Chapter 86 - Escaping the Assassins

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"Hah, you're so bad, master. Can you even get us from this alive? You fool why are you still trying to fight him when you're clearly outclassed by this guy? Your focus from the start should be to get out from this as fast as possible!?"

It's already apparent that he has a power that grants him the ability to become invisible and intangible at will. Sigh, just look at you incompetent fool, you barely got the hang of my power. You could easily cancel his ability using the darkness."

"Shut up. If you woke up just now, shut up. I know what I'm doing here, don't try to corrupt me like you did one year ago."

"Ohh, that thing. I'm still too weak for that, it would be fun to play around with you since you've somehow grown in power."

"Don't you dare control me ever again!?"

"Heh, take it easy, look. That guy comes again, better focus on the fight."

Wincester using his [Phantom Steps] turned in his intangible form where he had a boost in speed and arrived in front of Vlad, slashing from top to bottom.

[Phantom's Wrath]

"Quickly push your sword and block the attack. You did well, now listen, I'll give you this only advice since you're looking so bad. If you want to have more dark energy at your disposal you have to reach a state of close death. Once you reach that, you'll discover that your body holds more than you even can use, but in these desperate times when I can't take over, we'll do it like this."

"Hmph, are you sure you're not scamming me?"

"Fuck you. You fool do you think I wish to go into nothingness once again? All you have to do is try it, is not like your situation would go even worse than what you're in right now."

Hearing the dark manifestation say that, he calmed himself as he blocked and received the seemingly phantom-like strikes which came without him even seeing or sensing.

Keeping in mind what was said to him, he thought of his close encounters with death while on the battlefield. From his first life to this second life, all those memories made his mind turn silent all of a sudden.

He felt something icy inside his chest that he thought should be left alone, but feeling that, he was walking this time even closer to the death's rope. Seeing that he had success in sensing that power, he pushed a bit of his will on that cold accumulated energy.

Then, on the outside of his body, a dark energy shockwave was released around the entire alley, enveloping this whole street.

Wincester himself got pushed by this dark shockwave, making him stare even colder at Vlad, who now seemed to transform into something even more sinister.

The armor on his body turned into a sinister form pulsing around like it had a life of his own, similarly around his back, there was a larger black mass that seemed to look closer to a deformed wing.

The black mask morphed even more, turning in the face of a handsome devilish being that had two big horns exiting from the head, along with a crown of thorns.

"Fool, stop it. STOP IT OR YOU'LL REGRET IT." screamed the dark manifestation inside his mind, a bit panicked by the sudden change Vlad went.

Vlad's mind was starting to get corrupted by dark emotions, agonizing screams belonging to so many people that he couldn't count, different voices and curses running with such a high tone that his head felt that it was splitting apart. However, in all those emotions, the dark manifestation scream felt like a guiding light in total darkness.

"ARGHHH, MY HEAD. WHAT ARE THOSE SCREAMS AND WEIRD VOICES IN MY HEAD."

"Good, you're still there. Now maintain your clarity and blast this guy and run away. Do your strongest attack."

Back to reality, Wincester, who was pushed by Vlad and saw his transformation, didn't back away, not one step.

'Hmph, so what if you transform? It's all useless if you can't even harm me.'

"[Phantom Slash]"

Without bothering with appearances, he arrived in front of Vlad and slashed toward him thinking that even if his appearance changed, it was just for show.

Nevertheless, Vlad, who regained his clarity, now felt his body full of power while in this new transformation. Not waiting for his time to run, he took Nemesis and enhanced it to the limits of his ability in darkness.

[Dark Swordplay - Night's Assault]

Blocking with ease Wincester's sword strike, he took the initiative after a sudden counter and began pushing him with a series of cuts and thrusts that were leaving dark smoke aftermath.

'How can he have such power!? Does this guy have haki or not? To even think he would block my [Phantom Slash] so easily, as if it was nothing to him. To add salt to my injury he even began taking the offense.'

Indeed, Vlad this time, felt that he had power equal or even stronger than Wincester, but he didn't want to risk finding it, feeling that his energy began ticking down with each second.

[Dark Swordplay - Summoning Night]

The stance he took was similar to one he would use in High Guard, but his first world sword stances got modified by him to get compatible with the power his body had.

Dashing toward Wincester, he slashed down on him from overhead, shortly after enveloping the entire area in total darkness.

Gnashing his teeth behind his golden mask that showed signs of cracking, he blocked the strike that felt so heavy that it pushed him straight on the ground.

'He dares!? TO ME!?'

Raising his head from the ground and looking resentful at Vlad, he wanted to counter him with a strike of his own, but as he tried to turn in his phantom form, a sudden large dark wave enveloped him.

Followed by this dark wave, a splitting headache assaulted him, which disturbed his phantom entry.

"It's your chance now. Your strongest attack, Star of Collapse, use it now and blast this guy away and take your escape before your time runs out!?" screamed the dark manifestation impatiently.

Looking coldly at Wincester, who looked confused, he began pushing the blood madly from his body to form a ball mass. Similarly, he began pushing dark energy toward this crimson ball which morphed at an alarming rate into a darker-red pulsating ball.

"I need more, more than this."

As he said that, he began pushing more of his blood toward this pulsating ball, followed by more dark energy that consumed the dark armor, removing from his body the crown of thorns, horns and a big chunk of his armor.

By the time Wincester recovered from the Mind Shatter, almost 30 seconds had already passed, without even looking straight at Vlad, he had roared with fury and resentment.

"HOW MUCH DO YOU WISH TO EMBARRASS ME YOU NOBODY!? YOU SHALL TASTE DEATH!?

"I already did. Let's say our farewell assassin. We will meet another time, and you'll see what it means to taste death for yourself."

"Star of Collapse"

Wincester woke from his rage with a pulsating cannon size dark ball moving at a fast speed toward him. This ball was already too close for him to even try to dodge it successfully, and so he covered once again his sword in haki and some parts of his body in order to protect his vital zones.

All of a sudden, a great explosion sound resounded in this alley that even blew the buildings here along with the ground, leaving only dust and the debris of the explosion swallowing the entire alley.

Vlad, when the explosion resounded was already on the run, using the full power he still had to escape a possible encirclement of the assassins. He didn't even wish to check if Wincester was dead or not, not wanting to bet his life on just a thought and later risk a chance of getting assaulted by another group of assassins.

The assassins were strong, far stronger than Vlad could think off, especially the gold masked guy whose face was revealed to him by the end.

Regardless if he managed to kill two of them using the surprise factor of his devil powers. He felt that his body was soon going to give up on him in just some minutes.

As Vlad made his escape, the 3 elite assassins heard the explosion and rushed with more assassins and another gold masked guy who looked so indifferent at the sight of the blast.

"Lord Wincester, are you still alive!?" called out the assassins while looking at the dusty crater full of debris and dirt.

"That fucking bastard got me well. Have you caught him, or he escaped for good?" asked Wincester, still lying on the ground on the crater.

The cold and indifferent voice of the gold masked guy staring down at the crater resounded.

"I've missed him. By this time, he should already be hiding. Have you got at least his face or some noteworthy features?"

"Yes, I will tell you at the headquarters, this Blood guy should be placed higher on the target priorities, next to Opheltius. Also, his bounty is a joke, that person's bounty should be similar to an experienced pirate belonging to the New World."

"Ohh, he is that strong for an arrogant bastard as you to comment on him?"

"Give me a break Oliver. It's not like I'm hurt that much, only that his abilities were quite unique and unexpected. I'll also tell the old monsters at the Union about this guy. It's worth recruiting him to our organization if he's not bound to any organization."

Ending saying the rocks holding Wincester down got pushed away flying in all directions, before in seconds arriving in front of Cranfon Oliver while dusting his dark clothes of dust and dirt.

"I don't think it is a good idea, Wincester. We don't need outsiders stirring up trouble on our mission. Now let's get back to the base and tell me in detail what happened."

Oliver then turned to look at the 7 silver masked guys and coldly commanded them.

"You guys go search for the target who escaped. If you find any lead, report back using your snails."

"YES LORD!?"

After they responded, they began rushing toward the center of the district, leaving only Oliver and Wincester to stand in this destroyed alley.

By the time the assassins started their chase, Vlad already distanced himself greatly, blending in the darkness with his appearance.

Each of his movements released a lot of dark energy that began vanishing slowly in the dark sky.

Looking left and right, he jumped high on the sky, climbing the roofs of the buildings to not leave any leads toward where he could possibly be.

"Go search for a place to lay low, your dark energy is depleting too rapidly."

"How much do I still have in me?"

"About 30 seconds."

"Plenty enough." commented Vlad on the time he still had on the dark transformation.

Jumping and moving at a fast speed simple people could even pick up, he moved toward the central zone of the Dawn District. His first thought was to blend in with the large crowds of people gathered around the pub. However, as his seconds passed and he felt weakened even more, he changed his plan and chose to blend with the beggars.

Then as he only had 7 seconds of his transformation, he jumped down to an alley and quickly arrived at where he first met the old beggar Tius without even knowing if the old man was there.

Despite what his initial thoughts were, he spotted the old beggar right where he first met him.

The old man sensed that someone arrived next to him, and when he turned, he saw Vlad's dark transformation appearance staring at him with a half-cracked mask.

"Old Tius, I need a place to hide immediately." said Vlad to the old beggar as his body was releasing dark smoke and the white hair slowly began losing its luster.

"Are you by chance young Vlad? What happened to you lad? Look at how many wounds you have on your body."

"I'll tell you later old Tius, quickly take me to a hiding place."

As he ended saying that, the dark armor around disintegrated entirely, along with the darkening of his white hair. When this change happened right in the old beggar's eyes, Vlad soon turned deadly pale and dropped on the ground as if he was terminally ill.

"Kid, hang in there. Don't you dare to die in front of me." said Old Tius as he quickly picked Vlad from the ground, moving him toward a dirtier alley.

The old man stared with his cristal clear green eyes at the bloodied and heavily wounded young man.

Then he took him on his shoulder and started carrying him toward a dirty alley. He quickly arrived before a canal at the back alley of where the central zone was located. As he opened the canal, the old man climbed down while having Vlad on his back.

When he climbed down on the dirty and dark canal, he heard Vlad tired and horse tone.

"Old Tius, is this place really safe. Strong assassins are after me."

When the old beggar heard that, his dark-green eyes turned cold while his face turned solemn.

"You got nothing to worry kid, this place is secret. Only a handful of people know of this location, and I'm one of those. You can take a rest."

"Hah. Hah. That's good." breathed Vlad hard while saying that with some relief.

Still, with a solemn face, the old man put Vlad down on the cold and dirty canal floor. And took a seat along with him.

"So, what is your story with the assassins, kid? Are you on their target list?"

"Argh, my body is totally wasted. I think so Old Tius, otherwise why would they even target me when I was hiding my identity?"

"Ohh, that's the story with that dark mask and armor? So who are you exactly kid, aside from someone called Vlad?"

"You probably know my other persona. Blood."

"So that was you lad. You don't seem ugly as the stories around the tavern circulating."

"Heh, that's what people think of me, that I hide my face because I'm ugly?" asked Vlad in a quiet tone while chuckling a bit.

"That's right. There's a lot of talk about this infamous criminal who cleansed the Sun District of the syndicates and began opposing the nobles rule but I think you've heard about those talks that I'll not bother you."

"I hear plenty of crazy stories about me. So it doesn't surprise me if the commoners talk about me, especially after the things I do."

"Like what, lad?"

"Quite the curious old man. Don't you know, old man, that it is better not to place your nose too deep in others plates?"

"Haha, I did it again? Sorry lad, it's a professional flaw. But you have to tell me some things if I work for you in the future."

Vlad shook his head while looking at his slightly frail and pale body. Then he shifted looking at the old beggar calmly and said weakly.

"I killed Mayer Loftso, those assassins I think we're looking for something else when they stumbled in front of me."

"I see. So that greedy bastard is finally dead? You did well lad, that fat idiot never helped the people with all that money his family accumulated on the shoulders of the kingdom and its people."

"My intentions were totally different. Don't make me out a saint. I simply took my revenge on that bastard for making my growing years a nasty experience."

"What history did you have with that wealthy fat idiot? Could it be, you are one of those unfortunate kids that got in his hands to be his slaves?"

"Why ask if you guessed? Is not like my status is different from you old man, me a slave, you a beggar. The difference shouldn't be that great."

"Hehe, maybe you are right there lad. Let me ask you what now? Will you still take me with you to the Sun District?"

"Ohh, so you really want to change your life, old man? Sure, I'll take you with me, but not now, the wasp nest has been attacked, so we will lay low until they calm a bit before going out."

The old man gave a slight smile that moved a bit his dirty white full-beard and replied to Vlad as he rested his back on the canal walls.

"Sure little Vlad. I'll be in your care then."

"Haha, likewise old man. Right now I'm in a messed up state, so it will take a bit to recover my wounds."

Meanwhile, outside of the conversation the two young and old-looking beggars had in the canal, a large group of assassins made their in just 5 minutes since Vlad entered the canal with old Tius.

They walked to the crowded place and began asking people in a violent manner about Vlad, but everyone just stared, confused and annoyed at being disturbed by those masked men.

As their search continued, they stopped in front of some beggars and asked them coldly and with some disgust while grabbing them from their tattered clothes.

"Dirty parasites, have you seen not too long a guy wearing black clothes and a black mask moving around here?"

The beggars didn't even know what to say when they were taken that so abruptly by the assassins. They could only respond with an affirmative lie and point in a direction.

"Yes, yes. The flying one, that dropped not far, he rushed and blended in that crowd."

"Ohh, even when he had to deal with Lord Wincester he managed to arrive here and blend with the people."

"Here parasite, take this coin."

Said one of the assassins while spitting in the beggar's face as he dropped a coin of 500 bellies on the ground.

The rest of the assassins rushed into the crowd looking for Vlad. They split in different alleys to look for him.

While the assassins were gone, the beggar, who was spit in his face, looked coldly at the assassins and said to the rest of the beggars around him.

"Who those bastards think they are? Isn't it enough that I have it worse as a beggar, there's also those black rats running around the district."

Yet as he said that, he took the 500 belly coin and placed it inside his underwear.