The Blue-Eyed Assassin (Prologue to Book 3)

Chapter 119 - The Blue-Eyed Assassin (Prologue to Book 3)

Donovan:

"What's in here? Still that shitty meat?" I asked.

"That's all we have left, and we can't risk going out too much," Kinley replied.

I hate deep rat meat!

We'd been holed up in our hideout for several days now, waiting for our contact to come back and pick up the 'packages.' We had to be cautious operating in this area because the Evenhart family didn't tolerate this kind of crime. Doing this on their land was risky, but the payoffs were huge. Ironically, because they didn't tolerate crime, the local population felt too safe, making them easy targets.

When all this is over, I'm going to have some fun with at least one of the women.

I closed the dining room door and walked to the bedroom. Our hideout was underground, connected to a network of caves. I had personally worked on creating tunnels deep enough with exit points in case we needed to flee.

I reached out to a wall, and it opened on its own, revealing several women bound inside.

Using my earth magic, I had made a name for myself as a notorious bandit, forming a gang that steadily grew as we raided villages along the borders between duchies. That's where I gained my strength. Working the borders was the best decision I ever made, giving me access to other duchies and isolated villages.

I've done just about everything in this life, and soon I started working for aristocrats, handling their dirty work. After that, my job became even easier and more rewarding. I dealt in all sorts of things, but human trafficking? That was where the real money was. Attacking small villages and taking the best women brought me a nice profit. Nobles loved having quality merchandise for their brothels, and I helped run clandestine auctions where they could sell these women when they needed quick cash.

Human goods had to be of high quality, and if they were virgins, we couldn't touch them. A girl's first time was worth a fortune.

I stopped in front of the women, watching them tied up.

These girls are gorgeous... Once those rich bastards have had their fill, I'll get my turn before we ship them off for good.

I lit up the area, turning the light crystal to its full brightness.

On the ground, five young women lay tied up, some of them in just bras and panties. I had to leave them like that so my contact could inspect and appraise the merchandise properly.

"Still got those sad faces? You're too pretty to be crying like that," I said, stepping toward the most frightened one. When I kidnapped her, she'd been washing clothes by the river, crying the whole way here. I yanked off her gag.

"Sacred Mother! Sacred Father! Sacred Brother! Sacred Life! May your blessing fall upon me, may you bless my future and deliver me from evil," she began murmuring.

I grabbed her hair, jerking her head back.

"Shut the fuck up! If you start praying again, I'll knock you out. Just because I can't touch your face doesn't mean you're getting out of this unscathed."

She looked down, but continued whispering.

"Sacred Mother! Sacred Father! Sacred Brother! Sacred Life!"

"Bitch!" I snarled, punching her on the side of the head, sending her sprawling.

"See that? Just because I can't hit your face doesn't mean I can't hurt you. You're lucky, bitch. If you hadn't been picked to be sold, I would've had my fun with you already," I sneered, looking her up and down.

"Sacred Mother… Sacred Father…" she began crying harder.

"No god's coming for you. You've been abandoned, hahahaha!" I laughed.

The others looked at me, then lowered their heads. They had been here longer, and their minds were already broken. They knew their fate was sealed.

"It seems your prayers have been answered…" said a voice.

"What the hell?"

I looked toward the corridor I'd come from, and it was completely swallowed in darkness.

"Kinley?" I called out as I moved away from the room.

"Kinley's dead," the darkness answered.

Whose voice is that? I don't recognize it. Have we been invaded? Impossible.

"Who are you? Show yourself, that's an order!"

I drew my sword and pointed it toward the dark. Suddenly, two glowing blue lights appeared, moving in the shadows.

"Are those… eyes? How the fuck do your eyes glow in the dark?"

The light vanished, and something rolled out of the darkness.

"Kinley!? What the hell!" I shouted as his head rolled toward me.

"Apologies, ladies. I'll have to lock you up again. It's better if you don't see what's about to happen," said the voice, and the walls shifted, sealing the room.

A mage who uses earth magic? Someone who can use my element…

"You've made the worst mistake of your life. This place is full of bandits. I don't know how you got in here, but you're screwed," I said, running away from the darkness and pulling out a sound crystal from my bracelet.

"WAKE UP! WE HAVE INTRUDERS!" My voice echoed throughout the hideout, amplified by the other sound crystals.

I glanced back and threw a light crystal into the darkness. When it illuminated the corridor, there was nothing there.

What? Did he run?

"Part of me hoped you'd alert everyone. Thanks for that," said the voice again.

I looked down the path I was headed, and there stood a boy.

"How did you get there? You didn't pass me."

"Teleportation," he replied.

"Hahaha, funny guy."

The boy stood still, then drew a sword from his storage bracelet.

"Want to settle this before the others arrive?" he asked.

I glared at him and conjured sharp earthen spikes, hurling them his way. As I moved backward, I sent more spikes his way—one of my suffocating techniques.

As the spikes closed in, they hit a yellow barrier and shattered on impact.

What is this? A light barrier?

"INTRUDER!" shouted men as they appeared behind him.

"Sir, are you alright?" a soldier asked, coming up behind me.

"And why wouldn't I be?"

The boy was now standing in the corridor, surrounded on both sides.

"This kid killed Kinley, and there could be more of them. Let's deal with this."

"There's only me… for now," he said.

The boy raised his strange sword and pointed it at me.

"The punishment for human trafficking is death," he stated.

"Hahaha, and who's going to pass that sentence?"

"A god," he answered.

The men looked at me, then back at the boy standing between us.

"Hahahahahaha," we all burst into laughter.

"Gods don't exist," I said.

He sighed.

"You're right, I killed them all," the boy moved his hand.

"Focus, the kid's a mage! I saw him use earth magic and something else strange," I warned.

The men readied themselves, some gathering mana in their hands.

"Goodbye, kid," I said.

"Goodbye," he replied.

"Attack!" I shouted, and the men unleashed their spells.

Jets of fire shot toward the boy, while balls of earth were conjured in a coordinated attack. I summoned a massive, sharp stone spear and launched it straight at him.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot from his hand, striking several bandits that were surrounding him. The boy then sprinted toward me with his sword, dodging spells as he sent water forth to douse the flames.

Earth, Lightning, and Water? How could he control both rare and common elements together?

A soldier leapt in front of him, attempting to block with his sword, but the boy parried skillfully, sidestepping and spinning to deflect the blade. With his free hand, he sent a gust of wind that flung the soldier aside. Next, he ignited his hand with fire, sending a flame that formed a wall behind him, trapping the men on the other side.

"You little shit!" roared a man, charging at the boy with an axe.

The boy caught the axe with his sword, redirecting the impact. With a quick riposte, he spun and severed the man's head in a single, lethal strike.

"How?" muttered a bandit beside me, stunned.

The boy blocked another sword and, with one hand, grabbed the opponent's face, detonating a fireball that sent the man flying.

"Ahhh!" The bandit fell, his face burned beyond recognition, screaming in agony.

The boy extended his hand and shot a bolt of lightning, silencing the man's screams forever.

"That scream was annoying," he said, advancing toward us, sharp stone arrows floating around him.

The bandit beside me conjured a high-speed water jet, but the boy dodged with a roll and, in a swift motion, hurled his sword, which spun through the air and struck the man in the chest. The bandit fell to the ground, dead instantly.

In response, I summoned more sharp stone spikes and hurled them at the boy, but he transformed the stone arrows into a stone wall, shielding himself from the attacks.

"You're fucked!" I shouted, touching the ground. The entire corridor began to collapse. "I built this hideout, the tunnels are a trap!"

The floor slowly gave way, and we fell into the network of caves below. When we landed, we found ourselves in a larger, open space, where we would have more freedom to use our magic at a distance and finish him off.

The men who had been behind the boy stood up, as did those by my side, readying their spells.

"You're unarmed and surrounded!" I shouted, confident he had no escape.

He only smiled, staring at us calmly.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently, and a massive hand emerged from the earth. Soon, a burning stone figure began to rise from that hand, revealing a monstrous woman standing three meters tall, her face engulfed in flames.

From the wall, water started flowing, forming a creature made of earth and water, crawling with a menacing presence.

'Boom!' A loud crash echoed through the cave, and a creature that looked like a mix of a bat and a dog, entirely made of plants, dropped from the ceiling.

What the fuck is this!?

Footsteps echoed behind us, and a being made of yellow light, wielding a sword of flaming stone, emerged from the shadows.

'ZAP!' The crackle of electricity filled the air, and through the hole in the ceiling, a dark cloud descended, its monstrous face crackling with lightning.

Suddenly, something happened. The boy's sword, which had been embedded in the chest of a dead soldier, flew back into his hand.

"Not disarmed, and not surrounded!" he declared, his tone filled with defiance.

One of the soldiers beside me collapsed to the ground, terrified as the creatures bowed before the boy, recognizing his authority.

"Wh-who are you!?" the soldier stammered, trembling with fear.

"I am the Lord of the Titans!" the boy answered, his voice reverberating with a power that seemed to shake the very cave.