13 The New Companion

"Don't you wanna know who did this?" Anna said to me.

"Heh, no need to know, dear. We just need to eradicate all of the designated targets." I replied.

It has been nearly five years since we made our deal in the Glaud's dungeon. Now we spend our time doing random tasks for random people.

Life is good they once told me. Now I say: Yes it is. But when you meet us, it gets bad, really bad.

"Anna?" I called.

"Yeah, Max?"

"Did you know that they are calling me the Harbinger of Emptiness?"

"Pfft." She barely held back her laughter and asked after catching her breath.

"Why would they call you something like that? That's way too much, I mean, it's me who is doing most of the work with my sniping skills. Not you."

"Haha. Last few times when I've gone solo on a mission there was nobody left alive inside the building. I hate when people try to stop me from carrying out the main objective, so I kill anybody that stands in my way." I grinned. My new nickname has actually grown to my heart pretty much.

My mask is feared, my name is feared and my ways are feared.

"Anyway, we have a new mission uploaded to our mail." She said while walking towards the table in the room. We both stood at a window and watched outside before that. The view is not too magnificent like one would expect from a house on a hill, towering over the town. In the distance, one could see the sea and the island some ten kilometers off the shore. The town is not special by any means, it's dirty, crowded and smelly. I think it's called Forx or something. We've been here for three days now and we already received a mail containing the missions briefing.

"Will you come here so I can show you what the mission is about or would you rather continue killing everyone who comes your way because you didn't listen on who to kill before the mission itself?" Anna scoffed.

"I will, I will." I approached the table from the other side and asked:

"Ok then, what's the mission about?"

Anna pushed the button on the bottom side of the table and it lit up. A holographic view of the town rose up from the table and flickered a few centimeters above it.

The overview it offered of the town was perfect and precise.

For example, the Pangrasian not-so-secret weapon more or less depends on this kind of tech. It can send a missile directly through one's window and hit him in the eye. The holo is 3D and in real time. The operator has full control over it and over the projectile he fired. Which is terrifying considering the range of the projectiles that are capable of making a nearly whole circle around the planet.

The part of Forx she showed me was the one just downstreet of our place.

"The customer says that there is a very bad man living in this house. He wants him dead ASAP, a single shot in the head, nothing else. Should be simple. He doesn't have any bodyguards near the house, and the security is not too sophisticated either. I should be able to kill him from this roof here. It has a clear view of his room. Easy." She explained while showing me the locations she talked about on the map.

"What's the payment?" I asked curiously. The task is too simple to be overpaid, and we're not legal assassins anyway.

"The customer offered two payments for us to choose from. Ten thousand dollars or a recommendation to his friend. What do you think?" She explained.

"A recommendation? Why would we be interested in such a thing? I mean, we are not going to stay here for too long anyway." I asked confused by such an idea. Why would someone want to recommend us, not like we need it?

"I do not know either. Neither do I know anything about his friend. But it wouldn't be a loss to be recommended to someone. We won't lose much if we don't take the money anyway." Anna said.

"I know. But let's finish the task first." I said.

Anna went out first after the briefing. I stayed behind to prepare my gear.

'Hmpf. She had only two rifles to take care of and I have a whole fucking arsenal to oil up and clean. But, somebody needs to save her ads when she discovers that his security and personnel are all ex-infinity activists. Hehe.' I thought while cleaning the short blade of my sword. I transformed it back into a pen and went out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later I was in front of the target's house.

'Nice courtyard he has here. Time to rock.' I smirked as I took out a Molotov cocktail. People usually make these with gasoline, but I actually used a more convenient chemical mixture similar to napalm.

I lighted up the cloth sticking out of the glass canister I filled with the mixture. It caught the flames immediately after coming in contact with them. I then tossed it over the fence and ran for cover.

"What are you doing, Max?! We don't need to burn down half the town to kill him! I knew I should've just shot him." Anna said through the communication device we both had in our masks.

"Don't worry I know what I'm doing." I responded and ran towards the back of the courtyard. Nearly all guards went to the front so there were only three guys overlooking the backyard.

The interesting thing is that I stopped hearing those voices not too long ago.

Yeah, right.

~kill, kill, kill~

'Looks like my hopes were too high, hooh.' I thought as my pupils shrank. I activated the lenses and jumped over the fence.

I was met with guns pointed to my head.

"HEY, NOR, WE HAVE...!!!" One of the guards started calling for help. He was cut short by a spear through his neck. Blood sprayed everywhere and the other two guys started firing at me. Soon they stopped.

They both had small knives sticking out of their necks.

I smirked.

I didn't act as much in nearly any mission after the dungeon.

'I really didn't think that these guys would be so slow. It might get boring soon.' I thought. As always I am easily bored, and when I'm bored, I make some major damage to the population of the town's defenses.

This will get nasty.

I like it.

I took out my assault rifle and walks in through the entrance doors of the building where our target is.

'Too smooth. There should be more guards inside.' I sighed.

"STOP OR I'LL SHOOT!!!" Somebody roared behind me. I was fifty meters in the hallway by now. And I am surrounded. Interesting isn't it?

"Hmpf. Why wouldn't you shoot? I mean, I'm an intruder here." I asked him while tilting my head to the side and looking at him with a curious look.

He trembled.

"Identify yourself!!!" He yelled again. He was awfully trembling.

'Looks like this guy is a newbie. Simple cannon fodder. Is it even worth it to kill him?' I sighed. Such a waste of time.

I activated the comm device in the mask and said disappointedly:

"Anna, shoot the bastard. The building is full of fools not worth the energy to kill."

All I heard was laughter from the other side and a gunshot a few seconds later.

"Done. Now get lost." She said.

"Stop!!" The kid yelled and fired a couple of shots in front of my feet.

"Do you have the balls to kill me, kid?" I asked as I changed my rifle into an eerie looking curved dagger. The sharp blade of the dagger was on the inner side of the curve, perfect for pealing.

The kid in front of me shivered and shot me in the knee.

'Every single time they shoot in the same knee. Are they all so stupid as to not notice that it is metal?' I was disappointed in his choice of target.

He let out a horrifying screech. I started laughing madly. Can this guy get any more hideous?

"W-w-what are you?" He staggered.

"I am Death." I said seriously. Let's play a little with this idiot.

"D-Death?" He seemed to have peed his pants now.

'Such a small guy. He is even lower than me, thinner than me, and without a single bulging muscle. And I need to kill this kind of kid. Heh. Such is the destiny of the Harbinger of Emptiness.' I continued my approach to him. With each step I took, his trembling became worse. Such a disgusting existence.

I hate idiots, cowards, and untrained soldiers. This guy is legibly the guy that defines what I hate about people.

"If you stop trembling kid, you might be able to hot me in a vital point, ya know?" I said.

"What? I'm not scared, I just never have held a gun before." The kid said without stuttering a single time. He fired a couple shots at me again. All of them missed.

'A hopeless case indeed.' I shrugged and stood directly in front of him.

"What is your name, kid?"

"Achilles. Why do you ask, Death?" He replied in a much firmer voice that he had a few moments before.

I burst out laughing.

To give such a name to an idiot who doesn't know how to use a rifle.

I stopped laughing a few seconds after. I kneed him into his belly.

He fell on the ground while trying to breathe.

'Tougher than I thought. He actually didn't vomit his breakfast. Hmm. Tough guy.' I thought while scratching my forehead.

This kid could be more valuable than the mission itself. Too bad that nobody will be able to survive this day.

I took out a small gas canister and unpinned it. I extended my hand in which I held the canister to the kid.

"Take it and toss it in, then come with me. If you do not do that, I will. They all die anyway." I said.

He shrunk and said in a weak voice:

"W-w-what is that?"

"Hill gas."

"Why do you need to kill everyone? Ain't it enough that you killed the boss?"

"Don't you know what people call me, Achilles?" I asked him.

"N-no, what do they call you?"

"They call me the Harbinger of Emptiness."

"Why?"

"Why, you ask? And I tell you because nobody is left after I finish a mission. So throw that cannister or perish together with them."

The boy shivered and threw the gas canister into the room at the end of the hallway. Soon, a whistling sound was heard and reddish smoke started pouring out of the room.

"Now let's get out of here. Before you die that is." I said. I didn't actually think that he will do that. The amount of gas in that canister is enough to kill the whole neighborhood. Only one breath of Hill gas is enough to kill an elephant, let alone a human. Also, its particles are so small that most gas mask filters cannot stop them from entering one's respiratory system.

Death is imminent.

After half an hour we met with Anna at our second apartment in Forx.

"Why did you throw a can of Hill gas in? There was no need to kill half the neighborhood." Anna said when we met. Hearing her, Achilles fell to his knees and stuttered:

"Wh-whole n-neighborhood? You didn't say that the whole neighborhood will die, Harbinger. Why didn't you tell me, I wouldn't have thrown it then." Tears started rolling down his face.

"I didn't tell you especially because you wouldn't do it if I told you. That was so you could see how cheap life is in this world. Yet it is the most expensive thing one can have or offer. I offered you to take their lives or to give yours. You chose to pay with their lives for you to live long and happy lives. Trust me, nobody cares about them, and will never care. But, you have two people who care about you now. Something you never will have in the future." I explained while lighting a cigarette, a habit of mine that I have picked up from my mentor, Arnold.

"Mine turn to speak." Anna said while sitting down and taking off her mask.

"Kid, I will give you a choice as well. You can join us or die here and now. I would advise you to join us. I do not know your name or your capabilities, but since Max thinks you are worth something, I'd like to keep you as a pet." She grinned at the end.

I took my mask of as well and said:

"I will also advise you to join us. This is the only choice you actually have. Nobody wants to die a premature death. Now tell us, do you want to live or die?"

He kept himself on the ground as he sobbed. After nearly ten minutes he finally wiped out his tears and spoke:

"My name is Achilles of Eugrand. My father was Eugrand's leader. My country and people were slaughtered by the Hidry family war-dogs. I had nothing so I came to Forx to start anew. Now, I shall join your cause. And I would like to know what it is." He stood up and held his head high for the first time since he met us.

"So, you're a nobleman?" Anna was actually amazed. I actually don't care. This actually explains why he's such a weakling.

"When was your family exterminated?" I asked.

"Three years ago. Why?" He asked.

"Because it explains why you're such a weakling although you have the potential for greatness. That's why I took you in." I sighed and explained.

He seemed to be disappointed with my explanation, but he recomposed quickly.

"What is your cause that you want me to help with?" He repeated his question.

"My cause in this life is to exterminate the Victor family." I said casually.

"The Victor family? You mean the branch family of the Hidry?" The interested look on his face is explicitly annoying.

"I do not know whose branch family they are, nor do I care. They offended me and my closest family and thus I will destroy them. In the style of the Emptiness Harbinger." I said grimly.

"Then you have my services, as weak as they are." He bowed and said.