The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 157: Two For The Alley

Chapter 157: Two For The Alley

The assassin smiled and rushed in.

Kir was barely able to lay one hand on Kangetsu as he drew her from his storage.

The alley was too narrow for sweeping attacks, so he left her in the sheath as he readied himself to block.

But the assassin’s intent was not just to attack.

Kir felt the surge of mana from above again, travelling down the stone building and into the wall behind him.

Just as the assassin started to close, blades of stone began to grow from the wall.

The longest of them stabbed for his spine, only to scrape along one of the bony plates as it pushed instead of stabbing him. Several of the other blades managed to strike small wounds, but Kir tucked forward and rolled under the strike of the first assassin, blocking one knife with Kangetsu and whipping his tail out to wrap around the elf’s ankle.

That action saved him as the rooftop assassin was forced to halt the advance of his stone blades as Kir’s roll allowed his tail to tug the first assassin off his feet and somewhat into their path.

One of the man’s knives stuck tip-first into the cobblestones and lost its point as he landed, but he reacted quickly with the other, stabbing for Kir’s tail.

Kir had already rolled away, releasing his tail as he came to a stand facing the opposite side of the alley, only to see that it was equally walled-in.

The space available was too narrow for him to deploy his wings, but now that he had some distance he drew Kangetsu as he flowed his mana into speed and defense.

Not a moment later, a sharp, cone-shaped bit of stone stuck into his bicep as the rooftop assailant fired off a series of stone bullets.

Even though it was a bit of a rush job, Kir’s skin soon withstood the impact of the rest of the bullets as he flooded mana into his defense. He was relieved to find he had the advantage in mana, at least. He sensed a bigger mana surge and managed to dodge as larger bullets began to rain in.

"Too slow, friend," the first assassin said as Kir slipped out of sight from the shadowed, cloaked figure on the roof; using a gutter for occlusion.

Kir got a brief glimpse of an open satchel from which the assassin seemed to be sourcing his stone bullets.

"I don’t see you using any magic," the sniper snarled down.

"Oh fine, keep him down then."

Kir felt another surge of magic and above him the stone of the houses began to pen him into a tunnel, right as the elf inhaled a huge breath.

He exhaled a moment later, sending a cascade of yellow mist toward Kir that was laced with magic.

Every bit of detritus between Kir and the assassin began to dissolve as the acid cloud ate its way toward him, leaving the stones scoured clean in its wake.

If not for his enhanced sight, Kir would not have seen the crate next to the wall beside him. Dropping Kangetsu to grab it, he heard the tinkle of its contents and felt hope rise. Glass would be perfectly immune to most acids, assuming he could launch it fast enough to make a difference.

Kir threw it into the oncoming cloud. He watched in anxious horror as the wood dissolved in mid-air, leaving the contents - empty glass bottles and scrap metal, flying at the acid-spraying elf.

The assassin’s eyes widened, and he stopped his attack as the glass began to shatter on and around him.

One lucky bottle smacked him full in the face, leaving vicious cuts as the man let out a startled cry.

Having lifted Kangetsu from the ground, Kir prepared to rush the assassin, but his partner raised another stone wall, sealing him into a cube of rock.

Kir hopped back, lowering himself into a crouch as he endured a little pain from his seal, channeling a small amount of mana into Kangetsu to banish heat from her.

The cyan blade began to fill the space with light, and on the other side Kir heard the first assassin shout, "I’m readying another cloud. Fucking spike him already!"

Kir smiled. He could sense the mana growing in his stone prison, but he wasn’t about to just stand there. With a surge of mana for strength and speed, Kir sliced away the section of wall facing the first assassin before kicking out the centermost chunk of meter-wide stone.

The sudden attack caught the acid spitter as he was holding his breath for another attack, and a look of shock came over him as he was caught at the hip by about fifty kilos of rock. The force of the blow took his body backward, rolling him just before the other end of the alley and snapping his back against the wall his companion had made. With momentum, the stone continued its roll, pulping his head against his partner’s wall a split second later.

The only reaction the rooftop assassin gave was a pissed-off snarl.

Kir dashed out of his prison right as several blades began to cut toward his tail, and he saw the remaining assassin’s hands clenched in concentration as he manipulated the stone.

Those hands came unclenched as Kir put another burst of mana into running along the wall before leaping from the wall to the same roof the man was standing on.

He saw as he landed that the mage was a dwarf, and no sooner did his feet find purchase than the assassin sent a wave of stone bullets at him.

Kir blocked one and dodged, noting that the bag the man was using seemed to be some sort of dimensional storage as bullet after bullet came flying out one at a time.

The dwarf grunted with concentration as he balanced firing at Kir with trying to keep his distance, but when that failed and Kir was within arm’s reach, he suddenly changed tactics and sent the terra cotta tiles under Kir’s feet cascading downward in a cacophony of sound.

Kir had barely a moment to react, stabbing Kangetsu into the roof and holding on to stop his fall as the assassin ripped the rest of the roof tiles off the ceiling.

It took a mighty pull and letting go of Kangetsu to get him back into the fight, right as the first shards of sharpened stone began to fly at and into him.

He dodged, but his ringing ears were a distraction that allowed several tiles to hit him, shredding his shirt and revealing his glowing chest.

"What the fuck are you?!" The assassin cried out as Kir lowered his body and sped into him with a surge of speed.

A moment later, Kir was past the tiles, and he grabbed the man’s arm before he could reach for his back, crushing his wrist.

"I’ll give you five seconds to name who sent you," Kir snarled as the man screamed. He squeezed the snapped wrist tighter, walking the man backward toward the street.

"Wait! Wait!" he shouted. "I’m a mage! If you kill me, the Syndicate won’t stop until you’re dead!" the assassin panted. "Please let me go. I swear I was just following orders!" the dwarf said rapidly as Kir pushed him to the edge of the roof, unbalancing him.

Two stories might not be enough to kill him, but it would at least buy Kir time to retrieve Kangetsu for the deed. But first, he decided to gather some information.

"Does the Syndicate know I’m here?" Kir asked.

"I swear, we’re the only ones who spotted you. We were waiting to catch you for the bounty. We don’t care anything about-"

The dwarf suddenly looked away, and Kir followed his gaze with his eyes, hearing the sounds of shouting guards in the distance.

Kir pulled the dwarf to a firmer stand on the roof, reaching with his other hand to slide the shoulder strap off the man’s arm. He took the bag as he let go of the dwarf’s wrist.

"Hey that’s-"

Slipping the bag into his dimensional storage, Kir silenced him with a glare, extending the claws on his free hand threateningly.

"Last question. Where does the Syndicate operate out of in Norneau?" he asked.

"What?" the mage sputtered. "If they find out I told you, they’ll kill me."

"If you don’t tell me, I’ll kill you and find out some other way," Kir said.

The dwarf gulped. Neither of them wanted to get caught by the guards.

"Three seconds," Kir said.

"Al- alright!" the dwarf barked. "They’re at the docks. Since the siege started they’ve been gathering indentures and moving everything of value onto a- a ship. The Sovereign of Sugar."

"You’re not a slave?" Kir asked.

"No... just a bounty hunter..." he gulped again.

With his magic-enhanced strength, Kir pistoned a kick that sent his foreclaws raking into the man’s eyes as his heel sent backward off the roof.

There was a brief scream and the sound of snapping bone.

Turning, Kir retrieved Kangetsu from the roof before walking back to the edge. He spared a glance for the decapitated assassin before peering over at his accomplice.

The presence of magic in the ground told Kir that the dwarf had somehow softened his fall even blind.

He lay there, moaning and weeping as Kir leaped, landing heavily on him.

A squad of guards turned the corner right as Kir decapitated the dwarf. He couldn’t afford witnesses.

They were distant enough that he almost turned to look at them, before remembering not to show his face.

Grabbing the cloak off the dwarf’s corpse, Kir leaped into the next alley and pulled it on, smothering his glow as he ran.

Sorry, everyone... Just wait a little while longer...