Assassins Guild

"Boss, the targets I spoke about earlier today will probably begin heading back soon and are expected to arrive within 24 hours if everything goes smoothly. I recommend that we send Sarah, or maybe even some of the new recruits." The man who spoke was clearly afraid of the individual in front of him. He had tried to swallow several times and spoke with several pauses between words. "I'll go this time. I don't care, take the new recruits into the city or something."

The man thought that he had said something wrong and tensed his whole body, trying to hide his fear. The individual the man referred to as "boss" slowly stood up from their chair, looking the man dead in the eye.

"Who did the client specify?" The voice was stoic and serious at all times, showing no hint of weakness or humanity.

"People fear power they don't understand... The client ordered the captain of the squad that got sent out, as well as his nearest tenants that support him. T-that should be all..."

A dagger suddenly flew in his direction, grazing his cheek and cutting off a few strands of hair, leaving small droplets of blood running down the side of his face. "Keep it shorter next time, Hannes."

In the blink of an eye, the "boss" disappeared, leaving him alone in a dark room decorated by different body limbs holding up the furniture and lamps, while heads of previously powerful or influential people were stuck up on the walls.

Following a straight line from the door, at the farthest wall away from the door, sat a throne surrounded by skulls, decorated with bones and a fabric the color of blood. Hannes still stared straight forward, not able to process what had happened. He thought he had seen his life flash before his eyes. It was clearly meant as a warning, but he knew better than anyone not to disregard orders and to take notice of even small comments. He slowly lifted his hand to the right side of his face, touching the cheek to feel if anything had happened, his jaw still hanging open. He moved his hand in front of his face, seeing blood over the fingers that had touched his cheek mere seconds ago.

Velios was seen being carried back towards a carriage. He was obviously not hurt at all, but the two knights needed to carry him anyway. Velios had forgotten how talkative some humans were. This is more tiring than my training, he thought. "What happened, and how come only you survived?" The male one asked, having to walk with his knees bent so that both of the humans had their heads at the same level.

"I... We were attacked by dragons... multiple of them... I managed to hide under my comrade's body... I didn't want to die..." Velios was pausing an unnatural amount. Velios' way of speaking made it sound false because he wasn't good at lying, but they didn't even question it, regarding it as trauma even though Velios had a pretty casual look on his face.

"What did the dragons look like?! How many of them were there?"

Velios responded with uncertainty, saying that he wasn't sure since he had been hiding most of the time.

The female one was also helping Velios by carrying him on the other side, letting Velios' left arm rest over her shoulders. She was a lot less talkative than him and had actual worry regarding the state of his health, both mentally and physically. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what he had to go through. She thought that what Velios had to go through mentally was so much that he was temporarily unable to show emotions. Her idea of what Velios suffered through was much worse and brutal than it actually was, and she was genuinely worried because of it. They might be strangers, but she thinks that every single human trapped in the game is under the same predicament, coming from the same planet and everybody fighting for their lives. Velios was eventually carried and put laying down onto the carriage floor.

"If there's anything you need, I'll be here for you, but wait here for now." she had compassion and empathy in the way she spoke, showing him that she was trustworthy.

The man had already left, and the woman ran after him, trying to catch up.

I forgot what humans were like... It's been so long since I've been with them. The man obviously did not care for me at all, and the girl seemed to do so but just a little bit too much. I just wanna go back to training... Well, I might get free food if I follow along. I'm still interested in the city, but... what's taking them so long? They had such a big army, shouldn't they have finished scouting?

Velios continued thinking to himself, using his senses to accurately determine where everything and everyone was. He was able to see quite a distance after having trained it so rigorously and he definitely thought that it was worth the extra task. Velios was sitting back, relaxing while playing with the wind and clouds, controlling them with magic while looking up at the sky, waiting for anything interesting to happen.

"Oi!" Velios remembered the voice from before. He looked up to see the captain calling him over.

Velios got up into a sitting position, watching as Smith slowly made his way towards him.

"Feeling better? We're going to start moving again when everybody gets back. We're going to have to ask you some questions on the way, but as long as you cooperate, you might even gain a reward depending on the information provided—"

A sharp blade pierced through the man's body, sending a shock through his entire body. Mr. Smith slowly looked down, seeing his clothes distort around the place where the blade was, still sticking through his chest. Blood started running down the sides of his mouth, his eyes wide open in a response to the adrenaline that began to surge through his body. A cold sweat broke out, feeling every last bit of the pain as the sword was eventually twisted before being pulled out.

"W-who...?" Mr. Smith had no chance to turn around his neck to witness who it was that had killed them. He hadn't been able to sense them nor did he hear anything. He looked up from his chest, meeting eyes with Velios, seeing that he hadn't even moved.

His body fell limp towards the ground, leaving only a massive pool of blood that surrounded his dead corpse. Screams erupted in the back, soldiers having just seen what had happened. The mystery assassin stood over the dead body, watching as they had successfully completed their main objective. The soldiers brave and loyal enough attacked first, getting their heads swiftly cut off by a sharp dagger as if they were cutting butter.

"Everybody! Stay back! Don't interfere or you'll lose your lives!" One of the remaining soldiers held up their spear, pointing it towards the assassin in an act of self-defense, otherwise standing completely still. "That must be them! The leader of the Assassins Guild! It's exactly as described... a small build hosting an unnatural amount of strength and swiftness, a cloak stenched with the blood from their victims, and clothes hiding the rest of their appearance." The rest of them were breathing heavily, neither attacking nor retreating, standing their guards, watching their captain laying there, already having been killed.

Velios was still sitting up on the carriage, watching it unfold but deciding to do nothing. Velios didn't even know what was going on and decided not to interfere. He didn't know their personal circumstances, and he didn't feel like causing a mess by interfering.

He wasn't even sure which side to trust, since he'd never met the mysterious individual before and also had no connection to the soldiers of the little army. Velios observed the new character carefully, noting their clothes, weapon type, strength, durability, speed, flexibility, but stopped after realizing that he wouldn't be entertained even if he were to fight them. Velios decided that he would just sit and watch what was about to happen.

I don't feel like stepping in, but it would be a problem if they all were to die. Who would guide me to the city then? ...I'll step in if I have to, but I should probably give them a warning.

"Miss, can you make sure not to kill all of them? I still need to get to the city." Velios said it casually and thought nothing of it. The assassin immediately turned around at hearing those words.

"What did you say...?" Their voice was low and barely audible to the normal human ear. Even with the clothing, Velios could still clearly see their facial expression, their body language, and even the shape and anatomy of their body. Their face was full of irritation and anger rapidly building up, but it was clear even to Velios that they were trying to hide it.

"You're not on the client's list. Stay out of this, or I'll show you no mercy. I won't hesitate to kill you afterward." Their voice was now much more audible and didn't sound raspy like most men's voices did. It was clearly threatening, and Velios found similarities between how he himself and they spoke.

The guards kept on holding their guards until one of their heads suddenly fell off. They had been far away from her, and she was suddenly within range. One after another, they were all brutally decapitated without being able to do as much as touch her. None of their attacks landed, and it seemed like the assassin was skilled. Velios doubted that she would go on to kill every single soldier there, and she was also talking about some "client's list," which further indicated that they only killed those necessary.

Velios would probably be interrogated by the government if they found out that he had sat there and done nothing, so he acted like he was unconscious, still watching as the murdering unfolded. Before long, the assassin had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, leaving behind a pile of corpses spread out. Velios could hear distant screaming and shouting as the rest of the soldiers had returned to see everybody murdered in front of them.