1 A Painful Death

"You can't run for much longer Kane…gasp* we've already….gasp* got you surrounded "

"Well from the way you're breathing it seems you'll fall sooner than me hahaha"

"Why you piece of shit!"

"Haha too slow, better keep up old man."

While running, a radio noise behind me sounded, "Sir there is a cliff 25 meters up north."

"Alright gasp*, Ronin, rendezvous with Ken on the west cliff side, gasp* and have Grady move the choppers up north, gasp* I'll follow Kane from behind with the rest and lead him there."

"Roger"

"Ooh, tryna trap me on a cliff are we General? haha"

'It may seem like I'm calm, but I am completely running out of options here. I've been running nonstop for 4 hours now, the rest of my protective clothing has been torn to shreds, and the only place I'm running towards is nothing but death. If I knew a whole army was gonna come after me maybe I would've done some more preparations. At least I've done what I needed to do and avenged everyone. Sad thing is I can't even celebrate…sigh* It seems my monologue took too long.'

I looked up feeling the wind swirling around me, a bright light flashed my eyes while apache helicopters slowly hovered from above.

I looked back down only to see nothing but the endless sea and rows of warships neatly positioned below me.

I slowly turned around with my back facing the cliff edge and my feet inches away from certain death.

A middle-aged man with a burly build, and blonde-hair alongside dozens of armed soldiers stood a few feet ahead of me. I looked straight at the pistol in his hands aiming at my chest.

"Hahaha, after all these years we've finally caught you. Kane Vond, for all the crimes you've committed, countries you overthrew, and the countless lives you've taken, we leaders of the world hereby declare Kane Vond guilty and killed immediately, any last words?"

'Sigh Is this how my life ends? Cornered by lonely middle-aged men, stranded on top of a cliff with death all around me. I've always thought my death would be saving a beautiful woman, cradled in her arms and with my dying breath saying "I love you", but reality is oftentimes disappointing…'

I looked ahead, seeing General standing with a painted breath.

'General is definitely not a beautiful woman, and no way in hell am I gonna say "I love you", I'd rather die… oh wait'

"Sigh*, well I suppose the mouse has been caught. It's been fun General, having you chase me around the globe doing this and that, I sure will miss it. Who knew Tom would win in the end huh."

"Are those really your last words? Kinda pathetic for the greatest hitman in the world."

"Well it's a matter of perspective really, to me I'm just a pretty handsome guy who can do a couple of cool things, guess it ain't the same to you haha."

"Forget it, a liar like you deserves no mercy. This is goodbye Kane, and I suppose it was fun."

A small smirk appeared on his redheaded face

"Fufufu don't say that General, I never lie, well to my friends, but don't worry I consider you my friend, otherwise playing tag with a stranger is kinda weird isn't it? Sigh* now you're making me not want to die."

I retorted as I feel myself slowly growing tired. Feeling almost all the energy in my body vanish, a complacent smirk rose to my face.

'This is the end huh. It was fun while it lasted'

"I definitely won't miss this… Bye Kane."

*BANG

Feeling the bullet quickly piercing my heart. I felt my feet no longer touch the ground. Looking up I watched as the cliff edge grew smaller and smaller.

As my consciousness slowly began to fade I mustered the little energy I have to watch the rising sun…

'It's beautiful…'

***

'Is this hell?'

I opened my eyes, or I think I opened my eyes, but when I opened them the only thing I see is pitch-black darkness. The sensation of my arms and legs seem to be the same, however, moving them feels like I'm swimming in cement.

'I know I killed people but I've never killed anyone innocent… Well, killing is killing I guess. It seems my punishment is eternal loneliness huh, I'm used to it already.'

I tried to move around but to no avail.

'Seems like I'm stuck in this place. Just where the hell am I?'

I tried to move forward, but unfortunately, there was nothing for my feet to stand on.

'Wait, do I even have feet?'

As soon as I said that, a dim light shone a few feet in front of me.

'Am I getting Isekai'd? I thought that only happens when you get hit by a truck. Guess it happens to anyone. Wait, that's kinda messed up, that would mean everyone I killed would be reincarnated… Fuck, if I knew this was gonna happen I woulda tortured them first. Well, the past is the past I guess.'

As the light grew brighter, I covered my eyes with my supposed hand.

The light quickly began to wrap around me and nausea permeated in my mind. Suddenly pain, indescribable pain surged through my body.

'I've endured all kinds of torture, but that was a walk in the park compared to this!'

Out of nowhere all the pain in my body disappeared. Feeling the pain subside, I slowly opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was a galaxy-like sky, with large thick golden clouds hovering as if frozen in time. Seemingly misplaced large white pieces of land were floating around completely defying the laws of physics. In the center, a massive waterfall stretching for hundreds of miles with nearly invisible water flowing upwards.

Finding myself standing on a large white platform. I questioned.

'Wait golden clouds, floating islands, upside down waterfall? Is this heaven?'

Moments later a bright ball of light floated in front of me. I quickly shut my eyes from the blinding light. Sensing movement, I quickly took a fighting stance. I opened my eyes expecting to be surrounded by enemies, but what I thought would be a group of men, on the contrary, a tall beautiful woman with long silky white hair, violet eyes, and snow white porcelain skin, wearing an elegant blue-hued dress was in front of me.

'Wow, I've seen a ton of beautiful women in my life, but I've never seen anyone like her before. 42 26 38, truly great proportions…'

"Are you done?"

A beautiful voice echoed all around me and I instantly recollected my thoughts. I fixed my posture as I normally would when approaching a lady, and smoothly introduced myself.

"Pardon me milady, my name is Kane Vond, may I perhaps know your name?"

"Ew."

A single word, one syllable, two letters.

'Is this what death feels like?'