"That was anticlimactic," I remarked to myself as I watched Alan's head fly off his shoulders. Being the final member of the so-called strongest Hero party, I had half-expected this to be the grueling battle.
To be fair, Alan was already grievously hurt before I attacked him. Studying him, I noted the fatal wound that had opened up on his abdomen. Someone had eviscerated him earlier – most likely Ralph Da Ghoul, if his last words were to be believed.
Given that Alan Assam wanted revenge on Ralph Da Ghoul to the extent that he would beg me to help him kill him (though, given his personality, the request was most likely an act), it was likely that Ralph Da Ghoul was the person who injured him severely, forcing him to escape. That was probably why he was hiding in the Wayne Manor. He had been forced to flee the League of Shadows, and sought refuge in the home of one of his previous victims.
Said victim was approaching, regarding Alan's headless corpse and disembodied head with disdain. Duke Bryce Wayne scowled and kicked the head toward the body. He then turned to me and bowed his head slightly.
"Thanks for helping me take revenge."
"No problem. I always intended to kill him myself. After his betrayal…"
Bryce nodded in understanding. Honestly, he would like to have killed Alan himself, but he had taken a no-killing vow. No guns. Taking the lives of criminals was where he drew the line – he might be a vigilante, but h was not a murderer.
"I'm surprised." Stella joined us, examining Alan's corpse. She turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "You killed Alan Assam pretty quickly. I thought you would…prolong his suffering or something. Like with the others."
"Nah, he's too dangerous to be left alive," I replied.
There were a few reasons why I killed Alan immediately, without bothering with all the torture and stuff. If there was anyone who was capable of escaping, it would be Alan. He was a well-trained assassin, extremely skilled and experienced. I couldn't afford to underestimate him. The longer he was left alive, the greater of a threat he would become.
I could lock him inside a coffin and he would find some way to pick the locks and escape (or use shadow magic to escape). I could seal his magic with the Chains of Void and he would just dismantle them and even use them against me. He was the ultimate killer, determined and ruthless. He had spent his entire life being trained under Ralph Da Ghoul and honed into becoming the ultimate human weapon. I had seen firsthand the sort of tactics he used to kill monsters that were supposedly stronger than our party put together.
This was the one person I couldn't risk leaving alive. When I had the chance to eliminate him, I would. He wasn't as incompetent, complacent or stupid as the other members in the Hero party. He was practically the protagonist of an assassin light novel or web novel, with plot armor, cheat skills and abilities bordering on Mary Sue-ness.
Speaking of which, weren't isekai assassin web novels the rage these days? About how the assassin was stronger than the Hero, or an assassin reincarnated into another world, that sort of nonsense?
"I see." Stella nodded. She didn't ask for any explanation. If I said Alan was too dangerous to be left alive, then she believed me. She didn't always agree with me, but she trusted my judgement when it came to fighting. In fact, she looked relieved that I wasn't going to indulge in torture porn and insane revenge shenanigans this time.
Of course, part of the reason was also because Alan was the only one in the Hero party who actually respected me. Unlike the others (Miranda, Yvonne and Bradley, in particular), he didn't look down on me or insulted me. When we fought, he would seek my input and advice. And he would trust me to have his back or support the party from behind whenever we were on the battlefield.
There was no reason to tell Stella and Bryce all this, though, so I stayed silent on the matter and instead gestured for the duke to lead the way.
"We're here for your toys, right? Let's get them and then get out of here before the rest of the League of Shadows arrive."
"Good idea." Bryce nodded in agreement. He then stepped to the front and proceeded to the basement, where he had transformed an underground cave into a secret base. "Here, the bat cave."
Both Stella and I exchanged a glance, but instead of rolling our eyes, we took to communicating with the zoo bats, gold bats and cross bats that inhabited the cave. The cute pocket…I mean subterranean monsters served as our eyes and ears, spreading out to keep their ultrasound or sonar out for any approaching assassins.
It didn't take us long to grab whatever we needed and transport them out of the Wayne Manor. Once that was done, Bryce then set fire to the whole place.
"Uh, is this really necessary?" I asked, starting at the burning manor. Bryce nodded, a hint of amusement in his smile.
"Yeah. I want to send out a single message."
He grinned and tossed a flare at me before gesturing to a separate tower that was still untouched by the flames.
"Light it up."
I ignited it, and once the shadows were illuminated, I caught sight of a trail of kerosene. At Bryce's nod, I tossed the flare and set the entire trail ablaze. The flames sped up along the trail and up along the tower, which sparked to life. Both Stella and I watched, amazed, as a gigantic bat-shaped conflagration erupted to life, the flames dancing about majestically.
Far away, in the distance, Ralph Da Ghoul froze when he caught sight of the flaming bat symbol. He narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his leather jacket.
"Impossible," he wheezed. Then he turned to his subordinates, who were all kneeling yet simultaneously gawking at the blazing bat symbol in the distance. "Keep yourselves close. He will come for me."
"…uh, who?" One of the assassins asked, confused. Ralph Da Ghoul gave him a cold stare.
"Bat…Bryce Wayne, I mean. The duke."
*
I didn't know what happened in the war between Bryce Wayne and the League of Shadows, at least not yet. I had more important things to deal with. Now that I had eliminated all of the members of the so-called strongest Hero party, there was one last thing I had to do before I could truly declare the whole thing over.
The temple where Herman and Irene were currently being treated – once again, it was not difficult for me to disguise myself as one of the priests and infiltrate the place. By now, there were very few guards outside the temple. The Church knew that Herman and Irene were dying, and there was nothing they could do to save the two of them.
With an air of resignation, the church clergy had left the two of them to slowly live out the rest of their lives. Without any way to alleviate their pain or save their lives, they had gradually reduced the priests and priestesses tending to them.
That made it a lot easier for me to sneak in. Striding into the chamber, with a pot of medicated water and oil in my hands – not that they would do anything because of the spell-nullifying aura that the Blood Spear of Longinus possessed – I stood over the hideously fused couple. They were barely alive, their sanity ravaged by the constant pain. Though their flesh had begun to heal, the scarred tissue and skin had begun to heal over each other, overlapping and fusing them like a pair of Siamese twins. It was becoming increasingly difficult to separate them without putting their lives in jeopardy.
That was the point.
"Oh, seems like the Blood Spear of Longinus has absorbed a lot of your life essences."
It had been about six months since I had taken revenge on the both of them. The two of them were practically on the border of death. Actually, they were about to die. I wouldn't be surprised if they expired any time now. They were so close to dying.
The Blood Spear of Longinus had done its job well. I could sense the immense amount of energy and vitality that ran through the cursed weapon. In contrast, Herman and Irene were desiccated husks, almost lifeless.
Time to put them out of their misery, only to plunge them into more agony later.
Gripping the haft of the Blood Spear of Longinus, I yanked it out. There was a spray of blood, and a muffled screech as both Herman and Irene convulsed from the abrupt motion, and then they died, their hearts ruptured from the blow. There was no saving them from this. To make sure they were dead, I stood over their cooling corpses and watched as they died for good.
Irene expired first, her physical body frailer than Herman's. Herman, being the chosen Hero, hung in there stubbornly for a few more minutes, but then he finally died, joining his lover in death. I watched them become cold corpses – there was no pulse because their hearts had been obliterated, but I was keeping an eye on the synaptic signals and flares between their neurons.
It didn't matter if they tried to restart their nonexistent hearts later or replace them with prosthetics. By the time they did that, the evil couple would have suffered brain damage because of a complete lack of oxygen to their brains, now that they no longer hearts to pump any blood toward there.
However, I wasn't satisfied with this.
Leaving the Blood Spear of Longinus aside – because I couldn't cast magic while holding onto it – I then conjured a blood spell to place the dead couple inside a coffin. Poking my head out to check if there was anyone outside, I then snuck my way out while carrying the coffin.
Someone else would recover my Blood Spear of Longinus. In fact, Stella was standing by, ready to enter and retrieve the cursed weapon once I had gotten out of the temple with the coffin in tow.
Using the shadows to my advantage, I cloaked my presence and the view of the coffin, and exited the temple before anyone knew what was happening. Once I did that, I signaled to Stella, who nodded and stepped into the temple.
Within moments, the both of us were far away from the temple, making our escape before the lightly stationed guards at the temple even noticed that something was amiss.
*
"Oh, of course I can do that. But…what's the point?"
Lindley was staring at the hideously fused corpses of Herman and Irene, puzzled by my request. I shrugged and grinned.
"This is the strongest Hero and the Supreme Priestess. Having them serve us as undead would be the greatest point in itself."
"Uh, I don't know about that." Lindley frowned, which was quite a feat, considering that all he had was a bare skull. "Zombies can't use magic. Even if I were to turn them into zombies, the Hero Herman won't be able to use any of his holy magic or Hero powers. The priestess Irene wouldn't be able to use healing magic and blessings either."
"That's fine. The Hero's physical constitution is more than enough. As a zombie, he should still be capable of brute strength."
"Ah, of course…but that's if his body is in a normal condition." Lindley stared at the fused bodies in disapproval. "But in his current condition…"
"Oh, you're right. That will be a problem. I guess I'll have to perform some sort of surgery to make them useful."
That turned out to be a simple task, altering their bodies so that they would have visible arms and legs. Lindley thought it was a waste of time and effort, but I didn't care about his opinion.
I wanted revenge, and I was going to have it, no matter the cost.
"There you go. They should be on par with the Miranda-Mikhail zombie now."
"I guess so." Lindley raised an eyebrow, or would have except that he didn't have any. "They will still retain their consciousness, though."
"That's perfect." I grinned. "I hope they are aware of what they are going through."
"…right. I shouldn't have asked." Lindley shrugged and prepared the reanimation process. In a matter of seconds, the altered copses turned into an abominable zombie.
"Hey, Herman! Irene!" I called out cheerfully.
Even though they couldn't go against Lindley's control, I could still sense a stiffening of their melded bodies that indicated they recognized my voice and heard every word I said. My grin widened.
"From today onward, you will have to serve the Demonic Legions under my command! I look forward to working with you in the future!"
The shuddering of their merged bodies told me that they wanted to howl in rage, hatred and despair, but couldn't, both because their mouths were horribly fused together by acid scars and also because of Lindley's mind control. Turning away, I suppressed my laughter and continued delightfully.
"All right, let's go. You guys begin your new job…today!"