RISE OF EROS

Seeing Aki suddenly appear startled Andrew, but when he saw the arrow in her hands his expression dimmed and a little fear mixed with anger invaded him.

Aki didn't notice that because immediately ran towards the direction where the arrow was coming from, without waiting for Andrew to say anything. Watching Aki speed away, Andrew became worried.

He knew Aki wasn't weak, but it definitely wasn't to the level that Andrew didn't worry about her, as if there was such a level. It was obvious that now that she was his wife, Andrew would never stop caring about her no matter what strength she obtained.

Still, he didn't feel comfortable letting her go off alone into unknown danger, so he quickly left the office to find Oliver. Unfortunately, Andrew couldn't find him and that worried him even more.

As Andrew was about to have a nervous breakdown, Marie appeared in front of him and said, "Young master, remain calm. Oliver noticed that you were attacked and that Miss Aki went out in search of the attacker, so he followed her."

When Andrew heard Marie, he let out a sigh of relief. He didn't know, but there was nothing that happened in or around the Heavenly Palace without Oliver knowing about it, as he always had his extended perception checking for any threat.

In fact, Oliver was the first to notice the arrow and he also noticed that, although the attack was directed towards Andrew, it had no force and Aki could easily handle it, so instead of running toward the office, he decided to run towards the place where the attack was coming from.

He even moved before Aki, so Marie's words were not correct. It wasn't that Oliver chased Aki, but on the contrary, it was she who was chasing him. Despite his supernatural perception ability, Oliver could not identify the attacker, nor the exact place where the attacker was, however, he was able to deduce the location by observing the trajectory and strength of the arrow.

About 200 meters away from the Heavenly Palace on the roof of a 4-story building, a man in plain warrior's clothing was looking towards Andrew's office, while sharpening his eyesight.

The man was tall and unlike most assassins, he was not dressed in black, nor did he cover his face. He wore light armor of hard, but supple leather and underneath it comfortable clothing for combat.

He also carried a short sword and a dagger at his waist and despite seeing that his attack had failed and that Aki was running towards him, he showed no signs of anxiety or fear, he was as calm as lake water.

He carefully studied Aki's movement and speed as she ran towards him and when she was close, he threw the bow and arrows aside and unsheathed his sword, taking a combat stance.

He is a contract killer and was hired to kill Andrew. His capacity for assassination was proven and he had made a name for himself in the city because of his 100% effectiveness, but unlike assassins like Aki or Marie, he did not focus on stealth, but on his combat strength and precision with the bow and arrow.

For that reason he was calm because evaluating Aki's movement and speed, he deduced that she was not a threat, and instead of running away he decided to wait for her, however, he never noticed Oliver.

Oliver was obviously much faster than Aki and had reached where the assassin was some time ago, but he did not reveal himself and decided to wait for Aki to arrive. He wanted Aki to confront the man and gain experience. Aki is a master of stealth, but her combat skills were nothing special, so Oliver took this opportunity for her to gain experience.

After all, with him around, he could intervene any time the situation became problematic. Oliver had already sized up the assassin and was confident he could easily defeat him, so he dared to do this.

If Andrew knew about this, he would surely be against it, but Oliver felt it was necessary. He knew that Andrew loved his wives and wanted to protect them, but also knew that in this world the weak were victims of the strong and although he couldn't force Helena and Carolina, Aki was different.

She had already been training as an assassin and had combat strength, therefore, he wanted to strengthen her. In a few minutes, Aki reached the rooftop of the building where the assassin was and upon seeing him, she wasted no time.

She unsheathed her twin daggers, those that Andrew had given her and without hesitation, she launched herself like an arrow at high speed towards the assassin. The assassin wrinkled his eyebrows a little, as he noticed that Aki was even faster now attacking him than when she was running to get here, and that made him more cautious, but not scared.

Aki's attack seemed simple, as she moved in a direct line towards the assassin, but a few feet away from him she changed direction to the right and then immediately to the left in a zigzag motion.

Although a little surprised at Aki's ability to move, the man did not retreat and followed her with a millimetric gaze. After moving several times, Aki attacked the man's side with one of her daggers, only to be blocked by the sword.

Seeing that her attack was unsuccessful, she stabbed the man's chest with her other dagger, but the man reacted quickly and taking a step backward narrowly dodged Aki's attack.

Aki didn't let him escape, so she chased him, launching deadly attacks with her daggers at great speed, but the man could block or dodge them with relative ease.

Although the man had the advantage, he was actually a bit overwhelmed with Aki's constant fast attacks. To the point of not being able to counterattack, but he didn't lose his cool.

On the other hand, Aki who was using all her strength to deliver a blow to the man was starting to get tired and it was noticeable, as her speed was starting to slow down. As a man of experience, the assassin realized this and saw his chance, so he went on the offensive.

Now Aki was the one desperately defending herself from the man's attacks. Even though the man was not muscular or powerful looking, his attacks were heavy because every time Aki blocked his sword she moved back a few steps.

Soon her hands were numb from so much blocking and sweat beaded on her forehead. Breathing a little heavily, Aki was beginning to worry and understood that she had misjudged the situation.

She was angry that her husband was attacked and so she ran without assessing the situation and now she was in trouble because she knew that her opponent was stronger than her and if things continued like this, she would die.

Gritting her teeth hard, Aki squeezed every last drop of strength she had and lashed out at the man in an all-or-nothing attack. The man was surprised by Aki's sudden increase in speed and strength, but he still kept his cool and blocked all the attacks.

A few minutes later he noticed that Aki had run out of strength and, smiling a macabre smile, he attacked violently wanting to end the encounter. When Aki saw her opponent's attack, a listless expression appeared on her face as she knew she couldn't dodge.

She regretted her recklessness, but most of all she was annoyed with herself, for wasting what she had found, out of a fit of anger. She had had a disastrous and miserable life until she met Andrew and became his wife.

She was enjoying this new life and now she was going to lose it to bad judgment, that was what was going through her mind. She closed her eyes resigned, but after a few seconds she didn't receive the expected attack, so she opened her eyes and in front of her, she saw Oliver who was stopping the assassin's sword with one hand.

Seeing him, Aki burst into tears and when Oliver saw her, he smiled slightly understanding the feelings she was venting. On the other hand, the assassin was panicking because until Oliver appeared, he hadn't noticed him.

Not to mention that he caught his most powerful attack bare-handed. Alarm bells went off in his head and without hesitation, he dropped his sword and turned to flee, but at that moment he heard, "Do you think you can run away after attacking the young master and the young lady I protect?" -exclusive

Oliver's voice had a hint of hidden anger in it, but the assassin was so afraid that he didn't even understand what he said, it was as if fear had disabled his ears and he was only concentrating on escaping.

Unfortunately for him, he wanted to run away from Oliver. If he had not even been able to feel his presence when he was so close for so long, it would have been much more difficult for him to run away from Oliver and everything was proven after a few seconds because when the man had advanced a few meters, he felt a blow on the back of his head and lost consciousness.