Yet, just as the blades of dark water were about to pierce skin, something incredible happened.
Cimon's shadow suddenly expanded beneath him, spreading across the floor like living darkness. From within it emerged a giant serpent whose scales shifted in a gradient of black, purple, and dark green, while a darker emerald-green armored its underbelly. Its eyes burned a vivid green, set against pitch-black sclera and slit pupils that radiated a cold, predatory intelligence. Though smaller than the legendary lengths Marxes had read such creatures could attain, the serpent still stretched nearly forty feet long. More impressive than its size, however, was the sheer density of its scales.
The incoming dark water blades struck its body.
DING!
DING!
DING!
The attacks ricocheted harmlessly away, sliding across the serpent's scales like bullets glancing off reinforced steel. Not a single scale cracked. Not a single mark was left behind. Moments later, the deflected blades splashed against the floor and dissolved into puddles of dark water at the foot of Cimon's bed.
Yet even that spectacle paled in comparison to what came next.
HISSSSSSS!
The serpent reared up, its massive body coiling protectively around its sleeping master. The room seemed to vibrate beneath the force of its hiss—a deep, primal warning filled with murderous intent. Its emerald eyes locked onto the would-be assassin, promising violence to anyone foolish enough to threaten the person it had been commanded to protect.
"Wha!?!" #7 took three large steps backwards at the sight of the enormous serpent, clearly wary of such a creature despite his own presence being greater. He knew a Great Serpent's venom, if allowed to reach a certain age, could harm even a Peak legendary ranked warrior, and he was not eager to find out just how old this one was.
"I see you've met my friend, the Night Viper," came Cimon's voice, garnering everyone's attention, startling both the masked figure in the hood and cloak and Marxes. He had released an upgraded aura of his — a recently achieved aura of a Low-Chaotic ranked powerhouse, alongside the serpent, who released a Tier SS ranked power — A power level comparable to a Low Legendary ranked cultivator.
"How is this possible?" the masked figure asked, clearly unexpecting this turn of events. "I was told you were in slumber. This isn't possible. I don't believe it."
Suddenly, a girl's cackle echoed throughout the room as shadows began converging beside Marxes, who was still embedded in the wall. Darkness pooled and twisted upon itself before a figure stepped forth from within. A girl with raven-black hair and violet eyes emerged, dressed in gothic shades of black and purple. She was beautiful—but in the same way a storm at sea or a graveyard beneath moonlight could be beautiful: haunting, dangerous, and impossible to ignore.
"Oh, sweetie," she said with an amused smile. "You don't have a choice but to believe it, because you have no idea what's possible in this world."
A long reaper's scythe rested comfortably in her hand, and the aura radiating from her marked her as a Low Chaotic-rank cultivator.
"You may call me Achlys, Daughter of Death. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Her smile widened. "Now then... are you ready to die?"
The masked intruder's gaze shifted between Achlys, Cimon, and the giant serpent coiled protectively around the sleeping demigod. For the first time, hesitation seemed to enter his calculations as he visibly reassessed his chances of success.
Ironically, it was at that exact moment that the nanobots repairing Marxes finally finished enough of their work to allow him to move freely. With a grunt, he pushed himself off the ruined wall and retrieved his hammer from the floor. Every muscle in his body protested the motion, but despite his injuries, he was ready for round two.
Then footsteps thundered through the corridor.
Moments later, the medical wing doors burst open as a flood of armed students and instructors poured into the room. At their head were Kenji Dai, Lady Lipton, and several high-ranking teachers, all radiating power and hostility.
"Freeze, stranger!" Lady Lipton barked, her wand already leveled at the masked intruder.
"I don't care how powerful you are," Cimon said, his voice calm but challenging as he met the assassin's gaze. "You can't beat all of us at once."
"The barrier is down..." the masked figure known as #7 muttered. His voice was so low that Marxes had to strain to hear him. "This fight has been lost..."
A tense silence followed.
"Very well," #7 finally said. "I've lost this day. But know this—I will return. And when I do... I will succeed."
The instant the words left his mouth, his body dissolved into a mass of dark water. Before anyone could react, the liquid surged across the room and exploded through the medical wing's windows in a shower of shattered glass, disappearing into the late evening sky beyond.
And just like that, the assassin was gone.
[Corven Umbrovante]:
BANG!
Number 5 sent J.C. a punch in the gut that sent him flying backwards, hitting the ground multiple times before colliding with a boulder to a stop. The boulder in question crashed open upon contact, the bastard-born son of Hades groaning, bruised and battered, but breathing still within.
Matilda, willing vines to wrap around Number 5 to bind him long enough for Corven and Durian's assault, rushed back towards J.C., intending to heal the demigod enough to rejoin the fight. As she ran away, the binding vines she put upon Number 5 were ignited in hellfire, its orange-red fiery blaze turning her vines to dust right before their eyes.
Nevertheless, it served its purpose.
It bought time for Corven and Durian to close the distance, using each of their Legendary ranked blades — Durian's Sapphire-Obsidian and Corven's Darkstar — to clash with Number 5's claws.
And even as they double-teamed the halfling, they were hardly making direct blade-to-claw contact, let alone bodily contact with their blades. The halfling may have been physically strong and highly perceptive, but he was also very fast. He dodged more strikes of the two's blades than he blocked, and neither of their attacks actually managed to wound him or his body in any meaningful way.
"Come on, friends, I've seen rocks move with more fervor!" the masked man taunted with unmitigated glee, as he caught Durian's blade with his clawed hand, and forcibly used it to parry Corven's own.
A great spark was the result of the two Legendary ranked swords clashing — bright, blue, beautifully dangerous sparks that seemed as if they were stars descended. Their heat were great and their hue, bright and gold.
Sadly, neither Durian nor Corven got to actually take it in too long as the next moment, Number 5 appeared directly beside Durian, kicking him in the side, sending him flying.
Then, quicker than Corven could react, Number 5 knocked Darkstar from his hand in an almost too easy maneuver, before grabbing Corven by his throat, choking him slowly but surely, his grip firm.
"I'd say we can continue to have this fun..." the halfling said, turning to afar. Corven could swear, even as he was beginning to black out, that the orange dome above were flickering on and off, as if its source of energy were being drained somehow. "But it seems our time here is short."
Even as Corven struggled in his grip, using Ki to boost his physical strength and shadow energy to increase his speed, he realized that he may have to go all out. He was dying — the world around him was fading, flickering off like a dying candle. If he doesn't go all out soon, he will die.
Just as he was about to summon his full legion, the orange barrier above shattered, vanishing complete, and a sudden flash of yellow light blasted into the halfling, causing him to stagger back, releasing Corven in the process.
As Corven began coughing up a storm, the sound of footsteps sounded and he had to look up to see the faction heads' arrivals.
"Corven!" Shifu Wang said, shouting his name, as his hand thrust forward, releasing yet another yellow blast at the halfling. Corven couldn't tell if it were his delirium from being choked near death, or if what he was seeing was real, but he could have sworn he saw elongated fangs in Shifu Wang's mouth.
"Daywalker..." Number 5 muttered under his breath, but Corven heard him nonetheless. "It seems I've failed this day," he looked to Durian, before his gaze lingered on Corven. "I look forward to next we meet, son of Erebos. Mayhaps you'll be stronger and our battle'll last longer... Atlas…. To me, my allies."
Vanishing before Corven, the halfling reappeared directly in the sky, with Eugene Vex, the 2nd masked figure, a third one Corven didn't know about before and a handful of students who joined him — mostly from Infernis Faction and Heavenly Faction but there were some from Mystic Faction, and Elemental too.
They vanished in a spiralling flash of hellfire spreading outward, and with their absence, Corven's consciousness left him.