The air tore open behind Damon as Nara shadow-stepped mid-charge, appearing at Damon’s flank with a dagger already angled for Damon’s heart.
The blade never reached him. Damon didn’t dodge. He didn’t parry. Nara’s dagger met Damon’s palm and stopped as if it had struck a mountain.
Nara’s eyes widened, but he didn’t hesitate. Shadow blades erupted from the ground, slashing upward like a swarm of claws. The ground darkened beneath Damon as ten shadow spears burst forth.
BOOM.
A shockwave of blood essence erupted from him in a perfect circle. The shadow blades disintegrated instantly. The ground trembled. Nara’s body jolted backward as he couldn’t withstand the sheer intensity of the attack.
"You again," Damon said quietly, turning his head slightly toward Nara. "Still alive? That’s disappointing. I guess my poison was indeed weaker back then. Did you try the new brew yet?"
Nara roared and lunged again. "Shut up!" But he halted in his tracks as black veins spread across his body. His body refused to listen to him, and his mind was a mess.
The next second, his body started turning pitch black, not from shadow essence but from rotting inside out. In the blink of an eye, he dropped dead without even landing a single hit on the enemy he was so eager to face.
Nara’s corpse hit the ground with a dull thud, still twitching faintly as black rot ate through his flesh. In less than a second, he crumbled into a pool of dark, muddy decay.
Damon chuckled as he casually absorbed the guy’s blood essence. "Who is next?" His gaze shifted to the First, Second, and Sixth. A ripple of raw hatred rushed through the ranks. While the other assassins hesitated, especially after seeing Nara’s plight, First, Second, and Sixth immediately made their moves.
The Sixth was the first to attack, his twin daggers spinning in his grip like twin crescent moons. Unlike the others, he didn’t aim for Damon directly. Instead, he dove straight for Damon’s shadow, slashing through it with perfect precision.
Shockingly, Damon’s shadow was severed from him the next moment. Damon could feel that his shadow abilities had suddenly been cut off, at least temporarily. He had never seen or heard of such a move before. This was the first time. It was an extremely efficient way to cripple someone who relied solely on shadows.
However, he did not have any such flaws. While the assassin made his move, Damon made his move as well. He wanted to finish this fight as soon as possible. He had already checked with the Third if anyone used any soul attacks, and the guy had assured him that they did not. But he still did not want to take chances.
Blood mist and poisonous miasma burst out of his body as the entire space turned chaotic and violent in the blink of an eye.
The Sixth landed behind Damon with a satisfied grin. "Got you," he whispered, flicking the severed shadow with the tip of his dagger.
Damon glanced down. His severed shadow writhed on the ground like a dying serpent. "Interesting trick," he said calmly. "But you misunderstand something."
Damon didn’t even bother stepping closer. He flicked two fingers. A razor-thin thread of blood shot forward and punched cleanly through the Sixth’s forehead. He went still. One more down.
Without giving him a chance to absorb the blood essence, the other two had already unleashed their attacks. Second’s fan snapped open, shimmering like a blade of night. "Die," she whispered, sending a storm of black petals swirling toward Damon with deadly precision.
Each petal was a shard of compressed killing intent, able to slice stone, flesh, and even mana constructs. In an instant, she filled the battlefield with a whirling cyclone of lethal beauty.
Damon simply stood. There was no point in dodging them. There were so many petals. They were everywhere. But so was his blood storm. The petals sliced toward him and dissolved into nothing the moment they touched the blood miasma around him, snuffed out like candles in a storm.
While he was yet to attack the Second, the Sixth, and the others were no longer a problem. This only left First. Damon had a feeling that he wouldn’t be as easy an opponent. For one, he hadn’t even spotted the guy yet.
It didn’t matter. In the meantime, he could always become stronger. Damon sent out blood spears everywhere, not leaving a single assassin in the room.
Though he would have liked to take this order under his wing too, the situation was a bit too tricky at the moment to push his luck. The best and safest option would be to power up, and he decided to do just that.

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