First Kill? Gate of Opening - Open!

"Chaos," Kai called out. "Create a Side Mission to Kill the nearest 4th-floor Contestant of Order. Adjust Mission Summary accordingly."

This was the brilliant plan the young Cersei had come up with.

Kai had known that he could create Side Mission by using his authority as the 3rd ranked Contestant in the Ranking of Worth Stat. Yet, even he hadn't thought of something so devious. The reason was simple.

Whenever it had come to knowing information regarding another Contestant, the System had gone haywire, spiking prices up unnaturally. But with this Side Mission, Kai could easily ignore mentioning what he truly needed. The side mission being given to him by Chaos itself, as Cersei had told him, would definitely give him a location.

This plan was devious wasn't because Kai could force the System to reveal a Contestant's position. But because if he didn't like the mission or the Contestant's position, he could just give it up and rather ask for the second nearest option. Kai's veins had opened like chimneys, which had been blocked with soot and grease for quite some time.

Cersei's devilish grin hadn't ceased after telling him this much, though.

For the first time, Kai had found out he had been looking down on Cersei too much just because of her extremely flirtatious nature. Once she had put her mind to figuring something out, she just didn't find the solution. Rather, she had ripped the problem apart from the roots.

'If you don't like any 4th-floor Contestant in this world,' she had said, 'then just create a Side Mission including another world. You can easily go to King's Landing now that you are familiar with the city, can't you?'

Even though Kai had found it an excellent suggestion, he finally refrained from using the second one. There were two reasons for his decision. First, he would be spending Mission Credits for a mission that might or might not be completed. Second, he would have to create another Side Mission to return to the original world to complete the task, spending more Mission Credits.

Petyr had warned him to be frugal with Mission Credits until he would know how much amount they would need to compress the Mission Time Limit.

This was the point of having counselors. 'Take counsel from both and do what seems fit,' Kai thought as the notification appeared in front of him.

[

Analyzing the Contestant's Stats…

Analyzation Complete

Creating Side Mission…

You have triggered a Side Mission

Main Mission: Three heads of the Targaryen Dragon

Side Mission: Kill Captain of Guard, Code Name: Heavy Block

Side Mission Summary: Heavy Block, a 4th-floor Contestant is in the command of the Prime Minister Field Task Force for a month. His Main Mission includes guarding the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street.

Side Mission Objective: Kill Heavy Block

Side Mission Time Limit: before 23 November

Side Mission Hint: Not Applicable

Do you accept the side-mission?

]

This was the first time Kai didn't get a hint of the mission.

'Hmm,' Kai deliberated over the mission. 'The Thunder Faction's data had something about it. It said major figures are always protected by some Task Force of Contestants openly or from behind the curtains. Here, even the Aurors will be there, the wizards no Contestant would like to face in battle. Then it's a Task Force. So I can assume he will have at least 10 lower floor Contestants. I will have to lure him away from his team somehow.'

Kai's brows furrowed as he kept thinking over it. Suddenly, he felt a cold and soothing sensation moving across his temples. Cold, yes. Just cold enough to make him relax and close his eyes in bliss. Then Kai shuddered. What if the serpent wouldn't control the chill she was imparting into Kai's soul? What would happen then?

Kai didn't trust anyone, anything.

Yet… when the silver mist came out of Kai's head and solidified, Kai couldn't help but stare into those red slits with warmth. Magic. Kai had blamed this one word for the feelings of trust that were welling up in his heart for the Ghost Serpent.

Kai's entire body became red hot then, giving off light trails of steam. The hot steam met the cool mist from where the serpent's half body was coming out of Kai's head. A ghostly pleasant sensation coursed through Kai's body. Even the serpent's body shook under the effects of this thrill.

Hisss!

-What?- Kai hissed out the question as an intention. It had become an involuntary action to activate Elementary Snake Language.

The serpent came close to Kai and her forked tongue kissed Kai's forehead, tasting the sweat on his brows. She hissed out her own intention.

-Trust?-

Then Kai remembered. The serpent was nothing but an untainted child. Kai had put them in the category who were easiest to be manipulated. He grinned. The grin became a shrill laugh. The serpent felt Kai's joy and hissed along, going in and out of Kai's body in its intangible form.

"Not even a year old," a voice came from Kai's behind, "and you have already started its corruption."

"HER," Kai said through his gritted teeth as he turned around. Petyr was sitting there on the chair with the Basic Spellbook opened on the last page on his lap. One day had gone by since their meeting with the Goblin. Today was the night of November 7. And Kai didn't have any plans to stay here any longer.

"Let's go," Kai said. "We are going out of here."

"Hmm?" Petyr raised an eyebrow, closing the book. "Snaglok said the recruiters would come here on the 25th. We don't have to go anywhere. Leaky Cauldron is the safest place, and now we even have all the money."

Kai pitied the fool. "Power would never present itself to those who seek comfort, Petyr," he said. "I thought you of all would know of it."

"Haha!" Petyr laughed, standing up, his figure blurring. "We two have a very different definition of Power, my lord. Yours will make you stand at the top and will let you look down at the others as if they are ants. Mine… well, I am content with everyone dancing around on my fingers. So, where are we going?"

Petyr asked, but he had already become a part of Kai by then.

"London is a big city," Kai muttered to himself, collecting all his valuables. "And Big Cities always have good Sewer Systems."

*

*

10 Downing Street, November 20

London

Kai had spent the last 13 days increasing his Filth Manipulation and Snake Language Proficiencies. Only these two were the ones which he could improve without battles. The former of the two had increased by 13% and the latter by a whopping 15%.

The rest of the time Kai had spent monitoring the movements around 10 Downing street. Here, Kai for the first time got to use all that he had learned in the last two years of his previous life. Even though there were wizards in this area, Kai had managed to figure out the identity of his prey, and his daily routine.

The man, as Kai had found out, was a beast in human skin.

Kai had waited and waited, but he couldn't find a single time which seemed right to ambush Heavy Block. With the time limit coming closer, Kai refused to wait anymore.

It was past midnight. Kai was hiding in the shadow of a tall tower at the top of a building. This building lay in the path of the daily patrol route of Heavy Block. The man always came alone to do the first check of the surroundings. Only then would the other members of the team follow the nightly patrol, one by one.

"Now!"

Kai disappeared as he saw a vague shadow approaching him.

*

*

This shadow was a short-haired man in black formal attire. Under the sleeves of his black suit, his hands were covered in white bandages, and his boots looked sturdier, reaching up to his knees under his black pants.

Heavy Block was heavy. With a height of over 6 ft and jacked-up muscles, it looked like just anytime he could rip apart his suits as if coming out of a cocoon.

When he reached the checkpoint, a tower above a tall building, a shrill scream reached him from distant corners of the hell called London's streets.

"Hel…"

Heavy Block squinted his eyes. He looked in the direction which he was supposed to go, but his feet were already moving towards the scream, which had now become shriller.

"Help!"

A cry for help. Even from a distance, anyone could easily tell that this soul-shaking cry belonged to just a girl. From the horror in this voice, it seemed if something wouldn't be done instantly, then it would be too late.

Heavy Block struck his legs, shaking out two ankle weights off his legs. As they struck the ground below, a small boom rang out. But even that boom couldn't bury the scream.

"HELP!"

Heavy Block's speed had seemed to double. His face had contorted from the pressure he was putting on his legs.

One moment, he was three streets away from the screaming girl. In the next, he was standing dozens of meters away.

A blond-haired girl was being forcefully dragged away by a hooded man. Her clothes were in tatters, her breasts out in open. She was hitting the man's hand, grabbing her hair, and calling for help in this deserted street.

"Leave her alone!" Heavy Block screamed, crossing the distance with one step.

A powerful hurling kick at the man's chest sent him flying towards the wall behind him some 7-8 ft away. The power behind the kick was so great that when the man slumped down, half the wall behind him came down with it. Heavy Block's arms wrapped around the young girl's figure. She was so scared that her entire body was trembling in fear. The girl flung her arms around Heavy Block's neck, and her tears wetted his chest.

"Are you alright?" Heavy Block asked.

"Thank… you," the girl replied, sobbing, crying, and shuddering. Her hands fumbled behind his back to grip him tightly.

"He is dead," Heavy Block said. "Don't worry. Let me take you to the hospital."

"No," the girl shook her head. "No one can kill him."

Suddenly, Heavy Block roared. He threw the girl off him. But it was too late.

Too late.

There was a syringe stuck in his right arm, its content was almost half gone. He spun his head towards the girl.

Well, there was no girl anymore.

*

*

Kai couldn't fathom why Heavy Block had become so fast.

He had seen him jumping around and had already put some allowance on his possible Agility, but even then, the man had come many seconds earlier than Kai had expected.

His kick had broken several bones in Kai's chest. The moment he heard the roar, Kai imbued life in the Herald of Chaos, sensing Cersei's disappearance, and threw down one of the three HP capsules left on him in his mouth. Two sabers appeared in his hands, and a bronze visorless spartan helm took shape on his head. Under the helm, his skin became red hot, and steam came out as if he was some beast of winter.

Time. Time was of the essence.

"You bastard!" Heavy Block roared, his right arm dangling lifelessly.

'Fuck!' Kai cursed. The Light Neurotoxin could only affect his right arm, he could tell.

Kai's muscles ballooned, veins popping out like a thousand rivers. His teeth shattered as the pressure buildup inside him. He took the pose, muscles ripping apart his clothes.

"Twin-Saber Style Forbidden Technique... Serpent God's Wrath!"

The very air sizzled as Kai disappeared, the two sabers in his hands trembling like twigs.

Heavy Block shouted, spinning in midair. "Leaf Ferocious Hurricane!"

Kai pushed his right hand with his left. The monstrous strength erupted, entering the sabers.

A boulder-like kick hit the two sabers.

Chink!

One saber broke in half on the impact. The other went right through Heavy Block's leg, cutting his heel, and his calf. Blood showered out of Kai's mouth like a fountain. On the other side, Heavy Block fell, poison already coursing through his veins.

Kai popped in the rest of the HP capsules. The second saber disappeared too, then. Kai turned around, the Titan's buff still working as intended. "You are done," Kai proclaimed. "Take out all your…"

'What is this?' Kai shuddered, seeing the look in Heavy Block's eyes.

"You Chaos' treacherous abomination!" Heavy Block bellowed, standing up. His left leg was bleeding, making small pools of blood under it. "You think you can win like this? Hah!"

Kai backed up. This wasn't something he had expected. In front of his eyes, he was seeing the man getting stronger, giving out a higher danger than when he was whole.

"Gate of Opening… Open!"

A dense wave of something ethereal hit Kai, quaking his soul.

Whoop! The air popped around Heavy Block in short bursts, and he disappeared.

Kai's snake instincts caught the kick coming for his head. He crouched, and when his eyes looked down, he found another kick coming up.

Fast! Every cell in Kai's mind roared. And then, the kick hit him.

Crunch!

The kick hit him again. Crunch!

One more kick and the bronze helm disappeared. Crunch!

Crunch!

Crunch!

When Kai came to his senses, he found himself hovering mid-air, falling back. A voice entered from just behind his ears.

"Primary Lotus…" Hundreds of bandage strips wrapped Kai's figure before he could even move a muscle. Kai felt Heavy Block gripping him with his still working arm and wrapping his uninjured leg around his waist for stability.

All the world spun as the two men fell, spinning, whistling.

"Bloom!"

Kai felt Heavy Block letting go of him, but for the love of God, he couldn't shake off the bandages. His mind was shaking, banging against his skull.

His blood essence's Skill was still on cooldown, and his body refused to budge, even though his HP had become normal.

Then the ground came unannounced.

Boom!

…

When Kai opened his eyes, he found them soaked with blood. He dragged himself out of the crater. How much time he took doing that, Kai would never know. The notification was flashing red; this he could tell.

A few feet away from him, he could see Heavy Block coming toward him, dragging his left leg. The man was enormous, but he looked like a massive pillar of stone with that stiffness in his body. The Light Neurotoxin was finally taking its effect.

Heavy Block lifted Kai by his hair and brought him up to his eye level. "No honor!" the man declared as he saw Kai's defiant eyes.

Kai punched, his hand moving slowly, lazily. The punch landed on the man's face like a slow tap. And suddenly, Kai opened his fist.

A brilliant mass of silver mist erupted out of his palm. Surprised, Heavy Block let go of Kai and punched the silver thing. It passed right through his flesh, freezing his soul.

Kai's eyes were still two slits under the blood. Snake Language activated by itself.

-Kill!- Kai hissed.

-Kill!- she hissed back. Their intentions, their wills, and their thoughts were alike at this moment. This was the moment Kai had planned for as a worst case scenario. Was there any other option for killing a 4th-floor Contestant? Maybe someone else would have, not Kai. This was how he fought.

Exchange wounds. Snatch lives.

Ghost Serpent solidified, her maw opening in intense anger. The two magical fangs dug deep in the leather-like skin of Heavy Block. The Soul Neurotoxin, whose danger level was terrifyingly higher than Light Neurotoxin, entered the enormous man's body.

The broken man died almost instantly.