Corvo decided to just bum rush the five assassins on the metal platform, obviously only once he scaled the chain. He loudly makes it to the first one without a care for wether they descover him or not, though he still makes it before they can turn around.
*BANG*
A single shot rang out from his pistol, exploding his opponents brain like a rotten watermelon, sending a combination of pieces of brain and grey matter scattering everywhere all across the platform.
Some even splattering onto the victims former colleague.
And like this, for a minute nobody moves.
Silence reined.
Though that silence is broken soon after.
The first assassin to regain his senses and explodes into action with a wordless scream, breaking his companions out of their own stupor as a result, and come launching straight at corvo with a pre-dawn sword.
The blade is quickly upon him, almost reaching him before it's just…stopped.
Corvo stepped into the assassins swing, catching his sword hand by the forearm mid swing to block any momentum. And as a result, he is harmlessly blocked.
Then with a firm grip on his enemies forearm, corvo uses the over extended stance against the assassin by pulling him forward and kicking him in the side of the knee, forcing him to kneel with a loud accompanying crack coming from the point of impact. The pain also causing the assassin grappling corvo to lose grip of his blade. Allowing corvo to snatch it, claiming it for himself. Then with a reverse grip on the handle, decapitating the assassin in one fell swoop.
The blade slides cleanly through both the flesh and bone of the neck, easily gliding through muscle, sending the severed head flying straight over the railings. Only for it plunging straight into the shallow water of the flooded streets below, with a fate only to be food for the slaughter fish.
The rest are quickly upon him after that. But unlike the last poor fellow, these assassins had enough of their wits about them to not rush in blindly and let emotions cloud their judgment.
Wether that is because of being shocked by the instantaneous death of two comrades one after the other, or fear coming to their aid is unknown, but they focus up intensely.
They all group up and surrounded corvo. The three positioning themselves in a way that suggests some sort of pre planned battle program, though definitely stationed in a way that allows them to fight without getting in each others way, and to support each other freely.
As well as to of course use their supernatural powers to its full extent.
One of the three, perhaps the de facto, throws put some sort of signal with a hand sign that they all understand to quickly charge in. The first makes it to corvo quicker than the rest, positioned in a way to send a horizontal slash at corvo. The second blinks directly behind going for a stabbing attack.
Its in that moment where adrenaline is pumping that corvo feels a weirdly familiar sensation. As if the world was slowing down to a crawl, the colours being drained to monochromatic colours like an old movie.
But unlike times where he this 'time slow' effect shows in the mist of battle, at the peak of concentration, this feels more physical. With more intent.
Who's or what's intent? He dosent know.
Though he dismisses it as soon as the phenomenon ceases. Times of heightend emotions do a lot to your mind, especially in clashes of life and death, so this can be one of the may peculiarities of the mind. It only happened for the blink of an eye anyway.
Corvo manages to narrowly dodge the attack from behind with a quick sideward step, then easily deflects the second more obvious attack from the front. What he dosent dodge though is a cross bow bolt being launched from the third assassin, who suddenly materialises behind the one first to charge in.
They used both attacks as a set up for a distraction and this was the real a move….
"Ugh!"
A pained grunt escapes from corvos lips right as a cross bow bolt lodges itself straight into his right thigh, getting stuck in the process and causing him to limp.
The assassins all of course capitalise on the opportunity, pouncing on corvo In the moment he shows weakness. One of them blink straight in front of him with a sword already up in preparation for a vertical slash, swinging down on him quickly with tempered ice cold fury.
Though on the outside it appeared only the first assassin had any feelings, any emotion at all, but that is definitely false.
The death of multiple of their close comrades, brutally disturbing deaths allowed them to Chanell that burning rage into something more icy, something more dangerous.
Corvo dodges the blow by a small margin, catching a small slash on the shoulder in tbe process. The wound quickly starts dripping with blood.
The rest of them continue taking pot shots at him. Each encounter drawing more and more blood from him to a point that he starts feeling even colder than what his wet clothes would suggest, as well as getting slightly dizzy.
But as soon as he was reaching a point of no return, a mysterious pulse rings throughout his being. A pulse that once against rings out a familiar feeling, one that has become a constant in his life for months now. This quiet comfort as roaring waves of strength fill his veins, installing into him a calm confidence that even if all goes wrong, he has power.
A deceitful feeling.
And In his minds eye a presence becomes known to him, one that tells him what he needs to do.
'It is nearby.'
His key. His door...his silent ball and chain.
His connection to the vøįď itself.
And as if there is still nerves connecting his stump to the severed hand, Corvo still feels it. Feel it likes it's still attached but as if it was displaced in space. Like he could really move it.
But that is as far as the remnant connection goes. His access to the void still restricted. Locking away his access to the voids gift when he is without the key.
That doesn't matter through, does it?
Because now he knows where it is.
The assassins see corvo completely slowing now from his injuries and lingering fatigue, and they decide now is the perfect time to go for the decisive strike. His slippery move set has devolving into an amateurs crawl. Slow… predictable, easily exploited .
So they cap on the opening once more. All three of them blinking into striking range. The three of them lunging for the kill together. This time without the carefully planed move set that has guided them so far, only thinking of what will bring them both the satisfaction of revenge, and the honour of killing someone so strong.
But what the trio don't predict… was Corvo diving away into a somersault at the moment of their strike…. Then running into the abandoned factory, disappearing into the shadows of the lightless building.
The three of them pause for a moment, just looking at each other. All of them having the decency to be embarrassed, from mistake of forgetting themselves and getting greedy at the heart of the kill, a time where all hunters and predators get over confident and loose their mark.
Though that embarrassment barely showed on their "masked" faces, they definitely felt it internally .
They all exchange a bit of eye contact, holding a silent conversation that seemed to contain a hundred words. Quickly resolving themselves and begining to chase after him, to end it once and for all.
——
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"Hah.. haaah haaah."
Corvos heavy breathing could be heard all throughout the corridor he was running through, along with the slapping of his bare feet hitting the cold stone floor due to his limp.
He continues chasing for that pulsing feeling, the feeling that calls for him In a rhythmic manor; beckoning him forward like a moth to a flame.
His run is frantic and laboured, burdened down by fatigue, injury, blood loss and all sorts of things in his one major streak of bad luck.
Due to his head start and naturally fast physical speed, corvo manages to keep way ahead of the assassins even with tbe leg injury. Mana exhaustion not allowing them to blink ahead of him and catch him in advance. Though that dosent stop them from shooting the constant shots at him with their own wrist bow, slowing him down further by forcing him dodge each attack.
'FUCK!! Why is building so much larger than in the shitting game?!'
Corvo inwardly shouts his complains as he barges through a door leading into another much larger room. Or more like a large stair case that descends down into the whale oil covered pit where the hoard of weepers drawl about like zombies.
The memory of it causes him to hesitate. Will he be able to fight his way through them all without any of them dying? Without him dying? The last bunch he encountered proved otherwise. But what happeneds if he just dosent go in? Go somewhere else and just leave this place behind. Well, right now…he dies.
'There's no time.'
His pursuers also barge through the set of double door, breaking him out of his indecisive thought, letting send him flying down the flight stairs in an awkward style of running. This usually would have caused him to laugh at himself, or at the people doing the same weird little jig as him.
But no, he is running for his life right now and they are the assassins that are gunning for said life. So, yeah… now is not the perfect situation for any type of humour, no matter how dark.
As soon as corvo makes it to the half way mark of the factory corvo started hearing weird groaning noises, as if a giant group of people were singing out moans of pain all together to form some kind of fucked up cacophony of sound.
But still, he is getting closer.
As he descends further and further, the pulse also starts quickening as if to announce his arrival, getting deeper and louder. It was as if his heart was separated from his chest with it sound magnified by one hundred percent only to his 'ears'.
Besides him, the pipes that once covered the outside of the railings start to clear up, giving a clear view of what is below.
Like the sound suggested, a group of weepers wandering around back and forth aimlessly without a single thought inside their eyes.
'Shit, if I keep running so loudly they'll spot me and then swarm around. Will I be able to survive if they all surround me?'
Corvo slows down just a bit, adjusting his speed into more of a fast jog then the full run just so his footsteps make much less noise. The assassins behind him though keep up at their full speed, allowing them to quickly catch up to him; one reaching out to grab at him.
"…fuck it."
So corvo just jumped.
Vaulting over the railing, into a plung straight down to the bottom.
"W-Woaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"
He screamed as he went down. This time he was not protected by the voids energy, this time he was doing this on his own.
And down he goes. Free falling through the factory as if he were skydiving… heading straight for the ground, ready to go splat.
But at the last second with his arms erraticly flapping about, corvo managed to latch onto the top of a dangleing chain to stop his fall. The momentum of the fall however sends him sliding down all the way to the bottom of the chain, breaking his wrist as well as most his fingers in the process of stoping the fall.
Still he luckily managed to catch himself and not fall. What he didn't manage to do though… is be quiet.
The horde of weepers gathered below him, and as if their zombie like behaviour earlier was but a mere act they were now alive with activity.
Climbing and trampling on top of each other just to try and get a chance to reach him.
Though clearly the majority of their human intelligence is mostly gone, since he is obviously was still high up and they wouldn't be able to reach him at all.
*CRACK*
"..huh?"
An ominous creaking of metal sounded above his head.
"Oh shi-"
All of the sudden the chain just snapped as it was obviously old and weak, dropping him down into the horde of infected people
*THUD*
Corvo hit the floor with a big thump, worsening all of his injuries and knocking him unconscious.
*THUMP THUMP*
The pulsing reaches a new zenith, beating so strongly throughout the void that the phenomenon becomes physical, heard to others besides corvo.
*THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP*
The weepers all stacking and piling up on corvo and each other just freeze up suddenly, going completely still before briefly convulsing and collapsing, becoming like puppets with their strings cut.
Now only the noise of rapid thumping sound out towards the only conscious people in the building. The assassins, who managed to recharge a big mana during their chase.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO THEN!?"
One of the assassins shouted out rhetorically over the loud thumping noise ringing out all over the building.
"WHAT?"
Another responded but this too falls on deaf ears.
*THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMPTHUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP*
The pulsing reaches a new height once more.
… but this time… it comes directly from corvo himself.
———
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