There was always a small process for signing up for missions that were placed on the board but on a particular day, Leylin had found that there was a name on one of the missions that caught his eye 'Ior Valiir' and it had been there for going on two weeks now. That perplexed him due to the fact that everyone knew the name of the person who had gave the mission, in some form or another, from small time hero stories to his glorious battles in times of war. Ior was a man that most 'Good' Mages knew about and Leylin was no exception but as his deep blue eyes started to scan the paper, it didn't take long for him to understand why most people had been unwilling to take the mission. It had been there, clear as day, that the man wanted someone to come and kill him. Now that had caught his attention and, to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he had to scan over the mission a few more times. "Approved by the Guild, huh?" The male muttered underneath his breath while sliding his way past a few of the others staring at the board and raised his right hand upwards, fingers grabbing onto the edge of the paper and tugging it easily from the board. Looking at it closer it was clear that this mission wasn't fake and it had been approved by the Magic Council,"What a strange man..." Leylin continued to simply talk to himself in the process but as he took the mission from the board, it gained him the attention of the others around him but he rightfully ignored them.
The group of people around the board had set their eyes on a five foot and ten inch tall figure that was clad in black, an outfit that gave off a slightly regal appearance on the man and seemed to draw out the more defined and handsome features in his face. While his right hand was holding the paper a bit closer to his face, his left hand was in the center of a large wooden staff that was engraved with a series of runes and was just a few inches taller than the male. It was easy to miss the sword that was also sheathed in black at his side, while staring at his face or paying attention to the obsidian colored hair that flowed down his shoulders and partly down his back. For those paying close attention to the man it was easy to see him shudder for a moment as he walked towards the counter to officially register for the mission, and those that caught the sight thought it was a pity that such a youthful male was going to take a mission that could weigh heavily on his consciousness. The pity even extended to the woman who was in charge of letting him register for the mission, asking a few questions along the lines of 'Are you sure?' and even pointing out the list of other missions on the board. But with a soft gaze and slight raise of his hand, these options were dismissed and her questions confirmed,"Who knows how long this hero has? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he passed away before getting this wish fulfilled." His response caused the woman to be shocked with his manners and grace, as well as his care for an apparent stranger but she nodded her head faintly and signed off before giving him a time and date. With a final,'My condolences' he was set on his way with a few days to prepare...
Despite what the others in the building had seen, there was a dark truth about the reason why Leylin had taken this mission. He knew who Ior Valiir was because of his stories but he didn't hold the man in any type of high respects and it was the opposite, Leylin hated men like him. The reason he had continuously checked the paper over and over was because he had to make sure that this wasn't some type of trap set up by the mages to catch mages like himself; a Dark Mage living in the light under the cover of a Good Mage. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up once he found out that it had been real, with an official stamp and all, it was true that he shuddered. But not because he was scared or upset to kill a hero but it was a motion to actually hide the excitement he was having for such a golden chance laid in front of him. Leylin Farlier was a man who had hid the darkness that was deep inside of him and this type of chance would have never been available to him if he was infamous for being bad, so the fact that he was able to keep up such appearances even after years of living this life and his alias', he'd become a master at balancing them. This was the closest he came from aligning the goals of both lives and, so long as he didn't let his cover slip during the battle, it would be fine. He only had a few days to actually get ready for the mission but it wasn't like he was going to need a lot of time to prepare for this battle, the man wanted to die and he was going to have his wish.
----
A few days after the mission had been accepted, Leylin had arrived at what was going to be the Hero's death place, a large battling arena that was completely empty save for the two of them and a single spectator in the stands. Clearly the man in the stands was here so that there was no foul play in the fight between the two of them and the long time hero's death was not dragged out and painful. That was something that Leylin had been expected, sure, but there was a small part of him that hoped he would have been allowed to have his way with this old man. Of course as his blue hues had scanned around to find the Magic Council representative watching, all thoughts of not having a fair fight were pushed out of his mind and Leylin prepared to have a fair fight with this old man and could only hope that the old man was planning on doing the same thing... "What am I thinking... Of course he'll fight fair." The male thought to himself before pushing the thoughts to the back of his head and finally letting his gaze fall onto the objective of this mission.
The Hero known as Ior Valiir was standing there proudly in a stance that was similar to a knight, his shield's bottom pressed against the ground with his sword behind it and both hands resting on top of the shield as he waited for the young Mage to show up. There was no battle armor on the Hero, his attire consisting of a fancy noble attire that was clearly modified so his movements wouldn't be restricted and he couldn't be held back. Leylin, on the other hand, had worn his usual attire and made sure to leave his magical items at home, only carrying his blade on his right hip and entering the arena until he was roughly ten feet from his opponent,"Thank you for coming and honoring my last wish. I will never forget this." The old man spoke in a deep gruff voice and bowed his head in respect and Leylin would do the same in response as his left hand slowly slipped across his waist and would rest against the hilt of his sword,"It is my honor, Sir Valiir." And that was all the words that these two currently exchanged as the Hero moved, his kite shield ending up on his left arm and his sword within his right hand before he'd charge across the dirt and towards Leylin.
Leylin Farlier allowed the warrior to control the first charge and instead of meeting him, his feet slid apart to match his shoulders with his left side and his hand on his blade ready to quick draw. That was when Ior had closed the distance between them fully and his dual edged sword came swinging down towards Leylin's left arm, which was across his body and actually threatened to give a serious gash in the process but Leylin moved swiftly and just at the last second. His feet slid across the dirt and the hilt of his blade as it was drawn and flew across the small distance between them would easily smack into the side of the warrior's blade and cause it to miss completely. The same action had allowed Leylin to try and drive his weapon across the man's chest to create a large wound but, as expected from a man that was renown, his shield came up with just the right timing so that Leylin's quick draw was deflected and slid across his the defensive item. The action caused Leylin to remark the enemy with enough respect to know that this wasn't going to be easy and he was going to try a bit harder to kill this veteran but he knew that he had it in himself to get it done. As his blade finished dragging across the shield, the young man quickly moved to jump backward a foot or so to create a distance between them but that was all he could before he was under attack from Ior once more.
With a grunt Leylin quickly brought his weapon up in front of him, now both of his hands on the hilt so that he could put more strength behind both his attacks and his defensive movements. This time Ior's attack came at a slanted angle towards him, meaning that if they had struck it would have easily cut from Leylin's right shoulder and just above his ribs and then the opposite, followed by a few strikes that were slowly aimed lower and lower. It was clear that while this hero was more than ready to die, he really planned to go out in a battle against someone who had deserved to take his life. Leylin's sword came to clash against the hero's in a series of sparks, his defense strong but slowly starting to become slower and slower against a man with much more experience than him. The broadsword of Ior carried more weight and strength than the blade of his Katana so as it continuously was strike, it only took several blows in the same area before the blade began to chip noticeably. At the risk of a blow to his leg, Leylin looked for a small opening in his opponents guard before trying to step forward and drive a knee through his defense and into the man's gut, an action that almost worked until the edge of the shield cracked against his leg and left Leyin grunting firmly in pain and stumbling backwards a bit,"You put up a fight, kid, but I don't know if you are who I was looking for!"
Those words irked Leylin because as much as he'd like to say he was holding back, it was clear that the Veteran had an upper hand in this battle but that didn't mean he was going to give up. His body moved to take another defensive stance but this time the right side of his body was leading, since his left leg was now aching and most likely extremely bruised from taking a blow from the man's shield to the side of his leg. Letting his eyes glance down towards his own blade for a moment he noticed the large chip in the blade's edge and he began to brew an idea, seeing as he knew the hero had seen the same detail but there was really only one way to find out. As the Hero got closer to the man again with a powerful charge, Leyin wasn't going to wait until he got to him and instead took the initiative, not moving from where he was standing and aiming to try and bring his blade down in an over the head blow, using as much force as he could. When Ior had moved to block the attack with his sword and not his shield, Leylin had put together that the man was trying to purposely trying to wear his sword until it broke. But that is exactly what Leylin was counting on now because as they connected, the wear and tear on his weapon began to increase so in response to that Leylin would then try to wave his blade around in a series of strikes.
To the onlooker it seemed like Leylin was getting desperate to hit the man as he tried to strike over and over again, the Hero bringing up his blade and continuing to hit the same area again and again until it was almost cleaved in half. Finally Leylin seemed to reach his limit and moved to try and bring his blade down in another overhead strike that would seemingly leave his open and vulnerable, Ior not using his blade to block this attack and instead throwing his shield arm upwards with brute force so that when they collided there was the snapping of metal that was heard and the top half of Leylin's blade was sent flying off into the distance. In that same moment Ior used his force to take a step forward and seemingly causing Leylin to lose all balance as he was forced onto his bad leg and he started toppling backwards, losing the lower half of his weapon in the process,"This is the end of our fight!" Declared the Hero like in iconic stories where Good beats Evil but that was when he noticed the smirk on Leylin's lips and suddenly was unsure of his attack but it was too late. His sword was already in motion...
As Leylin had toppled backwards, he had been ready for the Shield Bash to break his sword and had given himself a bad stance on purpose, giving the complete impression that he was fed up and just wanted to end the battle. So as the man's shield arm ended up off to his side where it couldn't protect him and his sword was swinging at Leylin was when the made his final attack. His body fell roughly and his leg folded beneath him, probably breaking his own ankle in the process but there was little time to think about such small issues with his right leg exploding outwards to drive a well timed kick to Ior's leading led and causing it to painfully buck under him. His swing quickly lost all momentum and he was brought down to a single knee before Leylin would have brought himself to a single knee as well with an awkward half roll, ending up inches from Ior and past his defenses. Leylin threw out a series of punches to the man's face, connecting with them and slowly pushing them back up to their feet and a few feet behind where they had started. Now Leylin had expected his weapon to be broken and for it fly off into the air but the second half of his weapon, the hilt and half-katana had been launched by him in a parabola and as Leylin drove one last punch to the warrior's face his left hand extended backwards and, slicing his fingers in the process by almost grabbing too early, barely getting a hold of his hilt before it came flying forward and there was the sound of a sword piercing flesh.
It was a noise that Ior was use to hearing and in that moment, only an inch or so of the man's broken blade could be seen coming out the back of the Hero's chest. There were two thuds heard as the man's sword and shield fell to the ground upon him realizing the fatal blow had been delivered, though the blade in his chest hurt more than he intended. And the reason for that was because Leylin, while striking his heart, had made sure to strike several other important arteries in his sideways sword stab. Usually heroes got the last word but as Leyin pressing the blade as deep as it would go, feeling the man's warm crimson flow down his weapons and down his hands, he smirked faintly while speaking into the man's ear,"I told you that this was going to be my honor... I hope that you enjoy the last few painful seconds of your life, knowing that someone aligned with the Dark killed you..." And those would be the last words the man had gotten to hear before Leylin ripped his blade out of his chest and the Hero fell onto his back with fading eyes looking up at the sky. The wound looked like it had been done by an amateur, which Leylin made sure he seemed like during their battle. It wasn't as painful of a death as he wanted to give the man but it was definitely close enough. With a nod to the Magic Council Representative, the man would turn away from the hero as his blood began to stain the dirt of the arena and walked off to retrieve the missing part of his blade and then leave the area. He had done his mission and kept his real intentions hidden until the very last moment. The one man who could have ratted him out being killed by his own hand.
{Word Count; 2957/1000}
The group of people around the board had set their eyes on a five foot and ten inch tall figure that was clad in black, an outfit that gave off a slightly regal appearance on the man and seemed to draw out the more defined and handsome features in his face. While his right hand was holding the paper a bit closer to his face, his left hand was in the center of a large wooden staff that was engraved with a series of runes and was just a few inches taller than the male. It was easy to miss the sword that was also sheathed in black at his side, while staring at his face or paying attention to the obsidian colored hair that flowed down his shoulders and partly down his back. For those paying close attention to the man it was easy to see him shudder for a moment as he walked towards the counter to officially register for the mission, and those that caught the sight thought it was a pity that such a youthful male was going to take a mission that could weigh heavily on his consciousness. The pity even extended to the woman who was in charge of letting him register for the mission, asking a few questions along the lines of 'Are you sure?' and even pointing out the list of other missions on the board. But with a soft gaze and slight raise of his hand, these options were dismissed and her questions confirmed,"Who knows how long this hero has? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he passed away before getting this wish fulfilled." His response caused the woman to be shocked with his manners and grace, as well as his care for an apparent stranger but she nodded her head faintly and signed off before giving him a time and date. With a final,'My condolences' he was set on his way with a few days to prepare...
Despite what the others in the building had seen, there was a dark truth about the reason why Leylin had taken this mission. He knew who Ior Valiir was because of his stories but he didn't hold the man in any type of high respects and it was the opposite, Leylin hated men like him. The reason he had continuously checked the paper over and over was because he had to make sure that this wasn't some type of trap set up by the mages to catch mages like himself; a Dark Mage living in the light under the cover of a Good Mage. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up once he found out that it had been real, with an official stamp and all, it was true that he shuddered. But not because he was scared or upset to kill a hero but it was a motion to actually hide the excitement he was having for such a golden chance laid in front of him. Leylin Farlier was a man who had hid the darkness that was deep inside of him and this type of chance would have never been available to him if he was infamous for being bad, so the fact that he was able to keep up such appearances even after years of living this life and his alias', he'd become a master at balancing them. This was the closest he came from aligning the goals of both lives and, so long as he didn't let his cover slip during the battle, it would be fine. He only had a few days to actually get ready for the mission but it wasn't like he was going to need a lot of time to prepare for this battle, the man wanted to die and he was going to have his wish.
----
A few days after the mission had been accepted, Leylin had arrived at what was going to be the Hero's death place, a large battling arena that was completely empty save for the two of them and a single spectator in the stands. Clearly the man in the stands was here so that there was no foul play in the fight between the two of them and the long time hero's death was not dragged out and painful. That was something that Leylin had been expected, sure, but there was a small part of him that hoped he would have been allowed to have his way with this old man. Of course as his blue hues had scanned around to find the Magic Council representative watching, all thoughts of not having a fair fight were pushed out of his mind and Leylin prepared to have a fair fight with this old man and could only hope that the old man was planning on doing the same thing... "What am I thinking... Of course he'll fight fair." The male thought to himself before pushing the thoughts to the back of his head and finally letting his gaze fall onto the objective of this mission.
The Hero known as Ior Valiir was standing there proudly in a stance that was similar to a knight, his shield's bottom pressed against the ground with his sword behind it and both hands resting on top of the shield as he waited for the young Mage to show up. There was no battle armor on the Hero, his attire consisting of a fancy noble attire that was clearly modified so his movements wouldn't be restricted and he couldn't be held back. Leylin, on the other hand, had worn his usual attire and made sure to leave his magical items at home, only carrying his blade on his right hip and entering the arena until he was roughly ten feet from his opponent,"Thank you for coming and honoring my last wish. I will never forget this." The old man spoke in a deep gruff voice and bowed his head in respect and Leylin would do the same in response as his left hand slowly slipped across his waist and would rest against the hilt of his sword,"It is my honor, Sir Valiir." And that was all the words that these two currently exchanged as the Hero moved, his kite shield ending up on his left arm and his sword within his right hand before he'd charge across the dirt and towards Leylin.
Leylin Farlier allowed the warrior to control the first charge and instead of meeting him, his feet slid apart to match his shoulders with his left side and his hand on his blade ready to quick draw. That was when Ior had closed the distance between them fully and his dual edged sword came swinging down towards Leylin's left arm, which was across his body and actually threatened to give a serious gash in the process but Leylin moved swiftly and just at the last second. His feet slid across the dirt and the hilt of his blade as it was drawn and flew across the small distance between them would easily smack into the side of the warrior's blade and cause it to miss completely. The same action had allowed Leylin to try and drive his weapon across the man's chest to create a large wound but, as expected from a man that was renown, his shield came up with just the right timing so that Leylin's quick draw was deflected and slid across his the defensive item. The action caused Leylin to remark the enemy with enough respect to know that this wasn't going to be easy and he was going to try a bit harder to kill this veteran but he knew that he had it in himself to get it done. As his blade finished dragging across the shield, the young man quickly moved to jump backward a foot or so to create a distance between them but that was all he could before he was under attack from Ior once more.
With a grunt Leylin quickly brought his weapon up in front of him, now both of his hands on the hilt so that he could put more strength behind both his attacks and his defensive movements. This time Ior's attack came at a slanted angle towards him, meaning that if they had struck it would have easily cut from Leylin's right shoulder and just above his ribs and then the opposite, followed by a few strikes that were slowly aimed lower and lower. It was clear that while this hero was more than ready to die, he really planned to go out in a battle against someone who had deserved to take his life. Leylin's sword came to clash against the hero's in a series of sparks, his defense strong but slowly starting to become slower and slower against a man with much more experience than him. The broadsword of Ior carried more weight and strength than the blade of his Katana so as it continuously was strike, it only took several blows in the same area before the blade began to chip noticeably. At the risk of a blow to his leg, Leylin looked for a small opening in his opponents guard before trying to step forward and drive a knee through his defense and into the man's gut, an action that almost worked until the edge of the shield cracked against his leg and left Leyin grunting firmly in pain and stumbling backwards a bit,"You put up a fight, kid, but I don't know if you are who I was looking for!"
Those words irked Leylin because as much as he'd like to say he was holding back, it was clear that the Veteran had an upper hand in this battle but that didn't mean he was going to give up. His body moved to take another defensive stance but this time the right side of his body was leading, since his left leg was now aching and most likely extremely bruised from taking a blow from the man's shield to the side of his leg. Letting his eyes glance down towards his own blade for a moment he noticed the large chip in the blade's edge and he began to brew an idea, seeing as he knew the hero had seen the same detail but there was really only one way to find out. As the Hero got closer to the man again with a powerful charge, Leyin wasn't going to wait until he got to him and instead took the initiative, not moving from where he was standing and aiming to try and bring his blade down in an over the head blow, using as much force as he could. When Ior had moved to block the attack with his sword and not his shield, Leylin had put together that the man was trying to purposely trying to wear his sword until it broke. But that is exactly what Leylin was counting on now because as they connected, the wear and tear on his weapon began to increase so in response to that Leylin would then try to wave his blade around in a series of strikes.
To the onlooker it seemed like Leylin was getting desperate to hit the man as he tried to strike over and over again, the Hero bringing up his blade and continuing to hit the same area again and again until it was almost cleaved in half. Finally Leylin seemed to reach his limit and moved to try and bring his blade down in another overhead strike that would seemingly leave his open and vulnerable, Ior not using his blade to block this attack and instead throwing his shield arm upwards with brute force so that when they collided there was the snapping of metal that was heard and the top half of Leylin's blade was sent flying off into the distance. In that same moment Ior used his force to take a step forward and seemingly causing Leylin to lose all balance as he was forced onto his bad leg and he started toppling backwards, losing the lower half of his weapon in the process,"This is the end of our fight!" Declared the Hero like in iconic stories where Good beats Evil but that was when he noticed the smirk on Leylin's lips and suddenly was unsure of his attack but it was too late. His sword was already in motion...
As Leylin had toppled backwards, he had been ready for the Shield Bash to break his sword and had given himself a bad stance on purpose, giving the complete impression that he was fed up and just wanted to end the battle. So as the man's shield arm ended up off to his side where it couldn't protect him and his sword was swinging at Leylin was when the made his final attack. His body fell roughly and his leg folded beneath him, probably breaking his own ankle in the process but there was little time to think about such small issues with his right leg exploding outwards to drive a well timed kick to Ior's leading led and causing it to painfully buck under him. His swing quickly lost all momentum and he was brought down to a single knee before Leylin would have brought himself to a single knee as well with an awkward half roll, ending up inches from Ior and past his defenses. Leylin threw out a series of punches to the man's face, connecting with them and slowly pushing them back up to their feet and a few feet behind where they had started. Now Leylin had expected his weapon to be broken and for it fly off into the air but the second half of his weapon, the hilt and half-katana had been launched by him in a parabola and as Leylin drove one last punch to the warrior's face his left hand extended backwards and, slicing his fingers in the process by almost grabbing too early, barely getting a hold of his hilt before it came flying forward and there was the sound of a sword piercing flesh.
It was a noise that Ior was use to hearing and in that moment, only an inch or so of the man's broken blade could be seen coming out the back of the Hero's chest. There were two thuds heard as the man's sword and shield fell to the ground upon him realizing the fatal blow had been delivered, though the blade in his chest hurt more than he intended. And the reason for that was because Leylin, while striking his heart, had made sure to strike several other important arteries in his sideways sword stab. Usually heroes got the last word but as Leyin pressing the blade as deep as it would go, feeling the man's warm crimson flow down his weapons and down his hands, he smirked faintly while speaking into the man's ear,"I told you that this was going to be my honor... I hope that you enjoy the last few painful seconds of your life, knowing that someone aligned with the Dark killed you..." And those would be the last words the man had gotten to hear before Leylin ripped his blade out of his chest and the Hero fell onto his back with fading eyes looking up at the sky. The wound looked like it had been done by an amateur, which Leylin made sure he seemed like during their battle. It wasn't as painful of a death as he wanted to give the man but it was definitely close enough. With a nod to the Magic Council Representative, the man would turn away from the hero as his blood began to stain the dirt of the arena and walked off to retrieve the missing part of his blade and then leave the area. He had done his mission and kept his real intentions hidden until the very last moment. The one man who could have ratted him out being killed by his own hand.
{Word Count; 2957/1000}
