Two Assassin's One Target

Job signup (p.654)

Job description:

Intel on job:

There was only a blur of movement and then a loud crash as a man flew across the room, crashing into the bar counter and then toppling over to the other side, smashing into the rows of liquor lining the wall. All it had taken was a single punch from the petit female currently standing in the middle of a circle of men, albeit one from her bionic arm. The rest of the crowd, stunned by the display of strength, couldn’t react in time as Leah turned around and slammed her right foot into the man’s gut. It was a direct hit, throwing the man backwards into a cluster of tables and chairs.

Before her leg had even been pulled back, the girl’s right hand had whipped back and grabbed the chair that she had been sitting on earlier. She snagged a tight grip on the chair’s back and before the thugs could figure out what she was doing, Leah swung the chair with her hand outstretched, hitting two men with the chair before it broke into pieces after colliding with the third. And finally they acted.

“Too slow!” Leah snarled as a knife stabbed in her direction, to which the girl responded by punching the extending arm holding the knife with a left hook, smashing directly into the forearm and pushing the knife out of the way. She followed it up by moving in one step closer and threw out an uppercut with her right, connecting with the man’s lower jaw. And accurately breaking it. The man sailed up into the air and came crashing down a millisecond later.

The remaining three men charged her at the same time, all of them using bladed weapons. Leah frowned, bewildered by their lack of firearms but she couldn’t be bothered. It made her job easier after all. Five shuriken of black lightning crackled into existence, appearing within her right hand to which she threw at the man to her three o’clock direction. The weaponized lightning sliced into the man’s chest, cutting deep gashes along with a minor shock left the guy dropped to the ground, clutching his chest in pain.

The other one managed to pull off a hack with his machete, but Leah merely held up left arm to block the blow, metal against metal, but the weapon was too inferior. The machete was bent out of shape upon impact with the metal arm, shocking the thug before Leah sent a sidekick to his chest, breaking two ribs from the sound of it as he flew back. The final thug held a look of smugness on his face as his weapon swung downwards, thinking he had won. But the blade of his axe sliced through nothing but thin air, as the female assassin vanished from sight with a flash of black lightning.

He didn’t even have the time to turn around as Leah reappeared behind her with another flash of black lightning. The gunshot drowned out all of the moans and groans of pain as the last man standing fell down to the ground with a gaping hole in the back of his skull. Leah looked around, visually confirming that they were all down and then fished out a note from her pocket. On it was written “You have been warned” and signed off by someone called Vicenza Krick. It had been a successful job but Leah wasn’t even impressed by her own performance.

However, that quickly changed when she finally returned to the Errings Rising headquarters. A new job had been posted up on the jobs board and she grinned when she ripped the paper off the board. She finally had a job that would allow her to gauge her own abilities. Leah relished every moment that she got an assignment, especially when it involved high stakes like the assassination of the Rune Knight commander, Heindrick Kessel. Out of the all the assignments she had taken on, this was by far the most interesting outing. The briefing had been simple. The Rune Knights commander known as Heindrick Kessel, a key figure in the military force that acted as Fiore’s peacekeeper, has been slated to make an appearance in Mountain Village for the official opening of a new Rune Knights outpost.

It was a significant event for the Rune Knights, to promote their abilities to hold the peace in rural areas and not just centred in the capital and larger towns. But for Leah, it was momentous. She knew she had been an assassin before she lost her memory, hopefully a good one, but as far as it was concerned, this was going to be officially be her first. The dark-haired assassin had no intention at all to venture and explore into her forgotten past, taking it as a chance for a second life. To regret nothing that she lost and forgotten, but to forge a new path ahead.

The female assassin was propped up on one of the roofs in the village, giving her a clear view of the stage. She had already completed a recce of the entire place, making sure she remembered the details of the event venue. She foresaw no problems in the assassination. It was going to be the exit plan that would give her problems. However, the female assassin wasn’t always one to stick to plans.

“I’ll just see how it goes,” she whispered, scattered by the breeze. A crackle of black lightning flashed where she had last stood, and she was no longer there.

[921 words]
[Total WC: 1853 / 7000]

The moment dawn had arrived, the event crew in charge for putting together the opening ceremony of the new Rune Knights outpost had began milling about the place. From her rooftop perch, crouching behind a chimney and hidden by its shadow, the raven-haired assassin began to make her observations from her hiding spot. Rune Knights of the lower ranks, the grunts, had also began to make their appearance. She counted a force of roughly 50 to 60 uniformed soldiers, dressed in their standard black outfits. There were a few slightly higher ranked officers mixed into the group of soldiers, and they were the ones giving out orders.

Slowly but surely, the Rune Knights began to take their places. Some were holding strategic spots that gave them excellent sight of the whole area while some were hunkered down at all the routes that led to the event, keeping a close guard. A portion of them left the area completely, winding their way around as they began to occupy certain houses, two to a team. A spotter and a shooter. Leah watched with fascination at the amount of manpower that they had assigned to his backwater village for the new outpost’s sake.

Before the Rune Knights had managed to settle into position, and with the event crew bustling around, Leah made a quick descent down the roof and abseiled down a rope that she had tied to the chimney, landing on the ground with a solid thump after kicking off the wall a few times. The girl then made her way silently through the alley until it met one of the routes that led to the location of the speech. She crouched down on the ground and waited, beside a row of boxes that had been used by the event crew to hold their equipment.

All she had to do was wait. It didn’t take long. The sound of footsteps greeted Leah’s ears, the assassin able to identify that it was only a single person and most probably a girl judging from the light footfall. Slowly rising to her full height, Leah appeared from behind the boxes just as the girl from the event crew tried to lift one of the boxes on the top. Not wanting to injure the girl anymore than she needed to, Leah clasped her metal hand over the girl’s mouth while her right hand, fingers curled save for her index and middle finger was jabbed into the girl’s torso.

A flow of black electricity made the girl’s body jerk for a second or so, before she went limp, leaning herself against Leah. The female assassin removed her metal hand from the girl’s mouth and then put her right index finger to the girl’s nose. When she had verified that the girl was still breathing, Leah slowly put her down behind the boxes and began to strip the girl. It didn’t take long for them to swap clothes, Leah exchanging her black sleeveless T-shirt for the one that the girl wore, a black T-shirt and a green, long-sleeved polyester jacket with the company logo on the back.

The final item of clothing that she snagged from the unconscious girl was her white cap, which Leah put on after pulling up her shoulder-length hair and stuffed it into the cap. With her disguise completed, Leah quickly heaved the topmost box that the girl had originally intended to bring and quickly bring it to where the other crews were. It was the best strategy that she could come up with, the one way to get as close as possible to the commander.

[602 words]
[Total WC: 2970 / 7000]

Three hours. For three long hours, Leah had been forced to keep up her simple disguise, constantly helping around to ensure that she would be actively moving around so that anybody’s glance wouldn’t linger on her for too long. The cap could only do so much, requiring the girl keep her guard up constantly, especially when she went near the Rune Knights on duty. It wasn’t exactly nerve-wracking, but it had all the indications of a poorly thought-out plan, which was a very bad habit of hers. For an assassin, this particular trait could very well be the one that leads to her downfall someday.

When the time was almost up and all the preparations had been completed, Leah silently joined the rest of the working crew, making herself as invisible as possible. As she stood there, her mind was constantly going over the possible choices she could use for the assassination. The most practical would be to use her P220, coupled with a Lightning Jump to reach the commander and shoot him at point blank. Another choice would be to use her magic, which would once more use Lightning Jump to close the gap and finish the job with Dark Blade. This was one she considered, as it would leave no trace behind.

Which brought the conflict to another point. She wanted to be known, to take ownership for this magnificent kill, this huge blow against the Rune Knights. Hendrick Kessel was really taking his time with his speech, a prepared one undoubtedly but still long. He was prattling on about the good the Rune Knights could do for the small town, how they would be able to better bring about peace and a more unified Fiore. Leah sneered when she heard this particular part. It was all talk, pure hot air and nothing but empty promises.

“Thunder Blast it is then,” the girl muttered to herself as she jostled her way through her “co-workers”, making her way to the front by way of elbowing whoever was in her way. She drew a lot of angry glances and sharp hisses to herself, but the assassin was no longer caring about her cover. She had even taken off her cap, allowing her long black hair to flow down her neck, tossing the cap to the ground. A few gasps indicated their surprise at this stranger wearing their company outfit, but nothing was done.

The sudden commotion from their group had pulled the attention of the Rune Knights on guard duty, and as a few moved over to their direction to check the situation out, while those remaining in place looked over, Leah grabbed her opportunity. Hendrick was still fighting on, despite the noise behind him, speaking louder to the villagers but he knew he was slowly losing their interest when there was something much more interesting happening behind him. With a pissed expression, the general turned his head back to see what the ruckus was about, just as Leah had finally gotten out from the crowd.

A mere ten feet separated them, and for one second, the two of them locked eyes, their motives clear. Before he could even shout for his men, Leah had disappeared in a flash of black lightning, leaving nothing but a charred spot on the ground where she once stood and reappeared right in front of the Rune Knight general, the man only able to take half a step back in shock, leaving Leah with the perfect opportunity. Black lightning had already accumulated within her right palm, crackling ominously.

Her right palm shot forward, but it wasn’t the first to strike. Instead, it was her left fist. With the fist of her bionic arm clenched tight, Leah punched straight into the man’s chest, the power behind her Heavy Fist ability cracking the chest plate before her right palm made contact. Both impact followed, one after another, within a second, and by the time the general had registered what was going on, he had already been sent flying off the stage into the crowd. But this attempt had failed.

The assassin had never expected that she would fail to break through the chest plate of the general’s armor, halving the damage of her follow-up attack with Thunder Blast. The Rune Knights in the protection detail had been weak, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events and had failed to react in time. They had had the numbers, but all of them were nothing but novices. New to the uniform and to their duty.

Turning around to look at the Rune Knights now coming for her, Leah then threw an irritated look at the general on the ground, struggling to get back up on his feet amidst the crowd. Regardless of the situation, even if she had to fight her way out of here, Leah was still going to take the man’s life. Black lightning once again formed in her hand, the left one this time and immediately turned into chains, which the female assassin swung in the direction of the general, latching on to him. With a tug, Leah launched herself into the air and flew towards the general.

A burst of black lightning appeared in her right hand, and molded itself into a short sword. The general, back in combat mode and already over the surprise, made no attempt to remove the chains but allowed Leah to fly towards him. It was what he wanted anyway. His right fist glowed with a crimson flare, and just as Leah’s sword was slashed at his neck, the old general punched upwards with his right fist, deflecting the blade and while grabbing Leah by the neck and throwing her off to the side and towards the ground.

By then all the villagers had already scattered and escaped to safety, leaving the entire plaza to the Rune Knights and the female assassin. With a glare, Leah leapt back as two spears stabbed into the ground where she once stood and quickly used the chains from the black lightning to hoist herself up one of the buildings, temporarily staying off the ground. It was no longer an assassination now, but an all-out battle if she wanted to succeed at her original goal.

[1044 words]
[Total WC: 4741 / 7000]

The moment she was latched on to one of the buildings, one hand wielding a chain of black lightning stabbed into the building’s materials that kept her suspended vertically in a crouch, Leah had turned around to re-assess the situation. It was total chaos, with civilians running around, Rune Knights rushing to circle around their general. And in the midst of the chaos, the black-haired assassin watched with curiosity as another female strode into the middle of the battle with two scythe-like extensions at the end of her arms. She wielded it with grace and precision, one strike to immobilize the Rune Knight attempting to behead her and one more strike to end the pathetic man’s life. Were the Rune Knights really so useless?

A few arrows sliced through the air towards her, and the female assassin quickly released her control over the black lightning chain, dropping towards the ground at a high speed. The female assassin dropped into a roll the moment she touched the ground, dispersing the impact of the fall so that she could land harmlessly. The next second, she was already back on her feet, her right hand moving to the back of her waist and pulling out a white hilt. A Rune Knight was already rushing at her, battle axe at the ready and swung it horizontally at chest level.

With a burst of magical energy into the hilt, an aquamarine blade of energy whooshed into existence, allowing Leah to slash to the right, partially deflecting the heavy battle axe in mid-swing so that it would off target. While the Rune Knight struggled to regain control of his huge weapon, Leah pounced on him, kicking him in the gut to throw him backwards and slashed, the tip of her sword drawing a non-fatal but long gash across the man’s chest.

She was an assassin, but Leah wasn’t one to kill recklessly if she could help it. Collateral damage was nothing but unprofessional. She could kill as many passersby as she wanted, but it would all be useless if she failed to finish off her target. The Rune Knight fell to the ground alongside his weapon, his hands trying to press down on his chest wound. A few arrows flew through the air again, but Leah barely gave them a glance as she swung her sword in a V-shaped arc to her side, swatting all of the arrows down to the ground.

From her position, she could see the General, her target. At the moment, only five Rune Knights remained, apart from the General and they had all taken a defensive formation. All of them had their weapons out, as well as magic prepared. And their eyes were on Leah and the other female fighter. From the looks of it, Leah guessed that she was also another assassin after the General’s life. It would be awkward to decide who gets the killing blow later. But at this moment, the important thing was to bag the target first.

“You good?” Leah said as she approached the other female, looking at the arrow jutting out from her shoulder. “Interested for a team-up? Let’s kill all those knights first and then decide who gets to kill the General.”

[539 words]
[Total WC: 6282 / 7000]

Leah nodded in agreement when the other assassin complied with her proposal. The female assassin watched with wonder as her counterpart pulled out the arrows from her shoulder. It should have been excruciating pain but she barely made a squeak. And the skin over her shoulder healed with immense speed. Leah merely wagged an eyebrow at that display of healing prowess. She really needed to get her some magic that could do that for her while out in the field.

A burst of flames was sent in their direction, but the other assassin calmly threw down a grenade that expanded into a transparent shield the moment it touched the ground, shielding them from the flames. And then she was gone in a flash of purple. The next time Leah saw her again, the female assassin was already by the side of the fire mage who had thrown out the attack at them and in the middle of engaging someone else in a two-versus-one situation. Still, with the situation looking well handled by her, Leah turned her attention somewhere else.

As disgraceful as it was, the general had abandoned his Rune Knights and were using them as meat shields. Instead of rallying his troops and leading the fight against the two assassins, he was running and tripping around, cowering behind his Rune Knight subordinates for cover. At this moment, he was at an all time low, shielding himself with two staff from the event agency. Leah gnashed her teeth in displeasure and without waiting, she activated her Body Flicker spell. It took her only one step to cross the distance between herself and the general, the distance of that single step spanning the entire plaza.

A Rune Knight had appeared out of nowhere, a sword chopping down in her path but Leah’s senses were sharper. She halted the moment she felt the sword in its downwards arc and with a simple activation of the magical vambrace she wore around her left wrist, a circular shield appeared above her wrist and Leah merely defended against the sword strike with it, causing the sword to bounce back upon impact while she ran her sword through the man’s armor, accurately finding the gap between his shoulder plates and his chest plate. It was quick and lethal, in and out within seconds and the Rune Knight dropped to the ground howling in pain.

When she looked back up, Leah locked eyes with the general and instantly her right hand sent forth a kunai of magical energy, aimed straight at the General. It hit him right between the two girls just as they struggled to each move to the side, and the moment the kunai struck the General’s chest plate, Leah’s left hand whipped up to the front of her chest, her index and middle finger raised while the rest of the hand remained clenched. The General was thrown into a hellish nightmare of Leah’s concoction, taking all of his senses for a ride as he was continuously exposed to whatever horrors that Leah could imagine. The moment the illusion had hit him, the General’s grip loosened on the girls and they ran away, while the General stood stock still with a glazed expression.

Not wanting anymore interruptions, the female assassin leapt forward and with a swing of her sword, lopped off the head of the Rune Knight General. The decapitated body fell to one side, collapsing heavily while the head rolled along the ground, leaving a trail of blood behind it. Not at all disgusted, Leah picked up the head as though she was picking a watermelon from the market and quickly rejoined her temporary partner.

[611 words]
[Total WC: 7350 / 7000]