Chapter 9: Save

Diether calmly held the shinai as he listened to his master's orders.

"The female knight has skills. She can protect the young lady if we eliminate the assassins that were throwing projectiles to them..."

"Mhm..."

Diether nodded on Reiji's words as he silently walks behind the assassins.

He even suppressed his breathing and cared in his footsteps to ensure that he won't easily get noticed.

On the other hand, Reiji was communicating with his guide.

"Hmm... I want to improve my Take Over... How much will it cost?"

[ 5 SP ]

"Tsk..."

[ The amount when you purchased the Skill is the same amount you will use to improve them. ]

"Ohh... Then it seems very cheap..."

Reiji was still glad to hear that the skill upgrade cost would not be ridiculously increased the higher the level.

"Upgrade the Take Over skill twice..."

[ Take Over has been upgraded to Level 3 ]

[ Duration has increased by 10 seconds ]

[ Total Duration: 20 Seconds ]

He was poor again.

"Just five seconds each upgrade?"

Although he was a little bit disappointed, there was nothing he could do. He can only maximize the improvement he received. Luckily, the cooldown of the skill was being refreshed after it gets an upgrade.

'Ho~ Maybe I can use this loophole to ignore the cooldown... I should try that next time...'

In the meantime, Diether arrived 10 meters away from the 4 assassins that were throwing hidden weapons while the remaining two were waiting for a chance.

'It seems that they have no intention to kill the young lady. They were being careful not to hit her vital parts... As for the female knight, all attacks coming at her were aimed to kill...'

Reiji had seen everything and realized their intention. He quickly planned his action and turned to his new student.

"Diether, you still needed to eat more rice before you can defeat them. Let me Take Over now..."

"Yes, Master!"

***

"Rina, stay strong..." The female knight said as she was slowly losing her strength. She has been using her Spiritual Energy to cover her body and the young lady...

She was already despairing deep inside. Five minutes more and she'll most likely collapse due to exhaustion.

'If only Sir Graham was not injured... If only I'm strong enough...'

She can see the young lady's lifeless expression after sobbing, she saw her uncle's gruesome death, and now, the person she treated as an elder sister was also about to die protecting her.

Rina can't even stand due to these shocking events.

Clang!

The female knight's helmet was hit by a metal ball thrown by an assassin. Due to the powerful impact, she was blown away as her helmet was also removed and thrown afar.

Her long and beautiful black hair was revealed as her pale face was filled with trickling sweat...

It was over.

'To think that I, Marian Fraser, would die here...'

With her remaining strength, she looked at the young lady and six assassins walking to capture the vulnerable lady.

'Eh? It's not... There were seven of them? Sigh~ I didn't even notice him.'

She closed her eyes as she waited for one of the assassins to kill her. Her sword was still near her right hand in case someone dared to go near her.

She wouldn't hesitate in bringing him down together with her using her last bit of energy.

The young lady still has a chance to be rescued since the assassins weren't planning to kill her.

As she waited for them to deal a killing blow to her, she heard several shouts and shrieks from the assassins.

***

Reiji and Diether got closer to the four.

As soon as only five meters were left, Diether took a quick step and charged at the nearest man.

The young kid lifted his arm while holding the shinai.

His form is an extremely aggressive battle style. This form uses the attacker's farthest reach to execute the fastest sword attack!

It was Jodan no Kamae!

The Fire Stance!

Although Reiji was now in a kid's body, it was still surging with power as the kid was a practitioner of a unique form of power called Spiritual Energy... Because of Sense Link and Take Over, Reiji can also maximize this technique!

Pah!

The hit was so hard that the man's skull was shaken. He immediately went unconscious as the attack was noticed by the other assassins!

"Tsk! Reinforcements?!"

"No! Don't panic. The child is alone..."

One of them quickly noticed this and calmed everyone. While they were doing that, the young kid didn't stop his actions.

He started to unleash a series of assaults to the nearest three. He utilized his small frame to easily maneuver around them and hit them with powerful strikes.

Because of their late action, the other two assassins were now free and started to charge towards Reiji.

The first man to charge was using a short sword as he lifted it up and tried to slice the kid from above.

Reiji perfectly dodges to the right and hit the assassin on his stomach.

"Guh!"

Nuki-Dou!

A movement technique where you move your body diagonally to the right to avoid the enemy's strike, while at the same time hitting his dou or torso.

It was a perfect hit and the assassin was obviously caught unprepared as he didn't put much of defense with the young man's follow up attack.

Pah!

Another hit came and the assassin's temple was hit using the sword handle.

Only one assassin was left and he even stopped momentarily after he saw the outcome of their fight. No one lasted for even three seconds! This was a master swordsman!

The young man was obviously using his own technique to defeat them. He can't fight like this. He set his eyes on their target as he tried to quickly approach and grab her.

"Not now!"

The young kid shouted as he grabbed one of the small stones near his feet and throw it at the assassin. Of course, the latter didn't flinch at this and just ignored the stone. He used his superior physique to lessen the damage he had taken.

The assassin wanted to quickly get away here while bringing their target with him.

It was his mistake. The female knight saw what has happened and used all her remaining strength and Spiritual Energy to hold her Sword Arcana and using every bit of her energy, she threw it to the assassin!

The man dodges it but he didn't realize that the kid caught the sword behind him and threw it again on the assassin's direction...

Guh! He was hit by the sword and it pierces his body. As soon as this happened, the 20 seconds Take Over was over.