Book Three – Chapter Eight – Part Four – Wetwork

I’m not sure if the Mafia or the RASP buildings came first. Servi thought as she sat perched on top of the building closest to her target destination. Even in the early afternoon sunlight, the bright neon sight was eye-catching. Perhaps I should go after the RASP buildings after I slaughter the guards? I do have a map of all of their locations. And I’m sure it was the buildings and the patrons that contributed to the Mafia’s takeover. It has to be. In that case, I suppose I must wipe them out as well... But that can wait. I should just focus on killing my target.

Servi shifted her weight forward and rolled off the building. The wind and air passed through her non-existent body. A few meters before she would have slammed into the ground, she activated Feather Fall and pulled in her legs. With all the strength she had, she kicked against the wall, destroying a part of it, and launched like a rocket into the RASP building.

At the last second, she deactivated The Shadow's Embrace and rotated 90 degrees while stretching her arms and legs. With nothing to protect her, her body was a Human projectile. The damage? Tremendous. She took out four rooms and their support beams, which led to the collapse of the rooms above and the rooms above them. The rest of the building would have fallen, but Servi commanded Itarr to hold it up with Telekinesis as she waited for her body to heal itself from the numerous broken bones and shattered skull.

The pain hurt her, but she realized it paled in comparison to what Momo must be feeling.

Dust and debris acted as a natural smokescreen, and that gave her the short second she needed to camouflage herself via The Shadow's Embrace.

Panicked screams were all around as a whole host of people rushed out the destroyed rooms. She saw a few slave girls take advantage of the chaos and jumped out of the building. The growing crowd on the ground below stared with wide eyes at what they thought was a structural failure. Even then, their eyes didn’t turn to the slaves running away. They didn’t even move out of the way to give them space. Even if they took the initiative and captured them, it wasn’t guaranteed they would receive a reward for doing so. That was the reason why no one rushed to help. Everyone who dashed to see the aftermath of Servi’s Human rocket only came to observe, not assist in any way.

All of the women are Human… I don’t see a single Demi-Human.

“Hey, fucking activate the command already and kill them!!! They’re escaping!!!” An Elf in a slim-fitting suit that didn’t do much to hide his wide belly waddled out of the destroyed rooms. Sweat poured down his face while his hands were occupied with the breasts of the two Human slaves at his side.  His ugly eyes stared at the escaping slaves, but he didn't seem to mind it that much. Even if his tone of voice suggested otherwise.

Another man rushed out. This time it was a Singi with a single eye dressed in an extravagant suit. Servi figured he ran the place.  He shouted a command, and thirteen explosions sounded out not even fifty meters away. The black bracelets were activated, and the raining crimson explained what didn’t need to be told. Even through the cloud of thick smoke created from Servi’s Human rocket, the tinted red raining down upon them told the truth of what happened.

“Bwhahahah!! If those fucking peasants didn’t wanna get blown up, they shoulda fuckin moved!! Bwhahahah!!!” Servi shook her head with total disgust at the greasy sack of shit standing a meter away from her.

Servi calmly walked around behind him and stuck her shadow knife into his back. Without even seeing the tattoo, she knew that this man was her target. His great weight became an issue for the unfortunate women beside him. When the shadows did their work and killed him from the inside, he inadvertently closed his hands. When he fell over, the two women fell with him and smacked their heads against some of the debris. As their luck would have it, the rocks they slammed against were pointy, and from the amount of blood leaking from their ears and mouth, the two slave girls died instantly.

It’s not my fault they died. Those women were too weak to do anything about the situation.

“MERKIA?! Hey, wake up!! Help!! HELP!!!” The suited one-eyed Singi shouted for help, but nobody made a motion to move. Not even the three guards that forced their way in before him moved to help, and the reason was quite simple.

They were dead, and they only remained standing because of Itarr's Telekinesis. As she waited the single second for the shadow to return to her hidden blade, Servi went to work on removing Merkia’s neck tattoo.

This time, the tattoo has Merkia’s name on it. Are they brothers? Should I assume the next target has his name on it as well?

After pocketing her prize and becoming annoyed at the Singi’s constant begging for help, Servi placed a hand on what little wall remained and hopped over it. She landed, slamming her feet down on the ground, and demanded Itarr deactivate Telekinesis.

Suddenly, the entire upper floor came crashing down on top of Merkia’s corpse. The Singi tried to move in the split-second he had left, but he was held in place by an invisible force.

He screamed for help.

He screamed for the Gods Above.

He screamed for his father.

He screamed for his mother.

No offered any help, and no one did anything. Even if those watching had the godly power to act, no one would have saved the Singi. As the crowd dodged away from the falling floors, the rest of the building couldn’t handle the growing weight. Like a stack of dominos, the building gradually crumbled. It was like a tsunami of dust filled the area within a six-block radius. To Servi’s surprise, the neon sign wasn’t entirely neon.  She didn’t know it stayed lit after it fell, but whatever mechanism inside of that kept it burning after erupted into colored flame. She believed that something volatile ran throughout the tubes making up the letters, and she wanted to examine it.

I guess that’s out of the picture. What even is neon? Why do I know about it? Did it run off of electr—

Screams and shouts from those still alive interrupted her thoughts, but the audience watching the destruction remained still. Some even walked away and went on their day. The dark smoke mixed in with the dust. It was so heavy and thick that one could almost cut it with a knife. If the dust didn’t suffocate those trapped inside, the smoke would, and even if that didn’t finish them off, the fire would cook them alive.

But Servi calmly walked away without looking back.

I was gonna start attacking the RASP buildings later, but I suppose there’s no harm in getting started earlier. At least the stray dogs and rats will have food for a week or so.

She crouched down and leapt to the nearest building’s roof, taking a seat on its nasty surface. She might as well enjoy the show while looking at the last piece of paper. Only one target needed to die, and Servi couldn’t wait to end their life.

However, while Servi registered the vast amount of red souls floating towards her, only Itarr thought it was strange.

342 souls? That doesn’t make any sense. The building was big, but for it to have that many inhabitants? Why am I getting a bad feeling about this…?

In an open field a kilometer from Arcton and surrounded by hundreds of people acting as if they were at a get-together, a skillful warrior disguised as a civilian gave a hasty report to an Elf. “Sir, we need to get you to a safer spot. We have reports of an—"

“Blast your reports all to hell. If this so-called assassin is going to kill me, then they have to get by everyone here,” he replied. Unlike Servi’s second target, who didn’t react to the warning he had received, Mirkia, her third target, used the time he was given to make preparations.

The woman the Elf spoke to ran a single hand by her waist. She wore a beige cloak over her tunic, which hid the pair of sharp swords attached to her hip. “Mirkia, I—”

“Captain Mary, I paid a lot of money for you and all the other mercenaries around me. Truth be told, I don’t know how I accomplished that in ten hours, but I did. I’ve done the hard part. No matter how good this assassin is, do you think they can fight a hundred people before they get to me? And don’t you dare call me by my name. You will address me as sir.” Mirkia’s sharp tone stopped Mary in her tracks, and she fought the urge to cut her employer down.  The humiliation of failing the task would be worth it to see his head at the end of her blade.

She was the captain of a small yet respected mercenary group who happened to be near the area. Thanks to the power of Teleportation and many, many skill potions provided by Mirkia, she used her influence and Mirkia’s great wealth to gather a large number of soldiers willing to fight from six different cities around Lando. It was a strenuous task that physically and mentally drained Aamir, the token Koena Skill User of the group. But with the impossible task complete and allies gained, Mirkia talked about his crazy idea to improve his chances of living.

She was against it from the beginning, but Mirkia had the final say on everything. Half of the payment had been given, and they would receive the other half when Mary presented the assassin’s head to him.

“Sir, that’s impossible. There’s no soldier or warrior alive who can fight against the force gathered here without being exhausted. I know everyone surrounding us are powerful warriors who have proven themselves in combat. I selected them because of that. But, sir, this place is far too open—”

Once again, her concerns were stopped by a gross laugh, and she hated it. Mirkia tapped his red silk shirt and smiled. “Were you or were you not the one who gave me this shirt? You said it’s enchanted with Protection, yes? And these pants and boots are also enchanted, yes? This circlet as well?” Mirkia tapped his black pants, silver boots, and glass circlet, which sat atop his head. His ears were twisty and pointed directly to the sky. For someone who had a target on his head, he would have wanted to have on armor, but Mary assured him the enchanted items were more than capable of defending against even her attacks. He didn’t believe her at first, but after she attempted to skewer Aamir’s stomach while he wore them and her sword broke without even cutting a single thread, he became convinced.

“If you’re so worried about me dying if a battle breaks out, then have that Koena alternate between healing and using Protection on me. If you’re worried about an archer, then it would mean, to me at least, that you don’t believe in the power of the items you gave to me,” he continued.

Mary scrunched her scarred face and shook with anger. Out of all the people she fought for in exchange for dupla, Mirkia was turning out to be a regret. As she started to speak, a white spirit-shaped bird flew down from a tree they stood under. With a circular wall of bodies protecting them under the guise of talking with each other, the sky was the only place anybody could come from. And because of the location, a flat plain with only a single tree, no one could approach undetected.

Even if the assassin had the power of flight, Mirkia ordered Mary to hire ten mercenaries who could summon avian wind spirits. Their sole task? Send their summons up in the sky and have them constantly do recon.

Mary sighed and rubbed her brown hair. “Those same items saved me during a battle. I do have the utmost faith in them, but… Fine. Aamir, do as he said,” she spoke to the only Koena nearby. His dark green scales shimmered slightly in the sparse sunlight filtering through the tree limbs.

“Got it.” Speaking for the first time in Mirkia’s presence, the Elven target was surprised by his deep voice. His scaly face slightly scowled when he recited the chant for Protection. A Rank 10 skill it may have been, Aamir had leveled it up 73 times. When combined with the Protection effects given by the enchanted items, saying that Mirkia was protected was an understatement. If even Mary’s strikes, being the strongest warrior there because she was the only Rank 3, couldn’t pierce it, then how good would an assassin have to accomplish something she couldn’t?

“Sir, what are we going to do if the assassin doesn’t come?” Mary asked.

“Then the job is complete. A good friend of mine discovered the contract and said he needed 24 hours to take care of it. Carmelo is a man I trust above all else, and he'll take care of it. Don’t worry. Even if the assassin doesn’t attack, you all will get paid. The important thing is that I’m alive at the end of this. If I die, you all won’t get a goddamn thing,” Mirkia said. He walked over to the base of the tree and sat down. Aamir followed him and took up a crouching position beside him. A few leaves fell down upon his scales, but since they weren’t bothering him, he allowed the leafy green leaves to remain.

Unlike other Skill Users, Aamir forwent the use of staves and instead chose a shield as his primary weapon. Since he was very adept at pre-casting, he took the role of a second tank when it came to fighting monsters and any other cases where defense was the prime goal. He pulled the steel kite shield from his back and stabbed the sharp end into the ground.

Mirkia picked up on the strange weapon choice, and Mary put his worries at ease. After that, she turned away from her employer and finally faced the ever-patient spirit. She had kept it waiting long enough.

Picking it up with her dark hands, she held it close to her ears and listened to the message imbued within it.

Mary, I’ve done another scan. This time, Swift searched in a 4-kilometer radius, but he didn’t pick up anything strange. Like I reported before, there’s been a disturbance near one of the RASP buildings, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the assassin. I think one of the support beams collapsed, and the other beams couldn’t handle the extra weight. That’s why the building fell.

“Thanks, Swift. I got the message loud and clear. Tell her to take a small break and have two of the backup Spirit Summoners take over,” Mary said. The white avian spirit named Swift flapped his wings and hopped on Mary’s head. Against her wishes, she was bald due to an inability to grow hair. Swift realized that and used his large feet to lightly massage her scalp. He tweeted a few more times and hopped down.

Mary smiled and pulled a small cracker out of a pouch. “I know you don’t need to eat, but I want you to have this. Consider it a nice treat.”

Swift gladly took it and swallowed the snack in a single bite. Mary stood back and allowed the spirit the room to fly back to its summoner.

She heard a small grunt and looked to the base of the tree. Aamir had a wide grin on his otherwise silent face, and Mirkia wasn’t looking. His attention had been captured by the expert craftsmanship of the glass circlet. He wasn’t an expert in analyzing, but even he had to admit the beauty in it. A solid piece in and of itself, Mirkia wondered how the craftsman manipulated the glass to take a perfect shape with no imperfection or bloating.

“Wow, is this supposed to protect you?” said a voice beside him. A hand snatched out, grabbing the glass circlet and snapping it in two.

As evidenced by their training, Mary and Aamir immediately spring into action even though they were caught off guard.

Drawing her sword, Mary had it pressed against Servi’s neck as she leaned back against the tree. Aamir used a Rank 5 skill called Conjure Flame Sword to create a weapon in an emergency. It would have taken at least ten seconds to chant it, but Aamir was an expert at pre-casting. At any given moment, he had three skills ready to be used. It needed an intense amount of concentration to pull off, and the fact he did it so effortlessly highlighted his proficiency.

With a steel sword against her neck and a sword of fire ready to pierce her heart, Servi gently cocked her head and smiled.

“I wanted to talk to my last target for the time being and find out what kind of a person you are. You had all this wealth, yet you didn’t use a single bit to fight back against the Mafia? Why?” she asked.

Mary spoke before Mirkia had a chance to and called out for help. Her eyes turned to the hundreds of people standing, and her heart sunk to the darkest depths when the bodies started to drop. Like a set of dominos, everyone fell to the ground devoid of life. The only exceptions were Mary, Aamir, and Mirkia.

Mirkia shouted in fear and commanded Mary and Aamir to stab the assassin.

“Sorry, but they can’t move. Telekinesis is something to behold, isn’t it? But I gotta say, holding that many people up took it out of me. I'm nearly exhausted, but I still have the strength to do this!” Servi pinched Mary’s sword, shattering it between her thumb and index finger. “Mary, don’t struggle against my Telekinesis. You can’t break it. And don’t try to force your mouth open. That goes for you too, Aamir.”

“Ho-How do you know their names?! Are you working for her?! You fucking whore! You betrayed me!!!” Mirkia shakily grabbed a sharp piece of the broken circlet and tried to stab the side of Mary’s head. Servi acted first, intercepting his hand and crushing it. He cried out in pain and fell back to his rear. Suddenly, he found himself weightless. His legs kicked downward and tried to touch the ground, but it was useless compared to her all-powerful Telekinesis. A tight squeeze on his throat prevented any more screams from erupting out.

“Don’t be so hasty,” Servi turned to Aamir and smiled. She retrieved a sword and sliced off the hand that held the flaming sword. It fell, stopping before it touched the ground.

“I’ve never used this skill before. Like The Shadow’s Embrace, it makes a weapon for you to use? Interesting.” Servi grabbed the flaming sword, not acting a bit surprised when the fire traveled up her wrist and arms. Burnt flesh wafted up, and before their very eyes, the fire disappeared to reveal an arm clean of any burns.

“Mary, don’t be mad, but you’re going to die. Just like everyone else. Aamir, I don’t know what the Great Scaled Serpent is, but I know Koena believe in it. You two have the look of mercenaries, so I’m a little bit hesitant in blaming Arcton’s downfall on you. But I know that Elf had something to do with it. And since he paid you to fight against me, I have no choice but to end your lives. Maybe a better person would give you a chance to speak a final thought. Maybe someone more honorable would let you get one last prayer in. But I’m not that someone. I don’t have any honor, and I’m definitely not a better person than most. I’m a killer, through and through. Perhaps you understand some of that. Maybe not. But this is the end.”

Servi activated The Shadow's Embrace and disappeared from existence. She turned to Aamir, who hastily scanned the area in front of him.

SHE CAN USE THE SHADOW’S EMBRACE?! WE NEV—

For as much as he was silent when it came to talking, Aamir spoke with the frequency of a babbling child inside his mind. It was always running and churning out new plans. He was the one who came up with the idea to flood the sky with avian spirits to act as a drone to watch from high above, but even he couldn’t have expected the assassin to use a Rank 0 skill. They were so powerful, but that power had a drawback. For The Shadow's Embrace, it was the ten-second limitation. But that wasn’t all. When a person was drained of their Skill Energy, they collapsed into a coma-like state. Just like how the body needed oxygen to function, it needed Skill Energy as well. In most cases, the user would start to feel groggy and peckish when their Skill Energy ran low, and the side effects ramped up in intensity the further they were drained of Skill Energy.

But when someone used The Shadow's Embrace, they had none of the warning signs. For ten seconds, the user didn’t exist, and they had one of the most lethal weapons in the world at the ready. If improperly used, The Shadow's Embrace functioned as a suicide skill. When the time ran out, the user would fall into a coma, and they wouldn’t be privy to anything happening around them.

Servi looked at her shadowy blade and stuck it between Aamir’s neck scales. Mary looked on with utter shock as his body violently fought against the invading shadows. It was then Mary knew just how much a monster was after her employer. Even if she could fight fairly against her, it wouldn't be worth all of the dupla in the world.

Servi turned away from the deceased Koena when she absorbed his soul and stared at another girl who was moments away from death. However, true to her word, Servi didn’t allow the prideful warrior a chance to say a final word. But since she saw her closest friend perish before her very eyes, there wasn’t a single coherent thought flowing through her mind.

She was angry, mad, upset, and depressed.

She knew it from the moment she picked up a sword that her life would end on a battlefield. She just didn’t think it was going to be so soon.

“Goodbye, Mary,” Servi said as she pushed the tip of her hidden blade into her foe’s neck. The shadows did what they were designed to do and rushed back to Servi’s weapon with a red soul in tow. With a simple sigh, she deactivated The Shadow's Embrace.

I’m starting to feel more comfortable when I’m using the skill than I do when I’m not.

“Now, I can get the main course. First...” Servi turned to Mirkia and walked behind him, pulling down the back of his shirt. “I gotta see if you have the tattoo... Ah, you do. Well, I suppose you won’t mind it if I carve it off.” Even in his Telekinetic-induced paralysis, he felt like someone was trying to force a pen through a brick wall. Then he felt an invisible pop. It was like something had blanketed his neck as Servi cut out a rectangular patch of flesh. Of course, he wanted to scream out in pain and voice his displeasure, but Servi’s Telekinetic grasp on his throat and vocal cords restricted them from moving.

“It was hard to cut. I suppose you had Protection? If I heard right, aren’t these clothes enchanted with that skill? Well, it’s not as if it matters because this makes three. You know, Markka and Merkia had tattoos of their names on their neck as well. I don’t really get it.” Servi ran her left index finger across the tattooed words. Unlike Markka’s tattoo, where she felt it was a child’s handwriting, she didn’t feel much of anything when it came to Merkia and Mirkia’s tattoos. “But as a hired assassin, I don’t—Ahh, I see it now!” When blood dripped down Mirkia’s back and dampened his red shirt, gravity took hold and pulled it down just enough for Servi to discover something that allowed her to connect the dots.

The number 6 had been carved into his back.

“That fucking Elf had me kill off his competition. Oh, he has some balls to trick me like this. Well, I imagine I have to make his death all the more painful, won’t I?” Almost shrugging, Servi absorbed the last piece of evidence she needed and thrust her hand through his chest, piercing his heart. It exploded into a gory mess, filling his lungs and depriving him of the vital oxygen he needed to survive.

As if to leave a message and further proof of her deed, Servi walked around the open plain and absorbed everything except Mirkia’s corpse.

Itarr, it’s been a while since you talked to me. Why?

Slipping into a state of not existing, Servi soared through the air, twirling and spinning to gain speed as she landed with a bumpy roll. With her newfound skills and agility that grew every day, she felt like the day she touched the moon approached. But even if she could reach it, she didn’t know if its beautiful luster would accept her.

As if trying to ask its forgiveness, Servi sang a song dedicated to the sky, sun, moon, and stars. Perhaps she wanted to try to get in its grace? Or maybe she wanted to feel connected to the girl she missed most in the world by partaking in a song she used to sing with her dearest grandfather?

Servi didn’t know.

Mosie, I’m coming for you. I swear I am. I just have to destroy the Mafia and wipeout this rotten town. Be strong. You’re the strongest girl I know…

Hopping a roof, Servi landed on the ground with a roll and spotted a guard. It was strange because guards weren’t that common in the side of town Servi was at. She figured he couldn’t have been up to anything good, and she planned on killing them all.

Why not get a head start on it? I don’t know when I can wipe them out.

As she ran past him with the swiftness of a coursing river, she extended her hidden blade and kept her arm strong. It sliced through his waist, bisecting him in half. Since it didn’t have a narrow opening to infiltrate, the smoke went out of control and entered a berserk-like state, blasting outward and filling up the streets.

As the panic broke out, Servi, long gone, waited patiently on Deset’s roof for the smoke to return to her. Once it did, she hopped into a dark alley and prepared herself for another meeting with Carmelo.

I shouldn't have to have many more meetings with him. Come on, Servi, you’re doing this for Momo. You’re killing these fucking scum because they were the reason Momo was kidnapped. THEY’RE the ones at fault. They, and this whole fucking town, deserve to die. You need to say it as many times as you need to for it to become the truth. Arcton will fall, and I will be the one to bring it to ruin... They all have to pay!!! THEY ALL HAVE TO FACE THE MUSIC AND DIE LIKE FUCKING DOGS!!!!