Heroes of Veridia

Chapter 31

Elena evades the assassin's swift attack. She was out of breath, drenched in sweat. Her hands firmly gripped the katana as she faced the assassin.

The assassin, on the other hand, was calm. Despite being unable to touch her even once, he saw Elena as an easy target. The assassin ran his finger along his knife, looking at Elena. "Your heart is beating so loud that I can hear it. Why are you trying so hard to protect her? Why do you want to die for her?" He asked.

Elena looked at Evelyn sleeping peacefully, surprised that their battle had not disrupted her sleep. "I thought assassins were supposed to focus on their mission. You've been talking the whole time. I'm sure that's how Evelyn killed the other guy," Elena smirked when Evelyn's nature gift refilled her with energy. Her breathing returned to normal and her heartbeat became calm.

"You are gifted?" The assassin inquired.

"You sound shocked? Were you not trained to face off against the gifted?" Elena decided to go on the offense and sprinted toward him.

The assassin smiled, switching his knife into his other hand, and grabbing a second one. "I will give you what you want," he got into a defensive stance.

Elena knew nothing about fighting with a katana. She raised the katana above her head and swung down at the assassin.

The assassin smiled, seeing many different openings around her. He sidestepped and thrust his knife forward.

Before Elena could stop herself, the entire blade plunged into her stomach.

"I warned you," the assassin said, smiling. His expression changed when he noticed Elena's lack of pain. He backed away, leaving his knife with Elena. He realized he couldn't hurt her. He had been trying to harm Elena since she saw his attempt to assassinate Evelyn in her sleep. Now that he is successful, his target exhibited no reaction to pain, which will affect him with his current mission.

Elena pulled the knife out. There was no blood on the blade. She smiled, raising her katana again.

"I don't know what you want, but I don't have time for you," he rushed toward Evelyn to attack her.

Elena wasn't going to let this happen. Before sprinting toward them, she created a dome of vines around Evelyn.

While the assassin swung at Evelyn, the vines crept up his arm, restraining him. Elena jumped onto the vines and kicked the assassin in his jaw, sending him to the ground. She then kicked the knife out of his hand and knelt beside him.

"Who sent you?" she asked.

"Fuck you!" the assassin whispered.

"Should I kill him, or should I force him to answer me?" Elena mused. Her eyes moved to the vine dorm undoing itself around Evelyn. "If I hurt him, he might scream which would cause Evelyn to wake up. I can't also be seen carrying him around. Wait!" Elena turned to the assassin. "Why haven't you disappeared yet? Can't you turn to smoke and free yourself?"

"These vines are interfering with his gift," he confessed.

"He?! Who is he?" Elena asked.

The assassin refused to talk.

Elena shrugged and arose, "I guess there's nothing I can do about it." Looking around the room, she asked, "Where are her soldiers? They are supposed to be protecting her. Number Two? Number Three?"

The mentioned people appeared at the window.

"You should be standing here. If I hadn't come out of the closet, she would have been killed," Elena fumed.