Hearing his older brother's command echoing through the night air, Wiltan did not waste a single second.
The second prince immediately cast blink magic multiple times in rapid succession. Spatial distortions occurred continuously in the air, leaving a trail of blurry afterimages as his body dashed to close the distance.
From the blind spot behind, Wiltan suddenly emerged, tearing through the void. Both his hands tightly gripped the hilt of his sword that was already raised high, ready to slash and cleave the mysterious assassin's body in two.
Zap!
Arvin activated his own blink magic and immediately shifted his position.
The swing of the massive sword only cleaved the empty air he had just left behind.
However, the battle did not give Arvin much room to breathe. Before the tips of his boots could even touch the surface of the capital's streets, Wiltan had already predicted his point of emergence. The prince pierced through space once again and appeared right in front of Arvin, who was still suspended in mid-air.
The massive blade, reflecting the moonlight, swung horizontally at a terrifying speed, aiming straight for Arvin's neck.
Thud!
With an incredibly swift and lethal movement, Arvin launched a powerful kick that landed squarely on Wiltan's solar plexus before the massive sword could even touch his neck.
The repulsive force of the kick was so devastating that it made Wiltan cough violently. The prince's body was thrown and dragged several meters backward, the soles of his boots leaving deep friction marks on the cobblestone street.
Ignoring the prince who was trying to catch his breath, Arvin immediately turned around, refocusing his attention on hunting down the remnants of the royal assassin squad that was still advancing toward the capital's entrance gate.
In the blink of an eye, Arvin's black silhouette darted forward. His golden dagger danced in the dark of the night, slitting throats and piercing the hearts of the assassins hiding behind their camouflage magic.
I will not let a single assassin slip past the gates! Arvin thought, his gaze turning cold from behind his mask. Blood dripped from the tip of his dagger every time a corpse fell to the ground with a heavy thud. I must complete my mission flawlessly to ensure their safety!
Behind Arvin, feeling underestimated, Wiltan roared in anger once more. He continued to push forward, forcing his body to stop the mysterious assassin who was slaughtering the finest squad of assassins that had long served as the royal palace's shadow shield.
Whoosh!
At the same time, a massive burst of air pressure came from the side. Pratesias, whose entire body was now enveloped in thick stone armor, was no longer moving sluggishly. The first prince combined his earth-element defense magic with wind-element magic on his legs, creating a propulsion that made him launch forward like a living cannonball.
Arvin, who had just pulled his dagger from an assassin's chest, reacted too late to that speed.
Thud! Whoosh... Crash!
A powerful kick coated in thick stone landed squarely on the side of Arvin's waist. The impact sounded like a sledgehammer striking steel. His body was thrown violently into the air, flying uncontrollably across the street before finally crashing hard into the stone wall of a civilian's house on the edge of the main road.
The wall was utterly shattered. Plumes of dust and debris scattered in all directions as Arvin's body crashed straight into the living room of the house.
"Kyaaaa!!!!"
A woman's hysterical scream instantly shattered the night.
The resident of the house cowered in the corner of the room, her face deathly pale as she watched half of her wall collapse and a masked man dressed entirely in black lying amidst the ruins of her room.
Yet, in mere seconds, Arvin stood straight back up, brushing the dust off his black clothes. He slowly turned his head toward the trembling, terrified woman who was hugging her knees tightly.
Without uttering a single word, Arvin bowed his head deeply, offering a sincere bow of respect as an apology for destroying her house.
Zap!
Right after bowing, Arvin triggered his blink magic again and vanished from sight. He returned to the battlefield to chase down the remaining assassins, leaving the woman frozen in shock, staring blankly at the gaping hole in her wall.
Once he was back on the capital streets, Arvin paid no mind whatsoever to the two princes who kept trying to obstruct his path.
His mission tonight was only one: to kill all the assassins who would pose a threat to Kaydan and Calverd's escape.
Whoosh...
A gigantic boulder flew rapidly toward his head.
Crash!
Arvin ducked and dodged with a fluid motion, letting the massive rock miss him completely until it ultimately struck and destroyed the roof of another civilian's house.
The night that should have been calm and peaceful had now turned into the most terrifying night for everyone residing in the capital of the Victoriaz Kingdom.
The clashing of swords, magical explosions, shouts, panicked screams, and the sounds of civilian homes being demolished continuously echoed off one another, brutally shattering the silence of the night.
Not a single civilian dared to step outside. They all hid, praying for the chaos to pass quickly.
On one of the capital's streets, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the end of the road. Reinforcement troops from the Adventurer Guild had finally arrived at the battlefield after receiving an emergency report. However, the steps of those seasoned adventurers instantly came to a halt.
They all gasped, their eyes widening at the hellish scene sprawled before them.
The capital's main street was completely obliterated. Numerous bodies of royal soldiers, the feared elite assassins, and even lifeless civilians lay scattered everywhere.
However, the fact that truly made the adventurers' blood run cold was what was happening at the epicenter of the destruction.
There was only one assassin dressed in black. Just one masked man single-handedly tearing apart the capital's entire defense.
Even with the combined efforts of the two strongest existences in the kingdom, the first prince with his absolute defense and the second prince with his spatial speed, the two of them still could not stop the mysterious assassin's rampage.
The insane battle unfolding before their eyes was truly on an entirely different dimension, leaving all the guild members who had intended to help practically speechless and drained of the courage to step forward.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A barrage of clashing metals continued to echo endlessly. Arvin was now completely surrounded. He constantly twisted his body, parrying the relentless attacks without leaving the slightest opening.
His golden dagger moved as fast as lightning, blocking Pratesias's punches, whose entire body was coated in hard stone, and in the very next second, deflecting the swings of Wiltan's giant sword as the prince continuously used blink magic to attack from impossible angles.
Even though he was being ganged up on by the two strongest individuals in the kingdom, Arvin's movements remained calm, precise, and lethal.
"Why are you attacking us?!" Pratesias roared with bulging neck veins, his emotions peaking as he continuously threw a barrage of punches at Arvin. "Tell me! What is your goal in destroying our kingdom?!"
Amidst the deadly storm of attacks, Arvin finally responded. His voice sounded heavy and cold from behind his mask.
"If you want to talk, stop your attacks!" Arvin replied while continuing to parry the relentless barrage of sword strikes and punches coming his way. "I have no desire to kill two princes tonight either."