Anna felt sweat running down her back when the intel report on Mike's photo came back.
Upon Max's insistence to find the man's background before moving against him, Anna had paid an information organisation for information of a man by providing his photo.
In the end the intel report came back within 4 hours and the contents of the report completely shocked her.
Mike was actually a veteran assassin named Arteta, who was a tier 5 warrior and a member of the Kingsman clan branch of the Assassin's guild.
In his entire life the man had only failed two missions and both those targets were way stronger than he was at the time.
With a near impeccable record and a long illustrious career of assassinations of important figures and political opponents, Arteta was a feared existence amongst other clans.
Thankfully, the group did not try to take down a tier 5 warrior without a solid plan as if Max had not restrained them in time, she at least would surely be minced meat by now.
Reporting her findings to Max, Anna fulfilled her job as Max chuckled deeply reading the report before burning it in his hands.
" How do we take him down now? Should we encircle him and kill him with the combined might of the tier 4 soldiers present? " Anna asked, as she felt that the safest and surefire way to kill him was to outnumber him.
" If I do that, I'll lose respect as the commander of this army. As a man, I need to take care of my own mess " Max said as he rejected Anna's idea
" What then? " Anna asked as an evil smile formed on Max's lips as he looked at her and said " Tit for tat "
Anna did not quite get the meaning of that phrase since she was not from Earth, however, from the way Max said it she knew it ought to be something good.
—-------
( 2 days later )
A massive buffet was organised by Max where the soldiers were treated to fresh barbeque meat and other delicacies rather than the usual meal.
The official reason behind the banquet was for Max to show his appreciation for the troops, however, the real reason was to teach the Assassin a lesson.
The atmosphere was amiable and rowdy as battle hardened men let loose of their disciplinary code for an evening and let themselves enjoy their evening off.
Arteta, who was pretending to be one of the Paratus clan soldiers, also participated in the buffet, as he walked around with a concealed dagger, wondering if he could find an opportunity to kill Max this evening.
He was pretending to enjoy the food too, as he was a bit surprised by the costly delicacies being served.
Although it was not a royal gourmet, the food on the menu was definitely not cheap either, which is why Arteta was impressed that Max could afford it for so many people for no apparent reason.
About one hour into the buffet, he finally spotted Max, walking in a pack alongside his friends as many soldiers flocked towards him to have a word with him as if he were a celebrity.
Max seemed to be in a happy mood, talking, dancing and eating as he met with more and more people, as Arteta watched from the sidelines, studying his behaviour and looking for an opportunity to single him out.
" My friend, why is your plate empty? " Max said, staring towards Arteta as he broke free from the crowd and happily jogged towards the Assassin.
Arteta was taken aback by this sudden approach by the enemy, as his free hand shifted towards the concealed dagger as he cautiously monitored Max's approach.
" Today's a celebration my friend, your plate cannot be empty, come let's eat something together" Max said as his eyes crinkled from smiling under his mask, as Arteta assumed he was smiling under the thing.
" It is an honour to meet you, Captain Ravan " Arteta said as he followed Max to the meat stall and Max ordered a skewer for the two of them.
Arteta stood beside Max quietly as he silently grabbed the side handle of his dagger, when Sebastian the dwarf and the elf suddenly appeared out of nowhere and covered Max's sides as they ordered two skewers for themselves as well.
" I love the smell of burning meat, it reminds me of the progress we have made from being primitive and eating it raw like monsters " Sebastian said as he idly commented about stupid things to keep the conversation flowing and the atmosphere not awkward.
" Who the fuck is this guy? " Anna asked impolitely, as Arteta frowned and glared at the elven princess momentarily shifting his gaze from the food being cooked.
" He is….. who are you again? " Max said as he pretended to forget Arteta's name
" I'm Mike, sir, I think I should go, the lady minds my intrusion" Arteta said extremely professionally as Max wrapped an arm around his shoulder and started to chuckle.
" He is Mike, and he has an empty plate in this buffet, so I've brought him to get something to eat.
Be respectful to my friend Anna " Max said as he fake reprimanded Anna for her rudeness.
Anna puffed her cheeks and pretended to ignore Mike as Arteta felt uncomfortable under the weight of Max's arms around his shoulder.
If he wanted, he could plunge a dagger into Max's heart right this second, however, if he did so then it would be impossible for him to leave this planet alive with all these people around him.
For now, he needed to have patience and look for a better opportunity.
Soon, the meat skewers came and everyone took a bite as Anna instantly commented "Oooo spicy, my throat burns"
Arteta also found the meat to be unusually spicy as he felt an uncomfortable burning sensation in his throat causing him to cough and choke.
His natural instincts were screaming at him to vomit the piece of meat he ate out, however, before he could do so Anna made a personal comment about him that played against his ego.
" Damn, look at the poor guy coughing at the spicy food, although I agree it's spicy and not for everyone to handle, he is definitely more sissy than I am " she said as she gave Arteta a condescending look.
Arteta was instantly fuming at the comment, he was extremely angry at Anna to call him sissy as his male ego activated and forced him to take bite after bite of the meat skewer as he stared down Anna while doing so, forcing every inch of his body to swallow the ridiculous tasting meat.
" Show him Mike! Ain't no woman beating us spicy eating contest " Sebastian said as he fanned the flames and stroked Arteta's ego in the best way he could.
After eating about 60% of the meat skewer, Arteta fell to his knees sweating profusely as he requested for something to drink and preferred human blood.
He did not understand why, but his brain had started to become dizzy as his stomach revolted violently, spasming and giving him unbearable gut wrenches.
It was not until he coughed and found blood to come out of his mouth while coughing that he realised that he had been poisoned, and when he realised the fact that he had been despicably poisoned and looked up to see Max in the eye with fury, he was met with a cold gaze that sent shivers down his spine as Max offered him a glass of blood while saying "I hope you enjoy your life's last beverage served cold"
Arteta could not believe his ears, in this one moment the world around him began spinning and crashing, figuratively and literally as he realised that Max knew that his drink had been spiked and he knew that it was him.
Arteta could not figure out, how a man could survive the poison that could even kill giants in seconds and live to plot revenge, however, in this one moment he realised the true terrifying enigma that Max was.
His planning was perfect, he did not let his raging emotions get the best of him as he carefully plotted a plan to kill Arteta and deceived him oh so easily and masterfully that he did not suspect a thing until it was too late.
A lot of people had started to gather around the man coughing blood from his mouth as they watched the cold expression on Max's face and tried to figure out what was going on.
It was at this moment that Sebastian cleared his throat and declared " Behold, A tier 5 assassin pretending to be a Paratus clan soldier who tried to kill Captain Ravan two days ago by spiking his drink, now poisoned at his feet, such is Karma "
Everyone gasped and became alert, nobody expected there to be an impostor amongst them this evening, as their admiration for Max grew tenfold.
" You dirty bastard, how dare you target our captain! " One of the soldiers shouted
" Shame on you, *Spat* " another one said as he spat on Arteta's head.
Very quickly the rowdy crowd became agitated as Arteta became the object of their hatred and humiliation.
" I'll kill you, you bastard " Arteta said as with his last bit of energy he clutched the concealed dagger in his robes and attempted to drive it straight into Max's gut.
He knew his time was coming soon, however, since he was going to die anyway, he wanted to at least take Max down with him.