*Rustle. Rustle*

Adrian was running through the thick shrubbery of the forest. His jet black hair swayed while his refine coat fluttered in the wind.

******

10 minutes earlier.

“I have a plan.”

“I am listening.” The old man said.

Adrian took the sword on his lap in his right hand and leaned forward. He softly grazed the the tip of the sword to the fortified carriage floor. It easily pierced in- akin to a heated knife entering a bar of soft butter.

The old man frowned.

Adrian cut off a perfect circle of a half meter radius and flicked the round cutout into the carriage, making sure it did not fall off and alert the chasers outside.

“Young sir!” The old man exclaimed, knowing exactly what the youth’s plan was. The guardian began to move his lips without letting out any voice. ‘You must not. I can’t protect you that way.’

“They have an archer. The only way you can protect me is by distracting them while I run away.” Adrian said. His face was still nonchalant, even though there were two looming level 8 circlers outside.

The old man bit his lips. ‘Fuck! We should have brought more guardians!’ He parted his lips again. ‘But how will you escape? They have their eyes and senses locked on the carriage.’

“Relax.” Adrian smiled. “If I want to be left unseen, who can see me?”

The old guardian opened his eyes and mouth wide open. The young man was right in front of him but he could not sense his presence, energy fluctuations, breaths, movements, intents, heartbeats or anything along that line. The image of the young man was all there was.

‘Monster!’ He shouted in his mind. A wry smile formed on his face.

But he composed himself and asked, ‘Where shall we rendezvous?’

“You will know.” Adrian smiled before leaning further forward and ‘falling’ into the hole.

A wheel bounced off a pothole at the same time, disguising the sound of his fall.

The guardian sighed one last time before turning ahead. His face turned serious, magical energy began to circulate in his body with full force; he was ready to jump the moment the plan failed. But fortunately, both of the newcomers were on the tail of the carriage.

“Phew.” He sighed again. But this time, it was a sigh of relief.

‘All the best!’ Wishing Arian luck in his mind was all he could do at the moment.

Adrian, on the other hand, finally got up from the ground after thirty odd seconds.

He looked towards the Southeast, and smiled.

He took off with full speed, dashing through the trees and shrubs.

******

“What!?” The black clad assassin bellowed.

‘When did he escape? How did he sneak out through our senses?’

Suddenly, he leapt to his right-again. But this time, his stray thoughts slowed him down despite using life force.

*Boom!*

“Aaaaaaahh!”

A dagger flew through the air, gripping its hilt was a hand- a bloodied hand without having an arm attached to it.

The assassin was holding his left shoulder, or at least where it should have been, with his right hand. Bits and pieces of his exploded left arm were scattered throughout the ground.

The old man looked towards the assassin’s covered face.

*Whistle*

*Ding*

The arrow coming at a speed that exceeded that of the previous ones but it was deflected easily nonetheless. That heavy hammer moved faster than those light and ‘weak’ arrows.

The old man did not even give it a look. His eyes were still locked onto the one armed assassin before him.

“Who are you?” His voice was cold, unlike the servile one he used to speak to the Royal Advisor. “Who sent you?”

The assassin- remained silent.

The black clad man turned his head, towards the direction where the arrows came from. He took in a deep breath and nodded.

The old man’s eyes did not move. His senses were locked on both of the ambushers- one at the front, and the other at a treetop forty odd meters away.

The assassin removed his black gloves but red tainted right hand from his nonexistent shoulders before quickly taking out a sanguine red potion out from his pocket and devouring it in one single gulp.

The vice commander scowled. That blood potion looked akin to the ‘initiation potion’ drinking which everyone starts their journey as a circler. However, the one just ingested by the ambushed before him was not anything near that nostalgic ‘initial potion’. It was something else altogether- his veteran instinct said so.

And he was right.

“Aaaoooooooo!”

The one armed assassin began to howl; it was as if he was a ravenous wolf on a night of full moon.

But his speech was not the only thing that resembled that of a wolf’s. His body hairs began to fall off, dropping softly onto the ground. What replaced his body hairs were grey furs that grew from his skin, like grass growing on a fertile piece of ground during an accelerated time-flow.

His muscles began to bulge as his stature grew by at least 50%, ripping all of the clothes he had on in the process. Blood spurted out from the fingertips of his right hand, the only one he had, and ghastly blood covered claws sprouted out from the gaping holes which began to subside at a visible pace.

Four incisor teeth fell down on the ground and fangs grew out from the bloody wounds on the gums.

His face, which now was revealed to belong to a middle aged man, was pale. What replaced his previously brown eyes were orbs of blood.

“Aaaaaaaaoooooooooooo!” ‘It’ howled again, brandishing the sharp and deadly claws. The sound, unlike before, sent visible waves across the region. The leaves along with the trees swayed away as if they were hit by a storm.

The old man himself took a step back- not out of the wave or fear, rather because of the peculiarity of the situation. He had seen nothing like this in seventy years of his life.

But he readied himself nonetheless. He knew- this battle had become a lot tougher than before. Even his life might be in danger.

The ‘being’ somewhat composed itself as it looked right into the eyes of the level 8 circler.

“Grrrrr!” It gritted its teeth, seemingly losing all of its original human speech.

*Whistle*

Another arrow sliced through the air. The old man, this time, did not dare to the use his hammer as he dodged the arrow; he could not let have his hammer occupied while that peculiarity stared at him with those bloodshot eyes.

But the moment he dodged, while both of his feet were above the ground, the creature charged towards him with breakneck speed.

“Shit!” The old man hit the air with his hammer using extreme force, propelling him to another direction mid year, barely dodging the killer claws- just barely.

The guardian landed on the ground and looked down at the torn clothes on his chest and the bit of blood that was trickling down from his scratched skin.

A wry smile appeared on his face. “Is this my last battle?”

******

Adrian who was running at full speed suddenly slowed down and came to a halt. He looked towards a certain direction with his indifferent face.

An unfamiliar masculine voice entered his ears. “Adrian Darkheart. Did you know how much you annoyed me these last two years?”