“Am I an idiot? No way. No way. No way. HOW COULD I MESS THAT UP SO BADLY!”

Kyra squirmed in her bed while clutching her head. She was still in disbelief at her miserable failed assassination attempt last night. She finally stopped squirming after a while and stared at her ceiling. Yesterday was her first assassination assignment given to her by her family. She was excited to have finally been able to prove herself. However due to the dramatic approach she had taken, her target had gotten away.

I probably should have read the intel thoroughly. she thought back to the previous day.

Kyra was too excited to embark on her assassination that she failed to prepare for the basics. She turned in her bed and hugged her pillow tightly. Her bare thighs slowly caressed the pillow. Kyra’s breathing gradually got more intense as seconds go by. Big Brother is not going to like this. No. Everyone in the family is not going to like this and be even more disappointed than before, she thought.She was really frustrated with herself.

She let out a scream into the pillow to relive her frustration.

knock knock

There were two gentle knocks on her door. Followed by, “Miss Kyra, I have a meal prepared for you.”

Kyra quickly sprung her body up. “Give me a second.” She left her bed to put on her blouse and shorts in haste.

“Ok, you may come in now.”

The family’s butler, Jonathan Talem, walked in with a tray of Kyra’s meal. Jonathan has been a loyal servant of the Fukagi Family for a very long time. Kyra’s parents weren’t always at home due to their long assassination missions. So, Jonathan had taken care and raised the Fukagi children as if they were his own. Kyra was not sure how long he has been in service but had heard from her family that he also raised both Kyra’s father and her grandfather. This would have meant that he was at least more than a hundred years old. Kyra was pretty sure that he looked the same as he was during her grandfather’s time. Even so, after all these years, she always knew that she can count on him and was fully indebted to him. Despite that, Kyra did not have the courage to ask him about his actual age.

“Here you go, Miss Kyra.” Jonathan placed the tray on her table.

Kyra walked over to her table and kicked one of the two chairs away. Jonathan watched as Kyra sat down on the remaining chair.  

“Thank you.”  Kyra expressed her gratitude.

“What’s for today’s breakfast, I mean lunch?” It appeared that she had been staying in her room till afternoon since the failed assassination.

“I’ve prepared Wagyu Steak.  Medium Rare. Your favorite. I thought it might lighten your mood.” Talem picked up the chair that Kyra kicked and returned it to its original position. Kyra ignored his actions.

The steak was still steaming. Kyra smiled and started cutting the steak up into smaller pieces. Smoke rose from the cut area. The steak was tender and easy to cut. Kyra took a bite from a piece. Her taste buds immediately shot up as she slowly chewed. After finishing the piece, she looked at Talem with a look of slight gloom.

“I guess I do feel better now….. Do you think I am cut out for this work? I’ve always believed that being an assassin was my calling since it runs in the family but ever since then I…. ”

Kyra paused and poked the steak with her knife.

“Miss Kyra, I have raised you since you were an infant. I have seen the limitless potential in you as I have seen in your siblings and your father and his parents before them. I know that you will become the greatest assassin and artist ever.”

Kyra fiddled with her long fringe and gave out a sigh. Even so, she felt weak. Everyone had high expectations of her but she had failed to deliver several times since she was young. Kyra couldn’t handle the power that was inherited to her or rather did not understand. Truthfully, no one did.

“I have an idea. Why don’t we meet in the training hall after your breakfast? I think perhaps a training duel is in order.”

Kyra met her butler in the training hall after finishing her steak. I probably shouldn’t have agreed to a duel. My food hasn’t digested yet. The Fukagi’s training hall was huge. It also had a small armory on a side. Even though it isn’t the Fukagi’s main armory, it still had a wide arsenal of weapons from guns to grenades to swords for the Fukagi family to train with or counter them. It was also restocked regularly without fail within minutes or even seconds of using an item.

“You would not be needing your sword today. Here.”

Jonathan walked towards the weapons shelf and picked two wooden practice sword. He tossed one at her. She caught it with her free hand and placed her katana on the floor. Kyra moved towards the center where her butler was waiting.

He’s in the Fukagi Style Stance. That’s not good.

The Fukagi style is an all-rounder, offensive and defensive sword style that had been passed down for generations, also said to be created by the founder of the Family. Kyra had practiced the style when she was younger. But she had gradually shifted to Twin Style for a more aggressive swordplay.  

“I can’t force you to change your Twin Style. Every Artist has their own unique style that suits them. However, you should reconsider the fact that the Twins Style is flawed as its leaves half of your body defenseless and open to attacks.”

Before Kyra could reply, her left side of her body was hit by her butler’s sword. Kyra’s face grimaced in pain and attempted to swing at her butler’s face. Jonathan immediately kicked Kyra’s gut in and pushed her backwards. Kyra vomited out some of her Wagyu steak out.

Argh…. For an old man, he sure hits harder and is definitely faster than me.

Kyra wiped her mouth. She looked at what’s left of her delicious Wagyu steak. This sucks. Kyra raised her sword and Jonathan raised his. Both were waiting for the other to make a move. A few seconds passed; the butler moved first. He dashed towards Kyra in a flash. Kyra was anticipating it and kicked her vomit upwards at Jonathan. The butler immediately raised his arm to shield the remains of the undigested steak.

Twin Style Spiral Piercer

Kyra spun to her right with sword in hand. Kyra was aiming to hit the butler’s left side. I got him. No, wait. Kyra felt a sharp at her left side. She flew and hit the ground hard. Jonathan had repositioned to her left and kicked her again with such speed.

“That was a nice trick. However, it is as I stated before. Your left is unguarded and-”

Obviously. Damn, this sucks and hurts so bad. Kyra had already zoned out and wasn’t listening a word to Jonathan.

“It might be high time for you to reconsider different styles.” Talem finished his lecture which Kyra did not listen to.

“Maybe…. but not today.” Kyra had debated several times to switch styles or go back to the Fukagi Style. However, she did not want to abandon her style. Not when she had worked so hard and so long to create the style. She had to honor the style by using it to the end. But it might be good to practice other styles while I’m at it.

“I’ll leave in your decision. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll need a change of outfit and prepare for dinner.”

Kyra looked at her vomit staining her butler’s uniform and she guiltily apologized, “Yea…Sorry about that.” Kyra watched as her butler left. The servants who had been standing by at the door, started to clean up the mess Kyra had made. She coughed. “Sorry.” She swore that one of them gave her a stink eye. Fukagi Family’s servants were all trained killers who were under hire to protect and guard the mansion and family members if need be. They clearly didn’t like to do chores. However, it was their job. Every servant employed under Fukagi have been tested and went through trials. They were all loyal. At least, that’s what Kyra hoped.

Kyra decided to return to her room to rest till it was time for dinner. She plopped down into her king size bed with her jacket’s hood up. This sucks. At this rate, my strength can’t go any further. Nothing has changed… Kyra thought as she slowly dozed off.

There was blood all over the floor. Kyra was on the ground, her body lifeless with several cuts and a stab wound through her gut. Footsteps drew closer towards Kyra. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw her assailant’s feet. Kyra gripped her broken katana and tried to move up. The assailant’s foot lifted off the ground and stomped onto Kyra’s hand. Kyra shrieked in pain. “You’ll never be stronger than me.” The assailant then walked away with katana in hand.

Kyra’s eyes slowly opened. She rose up in her bed and removed her hoodie to ruffle her hair. She raised her shirt up to feel the stab wound. I’ll never forgive that idiot. She thought to herself. Moments later, there was a knock from a servant informing Kyra that dinner was ready.

Kyra went straight to the diner hall and saw her brother, Solmund, helping to set the dishes on the table. Solmund wore a gas mask as always. Kyra don’t think she actually saw her brother without his mask. He always wore as far as Kyra could remember. The only ones who may have seen his face was probably her parents and older siblings. Solmund saw her and gave her a nod.

“kish”

“…Evening, brother.” Kyra let out a rather awkward hello. It surprised even Kyra that she was roughly able to understand what he said or rather anyone in the family for that matter. She proceeded to take a seat at the far end corner of the table. I wonder who’s coming for dinner today. I hope that she’s not coming today. She thought to herself.

“HI HI! WHO’S HERE?! IT’S TIME FOR DINNER! Oh, it’s you.” The voice went from loud boisterous tone to a slightly disappointing tone the moment when Kyra was in view.

Of course, the second that Kyra thought of her, she showed up. Kyra cursed her luck and gave an awkward smile. “Hi…Asa.” Asa ignored her and sat down at her seat. Why did Kyra even bother with this family anyway?

“Man, I heard something funny about a girl who was able to fail an assassination. Well, it’s not like anyone expected her to succeed.”

Of course, the obnoxious one arrived first. Someone please shut her up. I just want to eat my dinner and go back to crying myself to sleep.

“That’s enough, Asa”

The voice belonged to Kyra’s oldest brother, Silvain. Kyra greeted him, “Brother, welcome ba-”

“Save it and let’s start dinner.” He interrupted her and took his seat. Asa smirked at Kyra and sat down herself. Soon after, Jonathan, the servants and Solmund came in with the food. Solmund set down a plate at Kyra’s and revealed it to be Wagyu steak. Kyra’s lips broke into a smile. She vomited the previous meal. Now, she got to eat Wagyu beef again and fully digest it this time. Solmund was looking at her as if he was waiting for something. He had convinced the kitchen staff to cook Wagyu in order to motivate Kyra. Of course, the butler didn’t mind, and Kyra certainly didn’t mind eating Wagyu again.

“Thanks, big brother.”

“kissssssh”

Asa rolled her eyes and started eating. “So. When our parents are coming back? I need to report to them something.”

Silvain replied almost immediately, “They won’t be back anytime soon. Relay the message to me.”

“Maybe later.”

Kyra decided not to pay attention to them and looked at ___ eating instead. Since ___ doesn’t take off his mask, he fashioned a mask that’s solely for eating. He would remove the filter and send whatever food through the opening. No matter how many times Kyra saw him ate, it never gets old.

I think sh-

“Kyra.”

Silvain interjected her train of thought.

“By Father’s orders, you’re going to complete the assassination, or we will stop supplying you with intel on-”

“What?!” Kyra was startled and couldn’t help but exclaimed.

“It is as I said,” Silvain stated, unflinching from her sudden outburst.

Kyra didn’t expected Father to drop a bomb like this on her. Better yet, he could have told her instead of relaying the message to Silvain. Sure, she became a recluse for several years and messed up her assassination. If you think about it, it wasn’t a hundred percent Kyra’s fault. Loss of intel…. That would be troublesome. Kyra needed that intel from her parents for personal reasons. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She opened her eyes with a determined look on her face, “I’ll finish it.”

Afterword

So Chapter 2 is finally out. I’ve been too busy with school but soon I will have time to work “full time” when school ends. I’m looking forward to Chapter 3 and I hope there will be people out there that will be looking forward. Probably not. However, I will still keep writing out chapters for Art of Killing. It’s a story that I want to see it to the end. I’m also learning how to draw so that I can design Kyra and the other characters. I will be mostly focusing on Kyra since she’s the main star. Thanks for reading and making it here and enduring my amateurish writing. I do hope that you will support me in the future when I finally kick off and fully focus on Art of Killing.