade, he is pleased to feel its balance suits him perfectly, and thought about the assassins' old swordsmith, who was also the market's chief.
"I worry about you, kid."
"Who will ever understand what you're going through at such a young age? How you have no time for anything else? How anxious you are because you can't remember anything? And how you strive so hard that you vomit blood? Who will ever understand all that?"
Henwy stared at the former village chief, dead silent, and looked at him intensely.
"Whenever I see the kunai you've used, it brings tear into my eyes." The chief added.
The chief then suddenly coughs, and added, "I won't be around much longer. Not that I want to cling to life at my age... but I just can't stop worrying about you."
As Dagon prepares his Octopus Vase Hell and Henwy takes a stance, he apologizes to his former swordsmith for causing him to worry, but as of now, he is alright. Watching the tentacles approaching him and empowered by his marks, the assassin blitzes forward, slicing through them all with incredible speed and aiming a slash at Dagon's neck. The demon quickly ducks down and appears out of a new vase on top of a tree, complimenting him, "Well, that was some rapid fire chopping! But you don't seem to be able to keep up with my vase's speed!"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Huh?"
"It looks like your sense have totally dulled. It's because you lived a hundred years, am I right?" Henwy asked. Initially confused, Dagon becomes stunned to feel a slash on his neck.
"I'm going to slash you next time. I have better things to do than playing your stupid base game all day," Henwy declared, and prepared to walk away, but Dagon claims the boy shouldn't underestimate him. "Don't underestimate me, you brat!"
He vanishes from view and appears behind Henwy, pointing his vases to launch a volley of high-speed water jets. Henwy expertly weaves his way through the forest to avoid them and watches as more of Dagon's goldfish demons appear and spray hundreds of poisonous needles at him. As he evades Dagon's incessant attacks, Henwy recalls his sister's final apology just before her death:
"Henry. Sorry I couldn't be more gentle with you. I could just never afford to be that way. Being kind to others is one more thing that only the chosen ones can do. But Henry, no matter how virtuous a life you may lead, neither the gods nor Buddha will protect you in the end. That's why I thought I had to protect you. Henry. You're not like me. For the sake of someone other than yourself, you can exert infinite strength. You're one of the chosen ones!"
As the demon unleashes his octopus tentacles to grab Henwy, the assassin leaps up and evades them all with ease, before he slashes the vases right out of Dagon's hands and stares at his opponent's next move, enraging Dagon.
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"If that's a game you want to play..."
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"I'm not taking it seriously either."
YOU ARE READING
Assassins and Angels
Adventure(Cover by me!) There lived assassins and serial killers who were nemesis's. As lives were lost, discoveries unfold, and shocking truths get revealed, the assassins realised it took more than just blood, sweat, and tears to face all this revelations...
