Adopted Soldier

In a darken hallway Shadow was surprised and happy to see that his daughter Sayaka was finally able to deal a blow at him. This meant that Sayaka has finally understood the secret behind the final Shadow technique, that was passed down to the first born of the main family of the Mutsus.

"You have finally grasped the essence of the technique. Now that there is nothing left to teach you, I can finally go do my mission worry free."

Sayaka was surprised to hear that her father had an actual mission and didn't do it immediately. Instead he went ahead and trained her first, before even deciding to go. This statement triggered warning signals inside Sayaka's head.

"Father, is the kill that difficult this time?" Sayaka couldn't help but ask, since this was the first time she felt her father actual feel unsure of the kill. The current Shadow, that was her father was only second to the founder of the Mutsu clan in terms of skill. He was once even called the second coming of the Mustu family's forefather. Yet this father of hers, who has never failed once in killing a target was actually exuding a feeling of uncertainty.

Her father who usually never showed his true form, as his body face and everything else was hidden in a blurry image, had now actually shown his face. This was the first time Sayaka has seen her father's face... No that wasn't right, it was a faint memory but Sayaka was sure that he has seen his face when her mother died.

Yet now his face was obviously different as it looked a bit older than the last time she saw him. Still even though her father was a bit older now, he still looked like a dignified young noble. While Sayaka was still in a state of stunned surprise, her father smiled at her. He then patted her head before speaking.

"I won't hide anything from you Sayaka. My mission this time was given to me by the current President of Berdonia. I the head of the Mutsu Family, the one who bears the name Shadow have been given the honor to take the life of the Granado Empire's Emperor."

When Sayaka heard this she was really surprised, then her face turned serious. She was now sure that her father knew that this mission would be his last. Showing his face, even to his own daughter, wasn't something, someone who had the burden of being called the Shadow was allowed to do.

Sayaka, even though she was long ago aware that in their family's line of business, death was always close, it was beside them like their best friend. Still she never expected her father the best assassin to ever fail.

"Father... I... You-" Shadow placed his finger on top of Sayaka's lips and smiled at his daughter. It was a gentle loving smile, that Sayaka never expected to see from her father.

"Sayaka, I know what you want to say, but as a Mutsu you must never say it. We are the clan that holds Berdonia's hands through the darkness. It is our mission, our duty to protect it from the darkness. So do not worry my Daughter, the Shadow never dies."

After saying that line Sayaka's father kissed his daughter's forehead, and once again hid his face and body type in a blurry figure.

...

That was the conversation Shadow and Sayaka had a month ago, and right now Shadow was near the throne room of the Emperor. It wasn't easy to infiltrate such a heavily guarded place, but Shadow was still able to do it.

He waited for the right timing, when the Emperor was about to go to sleep. The Emperor's room was hidden behind the throne room. After a few rounds of scouting Shadow was able to find the room's exact location.

This was his chance, since all of the ten generals were out today, this was the best time to kill the Emperor. Shadow could feel his heart beating faster than normal. This made him smile as this feeling he had was the same feeling he had, during the first time he was sent out to kill someone. He was ten at the time, when he was given his first kill target. At the time the anxiety and the excitement had both mixed in as he did his mission.

That feeling slowly went away as Shadow got better at his job. It even got to the point that no matter what happened, his heart rate remained ever steady. Yet today it was like he was that young inexperienced assassin once more.

...

Once the darkness of the night enveloped the Emperor's room, Shadow went in for the kill. Before he assassinated the Emperor, he double, no, triple checked if he had the right person. Once he confirmed that the person sleeping soundly on that bed was in fact the Emperor, Shadow swiftly went in for the kill.

Yet the moment the deed was done, the lights in the room were turned on. Not only that the whole room seem to went into some kind of lockdown. Shadow was confused as to how this happened. He moved in perfectly and he hid his presence perfectly as well. There was no mistakes made...

Still he was already expecting his death this time around, so he was ready for whatever it is to come. An assassin that was caught in the act was second rate assassin, so Shadow was already counting this as a failure. Yet even though he considers this a failure, Shadow was still able to successfully kill the Emperor. As he was thinking about the successful kill, he heard a familiar voice that shouldn't exist in this world anymore. The person in question was not present, but his voice echoed throughout the room most probably from a speaker somewhere.

"Look at what we have here. How nice of the traitorous slaves to send out their best assassin to kill me. Still as expected of lowly slaves, the assassin they sent has failed spectacularly, since the one you killed was nothing more than a clone."

When Shadow heard what the Emperor said, his body jolted. Not only was he trapped and was discovered, he even failed to kill the target. This was the greatest blunder he had made in his life.

"Now that you failed to kill me, that would mean the hundred percent kill rate of the Shadow no longer exist. It is the end of a legend, how sad." Hearing the sarcastic tone of the Emperor got no reaction from Shadow.

"Emperor of the Granado Empire, the Shadow never fails to kill its target. The next time would be your last."

Hearing Shadow's comeback made the Emperor laugh.

"How will there be a next time, if you die here?"

"Foolish Emperor, Shadows never die." The moment Shadow said this he used his tongue to tap on a tooth. The moment he did this, the sound of ticking could be heard.

'Sayaka, I hope you no longer be bound by the Shadows.' That was Shadow's last thoughts before his head exploded. After the explosion of his head, Shadow's body exploded right after. Turns out the thing Shadow tapped on his tooth, was something that activated the explosives inside his body, that were placed just in case he failed a mission.

The body of a Mutsu held too many secrets, that's why once they failed, the members of the Mutsu family would readily destroy their bodies.

The Emperor was shocked to see what had happened. This move that Shadow made was something he wasn't expecting Shadow would do, just right after he declared that Shadows never die. This made the Emperor feel a bit anxious, as the final words of Shadow became a somewhat ominous prophecy.

...

When the Mutsu family heard that Shadow had failed, the successor of the title was appointed, but it wasn't Sayaka who was appointed as the next Shadow. It was someone from the branch family. It would seem that Shadow named a child of the branch family as the next successor of the title. He did this to ensure that his only daughter could break free from the Shadows influence. Yet Shadow wasn't able to properly predict what Sayaka would do next.

Sayaka could obviously understand what her father wanted to happen, but she didn't want to accept it. So Sayaka challenged the current successor for the title of Shadow.

"Father I know this isn't what you want from me, but... In the end I am a Mustsu, and your daughter. It could never be anyone else... Only I am allowed to finish your last mission... Shadows never die.... Right?"