While Kurumi was dealing with Daeva. Leonardo managed to drag Arius to the the surface.
Arius:- Managing to drag me out of our facility..... Why?
[A/N This shall be the new look for Leonardo, lost the old photo somewhere + it is cooler.]
Leonardo:- I don't really wanna get caught in the other two fights. I might end up as collateral damage.
Arius thought to himself.
Arius: ....is he one of 'my' people?...
Arius:- I agree with you on that one.
Leonardo:- ASSASSIN ARTS:- SHADOW KNIFE!
Silently Leonardo prepared his skill and threw knives into his own shadow. The knives shot out of Arius's shadow.
Arius:- Interesting..... You look like a warrior but are an assassin?
Arius just stood there. The knifes hit something in the air and bounced off.
Leonardo:- Necro armour? So you look like a necromancer and are a necromancer!
Arius and Leonardo both smirked.
Arius:- DEATH SCYTHE ARTS:- AIR CUTTER
Arius swinged his scythe and created sharp projectiles using wind.
Leonardo:- Child, you really think this is good enough to stop me?
Leonardo swung his sword and in a single swoop got rid of all the wind cutters.
Leonardo:- BLADE ARTS:- BLINK SLASH.
Leonardo in a single second got in front of Arius, he moved so fast that his sword had after images, all moving towards their opponent's neck.
Arius:- Hmm.... Your group is truly a variable beyond our understanding. Twenty years..... We have been planning the destruction of the Regalia for twenty long years. Royalty, Nobility, Knights and even servants. We have researched, infiltrated and tracked all these people for twenty years. And guess what....? You appeared.
Arius just stood, continued to talk as Leonardo's blade reached closer to his neck. Leonardo was troubled. He had slowed down. He was moving as slow as a snail ......
Arius:- No. You are moving fast, as fast as you should. Only your mind is moving faster..... This my original spell.
Yet to be named.....
Leonardo realised, he was not the only one moving slowly.
Leonardo:- I ....... Seeeee.
Slowly getting used to accelerated time, he spoke. Arius shocked by his quick adaptation to the distorted flow of time, said,..
Arius:- A mind, so calm and composed that it sends shivers down ones body. A true assassin's characteristic.
Leonardo realised that only the mind is accelerated. In other words, both of them can't move. However...... 'mana' an natural force, which is controlled and moved by the mind will also move faster in this method.
Leonardo shifted his attention to the scythe. He could feel the immense mana, concentrated at the blade.
Arius:- You realised the situation already? Scary...
Leonardo:- Dome?
Arius was taken by surprise yet again. His original spell, which he spent decades on creating, was deciphered completely by Leonardo in a matter of milliseconds.
His spell creates a dome around his surroundings for a 3km radius. Accelerating the minds of all intellectual entities by 100. In the ordinary course of action, the enemy's mind should be overloaded.
Arius:- Normally my opponents start coughing blood by now..... I see this trick won't work on you. You are numb to the flow of time just like me.
Arius released his magic. Leonardo redirected his attack towards the scythe desperately trying to reduce the damage.
Arius:- You are focusing too much on my weapon.
Leonardo successful managed to defend the swing from the scythe but the mana was redirected to Arius's hand, creating a mana blade.
Leonardo:- Cough Cough..... You could control the size of the dome?
Arius:- Of course. Why can't I?
There it was, blade shaped mana flowing out of Arius's left hand. It had red blood dripping down from the tip.
Arius:- You are a shadow element user? No wonder my curses are not working at all, what a waste of mana! Ok no more curses from now.
Arius stopped the mana flowing out, and stared at Leonardo who now had a wound on his right side.
Leonardo:- Useless.
Ignoring the wound on his body, Leonardo moved.
Silently and swiftly, he ran forwards. His blade moved downwards, again, aiming for his enemy's neck.
Arius used his scythe and fended of the blade, using the lower half of his weapon, he hit Leonardo on the open wound.
Leonardo coughed blood but was mostly unaffected by the blow. He increased his speed and used a combination of slash, stab, cut and defending, and continued his attack on Arius.
Arius also used his scythe to defend against his enemy's onslaught of attacks and prepared his spells at the same time. He spun the scythe continuously, creating a sheild of sorts which was able to redirect all the sword attacks and also threw Leonardo of balance.
Leonardo quickly balanced himself everytime not allowing his opponent to have the advantage.
Leonardo:- Persistent.
Arius:- Right back at you!
Leonardo moved back and Arius casted his spells.
FIRE BALL. WIND BULLET. GREATER DEFENCE. ROOT OF CURSES.
Four spells at once. A fire ball strengthen by the wind bullet, pushed Leonardo away allowing him to cast his defence spell and activate his terrain spell to lay traps.
Leonardo elegantly dodged the attack spells, all the while keeping an eye out for the terrain spell the necromancer used.
Leonardo:- Summon trap... You are quite a high level necromancer. One wrong step and my footing will convert into a horde of zombies.
Leonardo could not hide his smile which crawled its way up his face. A face he has only made once before.
Arius noticing this gave Leonardo a questioning look.
Arius:- Are you enjoying the current situation? Why the smile? You are unlike the assassins I have faced and heard of ....
Leonardo:- Do you know, we assassins are people who shall use any and means to achieve our mission?
Arius:- That is what makes you scary.
Leonardo:- Yes but even we need a certain type of restraint, a collar bounding us to our humanity. That is what we call our "ASSASSIN'S OATH".
Leonardo changed his stance. If his previous posture was mature, practical, elegant and sturdy.... But now?
Arius:- What in the name of abomination!
Leonardo:- My oath is to never be bound. The only thing that has the power to chain me is my own will! And my master's will is mine!
Saying those words Leonardo completely disappeared. He didn't hide in the dark, he had become darkness in itself.
Arius:- Forceful activation!
He forcefully activated all the traps, creating an army of zombies, rushing out of small holes in the ground. This spell usually hurts the user, however the defence spell negated that. He feared the current Leonardo.
Leonardo:- In other words.... My will is my master's will! I wish to kill you, a threat to my master!
Arius:- What rubbish are you spouting! I thought you were one of the intellegent kind! This is impractical and baseless!!!
Leonardo:- My will shall not be bound by your assumptions, necromancer! I am darkness that consumes. Be it thoughts, actions, opinions, or your existence!
It was a completely illogical hence unpredictable development. Arius was completely thrown off his game.
Leonardo:- Arius was it? You have never done anything you didn't want to, have you?
Arius:- Why should I do something like that! I am different! Intellect and power I have it all, hence I never required to do something against my will.
Arius using whatever time he could create by the talk, analysed his current situation, collected his thoughts and tried to pinpoint his enemy.
Arius:- There you are!
Arius noticed Leonardo preparing for his next attack, that to in mid-air!
Leonardo:- Assassin Secret Arts:- ....
Arius:- Not so easily! Zombie horde attack. Zombie horde defend. Zombie horde sacrifice!
The army of zombies heard the command and split into three, one attacks Leonardo, one headed towards it's master to protect him. The last started chanting a spell.
Arius:- Zombie horde's special characteristic. Suicide Explosion!
Leonardo calmly ended his move's name.
Leonardo:- 'sike'
Arius:- What?
Again, thrown off his game. His enemy stood confused and Leonardo appeared from the shadows and slid his sword through Arius's heart.
Leonardo:- That is a term taught to me by the otherworlder comrades. To be used when you make a joke out of your enemy... Perfectly timed I dare say.
Arius:- What even are you! This whole exchange as no meaning to it! Why are even here? To save the test subjects? To stop us? To save your kingdom? What is your objective. What is the meaning of this fight.....
Leonardo made a disgusted face.
Leonardo:- I already explained myself. I am darkness that consumes. You merely took the dark path, I was born from it! You are searching for Meaning? I eat that kind of thing for breakfast!
Arius:- What nonsense.
Leonardo removed his sword from Arius and pushed the dying man into his shadows. But ensured that Arius could listen to his voice one last time.
Leonardo:- Assassin's Oath is of almost important. My oath is never be bound. The only thing that can bind me is my will. My master's will is my will and hence, my will is my master's will.
Leonardo:- If you can't understand something so simple. You are the dumb one.
Arius:- You psychopath.....
Saying those words, Arius drowned in the shadows.
Leonardo:- Now time for the zombies....
He couldn't complete his sentence. Seeing their master gone, zombies decided to do what they do best. DIE.
Leonardo:- I might have messed up a bit.
All the three hordes of zombies exploded, incinerating everything in it's surroundings.
Leonardo:- An assassin's fighting ending with an explosion. Talk about irony.
[Dust was the only thing that remains. That is the result waiting for all searching for meaning.
-- Author ]