Epilogue: The Kill

Epilogue:
The Kill

 

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

AFTER NARROWLY ESCAPING the clutches of Gram and his henchmen, we regrouped at the hotel room. Apparently, Crow and Lia had seen us flying through the sky and decided to rush back to see what was up. I felt a little bad for having brought an abrupt end to their alone time—Lia gave me a bit of flak for it, but as soon as I told her about our run-in with Gram, she graciously let me off the hook.

Latticenail had gone waltzing off somewhere before I even noticed, but the good news was that, despite her grievous wounds, it looked like Kerria was going to make a full recovery. Though the doctor did say that if we hadn’t taken her in when we did, it might have been too late. She and Raúl made it sound like they were going to quit the Adventurer’s Guild and go live in another town entirely…which was understandable, given what had just happened between them and the guildmaster.

And so it was that I found myself awake in the hotel room in the middle of the night, while everyone else was fast asleep. It must have been between two and three in the morning—the true dead of night. I slowly got out of bed, taking care so as not to wake Amelia or Night beside me. I donned my great black cloak, which I didn’t often wear since it only got in the way, and wrapped my black scarf around my neck. My usual garb was already pitch-black, but now I was as dark as the night itself and could move completely undetected. As luck would have it, tonight was a new moon. Thanks to my Assassination ability, I had excellent night vision, which would help me avoid detection.

“You headed out?” asked Crow, who’d woken up and was now standing in the doorway.

“Yeah,” I replied. I was expecting him to see me off, so I wasn’t surprised.

“I know this probably rings hollow coming from the guy who put you up to this, but don’t overdo it if things get sketchy. That demon girl said those drugged-up mercenaries are about as strong as the average demon.”

I wasn’t sure when he’d had a chance to talk to Latticenail, but I couldn’t help but laugh at his warning. I wasn’t about to be put off by the prospect of having to fight an ordinary demon, and Crow should have known as much. He was probably just getting a little anxious now that the hour was close at hand, and feeling bad for having put me in this position.

“This isn’t like you, Crow. Don’t worry, I would’ve ended up doing this eventually whether you asked me to or not. I swore to myself when I left the castle that I’d avenge Commander Saran even if it was the last thing I did, and now I finally have the chance to do just that. You can still feel free to wish me luck, though.”

I equipped my twin daggers and walked right past Crow and out of the room. He followed.

“Y’know, the moment I first laid eyes on you at that inn back in Ur, I knew you were out to get revenge. I could see it in your eyes,” he told me.

“I’ll bet. No offense, but I always felt like focusing on nothing but revenge was an exhausting way to live. I worry that me getting vengeance for your sister isn’t gonna make you feel at peace, or like justice has been served, or anything like that.”

As I checked to make sure each and every throwing knife I had concealed on my body was secure, I heard Crow let out a derisive snort. Of course, he would know how exhausting it was to be angry—and how remaining angry over the same thing for years on end would take a massive toll on a person’s stamina.

“Yeah, maybe not, but you’ll at least be eliminating the source of a disease that’s been plaguing beastfolk society and this entire world for far too long. He’s always been the one pulling the strings and reaping the benefits. All of his underlings are merely being used.”

I had often wondered why a man who supposedly didn’t have any allies or underlings he could trust hadn’t already been assassinated, and now I knew it was likely because of his drugged-up mercenaries. They were, after all, nothing more than lifeless puppets who only knew how to fight and follow orders. He didn’t need to earn their trust, nor did he need to worry about them betraying him. After fighting some today, I was sure I’d be able to slip past them and murder Gram right under their noses.

With my Conceal Presence skill at Max Level, I could just waltz right in without even showing up on their security cameras. Hell, even if they had some sort of infrared sensors to detect body heat, my skill seemed to defy and distort the very laws of physics to make me literally imperceptible, so even those wouldn’t be able to detect me. The only exception I’d come across was Commander Saran and his Mystic Eyes.

Growing up, I never liked that I could go completely unnoticed by others. Especially when I was a very little kid playing on the playground and ended up forgotten or left behind. That loneliness was crushing at times. Granted, it had its uses once I made it to high school, when I could skip class or sleep in the middle of a lecture without getting caught, but it wasn’t as if I ever liked the ability—even after coming to this world where it was a tangible skill with practical applications. But right now, things were different. For the first time in my life, I could honestly say that I was grateful to have this power.

Gram had hurt so many people throughout his reign of terror. People like my friend and mentor, Commander Saran, and Crow’s sister, and even my beloved Amelia. Just today, he’d almost killed Kerria for no good reason. And as long as he was allowed to remain alive, he’d only continue to hurt more innocent people.

“I’m not planning to kill any of his mercenaries, for the record. But if I run into any other assassins who are after the same target, I’ll have no choice but to eliminate them. Under no circumstances will I let anyone else steal this kill from us. I will only kill Gram and any other assassins who get in my way. Is that okay with you, oh, honorable client of mine?” I asked sarcastically.

“Yep, that works for me…oh, trusty assassin of mine.”

As Crow looked at me with remorseful eyes, I flashed him a halfhearted smile, then jumped out the window.

“Wait, Akira! Don’t do this!”

A fair princess called my name, but I pretended not to hear.

 

I knelt atop the slanted rooftop of the building Gram called home, my silhouette every bit as dark as the night sky behind me. I loomed there for quite a while—watching, waiting—utterly motionless aside from the fluttering of my cloak and long black scarf in the midnight breeze.

I needed to avoid fighting his mercenaries. I had done no preparations in advance, so I didn’t know what times the guards made their rounds. With the help of Conceal Presence, it would be easy for me to slip in and kill Gram, but things could still turn out badly for me if they discovered he was dead before I could escape. It would have been better to draft up a more organized plan beforehand, but given there was a chance I might have changed my mind, or that Gram could have discovered where we were staying, I couldn’t risk waiting any longer. Hence why I needed to scope the place out, watching carefully for the right moment.

I spent a good while monitoring the goings-on in and around the building. After some time, I rose to my feet with a sigh, drew my twin Yato-no-Kami daggers, and readied for combat. A man emerged directly in front of me, seemingly out of thin air. Just like me, he was garbed all in black and lightly armored. Another assassin had arrived to get in my way, just as I had feared. Obviously, Gram had no shortage of enemies who might pay to see him offed, but I’d hoped could get through tonight without encountering any other assassins.

The only noticeable differences between myself and the man was that I had daggers and he had a sword, and that I had my black cloak and scarf. They really did get in the way of an assassin’s work, so this didn’t surprise me. I’d only taken these extra items from the castle because I thought they’d look cool, but it wasn’t as though they had any practical use beyond some camouflage. I didn’t find them cumbersome, but there was no denying that they were unnecessary.

The other man and I locked eyes, glaring at each other for a moment before the other man lost his nerve and looked away.

“Well, look who it is,” the man said. “You here to guard the place, hotshot? Or are you just out to slit our poor guildmaster’s throat?”

Apparently, I’d become quite famous among my fellow assassins, which struck me as kind of funny, given I’d yet to carry out a single assassination.

“And yours, if you try to get in my way,” I responded matter-of-factly, making it clear that I had no intention of letting anyone stop me from doing what I came here to do. Unless this guy was even dumber than Raúl, surely he’d take the hint and stand down. I had conveyed my vendetta, plain and simple, and I could see the other man shaking in his boots. He was much more of a rookie than I expected; I would have thought anyone who dared to try their hand at assassinating a man protected by an army of souped-up mercenaries would at least have the skills to get the job done.

“Well, that’s just great. Never thought I’d get the chance to go toe-to-toe with the Silent Assassin himself. Lucky me,” the man said, sighing in resignation.

He braced himself for combat, but I could tell his mind was flip-flopping between fight or flight. In his current state, it was clear that even if he swung that sword of his, it would have all the force of a wet paper towel behind it. The sheer malice I was exuding made him break out in a cold sweat. I simply stared at the wimpy man without a shred of empathy, like a hunter would stare down its prey. I waited until just before the man was about to exhale, then lunged forward with my dagger and tore through the frigid night air.

Before the man even knew what hit him, he fell to the ground with his eyes wide in horror and his hands clutching at his neck, trying to stop the geyser of blood now spurting from his throat. Only a moment later, he choked out his final breath and lay still on the cold rooftop. I stood up straight, wiping the blood off of my dagger.

It was the first time I’d ever killed another human being, yet I didn’t feel strongly about it. I wasn’t sure if that was the result of my Assassination skill trying to mitigate the shock, or if I was simply that cold and unfeeling, but I let out a sigh of relief nonetheless; I’d been worried actually killing another man might make me lose my nerve.

Meanwhile, it seemed the night watchmen inside had thinned out. Thankfully, they hadn’t noticed the duel that had just taken place outside. Perhaps these zombified mercenaries were also incredibly dense or unobservant.

Activating Conceal Presence first, I used my Assassination skill to unlock a nearby window and slip into the bedchambers of my true quarry for the evening. I looked down at Gram as he lay there, snoring loudly.

My dagger quivered slightly in my trembling hand as I held it aloft, despite the fact that I’d just easily killed someone. I brought my other hand up to hold the blade steady, then tiptoed quietly across the room to press it against Gram’s neck. To think that as soon as this blade hit its mark, I’d be saying goodbye to any chance of ever returning to the peaceful life I once enjoyed.

“Sorry, guys, but I have to do this. It’s the only way I’ll ever find closure. With this one man’s death, I’ll be exacting justice for so many people. And one in particular…”

I whispered these words of reassurance to my mother and Yui as a specter of the boy I had been—a typical high schooler by the name of Oda Akira—then mustered my strength and made a single, decisive slash.

After only a few short convulsions, Gram breathed his last. A shame he hadn’t suffered longer, considering all the long years Crow and so many others had suffered. This wretched villain had caused so much so many different people so much pain over the course of his pathetic life, yet in the end, he only had to endure for a single second.

I didn’t regret killing him, nor did I feel any sense of satisfaction for having successfully carried out my revenge. The only thing I felt was a deep and singular emptiness—one that ate at me like a gaping hole in my chest.