Chapter 61: Assassination at Midnight

After dinner, I returned home. Since I was taking a route from the restaurant instead of from the naval shipyards, the snipers who were waiting for me (not that I knew about them at that time) missed me completely. As such, I reached home safely, without getting shot.

After a quick shower, I watched some anime and then prepared to go to bed. It was going to be the weekend, which meant we wouldn't be working tomorrow. I had specified with the military that my staff were not to work during weekends, even during the "crisis." I had to explain to them that it was counterproductive to force my workers into overtime. We were more likely to make more mistakes and screw up the prototype, so I declared our weekends free. I refused to allow my staff to work during the weekends.

Part of it was because I wanted my weekends free as well so that I could play. I needed a break. And I wanted to play my tabletop war games where I had my miniatures of giant robots stomp about, crushing the foul xenos and evil heretics that plagued the 41st millennium. It sucked that I couldn't play during the weekdays, and the weekends were the only time I got to play with my models.

Unsurprisingly, my primary faction was the one with giant robots that were piloted by noble pilots. Yay. I love giant robots.

Fortunately, I had chosen not to sleep so early because right in the middle of watching anime, I heard a noise. I was immediately up from my seat, my plasma pistol in my hand. I also reached for my laser sword and hung it from the hem of my pants but not activating it just yet.

If there was a trespasser in my house, I would like to keep my laser blade hidden for a nasty surprise.

Inwardly, I felt a little aggrieved. I didn't know why these idiots kept harassing me. Like, seriously? Why were they always targeting me and trying to assassinate me? What did I ever do to them?

Oh, right. I threatened their hegemony on the market and made them fear for their profits. Human greed was something that I could never wrap my head around. Personally, I didn't know what I would do with so much money. I was happy with having just enough to buy my games and models. That was all I needed. As long as I could afford a house, a car and my games, I was contented.

Not everyone thought the same as me. They weren't happy unless they were number one, unless they were the richest and most powerful. And anyone who appeared to challenge their wealth or status must be eliminated. How childish.

In any event, I was used to assassins trying to sneak into my house. Even though I had installed security systems and the like, it still didn't prevent professional assassins from infiltrating. I mean, there was a reason why they were "professional" assassins and received so much pay (usually numbering in the millions). They could circumvent whatever security systems I put in place.

I had the military alerted just in case I needed help, and then I waited.

The assassin came through the door, kicking it open and lunging at me. I fired my plasma pistol, forcing the figure to dart to the side and ducked. I continued sweeping my barrel about, steadying my aim and trying to follow the assassin's movements. I caught a glimpse of black and was forced to dodge myself while offering return fire.

"Oh…okay…"

As the neural dart from the neural pistol embedded itself deeply into the wall behind me, I glanced up and noticed that the assassin this time was female. She was dressed completely in black, her curvaceous body clad in a skintight suit that clung to her wide hips and emphasized her slender waist. The fabric appeared to hug her breasts and ass so tightly I could almost see everything. Except her face, of course, which was concealed underneath a black mask.

She had a utility belt and a luminous sword that glowed an ominous green. In her other hand, she carried a neural pistol that continued to spit out toxic darts that would kill me instantly if I wasn't busily dodging behind my desk.

I discouraged her with another superheated blast from my plasma pistol. I lucked out this time, the azure blob of plasma disintegrating her neural pistol and almost burning off her hand. She recoiled, her skintight "armor" partially incinerated to reveal slightly burned flesh underneath. If it wasn't for her advanced suit providing adequate protection, her hand would have been burned right off.

With a curse, she lunged at me, her phase sword easily slicing through my desk as a hot knife through butter. I tried to fire my plasma pistol pointblank into her face, but she managed to block it with her phase sword. Even so, the explosion flung the both of us apart.

"Ugh!"

I grunted as I hit the wall. The female assassin made no such noise, as disciplined as she was. Instead, she sprang back to her feet and propelled herself toward me without missing a beat.

Clearly she was very well trained.

Somehow I had lost my grip on my plasma pistol earlier during the explosion, but I still had my laser sword. Unclipping it from the hem of my trousers, I activated it and a blue light flared to life. Relying on my instincts, I parried the assassin's green sword. Sparks flew between us and we disengaged before trading another couple of blows.

The both of us circled each other warily before exchanging another few strikes, blue clashing against green. The assassin whirled around, blocking a strike from me before throwing a kick at my midriff. I brought my knee up to block her foot, but her augmented strength sent me hurtling toward the wall.

Augmented strength…either the female assassin had been genetically enhanced or the suit boosted her strength. I didn't know which was the case, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that I had to take her superior physical strength into consideration. So what if she was a woman? All that mattered was that she was stronger than me. Underestimating her because of her gender would be a death sentence.

Not to mention, female assassins were superior to male assassins in several aspects.

Before I could recover, the assassin had nimbly launched herself forward to deliver the finishing blow. I ducked, allowing her phase sword to stab deeply into the wall behind me. The thick material was no impediment to her attack, the eerily glowing green blade effortlessly carving through the concrete as if the wall was intangible.

Fortunately, I had bought myself a few seconds, which I spent on counterattacking. Stabbing forward with my newly ignited laser sword, I almost killed the assassin, but she let go of her phase sword and reflexively retreated. Even so, I managed to cut open her mask. The synthetic fabric hung in two pieces, revealing her beautiful face within. Sapphire eyes widened in shock.

Gritting her teeth, the assassin kicked me away, but I jumped to the side before slashing with my laser sword. She wisely pulled her leg out of the way before I could cut it off and reached for her utility belt. Realizing the danger, I charged forward before she could draw a new weapon and thrust my glowing blade at her chest.

The assassin did a backflip, cartwheeling above my sword before putting as much distance between us as she could. I twirled my laser sword, watching her movements warily and trying to close in. unfortunately, the distance meant that she could pull out something from her utility belt and throw it at me. Without thinking, I cut it, and smoke poured out.

A dark shape shifted through the smoke that clouded the room, but I managed to see her in time before she collided against me. Correcting my stance, I stabbed her, but she realized the danger at the last second and dropped down. My blade punctured her shoulder, leaving a cauterized wound and causing her to hiss in pain. Before I could cut off her arm, she slammed a palm into my abdomen and sent me reeling, my blade sliding out of her wound in steaming blood.

The assassin then tried to kick me, an attempt to break my neck. I was already falling, but I managed to reignite my laser sword to force her to withdraw her leg. Hitting the ground, I rolled away before she could stomp downward. As I did, I found myself stumbling onto my plasma pistol. I quickly picked it up and fired vaguely in her direction. The assassin was forced to dodge, her lightning reflexes saving her. This time, she dove out of my room.

I kept the barrel of my plasma pistol aimed at the door where she disappeared out of, supporting it with the hilt of my deactivated laser sword. For a moment, I heard nothing but my gasping breaths, and perhaps the roar of my pulse as my blood pounded in my head and ears. I half-expected the assassin to show up again, not just through the door, but from another angle.

My eyes darted around, studying the walls and the window. So far, nothing. I did receive a holographic alert that the military was arriving. I could hear their vehicles pulling up in front of my house. That was fast, considering that they had to mobilize out of their camp and drive here.

Looked like the assassin wouldn't be returning anytime soon. Not tonight, at least.

Sighing, I then picked up the phase sword that was stuck inside my wall. It had deactivated after the assassin was forced to abandon it. And now it was mine. I would probably surrender it to the military, who would study the weapon and find clues as to who the owner was. As much as I wanted to try and replicate the sword, finding out the identity of the assassin was my priority.

I remembered the face behind the mask, though. The assassin was a female Caucasian with blue eyes and blond hair, I believed. Was she from the Western Continent, or Country A? Or perhaps Country R, just above Hua Xia? I didn't know.

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I waited for the soldiers to come running in. I had best assure them that I was all right before their commanders vented their frustrations upon their subordinates for being "too late."

Honestly, this wasn't their fault. Unless I allowed them to put me on house arrest and was completely deprived of my freedom, there was little they could do to prevent this sort of things.

The only way was to find the culprits and eliminate them once and for all.

Closing my eyes, an idea occurred to me. I was no longer going to sit back passively and let the assassins come to me. It was time to fight back.

Tomorrow, I would talk to Bu Fan…and then my counterattack would finally begin.