016: Abducing people for (probably) political reasons

Let's be honest... I did not have a smooth awakening this time... Considering that Akatsuki said "We don't have much time allowed, I guess we might still be within the same day.

"AZAZEL, WAKE UP NOW!"

The person shouting at me was, obviously, Akatsuki... lately she had been becoming more rash, easy to anger, and more loud...

"It wouldn't kill me to allow me a few seconds... and with those screams you might scare our precious target who THE EMPEROR asked us to abduce right?"

"Y-Yeah, sorry, but wake up already, we are short in time..."

I opened my eyes. Akatsuki was a few meters ahead of me, with the two guards. I was handcuffed, and just as the last time, she is not handcuffed, unlike me...

We were in a carriage. It seemed that I had been carried to an unknown location.

"Would you mind unbinding me, Akatsuki? I might understand that you are all salty and angry at me for defeating you, and that since I win practically every bet with you, you regard me as a superior being when it comes to fighting prowess, but I hope you don't think -"

"I know, I know... You two, release him."

""Yes.""

"Oh... since when did you have two loyal lap dogs?"

"I am less of a threat than you... It's ironic how me being less capable than you granted me a superior position, don't you think? I have been granted some rights, and been allowed some more freedom, while your leash has been tightened even more than before... How ironic."

Does it seem like that from her position? I am glad that I can fight, and hopefully, in the future, I will be given missions that imply killing... Maybe.

The two guards released me. I already guessed, but it seems they are the same guards from our last meeting... The fact that it is those two again and that they have the same hair and eyes as Akatsuki makes me slightly suspicious of them... But I don't have enough leads.

"Where should I head to then?" I asked, now serious and ready to get down to business.

A guard pointed in a direction and told me: "The target is in that direction... Swordswoman?"

Akatsuki began a long talk again...

"Your target is an old man, very proficient with the sword. There are two possible people that can interfere: A 24 years old man, also proficient with the sword and a user of space and light elements, and a 23 years old woman, who is extremely proficient with the sword. You can do whatever you want the first one, but avoid the second one as much as possible. You have a day. The sooner you abduce the target and bring it back here, the better. You have anaesthetic darts attached to your trousers. Use them only if you need them. Good luck."

"Understood."

I began jogging towards that direction. Soon enough, a small cottage was in sight. Now that I wasn't being hurried and infodumped, I looked at my surroundings. The sun was setting. Near the cottage, there were two people, who matched the descriptions that Akatsuki gave me, clashing wooden swords. And before them, there was my target. I was in a two hundred meters distance more or less, so I was sure that they wouldn't spot me, as I was behind a tree.

I waited calmly... I waited for them to finish training... They cleaned everything, took their stuff and headed home.

Now it was my chance. The target would be alone for the rest of the day. It was already dusk. I slowly neared the small cottage, as the target entered his cottage.

Now, I was in front of it. I could analyze it calmly. There were two windows. One faced the east and the other the west. The entrance faced south and as I peeked through the window, I saw that the bed head pointed to the north.

The target was swinging his sword, training alone, looking towards the north...

I slowly took out one (of the three) darts attached to my trousers. The problem is that I was trying to shoot through the window, so if I wanted to hit him in the head, I would need to aim and wait for the right timing. In fact, now that I thought it calmly, maybe there was no need to aim for the head. I looked closely for other points, preferrably, points that didn't move much, even with all the swinging...

There was a foot that always stayed in the same place as the other moved, and with it, almost the whole body. That would be the point I would aim to strike.

I slowed down time and accelerated myself with the dots... I waited for the right moment... And then, I jumped so that the feet were in plain sight, and then I threw it. It broke the window, and then...

He swiftly reacted and tried to swing the wooden sword towards the dart, but it was too late, though for a moment, I was slightly worried that the air pressure would change the dart trajectory, but it was unneeded. The dart's needle dug into the zone of his ankle, and he staggered for a moment. He looked at me and proceeded to ask the obvious question.

"Who... are you?"

I stayed silent. I don't think I had an answer to that question. Dog of the empire? Prince of the no-longer-existing Lunar kingdom? An adopted prince? An abandoned child by his biological parents? Someone who had two weird bracelets that talked? Someone who had memories that didn't make any sense at all? I didn't know.

I looked at him calmly. He began to staggering due to the efects of the anaesthetic. It was then that I heard a sudden noise.

The boy, appeared literally out of thin air. I guess he teleported here with the space element. While I was still accelerated, I threw one more dart, and unlike his master, when he reacted, the dart had already dug into his chest. "Who... the hell... are... *plof*"

He collapsed on the floor before he could finish the question. Since he had seen me, I took him and the old man, and when I was about to run towards the carriage, I saw someone. The girl that Akatsuki talked about. However, now that I was closer and could look at her more in detail, I was thoroughly surprised.

'SISTER?!'

The person that was panting before me, was my foster sister, Delgamane Moon'r, princess of the Lunar Kingdom.

I paralyzed for a moment, however, when I saw her draw her sword, I immediately ran, still accelarated. I heard a "Wait! Don't you dare run!"... But of course, there was no one in their sane mind that would obey such an order. She was left behind easily, and soon after, I reached the carriage.

"There was no need for you to bring the boy... And you finished earlier than I expected." said Akatsuki

"No time for that! The girl is searching for us right now, so run, now!" I threw the two men to the carriage and then threw myself to the back of the carriage with them.

"Y-yes!"

The two guards were already ready to go. Akatsuki joined me in the back of the carriage.

I had run all the way here full sprint carrying two people, so I was quite tired... I lied down, panting, desperate for air...

"You did a good job out there, Azezal, congratulations."

Akatsuki being nice? Suspicious... And suspicions I had the right to have, since I noticed a needle entering through my skin...

'Fuck...'

Indeed, she had used one of the darts for me too... Well, that was to be expected, though to be honest, trying to be nice to drop my guard wasn't necessary. I really hadn't much energy to be careful about her, and being honest, I already guessed that I would be given anaesthetics rather soon than later... Though I thought that it would be through that gas, so I really wasn't being all that careful...

And my consciousness already began to fade away...