Quote:Pfft. You still feel the need to ask? ^_^ Caster is going to be smearing Perseus all over the landscape, then?
Yes, he's got a thing for her, even at his age. Wouldn't you?
Now, Lancer-kun ... independence? Nail? Coffin? Here.
The Assassin frowned. He'd stalked this prey as more of an excercise and a reassurance that old skills had not grown rusty with disuse ... not that they could, just that he'd always considered it a prudent thing and, all else aside, in his line of work, there was no room for error.
As for why he'd struck?
Again, a simple reaffirmation. A target so inattentive was far too tempting anyway. The poor fool hadn't even noticed his approach, and he'd not taken too excessive pains to remain hidden throughout in the process ...
Truthfully, it was a bit disappointing. After all, this was supposed to be the ultimate test of his abilities. THE War, THE contest of death and destruction that was one of the reasons he'd taken up this mantle in the first place.
Certainly, his predecessors had not hesitated to inform him that, with it, he would be putting his very soul on the line ... but, ah, the heavenly rewards!
Well, that was one less target to worry about, at least. Now he could get back to what his Master had tasked him with. Pity he hadn't managed to track down this one's Master. Judging by the Servant, they would be easy prey as well.
"... do you have ... any idea ..." the wheezing, gasping voice caused him to spin around, and he could say that for the first time since attaining the seat of the Hassan Sabbah, he was startled.
The body of the boy Servant he'd just dispatched was standing, blood pouring from and frothing at the mouth, and around the huge gaping hole where his heart had once been ... hells, where a sizable part of his chest had once been.
"... how much this fucking hurts?!"
In all honesty, Assassin had already started to duck, weave, and dodge by the time the words were being spoken. It was instinct. There were very few things that could as much as scratch this Hassan Sabbah when he put his mind to dodging.
It would have worked too, if the other Servant had actually bothered with aiming, rather than ...
... well, the last thing Assassin saw before his world went black and he woke up, one day later as a Command Spell summoned his still mangled body before his Master, was a flash of amber light and four glowing ... well, if one were to put their mind to it, one could call the shapes vague approximations of wings.
It would be only then that he, and his Master, would discover that one of his arms had been lopped off off ...
... as for which arm? Well, the screams of blind rage that echoed over the Matou house and property that day would live on in infamy for generations.
Lancer-kun effectively neuters Assassin? Lancer-kun uses more than three quarters of his mana pool and burns off almost all his manifested biomass to do it? Lancer-kun ends up being a sad, despondent black ball until Ilya stumbles across him? And I mean that literally. *evil grin*
Y'know, some people could accuse us of being too mean to the males of the Matou family ... they should probably get their heads examined.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm