Chapter 125 - Larry versus Agnes

The old lady Principal Cobain called was known only as Agnes. She was commonly know for her broom-carrying, witch-like dressing and laughter. Aside from that, not much was known about her. No one knew if the broom was actually useful or not nor did anyone know her real face, except Cobain, as she was always wearing a full facial mask with a sharp chin and long nose and wore a long pointy hat that conveniently covered her head.

But not even Principal Cobain knew where she lived. So, if the only person she's open with did not know her abode, why should anyone else be able to figure it out. Of course, no one should be able to, but somehow, Ruthless found out.

Ruthless not only did he know where she lived, he knew her real face, what powers she possessed, her daily routine and her most recent mission.

When one of Ruthless' most loyal shadow workers - a group of men who specialized in gathering information - discovered who she was and reported to the boss, Ruthless, boisterous laughter shook the entire manor.

"Who would have thought the little girl of those days would have us in the palm of her fingers?" Ruthless had said amid bouts of laughter. The Swordsman corrected his use of words and got beaten up very quickly.

"Should we get rid of her?"

"Don't. She's useful. No need to kill the harmless, little birdie right now. When the time comes, I will give you the honors then." Ruthless said.

Now, the time has come. Perhaps, if Cobain had not put Agnes up to digging up Ruthless' recent past, she would not be on the list yet. But, since, she had taken up the job, she had to suffer the consequences. Ruthless sent his most loyal Swordsman.

The Swordsman crouched on a tree belonging to the deceptive witch called Agnes. She had her mask on and cackled evilly as she had stirred this ominous-looking pot that stood stably on a tripod made of stones as the flames licked its bottom.

At first the swordsman was spooked. For a minute, he doubted the trustworthiness of the info given by the men working in the shadows.

'This can't truly be the beautiful girl I used to have a crush on as a kid.' He thought to himself and then shook his head. Does it even matter? His job is not to check out for inconsistencies in the information. He was sent here to kill her not reminisce on the times when their lives were simple and straightforward. How the times have changed.

Agnes turned to her thatched but. The Swordsman had lots of misgivings about the hut but quickly shook it off his mind. He watched as the woman stuck her upper torso in through the window, oblivious to the imminent death looming over her head.

'Chance!' The swordsman thought to himself and jumped down. At the same time, he sent all his throwing knives streaking towards Agnes at high speed. The knives seemed to cut through air itself as they hit and penetrated Agnes' wrinkled skin barely a second later.

Agnes burst into a cloud of green smoke that sizzled and melted the part of the hut it was in contact with.

The Swordsman immediately stopped.

'Decoy!' He instantly concluded and turned around, swinging his sword as he did.

Agnes, who had appeared behind him, instantly ducked, narrowly avoiding the sword ruthlessly going for her head, and went for his feet, potion in one hand and talisman in another.

The Swordsman immediately displayed his nimbleness and flipped backwards thrice consecutively and landed on his feet barely two meters from the green smoke. He extended his sword at Agnes. The pot stood between them both as they stared at each other. Agnes' face mask peeled off her face to show her youthful face, no sign of wrinkles or whatever. She looked at the swordsman with pity in her eyes. The Swordsman looked at her face, enamored by her beauty.

"Silvia, still as beautiful as ever, I see." The Swordsman said with a melancholic expression.

Agnes, who the swordsman referred to as Silvia shook her head.

"Oh, poor Larry. I thought by now, you would have come to your senses but who knew even after such a long time, you have degraded yourself to a mere lackey for Ruthless, carrying a sword around and obeying his orders without question. You allowed yourself to waste away..."

"You betrayed me." Larry, the swordsman yelled, his face reddened.

"I did not." Silvia said softly. "I fell in love with you because of your lofty dreams and ambitions but then, you made friends with the wrong kinds of people and now even those people are either dead for dumb causes or treat you like shit. You did this to yourself. I didn't betray you. I left you because you stopped listening to my advices and warnings."

"Okay. Fine. I did not listen so you left me. But then, you went ahead to marry my brother." Larry raised his voice again. "My stupid step-brother."

"Don't insult my late husband." Silvia snapped at him. "He was many times the man you have ever and will ever be."

Larry laughed derisively. "And yet he's the dead one."

"He only died because he wanted to save me and my child. And he did."

"Child?"

"Yes. Child." Silvia smiled sweetly even as Larry's face contorted into something explainable.

"You had a child with that imbecile?" Larry yelled, spittle flying everywhere.

"No, I had a child with you."

"What?!" Larry's face transformed. His face portrayed pure shock. "But we never..."

He stopped. There was this one time while they were still dating that they drank too much at a party and became extra loose with each other without protection. Two days later, they broke up and two weeks after that, she was engaged to his step-brother.

"But that was one time." At this point, Larry had forgotten all about the mission.

Silvia looked offended.

"Boy or girl?" He looked sad.

"Boy."

"What's his name?"

"Forget it. You already tried to kill him enough times. You do not deserve to be a father." Silvia said dismissively with a casual wave of her hand.

A talisman flew at Larry with the speed of a homing missile. Silvia tried to hide her motives behind a casual wave but Larry saw it and threw his sword at it.

*Ting* *crackle*

The sword, on contact with the talisman, froze over.

Another sword appeared in Larry's hand.

"Silvia." Larry called just as Silvia took a step forward.

"Is it Wilson?" He asked, expectantly.

"It is pointless for you to know. You won't be getting back there anyway." Silvia answered and threw potion after potion at him, while running towards him.

Larry sighed.

'That's why he felt familiar.' He thought to himself as he swatted some potions away with his sword, caught a black colored one and dodged the others.

'But a job is a job, isn't it?'

With a roar, he bent his knees and jumped forward and before Silvia could react, he slashed her body into so many pieces as easily as he would paper.

'Goodbye Silvia. For real this time.'