"Who said anything about dying?"

The assassins took glances at each other and then.

"Ha! Hahaha"

They burst into tear jerking laughter.

"Pfft. Bravery my @ss, this bastard\'s just insane"

"I had a hunch, but being in castle all this while has turned you crazy huh?" another commented.

Ezra made no reaction, except to slowly take three more steps, closing the gap between them to three feet.

It was a bit shocking that the old man was dead, but… \'It\'s better this way\' he confirmed.

\'Should I take out a sword\' he thought, looking at the jesting assassins.

But decided against it. \'No, they\'ll be on guard, or might even dodge. If that happens, I\'ll lose my chance to ge ta clean hit\'

The decisions were made in seconds.

On cue, the laughter began dying down.

"Ha…" the master exhaled, he didn\'t put Ezra in his eyes and turned to his henchmen "Alright boys, lets-

On cue, his instincts rang out, forcing him to face forward.

The atmosphere around Ezra changed and his eyes glowed blue.

Honed instincts warned of danger.

But…*Voom!*

Ezra lunged, reaching the master assassin almost instantly.

The two at the side couldn\'t react to such speed.

\'What!\'

The master slashed his Saber sideways, aiming to cleave Ezra into two.

Too bad, because he deemed Ezra a nobody, he wasn\'t even in a proper.

In other words, the gap he left open was too wide to close instantly.

Taking note of that point, Ezra amplified his fist with mana and punched the upper part of his stomach.

It didn\'t matter that Saber was almost upon him. All that mattered, was getting his strike in.

Following the boys movement, the master assassin used his other arm to shield his stomach.

Ezra smirking, \'He has some really sharp instincts\' acknowledging the man\'s prowess.

Still, such moves didn\'t have Ezra falter, he didn\'t even think of such, simply titling his fist.

And that range, it was too close for the master to match.

Ezra grit his teeth and then…*Boom*Boom*Boom*Boom*

An initial soundwave burst from the point of contact and then, the assassin was blown away, breaking four trees consecutively.

Dust and Dirt clouded the air right after, everyone froze.

The siblings had their mouths agape, while the assassins were too confused to move.

"Huh?"

Ezra was just as stunned. He grit his teeth to endure the pain of his bones breaking.

But…

*Creak*

Pushing away pieces of broken trees, the old man stood…before falling back to his knees.

Then, the cloud of dust dispersed, giving clear view.

"BOSS!"

The assassins had their hearts pound at the sight, jumping to their bosses\' side.

"Kuh!"

The master assassin puked blood while kneeling, his eyes bloodshot as he wiped his mouth.

"Ah" a helpless gasp he released, picking up five pieces of teeth, and one of them was gold.

He set his eyes on the boy. Pointing, he asked "Yu! Hau?!" With his vocals having jumbled up.

Meanwhile, Ezra mind was elsewhere.

Over the past days he\'d been wondering what rank he\'d reached.

Was it mid or late Expert? He\'d endlessly wondered.

\'But…I\'m a Master?\'

It was so ridiculous even he was skeptical.

His eyes kept looking at the assassin and then his arm.

And after an entire elapsed, he exhaled. \'So, I\'m a Master\'

He exhaled as a sign of relief while hands brushed through his ear, comprehending the significance of the matter.

\'I\'m a Master\' he repeated, \'I\'m a Master\' until finally. "I\'m a Master!" he jumped in glee, clenching his fists.

Same time, the assassin slowly stood despite the warnings of his henchmen.

His breath was so heavy Ezra could hear.

He points to Ezra with his Saber. "Look what you did!"

Ezra snorted, "You not really expecting an apology, are you? I\'m surprised you\'re still standing old man"

The assassin popped a vein. "I\'ll kill you!"

"Boss! You can\'t take him on" a henchmen implored.

The Master turned to him and flicked his flicked his forehead.

"Ah! Why?"

"You idiot. He might be at Master rank, but he\'s far from being able to fight effectively, look at him, he\'s just a kid. The only reason he got me was because I underestimated him" his eyes turned menacing, "That won\'t happen a second time"

The henchmen blinked in astonishment, slowly reasoning on the same wavelength as the boss.

"Now let\'s take them out and go drinking"

Turning his sword, the master bursts forth.

"Aye boss" the henchmen follow his lead.

With the enemies incoming, Ezra left a few words, "The real fight\'s about to begin. Don\'t underestimate them, but don\'t overestimate them either"

With that, a pair of sliver short swords appeared in his palms.

"On second thought. Theron, assist the girls, I\'ll be taking on the big guy"

On cue, the master assassin appeared in front of him, and brought down his blade.

Clang!

"You dare talk with an enemy in front of you? What a lack of manners"

Ezra blocked it, "An old man with yellow teeth trying to kill children wants to teach me about manners? What a joke"

"Tsk" The man was tongue tied. "Your death will definitely not be painless"

"You talk too much"

Clang*Clang*

"And you won\'t be talking at all very soon"

On cue, the two henchmen dropped came into scene, aiming for Ezra. "Die!"

But they weren\'t the only ones.

"What the?" honed movements allowed the henchmen to thwart projectiles thrown at them.

The second wasn\'t so lucky as Theron\'s halberd bashed him afar.

"You\'re with us" Johan proclaimed.

The henchman snorted, thinking \'I have to quickly get rid of these two\'

He didn\'t know what happened to number two, but it couldn\'t be anything good.

"Ackk!" The man in question, number two, had his right arm inverted.

With a groan, he picks up his dagg.er with the left arm, and enters a stance for battle

\'There coming\'

Roxanne, Velora and Theron reached him.

"Brother look, you\'ve handicapped him before we could fight"

"I was only helping"

"No worries" Roxanne pushed him away. "We can take care of him on our own"

He gazed intermittently between the girl and number 2 before sighing and then leaving.

"So much for helping" he muttered.

Like the siblings had suggested, he went to check on Ezra.

Getting with ten feet of them, the sounds of metal clashing resounded.

\'Dammit!\' the Master assassin cursed, taking wide swings. \'What is this?!\'

"Kuh!" he groaned as Ezra took a kick at his knee.

It was inhumane, how could a mere child move like such?! It was like he was battling a war veteran, but he wasn\'t!

Well, he was, but no one was going to tell him that.

Now kneeling, the man breathed in whezzes, when a voice rang out, "Is that it?"

\'Damnit!\' the man felt his heart flaming up with shame.

To be beaten to this extent by a child, who would believe it, just who?!

It\'d been but a minute, but the master already confirmed the result if the continued fighting.

\'I\'m dead\' he wailed. \'I can\'t kill that monster\'

When he tried to harness his elements, Ezra dispelled it by breaking his stance.

And he conjured Aura with one far more powerful.

Oh, how unfair this was, but his thoughts of rebelling had all but faded, now, there was only fear.

He was so afraid he couldn\'t bring himself to look at Ezra.

Once Ezra confirmed his fighting spirit was squashed, he sighed in disappointment.

"You gave up so easily, then I guess there\'s no use in continuing"

The man closed his eyes, awaiting his inevitable death.

When… "Huh? Why are you here?"

Ezra turned to see Theron.

"I came to help. The girls said they\'d be fine without me" he spoke. "    But it seems I\'m not needed"

Ezra eyes danced between Theron and the assassin for a few seconds, then he put his sword down.

"Get up"

The master assassin opened his eyes in surprise, but wasn\'t sure-

"Get up"

He got up.

"You don\'t want to fight me, yes?"

He looked sideways, but nodding slowly.

"Ok, I\'ll have you fight him"

Ezra pointed to Theron.

"Of course, you cannot use mana nor Aura"

The Master nodded vigorously.

Ezra pointed to Theron. "If you can kill him in ten minutes, I\'ll let you go"

Ezra turned to Theron, "Try your best to survive"

Theron was shocked, but Ezra didn\'t even give time.

"Begin"

The master rushed towards him with a crazed face. "I\'m sorry, but I\'ll need you to die"

With no time to speak, Theron confronted the master.

Bam!

The halberd stroke empty land as the master dodged it.

The master let out evil chukles, slashing downwards on the halberd and sent Theron flying.

Ezra\'s voice pulled through.

"Remember, the goal is to survive, not win" he says. "Do as we do in training"

Theron\'s gave a nod, looking at the enemy in front, he thought, \'If Ezra can beat him up so easily. I can definitely manage\' quelling his fears.

His breathe calmed, \'I can do this\'

While Ezra said the goal wasn\'t to fight, Theron didn\'t want to run away anymore.

\'Running away never made anybody stronger\'

Like so, the man\'s visage morphed into Ezra\'s.

And then, "Heup"

A direct clash had him pushed back, his veins bulging and his hands quivering.

But Theron was smiling.

He never expected it to be easy.

\'But it\'s definitely doable\'

The Master was in front of his nose once again. Bringing down the saber "Why the smile? You\'re going to be dead soon"

Such words didn\'t faze Theron in the slightest.

In his mind, he was fighting Ezra.

When fighting Ezra, only maximum concentration was allowed.

Inhaling, Theron struck.

*Kang!*

Both the Master and Ezra noticed the change.

"What?!"

"Hoo…"

Things got interesting.