Chapter 10: Putting 'Ass' In Assassination
- Arch-Mage Lumal has been assassinated a week after closing off wizard's tower! Culprits still at large! -
Nile put down the newspaper.
'What insane bastard has the balls to assassinate the world's most influential man, surrounded by some of the most powerful magic… not only that, but to succeed as well!'
Even Nile, a top tier assassin who had never failed an assassination attempt thus far, was in awe of this feat.
Nile is skilled. Very Skilled.
But he knows his limits.
Nile is calculative.
He would never attempt an assassination he didn't think he would succeed.
He trains his abilities with those slightly below his maximum capabilities and avoids those far above it.
He basically overthinks everything to ensure all goes as planned.
Combine this cautious nature with his inability to feel pain, he's the ideal perfect assassin.
Even then, Arch-Mage Lumal was far above his level.
That's why he's so impressed by someone actually succeeding since they'd have to be significantly stronger than he is.
Nile stood up and stared back down at the corpse that he was sitting on as he was reading the newspaper.
He pulled out a scroll from his pocket and threw it on the body causing it to immediately combust before it got quickly consumed by the flames and burned to nothingness.
'Well… I guess I should head back now.'
As he thought that, he vanished from his spot and reappeared right in front of the entrance to the secret organization base.
After saying the secret passcode, the door opened, and he headed inside where he was greeted with a lot of commotion.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
An alarm blared loudly.
Nile felt his energy levels abruptly drop and he let out a mental sigh as he went to go check out the source of the trouble.
Nile already had a sneaking suspicion of what… or who it was that was causing this commotion.
Suddenly, an assassin was flung backwards and crashed into the wall next to Nile.
"What's the issue here?"
"U-urgh! It's that brat again! Lenier! That kid is throwing a temper tantrum again!!"
'Damn it, I can't let him ruin my reputation… I was the one who brought him in after all.'
Nile walked past the crowd of assassins gathered around and put his hand on Lenier's shoulder, who was at the center of the attention.
"Nile! Ah, finally, someone reasonable!"
"What's the issue here?"
"Oh! Well, I was about to get hurt…"
Nile looked over and saw one of the senior assassin's severed upper body lying lifelessly on the ground, and looked to the other side of the room to see the other half of the body.
Nile closed his eyes and groaned just quietly enough for no one to hear him.
He pretty much understood the gist of what happened.
This was not the first time this had happened.
Since coming here, Lenier had repeatedly avoided anything that would even potentially hurt him.
If they tried to punish him, he'd simply refuse and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Still, this was the first time that there were casualties.
"Can you tell me what happened? Did you kill him?"
"It was an accident! It's just that the teachers kept trying to give me a good time, but when I turned down their offers, they got mad! I'm resisting the sweet temptation to give in… but it's not helping that they keep insisting!"
Since Lenier made the promise to live a pain free life, he could not allow himself to get hurt.
So far it had been pretty easy, but since coming here, these people around him kept tempting him, making it hard to resist.
He remembered how good it felt to just let himself indulge in that sweet sweet pain… but Lenier was strong willed and didn't allow himself to break his promise.
Lenier's situation was equivalent to someone's friend offering them some very delicious food. But since the person is on a diet, they refuse and as a result, the friend gets mad for turning down their offer.
At least, from Lenier's perspective, that's what the situation seemed like.
From everyone else's perspective, this monstrous kid just ripped someone in half.
'I don't understand what is wrong with this kid… he joyfully lets himself get kidnapped by the organization, but then does everything he can to avoid getting hurt? But then he says he's resisting the temptation? What is going on in this kid's head?'
Nile's mind was swirling, he had never been so confused in his life.
But he remained calm on the outside.
"I'm sorry Nile. I hope you're not mad…"
"I do not care. However, you have caused a lot of trouble today. The higher ups won't let you go unpunished."
"Oh, I completely understand… but at this rate, I won't be able to avoid feeling pain, so I guess I'll need to find a solution to this… hm…"
Nile abruptly grabbed Lenier's hand and started dragging him along.
"Don't worry about this. I'll deal with him. Make sure to clean everything up and report this to the higher ups."
Upon Nile's orders, all the gathered assassins skittered off to do their own thing.
However, they quietly whispered to each other and gossiped amongst themselves.
"Who is that freaky kid?"
"He was brought in by Nile!"
"Nile? Do you think he knew about this?"
"I don't know, but he seemed unfazed…"
"That's no surprise! Nile isn't fazed by anything!"
Despite being able to hear all of this, Nile ignored it as if he heard nothing and left the area with Lenier following behind.
'Urgh… why'd this kid have to go and cause so much trouble? He was… obedient, for lack of better words, when he first came here. Now, he's causing trouble almost everyday. Something doesn't feel right. This is just… too convenient… as soon as I start my plans, he appears and creates distractions for me… it's too suspiciously convenient.'
Nile continued contemplating his situation in silence as the only noise were the sounds of their footsteps on the cold stone floor.
After a while, Lenier decided to break this silence.
"Hey Nile, where are we going?"
"You're going to the punishment ward… at least, you'll have to stay there for a while until the higher ups figure out what to do with you."
"Ohhh, I don't think I've ever been there."
Indeed Lenier hadn't. It was one of the few places Lenier had not been to in the organization.
The punishment ward was reserved as a place to discipline disobedience, but pre-regression, Lenier was very obedient.
The assassin organization gave him everything he ever wanted: Pain. Why would he ever be disobedient?
As such, this would be his first time going to the punishment ward.
"Wow, it sounds like a fun place. But it's too bad I can't enjoy it because of my promise."
'Promise?'
What Lenier said slightly piqued Nile's interest.
However, Nile knew better to ask pointless questions and suppressed his curiosity.
"Well, you'll be staying here for a while."
As they came to a stop, in front of them stood two massive doors on each side of the hallway.
Above those two doors were signs that read; "torture chamber" and "the empty room."
The torture chamber room is self explanatory, but then there's the empty room.
Despite its plain name, the empty room is not as nice as it seems.
It's a sensory deprivation chamber.
Absolute darkness.
Complete silence.
Lack of any temperature.
Magic that removes all your physical sense of touch.
At first, it may actually be quite calming and relaxing… but slowly overtime, one will start feeling its true effects.
A way of describing it would be that… It feels like you're being suffocated by nothing.
Floating through an endless void of emptiness, where no matter how much you struggle, you are unable to move whatsoever.
Even if you scream, even if you struggle, even if you resist, even if you gouged out your own eyeball… you would not hear nor feel anything.
A complete and utter lack of any response.
At some point, you start going insane.
You stop realizing if you're awake or asleep, moving or still, alive or even dead and time comes to a complete halt.
There are many who have accidentally killed themselves while in the empty room.
They wiggle and squirm on the ground, repeatedly bashing their heads on the floor until they eventually die without realizing it.
Since they can't feel anything, they don't know that their skulls have been crushed.
For most people, this would be enough to mentally destroy someone. Completely change them as a person, leaving them with permanent mental damage.
Unbeknownst to everyone else though, it was not only an ineffective torture, it would also end up being a blessing for Lenier.
"Well, I guess I'll go in then. See you later Nile."
Lenier waved Nile goodbye with a smile on his face as he walked into "the empty room".
As Lenier passed through the double metal sliding doors, he felt his body slowly go numb until he couldn't feel anything anymore.
His vision went black, and everything went silent…
But Lenier's perception extended far beyond the five basic senses.
He could still clearly feel the entire world around him.
"Hm, is it just me or is time moving a little bit faster in here than on the outside? Well, none of my concern. I can spend some time thinking!"
Lenier walked deeper into "the empty room" which was surprisingly pretty big.
This is the place where he'd be spending the next couple days in, so Lenier figured he might as well get comfy.
That was when he noticed something, more specifically, someone, shivering in the corner of the room.
Walking a bit closer, Lenier realized that it was a little girl, maybe around his age or a bit older.
She was heavily injured though.
Wearing nothing but dirty rags that looked like it had been torn apart by wolves, her body was covered in dried blood and wounds.
The little girl looked like she was on the verge of death as her body kept convulsing.
Whatever she was subjected to, it was something that a child her age should never have had to endure (unless it's Lenier, who enjoys it).
Lenier bent down to get a good look at her as he slightly envied the pain she was feeling, when suddenly something about the girl stood out to him.
"Wait a second… she seems… familiar…?"
Lenier closed his eyes and tilted his head back to think for a moment.
"Where… have… I… seen… her…?"
Suddenly, his eyes popped open as a magic lightbulb literally appeared over his head.
"Lyla! Hex Mania Lyla! She's one of the heroes!"
Although significantly younger, and looking a lot different, Lenier was still able to recognize this girl as one of the legendary heroes who defeated him; Hex Mania Lyla.
Physically, she looked very different as a child, but Lenier was still able to recognize her soul.
"What a small world it is, for me to not only meet one, but two of the legendary heroes so soon… and so close to each other too, what are the chances of that?"
Lenier stared at Lyla's face.
There were bags under her eyes, and she was profusely sweating.
Her body kept twitching, almost as if to struggle against the world.
"She doesn't look too good, I should probably help her. The thing she wants most would probably be to escape from here… but if I break her out, then I would be bothering Nile again…"
Lenier was not used to thinking a lot.
He usually never had to worry about consequences or upsetting others, so this complicated things for him a bit. Just a tiny bit.
After a small bit of contemplation, Lenier decided now wasn't the time to save her.
He'll free Lyla when the time is right.
However, leaving her in pain like this would bother Lenier, so he decided to do her a temporary favor.
Lenier wrapped his fingers around Lyla's neck and gently squeezed, causing her body to abruptly go limp.
She is not dead.
Merely unconscious.
Sent to a wonderful world of dreams, free of any pain.
Lenier made sure of it.
"Good night little one."
He softly whispered as he patted her head.
"All right, I guess I should find a way to kill some time. I should probably figure out a way to make sure I don't break my promise. Not feeling pain is harder than I thought it'd be."
Lenier stood up and stretched his limbs, loosening up his body before he sat back down, leaning against a wall comfortably.
He closed his eyes and just relaxed, allowing his mind to wander and find a solution.
"What can I do to avoid pain? How can I keep my promise?"
These were his goals that he would meditate on.
Feeling pain would break his promise, so in order to not break his promise, he'd have to not feel pain.
Although it may sound like an obvious statement, it was exactly what Lenier needed to realize.
In this moment, Lenier was not in pain.
He focused on this feeling of being not in pain.
How does it feel to not be in pain? What causes his feeling? Why does he feel this way?
After one deep breath in, and a long breath out, Lenier stopped breathing.
He immersed himself with the world around him.
His body, mind, and soul all started to become one with his surroundings.
The absence of pain.
Nothing itself.
This is what his mind focused on.
Nothing.
Nothing = no pain.
Lenier achieved the pinnacle of nothing.
And for a fraction of a split second, Lenier himself became nothing.
He completely vanished.
His very existence was erased and ceased to exist.
He disappeared from everyone's memories as the universe itself forgot he ever existed.
It was almost as if he was never real.
But just as soon as he disappeared, he reappeared.
And Lenier opened his eyes.
He was done.
As he stood up, Lenier felt something was different.
His body and mind felt different.
Something had changed.
It was time for him to test the results.
Just as Lenier snapped his fingers, the "empty room's" sensory deprivation magic instantly dispersed, restoring all his physical senses.
Lenier raised his leg and then smashed his foot into the wall, completely shattering the bone in his toes.
"…"
Lenier smiled.
"Perfect."
Despite what he just did, Lenier felt no pain.
He had found a solution to his problem.
A loophole, one might say.
Lenier's promise to the old man was that he would live a pain free life, so as long as he didn't feel any pain, his promise would be valid, regardless of any physical injuries.
Now, he felt nothing. No pain.
"The solution was right next to me this whole time, it's a surprise I didn't realize it sooner. First, I meet Nile, the only hero who was incapable of feeling pain. Then I get sent to this empty room, which takes away my ability to feel pain as well. It's almost as if the solution was given to me on a silver platter. This is honestly all so convenient, it almost feels like this was all planned out by some form of higher being!"
And almost as if to prove this point, it was at this exact moment that the metal sliding doors leading into the "empty room" opened with a fshhhh sound.
"…"
Nile stared deep into the pitch-black darkness of the room, directly at Lenier who stood at the centre staring back.
"Oh. Perfect timing. Just as I finished problem solving, you're here to pick me up."
"…"
'Holy shit, I almost had a fucking heart attack. The moment I open the door, that kid's staring right at me. How long has he been standing there??? I wouldn't be surprised if the empty room didn't affect him, but it's been days! Surely, he didn't stand there this whole time waiting for me to come back…'
Despite Nile's rapidly beating heart due to the minor surprise, his face and composure did not waver.
"Your time in here is done. Follow me."
Lenier calmly nodded and elegantly walked out of the room.
Nile's eyes narrowed.
'Something feels different about him… it's not strange that a person changes after spending some time in the empty room. Most people go insane in fact, but this kid… he gives off the vibe of a man coming back from a long vacation…'
"I am going to have to warn you, the higher ups are not pleased. You may want to reconsider what you are going to do… or else your life may have to be cut short."
Lenier smiled and bowed.
"Of course, I wouldn't dare to disobey."
Nile didn't respond and pressed a button on the walls to close the doors to the empty room.
However, as the doors were closing, instead of leaving, Nile just stood there blankly staring into the empty room.
"Nile? Is something wrong?"
"…no… let's go."
Nile turned away, dismissing Lenier's concern.
"You'll be going back to the nurturing ward to be… rehabilitated. I will warn one final time, the higher ups will be carefully watching you."
Nile was serious, he'd seen what the organization did to those who didn't obey.
But Lenier just gave a very reassuring thumbs up.
"Don't worry, I already solved my problem! There won't be any more issues! Thanks for all the help, Nile!"
Then Lenier waddled away, leaving Nile there all alone with his thoughts.
'Thanks… for the help…? Did I help him? Why'd he thank me? Huh? No ones ever thanked me before…'
And for the next couple days, what the kid had said remained in Nile's head.
However, there were more important things Nile had to worry about.
Nile continued doing his job as an assassin as usual, nothing out of the ordinary and with minimal contact with others.
One day though, as Nile was walking back to the organization after finishing a mission, he noticed a homeless looking hooded man sitting on the ground.
Nile slowed his steps as he got closer.
"How are our plans going?" Nile asked without making eye contact.
"Surprisingly, things have gone very smoothly… it seems that luck is on our side. Apparently there has been quite a lot of commotion from inside the organization, so they've been distracted. One of their torture rooms, something by the name of…. the empty room I think, suddenly turned off and wouldn't activate so they had to send quite a number of people to fix it, diverting their attention away from us."
'Hm. No doubt that it's that kid's doing…'
"So, is everything ready? Can we begin the operation?" The man asked.
Nile stayed silent for a moment.
"Not yet, there is… one more loose end I need to tie up before we can do anything. I'll let you know in a couple days."
"Sounds good. Anything else?"
"No."
Upon hearing this, the hooded man silently stood up and left.
"…"
'Now… to deal with the loose end…'
Nile sighed and disappeared from his spot.
"Welcome back Nile," a voice greeted as Nile returned to the organization base.
However, Nile just continued walking towards his destination, ignoring everything else around him.
An assassin dressed up in a special instructor uniform who seemed to be writing something on a clipboard noticed Nile approaching.
"Oh, Nile. You're here to check up on Lenier again?"
Nile nodded.
"How is he doing? No issues?"
"Well, yes. He's… no longer acting up anymore. But he's a little weird. No matter what we do to him, he never reacts. We've tried punishing him, but he just seemed… bored. It's like he doesn't feel anything. Still, he's been obedient, so that's that."
'Doesn't feel anything…? Like me? Hm…'
"If he is progressing well, move him to the next stage. He's a special case so he doesn't need as much time being nurtured. I may bring him along for a mission to show him how things are done."
"Alright, I'll write that down. You seem to be paying a lot of attention to him, aren't you. That kids got a lot of potential and real lucky to be personally trained by Nile himself, so he's sure to go far."
"The higher ups have ordered me to watch over him, I am simply doing that."
"Okay then, well, when's your next mission? I'll sign him out so you guys can go together."
"Today. In a couple hours."
"Alright. Wish you could've told me earlier in advance, but it's fine. He'll be ready to go in an hour or so."
Nile nodded and left to go kill time for a bit.
His body submerged into the shadow as he swam through the darkness, reappearing in a small room, isolated from everything else.
'I'll have to get ready and make sure everything is set up properly, so nothing goes wrong.'
A few hours passed by as Nile finished up his prep work before he went back to the organization base.
"Well, where are we going Nile?"
Lenier asked with a smile as Nile came to pick him up.
"You'll see."
"Okay then!"
The two of them swiftly left the organization base and travelled far away.
As to Nile's expectation, Lenier was able to easily keep up with his travel speed.
Within a few minutes, they both appeared on the rooftop of a relatively large city building.
"Today's going to be a test mission for you. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. You're going to kill someone. I will watch and see how you do."
"Who's the target?"
Nile pointed at a fancy looking establishment, crowded with people walking in and out.
"The head of the merchant's guild. Not an easy target since he's under constant surveillance, and full of bodyguards."
"I see. Do you guys usually give such important missions to newbies?"
"If it's too difficult for you, then I'll report your failure."
Lenier chuckled.
"How could I dare to disappoint you like that! Of course, I'll do it! How flashy you want it to be?"
"We're… assassins. We would preferably not be noticed."
"That makes sense," Lenier said with a nod.
Lenier then closed his eyes and crossed his arms, brainstorming how he would pull off this assassination.
'I am quite curious to see what the kid does…'
Nile leaned against a chimney and watched carefully.
'This kid definitely has something up his sleeves, it'd be good if I could see what he's capable of so I can plan ahead.'
"Hm. Ok. I got it."
Lenier reopened his eyes and extended his arm forward, forming a finger pistol with his hand.
"Bang."
'…'
Lenier then dropped his hand and turned to Nile.
"Ok. It's done, he's dead."
"What…?"
"He's dead."
Nile quickly turned over, focusing his eyes to zoom into the merchant guild building and saw that there was some sort of commotion.
His ears twitched as he tried to listen in on what was being said.
"What's going on!"
"We don't know, Sir Sabastian just collapsed! We don't know why!"
"Is he okay?!"
"H-hes… not breathing! He's dead!"
"WHAT?!?! Was he assassinated? Poisoned?? Secure the area! HURRY! Don't let anyone leave!"
"There are no traces of any injuries or wounds! We don't know what happened, he just collapsed!"
Nile's eyes widened as he turned back to look at Lenier.
'He's… actually dead.'
"You actually did it."
"Of course! Aren't you proud of me?"
"I… guess so…"
'How? I didn't see anything at all. He formed some sort of gun with his hand and all, but I didn't feel any magic come out. Was it some sort of weapon? But I would've noticed! I don't know what he did, but… that was impressive though…'
"Good job. I suppose we're done for today then."
"So are we heading back to base?"
"No. Not yet. There's somewhere we need to go first."
Nile turned away, making sure the kid couldn't see his eyes that were now glowing sharply.
'It's now or never, I either kill the kid, or I bring him onto my side.'
"Follow me." Nile said as he leapt down from the rooftop into a dark alleyway with Lenier following close behind.
Despite it being a seemingly normal alleyway, it was eerily quiet, and the more they walked into it, the darker it became.
The shadows in the alleyway started growing around them, turning darker and darker until it became pitch black.
Soon, they were surrounded by an empty void.
Nile reached forward and grabbed the darkness itself, and pulled it open like a door, revealing a well-lit room.
"Go inside."
Lenier nodded and without hesitation, walked right in.
"Cozy place you got here Nile. Secret little base?"
"You could call it something like that."
The room itself wasn't massive, but it was filled with decorations and furniture that really warmed up the place, including bookshelves, paintings and a large table with two chairs on both sides.
"Have a seat."
Nile instructed as he pulled out one of the chairs to sit down himself.
He stared at Lenier as he too did the same and sat down.
"How loyal are you to the organization?" Nile abruptly asked seemingly out of nowhere.
"I'm only loyal to you, but you're loyal to the organization so I'm also loyal to the organization."
"…"
'Why is he loyal to me though? I don't even know who he is…'
"Let me get straight to the point. Who exactly are you? Don't bullshit with me, I know you aren't some random kid. Are you a spy? A higher up? Are you… the organization leader?"
Lenier blankly stared at Nile's face for a moment.
"Me? Leader? Haha, no, of course not silly. You and your imaginations! I'm from the future."
This time, Nile stared blankly at Lenier's face.
"You're… from the future?"
Lenier nodded.
'Well, that sounds like a huge pile of shit, if you ask me. However… that actually would explain everything… if anyone else had said it, I would think they were crazy, but he's pretty convincing… even though he didn't really say all that much.'
"If you're really from the future, then why are you here?"
Lenier shrugged.
"I'm not quite sure myself, but I do know it involves my magic somehow. Probably one of the other heroes reversed time or something."
"Other heroes?"
"Yeah, there were a bunch of heroes, in fact, you were one of them."
"Me? A hero?"
'What? I became a fucking hero in the future? Holy shit, that's… crazy. I've always loved reading about heroes, they're epic.'
Nile's face became more serious, almost as if to mask out his thoughts.
"If you're going to lie, at least come up with a better one. An assassin like me becoming a hero? You must be joking."
"It's fine if you don't want to believe me."
"Assuming I believe you, well then, are you also a hero? I can only imagine so with your strength."
Lenier chuckled and shook his head.
"No, I was the demon lord."
Nile froze.
'A demon lord…? Demon lords are… also pretty cool, not going to lie…'
"You're saying that you, some random kid, will become the demon lord? And somehow the mighty demon lord, is loyal to me, an assassin, who later becomes a hero?"
"Precisely."
"…"
At this point, Nile didn't know what to believe.
Nile's pretty confident in his ability to read whether someone's lying or not, and right now the kid didn't seem like he was lying… but what he's saying can't be true… can it?
Like, that's absolutely crazy.
Time traveling, an assassin like him becoming a god damn hero, the kid is actually a motherfucking demon lord… that sounds like the rambling of a crazy man.
Yet these ramblings were so convincing…
'Regardless though, that isn't what matters here. What matters is he's not against me…'
"Ok then, if I'm getting this correct… you're more loyal to me than the organization?"
Lenier nodded without hesitation.
"Hypothetically, what would you think if I told you… purely hypothetical by the way… I was planning on… betraying the organization?" Nile asked, very slowly, and very cautiously.
"My answer doesn't change."
Nile's eyes narrowed at Lenier's flat response.
Revealing such a thing was very risky.
He said it was a hypothetical question, but obviously saying such a thing would be considered treason if any higher up had heard him say it.
He needed to confirm Lenier's reaction to make sure he truly wasn't against him.
"Good, because that's what I intend on doing. I intend on overthrowing the organization. I will destroy it completely. And it is… beneficial, to both of us, that you are not against me."
Lenier nodded his head as he glanced around the room.
"I see. That would explain why you set up so many traps in this room. Must've been to silence me if you thought I was going to be a threat, am I right?"
Nile's body immediately tensed up as his grip on the dagger in his pocket tightened.
"You noticed…"
'Shit! He fucking noticed!?! It was my one advantage I thought I had over him, I spent hours making sure each and every trap was undetectable!'
"Haha, don't worry Nile, like I said, I'm not against ya!"
"…"
'Fuck it… I've gone this far. It's too late to stop now, I'll tell him everything…'
"Okay… so…. like I said earlier, I intend to destroy the assassin organization. However, it's not going to be easy. The assassin's organization we are a part of is actually working directly under the king himself. We were created and trained to serve the king from the shadows. Whenever I have referred to 'higher ups', I meant the royals. This means that by rebelling against the organization, we also have no choice but to fight the entire kingdom.
Luckily, the king isn't exactly the most well liked of people. I'm not going to bore you with the details but quite a while ago, there was a tyrant king who decided to invade a neighboring kingdom and succeeded in doing so, thus creating our current kingdom. Our current ruler is the son of the tyrant king. There's been 'peace,' if you could call it that, for a while, but the bitter feelings remained. The common people have secretly formed a rebel group, and I've managed to team up with their leader. Together, we plan on revolting against the king and at the same time, destroying the organization."
"I see. So basically, we just need to destroy the entire kingdom? Sounds easy enough."
"Um, no… ideally, we want as little casualties as possible… of course, some deaths are inevitable, but most of the soldiers haven't done anything wrong. Even within the organization, most of the assassins working for the king are like you and me, kidnapped orphans and brainwashed into loyal servants. Some of them are too far gone and can't be saved, but I'd like to try to save as many as possible."
"You're… surprisingly very kind Nile."
"What? Me, kind? That's by far the most unbelievable thing you've said so far. If the countless number of people I've killed heard you say that, they'd try to strangle you from the graves."
Lenier just laughed when hearing this.
"Oh Nile, you don't have to be so shy."
'…'
"We're getting off topic again. So back to the plan, we intend on raiding the royal castle and taking the king hostage, creating a large commotion. This will no doubt draw out all of the assassins to try and rescue the king, and during this time, one of us will sneak into the organization base, destroying everything and free all the assassins who haven't been fully converted. As for the assassins who have been fully brainwashed, they'll have to die. We'll set up traps for them and take them out when they least expect it. Even if the raid on the castle fails, the organization will go down, the people will riot, and the king's forces will weaken.
This is where you come in. If you agree to our plans, you will be the perfect candidate to stay behind in the organization base as the attack happens. You're new, they won't expect you to go. So while we're gone, you'll wreck shit up and free everyone. Since it's you, it shouldn't be too difficult. I think you'll be able to handle any assassins who come back. But your role is very important. I would do it myself, but it'll increase our chances of success if a skilled assassin like myself participates in capturing the king. It's also suspicious if I don't go help the king while he's in danger. Basically, you're the best candidate I could find."
'And now, for the moment of truth…'
"What do you think of my plans?" Nile asked.
He was nervous, but he didn't show it. Not a single bead of sweat rolled down his face despite the nuclear shitshow that was happening inside of his head.
Lenier deviously grinned.
"I'll agree on two conditions."
Nile almost felt his heart stop.
'I… I should've expected that… of course he wouldn't help me without anything in return… what does he want though?'
"State your conditions."
"You know that girl who was in the empty room with me? Her name's Lyla. I want her to go free and become happy."
'…her name's Lyla…?'
"…"
"She's important to me. I owe a huge debt to her."
"I… of course. I'll make sure she's freed. In fact, this works out perfectly, I had plans to save her for a while now, just haven't had the opportunity to."
"Oh wow, you really are a nice person Nile. Didn't think you'd care so much about a random girl."
"It's not that I care for her… it's only because she is an important piece of my plan."
Nile could tell Lenier didn't believe him.
"You probably could already tell, but she's special. Literally. She's hellspawn. A cursed child. Back during the war, the kingdom being invaded became desperate. Their king decided to make a deal with the devil. They sacrificed and tortured hundreds of people in exchange for power. The power needed a vessel though, so the king chose his only daughter. Her. The one you call Lyla. For a while, Lyla wrecked havoc upon the battlefield at her father's orders, destroying her enemies. But her powers required constant sacrifice, which the king fulfilled. These actions caused his own people to revolt against him, thus leading to his downfall and the entire kingdom's loss.
After the royal family fell, Lyla remained as the target of vengeance for both kingdoms. She was despised. She probably caused more deaths than me. As such, when her father died, she was captured and was tortured by everyone… until she eventually died. But her lingering powers didn't allow her to pass on, so she came back…. and they continued torturing her… and she died… and she continued to be tortured… burning at the stake… drowning… whipping… stabbing… you name it, she's had every execution possible. Eventually, the tyrant king took notice of her, and took her into the organization. He too despised the hellspawn, the one who caused the death of so many of his pawns. He experimented on her. Figuring out the origin of her powers. Her strengths. Her weaknesses. Where she feels the most pain. She's been tortured for longer than I've been here… despite how she looks, she's older than even me. It's probably that her cursed body doesn't allow her to age anymore.
She is special. Her body is special. It contains powers unknown to me. Unknown to the king as well, that's why he hasn't disposed of her yet. He seems to be using her to develop new types of magic and weapons, using her bones and flesh as materials for tools. Her blood as poison. If I managed to free her… the king won't be able to use her to get stronger. And I may gain a new weapon. That's why I wanted to 'save her.' It was only part of my plan, she wouldn't have been free, she would've been under new management is all."
"That's a nice story. You're such a good person to want to help her."
Nile slammed his hand onto the table and leaned forward.
"Did you listen to what I just told you? Are you deaf? If I was a fucking good person, I wouldn't have let her get tortured for the last decade. I would've done something. So now tell me, do I seem like a nice person to you?"
Lenier didn't say anything back so there was a moment of silence, he just stared deep into Nile's eyes.
Feeling a little uncomfortable with the direct eye contact, Nile slowly sat back down onto his chair.
Nile felt awkward suddenly getting so worked up, he honestly didn't know why he got so worked up in the first place.
"I agree with your first condition. What's your second."
Lenier smiled again, before he stated his second condition.
"I want you to be able to feel pain."
"What?"
Nile just blinked.
"You heard me right; I want you to be able to feel things. So my second condition is that after we take down the organization, you'll let me turn on your pain receptors."
"I won't refuse, but… why? Of all the things you could've asked for, why that?"
Lenier shrugged.
"I have a feeling that it'll make you happier if you could feel."
'Make me happy…?'
"Are you even able to do it? I've tried before, but it never worked. It's hard to believe you could do it so easily."
"I don't see why I can't. I was able to turn off my senses, so it should be easy to do the reverse and turn it back on," Lenier answered with another shrug.
'Ah, so that explains why he was suddenly so cooperative to get tortured.'
"Yep, you sure are sharp! To be honest, I got the idea from you. You can't feel pain, so pain doesn't affect you, so I thought, why not do it to myself? That way I won't feel it either, even when I'm tortured!"
Nile nodded.
"That makes senses, I guess…"
'Hm. I don't remember ever telling him that I can't feel pain… but if what he said earlier about coming from the future is true, then it could explain why he knows…'
"You're right again Nile. How else would I have known all this stuff if I wasn't from the future? I'd never lie to you."
"Even if you say that, it's still a ridiculous story. It'll take more then a coincident for me to believe y-"
Suddenly, Nile froze.
'Wait a second, I didn't say my thoughts out loud earlier, did I? Then why'd he respond as if he could hear my thoughts…'
"Did you just…?"
Lenier's smile grew slightly wider.
"Well Nile, what do you say? Do you agree with my condition?"
'WAIT WAIT WAIT, YOU CAN'T JUST MOVE ON AFTER DOING THAT?!?! HELLO??? SAY SOMETHING!!!!'
"Fine, I accept your second condition."
'COME ON! SAY SOMETHING! DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING HERE! CAN YOU HEAR THIS OR NOT???'
Lenier's grin got wider.
"Perfect! Then the plan is set. When will it happen?"
'ARE YOU IGNORING ME ON PURPOSE OR AM I GOING CRAZY???'
"I'll have to report back to the rebel leader, and then we'll decide a date. I'll let you know a few days in advance."
'OH FUCK IT! I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE.'
"Sounds good then Nile!"
'…'
"Well, then Nile, is that everything you wanted to discuss?"
'Urgh… I really don't want to talk to this kid anymore…'
Nile glanced over at Lenier's smiling face.
'But, I don't have much of a choice… I need to do everything to ensure the plan succeeds… the plan… succeed… hm…'
Suddenly, something clicked inside of Nile's head as he was thinking and he realized something.
"Wait a second. If you're from the future, then you should know what happens, right? So can't you just tell me if my plan succeeds or not?" Nile asked.
"Oh, you're right. I don't really remember anyone destroying the organization besides me though. Hmmmm…"
Lenier closed his eyes and searched through his memories, trying to remember anything of relevance.
When his eyes opened, he awkwardly smiled and started scratching his head.
"Um… so… I remember now… your plan… it failed. It was my fault. I was the one who stopped you…"
"What?"
"You see, at the time, I didn't know you. And I really liked the organization, it was… fun. So many different flavours of pain for me to enjoy… I didn't like that you tried to destroy it, so I stopped you. I'm sorry Nile! I didn't know it'd turn out like this!"
"I… don't know if I should be mad or not for something you did in an alternate timeline."
"I'll definitely make it up to you! I'll make sure this time the plan will succeed! You have my word!"
"Okay… you better not betray me, or else…"
As Nile said this, he leaned forward and tried to look as intimidating as possible.
His eyes glowed with malice as the world darkened around his face.
'…'
"…"
'The kid's not scared at all, is he? I'm embarrassing myself.'
"Ahem…"
Nile let out an awkward cough and the world returned to normal.
'Welp, time to change the subject.'
"Since we're going to be working together, I might as well ask. What did you do earlier when you assassinated the merchant guild's head? I didn't notice anything, and yet… he just died…"
"Oh, that. It's simple. I did nothing."
Lenier responded as if it was the most obvious thing ever.
"What do you mean nothing? He clearly died, are you implying it was just a coincidence that he just died as you said bang?"
"No, silly. I meant that I turned his life to nothing."
Nile tilted his head in confusion.
"Yeah, I get that… but you didn't answer my question. I want to know how you turned his life to 'nothing'."
"You're overcomplicating it. I meant I liiiiiiiiiiiiiterally turned his life to nothing. I learned how to do nothing while in the empty room. It's also what I used to turn off my ability to feel pain by turning it into nothing. Then I figured that I could apply nothing onto other things besides me. Ya know what, I'll just show you."
Lenier lifted his hand, and gently tapped the table in front of him.
And then there was no more table.
"Poof. It's gone."
Nile's eyes quite literally bulged.
'The table vanished! The kid's a fucking magician!'
"Where'd the table go?" Nile asked calmly.
"Nowhere. It never existed. Nothing. That's what I did, I did nothing to it."
'That doesn't even make sense! He can do that? And from what I saw earlier, his range is quite large as well considering the distance to the merchant's guild… What the fuck? That's so broken! God damn cheat ability…'
"Don't worry Nile! You'll become quite strong yourself as well! You become so strong, it makes the current you look like a wet noodle!"
"…"
'…should I feel insulted…?'
"Anyways I think that's all you want to talk about, right Nile? I'll head back to base then. You seem tired, so go get some rest."
"No. I'm fine. I'll take you back. It's too risky to leave you by yourself."
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine by myself!"
Nile shook his head.
"That's not the point here, I have to watch over y-"
However, when Nile looked back over, Lenier was already gone.
'What the fuck? Where the hell did he go?'
This was a dimensional subspace that Nile controlled, no one should be able to enter or leave without his permission.
And yet Lenier just disappeared.
'…what in the world just happened…? Did that all happen, or did I just hallucinate everything…?'
Seeing as there was no one around, Nile slumped his shoulders and collapsed onto the floor.
What Lenier said was right, Nile really was tired. He was exhausted.
Nile's eyes grew heavy, and he knew he shouldn't, but he allowed himself to slowly drift off to sleep.
"Aw, he actually fell asleep."
Lenier, who hadn't left yet, patted Nile's head.
Normally, even an insect's presence would've been able to wake him up as he was always on alert, but Lenier's presence was on par with nothing, so not even Nile was aware of him.
'Zzzzz….'
"You know, you're surprisingly innocent. You're sleeping like a baby."
Nile, who was still asleep, didn't hear a thing.
Lenier smiled.
"Have a good rest. You deserve it. Even if you don't remember, I still owe you a favor greater than my life could ever offer, after what you've done for me. I'll make sure to repay that debt. Sweet dreams."
Lenir stood up and created a blanket out of thin air.
After tossing the blanket onto Nile, Lenier once again disappeared.
Several hours later, when Nile woke up, he was very confused as to why there was a blanket on him.
'I… don't remember putting this on myself…'
He scanned the room, and it didn't look like anyone broke in, and there was also no traps or traces.
'Was it that kid…? Ah whatever, that's not important now… I need to report to Maxwell that everything is good to go.'
And then Nile submerged himself into the shadows as he went to go initiate the plans.
The plans to overthrow the king and destroy the organization once and for all.
By the time Nile woke up, it was already dark out with only the moon and a few streetlights dispersing the darkness.
Anyone still roaming outside would've been seen as suspicious.
However, Nile made sure he wasn't seen as he moved from shadow to shadow, travelling across the city.
Finally, he made it to where he needed to be, an ordinary looking house.
Nile silently slipped through the cracks of the windows and reemerged from the shadows behind a man sitting in a chair.
"I'm here."
"Whoa! Intruder?!?!"
The man who was sitting in the chair jumped and pulled out a dagger from his pocket, aiming it at Nile.
"Oh… it's just you Nile. Geez, almost gave me a heart attack."
'Heh. I'll never not find it funny making him jump like that.'
The man sighed as he tossed the dagger onto the ground and sat back down onto his chair.
This was the same man whom Nile had spoke to before and exchanged a few quick words to report progress.
His name was Maxwell, leader of the rebel force planning to overthrow the king.
'We've been working together for the last several years… and finally, it's time to bring all of our hard work to fruition.'
"Sorry for the late visit. I'm here to report that I've found someone for the plan. We're all good to go. The plan is ready."
Maxwell stared at Nile.
"Finally, that's what I've been waiting to hear. It's time to bring that scumbag king down from his throne. I'll have to tell the others we're ready, and then we'll decide a date."
"Usual meeting place, I'm assuming?"
"Yes. Will you be there?"
"Of course. I'll be in contact. Farewell for now…"
Upon saying that, Nile once again returned to the shadows and completely disappeared, leaving Maxwell all alone.
"…"
Maxwell stood there in silence for a moment before he quickly grabbed his coat and went out to go deliver the news.
The night passed quickly, but news of revolution spread even quicker.
Quiet whispers were shared amongst the revolutionists from within the shadows, out of reach from any soldiers working under the king.
The sun rose as the next morning came, but none of that light could be seen from deep within the earth underground where the revolution meeting was held.
Maxwell, along with several other men and women who share the same cause, stood around a table.
Maxwell glanced around the room looking for Nile.
Although Nile was nowhere to be seen, some of the shadows did flicker ever so slightly.
"It seems we're all here then… it has been a while since we have had a meeting. And I have good news. We are ready."
The room suddenly was filled with a heavy atmosphere, a mixture of tension and excitement.
The eyes of the revolutionists filled with burning determination.
Each one of them held their own personal grudge against the king.
Some had their loved ones taken away.
Some had their lives ruined.
Some had just been tortured by the king for the fun of it.
Regardless of the reason, they all hated the king, and they are here because they want to take him down.
And now, they will finally have the opportunity to.
"I'll go over the plan one more time. So far, we've managed to get around 60% of public support. It was hard as the king's soldiers and troops would hunt us down, but slowly, we managed to quietly spread the word. When the day comes, the people will riot. Most likely, the royal forces will try to suppress them, as per the king's orders. As this happens, our army will directly storm the castle. This will cause damage and chaos to the insides of the castle, where Nile and I and a few other trained soldiers will find the king… and capture him. Are there any questions?"
No one spoke up.
This plan had been discussed several times before, there was no more room for uncertainty.
The people were as ready as they'll ever be.
"Two days. We'll commence operation in two days, right before the sun rises. It'll give everyone time to prepare. Fortify yourself, we cannot fail. Everything we've worked for is for this. If we fail… you don't even want to imagine what will happen… so whatever happens, be prepared. And with that, meeting dismissed."
'…'
Nile, who had been listening from the corner of the room, silently slithered away.
'…two days…'
Compared to the amount of time it took for him to prepare for this day, two days was nothing.
Yet at the same time, it felt like an eternity.
The entire day felt like a daze that dragged on.
Nile couldn't focus on anything he did.
And even after the sun once again hid itself from view, Nile just couldn't calm down.
The night was excruciatingly long.
Nile could not fall asleep no matter what he did.
His brain just kept buzzing and thinking about everything.
This was what he had been working on for so long, and it's finally coming true.
His heart just silently pounded inside of him as he stared at the ticking clock on the wall.
Since he had never been this anxious before and he couldn't physically feel his heart beating, he didn't even realize how anxious he was.
'Come on… fall asleep… fall asleep… let it be day already…'
And day did eventually come, albeit excruciatingly slow.
Nile did not manage to get any sleep that night.
He spent the rest of the day zoned out and distracted.
'This is not good. If I'm this tired tomorrow, I won't be able to perform at peak condition. And I can't afford to make any mistakes…'
After sneaking away from any prying eyes, Nile splashed some water onto his face and then quickly shook himself off like a dog shaking itself dry.
'Phew, ok. I feel a little better now. Lets do some last minute double checking, make sure I haven't forgotten anything, and nothing has suddenly gone awry.'
He spent the entire evening doing just that.
'It seems everything is in place… well, except for one thing I haven't checked…'
That one thing Nile hadn't checked yet was Lenier.
'I should probably check up on him… but, for some reason, I don't want to…'
Nile forcefully dragged his body back to the organization and into the shadows of the room where Lenier was currency being "educated."
Lenier's body was being strapped down to a machine, as a constant buzzing noise was being injected into his head.
He seemed to be relaxing and at peace though.
'…he seems to be doing fine… I think?'
Lenier's eyes popped open and stared directly at the shadow Nile was hiding in.
'…'
Lenier winked, which sent shivers down Nile's spine.
'…I'm… going to leave…'
And so he did.
Now that he'd checked up on Lenier, everything was now in place.
Everything was ready.
All that needed to be done now was to just wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow, the revolution begins.
The organization will fall.
But first…
Nile needed some sleep.
He was exhausted from his nerves, and from the lack of sleep last night.
Nile submerged himself into a dense subspace of darkness where time flowed at a much slower pace.
He allowed his body to get engulfed by the emptiness and here, he fell asleep peacefully.
By the time he awoken, he was at peak condition, and just in time for an uprising.
Footsteps of dozens of men bravely stomped into the ground as the edge of the rising sun barely shone past the far distant lands.
It was predawn, and it was revolution time.
"DOWN WITHHH THE KINGGGGG!!!!!!"
As the group of revolutionists, or terrorists as the king calls them, marched through the city, it naturally caused a stir in the people.
Although not everyone had been aware of this secret rebellion, the sudden riot caused a domino effect causing even those uninvolved to join in.
The strength in number gave the people courage to participate in this act of defiance against the king that they would not normally have.
Random folks who had woken up, were suddenly now joining in the uproar.
And there were also actors mixed in as well to purposely rile up the crowd, making sure things don't die down, as well as trained men to protect them when the king will inevitably try to shut them down forcefully.
The plan was going exactly as… well, as it was planned.
Nile watched everything unfold from the nearby shadows.
Behind him, a group of men appeared with Maxwell in the front.
"Are we ready?" Maxwell asked.
Nile nodded.
"Let's go capture the king."
As most of the royal forces and soldiers were focused on suppressing the ongoing riot, Nile and the special rebel team snuck into the castle.
Nile's vision pierced through the walls and scanned the entire building, looking to find the king.
'Strange, I can't find him… but then again, the king is in charge of an assassin organization, I wouldn't be surprised if he had some kind of stealth mechanic.'
"Everyone, spread out. We're looking for the king's whereabouts. Don't go too far and send the signal if anything happens."
The rebel troops nodded and scattered off.
They snuck around hallways, being on alert and searched through the castle.
Even though most of the soldiers and guards were out suppressing the riot, a few remained to guard and patrol.
As a guard walked by, one of the rebels quietly approached from behind and bashed him in the head, knocking the guard out.
Quietly and stealthily, the rebels spread to every corner of the castle.
Nile on the other hand, operated from the shadows, nonlethally snapping the necks of any assassins he found lurking around.
'The infiltration's going well, but the king is still nowhere to be found. I don't know how much time we have, so I'll think I'll have to start searching as well.'
With that in mind, Nile's body fazed through a wall as he started to traverse the building, ignoring all physical obstacles.
The castle was big, befitting that of a tyrant, but even so, it was strange that Nile hadn't even found a trace of the king.
Then, Nile noticed it.
A seemingly empty space in the middle of the castle.
This was strange as the entire rest of the castle was packed full of rooms and variety, such a large empty space stood out to him.
As Nile got closer, he could feel a subtle distortion, and as he entered the empty space… the room around him changed.
He was now in a royal bedroom, filled with gold and expensive decorations.
'No wonder I couldn't find anything, they had a secret magic barrier set up. Clever.'
And as expected, there was a man in the room.
That man was none other than the target; the king himself.
He looked exactly like what you'd imagine a tyrant king looking like, big and tall, wearing a shiny gold crown, royal red cape and fancy clean clothing, with his pitch-black hair and beard.
He stared out the window, one hand on a sword attached to his waist and the other hand raising a golden cup of wine and taking a nice long sip from it, seemingly oblivious that an assassin lurked in the dark corners of the room.
'…'
The room looked too ordinary.
The king looked too careless.
It was oddly suspicious to Nile that such a meticulous tyrant king, leader of an assassin organization, would have so many openings.
Scanning the room and the nearby areas, he didn't sense anyone aside from the king and the other rebels.
Meaning there were no assassins around to protect the king.
'…it seems that over all these years of his tyranny, and everything going his way… he became a bit too complacent… today will be your downfall.'
After deactivating the magic barrier around the room, Nile sent out a signal to all the rebels in the castle to come to his location.
It didn't take long before the rebels arrived outside the secret room's door.
Though no words were spoken, Nile's gestures towards the door were all that was needed for everyone present to realize that the man they were after was inside this room.
The plan had already been discussed beforehand, Nile was to enter alone and attempt to incapacitate the king, after all, Nile was the professional.
Once things were done or if anything goes wrong, the rebels will come in to provide support.
Nile once again fazed through the walls, peeking his head into the room.
Just like before, the king had not moved.
He remained standing there, silently looking out the window and drinking wine.
Although he had done this hundreds upon hundreds of times before, Nile closed his eyes to mentally prepare himself.
'It's time.'
Nile's body momentarily blurred as he propelled himself forward, dagger in hand.
In an instant, the king was within range, and Nile swung his weapon.
Before his dagger could reach the king though, it clashed against an invisible force and bounced back.
'…a magic barrier…'
It was no surprise that a king would have some sort of protective artifact.
But such a thing was trivial to Nile.
With another dagger in his other hand, he imbued it with a hyper condensed dark energy and swung once again, slicing through the magic barrier itself.
Upon realizing his barrier was destroyed, the king turned around and instinctively raised his arm to defend himself.
That was a mistake, as the king now no longer has that arm attached to his body.
Nile's dagger was small, but it was still enough to easily sever a limb.
"GAH!!!!"
The king dropped to the ground, grabbing the area where his arm used to be.
Nile slowly took a step forward and twirled his dagger around as his shadow loomed over the king.
"It's over."
Nile stared down as the king glared back up.
His hands shaking, the king slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun.
Nile wasn't fazed.
A bullet wasn't fast enough to hit Nile anyways.
But to his surprise, the king didn't point the gun at Nile, he pointed it at his own head.
The king let out a painful toothy grin before he pulled the trigger and blew out his own head.
"…"
'Piece of shit. Too much of a fucking coward and just ended it himself.'
Although their original plan was to capture and hold the king hostage, the king killing himself wasn't unexpected nor would it ruin the plan either.
They were going to publicly execute him for his crimes anyways, so his death just happened earlier than expected.
The door to the room suddenly burst open as the rebels rushed in, weapons in hand.
"Nile! What happened, we heard a gunshot."
Maxwell rushed over to Nile and looked down at the king's corpse.
"Bastard took the easy way out, eh. Well, we'll hang his corpse out in front of the castle."
Nile nodded and stared at the body for a moment.
The first part of the plan was complete, the king was dead. Now, all that was left to do was to destroy the rest of the organization and free everyone.
But even if they didn't do so, the organization would scatter as their leader was now gone.
Even though he could see the finish line, Nile felt a weird uneasiness.
Something felt… off…
Nile looked around the room, scanning for anything out of the ordinary, but everything seemed to be normal.
This made Nile more nervous though.
Everything is going… too well.
There weren't as many assassins guarding the castle as Nile had expected…
And even if the king was being careless, would he have left himself that vulnerable?
Being in an empty room by himself?
But the king is already dead.
So was Nile just overthinking things?
Was Nile just paranoid?
He had never felt this way before since he never doubted his ability to succeed in his missions. And this was also the first time he had ever cared about the actual success of a mission.
Nile decided to ease up a bit.
He's almost at the finish line already.
Just a bit more and everything will be over.
Nile turned around and began to leave the room.
"Nile, you leaving?"
"Yes. Maxwell, you take care of things here. I'm going to check up on my helper, back at the organization base. He should be taking care of things there and freeing everyone."
"Ah, one last thing before you go. There's something important I need to tell you."
Maxwell walked over to Nile and whispered into his ears.
"I'm the organization's branch manager."
'…what…?'
It was at that moment when suddenly the entire room started to shine brightly.
The room was abruptly filled with a blinding light, almost as if dozens of flashbangs exploded at the same time.
All the darkness and shadows were immediately eviscerated.
Nile, who was by nature, connected to the darkness and shadows, felt himself being washed away by the light.
By the time Nile was able to force open his eyes again, the entire room was illuminated.
In the center of the room were several giant glowing balls of light that looked like miniature suns.
'…what the fuck…?'
Not only that, but Nile was also surrounded by dozens of black robed men.
Nile immediately recognized the familiar outfit.
'The organization's assassins, when the hell did they get here…?'
Nile was certain that he scanned the entire area earlier and saw that they were all taken care of.
He had only closed his eyes for a brief moment, they couldn't have all arrived within that split second and without him noticing… unless…
That was when Nile noticed it, scattered around the room were piles of clothing… more specifically, the clothing that the rebels were wearing…
Nile didn't even notice, but he had bitten his lips hard enough to cause it to start bleeding.
'So this was a trap… and I fell for it.'
"Maxwell…"
"You called?"
Nile turned his head to see Maxwell sitting on the king's chair and twirling the royal crown around his fingers.
"Me and you Nile, we've known each for quite a while now. How many years has it been? Eight? Nine? Not exactly sure. But I'm pleased to finally be able to come out of the closet and formally introduce myself; My name is Maxwell. I am the current manager of this branch of the organization, aka, your direct superior."
Nile's brain couldn't even properly process what he was hearing, or what was even going on, but his body moved instinctively.
He immediately vanished from his spot and reappeared upside down on the ceiling.
Nile naturally gathered energy into his legs and in a blur, he launched himself off the wall, bouncing and ricocheting around the room like a pinball.
Maxwell stood up from his chair, carefully placing the crown on his head and pulled out his sword.
"Stop Nile."
Maxwell commanded, and the assassins obeyed.
The robed assassins fearlessly lunged towards Nile, weapons in hand and with full intent to kill.
However, even though the lights in the room were bright enough to cast away all the darkness making it hard for Nile to use his magic, even without it, Nile's ability to kill surpassed all.
With just his physical strength, he blitzed past them before they could even perceive him, cleanly slicing the necks of anyone who stood in his path.
As the heads started falling from the bodies, Nile got a glimpse of their faces causing him to freeze.
'…these guys… I recognize them…'
They were the same rebels that Nile had seen many times before.
The same ones who were filled with anger and rage at the king, for all the crimes the king had committed.
So why…
'…why are they attacking me? Why are they wearing the organization's robes? Was everything… a lie?'
But there was no time to hesitate or think, because despite seeing their comrades die in front of them, the assassins continued rushing towards Nile.
Nile finally realized.
The reason why he couldn't sense any assassins was because they were literally hiding in plain sight.
They were next to him the whole time, disguised as his allies.
'…fuck…'
Nile swung his blade, cutting down the people he once considered his allies.
"Oh my Nile. How ruthless of you to kill our friends like that. We've worked together for so long, how could you just kill them like that?"
Maxwell said out loud in a pretty clear mocking tone as he walked towards Nile.
"Maxwell…!"
Nile gritted his teeth and charged forward, ignoring everything in his path.
"WAS EVERYTHING A LIE?!?!"
A burst of magic exploded out as they clashed blades.
"Oof! You're as strong as I expected! Even more so actually… but I knew that, so I made sure to come fully prepared for you!"
As Maxwell pushed Nile away with his sword, a large number of royal guards and soldiers started rushing into the room.
'There's more of them? Didn't we knock them all out earlier… oh wait, all the rebels were organization assassins, so they must've only pretended to knock out the guards!'
The room quickly started to fill up.
More and more soldiers poured in, almost like a stream of water, all rushing to attack Nile.
Nile clenched his dagger, and made one big slash, cutting dozens of soldiers in half.
But as soon as they dropped dead, more soldiers continued rushing into the room.
There were even wizards and special knights mixed into the crowd as well.
The wizards continuously casted light into the room, weakening Nile even further.
The knights were big and tough, and their thick armour clogged up the room, leaving little space for Nile to move and bounce around.
'…I'm at the disadvantage. This is very not good. They know my weakness and came fully prepared, what the hell am I supposed to do in this situation…'
Nile was an assassin, not a warrior.
Even if he was strong, this type of direct confrontational fight was not what he excelled at.
He was an extremely skilled assassin, not a one-man army.
'I have to end this.'
After cutting down dozens more soldiers, Nile glanced over at Maxwell who was hiding in the shadows in the corner of the room.
That was Nile's target.
There was no doubt he was the one controlling everything, and the one who needed to be killed.
With some quick thinking, Nile gathered some dead bodies and tossed them in front of the room's door, blocking the entrance.
It wouldn't stop the incoming soldiers but slow them down and give Nile some time.
Nile crouched down low, gathering energy into one spot, and in a single explosive moment, he blasted himself towards Maxwell.
Another explosion erupted forth from their blades clashing.
However, Nile didn't stop at one single strike.
He teleported around Maxwell from all directions, swinging both of his daggers and moved like the wind.
Maxwell was an incredibly skilled swordsman, and an even more skilled assassin considering his position in the organization, but even he struggled to keep up with Nile's movements.
Blood spurt out from wounds that appear all over his body from seemingly nowhere.
However…
'…something's wrong, how is he able to keep up with me this well?'
Nile was using 100% of his abilities right now.
He was not holding back at all.
And yet, Maxwell was able to defend against him?
It wasn't arrogance that made Nile think this way, Nile simply knew his own abilities very well.
And at this point, he should've been able to have killed Maxwell already.
Yet for some reason, no matter how aggressively he attacked, no matter how fast he moved or how hard he swung, he couldn't land a fatal blow.
Maxwell was indeed strong, but definitely not strong enough to match Nile…
It was at that point that Nile noticed his body moving significantly slower than usual.
Sluggish.
Unresponsive.
Heavy and slow.
It felt like his body was moving on a delay.
Nile temporarily jumped back and stared at his own body.
'What…. What is this…?'
Looking down, Nile saw a small dagger embedded deep into the side of his rib.
He grabbed and roughly yanked it out causing blood to squirt.
'This dagger… there's poison on it! I've been poisoned! Since when?'
Nile's eyes widened as he realized.
'It must've been earlier when he walked up to me and whispered into my ear! He must've stabbed me then…'
Despite being heavily injured, Maxwell smiled.
"Oh, you actually noticed? I didn't think you'd notice at all to be honest, considering you don't feel pain and all, but I guess it would be obvious if your entire body starts slogging down like that."
Ironically, Nile's biggest strength, the fact he couldn't feel any pain, worked against him in this situation.
Pain hurts, but it's extremely important to humans as it alerts any abnormalities in the body.
Nile couldn't feel himself getting stabbed, nor did he feel the poison seeping throughout his body.
And to make matters worse, the body blockade at the entrance was finally pushed aside and more soldiers started rushing into the room again.
They immediately rushed at him, leaving him no time to breath or even react.
If it were any other person, they would've collapsed by now, but Nile couldn't feel the pain nor the fatigue of pushing himself far past his physical limits.
Nile gritted his teeth and stirred up the darkness inside of himself, letting it boil wildly before releasing it all at once, covering himself in a layer of darkness.
A black miasma that was so dense, not even the blinding light could dispel it.
It was extremely risky pushing himself this far, potentially even permanently damaging himself, but at this point, there was no other choice.
Nile's body turned into a bolt of darkness, flashing through the room, slicing apart everything into pieces.
The soldiers were instantly turned into tofu slices as their chopped-up body parts fell from the sky.
'I need to end this… Maxwell! FUCKING BASTARD!!!'
Nile internally screamed out in anger, as he converted his silent rage into energy.
'If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to fucking kill him…'
The shadows sharpened themselves as Nile brandished his daggers.
Wasting no time, Nile went straight for the kill.
Even if Maxwell tried blocking with a spell or by parrying with his sword, Nile's pure dark imbued daggers would be able to slice through anything.
There was nothing that he couldn't cut through.
'DIE!'
Then Nile's body suddenly froze midair.
And he collapsed before he could even swing his daggers.
'H-huh?'
Nile tried to move, but his body didn't respond.
It just laid stiff and motionless.
"Oh… oh god. That was close! Holy shit, I actually almost died."
Maxwell staggered forward as he wiped the sweat off his face with his trembling hands.
Nile motionlessly stared up at Maxwell, not able to do anything other than just watch and listen.
'…what…? What just happened…?'
After a bit of breathing, Maxwell crouched down in front of Nile, waving a small little device in front of his face.
"Good thing I had this little backup device. If not for it, I would've died there. Yep, I would've been sliced into two."
Nile's brain couldn't even process what was going on.
He wanted to think but his thoughts just couldn't keep up.
"Don't try to push yourself. You just got a bit of a… shock, so any unnecessary moving will damage you a lot."
'A… shock…?'
Deep inside of Nile's body was a small little device connected to the device in Maxwell's hand.
When activated, it'll release some extremely potent chemicals and even a powerful wave of electricity through the entire body.
Not even Nile's superhuman body could resist it, especially after being weakened already.
"I must say, I am extremely impressed with your performance. You blew all my expectations. I was expecting to be surprised but you surprised even my surprise! My original plan was to have you collapse after being stabbed by the poisoned dagger, but you managed to resist it! You do realize that the poison was potent enough to immediately sedate even an ogre? And you were still able to move! Of course, I did think that'd happen which is why I set up the magic lights and had my entire army of soldiers ready, but even then, you managed to kill most of them, and almost managed to kill me… Nile, you truly are a monster… even now, I'm scared that you might stand up and shove a dagger through my neck…'
Maxwell shivered and backed away, allowing his troops to restrain Nile with special cuffs and chains.
"But I will say, aside from your physical performance, everything else was… disappointing."
Maxwell let out a sigh as he collapsed onto a chair.
"Nile… are you stupid? You're an idiot, aren't you? How did you not realize this was going to happen? Like, it was actually so obvious. I legit thought you were only pretending to fall for our trap… I was totally expecting you to suddenly backstab me. I left so many hints and clues for you. It's actually a miracle that you never suspected me.
If the tyrant king was so evil and so powerful, why wouldn't our puny rebel army have been crushed already? Do you think it's possible for a rebellion of this size to go completely unnoticed? Did you also think the organization wouldn't notice your rebellious nature when you're so open about it? For fucks sake, you knew that we are capable of mind control and other unknown abilities, and you didn't suspect that maybe, just maybe, we knew? That maybe I wasn't on the same side as you?"
What Maxwell was saying was starting to slowly seep into Nile's mind.
His body started to tremble, causing Maxwell to flinch and jump back.
"Hey, soldiers, make sure… he doesn't suddenly do anything."
'…why… Maxwell…?'
"…"
'…why'd you betray me…?'
Nile wasn't speaking aloud, but he couldn't tell since both his body and mind were completely numb.
Regardless, Maxwell could hear his thoughts loud and clear.
"Nile, I'm the organization branch manager. I was never on your side… I was only pretending to be your ally. And you naively believed me. Didn't suspect me at all. I didn't even do anything to gain your trust, you just trusted me the moment you heard me say I wanted to take down the king. The funniest part is the organization doesn't even work for the king… the king works for me. He's been under my control for a while now. I purposely fed you false information about the king controlling the organization."
'But why… why pretend for so long…? Couldn't you just… have killed me when you found out I was betraying the organization…?'
"…"
'Tell me… you bastard…'
"Fine. Since I've known you for so long, I'll tell you. I want to mind control you. You are… amazing. So powerful. So strong. So skilled. You can become the greatest assassin to ever exist. You have that potential. I can use psychic magic. Ya know, mind reading and brainwashing people and stuff, that's how I've assured the loyalty of my assassins. But my ability is not as overpowered as it seems, it's more like a mental suggestion. It only slightly affects the target's mind.
Might work on a dumb animal like a rat or something, but a human has too much mental consciousness for my mind control to work… that's why I torture them. When someone is in pain, their mind fades. Their mental willpower weakens. I inject drugs into them, torture their body until they can't mentally resist… then I slowly apply my mind control on them, until they become my eventual loyal assassin.
But you're special. I can't use my mind control on you. Not because you're strong willed or anything, in fact, you're pretty mentally weak, it's just that you can't feel pain. I can't use torture to mentally weaken you any further, so my mind control magic doesn't work. Thus, I needed to find another way to break you down. For a while, I had no idea how I would achieve this. But one day, I created a fake rebellion organization to weed out any potential threats, and then… you showed up. You offered to help take down the king without even realizing I was part of the organization.
And that's when I realized this was the perfect opportunity. To work with you, to spend years working towards a goal and to get so close to achieving that goal… and then have it all crumble. All of it for nothing."
And so, Nile finally learned the truth to everything.
Everything he had worked for was all part of Maxwell's plan.
Everything… was for nothing.
The truth was finally sinking in.
'It's over, isn't it?'
"Yes, Nile. You're right. It's over. So, just obediently give yourself to me, ok?"
'…'
Suddenly, Nile's eyes started to moisten.
He felt something deep inside of him start to build up and began to spill over…
…and tears started to pour out from his eyes.
"Nile, are you… crying?"
The floodgates had opened, and no matter how hard he tried, Nile just couldn't stop the tears.
Maxwell stared in shock as he witnessed this.
"Nile! H-hey buddy, come on! Don't cry! I mean, I know I was trying to mentally break you and stuff but like, I don't like seeing someone I know cry, especially when it's a monster like you! You did great! You managed to get this close to killing me despite fighting an uphill battle, you should feel proud of yourself! Come on, you're making me feel bad."
Nile couldn't even hear anything anymore.
He was completely lost in his own head.
And tears continued rampantly flooding out, almost as if to compensate for the lack of crying in his life.
It wasn't an elegant flow of tears either, he was straight up bawling.
Eyes veiny red and water flooding the floor.
Nile couldn't keep up his silent calm persona anymore.
This was just too much for him to handle.
All his life, Nile had never failed.
Every mission, every assassination, he always succeeded with ease.
He was too talented.
He didn't know failure.
Pain and failure create growth, and he didn't experience either of those.
So Nile never actually grew up.
Sure, he grew stronger physically, got more abilities and more muscle mass, but mentally, he's the same as he was when he first came to the organization as a kid.
For his whole life, he's been effortlessly doing things he hasn't cared about.
And so, when for the first time, he truly found a goal that he wholehearted wished to succeed… it was also the first time where he didn't succeed.
The first time he failed.
And he didn't know how to handle it.
It hurt more than anything he ever felt.
Nile closed his eyes and repeatedly slammed his head into the ground, almost as if he was trying to wake himself up from a nightmare.
"Hey, I can't have you killing yourself now! My entire plan would be for nothing if you die!"
Even Maxwell hadn't predicted that Nile would be this distraught.
Yeah, his plan was to break Nile, but Maxwell still expected him to keep acting tough.
Nile was too much of a monster to have expected him to cry like this.
"How about this, I'll make a deal. If you stop crying and let yourself be captured, I'll…. um… I… won't kill that kid you were with! Yeah! What's his name… Lenny? Or something? That kid, I'll spare him for you! Deal?"
Nile froze upon hearing this.
'Lenier… that's right, I forgot about him… if it's him, then there's still a chance…'
"Nile, please don't get your hopes up like that. It'll only disappoint you further. I knew about your little plan with him a long time ago so I've already set up traps for him, even if he were as skilled as you, he still wouldn't stand a chance… so please, just give up. I promise I'll spare Len-"
"Oh hey Nile. I finished up freeing everyone at the base, how's it going with you?"
Everyone's heads immediately turned towards the person who just walked into the room.
Standing at the doorway, was a kid.
A very familiar kid.
One that we all know.
'Lenier…'
"Yep. That's me. Am I interrupting something?"
"How'd you get here?" Maxwell immediately turned serious, readying his sword cautiously.
"I just followed Nile's scent and walked in."
"That's not what I meant! You should've been captured already. I sent my best assassins after you. How the hell did you make it here?"
"Oh, that. Well, I can give you a detailed recap if you want."
"Wha? What are you trying to do here?!"
Maxwell raised his sword as he took a nervous step back, unable to fully understand where this kid came from.
"You ask me how I got here, so I'm answering. Do you want me to answer or not?"
"Speak!"
"Okay, so it began when I woke up…"