Arrogance X Confidence

Spoiler:

After subduing the two ninja supposedly from Zou, Zafar had been in a particularly bad mood. While it had come to like that they were never from Zou in the first place, this was not what had upset the blood thirsty assassin. Rather it was the fact that the apparent professionals had gone down far too easily. Zafar had been expecting martial masters of both stealth and skill, however the two shinobi displayed a lack of talent in both categories. Their plan to sneak into the city was amateur at best and reeked of improvisation. As for their abilities in combat, there was never a chance to even observe them as the ninja went down after a single blow.

Zafar sat in his room bored and slightly depressed over the dissatisfying job. He was seated in a chair with his legs crossed as he gazed out the window with a stoic stare watching the simple minded people traversing the streets below. Boredom and discontent permeated the red haired sociopath's mood and hung over the room in a thick silence. Was there no point in expecting any more entertainment out of this town?

~192/500~

The golden eyes of the red haired assassin caught a sudden swift movement where there should have been none and drew their focus to the roof tops across the street from his inn room. There, atop the building, was a masked shinobi peeking out from behind a chimney. The cloaked warrior of the night was wearing dull tans and greys to better fit in with the daytime lightning and the lighter colors of balbadds architecture. Zafar felt no killing intent, but he kept an eye on the ninja all the same while remaining calm and nearly motionless. The shinobi reached into his sleeve and then threw something towards Zafar's window at lightning speed before turning and running away out of sight.

The bored look melted from Zafar's face to be replaced with subtle interest as a kunai stabbed into the floor near by with a piece of paper attached. "Hooo~? What's this?" The man asked aloud to no one in particular as he uncrossed his legs and walked over to the blade only to rip it from the wooden floor. After pulling the tied paper free and unfurling it Zafar read the message which had been written addressed to "the bastard responsible for imprisoning the shinobi of balbadd." Zafar smiled and thought to himself, 'Ah, that's me~ Although I thought they were from Zou...' The message went on to explain that Zafar had been challenged by the leader of the secretive ninja group to public combat.

A smile danced across the assassin's lips. He didn't care how un-ninja-like this challenge was. Part of him was expecting it to be a trap. But at last, some real entertainment had come his way.

~473/500~

The letter had contained a threat which claimed that if Zafar did not show up, everyone in Balbadd would be murdered. But such a blatant over exaggeration of a claim was clearly a bluff, not that Zafar cared for the fates of common folk. Instead of the safety of Balbadd's general populace, the clown-like assassin had only the blood of his challenger on the mind. He walked down the street in a haze of blood lust fueled by a sick and demented death wish. Black birds of magoi fluttered around the man giving him a dark and foreboding presence which only magicians could see along with a killing intent that almost everyone nearby could feel. The crowded market street had a sea of humans but this group parted out of caution for Zafar whose yellow eyes were gleaming with animosity. The path created would let him reach the docks without bother only to find his prey waiting for him with a smug look of arrogance about him. "About damn time! You ready to die a slow and painful death!?" The shinobi shouted before taking a low stance as he reached into his gi to reveal a handful of throwing stars.

Zafar replied only with a sadistic grin as his body hung loose. His torso was slightly bent over as was his head forcing him to look up at his opponent and both the fighter's arms hung loosely at his sides. "Hey...Before we start I've just got one question..." A slick tongue glided over Zafar's lips as he licked them in a disturbing manner as preparation for the battle that was soon to come, "Could you try not to die too quickly? I haven't had fun in a while and I need this to last~"

~500+/500~

"Grrrrr...Don't you understand your situation!? I'm a master ninja! The boss of those two you beat the other day! You aren't going to get off very easily!" The shinobi shouted through his masked face as he cocked back his arm and prepared to throw his projectiles while he was still several meters away and had a ranged advantage. Despite this aggressive movement Zafar simply began taking slow steps towards his target, his arms swaying side to side with each stride forward. The barking of this man only served to increase the intensity of Zafar's killing intent which had now grown by several magnitudes since his target was finally here before him ready to kill as well. Apparently the red haired assassin's silence upset the ninja even further as he launched the throwing blades towards the disturbed and depraved Zafar. In response, Zafar performed his Fundamentals of Water and with a single acrobatic flip the man dodged between the two throwing stars and flew through the air several meters only to land a mere 1 meter away from his prey.

The shinobi took a step back and drew a kunai knife as Zafar's left hand reached behind his back and suddenly drew a dagger of his own, the bloody branch. The killer clown took another step forwards provoking the ninja to lunge with his weapon aiming to pierce Zafar's chest. A quick forward moving side step dodged the stab and an even swifter flash of Zafar's right hand smashed the rings of pain around his wrist into the shinobi's elbow paralyzing that arm. It was the Fundamentals of Wind which would render the mans limb incapable of movement for a time. "Gah!" The ninja let out an expression of pain and tried to recoil backwards but Zafar pursued with the bloody branch and slashed the ninja in the gut once with an upwards attack allowing him to follow up with a horizontal slash for the mans neck. The shinobi could not escape in time and his throat was split clean open.

The bloody branch became soaked in red as the ninja tried to stop the bleeding in vain efforts only to fall to the ground once blood loss had taken its toll. Zafar felt the battle was too easy, but at last he'd killed someone for the first time in weeks. A wave of ecstacy flowed through Zafar's body and he let out a pleasure groan. Unfortunately he could not linger as the guards would soon be there to investigate this very public murder.

80/100 Magoi

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