1 CH0 The Fool, Loki’s Assassin.
***
CH0: The Fool; Loki's Assassin.
Assassin…
Many stories have tried to tell the origin of this profession.
Some have claimed it to come from a group of soldiers trained in the art of stealth whose purpose was to help their weaker nation face off against a greater enemy.
Another believed it to belong to an unseen group who used the art of killing to fight the tyranny of a global secret order enriching itself off the common man.
One such story claimed that the first hired killer was a man named… Ashashin. Hence, all those who came after him bore his name in his honour as the progenitor of their profession.
I have heard of stories wherein Assassins are killers who have a code… a moral compass.
I have also heard claims that Assassin are simply… Killers. Nothing more nothing less.
Everyone has a version of this they believe in.
Are Assassins good? Or are they bad?
Have they been romanticised? Or is it the truth of their actions… their values?
These are questions best left to each person to answer. And their answers shall be their own.
But if you ask me, I would say… An Assassin is a killer, but also much more.
An Assassin is someone who kills for a purpose… Money, Ideology or for a cause.
By this definition, many are Assassins but they do not know.
Why do I think this?
It's simple really.
I know who I am… 'what' I am.
I am a 'killer'.
I have a purpose. I kill to become stronger.
Am I good or bad?
I do not know. That… is for you to decide.
What I know… is that,
I AM an Assassin.
An Assassin blessed by Loki.
**
As an Assassin, I take up many different types of contracts.
Some are simple.
The contractor provides everything.
Time for planning, information on the target; as well as the best occasion and time to carry out the assassination are provided.
They also request for the assassination to go unnoticeable as such.
Others… are not so simple.
They are rushed. They give no room for planning. They barely provide information on the target, nor do they even know the target's location.
These kinds of contracts, I've come to hate.
However, I still take them.
Their difficulties and challenges forces me to think outside the box… To leave my comfort zones.
This is important to me because my art of assassination is my only way to grow stronger in this dangerous world I live in.
Case in point… My current target.
The man's name is Ivan Rockhour. Also known as the Big Rock.
He is the head of a mid level criminal 'enterprise' in his city. His organisation has a long rap sheet of crimes. The usual really… prostitution, racketeering, drugs and trafficking.
His group as a special panache for convincing young girls in taking part in its activities.
The girls believe they're taking part in some soft form of compensation dating, only to find themselves being penetrated deeply at the end of the night against their expectation and wish.
Those who are aided in this 'endeavour' through the use of drugs might be the ones who have it easy. At least, they aren't lucid through the act.
Depending on the 'interest' of the customer, some girls experience the act in its entirety without the ability to resist. These girls are often broken in spirit come sunrise.
However, make no mistake, Big Rock isn't a target because some righteousness has descended on the world. The contract on him was put up by a rival organisation in the prostitution industry.
Big Rock's 'Flower-plucking' gimmick has taken too much market share from 'traditional, more respectable' organisations in the prostitution sector – as they put it. One such 'respectable' competitor has decided that Big Rock should… weather away from the industry.
Hence, where I come in.
I suppose, you could say some form of Karma is at play.
-
The contract is to take out Big Rock in the bloodiest way possible.
Honestly, I don't like taking contracts from criminal organisations. Not only do they give the kinds of contracts I hate -No time for planning and No intel on target location-, they also demand for the kills to send out a message. And the message has to be as 'loud' as possible.
This often times means the message has to be sent in blood… lots of blood.
Unfortunately, I don't like bloody kills. They are too messy.
Messy leads to mistakes.
Mistakes lead to early 'retirement' from the job.
But I still take them because they give generous pay. Money-wise and also in 'experience'.
-
I don't know if I've mention or if you've noticed, but I am a premium assassin if I do say so myself.
I only tackle the most difficult contracts for they are the ones which can give me the achievement and experience I need.
So, for me to accept the Big rock contract, there has to be something unusual about it.
As it turned out, I'm not the first 'contractor' to pick up this contract. Unfortunately, those before me had been forced into early retirement six feet under.
Big Rock has an interesting ability. He can harden his body to become impervious to all kinds of weapons. Swords, spears, arrows etcetera.
Hence the name… Big Rock.
None before me has been able to harm him in any way and hence his confidence.
Finding the guy was remarkably easy compared to other similar contracts
-
Currently, the guy is playing under the sheets with his favourite girl.
I won't bore you with the girl's long details. I'll just say that the girl met Big Rock at fifteen. In a short three days, she 'met' more men than a professional escort in her entire career. The girl was completely broken and now belongs to Big Rock to use to fulfil his every depraved whims.
Anyway, I set my scope sights on the man as he did his thing.
I decided to wait.
A man should enjoy his final 'meal' before he dies, right?
I may be a killer, but I'm not that cruel to deny the man this basic… etiquette(?).
Eventually, Big Rock released his shot into the girl. Then, his little brother retreated from the girl's cave while still in reverie of the successful conquest.
This was the chance I was waiting for!
I pulled the trigger of my sniper rifle.
AHHH!!!
Big Rock screamed in agony as the bullet pierced through his sack and ruptured his balls.
I won't lie. I clamped my legs by instinct and couldn't help sympathizing as a fellow man… but a man's got to do what a man's got to do.
Without wasting time, I aimed at his head and fired again.
Headshot!
Another perfect shot.
His head exploded into a bloody mess.
That should satisfy the condition of the contract.
Big Rock's head was shattered into fragments. He was deader than dead.
The message was loud and clear.
No matter how 'thick-headed' you are, think twice before overstepping everybody's interest or else your useless head will be shattered.
-
What?
I said Big Rock was impervious to all weapons, so why did he get pierced by bullets?
Am I using special bullets with crazy abilities?
Sorry to disappoint you, but these bullets are the same Trash-grade lead bullets you should be familiar with.
I actually had to ponder for a fair bit on how to send Big Rock off from the world. I soon realised that the answer laid in the human body itself.
The man's ability was hardening his body into a thick rock form that protected him from damage. Plus, the ability was a passive that automatically protected him from whatever damage.
A disgusting ultimate defence indeed.
However, I realized that there should be moments when this should be impossible based on my admittedly limited knowledge of human physiology.
It was impossible for the human body to go from extreme relaxation to extreme tensing within an instant moment.
There would surely be a window of opportunity I could exploit.
The moment Big Rock released his load into the girl's cave, his body went into an extreme relaxed state as blood to the genitals retreated back to normal flow.
That short moment of lethargy and reverie was the window I needed.
So, I shot his balls.
However, as bad and as painful as that sounds, it wouldn't kill him. No, what I achieved with that shot was to overload his brain with the sensory impulse of pain such that his other senses were ignored in that moment to manage the inflow.
In simple terms, the immense pain prevented his body from noticing the death-dealing headshot and so his ability didn't activate.
Yes, I know what you're thinking.
Wasn't the reason I waited for him to finish his play under the sheet was to allow him enjoy his last 'meal'?
What? You believed that?
'…'
I'm an assassin for crying out loud.
Why would I care if someone I was going to kill enjoyed his last meal or not?
-
Anyway, it's time to leave now that the hit is done.
I placed my rifle in my weapon space.
I adjusted my black tie suit and walked out of the building casually.
The building had two main entrances. One was opposite the hotel Big Rock was staying while the other was on the opposite side of the building.
I took the latter entrance out.
It was slightly unfortunate I couldn't see the dismay in the eyes of Big Rock's subordinates. I didn't wallow in that much though.
A black stallion jumped out of my shadow. In the next moment, it morphed into a black bike.
I got on and rode away.
-
I rode for about an hour before arriving close to my home.
I stopped at a hidden site within a shrubbery and changed my attire.
The stallion merged back into my shadow.
I spent the next half hour walking home.
My home was a humbled two-floor cottage on the outskirts of the city.
"Contract complete." I made a phone call.
"Confirmed. Agent Zero." A female's voice sounded from the other side.
The call ended there.
I sat down on the couch.
"System, bring up my result."
A holographic panel rose in front of my eyes.
Yes, yes. I know.
I have a system.
I've been dropping hints since the beginning.
I told you right? Assassination is the only way I earn 'experience' to grow stronger.
The world I live in is one where everyone has one form of ability or the other. Unfortunately, I don't have such ability because the world rejects me.
Why is that?
Because my Soul doesn't belong to it.
After all, I reincarnated into this world.
But I have no qualms because of that.
For I have a system that helps me grow as well as… the Blessing of Loki, the lord of Mischief.
Oh, that reminds me. I haven't introduced myself.
I am… The Fool.
And you are reading the memoir of my life as an Assassin.
Loki's Assassin.
(To be continued…)
[A.N: If you're enjoying the book, please leave a review, vote with power stones and golden tickets. Gifts are also very welcomed. Also, please check out my other book, Soldiers of Time. Thanks.]
