[Absorption Complete]

  [Assimition Failed]

  [Abilities will be adjusted to fit the host]

  [Adjustment complete]

  It felt like I was in a car, but the movement was a bit irregur and turbulent, like the road of a third world country. And instead of sitting, I was lying on the floor.

  The trunk?

  I tried to open my eyes but I felt so tired. I didn't force it. I allowed myself to rest for a bit.

  That was a terrible nightmare.

  When was the st time I had a nightmare?

  I chuckled. I guess I'm still human after all.

  The car made a sudden gallop, and that made my head hit on the floor of the trunk. So hard that my eyes were forced to open.

  It was all dark. What I assumed was the trunk, turned out to be more spacious than a trunk. I tried waving my hand to touch the top but I was met with empty spaces. Back of a van? No. Smaller than that.

  I could make out outline of human shape in the darkness. I wasn't alone.

  I sat up.

  Worse than that, something feels weird. I didn't feel like myself.

  "Hey-" I tried to make contact but that didn't sound like my voice. It sounded like a kid's voice. A virgin kid's voice. I began to feel my body, trying to get a description. Started with the face. Barely had any fat in it, but it was indeed a kid's face. Probably around 13 or 14 years.

  "What the hell is going on?! " I screamed, a little too loud.

  Wait? Hell?

  Last night wasn't a nightmare?

  Or is the nightmare still ongoing?

  The car stopped abruptly.

  I heard hurried steps. Someone was walking back to the back of the car. I could also feel movement from within the back of the car. My fellow passengers were running deeper into the car, away from the approaching footsteps. Next was the struggling with the lock. Definitely a van!

  Normally this would have been a perfect time to counter attack my abductors but I did not yet know what was going on, who I'm up against, or what weapons they had. So I sat back and the door opened wide. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the sudden stream of light, even though it was half blocked by the man who opened the door.

  "Who the hell screamed that loud?!" he asked, looking past me to the other passengers, and then back at me again.

  "You half elven piece of shit!" he yelled at me.

  I allowed myself to be grabbed and he dragged me out into the open.

  We are in a forest. A thick green forest, and we aren't alone. There are about 12 other people. And what I thought was a car, was a metal carriage been pulled by horses!

  The man hit me squarely in the face, and it really hurt. The pain was worse than what I felt from my sister, and that was weird.

  "I thought you were dead you piece of shit" he spat at me. "You want to attract bandits, huh?!"

  "You idiot you will be the one to attract bandits" a soldier said, alighting from his horse.

  "what are you getting down for?!"

  "I got to take a piss"

  "I'm not paying you huge amount of money to take a piss anytime you feel like"

  The man ignored him and went about his business by the side of the narrow road.

  They were all wearing clothes like in the medieval times. Rough faces.

  Rough skins. And armed with swords, bows and axes.

  I understood.

  Never believed in the afterlife but if hell exists, then surely reincarnation is a viable possibility, and this...this is my reincarnation.

  "Did you just ugh?"

  The old oaf was looking at me. He's real ugly. Eyes filled with rage and baring his teeth ready to devour me.

  "I guess I did" I said, and then with all strength I could muster I tilted my head back and headbutted him. Aiming for his nose, I heard a crack when my head made contact. It looks like I was the first to hit him there.

  Good.

  He faltered, and then doubled over, clutching his face and wincing in pain.

  I nded on my feet but there was no time to waste. I rushed at the old oaf where he was bending over holding on to his nose, and smmed him with a knee to the face. It sent his back hard to the ground, open for more attacks. I went on him, grabbed the short bde by his side. The moment my hand touched the bde, I felt the attack coming. Instinct. Years of life as an assassin.

  I barely dodged it.

  I heard whoosh sound just above my head, cutting a bit of my hair.

  I moved a couple of feet away with the oaf's bde with me.

  "Woooo! You dodged that?" The rest of the group have now alighted. 13 in total. The one that attacked me was the one who went to take a piss. An average height of about 5'8, athletic build. The roughness of his skin made

  it hard to predict his age but if I were to guess, I would say around 27. And he has the aura of the leader.

  "That was some pretty dumb shit to do, wasn't it?" he said, as they kept coming forward, and I kept going back. "Attacking your owner in the presence of his own guards. "

  I said nothing. I was calcuting my odds. 13 armed grown men against a 14 year old boy armed with a little bde.

  "For a monster, you sure are holding that bde pretty well." the guy said, but I didn't reply.

  I was measuring them up. I still don't know how they fight, and if they were to fight me together I would st two minutes at best.

  They stopped.

  "Why don't you drop the bde, kid? A living sve is better than a dead one."

  But you tried to cut my head off?

  "I want him dead! Do you hear me? Dead!"

  I could barely see him behind the wall of soldiers before me, but I could clearly picture his face at that moment.

  The leader of the group signaled the closest man to his left to get me, and I hope my face didn't show the relief I felt.

  He was a huge man though. With huge bde, but he was looking down on me.

  He came in swinging, almost with a leap, hoping to cut me down from up to bottom.

  So full of openings.

  It was easy to dodge, and counter. A slight step to the left, and then a quick deep stab first to the side of the stomach, and then to the neck. All in three seconds.

  They couldn't even hide their shock. Staring at me with mouths wide open as their band mate bled to death.

  "I mean I shouldn't be shocked. Not after you dodged my attack without even seeing it." the leader said. He was the first to recover. "But taking down Dai Sato in 2 seconds? That's a whole new high. " The others have all recovered, with bdes drawn now and approaching.

  They seem to be getting ready to come at me at once. It would be certain death for me if they surround me. Same with if I fight them in the open.

  And I think they know that too. So I dashed into the forest.

  "After him!"

  I felt his bde coming. I quickly moved to the side and then countered. A stab to the heart, and down he goes. His closest teammate swung his bde at me. I barely dodged it. It ripped my clothes and skin but I think I was too high on adrenaline to feel the pain. I charged at him. Dodging his constant, and well calcuted swings. With the first opening I got I stabbed him in his chest, very close to his heart.

  Another attacked me from the back. I tried dodging but the strike got me well, and in a reflex I stabbed him by the side of the head. I couldn't immediately retract the bde, and at the same time an arrow hit a tree beside me, and another hit me just below the shoulder. I saw more coming so I hid behind a tree.

  I heard the thunk thunk of the arrows hitting the tree.

  "Don't just stand there! He doesn't have a weapon!"

  I broke the stick of the arrow, just leaving enough for an extraction ter.

  How many have I killed? 4? That remains 9.

  I took a deep breath in, and out, then I dashed deeper into the forest, running in as much zig zag as I could with the constant whoosh whoosh thunk thunk of arrows following me. Each closer than the st one.

  "How is he so fast?!"

  Yes, I am fast. So fast that it compels me to be more daring, but I'm an assassin. An assassin has to be careful. That's a golden rule.

  I think I've gone far. The voice of their leader is a bit distant, warning them not to pursue too deep.

  Like I was pnning to run away.

  I began circling back. Watching my steps not to make too much noise. An assassin should be able to adapt to any circumstance, and three minutes was enough to adapt to an outfield like this, but not enough to perfect it.

  "Over here!" a big guy with an axe called out. He swung his axe at me.

  Too slow.

  A step to the right, and he missed completely. I collected the short bde hanging on his waist and stabbed him at the back of the neck. I retracted the bde, and watched him fall.

  Hasty footsteps.

  About three of them are closer than the rest.

  I ignored them, and kept on moving. My target: the old oaf.