Tag: lightnovel

Art of Killing – Chapter 5 – Depths

Featured ~ Kyreon ~ Leave a comment

Kyra landed hard on the ground, tangled with the rest whom had fallen with. Their landing echoed throughout the cave. It appeared that they fell through a long tubing that swayed left and right for a good 20 seconds. Kyra removed Rena’s leg from her and stood up, away from the mess of bodies.

It seemed they were in some sort of an underground cave system. The caves were dimly lit with fluorescent tubes strewn along the walls.

“That was unpleasant. We fell into a literal shithole.” Rena commented.

“You can say that again.” A boy that was with them spoke as he got up.

Kyra did not take a good look at him earlier in the hall. If she recalled correctly, his name was Cree. Cree had a happy-go-lucky on look. He carried a sword just like Kyra. However, his was a western sword. The other guy beside Cree was Shiloh. Shiloh wore a bandana and his posture was slightly slouched. He held two daggers in his hands.

Cree spoke once again, “So what do we do now?”

“We need to find our respective Tags.” Kyra replied.

Rena raised her finger as if to indicate she had an idea. “How about we work together?”

“I think that’s a great idea.”

“Sure.” Kyra added. Being grouped together like this by the school was most likely encouraging students to work together or kill each other once the exam started.

Shiloh nodded.

Teaming up in an unknown environment is a sound idea. However, she cannot fully trust her “teammates”. Even though, they were not enemies. The chance of them backstabbing her was still there. As of now, being backstabbed was the least of her concerns. Finding others and getting the right Tag was a bigger problem. This entire cave system that she was currently in, most likely was a huge maze. Traversing and surviving enemy attacks are also another thing. Kyra had to assume that there were others who were working in teams.

“We should move before others find us. Find them first.” Kyra suggested.

“Well, which direction? Left, or right?” Rena gestured to the two passageways available.

“Let’s try the right.” Cree told the group.

It was better than nothing so they headed off to the right passageway without discussion.  

After walking a good distance, they came across two dead bodies riddled with bullets. Kyra took a closer look at the bodies. It seemed that they were shot behind from the back.

“Is this what Alkiel meant when she said by any means?” Cree asked.

Kyra answered, “Probably. She did say we are allowed to kill when authorized. It’s safe to assume that we are authorized to kill. Being passive won’t do good if the rest have the intent to kill.”

Kyra expected everyone in this school to be trigger happy. A kill on sight mentality was a must. Although the voluptuous headmaster did not outright authorize them, the wording was more than enough to entice everyone to start killing for a glorified smartphone.

Kyra examined her surroundings. The cave system was not strictly passageways. It was a mixture of large and small openings, arenas with plenty of cover for fights. A pretty elaborate underground fight arena underneath the school.

All of a sudden, the ground shook. Rubble fell from the ceiling onto their bodies. The ground shook again. The magnitude of the rumble got heavily over time as if it was getting closer.

The group drew their weapons. Kyra, her katana, Rena her guns, Cree his sword and Shiloh his knives.

Soon, they could hear explosions. A panicked examinee, with tattered clothes, ran down from the tunnel ahead. He saw the group and shouted raspingly for help. Before he could get any closer, his body blew up into pieces.

Rena whistled, “That’s overkill. I don’t think his ID survived that.”

Kyra silently agreed. Whoever that assailant was, his method was surely explosive and they were just about to find out who that person is.

The assailant emerged from the explosion’s smoke. He was holding a grenade launcher, grenades slung across his body.

He snarled, “Finally gotten the damn rat…. Oh, what do we have here? Four more rats scouring around.”

The student proceeded to reload his launcher grenade by grenade.

Creed spoke to him, “Look, we don’t want trouble. How about you grab the dead guy’s ID and we go our separate ways.”

Kyra knew that was not going to happen. The explosive idiot was going to listen to them.

“Ned! Wait up!”

A voice came from behind him. It belonged to a girl, who was carrying a semi-auto rifle, stumbling across the path.

“I thought I told you to call me Boomer!”

“The others lost their way because you blew the entire place up. 2 of the IDs we picked up were destroyed. You need to be more careful.”

“And I told you to follow closely behind, Aimi.”

The girl, Aimi, walked towards to the exploded carcass and gently picked up a leg. She took out the ID from its pocket.

“Ah! Found it. The screen’s cracked but it’s still functioning. Errrm, it says Tag 3 here.”

“Isn’t that nice. You’re Tag 3. I have yet to find mine yet but there’s four to choose from.”

Boomer observed the group. Two sword users, a gun user and a stealth user from the looks of it. The gun user was more of a concern than the rest. It all boiled down to who made the move first. Boomer was still reloading rounds into his launcher. The plan was to fire a grenade at the ceiling above them. The gun user merely unholstered her guns. Either she was unsure of what to do or she was confident she could get them first.

He whispered to Aimi, “Pop the smokes.”

Aimi fumbled with the smoke grenades and threw them across the cave.

Immediately after the smokes were thrown, Boomer aimed his launcher towards the group’s direction and arced his trajectory upwards. Kyra readied herself to jump out of the way. She knew what he was planning to do. He was going to blast the ceiling above them.

Before anything could happen, Rena started shooting which caused Aimi to snap her rifle right at her. Shots were exchanged and Aimi came out victorious.

“That bitch clapped my shoulder!” Rena exclaimed.

Poppoppoppoppoppoppoppoppoppop

Boomer pulled the trigger and his launcher fired a quick succession of grenades towards them. Boomer’s grenade launcher had custom functionalities built in. He chose the full-auto for this situation. Boomer grinned. Unleash the chaos from my canvas.

The smokes decreased the group’s vision. First impact hit the ceiling. Everyone jumped away from where they were standing.  Rena jumped into cover, Shiloh rushed ahead while Kyra and Cree jumped towards the right.

The grenades continued impacting the cave. Kyra’s ears ringed loudly. She had counted at least 10 grenades being launched. All of them hit various parts of the caves. The worst part was that it was not random. Each grenade was fired into consideration and they impacted at spots where it did not give them much room to dodge.

However, the integrity of the caves failed.

“Aimi, thermal scope now!” Boomer ordered.

“Yes!”

Aimi turned on thermal on her scope and took aim. However, it was hard to take a clean shot as the ground shook vigorously and huge rubbles were blocking her vision.

“I-I can’t take a shot.” Aimi said.

 Meanwhile, the floor under Kyra and Cree caved in. Kyra lost her footing and both of them fell in deeper.

“KYRA!” shouted Rena.

Rena could only watch as Kyra and Cree fell. She could not move from her cover with all these rocks falling and the ground shaking violently due to the explosions. She had no idea where Shiloh went. She took a peek from her rock. The smoke was dissipating slowly. She could barely make out the aftermath of the environment. However, she could see two silhouettes.  There was a flash from the right silhouette. Rena immediately ducked down. A bullet impacted at the rock that Rena was hiding behind.

Despite the mini earthquake that Ned caused, Aimi continued looking through the thermal scope. She saw two body heat signatures fall. One peeked so she opened fire. But the figure went back into cover. Aimi fired a few more rounds. There were four of them. Two fell in the abyss. One’s hiding in the rock. Where was the other? In the smoke? But she was not picking up anyone in the smoke.

Boomer unclipped his launcher and unloaded the used shells. The chaos that ensued was overkill. But this was still exuberating. The thrill of cornering rats.

The launcher needed time to cooldown. He had recently used the auto firing which heated up his launcher even faster. During this time, it was inadvisable to load any more grenades. The smokes were almost clearing up now. Just then, at the corner of his eye, a figure burst out from the smoke to his diagonal right.

Aimi heard a figure emerging but was unable to shoot. It was directly in her blind spot where Ned was standing from.

Shiloh had been silently moving from cover to cover, waiting for a chance to strike. He moved towards an angle where Boomer’s body blocked Aimi in his line of sight. Boomer currently did not have his launcher at the ready. Smoke was rising from the canister. It seemed that the launcher needed to cool down. The chance to attack was now.  Shiloh emerged from his cover and went straight for Boomer. He was going to kill him and jump towards Aimi and kill her next.

Boomer grinned widely and immediately pulled out his side launcher at his pistol holster.

He cocked it and said, “Boom.”

Shiloh’s eyes widened as Boomer pulled the trigger. The only thing left to do was to twist his body mid-air away from the grenade. But he might not make it, seeing as the distance between them were barely a meter.

Bang

Rena fired right at the grenade round. The speed of the bullet impacted with the speed of the grenade round, which caused an explosion right at them.

Although Shiloh twisted his body away, he was still caught by the explosion, barely making it out. His bandana and clothing helped to shield most of the explosion and he hit the ground hard. He cursed silently. Shiloh was sure that he had broken a rib or two. For better or worse, the exhibitionist gunslinger, Rena had saved him. Shiloh needed to move away to cover. Boomer definitely was caught up in that explosion and the sharpshooter behind him most likely did not. At best, she flinched. Whoever made the next move wins this showdown.

Kyra hated this exam to the core. First, she fell and then she fell deeper again. Kyra looked up. She estimated that she had fallen at least 30 meters deep. If she was going to fall, she rather fell voluntarily.

“Argh. What do we do now? Is there a way out?” Cree asked.

“Yea, there should be a way out. There’s light here. Same as above.  We’re just deeper underground.”

“We need to hurry and head back up. Rena and Shiloh may need help.”

Kyra looked at Cree with a drop of curiosity. This guy was acting selfless. Even though, they were the ones in bigger trouble, he still thought of the others above.

Kyra looked away and gave him some assurance, “They’re both fine. I don’t know about Shiloh but I think Rena can handle herself.”

“Y-you’re right. Shiloh can take of himself.”

There were a lot of huge rocks and rubble around that had fallen from above due to the series of explosion. There was not much floor space to walk normally. Traversing across to the entrance that was ahead of them would not be easy.

Before Kyra could take a step, she felt a presence from behind. She instinctively jumped to her side and landed on a huge rock. The presence belonged to a hammer user. His hammer smashed into where Kyra was last standing. He, however, was not alone as Cree had his sword locked with another sword user. They traded a few parries before breaking off.

The hammer user raised his hammer and went straight for Kyra’s position. Kyra once again jumped away before he could strike. From the corner of her eye, she saw a scope glint. She ducked into cover and a bullet impacted onto her rock cover. The hammer user was not done yet and smashed her rock cover. Kyra ducked into the next cover beside her. She had to keep a low profile or the sniper will get her.

“I’m going to kill you!”

The hammer user swung his hammer wildly, smashing any rock in his way as Kyra continued to avoid the sniper and the swings. He seemed to harbor ill hatred against Kyra. She continued moving

Cree heard the sniper fire but thankfully he was out of the sniper’s line of sight. Though, he was completely on the defense against the other sword user. The sword user’s attacks were very aggressive, yet they were giving him no openings. With him being push back like this, his footing was getting more unbalanced due to the uneven ground. Cree had to find a way to go on the offense soon.

Cree decided to ask a question.

“If I may ask, why do you and your friends seem so angry with us?”

Their swords locked with each other again.

“The fight that happened above was you, wasn’t it? The series of explosions?” The sword user questioned intensively.

“Your shenanigans above caused my friend’s death!”

The sword user kicked Cree into a rock behind him. Cree smiled as if he had been for this. Cree hit the rock but he used the momentum and force to rebound his body back and stab the sword user thorough her chest with his sword. When she kicked him, he saw an opening.

Cree brought himself closer to her ear and whispered, “Now, you’ll die with your friend.”

Cree pushed her body off his sword. He looked towards the hammer user. It appeared he was still trying to smash Kyra into a blob. Kyra was dodging both the swings and gunfire. Cree guessed he would have to sneak his way ahead to intercept the sniper.

Meanwhile, Kyra was not having the time of her life. Having to dodge the heavy swings was one thing, but keeping low at the same time was annoying. She could just ignore the hammer user and go straight for the sniper.  To hell with it, she thought. Dancing around the big guy wasn’t going to do anything. Her jacket was not hammer-proof but it was bulletproof to a certain extent.

An explosion from above occurred. The ground shook again. It appeared Boomer launched another explosive round above. Kyra changed her game plan and went straight back for the hammer user. The sniper should have been staggered by the shake. Kyra ran to her left and pulled her blade back, ready to slice him. The hammer user saw this and swung low from his right. She immediately jumped to her right, onto a large rock, avoiding the hammer. Kyra then launched herself from the rock.

Twin Style 7th Form Rotary Slash

The hammer flew out of his hands and smashed into a rock. His headless body fell to the ground.

“Alex!!!” The sniper shouted.

The sniper dropped his rifle in disbelief. In just a few seconds, all of his friends that he had known since childhood were dead.  The black swordswoman was walking closer towards him with Alex’s decapitated head in hand, her sword still dripping with blood. Huge beads of sweats rolled profusely down his face. He took out his ID.

“H-h-hey! This is what u want, isn’t it? Take it. Just take it.”

He waved the phone at her. But the swordswoman was not stopping. She did not say anything. Her kill intent was flowing out of her. He could not take it anymore. He threw the ID and ran backwards. He was not going to lose his life here. So, what if he could not enroll in this Academy? There were other ways to learn Arts. This was just a prestigious school in this dump of a city.

However, he was stopped in his tracks by someone who blocked him with his body. It was the other sword user who fell from the hole. The sword user merely smiled at him. He tried to say something to him but soon realized that his throat was filled with blood. He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and he looked down, only to see a sword pierced into his body. He screamed but no sound came out from his mouth. Only blood. The last thing he saw was his killer’s smile. A kind yet merciless smile.

Kyra dropped the head and went to search for the hammer wielder’s ID. It seemed she did not do anything. Cree had been waiting to make a move. She found the ID and turned on the screen. Tag 1, it read. Just what she needed.

“This guy has Tag 3. The girl I killed just now had Tag 2.” Cree stated.

“That means Tag 4 is somewhere under this rubble.”

Kyra scanned the area. “Yea, I’m not going to bother searching in this mess.”

They just had to find another examinee who had Tag 4 or leave whoever had Tag 4 to deal with his own mess. Rena had Tag 2. She had Tag 1. So, it was either Shiloh or Cree.

“Ah! Found him. His upper body is crushed but his lower half is intact. Let me see… And we got it. Yep. Tag 4. We’re done here. Let’s head up to Rena and Shiloh.”

Kyra could only watch silently and nod.

“Shiloh. Hey Shiloh.”

Rena approached Shiloh whom was laying faced down. His body moved.

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

Shiloh slowly sat up and checked his body for wounds. There was a few bruises and small burns but nothing too major. Shiloh looked towards Boomer’s direction. The smoke explosion was too visible. At this point, it was getting annoying. The smokes were hindering their vision and breathing. They were also in an enclosed area. It would take quite a while for smoke to dissipate again.

Rena spoke, “I could start firing rounds into the smoke as a distraction while you approach from either side and shank them before they get any wiser.”

It seemed like it was a decent idea. It was risky but if he could find them first and caught them off guard. Shiloh was confident in his backstabbing skills but he had to worry about any tricks that Boomer or the girl might have. For all he knew, Boomer might blow himself up with a grenade to take him out. He did fire a grenade at close range.

No, he had to make a call now. He just had to strike them first before they both react. Shiloh took out two knives from his belt. A knife each to the back of their heads, he thought to himself.  40 seconds had already passed. It was now or never.

Boomer emerged from the smoke and grinned.

“Nice try, bitches.”

A top part of Boomer’s face was burnt off.  Boomer was wearing a fireproof suit with long sleeves and had covered his face with his arm. However, part of his forehead was caught in the explosion. It was nothing to serious. Boomer was used to it. Aimi did not get caught in the explosion because Boomer had pushed her directly behind him and made sure she would come out unscathed.

“What do we do now?”  Rena asked Shiloh.

Shiloh replied, “Damned if I know….” He paused. “It’s an endurance fight now. Maybe till Kyra and Cree arrived.”

Rena smirked with slight uneasiness, “And be pussies? I will be the one damned if I let others rescue poor lil’ me.”

She raised her guns to her face and jumped out of cover and started shooting at Boomer. Boomer immediately pulled Aimi down and went into cover. As they went into cover, Boomer had dropped a smoke grenade. Rena cursed when it popped. She continued to fire into the general area where they hid.

Poppopopopop

“Run!” Rena warned Shiloh.

Shiloh immediately moved out of cover and went towards the smoke to get the advantage while Rena tried her best to avoid the explosions. Rena continued cursing. This was a bad matchup no matter how one looked at it. She was the only one with range in their little group while the rest used blades. The worst part was she had pistols only. She’s not equipped for heavy power or long range for that matter. As of yet… Prancing around like an idiot was her only solution. They needed to find a way to break this continuous cycle. They could keep dodging till Boomer ran out of shells. However, there’s an off chance one of them might get hit.

“Shiloh! Target the girl. I will go after Boomer!”

Shiloh nodded and Rena immediately sprung into action.  Rena dashed forward and fired in two directions. Boomer and Aimei. Shiloh went straight for Aimi. Boomer snarled and fired his launcher upwards. Shiloh stopped in his tracks as rocks fell down. Boomer pointed a middle finger at them and moved backwards with Aimi.

“That explosive cunt!” Rena cursed. Going up against a maniac with no regard with his safety or life was extremely reckless. She thought the girl would be a weak link but she was surprisingly in tune with Boomer. However, it was obvious that Boomer was protecting her. Too well.

“That’s enough.” A voice echoed.

Kyra had her katana at Aimi’s throat. “Move and I slice her pretty throat.”

“Well well, you got me.” Boomer replied. He went to back sling his launcher and raised his hands to show his surrender. Boomer eyed to his left and saw Cree.

Cree positioned himself in a way that he is able to thrust his sword into his neck.

Kyra called out to Rena and Shiloh, “You guys ok?”

“Yeah… Just kill the bastards already.”

Just then, Kyra heard a pin being twisted and pulled. Kyra looked down to see Aimi throw a flashbang at her. Kyra immediately slapped it away from her and braced herself.

BANG

The flashbang went off. Kyra became disoriented from the impact. She stumbled in her feet but held her ground and tried to focus. Without hesitation, Kyra swung her katana horizontally but the slash missed its mark. Aimi had already escaped. So did Boomer.

It took a while for Kyra to regain her senses. The rest were still recovering. Rena stood up and commented, “Seems like the girl is as crazy and reckless as him.”

“He must have signaled her to escape once we showed up.” Kyra theorized.

“Damn. I’m pretty shagged myself. We still need to get through this dumb exam.”

“Well… Cree and I took out a whole team by ourselves. Here.” Kyra passed Rena’s corresponding Tag to her and to Shiloh.

“Not bad. Hey. It’s bloodied and sticky.” Rena stated.

“Just wipe the blood away using your pants.” Kyra stated flatly.

Rena stood up, walked towards Kyra and wiped the ID on her jacket. Kyra’s eye widened and immediately hopped backwards.

“The jacket’s off limit, asshole!” Kyra slapped Rena’s hand away.

“You killed the guy so it’s your fault that this ID is bloodied.” Rena retorted.

“That makes no senses whatso-”

“Will you two keep it down? My head is still ringing.” Shiloh interrupted.

Rena flipped Shiloh off while Kyra sat down leaning against a huge rock. She took out her ID and started to fiddle with it. She clicked on an icon that said “Map”. It seemed that it showed the area that she was currently in. It was a rather extensive application with many functions. It was able to show 2D and 3D views, real-time GPS locations of students and faculty but that function was unavailable as of yet. The map showed that they were two levels below the nearest exit.

The group decided to take a breather before heading for the exit and get this exam over and done with.

Aimi stopped and slowly caught her breath. The second the flashbang popped, she had closed her eyes and hightailed it out of there as far as she could get.

“That was a close call….”

“I probably could have taken them all.” Boomer stated. Aimi looked at him with worry. He always had some would call, suicidal tendencies. She could not help but worry each time. He never listened to her.

“But that female swordswoman had a dangerous aura.”

“Where have you two been?”

The question came from another member of Boomer’s and Aimi’s team. He was together with the last member.

Boomer grinned, “We were in a scrape with another team.”

The member raised an eyebrow. He looked at both Boomer’s and Aimi’s conditions. Aimi was pretty banged up while Boomer was bleeding and his equipment had clearly seen some action.

“A scrape you say? More like an explosive fight. Those explosions and tremors were clearly caused by you. I don’t plan to die in an unknown underground cave. You do still have your ID intact, don’t you?”

“Yea. Stop nagging. You still have a young life ahead of you,” Boomer wisecracked.

“And whose problem would that be?”

The girl smiled, “Should we go back and deal with them, now that we have full strength?”

“No! ….” Aimi squeaked.

She continued after recomposing herself, “What I meant was that we should continue on and look for other targets.”

All the commotion earlier might have attracted other groups to that location. If the swordswoman was bad news as she had thought, they might not have gotten out unscathed.

The girl shrugged, “If you say so.”

The underground cave system seemed to be a mixture of natural and manmade formation. It seemed as if the school had repurposed the cave system into a battlefield. In any case, everything about the caves was quite unnatural. Kyra assumed that all freshmen go through the same entrance exam. If that was the case, wouldn’t the environment have battle scars? Kyra did not once see any signs of battles. Did the school always clean this place up thoroughly?

They had walked quite a distance before reaching the exit. They first had to climb upwards towards ground level and traverse through rocky terrain in order to reach their destination.

“I… never… want to go through that… again,” Shiloh panted.

“You can say that again,” Cree agreed.

It was a miracle that none of them came into contact with any other groups. They had heard sounds of people clashing together but they ultimately decided to avoid them and head straight for the exit.

As they approach the exit, the rocky terrain was slowly smoothened out and transited to a smooth polished marble floor.  They could see two figures standing at what seems to be a heavy fortified door.

“Welcome and congratulations and making this far. May we see your admissions?” they spoke in unison that made the surrounding area even chiller.

Kyra took out her ID and the other one flashed it at them. The rest proceeded to do the same.

“It seems everything is in order. Please leave the other participants’ IDs in the container bin here and exit through the door ahead and proceed to the admin office for registration. And once again, congratulations on entering the Academy of Arts,” they bowed.

Rena, who was visibly freaked out, quickly headed for the door. The door sensed motion and slowly swung outwards. Light from outside shone brightly and lit up the dimly lit cave. Rena walked out and took a deep breath.

“Finally, air that is even more stale and less natural,” she vented out.

Now, they had to find their way to this administrative office. Kyra sighed internally. This whole day had been nothing but ups and downs. The time on her ID reflected it was around 12 in the afternoon. That meant that they had been stuck in that accursed place for about three hours. The group stretched their bodies. Kyra’s body shuddered as she stretched. The sound of her bones cracking was oddly satisfying to her.

“Hey, is that a map of the school?” Shiloh pointed to a nearby stand with many brochures. He walked over to it and took four brochures and passed it around.

“Oh wow! This is like some kind of amusement park but with a higher mortality rate,” Rena remarked, clearly intrigued by the map’s design.

Rena wasn’t wrong. The map was colorful and had lots of cutesy design that you thought this wasn’t a prestigious academy. After the cold speech by the Director and the killing in the entrance exam, this was quite a shock to see. None of them expected to see this at all.

“Let’s see…. It seems if we make a right and follow the path here… we will arrive at the administrative building.” Cree traced a path on the map with his finger.

Without a word, Kyra left.

“Hey, wait up!” Rena called for her and ran after her. The two remaining guys sighed and followed behind.

Note: This chapter has not been fully proof read. I apologize for any errors or plots that do not make sense.

Art of Killing – Chapter 4 – Academy

Featured ~ Kyreon ~ Leave a comment

Kyra was at the dining table, eating her breakfast when the rest of her family slowly trickled into the dining room. She got there first because she was too hungry and had to eat something. Usually, she will be one of the last few to arrive.

“How are your wounds?” Silvain asked.

“Errr, I’m fine now.” Kyra’s bruises from last night had already healed thanks to a good night’s sleep. Kyra was the only one in the family who healed pretty fast. She used to joke that she got the good genes from their ancestors.

Kyra finished her meal and was just about to leave the table when Silvain called for her.

“Kyra, you have another assignment. Or rather something that you have to attend.”

“Attend?” Kyra asked.

“Yes. You are going to enroll in the Academy of Arts today.”

Kyra was puzzled. “You want me to study at the Academy of Arts? But why?”

“To improve your skills and more importantly, learn Arts.”

Arts. It is true that Kyra was not knowledgeable about Arts and that learning it could be very useful. However, attending an Academy was something that she did not look forward too.

“You seem to not like this idea. Are you refusing to enroll?” Silvain questioned.

Kyra panicked a little and reposed herself, “No..not at all. I just think maybe Tatem could teach me Arts instead.”

“Tatem and the rest of us have other duties. Think of this as a good opportunity to carve your name in the school like the rest of us.”

Kyra knew what he was talking about. Her siblings had all graduated being top of their year. Even though Silvain did not outright said it, he wanted Kyra to be at the top.  Kyra was just the another Fukagi in line to be at the top.

“Ok, I’ll do it.”

“Pack your things. The enrollment begins at noon. The maids will send you to the Academy.”

Kyra nodded and left for her room.

After Kyra was out of sight, Asa looked at her brother and questioned him, “Is it really a good idea to send her there? You will be giving her to them. Even, we had a hard time in that school. They surely aren’t going to make it any easier for her.”

Silvain replied with confidence, “Kyra won’t be aiming for the top. She will crush the Academy down to its last brick.”

In Kyra’s room, she was slowly packing her necessities and weapons. Aiming for the top surely did not seem like a bad idea. However, she cannot help but wonder if there’s more to it. The Academy of Arts were where almost all the top killers in the city came from. Not only that, they teach Arts and Vis manipulation which would be very useful for Kyra. She called a servant to take her stuff to the car and proceeded to head to the Nexmor Garden.

The garden’s scenery never got old. It was as if a red bloody sea was swaying left and right. Kyra harvested a few flowers so that she could grow a few Nexmors in her dormitory. After picking the suitable ones, she put them all in separate containers which were able to sustain the flowers for weeks.

Kyra went to the mansion’s front door to find Yue, one of the family’s senior maids, waiting with an escort car.

“Are you prepared to leave for the Academy, Miss Kyra?” Yue asked at once.

Kyra replied, “Yea, let’s head over to this Academy.”

The car ride was silent and solemn as if there was an invisible uneasy air between the two of them. Kyra could not help but feel uncomfortable, occasionally shifting in her seat and trying to find things to gaze outside the window. It was not as if there was bad blood with Yue. It was just Kyra had been so disconnected with her family for such a long period of time that she grew distant with almost everyone.

Putting that aside, Kyra could not help but wonder what kind of place the Academy was. She had heard different stories, rumors and seen forums online about the Academy. They were all varied and forums about it were very limited, to say the least. It did feel that any information regarding the Academy was being regulated carefully.

As if to read her troubled mind, Yue spoke while looking at Kyra in mirror, “The Academy is a different kind of hell. One could say it specializes in helping you completely becoming one with this hell of a city.”

Before Kyra could reply, the car stopped.

“We’re here.” Yue left the car to remove Kyra’s belongings.

Kyra took a look outside to see a large white building. Even in the car, it felt that the building was towering over her. She exited the car and saw the words, “Academy of Arts”. One could tell that the building was very well maintained to the point it was almost in mint condition.

Yue proceeded to walk towards the building. Kyra followed suit. Kyra noticed there were a lot of other people heading towards the building. She could only guess that they were just like her trying to be accepted into this school.

The atmosphere completely changed when Kyra walked into the door. A cold wind breezed past her face. The temperature inside was definitely cooler than the sweltering heat outside.

Yue pointed to the left, “I will head over to the dormitory to place your stuff. You head on straight to the main hall for registration.”

With that, Yue turned the corner with Kyra’s luggage and bags.

Kyra continued walking down the hallway to the double doors.

There were already plenty of people standing around the hall. Kyra looked around her. Everyone was carrying different kind of weapons, ranging from swords, guns, rifles, the works. She noticed various people, a burly guy, short girl, hooded guy and a guy with dead fish eyes to say the least. She stopped walking. A girl beside her caught Kyra’s attention. She had a pair of pistols by her waist holster. The pistols were huge and engraved. But her outfit was just straight up weird! Kyra couldn’t help but stare at her. Her pants had a big hole at her crotch area that went straight down to her thighs. Her panties exposed for all to see. Upon closer look, there were also side pistols and magazines tucked away in the inner pants.

Kyra looked up and saw the girl looking back at her in the eye. No matter how you looked at it, Kyra was the perverted one to stare. Uncertain, she said, “Nice guns.”

“You…. Are all Fukagis perverts?” the girl spoke with a smirk.

Kyra subconsciously covered her family’s sigil on her jacket.

“What about you?”

“Who knows? I’m Marine.”

“Kyra.”

“Welcome to Academy of the Arts.” A voice boomed in the chattery hall. Everyone went silent and focused on the speaker at the stage.

The voice belonged to a woman in a suit that could be described as too small for her chest. Her cleavage was clearly visible. Kyra wondered if she will meet more people with questionable tastes. But she could not argue if you had assets like her. Why hide it?

“I am the headmaster. Sheryn Alkiel. In a short while, you will participate in Registration. But first, accept the Identification Device, or ID for short, that is being passed around by our staff.”

The ID arrived into Kyra’s hands. It was basically a smartphone however it was heavier and larger than the average smartphone.

“The ID has every function of a regular smartphone. Not only that, it has extra functions and features that is catered to the school. For example, clearance to enter certain facilities, pay for your meals and to enter tournaments. The ID is part of your school life. Literally. Do not lose it by any means.”

Kyra looked at her ID in her hands. It seemed the entire school system was based around the ID. It was critical that she had the ID with her at all times. To her left, Marine had begun tossing and catching her phone mid-air repeatedly. Marine noticed her and gave her a face of what?

Alkiel continued, “Let’s go through the rules. Or the Laws of this school as the students like to call it. First Law. No killing of students and or staff unless authorized.”

Kyra repeated that sentence in her head. Unless authorized? There was a lot of questions. Kyra assumed that the headmaster and probably some of high ranking in this school could give authorization. Permission to kill one? Several? Or everyone? There were no specific parameters in the rule.

“You can through the Laws on your ID. Once you are done looking through, press “Register”, fill in your particulars and scan your thumbprint.”

Kyra skimmed through the rules and registered her thumbprint. A pop-up appeared on her screen. “Welcome Kyra Fukagi – Year 1 Student Class A Tag 1”

“What class are you in?” Marine asked.

“A.”

“Well, what do you know? I’m in A too. I can tell we are going to have so much fun together.”

“What’s this Tag?” questioned Kyra, ignoring her last statement.

“No idea. I have Tag 2.”

“Tag 1 for me.”

Kyra listened to the buzz around her. It seemed that some people had the same tags and the numbering goes 1 to 4.

“You may notice a Tag in your profile. Find other students who have different Tags and stand in a rectangle that are around the hall.” Alkiel spoke.

It just so happened that Kyra and Marine were different Tags and they manage to find two other students. They stood together on a rectangle.

“Now, we shall begin the Entrance Exam. Rules are simple. You may notice a Tag in your profile. In order to pass and become an official student of this prestigious academy, you must procure another tag of the same number by any means necessary. For example, Tag 1 student must obtain another Tag 1 student’s ID. Scan the player’s tag to reveal the checkpoint. The exam does not end until you reach the checkpoint with ID still in hand.”

Kyra grabbed the hilt of her sword as if to anticipate something ominous happening. This exam would be a bloodbath.

“Let the culling begin.” Alkiel smiled sinisterly.

The floor below opened and Kyra fell into the darkness.

Afterword

I finally got this chapter out. Among learning Japanese and drawing, writing is a low priority unfortunately. Since, I have advanced quite a bit in Japanese, I will focused a bit more on the novel. So Kyra has to enroll in an academy. The academy isn’t something I really wanted to do. But all I can say most of the story would not be centered around the Academy. It will still be a main point but the biggest one will have been the city.

Art of Killing – Chapter 3 – Transit

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Kyra did not sleep a wink last night. She probably should have but she thought otherwise. After dinner and the sudden bomb dropped by her brother, Kyra spent the entire night looking through any kind of intel she could find on her target, Bobby Guyart. Kyra was in the family’s Intel Room. The Intel Room hosted several servers and computers that could spy on almost anyone in Diamond City. The Intel Room has seen upgrades over the years. It even had old technology from the past that the previous Fukagis used. The recent upgrades were done by her parents and her sister, Asa and the room had seen a huge technical jump.

Using the surveillance network, she found that Guyart is a pretty scummy individual who liked to hide behind people where he called the shots and pretended to be the head honcho of everything. Guyart was an arms dealer in Diamond City. He sold weapons to the small gangs in the city. Lately, Guyart has been bringing heavy firepower that could potentially upset the balance in the city and Kyra’s client wants him out of the picture. Kyra went through all the surveillance on Guyart. Like the body double whom she killed yesterday, Guyart lets a dummy convoy to travel first. About five minutes later, an inconspicuous sedan will leave the area. Every single time there would be a different sedan. Most people would not notice the sedan and assume that it was an ordinary civilian car. However, the pattern was obviously there, and Kyra was not going to let the opportunity slip.

Guyart’s security detail were standard and simple. The front car surveyed the road ahead while the back car watches the back of the convoy. The middle car that is supposed to be driving Guyart watches around the transport. The surveillance showed that the guards all wear body armor and carry submachine guns with pistol sidearms. Looking at the information, Kyra decided it might be best to hit the sedan hard and fast before the armored convoy knew what happened.

Kyra left the intel room and found Talem waiting for her.

“Is everything in order?” Talem asked.

“Yea, I got everything I need to know about Guyart. I’m gonna hit him tonight. Let the client know and make sure whoever they are pay up and…. Father and Mother to give me the intel.” Kyra answered.

“Understood.”

Kyra left him and went back to her room to prepare for her next assassination. Kyra’s room was not just a bedroom. There’s a small armory of Kyra’s preferred weapons, a computer which was linked to the Intel Room’s servers. She walked over to the armory wall and flipped open a panel and keyed in the code to reveal several weapons and tools. Kyra picked up a whetstone and started sharpening her katana. She did not need to do it since all her weapons are always kept in mint condition. But she figured it might be the best way to kill time.

Several hours passed and the sun was beginning to set. Kyra was in the mansion’s main garden. The mansion consisted of several gardens and the main one grew Nexmor flowers. Nexmor are red flowers that grew natively in the mansion. No other place else has them. One could say that they were native in the Fukagi mansion. The Fukagis always bring at least one flower with on missions. Kyra knelt down and plucked out a Nexmor. She proceeded to remove the flower’s pollen to prevent outsiders from reproducing the Nexmor in the event of a Fukagi dying. She placed the flower in her jacket’s specialized inner pocket for the Nexmors. Her jacket has various inner pockets, each one with different uses. The Nexmors’ pocket is designed to minimize damage to the flowers. Kyra had everything she needed. It was time to head out and start killing.  

Kyra’s mode of transport will be her motorcycle. It had been a while since Kyra last used her motorcycle. However, she had been fine tuning it and doing maintenance in the past few weeks in preparation. Kyra climbed aboard and kickstarted the engine. Her engine roared in the silent garage and she immediately accelerated into the night.

“Have we found out who attacked us the previous day?” a man spoke, with a glass of wine in his hand.

“No, Mr Guyart. We only know it was single female sword user.” Another man with glasses responded back.

“Female swordswoman? Do we know anyone like that?” Guyart snapped back.

“No-“

“Tsk. You’re a bunch of incompetent fools. I’ll have you all replac-” Guyart’s eyes widened as the car he was in swerved and flipped over. “Argh…” Guyart’s vision was blurred. He looked out of the window and barely saw a figure making its way towards his car. His head was ringing and he blinked once. The figure was gone. thud The assailant was above the car. Guyart quickly unfastened his seatbelt and he dropped onto the car’s ceiling. As he dropped, a blade striked down at him, a few centimeters from his left. Guyart’s eyes were widened as if they could pop out from his skull any second. He had to get out quick before the blade finds its mark. Guyart reached for the door handle on his right and opened it. He crawled out but the car door immediately slammed into his body. Guyart cried out in pain. “I got you now.” A voice came from above. The assailant had been waiting for him to climb out. He looked up and saw a hooded figure crouched down with her hands on the car door. She proceeded to further press the car door into his sides. The pressure was suddenly lifted and the hooded assailant flew head first into the ground. Guyart had been saved by Thomas, his bodyguard who kicked the door.

“Damn. Sonofabitch.” Kyra should have been more careful.  Kyra removed her hood and stood up. Shit. She had left her katana on the car. She pulled herself up and turned around to see Guyart’s bodyguard crawl out. Kyra took out two throwing knifes from her jacket and threw one first at the bodyguard and another at Guyart simultaneously. The bodyguard simply deflected the knife towards with the back of his fist and kicked the other one aside effortlessly. Kyra’s shoulders slumped as he raised both of his fists and was in his fighting stance. Fuck me, he’s a martial artist. Kyra hated martial artists with a burning passion even more so than gunmen. Martial artists are known to hit hard and have a counter to most techniques. To make matters worse, her main weapon is behind him. She had to get past him in some way.

“A Fukagi, huh? It’s not most people get to face off with one.” The unnamed bodyguard spoke.

“Lucky you.” Kyra said as she threw her throwing knife again. This time, with another knife hiding directly behind. Kyra quickly rushed forwards with her own knife in her hand. The guard simply grabbed the door behind and yanked it out to shield him from the knives. The knives stuck onto the doors and he moved forward to bash the oncoming Kyra. However, Kyra saw it coming and jumped over. While she jumped, the guard grabbed her leg and threw her forwards. Her body hit the ground and her body slid for a while. If it wasn’t for her jacket, her back would been screwed. At best, there will be bruises. Kyra was staring at the night sky while she smirked, “I’ve won.”

“What?”

“You might want to look behind.” Kyra jumped onto her feet with her katana in hand. The guard looked behind cautiously while keeping a steady eye on Kyra. The guard looked behind, the katana was obviously in her hands and he looked down to see a knife stuck into the back of Guyart’s skull. The guard cursed silently and faced Kyra, only to see her reveal a red flower from her jacket. The red flower of death. The Fukagi’s calling card. All of the Fukagi’s targets are left with that flower. It was said that once you were presented with one, your life was already in the hands of the Fukagi.

Kyra had not felt this ecstatic in what felt like a very long time. To finally present the Nexmor was an orgasmic moment. She couldn’t help but shivered. It was time to deal the killing blow and leave before the convoy ahead realized that something is wrong.

“I am going to kill you, Fukagi!!!”

Kyra scoffed as if that was the dumbest thing she has ever heard, “No, you are going to die.”

The guard charged at her, using the car door as a shield. Kyra simply stood her ground and raised her katana and sliced down hard. The door split in two and the guard fell onto the ground lifelessly. Kyra walked towards Guyart’s body and placed the Nexmor onto him. The job was done. She climbed back onto her motorcycle that she left behind and drove away into the night once again.

Meanwhile on a roof of a high-rise building, Asa was packing up her sniper rifle. Her phone started ringing. Asa sighed. She hated it when Silvain kept calling for updates. She picked up the phone and answered before he said a thing, “Yes, I took out the convoy and Kyra assassinated Guyart. She did good.” The call disconnected soon after. Silvian had asked of Asa to keep watch on Kyra while also taking care of the armored convoy as Kyra dealt with Guyart. Asa did not why she agreed to it but maybe she thought that it was the next best thing she could do as a sister. Although she had no plans to reveal to Kyra. “You owe me one now, Kyra.”

Art of Killing – 2nd Chapter – Disappointment

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“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.