Free Web NovelChapter 13: When the assassins succeeded
"We do not... know."
One of the captured assassin guards spoke in a drowsy tone as if he was under some kind of hypnosis.
When we started the interrogation earlier, we asked them simple questions that had concrete answers.
We asked for their names, where they were from, and what they wanted to eat.
We freed them from their restraints and asked them what they wanted to do next.
They were cautious about everything. It almost seemed like they were looking at each other and talking in a secretive manner.
But we let them have their fun.
The deep blue eyes of Felix were glowing along with my own. She terrified them, but they slowly got used to the little kitten.
After some time passed, they started cooperating and answering questions that weren’t as simple as the earlier ones.
We got to know who they were, where they studied, and whether they were registered into the family records.
They were actually pretty good... they were trying to lure us into getting our guards down.
And after some time, they managed to achieve that as well.
’...!’
’!!’
’!!!’
Right when Felix and I were thinking of what to ask them next, they got up and dashed forward.
"Meow!"
One of them grabbed Felix and yanked her off me, while the other one threw me all the way to the other side of the room with one kick.
-Bang!
"Argh!"
Even though they didn’t have access to their beasts, they were far stronger than we expected.
"Hupp!"
They subdued us both and managed to tie us up.
They also locked the door and sealed it off with some magic items that they had hidden on them.
"You shouldn’t have underestimated us, child."
They had one goal when they joined Able and that was to eliminate me.
Some of these people had been in the family for a while now, so it means this plan was more elaborate than what that younger brother of mine should know.
"Farewell."
The same person that carried the cursed dagger with him dug his bare hand inside my chest, pulling out my bloody heart.
He was smiling. Laughing like a madman.
The other assassins looked at him, and one of them was stunned to see what had just happened.
From the looks of it, he wasn’t aware of the craziness of his companion.
"Fascinating..."
With my heart still beating in the hands of the assassin, a smile bloomed on my face as the eyes of my kitten and me glowed with a brighter light.
-Zaaaaaaaaa!
A fog covered the room, one sparking with the same blue tint that was present in our eyes.
And in a moment, the fog cleared up...
"Hmmm?"
When that happened, I was back in my previous position, all the assassins still tied up to the chair, not even an ounce of strength present in their bodies to move.
"W-what...?"
The one who was shocked at the brutality of the assassin with the cursed dagger was the only one who woke up this time.
He looked at us, his horrified eyes meeting our pair of twin eyes, identical and glaring at him.
"You people seem like trained martial warriors. It seems like you have also received cellular enhancement."
Without the power of your beast, if someone isn’t using the power of their bonds, the only way to extract that much strength is through body strengthening.
’There are unique methods that allow microorganisms similar to the virus to enhance the body functions.’
These microorganisms become part of the immune system and strengthen the body... but it’s a long process, one that requires many sacrifices.
"How...?"
The assassin did not understand what had just happened. It was like coming out of someone’s elaborate mental illusion.
"What... what did you do?!"
He was scared. But more than that, his fear at the pair of cat eyes glaring at him seemed to have grown further.
"Now now. Let’s calm down and cooperate, ok? Why don’t you tell me about your commissioner?
From the looks of it, all of you must be from a specialised guild, right?"
There are all kinds of organizations in this world. Assassin organizations that have elaborate, long term missions aren’t that hard to find either for a family as big as ours.
"Now tell me..."
There are always weaker links.
The weakest one from this group must be someone that can’t even see someone be so brutal.
"What kind of commission did you receive?"
He was tied down. He was weakened. And he was terrified.
"P-please don’t kill me!"
He begged for his life, but I don’t have any intention to spare the ones we deem unworthy of a precious life.
"I don’t! I don’t know anything!"
He was begging for his life when what he should do right now was to beg for forgiveness.
He didn’t do anything on his own. But he was still part of the group.
"These guys! The one with the red mark on his hand hired me! I don’t even know them!"
"Oh?"
It seems like the commission was given to someone capable and they orchestrated things well by dividing tasks among different people from different guilds.
’If my suspicions are right, they might not even know who the actual commissioner is.’
But what can we do when he’s the only person awake right now?
"I was supposed to bring them to Sungrade and help them get settled here! I didn’t even know they were going after you!"
There seemed to be some truth present in his words. But he wasn’t completely honest.
"Do you wanna see something interesting?"
I smiled at him and a strange transparent screen appeared before him.
( "So are you saying the one tasked with infiltration and group coordination was this guy?" )
( "Y-y-yes!" )
On the screen right now, in the same room, a different scene than what he was seeing was transpiring.
The person this guy was pointing at was the last one remaining with his head still on top of his head.
The rest of them were now headless. They couldn’t be as dead as they were right now.
He was the only one remaining, along with the guy we are talking to right now, one that’s looking at the horrible axe that’s hanging right on his neck.
"He’s saying you’re the leader."
He was terrified further.
The guy had no idea how to respond to something like this.
He just kept listening to the conversation ’we’ were having with the alleged leader.
The room was filled with blood of the people who were already dead.
He wanted to know whether this was real or not, but he’d have no way of knowing the true, the right, or the real.
"..."
He just blankly stared at me. His eyes, that were simple brown, burned purple.
"Fucking trash noble."
His whole demeanor changed in an instant. He seemed to have become a different person altogether.
-Ooooooooooooooooong.
A bond mark that wasn’t present anywhere on his body appeared in his eyes.
"You should’ve just died to that bastard."
He must be talking about Able. The bond mark that manifested in his eyes, had summoned a <Spirit of Water>.
And though it was a mid-rank spirit of the (R) grade, no spirits in this world are weak.
"Vhaaaaaaaaa!"
The spirit of water screamed and shot out beams of high pressure jets in all directions. Anything that touched these beams was obliterated.
It was like a beam of concentrated tsunami. Any living body, mine or the other assassins’ present, could not endure this pressure.
We exploded from inside out upon contact with this chaotic water... At the end, the assassin leader was the only one standing.
"Haaaa. That bitch will have to pay extra for this."
The whole room was filled with washed up water and blood.
The leader recalled the spirit and plopped back on his chair, wiping the sweat and blood on his face.
"Haaa..."
He must have worked above his paygrade. It was pretty admirable.
( "Whaaaaaa!" )
But he couldn’t understand why the screen with the assassin that had the red mark on his head was still playing the footage.
For a moment, he thought it was just too slow to disappear.
"...!"
But then he realized something.
"So... shall we talk more about that bitch?"
The bloodied body that was all over the place, the face of that body the assassin was staring at, smiled at him.
"Y-you..."
He looked around himself, and in the corner of the room, saw the gray cat that was supposed to be dead, still staring right at him.
"Meow."
Right beside her ’I’ was standing, caressing her head, smiling at the assassin.
"..."
When he looked around himself, he saw the same blue fog he had seen a few moments ago rise and cover the room once again.
And in a moment, he was back in the same chair, tied once again, with the bond mark in his eyes sealed away with strange needles that went directly in his eyes.
He stared at the front, horrified.
I was still there, caressing Felix, with the rest of the people around him being headless, the room, once again, clad in blood of the assassins.
"Ready to talk now?"
He wanted to know whether this, at least, was real or not, but he’d have no way of knowing the truth.
The right was what we willed to be right in this world, and the only real thing here... was us.
Or perhaps not.
"Meow~."
{ "We have one more minute left, master~." }
We have thoroughly enjoyed playing with these assassins. But we almost have what we needed after creating a net of thirty realities for each one of them.
"Time to wrap things up then."
Their conscious minds would break if they knew what was happening with their unconscious minds. But that would not happen either.
’I made sure what they see and experience stays in the ’reality’ where it was happening.’
Creating a [< Finite personal reality >] is what Felix’s <Fog Eyes> does. I can control her skill with our bond connection.
And thanks to the unique nature of my mind... I might be one of the only handful of people in this continent that can use her special mystic skill as effectively as this.
