Smoke rose over the poppy fields, red flames dancing between the white petals. Between the swaying leaves, Percy was laughing.

He took out his Spellbolt and shot right at Viper's head but the assassin also had a shield on him. The air above Viper's skin flared red as the blue bolt of lethal mana bounced off his head.

It didn't block the mana? That was more like redirecting. That meant it could probably take more than one shot.

But how would it take two shots? He aimed and laid down two shots on Viper's abdomen. The first bounced away, but the second crackled and flared against his stomach. Blue light trying to pierce red.

There was a loud crack and a flash of white light, Percy closed his eyes and when he opened them found Viper groaning on the ground. The shield had broken

He walked over immediately and placed the Spellbolt over the man's head with a careless smile.

"Should've been a farmer."

Before he could click the trigger, his spirit warned him. He jumped out of the way as another man appeared from nowhere.

"Invisibility?" Percy grumbled. "Why aren't you blind?"

The man was actually dumb enough to answer.

"When you're covered by the Nightless spell, everything is darker to you. I waiting while the other—"

Percy shot him in the head, he had heard enough. But the strange red shield deflected his shot. Did they all come here with that?

This Viper guy was very prepared for a fight this time. Though Percy couldn't tell which of them was Viper. He could shoot three more times at this guy but it would be a waste of his fifteen shots.

All he was here to do was to buy time for Thalos. So he ran deeper into the fields, stopping to throw more stun balls and light more fires.

Back where he left them, Viper crawled to his feet, clutching his eyes as he cursed. He had to kill that bastard, he didn't even care about what the kid could do for them anymore.

"Owl, come out and heal us!"

After a couple minutes of Owl's water magic, the white dots faded from his eyes. But he could still feel the pain in his stomach where the kid shot him. It was like taking a gut punch from a battering ram.

The other assassins they told to wait under the Nightless spell were also unblinded. This light weapon could be resisted by dark spells.

"Dark Spiritmancers, be ready next time. You'll have to stop that light attack. Everyone spread out, kill on sight, he's too dangerous to be captured."

Viper didn't care how many died, he just wanted Perseus Amphene dead. He drew his dagger and began casting under his breath to restore his shield.

But something strange happened. His vision was swaying and his body felt light. He clamped his hand over his mouth and remembered the strange mask the kid was wearing.

"Cover your mouth!" he roared, "Everyone, cover your—"

His voice was interrupted when Percy shot him in the back of his head from far away. Luckily, he had just recast his shielding spells, so he just stumbled forward. It was like taking a punch to the back of his head.

"Owl, Deer, put out the fires!" he roared, preparing to cast a spell in the meantime.

"Breath of the world, whirl and twist, open the gap, push my enemy back!"

His chant was immediately passed onto the spirits. The wind howled as he controlled it to suck in all the smoke. Then he used his spirit sense to find Percy running through the fields and fired at him.

The opium field was parted like a wind as the furious gale charged at Percy. His grey eyes widened with shock. He enhanced his legs, jumping out of the way, and shooting a disabling shot at the gale.

The disable shot was able to kill the force a bit. He hoped that since he was outside the direct line of wind attack, the force wouldn't be too bad. But instead he went flying like a ragdoll.

He tucked his elbows and knees, dismissing both Spellbolts to try and make his fall a bit less painful. He bounced off the ground and managed to not break any bones.

For a minute, he was lying against the ground, groaning, then he remembered what was happening. After he pushed himself to his feet he realised how bad things were.

The assassins were approaching slowly, afraid of any more stun balls he'd bet, and they seemed to know exactly where he was. They all pointed their hands at him, charging spells to fire.

"Well this isn't good," he grumbled under his gas mask and crawled away. "What was supposed to happen now? Ohhh, the sonic weapon."

He couldn't hear anything right now because he created and covered his noise-cancelling headphones. He raised the Whispers bracelet on his wrist and used the second function.

The wrist attracted all sound in the area then amplified it and released it in a small area. It was like a parametric array, only they could hear the ear-rupturing screech in this small area.

As expected they all stopped chanting and grabbed their ears. He was almost happy till he saw that Evans guy still walking forward.

The man pointed at his hand, black eyes deeply focused. Percy raised his Spellbolt and fired at him but the work was already done.

The sound attack had stopped, he even saw the wind spirits leave his Whisper bracelet. The guy had somehow commanded the spirits in his magic tool.

He limped over the ground, looking back between the green swaying stalks of poppy. He summoned another stun ball in his hand and waited for Evans, who he now suspected was Viper, to come.

Then he heard the sudden sound of wind rushing. Despite the aching pain, he enhanced his feet and jumped out of the way. But Viper appeared beside him with a rush of wind and grabbed his hand.

The man dragged him back and slammed him face first into the ground hard. The glass in his gas mask cracked, and he couldn't see out of it.

"Are you Viper?" he asked when the assassin dragged his head up. "It's nice to meet you—"

Viper slammed his head against the ground again, raising and bashing his head down as he spoke.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." He stopped and left Percy and his crumpled mask to flop against the ground. "I hate your stupid voice."

He pulled out a dagger to end the child's life. But then Percy raised a hand suddenly and threw the metal ball in his hand against the ground.

"Shit," Viper cursed as he was enveloped by white light.

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