"Wait…"
Seven stopped giggling. Instead, he frowned.
"Replacing the original storyline? Does that mean I changed the course of the story?"
He leaned against a nearby tree, taking a moment to calm himself as his thoughts flowed freely.
"This… is bad."
Real bad. If the story was changing, then the 'knowledge' he bragged as a 'reader' would be useless as the future written in the novel would no longer exist.
"But it's not like I have a choice. I need this to survi—"
He paused, squinting ahead. Theia's eye allowed him to see the flow of aura in the air. It seemed disrupted, and it was heading straight for him.
Quickly, he tilted his head.
Swish.
A dagger sliced through the air, narrowly missing him and grazing his cheek, leaving a thin line of blood.
Seven leapt backward, grabbing the dagger that lodged into the ground—the one he barely dodged.
"Right. I forgot about that."
Looking up, the sun was nowhere to be seen. A smile tugged at his lips as he realized it was finally time.
The time of his fated death.
"Oh! You dodged that?!"
A voice echoed through the trees. His eyes darted around to search for its source. Shadows flickered between the dense trees, but no figure appeared.
"It was such a pain finding you in this cursed forest."
The voice chuckled softly.
"Dense trees, no clear trails... And yet, here you are, standing before the tomb of..."
The voice trailed off abruptly, and a figure materialized as if stepping out of the air itself. A man cloaked in black stood next to the ancient tomb.
Ding!
[Name: Lythian Ace (Oh Son-ji)]
[Main Talent: Assassination]
[Characteristics: ??? Reader]
[Gift: ???]
"Ha... Ha..."
Seven laughed, though it came out more like rough, labored breathing.
'I... have a chance...'
He believed he could survive this. After all, the 'Lythian' before him wasn't the legendary seventh assassin from the novel.
It was a reader just like him, who got transmigrated into the body of that assassin.
But seconds later, his smile faded and he frowned. He wasn't sure whether to be thankful that this assassin was now less skilled or terrified that he might have to kill someone like him.
A fellow reader.
Seven then deactivated the artifact. Again, the 'Lythian' before him is also a reader, and it would be a bad idea as he might recognize the golden eye.
Seven shifted his gaze to Lythian's wrist, where two bracelets were etched into his skin like tattoos.
'Two Aura Gates…'
There were a total of seven aura gates one could open, with the second gate being the average most people reached.
Seven then looked at his own wrist, and there were no tattoos. The body he had transmigrated into didn't even have an aura gate.
'Damn it.'
The assassin, Lythian, examined the hilt of the sword, completely ignoring Seven. Well, a reader was still a reader. He knew that Seven was fated to die by his hand today.
'I'll let him enjoy a couple more minutes.'
Lythian thought, trying his best to find the button as described in the novel. But he couldn't feel any bumps, and that could only mean one thing.
Someone had already taken it.
Someone…
Lythian looked at Seven, but immediately shook his head right after. There's no way an extra character would know about it.
That is, if Seven weren't a reader.
Seven's left eye suddenly glowed gold.
"Looking for this?"
Those words were enough to make Lythian lose his composure.
"You…"
Lythian hurled a dagger straight at Seven, then vanished from sight.
Seven focused, feeling the flow of aura in the air. He caught a faint trace of the dagger's path. With a quick tilt of his head, he reached out, grabbing the hilt just as the blade whizzed past him.
But the moment his fingers closed around the dagger, he sensed another one closing in, trailing right behind the first.
A double throw.
The second dagger was now inches away from his neck.
"It worked, fucker. Die!"
But Seven also had two daggers: one he picked up from the ground and one he caught. Normally, he would've blocked it using one.
But Seven had a different plan.
He dropped the one he caught and thrust his palm forward to meet the incoming blade.
Stab.
The dagger scraped against his palm, the edge biting into the skin, but he didn't flinch. The momentary pain was nothing compared to the risk of being blinded by the clash of steel.
He knew Lythian would use the sound of their weapons meeting against him, and that brief distraction that could cost him everything.
Now, Seven's palm absorbed the force of the strike, leaving his vision clear.
"What?!
Lythian's voice echoed from nowhere. He was still invisible. But to Seven, he could see him dashing swiftly, moving in repeated blurs. Then, just as he anticipated, Lythian reappeared with his dagger mere inches from his throat.
Those two daggers were mere distractions for this.
"This is what I learned from reading countless novels, fucker. Die!"
Lythian's grin was audible in his voice, but Seven wasn't fazed. His heart pounded, but his mind was clear.
He knew the tricks.
He knew this moment would come.
With a sudden motion, Seven twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the blade's deadly arc. His arm shot up, catching Lythian's wrist mid-swing and twisted it sharply.
"This is what I learned after countless novels too, idiot."
With a mocking grin, Seven used Lythian's own balance and slammed him onto the ground.
Before Lythian could stand, Seven stabbed his shoulder with a dagger. He immediately pulled it right after, and stabbed the legs. Then the other one.
Assassins are known for their speed, so he thought this might hinder him.
But as he was about to stab him again, Lythian begged him.
"Stop! I beg you! Fuck…"
Lythian clutched Seven's hand.
"I know you're a reader too. Let's stop this, okay?"
Seven didn't want to stop, but the artifact deactivated as he didn't have enough stamina to maintain it.
"Reader? What's that?"
Yet he didn't stop. With a smile, he stabbed Lythian's leg once again. Now that the artifact could not help him, there's no way he could win against the assassin.
Seven stabbed him again one more time.
"Fuck! The email sent to us! Don't act like you don't know!"
Of course, Seven knew about it. But just because he knew, doesn't mean he should spare the one fated to kill him.
"And why should I stop?"
"Oh Son-ji. I'm the fourth reader!"
Seven paused, but that's it. He just nodded and stabbed him.
"I mean it! I am the fourth—"
"So what?"
"What?"
"Why should I care if you're the fourth?"
"..."
Seven stabbed Lythian again. This time, in his heart.
Slowly, he dropped the dagger and stared at the orange-painted sky. He coughed blood in the process, from the toll of pushing his pale body to its limit.
But he didn't care.
'I survived…'
He closed his eyes, and as he did, a dagger pierced his chest. Pain erupted, and everything was a blur.
There was Lythian, holding a dagger despite his bloody body. He wasn't dead.
'Fudge it. Fate is fate, I guess…'
Lythian laughed. Pulling Seven's hair forward, he stabbed him again.
"If only I knew I'd come back alive, I wouldn't have told you my name."
Lythian stabbed him again.
"But I guess it's okay, since…"
Lythian stabbed him one last time.
"...Since a dead man tells no tales."