198 Chapter 198: Assassination

I wasn't given any opportunity to celebrate, however. An enraged shriek echoed behind me, and I turned to see Selina lunging forward.

I no longer had any strength left to evade or defend myself. I weakly raised both Gan Jiang and Mo Ye to parry her blade, but she twisted around and kicked me. The blow was crushing, rattling my already shattered ribcage whose shards of bones were embedded in my lungs and most likely rupturing an internal organ.

"Gah!"

Crashing across the ruins of the devastated city, I coughed out another mouthful of blood. My consciousness tilted, clouded in a red haze, and I collapsed over. I didn't even have the strength left to lean on both of my swords.

"You killed him…" Selina hissed as she strode over to me, her hair almost rising from the potent mana that now suffused her. I suddenly understood that Anastasia might have been defeated earlier while I was trying to finish off Hades. "You killed Hades!"

"H…he was trying to kill me…" I croaked. "W…what did you…e…expect? T…that I'll just lie down a…and let him k…kill me?"

"YES!"

I give up. There was no reasoning with this bitch.

"You're making a huge fuss over losing your contracted spirit. Didn't you say you could always summon him again, albeit with difficulty? All you need is a bunch of resources and a lot of time, right? Overreaction much?"

Selina's reaction was puzzling me. She wasn't behaving like a normal summoner would upon losing a contracted spirit or Soul Beast. She was being overly emotional.

"He wasn't just my contracted spirit, you son of a bitch! He was my brother!" Selina shrieked a she kicked me. "You killed my brother!"

Normally I would muster up a retort at that, but the revelation shocked me a little too much. Her brother? That berserk gigantic spirit was her brother? What the hell was this bitch rambling about? Wasn't he a spirit?

Ah…the sacrifice. Selina mentioned a huge sacrifice. A vessel with a bond strong enough with the summoner in order to bind the summoned spirit to this dimension.

That meant…Selina used her own brother as the vessel. She sacrificed her own blood-related brother in order to bind Hades into a contract. No…wait…

"Your brother's name…was it Hades?"

"Shut up! You have no right to speak my brother's name!"

All this time I had thought that Hades was the name of Selina's contracted spirit. That he was some legendary spirit that embodied the Greek god of death. As it turned out, Hades was the name of Selina's brother.

Then Angelica…what about Angelica? That wasn't the name of Dad's contracted spirit, was it? Could it be…?

I didn't dare imagine it.

"Even though I'll be able to summon my contracted spirit again, I will need to find a new vessel! That won't bring my brother back, even if I get a new vessel! You killed my brother! And now I will kill you, you fucking bastard!"

Selina raised her sword and plunged it downward, getting ready to finish me off. I closed my eyes briefly as the point of her blade streaked toward my face.

"!!!"

Selina suddenly halted and jumped away as something flashed through the place where her head had been. A poisoned knife, thrown from somewhere. She twisted around and intercepted a lethal strike from Anastasia, who had recovered and resumed her assault.

"Your opponent is me," Anastasia informed her coolly before kicking her in the knee. Selina's leg buckled and she fell into a kneeling posture, but she still warded off Anastasia's dual daggers with her sword.

Black mana rippled through her ominous blade and blasted off in a scythe-shaped arc. Anastasia sliced through the spell with one of her daggers, and then parried Selina's riposte with her other dagger, sparks flying between them.

The two girls almost wrestled, locked in deadly combat with each other.

"I'll kill you both!" Selina swore. "I'll definitely kill you both!"

"How do you plan to do that without your contracted spirit?" Anastasia asked with an innocent smile. Selina's face twisted in fury.

"Shut up!"

Selina forced Anastasia back with another sweeping slice of her sword. Anastasia did a cartwheel, one of her foot catching Selina in the chin and throwing her back.

"Kuh!"

The Assassin in black rubbed her bruised jaw, and wiped away a trickle of blood from her mouth. Her eyes bulged in fury.

"You…you…!"

Anastasia didn't wait for her to finish cursing. She swooped down with both of her daggers, forcing Selina to block once more. Spinning around, she kicked Selina in the small of her back, sending her staggering forward.

"Your movements have gotten a little slower than before," she observed.

"Shut up!"

It was clear that Selina had been mentally affected by the demise of her Servant…I mean contracted spirit. Her reflexes had become somewhat dulled and her decision-making no longer on point. Anastasia was getting more hits in and Selina was rising to the former's provocations and becoming too reckless.

Despite Anastasia's taunts and successful kicks, Selina was still able to somehow avoid any lethal blow from her dagger or poisoned weapons. She staggered back, keeping Ana at a safe distance with her sword.

More mana billowed from her blade ominously, and with a shout, Selina unleashed a blast that scythed through a building, cutting it into several pieces.

Anastasia dove to the side, ducking the massive attack, and responded by throwing another poisoned knife. Selina merely whirled around to evade it, and then she lunged at her retreating opponent, determined to stop her from escaping.

Clang!

Her sword cleaved through a falling debris, scattering more concrete about. Despite having used the rain of rubble as cover, Anastasia found it difficult to shrug off her opponent. She spun around and parried Selina's sword, and then blocked the latter's kick before returning with a kick of her own, catching her opponent in the solar plexus and forcing her back.

"Bitch!"

"You're the real bitch here," I snapped, despite my voice almost bubbling from the blood that now flooded my lungs. Damn…if I didn't get any first aid treatment soon, I would probably die from my injuries. I was actually amazed I hadn't died yet.

Selina probably didn't hear me, or she couldn't care less about the ramblings of a dying man. She continued to assault Anastasia who was slowly being driven back by the overwhelming pressure. Beads of perspiration ran down Ana's face as she struggled to keep up.

She glanced at me, her emerald eyes sparkling for a moment, and I sort of understood what she was thinking.

We had split the mission between us and chosen our respective opponents. I had offered to take Hades on because I had somewhat speculated (correctly, as it turned out) the true nature of his abilities, and knew that Anastasia's poison wouldn't work on him (probably take out one of his lives and then he would become immune to it, not unless she had something as potent as my Hercules's Hydra Arrows). In contrast, all she needed was one cut and Selina would succumb to her deadly poison. Yet, here we were, me having killed Hades thirteen times and she still hadn't accomplishing her mission.

This wasn't to say Anastasia was incompetent. It was just that Selina was extremely skilled. It was only natural, given how Selina was also trained as an Assassin and rated as among the most powerful in the Assassins Guild. In fact, I was impressed that Anastasia was able to pressure her to this extent despite apparently not being ranked very highly within that organization.

"No pressure," I called out to my partner, trying to plaster on a smile. "Take your time. Slow and steady and all that."

Even so, Anastasia didn't seem satisfied. Her lips curled as she studied me for a moment before glancing at the crater where the remains of Hades lay. Her eyes gleamed slightly, as if she had been weighing several ideas in her mind before she finally came to a decision. Then she returned her attention to her opponent.

Selina was still shrieking incoherently, slashing almost wildly, without any elegance or form. It was just pure violence now, the manifestation of her murderous intent. She was hacking and slashing repeatedly, trying to overwhelm her opponent through sheer number of strikes.

Taking a deep breath, Anastasia suddenly stopped dodging. When Selina thrust her sword forward, she didn't move and allowed the blade to puncture her shoulder. Blood gushed out of her wound, but she gritted her teeth and stood still, refusing to yield.

"Hah!"

Selina crowed and worked to stab her sword deeper into her opponent's wound, but her triumph was short-lived.

While she pressed onward, Anastasia struck. Selina, who had expecting Ana to be in shock after taking such a huge hit, wasn't able to avoid the latter's counterattack. Anastasia sliced forward with both of her daggers, one of them slitting Selina's throat and rupturing her carotid artery. The second dagger plunged into her chest, driving deep into her heart.

"G…!?"

Selina staggered back, gargling feebly. She let go of her sword and clutching at her ruined throat, still unaware that her heart had also been stabbed. Unable to make any proper sound, she keeled over, her eyes bulging and turning bloodshot. Her skin was turning gray and she began frothing at the mouth as the poison took effect.

Heaving heavily, Anastasia watched her enemy for a few seconds before she sheathed her daggers. Gripping the sword with both her hands, she cried out as she yanked it out. Stumbling forward, she glared spitefully at Selina before beheading her.

As a former Assassin, she was taking no chances. Selina might be playing dead, faking her demise until we leave. Anastasia was going to ensure there was no way she would miraculously return to life. Come to think of it, Anastasia probably knew best the methods of faking one's death and surviving poisons.

"Ana! Are y…you all r…right?"

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I was still lying on the ground, unable to move. Anastasia snorted as she tossed the sword to the side and staggered toward me.

"Fancy you asking me that. You're in much worse shape than I am." She looked a little glum as she studied me. Her face turned white when she realized how close I as to death. "I'm sorry, I don't know any healing spells. But I'll do my best."

"Take c…care of yourself f…first."

Anastasia glanced at the shoulder wound I was staring at, and snorted. "This is just a scratch. I'll live. You, on the other hand…" she sighed in exasperation. "You were way too reckless. I know the enemy is a monster, but you shouldn't have tried to take him on alone like that. Do you think you're some sort of heroic spirit with a reality marble?"

"H…hey, I try…"

"Oh, just stop talking for a while." Anastasia kneeled beside me and began applying emergency first aid with whatever she had on hand. However, there was absolutely nothing she could do. I mean, what were you supposed to do with a broken ribcage? Bandage my chest? That would just drive the bone shards deeper into my lungs. What about my massive blood loss? There was no place where she could get blood bags to begin a transfusion.

"But you're amazing, you know?" Anastasia shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you actually defeated that monster. You killed him thirteen times. Thirteen! A monster like that?! I wonder if you are even human…"

"You killed Selina too." I smiled weakly, my voice a whisper. "You get to claim the honor of slaying the Grim Reaper."

"The honor belongs to us both." Anastasia held my hand firmly. "So don't go dying on me. I won't accept this." she sighed again. "You really are too reckless."

"I'm not sure you're in any position to be saying that," I muttered, staring at her shoulder. Anastasia rolled her eyes.

"Compared to the injuries you've sustained, this is nothing. I couldn't shy away from finishing the battle unscathed after you've risked and sacrificed so much." Anastasia paused for a moment. "Besides, at that time you had already slain that monstrous spirit. Initially I was trying not to get hurt because I thought I could assist you to fight that monster together. I never thought you would be able to destroy him before I eliminated my target."

I see. So that was what Anastasia was pondering about that last few seconds before she allowed Selina to stab her. She was weighing the risks of sustaining an injury to finish her opponent in certain fashion, and now that the other threats in the vicinity had been eliminated, she decided that it was safe to risk an arm (or shoulder) to ensure the termination of her target.

And it paid off.

I closed my eyes and smiled to myself. Anastasia was truly a former Assassin, huh? Not some damsel in distress who suddenly forgot her previous vocation just because she met the protagonist, and the writer needed to inflate and assuage his masculine ego by making all his heroines suddenly useless just so his male protagonist can swoop in and save her and inevitably add her to his harem. This wasn't some cheesy and badly written isekai light novel with a terrible anime adaptation.

"Good thing the Grim Reaper cleared the surroundings of monsters as she got here, and so did we." Anastasia plopped down beside me, still holding my hand. "We'll wait for reinforcements." She looked a little sheepish. "I'll let the boss know that you won't be able to use your Strategic-scale spell."

He probably already knew what happened, because my glasses had been transmitting the data in real-time the entire time.

But I was in too much agony and exhaustion to correct Anastasia, so I merely nodded silently.

"Apologize to everyone for me," I muttered, and then closed my eyes to allow the darkness to take me into oblivion.