Assassin System in a Magical World

Experience Points

‘Not a ghost… but not normal.  I can’t see really through myself, but it feels like I almost can.  Am I solid?’ he asked, then poked his arm.  Solid.  His clothes, and even the skin of his hand, had taken an ash grey and coal black colouring. The pattern was random, but it moved and adjusted as he watched.  ‘This colouring would blend in well with the grey cobbles of the road and the shadows cast on it.  Is this what Fade does? It helps me camouflage.’

He looked over at the Knight and the girls.  He had already finished with the blonde girl.  She was sobbing on the ground.  Large welts covered her naked back.  ‘He probably hit her with the flat of his blade,’ Shinra thought.  He looked on in disgust as the Knight, Woodruff, strutted over to the next girl in line.  She was a short brown haired girl that Shinra recalled being very well endowed.  The thought made him feel guilty.

“You’re next,” Woodruff said, and grabbed around her chest roughly.  

“Ahhhhrgghhh,” she cried in pain.

‘Shinra, if you’re going to make a move, it needs to be now!’ he yelled at himself.  The Knight was distracted, and Shinra judged that his viewing angle of this side of the road was worse.

Shinra parted the grass in front of him and quietly made a crouching approach to the horse.  The horse’s shadow actually.   He held his breath the entire time, too afraid to make any unnecessary sounds.  

The horse neighed, but didn’t move otherwise.  ‘Easy girl, I’m just hanging out underneath here,’ he thought as he crept towards the edge of the shadow.  His vision improved again in the shadow, but it was more than just seeing more clearly, he was noticing things he hadn’t before.  Like the size of the knight’s blind spot from here, where his armour had large gaps, and which approach would keep him in shadow the longest.

‘Have I always known these things, or is this part of the Fade skill?’  Shinra knew the answer though.  This knowledge just leapt out to him as he surveyed the scene with his preternaturally strong eyes.  He locked onto the exposed portion of his neck above the cast off hood of the Knight’s cloak.  It wasn’t a large area, but Shinra realised he had no idea what kind of protection spells were woven into the cloak.

‘Knights take protection seriously.  This one is even wearing some armour.  There is no way that cloak isn’t heavily enchanted.  If I’m doing this, I need to slice at his neck.’

Woodruff was roughly grabbing at the brunette’s throat while he thrusted behind her, she cried out in pain.  The rest of the girls whimpered, and the boys looked away in shame.  For the girls’ defilement and their own cowardice.

‘He’s as distracted as he will ever be,’ Shinra thought.  ‘Once I am out of the shadow, my eyesight will be worse, and I’ll be more visible, but it is only a few metres.   If I am fast and quiet, I can stab him in the neck before he knows I’m there.’

He positioned himself at the very edge of the shadow, marked where he would strike, and scuttled out.  The sun hit him, and his vision went blurry. He idly noticed that the colour of his shirt and skin was lighter, almost all ash grey like the cobblestones of the road.

‘I’m a chameleon,’ he thought.  He made it to within 2 feet of the Knight, and rose up with his dagger raised high.  ‘It really is harder to see in the light. Does this mean I should only be attacking people in the shadows, or should I have turned this skill off?’  Good questions, but he didn’t have time to think as he swung the dagger at Woodruff the Knight.

Maybe he was just lucky, or maybe something warned him, but at the last microsecond, Woodruff moved his head.  Shinra’s knife made a shallow slice on the side and back of Woodruff’s neck, instead of the deep stab he’d aimed for.

“What the fuck!” Woodruff yelled.  He shoved the girl to the ground as he spun towards his attacker.  His hand came up too, covering the wound.  Shinra didn’t think it was bleeding much though.  

‘Shit,’ he thought, now facing a large, angry, magical Knight.  He tried not to focus on the fact that Woodruff was naked from the waist down, but it was weird.  Luckily, everything was a little out of focus now that Shinra was in the light.  Nakedness didn’t seem to bother the Knight as he raised his thin sword.

“What the hell are you?” Woodruff said, his face twisted with confusion.  His sword came down fast.

Shinra raised the dagger to intercept, not sure if it would work.  The sword crashed down with great strength, and slid along the dagger’s edge towards Shinra’s upturned face.

The sword met the dagger’s cross guard and held in place, its low weight making it ineffective.  

Woodruff looked surprised, clearly expecting a different result as Shinra scrambled back and rose to his full height.  

‘I’ve lost the only advantage I had, and now I’m facing a very aware, very angry Magic Knight.  As soon as he realises I have no magic, he can just toast me with a lightning strike.’  He noticed that everyone still stood, watching the fight.

“What are you doing? Run you idiots. Run!,” Shinra screamed.  ‘Did my voice sound different?’  It worked though.  Sophie had already been helping the two assaulted girls up, and the boys were starting to look down the road. 

“They won’t get far.  Zombies are useless.  You though, are you a summoned demon or a spirit creature?” Woodruff asked, looking warily at Shinra.

‘Fade!  I guess the pattern covers my face too, so maybe I do look like a monster.  This is why he hasn’t just rushed in, or blasted me away.  He wants to figure out who and what I am.’

“Don’t worry.  Where you are going, you don’t need to worry about what I am,” Shinra said.

“The only place I’m going is to the bathhouse to clean the stink of those zombie harlots off of me.  After I finish you off, and all of those zombies.”  He lunged forward, using his sword in a stabbing motion. It seemed more suited to it, like fencing.

Shinra danced back, narrowly avoiding the strike by a few inches.  ‘I’m going to die out here,’ he thought.  He kept falling back. He should be afraid, but he was too focused on the Knight’s movements, determined to dodge any blows.  He stepped back again.

The world came back into sharp focus again.  So did Shinra’s resolve. ‘I’m supposed to kill him, not fight him.’

“What? Now you use magic?” the Knight Woodruff said, swivelling his head to look all around.

Shinra went completely still. ‘He doesn’t see me at all? Or is my Fade and his sun blindness working in my favour.  The air around the Knight started to glow a dull yellow, and Shinra recognized this as a standard projectile shield.

‘Oh, he thinks I’ve fallen back to fire a bow?  I wish I was that prepared.’  Shinra watched, surprised he wasn’t visible.  Woodruff looked in his direction several times, but his eyes slid past.  ‘Awesome,’ Shinra thought.   He was hesitant to move though, worried that would break the spell, or whatever was happening.  Woodruff made some complicated movements with his free hand, and a green fire seemed to cover it.  

‘Some sort of close combat spell? Or a blast waiting to be directed?’ he wondered, neither option was good for him.

 ‘What is that?’ he thought, looking at the Knight’s neck.  Woodruff had moved his hand away from his cut to create the green fire, and now Shinra could see that the wound wasn’t red and bleeding, but a dirty looking dark grey.  The flesh nearby was pale with spreading grey tendrils.  ‘Poison.  My dagger is poisoned.’  He looked down at the naked blade in his hand, a little afraid after this realisation.  Not that poison was an issue for most mages, they all knew how to safeguard themselves.  ‘Still, it looks like he hasn’t noticed yet.’

“Come out you little shit!” the knight yelled, spinning in a circle again.  He started to walk backwards towards his horse, head swivelling wildly.  “Are you afraid!? Of course you are.  Probably haven’t  looked back since you ran off like a coward,” he finished more quietly than he started.  Woodruff looked towards the group of zombies running down the road.  They hadn’t gotten very far yet.  He sighed, and looked around again.  

“Fucking zombies.  I better go and finish them off quickly. I’ve already wasted too much time here.  Lord Jala might already be back in the city.”  He looked at the sides of the road again, and saw no one.  Then he dispelled the green fire on his hand and bent to grab his pants off the ground.  He gave them a shake and hopped into them while walking back towards his horse.  “Let’s get this over with, right girl?” he said to his horse.

Woodruff’s foot had just touched the stirrup when the dagger point erupted through his throat.  He saw the bloody point before he felt anything.  The metal was strangely dull, as if it absorbed light instead of reflecting it.  He tried to speak, but the tip disappeared from his view and he fell bonelessly to the ground.  He tried to scramble back up, but only his head moved.  

“Grghgh,” was all he managed to say.  His eyes widened in shock when, as if from behind a dark curtain, a zombie boy appeared beside him.

“You animal.” Shinra said, and kicked at the unmoving body a few times.  He knew it didn’t matter, but it made him feel better.  He crouched down close to the Knight’s face.

“You deserve a slow, painful death for what you did here today.  And who knows how many other injustices you’ve done this week, last year, over your whole life!” Shinra raised his arms, the anger taking a hold of him.  He had felt surprisingly calm while Faded, but his emotions were rushing back now.  He had to go.

“I don’t have that kind of time though.  Another mage could probably save you if they showed up before I was finished.”  He reversed his grip on the dagger with a little flourish, now the point was facing down.  

Then he plunged it towards the Knight’s chest.  There were shimmers of blue, gold and silver, different wards and shields likely, but the dagger didn’t slow as it sank deep.

“Goodbye,” was all Shinra said.