Standing in front of the soldiers was none other than the very man they had been looking for. But, they did not know that just yet. One of the soldiers shouted angrily at him again, demanding he reveal his identity.
"I said, who the hell are you?!"
The Masked Man appeared like a painting on a wall, his breathing didn't even move his body.
"You better get out of our way you imbecile," the soldier ordered again as the Masked Man stayed in the exact position they had found him. "Oi! I'm talking to you! Enough of this mysterious crap…and get out of our way. Or we'll have to move you ourselves!"
His companion followed, fuelled by intrigue rather than anger. "We are looking for an old man. Have you seen him?"
Nothing. Not even a shake of the head. Nor a flicker of a finger.
The angry soldier's rage burned deep within him as his patience was drastically slipping. He couldn't wait any longer, and was going to keep his promise he had just made to the mysterious man that blocked his path. "I said get out of our way, otherwise we'll have to move you ourselves. I'll give you three seconds before we end you right here! Ready?! Three…two…one—"
Before he reached zero, the soldier felt a strong force push vigorously against his ribs and was flung at an unprecedented pace into the side of a nearby house, its broken wood burying him underneath it. He certainly wasn't dead yet, but his eyes were bloodshot and the blankness of his face confirmed he was unconscious. Unless someone pulled him out of the mess very soon, he was undoubtedly a dead man.
His two companions were left in a state of utter shock, unable to comprehend how it all happened; how it happened so fast before they could even react. But before one of them could even turn back to face the Masked Man, the other followed the fate of the first. Except, this time, his end was faster given that his neck collided with the edge of the house's roof, the pace at which he bashed against it creating enough force to cut clean through it.
Now left alone, the sole soldier panicked, his arms shaking as he raised his sword and pointed it at the Masked Man. "What–What the hell was that! In the name of the King, I hereby condemn—"
His battle was over before it had even begun. One second the soldier was facing his foe with his sword, and the next his back was against the floor, a hand pressing stiffly into his face. He only had a blurry view of the man's mask that blocked anything else around him. The Masked Man then raised a finger from his other hand and pressed it against the mouth of his mask as he gently removed his right from the soldier's face.
Obviously the beaten soldier refused to comply with what the gesture demanded. He screamed at the top of his lungs, not speaking any words but making a noise anyone would understand as a cry for help. The Masked Man shook his head and, with the bottom of his heel, shattered the soldier's face. He didn't seem to care that his whereabouts had now been revealed.
"It came from over there. Let's check it out!" someone shouted from around the corner. Instead of bolting, the Masked Man stood his ground and waited for them to appear. But as they did, a group of six sprinting at him, he leapt into the air and onto the roof of the nearby house.
"He's running away! Don't let him escape! Surround the place…we can't let him go! There's no time to inform Iman, just chase the bastard!"
They all chased the Masked Man, barely able to keep up with him as he smoothly raced across the roofs of houses, performing impressive somersaults when he had to jump from one to another.
"Spread out. Surround him. Make sure, no matter where he runs, we are there to stop him," a soldier wearing his own unique helmet demanded.
"This guy is making a big mistake. He's running right into where Iman is waiting for him. I almost feel sorry for him that he's only going to get this far in his quest for 'revenge'," one of the soldiers said smugly as he ran after the Masked Man.
Another, however, admired his acrobatics. "Who the hell is this guy? He's running faster than all of us and he's not even on the goddamn floor!"
This footrace didn't persist for very long, however, as the town's width was very limited. But even so, the Masked Man wasn't going to be given the opportunity to escape from the town.
One of the soldiers noticed something about the Masked Man. Every so often he had no choice but to propel himself into the air as not every house he ran across was connected. As a result, he beckoned to all of his companions around him, believing he had thought of a genius plan. One that was going to bring their prey to a thumping halt. "There he goes jumping again! Next time he jumps, be ready to throw your spears. He can't move out of the way if he has nothing to push off!"
The soldiers managed to catch up with the Masked Man. They formed two straight lines on either side of the buildings that the Masked Man ran across, stomping on the ground in unison so they didn't trip one another up. The leading soldier's eyes suddenly lit up as he noticed the Masked Man was nearing yet another gap between two houses. As a result, he took the initiative to yell at the top of his voice, ensuring those on the other side of the house could hear him too.
"Get ready to fire, men! He's about to jump." Each soldier twisted their bodies as they stopped running, pulling the spears that rested on their backs out into their hands and prepared to throw them at the Masked Man. "On my command. Three…two…one…NOW!"
As every soldier followed the order, the Masked Man sprung into the air. However, his pose as he coasted through the air was different this time. Instead of remaining upright and seemingly going to land on his feet, he twisted in the air, turning upside down as he neared the edge of the house he had jumped toward. Simultaneously, the spears sped toward him, some clearly missing but a few undoubtedly destined to meet its mark.
But as the spears closed in on their target, the Masked Man demonstrated a move no one could have possibly predicted. To the dismay of all that watched on, a strong gust of wind burst from the palm of his hand that pointed toward the ground, boosting him upward above the oncoming spears. As he did this, he repositioned himself, now upright as he continued to rise. Then he crossed his forearms, his palms open and his fingers crunched down.
"How did he…"
Yet before one of the soldiers could even question the unbelievable sight he had witnessed, the spears, which had now crossed paths, darted at an obscene speed towards each soldier. With the separation of his arms, the Masked Man released another powerful gust of wind from his hands, both this time, directing the spears directly toward the hearts of the soldiers that stood below him. Each soldier was met with a direct hit from the spears, blood curdling from their chests as they fell to the ground and never got back up.
The Masked Man gracefully landed on the roof of the house the soldiers had tried so desperately to prevent him from meeting. He looked down at his massacre and said, "Thanks for the countdown." His peace didn't last long, however. As he stared down at his bloody creation, the remaining four Hakimi soldiers surrounded him and ordered him to lay down his weapons.
Of course, the Masked Man didn't flinch. Instead, he raised his arms above his head and laughed, shouting at them with a vile hatred mixed with excitement in his voice. "Look at all of you animals. Running into the depths of the woods not knowing what might be lurking in its darkness. And still, you are not slain by the danger within…but by yourselves. I suggest you lay down your weapons, or I will—"
A dagger shot through the air, spinning tightly as it cut a quiet line toward him, its steel catching the light for only a moment. Before it could travel any further, he raised his hand without bothering to face it and caught the weapon cleanly, as if he never felt threatened by it.
The Masked Man turned his head to look where it had come from. In the distance, Iman was glaring at him from afar. Showing no ounce of fear through his body language, the Masked Man reciprocated and blankly stared back behind his mask, finishing the sentence he had started before he was rudely interrupted.
"...tear you apart."