The Sword and The Shadow

Sudden Assassination

"Sis Eirinn!" Innilis tensed up the moment she saw the person at the entrance. It wasn't hard to tell that the person didn't look human at all. Innilis recalled a book Annelotte showed her about the different races and thought about Eirinn's bloodline and came to a conclusion. It was highly likely the individual was a dark elf.

"Umm, are you hurt?" Eirinn asked innocently, still unaware that the dark elf wasn't a student of the academy. It didn't matter, as she would treat anyone that came to the infirmary.

"No, actually--" The dark elf bowed elegantly. "--I think you'll be the one getting hurt. It's possible you'll come to harm, beautiful lady."

The dark elf entered the room. But when he took his first step, Innilis shrieked, "Don't come in!"

"Innie?" Eirinn asked blankly.

"Sis Eirinn, haven't you noticed? He's a dark elf!" she snapped while eyeing the man cautiously.

"Dark elf?!" She looked back with a start. She had heard from Leguna that she had dark elf blood in her, but it had been so many years and that race seemed like nothing but a myth to her. She had never seen any of her blood relatives after all.

So, she was quite glad that a dark elf had showed up. Perhaps she could ask him about her parents. They must've accidentally abandoned her and must miss her, right? Or perhaps there was some unfortunate reason why they had to leave her behind? No, my parents are definitely fine!

Just as she was about to take a step forward, Innilis's small body blocked in front of her.

"Calm down a little, Sis Eirinn," Innilis whispered, "Even though I haven't seen them before, the books say that dark elves are so violent and cruel to the point it's hard to imagine. He's probably really dangerous."

"How could it be?" She found it hard to believe. While she was aware of the bad reputation her kind seemed to have, she stubbornly believed it to be some misunderstanding. She couldn't think of a reason dark elves would have to harm people at all.

However, seeing as Innilis seemed so serious, did that mean the dark elves really were violent savages?

"I admit that our race appears rather dangerous to other races," the dark elf admitted with a smile, "But, little miss, don't forget that the lady behind you also has our blood."

"She's not like you! Don't compare Sis Eirinn to your ilk! Also, don't come in!" she raged.

The dark elf shrugged nonchalantly. "But, as I said, the lady behind you is currently in danger. If I'm not there to protect her, something terrible will happen."

"If you really want to protect her, then you should inform this to the principal of the academy." Innilis got into a dictation stance. "If you dare make any sudden moves, then prepare to eat fireball."

She didn't turn back and continued, "Sis Eirinn, just wait for a bit. I'll help you later, just endure it a little more."

Eirinn looked at the petite figure before her. Innilis's voice was already shaking, but it didn't contain the slightest hint of hesitation. Eirinn chose to trust her. "Alright. Don't worry, Innie, I can fight too."

"A fireball spell, huh?" The dark elf sighed when he saw Innilis's hand raised. "It's a fine spell, but it won't be enough to hurt me."

The moment the dark elf finished, Innilis began her dictation. Her hands moved in a flurry and a red-hot ball appeared in her palm. She continued to channel her mana and made it increase in size until it was as big as a bowl. At that moment, the dark elf moved.

She hadn't expected that the elf would be that quick. He was some three meters away and Innilis only needed another syllable to finish her spell. However, the elf was easily able to clasp his hand over her mouth and touch the forming spell formation. The fire elemental essence gathered within dissipated under the blast of the impetus.

Damn! Innilis knew the dark elf was bad news. But at that moment, another dark figure bust into the room through the window and didn't show the elf any courtesy. She held a dagger and pierced it towards Eirinn without hesitation. The glow of the magic lamp in the room cast light on that other person, who was a female dark elf!

"Darn it!" the male elf cried. He grit his teeth and pushed Innilis forward, seemingly intent on using her to block the blade for Eirinn.

"No!" Eirinn, who had inherited rather good reflexes from her dark elven bloodline, cried and protected Innilis from any harm.

However, she was a priestess inept in combat. She couldn't possibly move faster than the male dark elf. What's worse for Eirinn was that Innilis seemed to know what the dark elf wanted to do and let herself be pushed towards the trajectory of the blade.

The dagger that should've pierced the back of Eirinn's heart cut through Innilis instead and embedded itself in her clavicle.

The female elf wasn't able to react to the sudden human shield. However, her target was Eirinn and her alone. She seemed to want to do secondary damage on her by using her impetus.

However, she wasn't able to do as she wanted. A sudden forceful ice arrow that could freeze her blood shot towards her. It was strong enough to pierce the thick walls of the infirmary and snapped the arm of the dark elf before exiting the room through the wall on the other side.

That wasn't over. Half a second after the ice arrow, a magic missile entered through the hole in the wall and smacked the dark elf in the face. The poor female assassin had her teeth sent flying out from the strike.

The male dark elf watched with some shock. Before he could make sense of things, a magic missile struck his nose and broke it, disfiguring his handsome face. He fell just like his kin, but he only lost blood, no teeth.

Eirinn blanked out from the sudden change. Innilis slumped in her embrace and she snapped out of it to use what remained of her enthymema today to cast a divine miracle.

As there were three injured in the room, she didn't choose to rely entirely on specific divine miracles. Instead, she used Pyro's divine Breath to fill the whole room. When she was certain everyone was treated to a degree, she concentrated the rest of her enthymema to use divine miracles on Innilis alone.

"Innie, are you fine?" Annelotte blinked into the room and looked concernedly at the injured Innilis with a tinge of regret. If she had been the least bit faster, Innilis wouldn't have gotten injured.

"Sis Annie, I knew you'd make it…" Innilis forced a smile despite being covered in sweat.

"Don't speak, Innie." Annelotte hurriedly used some healing magic to help with the wounds.

"I was useful this time!" she proudly proclaimed, "I'm no longer just a decoration that can count on other people… I can help you too… Please… tell Big Bro that…"

Innilis closed her eyes gently after saying so.

"Innie… No! Innie…" Eirinn focused all her efforts on it. No, it shouldn't have ended like that! She wasn't even that seriously injured. She knew she shouldn't have cared for the other two dark elves! She began to blame herself for it.

"Innie? Innie!" Annelotte's face paled horribly when she saw how weak Innilis was. But when she stretched out her hand to touch her pulse, she found that it was beating normally.

"Wahahaha! You fell for it!" she said as she jumped back up like a reanimated zombie.

"You dumb lass! How can you joke around like that?!" Annelotte and Eirinn said in unison as they pinched her little face.

"Owowow, ouch! I'm sorry! I really am!" she said with loud chuckles. Though the pain on her wounds made her pale, being able to help the ones around her for the first time made her all the more excited. It was no wonder Leguna would always try so hard. She didn't know being useful to others could be so enjoyable.

But the next second, she felt a burning pain come from her wound and cried out in agony. She then felt her belly warm up before she spat out a mouthful of black blood.