After a couple of seconds, Master Rook and the others reached a place where five men were seen toying with eight of the nine students; Amber had been left alone since she didn't actively participate in the fight, as she had basically exhausted all her mana and was having trouble even standing. There was no point for the assassins to attack her since she could do nothing essentially, and even if she could, she was no real threat to them.
Some of the students had been severely wounded, and all of them were on the ground. The teachers didn't know if they were dead or had simply lost consciousness, but their rage started boiling as they saw the five figures mistreating the kids. Master Rook and the other teachers rushed over to protect the students, but the five people immediately saw them.
"WE HAVE COMPANY, GUYS!" Death shouted.
The others turned to look at him, and at that moment, the ten teachers came out from behind the trees. Immediately, Laser, Zachary, Slice, and Greg turned to look in their direction.
"HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO RED PALACE MEMBERS?!" Master Rook shouted; his rage was evident in his eyes. His veins bulged on his neck as he pointed an accusing finger toward the group of thugs.
"I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" Rook shouted. "COME ON, GUYS!" He then said this to the other teachers, who shared the exact sentiment of anger and frustration. What these guys did was an insult to the Red Palace, which could ruin its reputation and tarnish the institution's good name. The Crystal Cross Gang had always been bold in its actions but had never crossed the Red Palace before.
This time, however, they went so far as to target their students, some of whom were even the sons and daughters of influential individuals, and a shitstorm would ensue when the parents discovered what had happened to their children. It was true that the Red Palace had deep roots inside the government, but it also depended on private donations and the goodwill of its patrons to sustain itself.
As soon as Death saw the approaching mob of angry teachers, he tried to think about how to best escape this mess without failing the mission. He immediately recognized some of the teachers, especially Master Rook. He was one of the strongest Red Palace masters, and his reputation preceded him. He knew that the only one who could fight him was him, but the enemy numbers were too high. It would be hard for him to win in a two-versus-one match, but he still had some chances if they fought alone.
The problem was that the others would surely die since the masters were probably stronger than them. He could use his comrades to gain a little time while fleeing. However, he could either kidnap Erik or run without him. In the first case, he could shadow-hop beside the kid, grab him, and run away. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring living things, besides himself, into the shadows, so he had to run away on foot. In that case, he was sure the teacher would follow him, which would be stupid.
On the contrary, if he ran away without Erik, it could still be possible that the teachers chased after him, but if the others remained behind, the teachers would focus on them, and he could escape unencumbered. There was a third alternative: fight with his comrades and try to complete the mission, and in case things went sour, he could simply shadow-hop away.
After a couple of seconds of thinking and weighing his options, the man decided to take the third alternative; he would fight with his comrades and attempt to complete the mission since he could still run away without problems thanks to his brain crystal power. After all the time he wasted on this quest, not even trying was stupid; besides, if they were successful, he would earn a ton of money since this was a high-profile mission.
"Zachary, if we want to complete this mission, we must kill them. They won't leave us alone if we take one of the kids, and we can't certainly go back to the hideout with them on our tails. We must kill them here!" Death said.
"Ok..." Zachary trusted the master assassin and steeled himself against the grim task before them.
"I will take care of the burly guy. You all try to stay alive..."
At that moment, the teachers reached the assassins, who unsheathed their weapons and ran toward them without hesitation. This would be a hard fight, but they still had a chance to do it. Death was running toward Mister Rook at the same time. Both fighters were quick and raced toward one another at an incredible speed. Death unsheathed his daggers at once and prepared himself to fight.
The two daggers were made of Eshalt, an ore with high mana conductivity but unsuited against people like the Red Palace's master. The hilt was wrapped in a piece of red cloth; the grip was carved from wood that had been polished until it shone like greased metal; its ends curled up to form what looked, for all intents and purposes, like wings or bat-like ears.
The blades themselves glowed with an inner light as he held them aloft before him, and when he slashed, a sharp hiss issued forth along their length, which shimmered black.
Death slashed at Master Rook, but he was a well-respected martial artist, so he blocked Death's attack and launched him to the ground. However, before touching the ground, Death hopped into Master Rook's shadow, appeared behind him with his daggers in hand, and tried to cut the Red Palace teacher's neck Master Rook, but he was no fool.
The Red Palace's teacher used his brain's crystal power at that moment. He was gifted with incredible powers of perception, something most people could only dream of. His power allowed him to sense everything within several feet of himself through vibrations. When he sensed something, he focused on it and created a mental image. That way, he always knew exactly where someone was, no matter how far away he was. And he did just that now, focusing on the assassin and seeing him clearly. With this ability, he knew when the assassin came out from the shadows and could react quickly to the attacks.
The man turned around quickly enough and stopped Death's attacks by making a roundhouse kick that hit the assassin in his arms and stopped him from doing anything. The man was thrown out of balance, and the teacher took the opportunity to punch Death, sending him flying for several meters and slamming into a tree, which broke under the impact.
When the assassin stood again, he saw the teacher standing almost over him with his arm raised in a punching motion and aiming at his head. Death shadow-hopped again, far away from Master Rook, but at that moment, the other teacher, Master Callahan, with his sword drawn, attacked the master assassin.
Death barely parried the sword attack with his daggers, and then he jumped backward, using his own shadow to teleport and avoid getting a nasty wound that would have ended his life or likely disabled him from being able to fight.
Master Callahan didn't let him go that far. As soon as he landed, he lunged forward and slashed at the assassin, but he bent backward and avoided the blow while also kicking the teacher's knee, causing him to fall to the ground. Then, he threw some flying daggers at the master swordsman's chest, but the blades bounced off the man's blade as he managed to parry them with lightning speed.
At that moment, Master Rook rushed at the assassin, who didn't leave him much time. Death slashed again, this time making a nasty cut on Master Rook's arm. It wasn't deep, but blood started flowing out.
The fight continued, with the two teachers attacking the assassin repeatedly while he jumped into the shadows to avoid being hit. Finally, both teachers managed to land blows on him. First, Master Rook hit the assassin with a fist strike that sent him crashing to the ground again. Then, at shoulder height, Master Callahan slashed at him, crippling him severely.
"Fuck... This can't go on..." The man turned to look at his comrades and observed that the situation wasn't going well. They were all fighting against two opponents each, which meant that either they had to run away if they wanted to survive, as sustaining the fight was evidently hard for them, or they had to try taking the kid. They wouldn't get any reward money if they fled, which didn't stick well with him. He wanted the money, and he also wanted to impress the boss and whoever was behind him.
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