(6) The Child Born with a Silver Spoon
"You are, by far, the most beautiful assassin to be sent after me...", A suave Asian man in a suit took a sip from a glass of whiskey. The bottle name started with a Y and the brand said something about a house but it mostly faded in the background along with the edges of everything in this odd vision. The man, however, stood up from his chair and adjusted his collar with a cocky smile. His sharp eyes narrowed like a dragon's as he wiped the line of blood that appeared on his cheek with his pocket square.
"Beautiful? You can't even see my face," a masked figure circled around this man with a predatory gait. Worry less, the man downed the last bit of his drink and placed the glass down on a coaster.
"Tomato, toe-mato, would you like to marry me?", he fixed the links of his cuffs, placed them next to the glass, and fully undid his tie with a careless grin. Then he took stock of his suit and sighed. It was not obvious but as he moved, the suit split apart in dozen of areas with hair thin cuts along the fabric.
"Ah. This is such a loss. This suit cost a little over six hundred grand. Ah well, marry me as compensation beautiful, \" the man tossed his jacket aside at the sight of a blood stain near his ribs and stepped over a dead man as he approached the killer with an organic and gentle smile. Without any impatience, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pill container. It wasnt obvious at first but as the man got closer to the assassin the cut on his cheek produced a nasty dark green spider web patterning and drained the mans skin of all his color. The pill he swallowed shut it down.
The assassin dropped down like a cheetah and skulked around her prey as he tried to approach. Her red eyes flashed violently, like pulsating stars but every flash was accompanied by a twitch of her muscles that made it seem as though she wanted to move but something was getting in her way. The changes in the assassin's exposed facial features did not go unnoticed since the man could make out the hesitation written all over her face.
"Oh. It looks like you don't believe me...", the man knelt down and put his own throat on the assassin's blade. She didn't move in the slightest because of this man's trap.
"You can kill me; My men won't shoot. But if you don't, marry me....", the assassin clenched the dagger in hand then flashed away in the blink of an eye to hide behind a stone pillar with piled up furniture around it. Most of it collapsed with structural insufficiencies since bullet holes, explosive scorching, and knives riddled the entire makeshift fortress. Almost the second she entered the fortress; Ten 2.62 caliber shot snapped out and narrowly missed the woman with each retreating step she took, leaving a trail straight to the fortress.
"You can't escape. Either we both die, or we both leave here hand in hand," the man held his hand up to stop the rest of his men from firing.
"You really think I can't leave here alive?", the assassin asked. A bullet just barely grazed her body as it broke through the pillar and ricocheted into the floor into a bookshelf.
"I don't," the man rolled up his sleeves and smiled as he slowly stood up.
In almost the same instant, the assassin rolled out of the makeshift fortress and threw a dozen knives towards the man's vitals. He dodged all but one. He grabbed that one out of the air and spun it between his fingers before throwing it into the forehead of a man who secretly tried to shoot the assassin in the back. Each of the other blades impaled the heads, throats, or hearts of men who rushed into the room from behind a wall near the man's desk.
"Code name: Bloody Mary, a Ghost... Specter class of course. A true to life black widow. Specializes in assassination, espionage, intelligence gathering, and so many more things. Hundreds of successful assignments and thousands of confirmed kills. Knows over a dozen languages and has over a thousand faces. I don't know what kind of training you had to go through, but your skills are very impressive...", he spoke with more than a hint of pride since he was absolutely sure this woman would take his offer.
"Your information is a bit outdated...", Mary chuckled as a hail of bullets rained down on her new location.
"It would seem so... Miss Miyazaki", He chuckled along with her.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN: There would have been a very rich old man that no longer had an arm or a leg. He would have had an amazing story for his grandkids. He would have told them about the time when he gave information to the Dragon God of the underworld. Sadly, that man would end up buried in some unnamed location by the time the sun came up. He missed a very vital piece of information after all.
"I want to leave this darkness and start a family. Will you come with me?", the man fixed his odd chuckle and smiled as he opened his right hand. The black velvet box he opened held a gorgeous ring with a glittering gemstone. She ignored the glistening ring in his hand and looked at the stars that littered the tops of the surrounding buildings. The snipers have yet to release another volley but to be sure, she would not escape alive even if her mission was successful.
"Thats quite a few Snipers....", she actually smiled like a fool through her face mask when she counted a little under one thousand small glints. Her laugh rang like a bell in the man's ears.
"How much did you pay for this proposal?"
"An arm and a leg to get your information. A few billion for the snipers. And the ground units were free since they were mine. You know how much of a miser I am...", he said with a charming smile.
"How exactly did you ask for my information?", Miyazaki asked. Her guard and nerves peaked right about now as her eyes darted along the rooftops. Sooner or later, those idiots will figure out that they had a perfect line of sight to a exposed body parts.
"I said, 'I want the most beautiful rose, but one without its thorns is nothing more than a weed in my eyes so make sure she is capable of destroying everything I have built'...", he wore nothing but the truth on his face and in his eyes.
"So, you let me dismantle your empire just to test the sharpness of my thorns?", she asked with a hint of joy.
"Absolutely not. I tried everything in my power to stop you but still. I knew before I even tried that I would only be able to trade my life for yours in the end. But you already knew that, since it's the same for you...", he watched as Miyazaki put her hand up with a bloodied white bra in her hands. The man bit his lip to hid a laugh but his hand also went up to stop the snipers from opening fire. The crazy woman strutted toward his desk and opened a hidden compartment in his office.
"*Nervous laughter*, when did you install that?", he asked.
She had already made her choice so all he received as an answer was a beautiful sneer as she pulled a bag out of the compartment. At the same time, she removed the mask from her face.
A stunning woman with fluffy red-brown hair and red brown eyes... Very different from the black-haired woman with impossible sea- green eyes that he hired.
She switched her clothes and shoes into a short and thin white dress and white high heels. Her eyes locked onto a crystal tiara that had a silky veil. She did not need to do her hair or makeup because she had a natural and wild sense of beauty that would have been marred if she tried to tame it.
"Of course, I knew. The very first day I met you, I was prepared to leave this life. I didn't act on my feelings because you were my boss. When did you discover I was your secretary?", she said in a sweet voice. She waited for him to slip the ring on her finger.
"I didn't. I truly fell for you. You were adorable and sexy, I almost couldn't contain myself on numerous occasions but it would have been an HR issue if I acted on anything," to anyone else, he looked like a demon on the verge of starting a massacre and she looked like a corpse bride with the bloodied handprints all over her white dress. They both knew that they had to work on their expressions if they were going to make a family work.
The woman with the code name of Bloody Mary laughed at his highly inappropriate face and then said, "I will never be your assistant again..."
"Yes. We will be partners and conquer everything together...", he said grandly.
"As husband and wife...", she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered.
"Yes...", he moved back a little bit to see her face.
"For our future and our children..."
"Children huh. I guess we can have one...", he was pinched and fixed his mistake.
"...Or ten..."- This was the first time they kissed without her being disguised or lying. Even crazier, was the greeting of glass confetti and a hail of bullets that lit up the room.
Not a single shard or bullet touched them as the snipers all shot each other to death. They had all seen their boss's new wife naked and were completely willing to kill each since it was ordered. It was the easier option rather than suffering their boss's wrath. They had all seen him survive a point blank 50 caliber sniper round, or at least it looked that way so none of them were willing to fire a shot from a distance. Either way, it beat having an entire corner of the world's population get overturned because one guy's death could cause as all-out war.
Slowly, the vision twisted into a hazy memory and what remained was a beautiful face looking down with a smile and tears.
"-Who are those people, they are really cool. Scary though since they are killers but still cool-", the steady soul blinked a few times to clear his sight. A lot of smells and sounds that were familiar but completely foreign to his new body nearly caused sensory overload as everything set in. All of a sudden, his vision and watery vision focused on a golden message and some jingling sounds.
"-I wonder what the others did to rank higher than me. It must've been pretty awesome. Oh, that feels nice. I mean, it feels a bit uncomfortable but I'm a soul so what do I have to worry about-", the stable soul thought about the message but...
"--...--", something in the back of his mind whispered to him
"-What? -", the stable soul closed his eyes and focused on the voice.
"--...s..t..us--", the whisper called.
"-Stus? Stustus? Stasis? -", the soul asked in confusion.
"-Oh wait. You mean status, right? -", immediately got it after thinking for a second more.
"-
"-So, my new name is Raziel...-", He let himself get comfortable in the arms of what he thought smelled like the definition of safety. He was born not too long ago so he sort of closed himself off to everything happening since it all made him feel uncomfortable. Though, on some primitive level, he could feel safe and happy even if he didn't understand a single word his parents said when they talked to him. All he knew is that after he was cleaned up by some nice blobs, he was given to another nice blob who smelled nice. The lady blob tried talking to him but his vision and hearing shifted almost completely to an odd vision about a handsome man and a pretty lady. It was something out of an action movie and that was cool.
Raziel Ohara (???)
Affiliation: Reality
"-I can see into the future... -", Raziel guessed.
Blessings:
- OMNISCIENCE lvl.1 (Insight: 1Sec [ 60Sec]).
* PASSIVE- See into the future
"-...and the past? -", he continued.
* ACTIVE/PASSIVE- See into the past [Random visions based on the subject]
"-I guess that's how I saw that cool action scene. Does that mean those two are connected to me in some way-"
"--th... a... e... yo... rents...--"
"-Yes? -"
"--... ey... our... par... --"
"-They are my parents? -"
"--...es...--"
"-That's so cool... Hey voice. It feels like I am missing something though... -"
"--...re...your...past...--"
"-A piece of my past! So, it's not a side effect of my powers? Like, I lose my past to see into others or something. Wait, before you answer, I believe you. It's just that, it must not be important if I don't remember right? -", Raziel spoke to himself in a rapid-fire self Q&A, not giving the voice a chance to respond.
"-Couldn't I just use my power and see the past if I use it on myself? -", he tried to use his baby hands to touch his own body but couldn't find a way to use it., his limbs that is. He couldn't move at all, and it wasn't the same type of crippling numbness he was used due to his previous medications and illness.
"--I was going to tell you...--", the voice at the back of Raziels mind became much clearer. The other souls would recognize this voice as the deep tone of the old steady soul.
"-I know, I can't move yet. You were right-", Raziel cut the whisper off and pouted. In the world at large, a pair of newborn parents fawned over their newborns cute pouting face as he tried to wiggle about in a binding swaddle. The father immediately took a dozen or so pictures with tears rolling down his face.
"--Look at the rest of your status. Always take inventory of your supplies when you have the chance--", the old soul advised the child who somehow controlled the body he was supposed to receive upon being reincarnated. Whatever happened behind the scenes, only he, Big G, and possibly Reality knew.
"-Kay. UH. I only have this one thing though. How do I even use it?*Yawn*-", Upon asking the question, the memory of a description wrote itself into Raziel's brain before he even saw the information.
[Classes]:
[Equipment]:
[Skills]:
"--It may be an item locked behind a power branch or enlightenment. For now, dont worry about the system stuff. Stay focused on your status and your shortcomings so we can confront them together,--" the old soul redirected the kids attention since he slowly drifted off.
"-Shortcomings? Like me being a baby? -"
"--No. Like, do you get angry with other people for no reason? Do you think you are better than others? Are you annoyed when someone can't do something you think is easy? Or, do you get mad when things dont go your way? Or do you have someone who you dont like because of how they behave? --"
"-*Yawn*... I mean... *Yawn*, I think it's not smart when the bad guys always share their plans in the shows and cartoons I used to watch. It would be much easier and fun for the bad guy to just beat the hero the first time... you know... *Yawn*... Just end it already. Does that count? -"
"--... I... should hope not... I am interested in why you would think it would be more fun if the villain won--"
"-No, I didn't mean that. I mean, uh, just beat the hero. Another one would show up, because a hero always shows up. It would make the heroes more heroic if there were times that they just lose and someone else picks up the hard work. I like heroes like that, that still rise up knowing all hope is lost yet they keep trying even its an inevitable fail. No. I mean, yes it gets boring when you know the hero is going to be defeated but still wins and survives at the end. The Great Detective Carillion always ended like that. It was a good movie series. He would always fight the bad guy, lose, learn their weakness, fight alongside his friends, then win. Oh. In the third movie Carillion even died and his younger brother took up becoming a detective. There was cool revenge arc but he learned from his brothers mistake and made the right call, even if it hurt him in the end. I wanted to see the next movie with my dad and new mom and siblings since it was going to come out near my birthday but I um. I got really sick...-"
"--Its okay. I understand,--" If the old soul were there, he would have patted the boy on his back but since he could not, he redirected the boys focus.
"--So, is that why you liked little space friends too? For the realistic heroes and the no nonsense villains ..."
"-Yeah. That show was my favorite ever. Do you have any shows you like? -"
"--Not particularly. I did see a few cartoons when I was with my kids when they were and some of my grandchildren, but they don't really strike me as intelligently made shows designed to provoke moral development. Actually, it seems that those two shows seem to have distilled quite the behavioral compass for you, I would like to know more if you are up to telling me about the shows as well.--"
"-...-"
"--Are you okay Raziel? --", the voice asked.
"-You're an old man!? -"
"--Well, I'm not that old.--"
"-But you have grand babies! -"
"--That... may have been a bit of a stretch. They were my nieces and nephews. I raised my younger siblings growing up, so I see them more as my own children rather than little brothers and sisters. I called them my grandkids as a joke to make fun of my siblings, but the joke stuck around. I'm sorry for the confusion, I didn't realize as its habit at this point.--"
The two spoke in one continuous stream for a long time until Raziel could no longer keep his baby brain awake. A long time really wasnt exactly accurate though. The kid fell out only after a few minutes due to his passive future sight. The entire conversation he just had took no longer that 10 second since everything the two said overlapped into the very first thought he had. Thus, after ten seconds of squirming about with a scowl, he fell asleep. The private hospital room beyond his little baby brain and horrible senses, exploded with commotion not to long after he fell out.
"Sir, you can't go in there!", a middle-aged woman tried to stop a fuming tyrant to no avail. He simply pulled out a money clip from his cobalt suit and threw the door open with a frown. His sparkling black shoes caught the glint of a fluorescent ceiling light as his long hair fell into a disorderly tangle of hair in front of his face.
"Forgive my husband's crass behavior. I hope that is enough for the trouble we may cause you at work. If it's not, please contact this number directly," a lady with perfect posture, a calm expression, and clothes that fit her form elegantly, nodded her head slightly and followed after the smartly dressed man.
The middle-aged woman paused. In one hand she held another money clip with no less than a few thousand dollary-doos and in the other, a pure black card. A Sun with a solar flare of little stars sparkled on the center of the card. As she flipped it over, the word HELIOS burned into her eyes as a number sparkled underneath. Near immediately, the nurse who was just shoved aside by the man fainted while clutching two money clips and card to her chest.
"Shou? My man! What are you doing here?", an older gentleman who looked strikingly similar to the suave man from Raziel's flashback, pulled a hand from behind his back. There was no gun, but old habits died hard.
"Satsuji you are a real bastard you know that right. You disappear for a whole two years and when you come back you don't tell me you're married or that you're having a baby. Are we even friends?", Shou spoke with a sarcastic tone and pretended to reprimand his friend as he slicked his hair back again. Sadly, a single long tuft of hair decided to remain defiant until the end.
"*Chuckle*, sorry...", the powerful image Raziel formed of his father would have been shattered by this meek response if he were awake to witness it.
"Quiet down you fool. The baby was just born and is still sensitive. Right Miya?", the well-dressed lady popped out from behind the door and moved Shou aside. She sauntered over towards Raziel's mother and stared at her "friend's" newborn baby with a fiery expression.
"It's okay Kami...", his mother said. It was at this time that Raziel cursed his own blessing. Half a second too late, he jolted awake with an audible gasp. A barrage of kisses landed all of his face, courtesy of his mother. Unable to move, he could only accept the love, but now he knew that his future sight was always on, even in his sleep. After the kisses, he immediately fell back out after deciding to chalk this sleep attack to a nightmare.
"He's a good baby, see", Raziel's mother blinked a couple of times then smiled since she was caught off guard but the beautiful ruby red eyes of her baby boy. She could see him look at her half a second before the kisses landed. Once again, sadly, the child could not have a break as he could see what the future held in store for him. Exactly one second before she even touched him, Raziel started to laugh.
"Little zi-zi is a quiet and adorable widdle baby, yes he is, yes he is...", Miya attacked his little toes, blew raspberries into his stomach, and switched to his ribs. A combo attack while he was sleepy, he stood no chance.
"-No. Please stop, *Uncontrollable laughter*. Too much, too much tickling-", Thankfully, she stopped at the perfect time before he peed himseld. He was about to complain the only way he could as a newborn, by cooing and throwing up in annoyance but stopped when he heard a familiar jingle.
"-Side character? -"
"--This world is templated after another, or a mismatch of other stories that you and the heros know. Either way, there are world quests related to these stories but the specific information has been purposefully kept away from any of you hero's since its part of the game. If you look at the achievements tab, there is a questline to uncover a world story. You can either protect or alter it, but just meeting the important characters is enough.--"
"-Who is the side character though? -", he spotted a flaming light in Miss Kami's eyes. He could not see the woman's face well, but he could see the lights that were almost ethereal. It was probably an unnamed perk of his blessing because he felt a rush of knowledge after he stared into the woman's eyes.
"-This is a really weird feeling-"
"--It should be. You can suddenly see her character lore, health details, and relationship status.--"