Karasu watched from a dark alley, observing a few people dressed in black and red watching the chaos unfold in the arena and outside it from a far distance. He had counted around twelve of them, but he's confident that there are more. After all, the school is surrounded by a huge town. With around a hundred thousand people living on large acres of land, it's no surprise that the Red hand's claws are sunk deep within this country.
Karasu had his hood up. And kept his katana and tanto close by. The feathers of his crow cloak slowly swayed back and forth by the wind. The old taste of ash and blood hung loosely in the air. Karasu had associated that with the presence of the Red Hand and their Operatives.
As Karasu stood idle, he kept his ears open to their conversation, "Look at them go. They're trying to kill the alpha." A hoarse voice spoke.
"Oh really? And how are they fairing on with that?"
"Quite well. Someone just kicked it into a building." A woman's voice answered.
"Ooh. I shouldn't have seen that happen. That's too bad."
Most of the Red Hand Operatives were silent. Just watching the chaos unfold from a distance. They had covered the camera with a similar sticky substance that was put on the underground arena control room camera. This allowed them to freely watch their entertainment without worry of being caught.
"Mainly everyone should be there. Did any of you find some strays in this town?" A random Operative asked.
"Some. But they were just elder people. Too weak to walk all that distance. Hopefully, no one remembers them now. And maybe those who do die." One answered.
Hearing the death of elders made Karasu sick in the stomach. The way they nonchalantly dismissed the fact that they murdered the old in cold blood, hoping that any remembrance of them would be snuffed out fueled Karasu's conviction.
Using a mirror he set up, he realized that there was a red hand member walking in his direction. Near the alley, "I haven't taken a piss for a while now..." The red hand muttered. He soon placed his hand at the entrance of the alley, "Maybe this is a-Wait huh-"
SHICK
As quick as that, he was trying to find a place to relieve himself but ended up choking on cold black titanium metal. His life was cut short by fate's cruel hand and luck. Karasu grabbed the red hand out of view and pushed him against the wall. Before Karasu slid his tanto's blade across his throat. Freeing his dagger and watching him fall to his knees. He made sure that the red hand doesn't fall with a loud thump. As it could potentially alert the others. Great, now his clothes are stained with blood. How could he explain this later?
In this state of mind, not an ounce of regret could be seen in Karasu's eyes. He quickly wiped his Tanto before trying to think of his plan. Should he kill them? Dispose of them? But what can he do now?
"Yeah. Maestro wants us to continue with the monster summoning." A red hand spoke, "Keep everyone busy while the Gem General is off trying to kill our target."
That piqued Karasu's interest. As he slowly leaned into the alley exit, "Who was it again? Our target's name?"
"Donovan Cuana. I disagree with him being the number one target. His other two friends are a real nightmare." One answered, "Have you seen the boy with sunglasses? He caught one of our spies in the middle of the night! While cloaked!"
"That is a problem indeed. But what about the big one? For a fifteen or sixteen year old, he's a nightmare to deal with. I barely managed to avoid him when he ransacked one of our warehouses." A woman red hand spoke, "Crikey, they all are annoying. Did Maestro confirm it yet?"
"Confirm what?"
"If we can summon the colossal."
"No. He informed me that we'll summon it on a later date." Karasu's heart dropped upon hearing that, "However...We can summon more smaller ones. They're being overwhelmed. It could kill them finally."
There was a low murmur that rummaged through the eleven red hands, "Alright. Let's do it."
Karasu watched as they stood in a line together. They began chanting something he couldn't make out. A low rumble appeared as a red circle slowly formed infront of them. Their hands moving together in a fluid and synced motion together.
This is bad. Karasu should do something. But if he fought them now, he'd lose on possibly more important information, but what use would that be if all of his friends were dead? Ah, Forget it. He's not going to let anyone die due to him! Not anymore!
As they near the finish of the summoning ritual, Karasu attempted to activate his blessing. But it refused to do so. Damn it! It's still charging up again. He thought the seven minutes were over!
Without thinking, Karasu threw a kunai towards them. It found its mark right on the back of an unfortunate operative. Causing them to cry out in pain as they fell forward. Disrupting the ritual and resetting it all over again.
"What the-?!"
They all shifted towards Karasu's direction. Watching as a blood-stained cloaked figure rush towards them with blinding speed. The sight momentarily froze everyone in place. Letting him cut down the nearest Operatives into pieces. That leaves nine standing still.
"No!"
They all took out their weapons and charged Karasu. One lunged forwards and tried to impale Karasu with his spear. He knocked it away, but as soon as Karasu tried to fight back, a second red hand appeared and swung their axe towards him.
Karasu still tried to fight back, but after every dodge, another red hand appeared and kept up the pressure. Karasu wasn't able to fight back a single time as they continued to attack him.
Karasu attempted to find an opening. Sooner or later, he'll mess up and get severely injured. And possibly die. So he prayed for something to appear or a small opening.
As he was being pushed back, he spotted a red hand jump to the side and shoot out a fire spell towards him. That's what he needed. They stopped the pressure on him momentarily to allow the firebolt to hit him. But that was a mistake on their part.
Karasu held up his katana and blocked the firebolt. Absorbing the fire into his blade discreetly. As soon as a red hand lunged towards him, he blocked with his katana. But he held his hand tightly. As soon as the red hand realized, it was too late. Karasu stabbed his Katana deep into their chest, before releasing the firebolt inside them.
The blast blinded everyone for second. Letting in the shock of the gruesome kill by the boy settle in within them. Karasu charged through the flames, immediately cutting a spear in half, and then the owner vertically. Seven left.
He kicked the upper body towards one of their fellow mates. He wiped his blade with his fingers before chanting a spell, "Bleed and burn, let the skies clear from my blade, Blessed Chosen, Twin Dragon, Close flame!" His blade burned a deep black and white. As he slashed his blade across the sky, a trail of volatile magic flew across the sky, The air seeming to bend towards it as it cleaved through the unfortunate red hand. The building behind was caught in the crossfire. Ending up being disintegrated. If it was Donovan, it probably would have been ten times as bad.
Six left.
As soon as the shock had settled, they charged towards Karasu one more time. Their final time. As the cooldown had been lifted. Karasu sheathed his blade once more. Time slowly came to a halting spot as their blades barely reached him.
He swung and, in the future, cut down their blades, before targeting them directly. He cut and sliced at their frozen body. Making sure to hit important vessels and organs. After he knew they would be dead, he moved to another.
One down, two, three, for, and five. The sixth remains finally. But Karasu decided to let them live longer. So he slammed his fist towards their face. Just as the timer had ended.
He returned to his original position. Just then, the five members he killed fell into bloody pieces. Their weapons shattering from his strikes. And the sixth was punched towards a building.
"What the hell-?!" The sixth Operative shouted his thoughts as he tried to recover from that punch. As soon as he looked up, he saw a bloodied Karasu standing above him. Breathing heavily.
Karasu reached out to him and grabbed his collar before throwing him out back to the road. The bodies of his unfortunate comrades lay on the ground lifelessly from Karasu's blade. As he saw this, he fully recognized the situation. His morale was slowly being shattered into pieces.
"If you don't want to end up like them. Start talking." Karasu slammed his foot on their side.
"Agh-! Ok ok! Please calm down!" The Operative slowly writhed on the ground, "Listen...we were stationed in this country to fulfill the service of the leader in this area."
"Who?"
"His name is Maestro...He intends to use some object for some twisted plan of his..." He answered.
"What is it?"
"Even I don't know...Nor do the others you massacred all around us..." he looked around, "But whatever it is, Cainlocke prevents him from getting to it. So that's why he made us infiltrate."
"How many are you here?"
"I can't even count. For a school with multiple ranks, with thousands of people per rank, do you think we can keep count? There might be hundreds, thousands..." Karasu made sure to remember this knowledge.
"And what was that thing you were doing? Summoning a monster?"
"To make sure our target, Donovan Cuana is confirmed dead. But...That failed alright..." The red hand said.
Karasu turned to look towards the Arena. Watching as the battle goes on. As he does, the red hand noticed something about him, "You're a kid...I don't think you're even seventeen yet..."
"So?"
"You're one of Hanlerk's soldiers, aren't you?" The red hand said, "They warned us about you. And your magic basically confirmed who you are."
Hearing that from him could mean the mission being jeopardized. If he went out and informed everyone what he knew, it would all go horrible.
Karasu was in deep thought. Not noticing the red hand slowly standing up, gathering his strength for one desperate kill. He grabbed his dagger and lunged towards Karasu.
But he managed to snap out of his trance for just a second. His hands moved up and severed the red hand's arm. Before his second hand reached towards his tanto and held it in place as the red hand fell towards it. Lodging it into his throat. He ignored the sounds coming from his victims as he thought over what to do. Should he just return to his friends? There's not much else he can do next after disposing of their bodies.
Maybe he should. He worried about what they're up to. And if they're holding up well enough. As he dropped the final member down to the ground, he wondered to himself, How are his friends holding up?