Time-Line 13th April 2007
[Author Note: I need reviews people! Last review was like 14 days ago, story already had posted 18 Chapters = 44k Words and It's still stuck at four reviews... At least two more honest reviews would have been fine. HONEST.]
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Change of POV: Jeremy
Close.
I lifted my left hand, as my gaze shifted towards it.
I checked the watch on my left hand, closely.
9:00 PM.
Good, everything should go according to the plan.
Or, I hope so.
Then I shifted my attention back to my team, as I turned around to look at them and inspect them.
I looked at Anna, James and John beside me. They are all capable A-Rank Hunters, Assassin-Types with [Stealth] Skill.
Anna is a young blonde haired woman with green eyes, yet rather 'average' face. At least for my personal standards. 'Cough!'
She glared at me for a moment, as if she sensed my thoughts, even through her mask I can feel her glare. But thankfully, her mask covers her whole face.
James is well.. A young lad, that's for sure. Inexperienced, but then again, we all were at some point in time, it's just his time right now. He is your average looking joe from the street though.
And John?
Oh, I hate John.
~Cough!
We are right now on Church's grounds, mission is to 'rescue' children and eliminate Valper Galilei. Our informants indeed confirmed identity of the priest working in the Church.
And upon a higher research stadium, this indeed has been confirmed as 'Holy Sword Project' testing ground if large amount of Holy Weapons sent here was any indication before.
But nevertheless, I turned my head towards Anna and ordered.
"Anna, you go search through the Church's files with extreme precision, remember we do not have much time. Take anything you find that could show Valper's true colors. And eliminate the Nun if she indeed comes across you and proves hostile." I ordered, fixing my sunglasses on my face. " But if possible, I hope she does not come across you.
Sunglasses in night are best camouflage anyway, prove me wrong.
Anna nodded, she is strong woman after all.
I turned towards James.
"James, you will stay behind and alert us if 'reinforcement' comes along." I ordered once again, James nodded, fully understanding seriousness of my actions. This was the original plan after all.
Nothing hard, yet very important task. I can't really let him go with us, especially since we already got another novice.
I glanced towards John.
I hate this guy, I hate his guts.
I don't know why.
I took the cigar from my mouth and crushed it in my fists. " John, you will go with me to Rectory, our goal is to kill Valper Galilei and take children away." I instructed.
John replied with a resounding "Yes, Sir!" Ah, a good kid honestly. He is too young for this shitty jobs, but what can we do.. What must be done, must be done.
But, I still hate him. Why? I'll never know...
"Then shall we go?"
We all departed, immediately using [Stealth] to hide our presence 'completely' so much that not even their Alarms, magical circles placed around wouldn't be able to sense us. It's just a small pre-caution.
But Magical circles that work as traps are different story all together, especially those that need 'contact' to be activated.
But nonetheless it was needed. Both Anna and James run to Church, while I and John run up to walls, and with a simple jump into their territory, easily side stepping their metal fences.
Maybe I should do something, make something 'happen' that our dear John goes 'MIA' in action? I thought to myself.
I crouched down first.
I glanced at right and left.
Clear surrounding, with beautiful garden.
Church on the left, and on right is rectory where Priest and children live.
I glanced towards the dirt, immediately seeing a small stone before grabbing, then I glanced towards the rectory.
I threw small stone beneath my feet towards the 'rectory', to check for 'something.
It was a good thing I did. The moment I threw it, a small 'magical trap' activated.
Remember kids! Always trust your gut instincts! Especially if your guts are telling you to hate a guy named John!
The small magical trap was something like a small mine, instead of simply exploding it 'enveloped stone' thus stopping it from rotating any further.
No sound, no air pressure, no vibration. Just simple yellow 'energy' enveloping the stone in question.
"Good thing we brought Magical Powder for this.." I whispered, knowing that John is beside me. I heard him mumble 'Yes Sir.'
My right hand moved towards the small puch on my right hip. Before it grasped it.
I slowly took the pouch wrapped around my hip before opening it.
Seeing what I need, I grinned.
Then I took handful of powder from it before throwing it towards where I threw the stone just moments ago.
While [Stealth] wouldn't allow alarms to be set of, I'm certainly not eager in trying to see if Magical Traps would still somehow react, especially traps that reacts on gravity, pressure and weight.
But it doesn't matter.
Magical Powder is substance from our 'Earth', it's made from turning high-quality Magical crystals into powder and it's 'quality of sensing traps' comes from it's sensitivity towards mana.
As long as 'something invincible yet magical' was placed somewhere, once the powder in question was thrown, it would show us an outline of the trap in question.
The moment I threw powder at 'Magical Traps', those same traps were revealed to us in forms of bright yet transparent magical circles.
I frowned as I shifted my attention from one to one, then I saw the simple pattern.
But to confirm it, I took two more handfuls of the powder before standing up slightly and moving towards the 'clear path'. Before proceeding to throw it, along with John behind me.
But we noticed a pattern, an cross shaped path has appeared after I threw two more handfuls of powder.
Ah, cross-shaped path, how typical for a Church I suppose?
"We need to go, we don't have much time after all. You go for brats and I'll finish dirty work. " I whispered to him, " After you get them out from Church's territory, send them to our second group and come back here." I told him, we both moved with swift precision, I run first and he behind me. Both of us separate once we got close to Rectory.
~Thud!
I jumped at highest window up on the roof from the ground, while he decided to enter through the doors.
So typical!
Good. I hang on the tightly wooden frame of the window with my left hand, then I brought my right hand on the roof tile before pushing myself on the roof successfully with small grunt leaving my lips.
I may have been S-Rank before, but I was never good at climbing. Only for killing High-Orcs.
Then I glanced towards the tile, before literally breaking one apart in my glowed hand to look at it more closely, to marvel at it.
A good quality roof tile, I noted. I'll have to ask Church where they find these tiles later.
I left a sigh of relief for a moment before I used this chance to peak through the window.
And..
Nothing, pretty much just another room to pack up unnecessary stuff, from tables, chairs and similar old toys, only to collect dust.
'I see.' I though to myself before I jumped forward after splitting the window in half.
Change of POV: 3rd POV
While Jeremy is searching for Valper's room specifically, John meanwhile managed to use his supreme thief skills and opened the doors with a simple needle before stuffing it back into his jacket. Every Assassin have their own disguises of course, and everyone has their own fields in which they are better from the rest.
Jeremy uses sunglasses. John wears men-yoroi, a mask used by Samurai's of old and ninja mask behind it for extra measures, just in case someone manages to take his mask off.
As for others, they also have their own.
He stepped inside the rectory, and not even a second later he threw a handful of powder at the paths leading to rooms, just in case of any potential traps.
But fortunately for him, no traps. Which kind off makes sense, otherwise children might have injured themselves going into bathroom at night after all.
'Good.' He though as he continued walking till he was in front of a simple corridor, then he followed the trail of Magical Presences, more than two handful of them to be precise.
23? He notes.
Some of the presences are even weaker than average adult Humans should be, and some are even certainly above such margin.
Interesting.
John didn't wait much, he continued walking till he was in front of nothing but simple doors, leading to dormitory, where kids sleep. He suspected so, though.
He collected his thoughts for a moment, how should he approach? He can't really use his Samurai mask as first impression towards kids.
They won't trust him even one bit..With that set in his mind, he threw Samurai Mask at wall, it does not have finger prints on it anyway and he brought it in Japan so there is no way that police can track him through it, but considering how much he liked it, he will probably pick it up on way back.
If kids got scared from his Ninja mask too, then he shall remove it too.
Actually, no.. It's better he removes it this instant too.
He took it off before stuffing it in his pocket for mean time.
Now people might call him stupid for this, but he certainly doesn't want them to think of him as a simple kidnapper, so his face should help their tensions slightly.
John's face appeared to be a young man, maybe 18 year old at most, black hair and blue eyes. Quite the contrast in appearance, he thinks so .
His hand slowly moved towards the door's handle.
He gripped door's handle before twisting it and opening the doors.
But he had to immediately duck under a knife that one child threw at him. He looked shocked as hell, he expected them to be a sleep...
Not awake!
But maybe he shouldn't have, after all these children were trained from birth in Church's teachings, how to read, how to write, what to believe in. And to wield Holy Sword, the most important of all.
And all of them failed in the most important aspect, anyway.
"Wait!" He whispered sharply, causing all 22 children to look at him, though he noted one was a heavy sleeper back in the group making them 23, still glaring at him but everyone grouped together, older ones acting as shield towards younger ones. "I'm not here to hurt you, but to save you!"
Even he deadpanned at his own tone of voice!
Children looked aghast at that proclamation before one of them stepped forward, oldest one no doubt and tallest one too.
He looked to be 13 year old, with long blonde hair styled in pony-tail, with big yet green eyes and freckles all around his face too.
"You expect us to believe in such blatant lie when you invaded our home?!" Kid hissed, he stood protectively over others, arms raised as if he was a living shield.
John shock his head. " Let me explain for a moment. I invaded your home to save you, your priest Valper Galilei was planning to murder you all as failed experiment for 'Holy Sword Project'." His proclamation shock them to the core.
Though, the real reason was for him to extract 'Holy Element' from their bodies into his own research. Though, at this stage he was only capable of extracting that same element in exchange of a 'sacrifice' but not 'contain it'.
John almost growled at that!
While they are children, they certainly are aware that training they are undergoing is called 'Holy Sword Project' and it's something that only top echelons of the Church should be aware of right now.
And not a random man...
"That cannot be!" One hissed.
"It's a lie! Father Valper wouldn't ever do such a thing!"
"Yeah, he took care of us from the moment we were born and left alone in this accursed world!"
Each child hissed and argued in their own voice and tone.
One by one, each one proclaimed their protests. Of course, no one would believe such claims, even naive children so easily without any doubt or proof.,
But John has expected this outcome already, not a problem.
"Sarah, Tom, Marco and Sophia." He spoke, those four names struck children's hearts painfully, right in the middle. Of course, those four were their friends and 'family'. But, Father Valper had sent them to different Church, ie, execution that the children themselves don't know about.
Such a tragic tale indeed.
"These four were supposedly sent to other Church with these names." He took a letter from his pocket before throwing it at largest boy, the one standing in front of the entire group. The paper in question fell on the ground, as children eyed it. " Yet, they were not found there, even Priests and Nuns working there never heard of such decision being placed." He added, pausing, letting children to get a grip on reality.
The children skeptically looked at each others for moments, all meanwhile the 'leader' of the group stared at latter on the ground.
The oldest one walked forward, he crouched down to pick up the letter.
Children were 'suspicious' before, but they were not really going to believe 'outright' claims from stranger.
And this letter? It was nothing but formality, children will most likely not believe in it and not deem it right.
And thus, John would have been forced to use different methods and those he favored.
But the largest boy opened the letter, tore the upper half of it and pulled the paper from it, with his trembling hands, as he started reading.
At each passing second, his hands continued shaking more and more.
A girl, blonde haired girl put her hand on largest boy's shoulder, to calm him no doubt.
It seemed to have worked slightly, as boy stopped trembling as much as before.
Other children who were undoubtedly curious peaked behind him, to look at what is written on the letter.
But then, as always, something has to interrupt.
John noticed it, he noticed something 'shiny' from the distance. And his instincts screamed at him to move, move and catch it before it blew off boy's head.
The oldest boy's head.
He saw it clearly, an metal arrow, coated in mana flew from the building far away at scaring speed, it broke dormitory's window in an instant, it seared straight towards largest boy's head.
But just before it could make contact with the back of his head, John moved.
John moved at his top speed, intercepting the arrow, catching it in mid-air just centimeters away from the boy's head.
John used his own mana covered hands to crush it next instnat.
Normally, it's now the time for kids to scream.
AND IT SURE WAS!
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Back to Jeremy.
Jeremy found him, he found the disgusting's pig's body. The Valper Galilei himself, sleeping soundly in his room, room literally coated in dozens of traps.
Saying that this man, this brilliant yet monstrous man was simply paranoid would be understatement of the century.
Jeremy could not help but marvel at the amount of traps he needed to bypass till now, all to enter this fattos' room.
Jeremy had used his entire bag of powder by now, managing to avoid any and every single trap this Rectory has.
And honestly, he is amazed.
This fatty in front of him sleeping as if he didn't slaughter a child every week, was genius and paranoid.
It's a disgusting combination.
If only, if only this brilliant mind was given to a good person...
It could have been a literal godsend, and not given to a Devil in Human's body.
'But it's also your last time being alive in this world.' Jeremy thought, as he glanced at left and right. Valper's room does not have windows, maybe because this fatty was too paranoid thinking that someone is going to jump through the window and assassinate him..
What do they say three times back then?
Well, well, well.
It's not that he wasn't right.
But he got right idea.
Jeremy's hand slwoly moved towards his left hip.
Jeremy pulled it, he pulled the [Kasaka's Venom Fang] from the scabbard on his hip, and positioned the weapon in front of Valper's heart.
While Valper was indeed a disgusting excuse for a Human being, Jeremy does not want to resemble his behavior even one bit.
Jeremy is a Human at first, not like this Valper in front of him is.
He doesn't want to enjoy in other's people suffering and pain, oh no. He will be better, he will give this fatty in front of him a painless quick end and death.
No pain.
No suffering.
Just quiet and swift end.
And he brought it down!
One swift push, and [Kasaka's Venom Fang] pushed down on helpless body of Valper Galilei, piercing his heart in that instant.
And Instant death.
Blood began pouring from Valper's chest. Valper's snoring stopped for forever, blood began dripping from his nose and mouth in rather large amounts.
And Valper's blue veins bulged, surely from the Kasaka's venom spreading through his body at the time.
"Finally, you can atone for your sins in hell." Jeremy replied as he swung [Kasaka's Venom Fang] at wall, splashing Valper's blood from it.
And cleaning the blade of the disgusting blood, which once belonged to disgusting Human in front of him.
Jeremy was half-tempted to even throw away this decent dagger only because it was coated in this mans blood.
What stopped him was, that it would have been a pity, pity to throw such nice blade now since 'Human Faction' is in delicate situation right now.
~Clack. Jeremy sheathed [Kasaka's Venom Fang] back into it's pre-designed sheath.
Jeremy does not worry, he will request another blade from Lady Morgan, and use this rotten one only for rotten people.
Chapter Word Count: 3,100
Chapter word count before editing = 1,847 Words
Chapter Word Count after editing = 3,100