23 Ashton And The Zoldycks

__________ POV Ashton__________

The day passed by quickly. I didn't have to do much of anything. So did the next one. And today is the day of the assault.

I spent both of my free days wandering around with Kalluto. He was still hanging around because the members of the Troupe were recovering in that warehouse.

He still went away this morning to meet up with his friends. He said they were already leaving this city since they only came here to meet me.

I wasn't all that surprised to hear that. Maybe a bit disappointed that they couldn't fight Pitou at the end of the day. But it didn't matter anymore. Pitou was going to have to fight me at some point.

I'll let Gon fight her first. I just want to test how far she's reached. I remember her talent being much greater than mine...

I just hope that Gon can even make her get serious. He's not exactly the strongest fighter I know. But, as long as he fights with his friend, he might stand some chance.

It's useless to think about that now. I just need to go and meet up with Netero. He wasn't all that surprised to hear that I wasn't interested in following the plan.

He doesn't really care as long as he gets to fight the king. By his words, 'Even if the plan fails, the ants already crossed you once, they're as good as dead...'

Fair enough, relying on my grudge with the Royal Guards to make sure a threat to humanity is vanquished. It's something to be expected from the senile old fox.

Still, I wonder if he'll even be able to fight the king properly. Still, I don't want to be there to see it. The bomb I made isn't something I would want to be near when it's detonated...

I had to walk all the way to the edge of town just to meet up with Netero. He was here alone. He looked like he was meditating.

"Hey! Old Guy! Where's your friend?" I shouted at him, gaining his attention and startling him out of his tranquil state of mind.

Netero, the man that owes me two favours, had the gall to look at me with anger in his eyes. He seemed to notice my raised eyebrow, his anger disappeared and he looked down a bit.

"He will be here soon... I don't even understand how the days passed so quickly." He said with a sad smile on his face.

"Now now, I think you're being all depressed for no good reason. Not like this is the first time you have been close to dying." I said in a confident tone.

Omitting the fact that this is basically a suicide mission for him. No need to further demoralize the man. Although he isn't really all that sad. He's just playing around.

"Oh well, shame we don't have time for one last drink..." Yeah... He was too busy preparing for his fight.

He wanted to get into the right state of mind for it. Now he seems to be regretting not spending some time drinking his worries away with me.

"Don't worry too much about it. We've had enough goodbyes that ended in the both of us being drunk. Let's take this one while sober, yeah?" My comment made him roll his eyes a bit.

There were quite a few times we've had a 'one last drink' before we thought one of us was as good as dead.

One time was when a government hired the Zoldyck family to kill me. Oh, the memories.

I fought against their oldest members too. It was quite a disappointment that I didn't meet Zigg... I did have the pleasure of meeting Maha.

That old crook. He almost killed me a few times in our short encounter. Not that I was any worse.

I did have a few opportunities to kill him. But killing such a rare opponent seemed like a waste to me.

I also didn't want to kill one of Zigg's family members. It would've felt weird. I actually think Maha might be Zigg's father. Can't be too sure, the guy never talked about family.

He is an enhancer, much like Netero. They are very similar in strength, but their fighting styles couldn't be more different.

Maha is a lot deadlier. He was also paid a lot of money for that job. He wasn't even alone. He was accompanied by his grandson and great-grandson.

Thankfully, the fight didn't have to be prolonged much. Netero managed to rush into the Palace of the nation that hired them and killed just about everyone there. Good times!

The Zoldycks stopped their attack when they received the news that their employer was met with an accident. I didn't bother stopping them either. I had enough fun to last me a few weeks.

And, apparently, the friend that Netero managed to bring along is none other than Maha's Grandson. Zeno, I think it was.

"Oh! Hello, it's been a few decades!" I said in an upbeat tone. Too bad I forgot to put much emotion in my expression. That's always a problem when you repress most reactions.

Netero just laughed a bit at my salute. Zeno looked weirdly at me. Then his eyes widened a lot.

"Hmm... Ashton. You haven't aged a single day(seriously)..." Zeno's Pokerface was a strong as I remember it. My appearance still startled him quite a bit.

__________ POV Zeno Zoldyck__________

My mission is quite simple this time. All I had to do was transport Netero in and help him separate the King from his Guards.

I prepared for it, the plan was just for me to create some chaos and give the infiltration team an opportunity to attack.

I don't even have to kill anyone in this mission.

But the mission became more of an afterthought after I saw the person standing besides Netero.

Ashton, a person that became burned into my memory. An absolute monster.

The only person to ever defeat my Grandfather. Who even Netero could only fight to a stalemate.

Even with me and Silva, there wasn't much we could do. He dodged all attempts perfectly. We managed to press him a bit.

But Grandfather lost his hand during the fight. He was injured heavily. We were planning to retreat even before Netero informed us that our client passed away.

Ashton also didn't pursue us at all. He seemed quite pleased with that fight.

It was a shameful display. Thankfully, our reputation wasn't harmed at all, as Ashton was a secretive figure.

The details of the fight never surfaced at all. It was only thought that he was saved by Netero's interference.

Zeno even took that mission seriously, but we had no way of knowing just what type of monster we were asked to hunt down. We refused any request that included him since.

To think that he hasn't even changed a bit... It's frightening. Thankfully, I am proficient in hiding my emotions. Neither of them noticed my fear.

At least this mission doesn't require me to go against the young-looking old monster.

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