Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Escape!
"What the hell is going on?" Van demanded, shifting his gaze back and forth from the emotional Verro to the serious Lord Raphael.
"I'm a noble, Van. Loyal to the kingdom of Holdor. What you've just said is treason."
Lord Raphael pulled down his shirt collar to show a small tattoo near his chest. Upon focusing on it, Van could sense a faint amount of mana running through it.
"This seal binds me to the Royal Family. It senses any intent of rebellion. If we let you be, they'll come over here and wipe out the whole estate." He let go of his collar. "You shouldn't have been honest with me."
Lord Raphael looked away. Verro raised a dagger.
"Wait-"
BOOOOOOOM!
An explosion suddenly rocked the manor, coming from the entrance. Shortly after, shouting and sounds of battle could be heard from the entrance, and Van sensed hundreds of mana signatures, a few more powerful than the rest.
"Servant Bandits! That must be them! Virra, go!" Upon hearing Lord Raphael's shout, the second cloaked person in the room disappeared.
"There's around 4 Grand Knights. You have to get over there quick." He turned to Verro.
Seeing them distracted, Van turned around and jumped out of the hole in the wall, aiming for the garden. By the entrance, he could see an army of brown robed bandits, along with multiple bright flashes of light moving throughout.
Landing on the grass, Van immediately started running towards the forest. He had to escape as soon as possible.
Before he could reach the fence, his instincts screamed at him again. Imbuing his arms with mana, he raised them to cover the side of his head just as Verro appeared out of nowhere.
His dagger cut through Van's arms like butter, about halfway to chopping them off before Van kicked him in the stomach, making him jump back. Some distance between them, Van's arms fell to his sides, useless.
"I thought you were like me." Verro growled at Van, who glared back. "I thought we were gonna serve the Lord together!"
"Like I've said over and over, I don't wanna be a slave forever! Been there, done that!" Van spat back. "I was just growing strong enough to escape all of you!"
Enraged, Verro roared before leaping at Van, who braced himself. Before he could dodge, two figures appeared in front of Van, both wearing brown robes. The first had brown hair and wild features, the other on the older side, with gray hair.
The two struck at the leaping Verro, their clash shaking the surroundings before the assassin was forced to make space.
"Your opponent is us, assassin." Kiver called out to Verro with a grin. Maverick stood, silent but ready. "Your sister shouldn't last much longer."
Verro growled but didn't say anything. Maverick glanced at Van behind him before scoffing.
"Here we thought we would have to kill the future third cloak." The middle-aged bandit leader said. "You nobles and your people are all the same. Throwing away others when they stop being useful."
"You don't know anything!" Verro screamed before attacking the bandits. As the two sides fought, the relieved Van ran into the manor to look for a potion.
'I can't survive in the forest with these arms.' Van thought as he hurried.
From his time cleaning, Van knew that there was a potion stash on the ground floor, and that was where he was headed.
"S-Stop!" A random servant appeared in the hallway, scared and holding a knife.
"I said sto- ack!"
Without stopping his momentum, Van jumped and kneed the servant in the face before he continued running.
Outside the manor, the 2 vs 1 wasn't going so well for Verro.
Verro slashed at Kiver, only for Maverick to appear to protect him, the dagger bouncing off his skin harmlessly. Maverick's fist enlarged and grew furry before he swung it into Verro's face, sending him flying.
Before he could get far, Kiver appeared behind him, his arm glowing blue from how much mana was infused in it. He struck Verro from behind, sending him back to Maverick, who tried to attack him again.
The assassin burst into a smoke cloud the moment he reached Maverick, the bandits unable to sense him. After the smoke cleared, Verro was nowhere to be seen.
"Fucking assassins." Kiver cursed. That was the thing about assassins, especially once they reached the Dark Assassin rank. They had no mana signature to give them away.
"Aaargh!" Maverick grunted in pain as he felt his back get stabbed multiple times, blood spurting out.
"Where is he!?" Kiver was on alert after seeing Maverick get attacked from nowhere. "Aaaah!"
Similar to Maverick, Kiver was attacked out of nowhere, an arm being lopped off by an invisible blade.
"Kiver!" Maverick rushed to his friend, who screamed in pain as a chunk was ripped out of his shoulder.
Up in a tree, hiding in the shadows of the leaves, Verro sat there, blood leaking from his mouth. His right eye was glowing, and he was focused on Kiver, who had a red dot on his neck. This was Verro's mark, and it was visible only to him.
He was burning a lot of mana to do this much damage. After seeing a whole hundred mana points only be able to puncture Maverick's back, he switched targets to the less-durable one of the two.
"Damn it! I'm gonna use it." Kiver told Maverick as another chunk of flesh was ripped from his body. Mana began to build up in his body, and Kiver's skin began to turn blue.
"Kiver, wait!"
Inside the manor, Van had finally reached the stash. He used his foot to pull open a drawer, and knelt down, grabbing a potion by the neck with his teeth.
'This'll hurt.'
Bracing himself, Van bit down, shattering the glass, swallowing as much of the liquid inside as he could. Slowly but surely, his arms began to heal, right as Kiver finished charging his attack outside the manor.
"MANA BLAST!"
Right where Kiver stood, a massive explosion of mana appeared, engulfing the area they were in, along with the tree where Verro hid and a large chunk of the manor.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone