The Assassination

*****

Arthur took out his blowpipe and quickly loading it with hallucination darts, he coated his feet with [Abyssal Shroud] and jumped on to the roof. His coated feet made less noise of his jump which caused the archer stationed on the roof to be caught unaware. His eyes widened upon seeing Arthur, who quickly took out a dagger and slit his throat in an instant.

Arthur landed on the roof and quietly lay the body of the archer down besides him. For most people, they wouldn't be able to bear killing a person, much less being fine after it like nothing had happened. But for Arthur who had been an assassin in his previous life, the act of killing was like the act of breathing. It was necessary for survival.

This was why when he had slit the man's throat, no emotion like regret or guilt had coursed through him. His eyes right were the same cold and indifferent like in his previous life, and they would be like this for those who were not close to him and were his enemies.

Focusing on his surroundings, there were three more archers in his north, west and east. Although he could kill them again, Arthur didn't want to take such risks. He wanted to complete the mission quickly and get out of here as fast as he could, the security of a Dukedom was no joke after all.

So he quickly blew three darts at the archers, who got hit by them straight in the back. The archers immediately dropped unconscious because he had used a very high hallucinogen for this purpose. He quickly moved to the center of the roof to avoid being seen and analyzed his situation further.

Initially, Arthur had planned to circle the house from outside and infiltrate through the window but not he had to quickly change his plans. Due to having experience as an assassin, he knew to always keep his senses sharp. And right now, he could sense various presences in the house and around it armed to the brim.

'I can't go like I had planned, it would be nothing more than suicide' Arthur concluded and began thinking of another way to go past.

Right then, he heard the sound of water gushing from nearby. It was very faint, quite faint enough to go unnoticed but he had picked them up right now barely with his senses. The question was that why was there a sound of water on the top of a mountain? If he remembered correctly, there wasn't supposed to be any stream or river atop this mountain and although one could say that water would be there of course, for bathing and drinking, the sound was a little loud for a sound which was supposed to be coming from inside the house.

That's when suddenly realization hit him, he had been a little stupid to not realize it up till now, because the sound he was hearing wasn't water actually, it was sewage waste! No matter where your housing or manor was, the sewage system was a must to be there.

In his past life, multiple times he had used the sewage systems of houses and mansions to get to a specific room or the target's room and it was the same right now as well! He quickly focused on his senses even more and started to stealthily head towards the source of the noise.

Soon, he arrived at the boundary of the manor, which was also almost the edge of the mountain as well. There he saw a large opening, out of which polluted water was gushing out and going straight off the mountain. He quickly shrouded his feet again and jumped down towards the opening of the sewage duct.

The sewage duct was closed off with bars that were quickly closely placed, such that a normal person could not pass between them but for Arthur who was 10 years old, he could easily pass without any problems and he did just that. As he entered the tunnel, he quickly opened the blueprints of the manor that had been given to him by his father. All the manors of every Dukedom were exactly same due to the decree of the Imperius and this proved to be quite helpful for Arthur, who quickly saw the manger's room.

With his intelligence at full throttle, Arthur quickly analyzed the blueprint and the sewage duct and before long, he had merged the map and the opening of sewage duct. He had found out the way to the bathroom of the manager and so he shot at full speed towards the bathroom. Occasionally, he would see rats who would scurry about and lizards but he was quite used to this disgusting sight not only as a previous assassin but also as an orphan.

After quite a while, he arrived in front of the opening of the bathroom of the finance manager which was situated just above him. Using [Spectral Steps] he propelled himself towards the opening and at the last moment created another and climbed atop of it. Then, he quietly slid the opening of the bathroom to make no noise and got out of it. The bathroom was quite expansive but ordinarily furnished with a bath tub and normal tools for bathing. Shrouding again, he quietly walked out of the bathroom, taking extraordinary attention to not make any noise opening the door.

As he got arrived in the room, it was even more expansive and expensively adorned with intricate furnishings and ornaments which quite made sense for a person who was a finance manager. Then the voice of snoring reached his ears, and his gaze landed upon a figure sprawled out on the bed, sleeping deeply.

The man was in his late 40's with a tanned face and short cropped beard, he had quite the unique business man face. He was snoring without a care in the world as if he no worry about his safety. And Arthur also suspected that the finance manager would have at least some security even if he wasn't such an important person.

He spread out his sharpened senses and immediately noticed the oddities in the room such as the titled picture, the uneven tile of the marble floor and a needle protruding out of a wall at the far end with other as well. An inexperienced eye wouldn't be able to see and notice these but Arthur had quickly analyzed the traps in the room.

Avoiding them, he carefully reached the finance minister and used a retractable blade in his suit to slit the throat of the minister and end his life. He didn't want to use any things that might be left here and would be used as a trace. He retracted his blade and quickly went back into the bathroom and jumped back into the sewers before quickly running back towards the entrance at full speed.

He arrived at the entrance once again after a while and quickly jumped onto the roof, only to notice that all of the security in the manor had suddenly disappeared in an instant, it was like they were never there to begin with. Even using his sharpened senses, Arthur couldn't sense anything. His eyes widened upon this but he quickly composed himself.

Although the manor might have realized, and this might be a trap Arthur could use [Shadow Blend]- whose cooldown had finally ended- to get out of here.

'[Shadow Blend]'

Instantly like before his shadow melted into the eternal darkness of the night, and without wasting a moment he launched himself towards the mountain's edge with full speed. But just as he was 5 meters from the edge, an arrow came at blinding speed and hit his shadow right at the lower side.

"Argh!!"

His skill immediately disrupted and his form returned back into his physical form. Even with his awareness, he wasn't able to sense the arrow and it hit his calf with a dangerous precision and strength. Arthur saw a man come out of the shadows of the manor, from where the arrow had been shot from.

The man seemed to be at a glance in his mid 20's with quite handsome features. He had high and jutted cheekbones with a sharp jawline, grey alabaster eyes and pristine white hair just like Arthur. The man had a devilish grin implanted on his face, and in that moment Arthur could immediately feel a sheer amount of terror and strength from the guy, such that his instinct immediately told Arthur to run or activate that skill and without wasting a moment, he activated the skill.

'[Assassin's Apathy]'

Immediately his eyes and aura grew more colder than before and a deadly aura started to originate from him. Unfortunately, the man didn't seem to be fazed in the least as he kept walking towards him and suddenly his form vanished and in an instant appeared in front of Arthur, who couldn't even react. A sharp and precise blow hit him straight in the stomach and air and blood gushed out his mouth and his form shot backwards with immense speed towards the other edge of the mountain.

Arthur's body collided with the ground but still didn't stop and kept flying away before finally coming to a halt at the immediate edge of the mountain. Again, in an instant the man appeared in front of him and quickly seized his throat before holding him high in the air over the edge. Although, Arthur's form was in a bad shape with just a single punch right now, his mind didn't seem to care about any of that due to the use of the skill. The man scrutinized Arthur from head to toe, before his voice came out in an amused and hearty tone with a chuckle.

"So you're Arthur huh? I have to say actually, that your assassination skills are quite solid as a kid."

Arthur didn't reply and retorted with his own question in a cold and monotone voice,

"Who are you? and how do you know me?"

The man chuckled mockingly and then replied again with a mocking tone,

"You know, for a kid who is just a second away from death you shouldn't be asking such questions. But I can't blame you as well. Don't worry I won't kill you, after all I can't just end my game with his right here."

Arthur realized at that moment that the man had let down his guard a little and so he quickly brought out the teleport device while choking and pressed it. Spatial sounds erupted from nearby and soon a portal popped up in the place, and the man turned his gaze towards it. But the man's smile didn't fade, almost like he had expected it. Then he turned his gaze back to Arthur.

"Oh well, I was hoping to toy with you a little more but I guess he won't be happy with this."

After the words left his lips, the man immediately tossed Arthur up in the air and he expected that the man was going to drop him off the mountain. But just as he fell a little, the man delivered a gut wrenching kick at his side, causing his body to blow away again at supersonic speeds straight into the portal, losing his consciousness.

But before his vision could fade, he caught the sight of the man again smirking and looking down at him and he heard his last words.

"Don't worry, we'll meet again soon. After all, you're his chosen one."

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