216 Chapter 216: Massacre

At first, nobody knew what the red lights were about. More than a few of them watched dumbly as the red lights lanced through them. A guy watched as the light shone on his arm, while a girl fearfully cowered as the light shone upon her shoulder.

Then the guy's left arm fell off, as if cut and cauterized by a laser. The girl's body fell apart, the left side beyond her shoulder coming off cleanly.

"My…my arm!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The guy cried out in shock while the girl shrieked. Elsewhere, similar incidents were happening all over the place. Shun Yin glanced around, but surprisingly enough his area was clear. Other than the light that seemed to be aiming straight for Charles, there weren't any other crimson lasers in his vicinity. After checking to see if the stunned and spluttering Charles was all right, he hopped off the stage to check on the others.

"Shun Yin!"

As expected, Glen was all right as well, having moved on reflex to move away from the red lights. Shun Yin nodded as he caught up with his friend.

"What's going on?"

"How should I know?!" Glen snapped. Then he composed himself. "All of a sudden these red lights came down from the sky and started cutting people up! Are they some sort of attack spell?!"

"They must be," Shun Yin replied as he glanced up. The fog was still around, but it was no longer firing red lasers. However, it seemed to be thickening, settling around the school courtyard and obscuring vision.

"How can you be so calm?" Glen demanded, staring at him. "We're under attack right now, and you're still as cool as a cucumber…"

Almost all his life, Shun Yin had always wanted to be a hero…an ally of justice. So it wasn't surprising that he was constantly envisioning a scenario such as this. Even so, the death and injuries occurring throughout Vermillion High had him aghast. However, he understood that this was the moment he needed to stay calm, or he would never be able to save anybody.

"We need to bring the wounded to the infirmary. Let's hurry…"

A scream cut off his instructions. Both Shun Yin and Glen spun around and caught sight of dark shapes moving through the fog. Surviving students, both wounded and unscathed, were being cut down and cleaved apart by Assassins in black, taking advantage of the shock and confusion to move through the fog unseen and launch surprise attacks.

"Help me!"

"Ugh!"

One of the students' heads flew off as the Assassin decapitated him, while a girl gurgled as another Assassin slit her throat. Shun Yin froze for just a second, and then he sprang into action, drawing his sword and launching a blast of flames at the callous killers.

However, a dark shadow surged between them and intercepted his flames. Shun Yin watched, stunned, as his fire burned away the shadow, but the darkness was replaced by gray fog. Now he could no longer see the rest of his schoolmates except for Glen.

"What…what's going on?! Who are those people?! Why are they slaughtering the students of Vermillion High?"

Glen's usually composed voice was breaking, his eyes wide after he saw the bloody carnage in front of his eyes. He gritted his teeth and began casting lightning spells to wreath his hands in deadly electricity.

"Those shadows…" Shun Yin found something familiar about them…as if he had seen those shadows somewhere before, and just recently too. He was sure he knew the caster. Even as the name came to mind, a chuckle cut across his thoughts.

"Still as impressive as ever, I see. I knew you would be able to escape the Crimson Rain spell, but I never imagined you would still have the composure to counterattack against my men."

Both Shun Yin and Glen turned around to regard the man in a salaryman suit, his usual short black hair slick with gel and his eyes crimson. He spread out both hands to give off a seemingly helpless manner.

"The both of you are really talented kids. I can see why the Grand Master admires you."

"Ying Bu Si," Shun Yin hissed silently. Glen glanced at him in surprise.

"You know this guy?"

"Yeah. We've met. I almost killed him, but he escaped."

"That's an exaggeration, you know." Ying Bu Si looked as if he was hurt. "You were never able to kill me. I always had the ability to escape, but I just wanted to talk to you a little bit more."

"There's nothing for us to talk about." Shun Yin closed his eyes momentarily and listened. The screams and shrieks were still faint, but they were dwindling. The students were being slaughtered systemically and inevitably. "You must have brought your Assassins from the Assassins Guild."

"They are not 'my' Assassins, but you are correct. We have been employed en masse to ensure the destruction of your school…and of the Porter clan."

"What are you guys talking about?" Glen demanded, at a complete loss. "What do you mean, destruction of our school and the Porter clan? Why…?"

"I don't know the details, but it seems that someone employed the Assassins Guild to exterminate your entire clan…and since Vermillion High is an affiliate under the Porter family, they must be included within the list of targets."

"What? Why?!" Glen gaped at Shun Yin after the explanation, but he turned to glare at Ying Bu Si. "Who hired you? Why do they want the Porter clan destroyed?!"

"I can't tell you right now…clients' privacy and all that. We have to protect their interests and we're bound by the contract. However, if you join us and become an Assassin, then of course we can share the details with you. How about it?"

Ying Bu Si raised a hand invitingly.

"You're asking us to join the Assassins Guild?" Glen asked incredulously.

"Of course," Ying Bu Si replied good-naturedly. "The Grand Master has his sights on you both. Especially you, Huang Shun Yin. Your potential has impressed him, and he wishes for you to be among our ranks. You have the potential to be the next Grand Master…and he's hoping to raise you as his successor."

"No."

"Aw…a straight and immediate rejection again. You're really hurting us, you know?" Ying Bu Si shook his head. "All that strength, power and talent, and you're going to let it go to waste? You might possibly be the most powerful Assassin alive if you allow us to train you."

"I will only ever have one master."

"That old man from the Miyamoto dojo?" Ying Bu Si scowled. "I'll admit, he's probably the one person I don't want to fight, besides the Grand Master himself. Well…if he's the one teaching you, then I guess I can't complain if you choose to learn under him instead of becoming an Assassin. Our beliefs are much too incompatible."

Shaking his head, he sighed.

"I really don't want to do this, but…"

He never got to finish his sentence. Shun Yin dashed forward, slashing his sword at him. Ying Bu Si dodged him, but Shun Yin changed the direction of his sword almost immediately and sliced upward, forcing the Umbra Assassin to raise a hand to parry it. Once again, the same shadows billowed outward from the damaged arm, but Ying Bu Si showed no sign of pain.

"Hey! How rude! I was still talking, you know?"

Shun Yin couldn't care less. Instead, he pressured Ying Bu Si with his sword.

"Call off the attack. Now."

"I don't have the authority to do so."

With a grin, Ying Bu Si completed his casting and launched several shadowy appendages at Shun Yin. For a moment, the fire mage could see an impression of a gigantic shadowy spider towering behind the Umbra Assassin, its monstrous visage glaring at him with clacking mandibles. Eight spiky shadows lashed out, piercing the ground and obliterating concrete.

Shun Yin effortlessly evaded the bombardment of shadowy spikes, weaving through their devastating barrage. Gripping his sword, he cast his own fire spell and unleashed it, washing over half of the eight legs with blazing flames. In an instant, four of the shadowy appendages simply ceased to exist, incinerated into nothingness by the ferocious fire.

"Not bad, not bad! Very impressive!"

Ying Bu Si was clapping his hands, applauding Shun Yin's movements. His remaining shadowy appendages lanced forward, trying to pierce the younger man, but Shun Yin dodged them gracefully. Spinning around, he sliced apart another leg before twisting his body in midair to dodge another. Throwing out a hand, he pushed himself off the ground to retreat beyond another slashing appendage. While he whirled in the air, he unleashed another torrent of flames that bathed the last appendage, destroying it.

Ying Bu Si withdrew his two remaining shadowy appendages and looked at them in mock dismay.

"Oh my, oh my. It seems that you've really done a number on my arms."

Shun Yin didn't reply and instead launched himself at Ying Bu Si again. The Umbra Assassin smirked and spread out both hands, as if inviting his assailant to stab him in the chest.

And then six new shadowy appendages unfurled from behind his back, the insubstantial gigantic spider aura still manifesting behind him. They lanced forward once more, stabbing at the advancing Shun Yin.

Even so, Shun Yin wasn't taken by surprise. He calmly leaped over the first one while cutting apart the second one. Landing on the third one, he ran along its length before jumping off to bath the other five in flames. The inferno blazed and burned away parts of the fog, but Shun Yin saw no sign of the Assassins or other students. Even though they had suffered massive casualties, the strongest and most elite of the students were still putting up a good fight, holding out against the superior Assassins.

Unfortunately, Shun Yin didn't have the luxury to worry about them. He knew how powerful Ying Bu Si was…a single lapse in concentration, one slight misstep and Ying Bu Si would pounce on him and deliver a fatal blow.

Whirling around, he cut off the last three shadowy appendages that were stabbing at him from behind…or tried to. Then he landed on the ground before springing at the seemingly helpless Ying Bu Si.

"Oh boy…"

Just before Ying Bu Si was going to get stabbed, he suddenly grinned. Eight new shadowy appendages unfolded and lanced toward Shun Yin. At such close range, there was no way he would be able to dodge…

But Shun Yin never intended to evade them.

Skidding to a stop, he swung his sword and incinerated all eight of them at once with a blast of crimson flames. The inferno expanded to engulf not just the shadowy appendages but the shocked Ying Bu Si as well, bathing him in superheated mana and burning him to a crisp.

Or tried to, anyway.

"Ouch! This is hot!"

A charred Ying Bu Si stumbled out of the inferno, his body fuming. Shun Yin mercilessly cut him down, his blade cleaving into his shoulder and penetrating all the way to his chest. Ying Bu Si stumbled and then fell to his knees.

"Ugh…"

"Now call off the attack."

"I already told you…I can't. It's not as if I'm the Grand Master of Assassins. I don't command anyone. I just follow orders. But…"

Ying Bu Si grinned as he looked up at Shun Yin.

"!!! Oh no, damn it…!"

Shun Yin realized his mistake when he caught sight of the strange seal in Ying Bu Si's eyes. Some kind of cursed eyes…a spell that Ying Bu Si had been casting the entire time. He couldn't move in time to avoid eye contact, knowing that he would get caught up in the spell and…

Sizzle!

Twin lightning bolts arced forward and destroyed Ying Bu Si's eyes. The Umbra Assassin cried out as his head snapped back, the melted remains of his eyes smoking and sparking with golden electricity.

"That was dangerous," Glen remarked as he strode forward, his hand still crackling with lethal lightning. He then stopped to glare at Ying Bu Si. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Mr. Assassin."

"Ha ha…I guess I got caught." Ying Bu Si chuckled, not at all bothered even though he literally had a sword protruding out of his body and his eyes burned out by lightning. "But I'm afraid you'll get nothing out of me."

"We'll see about that." Glen kicked him in the gut. "Why are you Assassins attacking Vermillion High? If your plan is to destroy the Porter clan, then why aren't you attacking our military headquarters in Vermillion city or the garrison south of here? Why pick on a bunch of weak and inexperienced students? What's the point of killing us?"

"Weak and inexperienced? Man, you guys really underestimate yourselves. You might not seem much now, but you are all the future of the Porter clan, you know? The fate of the clan rests squarely in your hands, you know? It's up to you kids to lead the Porter clan to glory and prevail over the other nine great families of the Global Federation."

"Don't give me that bullshit. Even so, you still have no reason to attack here. Destroying the school will only bring retaliation upon yourselves from the Porter clan's main and elite forces. And as callous as I may sound, they can always train and groom new students, even if you kill the ones here today. So why here?"

"Ha~" The Umbra Assassin sighed at Glen's interrogation. "Man, even though the two of you are still brats, you're much more powerful and intelligent than I imagined. I guess I don't have a choice. It shouldn't hurt to tell you, since you'll eventually become one of us anyway."

"Don't count on it," Shun Yin said coldly. Ying Bu Si shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, don't dismiss the possibility yet…at least until you've heard me out. After all, it was your own fellow student who betrayed the Porter clan and sold all of their secrets to our current employer. Their objective is to delve into…forbidden research. Ah…before you ask me, I have no idea what kind of research they are carrying out. We Assassins are just hired killers, we are not privy to the grand schemes of our clients."

Shun Yin glanced at Glen. "I don't suppose it's you or your father, right?"

"Why would I do something like that?" Glen snorted. "I don't know any secrets of the Porter clan. And there's no way the Porter clan would tell my dad, who they regard as an outsider, any of their secrets. Being his son, they naturally wouldn't tell me anything too."

"That's true. But I can say this…it's someone more talented than you who sold our clients the information."

"Gah!" Glen grimaced as he clutched his chest in feigned pain. "That hurts!"

"Not you or your dad, but someone who hates the Porter clan to the core despite being of the Porter lineage."

"Who in your family would have reason to hate the Porter can, Glen?" Shun Yin asked, bewildered.

Glen remained silent, even though it was clear that he had an idea. Shun Yin was about to press him for details when the Umbra Assassin chuckled.

"At least I succeeded in my job…to keep the both of you occupied."

"What are you…?" Shun Yin began, but Glen gasped and suddenly turned around to run into the fog.

"Damn it! So that's what this is about!" He then glanced back at Shun Yin, shouting even as he continued to run off. "Hey, you read Owari no Seraph, right? The Ichinose Guren spinoff? Remember what happened in that story, and you'll know what I'm talking about."

"Huh? Glen? Wait…"

However, with his sword still stuck in Ying Bu Si's body, Shun Yin couldn't just run after him. Instead, he turned back to glare at the Assassin while slowly piecing the details together.

Somebody in the Porter clan who has the ability to sell the family secrets to an outsider and carry out experiments…and that person is somebody who possess a deep grudge against the Porter clan. And for some reason, they thought it important to assign a single elite Assassin to occupy me and Glen throughout this…massacre…yup, I have completely no idea. But this is supposed to rip off Owari no Seraph for some reason. Oh, now I know about that, because I read the manga adaptation.

No, seriously. No matter how you thought about it, none of those "clues" led to Angelica – like why the hell would she possess a deep grudge against her clan to the point where she wanted to kill them? Because her parents didn't let her marry whoever she wanted? Really? And why would she single out Shun Yin and Glen as people to be drawn away in a diversion? Because they were the main characters? What utter BS. But hey, if this scenario followed the Owari no Seraph light novel spinoff closely, then the culprit – according to the cliché twists – could only be her.

Shun Yin's eyes widened briefly when he suddenly realized that he had the same idea as Glen.

"The traitor is…Angelica Porter?"