Ivan slowly stood up, his other arm holding his almost severed hand together while blood poured out like rain. His calm gaze settled on the assassin in front of him.
It had only been a few seconds since they clashed yet he was already in such a state, Ivan refused to think that he would die at the hands of a level 2 warrior weakling but was there even anything that he could do?
The assassin, knowing that he had very little time left before people arrived, rushed toward Ivan with his gauntlet ready to give the final slash.
Seeing this, Ivan's expression hardened as he shouted.
"Fine, you forced me to use this!"
Immediately after shouting that, he mustered every single mana inside his body and pushed it out as if he was about to do something insane.
Seeing this, the assassin's eyes flashed and he jumped back cautiously. Unwilling to be caught up in whatever this kid was trying to do.
But instead of something life-threatening, the mana that was rushing out of Ivan's body formed into a very large shield that floated in front of Ivan.
With the shield in front of him, Ivan charged at the assassin like a crazed beast that was making a last stand.
The assassin "..."
He was shocked and then pissed, this was the third time he was falling for Alex's tricks! He was so angry that he wanted nothing more but to slowly torture Ivan to death!
"You little worm, I'll kill you!" The assassin spat angrily and dashed at Ivan. He arrived in front of Ivan's shield in the blink of an eye and slashed out several times in a span of one second, instantly shredding the shield to tiny pieces that disappeared into mana particles right after.
After destroying the shield, the assassin lifted his gauntlet, wanting to attack Ivan who was behind the shield. Only for him to see that there was no one.
His eyes swiftly turned to the side and he spotted Ivan who was running towards the door. It turned out that the kid had used the big shield as a cover to make a run for it, he wasn't planning to fight to the death.
The blood of the assassin boiled with rage, he didn't even bother saying anything and went after Ivan. He arrived behind Ivan in an instant and slashed down.
Ivan, who was expecting this, turned around and created another shield. This time, it was a smaller shield with a curved surface.
He didn't touch the shield since he was holding his injured arm with the other and directly created the shield under the other party's gauntlet.
Due to the uneven surface of the shield, the gauntlet tilted to the side after making contact, just before the force of the attack crushed the shield and made it disappear but this had bought Ivan a split second to turn around and send a kick towards the front leg of the other party.
The assassin instinctively reacted, moving his leg out of the way and performing a spinning kick with the other. His foot slammed into the side of Ivan's body and further threw him out of the room and into the large hallway outside.
Ivan's body was covered in his own blood and intense pain attacked his nerves but he didn't react as he forced himself to get up, a grin even formed on his face.
His mana core was empty and he wouldn't be able to create another shield which meant that he was done for. But he didn't panic because everything had worked out in the end, he had managed to survive for half a minute and had finally made it out of his room which had limited space.
What was more important was that…help was finally here!
"Ivan!" A horrified scream pierced through the heavy air in the hallway.
The owner of this voice was none other than Elena Castellan, the Lady of the Castellan family and Ivan's mother!
Her eyes were wild with disbelief when she saw the state of her son, the hallway seemed to have frozen for a moment.
Ivan looked back at his mother and a warm smile formed on his bloody face. "Hello, mother…you came just in time." He said with a slightly tired and happy tone as if he wasn't currently looking like a maltreated corpse.
Hearing her son's words made Elena's eyes turn red and blurry with tears instantly, her gaze swept to the entrance of Ivan's room and landed on the assassin who was standing there like a statue.
"You did this to my baby?"
BOOM!
Elena bellowed like a wounded beast as mana exploded from her body, causing her clothes and hair to float in the air.
Although she wasn't as strong as her husband and possessed healing magic which wasn't suitable for combat, Elena was an undeniable Powderhouse at the level five warrior stage as well!
Immediately mana exploded from her body, she pointed her right palm at Ivan and a ball of green light flew out and landed on him. Ivan's entire body was immediately covered in the green light and the pain he was feeling disappeared instantly.
His injuries and broken bones also began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, Elena already appeared in front of the assassin.
The other party knew that it was now impossible to kill Ivan and wanted to escape but before he could even take a step, the graceful figure of Elena appeared in front of him, a twisted smile on her face.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked, her eyes glaring at him with unimaginable hatred.
'Crap!' the assassin cursed inwardly and attacked with his gauntlet. But Elena was way faster.
Her left hand moved like a blur and grabbed the other party's wrist, locking it in mid-air. After which her right hand shot out.
Bam!
An earth-shattering slap landed on the assassin's chest, followed by the sounds of collapsing bones and ripping flesh.
The body of the assassin caved in before his back exploded as blood, bones, and organs flew everywhere behind him.
The assassin's eyes widened in pain and despair as he vomited a mouthful of blood, he felt his life slowly slipping away. But before he could die, a ball of green light landed on him.
The assassin "..."
The pain he was feeling disappeared and when he looked down, he saw that the huge hole in the middle of his body was closing up as his missing body parts grew back. He couldn't help but look up at Elena.
Elena smiled at him with her eyes closed. "Don't worry, as long as you don't die instantly, I can keep healing you." She said with a gentle tone.
'Someone, save me!' The assassin was so horrified that he passed out.
"Hmm? I'll just wait for you to wake up." Elena stared at the unconscious assassin and said before dragging him on the ground as she walked toward Ivan.
Ivan had fully recovered by now, just his bloody appearance was a bit disturbing.
Elena arrived in front of him and stared at him intensely, wanting to make sure that he was really fine.
Ivan smiled at this. "I'm fine, Mum, you came just one time." He said honestly. His mother's timing had been even faster than he imagined considering that there was another fight going on inside the building.
Instead of replying, Elena let go of the unconscious assassin and hugged Ivan. She tightly wrapped her arms around him as her body trembled slightly.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't come earlier." She said with a shaky voice.
The image of what would have happened had she been a minute late constantly flashed in her mind and this made her body tremble even more.
Ivan's smile softened and he hugged her back.
"I'm fine, you came… right on time," Ivan said as he felt his vision slowly turning blurry.
'Time for the dramatic exit I guess,' Ivan thought right before passing out from exhaustion, he was drained after using up all of his mana to survive for half a minute.
"Ivan!"
He heard his mother's panicking voice as the darkness slowly swallowed him.