Charles Deus stood by the window of his office, scanning the city's night lights.
'Mr. Locke should arrive soon,' he thought to himself.
Despite being grateful for Brandon, Charles was still skeptical about the whole thing.
After all, they had tracked down and discovered everything there was to know about Brandon Locke.
The fact that he was a 16-year-old student somehow made Charles underestimate Brandon.
But of course, he couldn't judge a book by its cover.
Which is why he couldn't wait to evaluate if Brandon Locke was really serious about his investment.
As he continued to scan the city, footsteps heading towards the office became audible.
Thud- Thud-
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
At his instructions, the door slowly opened, revealing the figure of his assistant, Aiden.
Behind him was a boy, with pale-white hair that reached his neck, and ice-blue eyes, adorned with a formal black suit.
'That should be him,' Charles thought inwardly.
The first one to speak was Aiden, "Good evening, Boss. Let me introduce you to Mr. Brandon Locke."
Brandon then returned the gesture, "Good evening, Sir."
"Yes, good evening, Mr. Locke. It's so good to finally meet you."
Charles had to look as confident as he could, trying to test if Brandon would be intimidated.
And to this surprise, the boy stood tall. He kept his posture straight, and there were no signs of fidgeting.
He looked as confident as Charles was.
Just the sheer effort of the boy was already enough to garner Charles' respect.
He had to know more about Brandon Locke.
After gesturing for Brandon to take a seat, Charles began to interrogate him.
"Why our Company?"
***
The two shook hands with confident smiles on their faces, a partnership between them had been officially established
Not once did Brandon ever flinch, nor was his voice shaky.
After all, he'd rehearsed his lines prior to the meeting.
It was his first business approach, he couldn't mess it up.
Once the meeting was over, Brandon checked for the time, only to find out that three hours had already passed.
Glancing in front of Charles, who was seated in front of him, Charles spoke up,
"We look forward to working with you, Mr. Locke. Welcome to Deus Company."
"And I look forward to the future prospects of the Company, Mr. Deus."
With that, the meeting was officially over.
Aiden was then instructed to escort Brandon to the exit.
Brandon gave Charles a nod, and just as he was about to leave, something peculiar popped up.
It was a system notification.
Brandon paused just by the doorframe as he checked his system.
[System Notifications: 1]
[Quests Available: 1]
—---------------------------
[Quests]
[Survive for 15 minutes.]
[Rewards:]
[Stat Points: +5]
[EXP: +100]
[System Coins: +100]
[Penalty:]
[Due to the sheer difficulty, no penalty shall be enacted upon the user.]
—---------------------------
'Survive? What does this mea–'
TSSSS-
Thud-!
Brandon had no time to finish his thoughts as Aiden–who stood beside him, suddenly collapsed.
The windows shattered, dispersing glass shards all over the office.
When Brandon turned to look at Aiden, there was an unfamiliar red stain that painted the floor.
'Is that… blood?'
He then realized what had just happened.
Aiden was dead.
Charles, who was still at his desk, got down immediately, hiding under his table.
"Get down, Mr. Locke, it's a sniper!"
"What?"
The reality still hadn't dawned upon Brandon.
He was ignorant.
Suddenly, an earth barrier materialized, blocking the shattered window.
As soon as it was completed, Charles got up and tried to head towards where Brandon was standing.
However…
Boom!
The plasma bullet was able to destroy the barrier, etching a hole onto it.
Spurt!
As Charles was only a few distance away, trying to go to Brandon, another plasma bullet pierced through his calf, making him tumble down.
Thud!
"Aghhhh!"
Finally, Brandon understood what was going on, as he tried to help Charles get up.
"Mr. Deus!"
Charles motioned his hand for Brandon to stop.
"Don't move, Mr. Locke! The Hitman must have a skill that allows him to detect any movement, regardless if it was visible or not."
Brandon had the same thought as he stopped moving.
Despite the earth wall covering the entire window from where the shots came from, the trajectory of the bullets were accurate.
Charles shifted his gaze towards his calf, which was bleeding profusely, and added,
"Since the bullet was strong enough to destroy the earth barrier, the bullets were most likely made out of mana. Whoever the assassin is, they've come prepared, Mr. Locke!"
Charles narrowed his eye as he emphasized his next words,
"This is not something a student can handle, I'm sorry for getting you caught up in all this."
Charles' voice was shaky, and Brandon could see his complexions start to pale.
The bullet had damaged a pressure point in his calf, as it continued to bleed rapidly.
But Brandon didn't have any healing skills to aid him.
-Creak
"...!"
It was then when the door opened, revealing an unfamiliar figure, with brown hair, and blue eyes.
At the sudden appearance of who most likely the assassin was, Charles screamed,
"Who sent you?! And why did you come for our company?!"
It seemed like Charles was only trying to put up a tough act, since he was laying helplessly on the floor, unable to move.
But Brandon could see the fear in his eyes.
The man then held up his hand with a mocking smile on his face, forming his fingers like a gun, as he said,
"Don't take it personal, if you've got any complaints, you can ask my employer."
"What are you talking about?" Charles inquired.
"Hmm? I think it was something about a company on the brink of collapse, suddenly entering the top ranks of the stock market?"
At the mention of an employer, Brandon realized who the man was, or rather–the group the man belonged to.
The Primordials.
A contract company from the underworld.
And one of the main antagonists in the earlier chapters of the novel.
There were no other groups to fill the criteria, as far as Brandon knew.
There were a total of 12 seats in the Primordials, and each seat belonged to the top members.
Each member was ranked accordingly, 1 being the strongest, and 12 being the weakest.
But weak was an understatement…
Even the 12th seat alone could make up for an entire army.
But most likely, the man that appeared before Brandon was only a subordinate of a seated member.
This is because the seated members did not personally take jobs, unless they had to.
And since this was just a Hitman job, there was no need for a seated member to make an appearance.
Brandon continued to peer in the conversation.
But…
'The Primordials had never targeted Deus Company in the novel, so why?'
What changed?
It was then when Brandon realized…
It was because of him.
It was most likely because a rival company feared the sudden rise of Deus Company.
'After all, Deus Company was steadily rising in the novel, it wasn't seen as a threat in the early stages.'
Or...
'There could be a traitor.'
It wasn't a far fetched theory.
After all, the Hitman knew which building to use and scout out the office.
From the trajectory of where the bullet came from, to the fact that the Hitman knew which exact room to enter.
But it was all speculation in the end.
Regardless, Brandon's decision to invest on the company this early on was most likely the catalyst for these events.
'Because of me… innocent people are going to die.'
No, he had to do something about this.
With [Elemental Manipulation], Brandon conjured an ice barrier between the Hitman and Charles—who looked like he was about to faint from the blood loss.
"Oh?"
The Hitman raised his brow.
Faced in a life or death situation, there was no need to hide it.
Brandon channeled lightning, circulating it in his arms.
Crackle! Spark!
The Hitman had an amused expression in his face, as he said,
"A Deviant? How interesting."
Bang- Bang-!
Plasma bullets were fired off in Brandon's direction.
Crackle- Swoosh-!
With lightning coursing in his legs, Brandon darted from his position, leaving trails of sparks.
But to his surprise, the bullet changed trajectory, following him.
Realizing this, Brandon conjured an ice shell to block it.
However…
Crack- Pshhh-!
The ice shattered instantly, as the ice shards grazed Brandon's cheek.
'Fuck…'
Brandon had little to no experience in fighting. His only knowledge stems from the manhwas and novels he'd read.
He needed to bridge the gap in experience somehow.
Glancing back to his system, he had 3 minutes left until he'll reaps the rewards.
'If I can just stall for tim–'
Bang-!
Brandon didn't even have time to finish his thoughts, as the Hitman once again fired off his gun.
He quickly conjured up another ice shell, going on the defensive.
Bang!- Bang- Pshhhh-!
Each bullet would shatter the ice instantly, but it was fine.
Since the bullets were most likely–of the lightning affinity, it would dissipate once it made impact.
'As long as it doesn't hit me…'
All he had to do was to keep this up until the quest ends.
***
The Hitman was peeved about the whole ordeal.
He realized it was going nowhere, and there was no point in humoring the boy.
He wasn't the target.
The Hitman then pointed his gun towards Charles who was laying behind an ice shell.
"Noooo!"
The boy's scream echoed.
Swoosh-
Suddenly, like a bolt of charge, the Hitman was sent hurling away.
Thud-!
Boom-!
He crashed onto the wall, as his body jerked up, feeling the volt of electricity in his body.
'Fuck, this is why I hate dealing with Deviants, you'll never know which magic they'll use.'
In truth, this wasn't his first time fighting a Deviant.
Deviants weren't extraordinarily rare, but he still didn't expect to encounter one on this job.
He was told by his employer that the target didn't have any bodyguards.
Due to this, he thoroughly prepared to execute the plan flawlessly.
'I shouldn't have taken this job…'
He was a member of the Primordials, but only a subordinate of the 12th Seat, a cannon fodder.
He wasn't strong enough to actually be tasked in official contracted missions.
Which is why he decided to take requests–outside of the organization.
Hence, leading to this job.
A request from a certain employee of the exact same company he was working on.
Because his plan of taking over the company went in shambles, he'd put up a request on the underground world to kill his CEO.
The Hitman got up, and his gaze landed on the black haired man laying down on the floor with fake blood on the back of his head.
'Tsk, is that bastard not gonna help me?'
The plan he was given was to first–shoot a fake bullet on the employer, then make an appearance and kill the boy, and the CEO.
The reason for this was simple, his employer–though he was a mage–wasn't strong enough to actually fight his Boss.
Plus, evidence of killing his Boss would lead back to him, he had to cover his tracks.
Which is why he hired the Hitman.
The plan was supposed to go smoothly, but what they didn't take into account was the white haired boy being a Deviant.
The Hitman once again pointed the finger gun at the boy.
Bang-!
But the boy suddenly disappeared. The Hitman could trace sparks of lightning darting around the room.
It seemed like the boy finally figured out how to use his lightning.
From what he knew, lightning was one of the harder affinities to control.
This is because lightning was a concentration of energy.
If you didn't have enough control, then the lightning would just dissipate.
Still…
The gap in experience was worlds apart.
Countering lightning magic was easy.
After all, the Hitman had the lightning affinity as well.
The bullets he used were a product of electro plasma.
He felt the boy getting closer, as his fist that was clad in lightning–seemed like it was about to connect
Tszzzz-
Fwooo-
The two were sent hurling away, as the Hitman had redirected the lightning back to the boy.
***
"Aghhh!"
Brandon could feel the volt of electricity coursing through him.
He'd never felt anything like this before.
And it seemed like his nerves were out of commission.
He couldn't get up.
'Am I gonna die here?!'
Regret suddenly washed over him.
'I shouldn't have gotten way in over my head…'
Just because he knew the future, didn't guarantee that he would actually survive.
After all, just two days ago, he was just a normal boy attending highschool.
It was all fun and games for him at first, but this was reality.
Path to Ascension was filled with danger, as people with ill intentions walked every corner.
The realization of the world he was brought into had finally sinked in.
'I thought I was invincible…'
Having power didn't equate to actually knowing how to utilize it.
'Someone… save me, please.'
But there was no one.
Charles Deus had passed out from the blood loss, and Aiden was dead.
'I'm scared....'
He was all alone.
And just as his fears were realized, the Hitman got up and pointed his finger gun at Brandon.
'It's over...'
But just as he was about to give up…
—---------------------------
[Quest Completed!]
[Rewards Obtained:]
[Stat Points: +5]
[System Coins: +100]
[EXP: +100]
—---------------------------
[You have leveled up!]
[Skill Weaver capacity has increased!]
[You have unlocked the Fire Affinity!]
…
[Are you sure?]
[Yes.]
[Initializing Skill Weaver.]
[Downloading data.]
[ETA: 1 Minute.]
"You weren't bad, kid, maybe if you had more experience, you would've had a fighting chance."
The Hitman's index finger gradually lit up a yellow glow.
Bang-!
You may also Like
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT