Chapter 157 – The Assasssin’s Origin.

Chapter 157 – The Assasssin’s Origin.

The next morning, Yumi went and picked up Kana to bring her home. Akagi hadn't seen her since she'd left the police station on Friday, and was a bit nervous about speaking with her. She'd kept in contact with Kana over the weekend, but intentionally distanced herself out of respect for her sister's emotional needs. Throughout the weekend, Akagi kept second-guessing herself, and debating whether she should have stayed with her sister during this trying time or not.

"Onee-chan, I'm back." Kana walked into the living room, seeing Akagi sitting on the couch in casual wear.

"H-hey, Kana." Akagi gave a wry smile.

Kana instantly noticed Akagi's strange demeanor. "Everything ok?" She asked as she walked over.

"That's what I should be asking you." Akagi's wry smile continued.

"I'm not exactly fine, but I'll manage. Spending time with Mika, Naomi, and Hishya this weekend was a good idea. It helped calm things down, and Mika and I got to talk things out." Kana took a seat next to her sister. "But what about you? Why do you look like a kid who got caught putting their hand in the cookie jar?"

{Did something happen?} (Kana)

Akagi took a second to answer. "I was worried about you, and I thought that maybe you were mad at me."

"Mad at you?" Kana tilted her head. "Why would I be mad? Unless something happened while I was gone, you didn't do anything."

{Please don't tell me you did something bad...} (Kana)

"I just thought you'd be mad that I didn't stay with you after what happened. Or that you'd be angry at me for giving you that power. I mean, Himari was my idea, and it's my fault you have magic in the first place." Akagi shook her head. "It's been eating at me all weekend.”

{So that's what this is about. I'm actually relieved its just guilt for something like that, and she didn't do something really awful while I was away.} (Kana)

"Come here you." Kana sighed as she brought her sister in for a hug. "I'm not mad about any of that. I told you already that what happened is not your fault. Plus, if you didn't give me these powers Mika might have die, so why would I be mad at you? As for staying away, I wanted some space to figure things out. I'm sorry if that made you think I was upset with you, and I should have been clearer about my reasoning." She squeezed her. "I already told Himari this, but I'll tell you too. I made the decision to kill Hito, it wasn't easy, but it was my choice to use the power I'd been given to save someone important to me."

{It... it still isn't easy for me, but I think I'll be fine, eventually...} (Kana)

"I just wish you never had to deal with that." Akagi said. "You shouldn't have had to kill someone, you're not like me."

Kana giggled. "You know, that's the same thing Hishya said to me the other night. She said that I was still normal and shouldn't have to experience something taking a life."

"It's true." Akagi pulled away from her. "I don't care about taking lives, never have, but you... you're still human. You shouldn't have had to kill, and even if it wasn't really Hito, it was close enough." Akagi shook her head.

{Those two really are alike in some ways.} Kana smiled internally.

"Can I ask you something?" Kana's face turned a bit more serious. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Go ahead." Akagi replied. At this point, she felt the need to hide very little from her sister anymore, so she'd likely answer most questions.

"What was your first time killing like?" Kana asked an interesting question. "Was it hard for you? And why did you do it? I've been wondering this for a while, and ever since Friday. its been on my mind a bit more. You've killed so many people, but how did that all start? What made you become an assassin?"

"That... its honestly not that interesting of a story." Akagi chuckled. "I don't mind telling it, but it might be a bit long."

"There's no school today, so go ahead and take all the time you want." Kana smiled.

"Then, can we move to the greenhouse? I want to check on Alice, and I'll get her to make tea." Akagi stood up.

"Sure." Kana nodded, and the two went over to the greenhouse. Akagi went and got Alice, who swiftly got to setting a table, bringing snacks, and making some tea.

"Mama, it's all done!" Alice ran over, and Akagi gave her a big hug.

"Well done, little one. Now, how about you stick around? Kana wants to hear a story, and you can sit on my lap." Akagi smiled.

"Yeah!" Alice cheered, and Akagi picked her up and sat on a chair opposite Kana.

"That really is adorable." Kana smiled as she took a sip of her tea.

"Now then." Akagi took out her pipe and lit it. "Where to begin?"

_____________________________________________________________________________

February 16th, 2055

It had been a little over four months since players were trapped within Free World Online, and told that death in game meant death in the real world. Things had finally settled down after the initial chaos and confusion, and there was already rumbling of a dedicated team to defeat the World Bosses. This brought comfort to some, while others had begun to act on their worst impulses, believing that things were hopeless.

Walking down the busy main road in the Imperial Capital was a single figure wearing a dark cloak, under which could be seen some light metal armor. At her hip was a rapier, and her amber eyes and green and black hair made her stand out from the rest of the residents.

{Alright, quest is done. Now I just need to report back to that stupid NPC and get paid. I hate working for assholes like him, but that reward was just too promising.} Akagi had taken a quest from a disguised noble who was promising an interesting item if she defeated a few specific monsters and brought him the parts.

After a relatively easy fight, she returned back to the Capital and arrived at the designated point rendezvous point in a back alleyway. Once the noble contact arrived, Akagi handed over the trophy pieces.

"Ah, excellent! These are in perfect shape and will make an excellent addition to my collection!" The noble seemed pleased.

{I'll give him a chance to surrender and hand over the goods first. If he doesn't, well...} Akagi stood up and walked over.

"Hey!" She called out to him.

The young man spun around. "Who's there?!?" He drew his blade and saw Akagi standing at the entrance of the cave. Her hood was up, so he could barely make out her face. "A girl? What do you want? This is my loot and I ain't sharing, even if it is garbage!"

"Yes, well. I'm sorry to say but your 'loot' is why I'm here." She pointed her rapier at him. "Hand it over quietly, and you don't need to get killed."

{Lets see what he does.} (Akagi)

"What?!?" Lightrune was surprised. "This is mine, fuck off! I robbed it fair and square, and I'm not going to cower before some girl!"

{This stupid girl thinks she can just scare me into giving over my stuff!} (Lightrune)

"Last warning, hand it over, or I'll take it by force!" Akagi yelled, her eyes showed just how serious she is.

The two stared at each other for a moment before the young man charged forward. Akagi was far stronger than him and easily deflected his blades.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

{Slow and weak. Not exactly surprising considering the level difference, but his build is also probably geared around fighting monsters, not people.} Akagi thought as she parried his strikes.

"Why can't I hit you?!?" Lightrune cried. "This is bullshit! I'm level twenty already! How is this happening?!?"

"Only twenty?" Akagi laughed. "Kid, I'm in the sixties. You're out of your league against me." She said as she deflected his strikes.

{That's the difference between us, we could do this all day and you wouldn't even come close to beating me.} (Akagi)

"That's not possible! It's only been four months since we got trapped in here, and it takes so long to level up!" Lightrune couldn't believe that she'd leveled so high so fast. “There's no way you could be that high level!”

"Check your analysis through your hud. You won't be able to see my stats because of the level difference." Akagi knocked him back. "Go ahead." He motioned for him to check, which he did.

"I- I can't see it!" He was stunned. That meant Akagi was at least thirty levels higher than him. "That's crazy! You must have cheated!"

{Even the best players are only in their forties or fifties! And those people are crazy!} (Lightrune)

"Nah." Akagi shrugged. "I'm just really good at this stuff. So what will it be? Surrender or die?" She wasn't exactly sold on killing him, but he didn't need to know that.

"I can't fight someone that much stronger than me, so fine." He lowed his blade. "Take that dwarf's stuff, it wasn't even that good anyway." He walked off to the side.

"Good choice." Akagi lowered her rapier and started collecting the items into her inventory. As she did, Lightrune circled around her back and waited until she was busy.

{Turning your back on an opponent, what a fool! Now I've got you!} When he was sure Akagi was too distracted, he dove toward her at full speed, slashing at her from the side, his blade sinking into her waist.

{Yes!} He cheered, believing it was over.

"Man, that new ability really is great." Akagi said.

"W-what?!?" He was stunned, his blade carved cleanly through her, leaving behind a trail of black shadow that disappeared after a few seconds, before showing that Akagi was unharmed by his attack. "How?!?"

"Racial abilities are very important, kid." Akagi swung around, slashing him across the chest with her rapier. "It took a lot of effort to get this one, but damn is it good." Akagi laughed as Lightrune stumbled backward, heavily injured.

{Becoming a nurarihyon was pain in the ass, but was definitely the right call with my build.} (Akagi)

"I surrender, please!" He cried out, his HP was in the red, and one more attack would end him. "I don't want to die!"

{I can't die! Not like this!} (Lightrune)

Akagi let loose an evil grin. "You should have thought about that before you pulled that little stunt." She lifted her rapier.

"No, please You'll be a Pker if you do this! A murderer!" He screamed.

"You know." Akagi's face contorted into a perverted smile. "For some reason, that sounds nice." She slashed downwards, killing him.

As his body hit the floor, Akagi was greeted with a notification telling her that she would now register as having killed another player for a few days. "Oh well." Akagi shrugged. "Not like that matters to me anyway." She continued collecting all the material in the cave before heading back to Antenobrech, who was surprised she managed to get his stuff back so quickly.

This would mark the first of many times she'd taken another player's life, and was the beginning of a friendship with her most prolific client.

Spoiler

Akagi in FWO!

Antenobrech!

Lightrune!

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