Arc 3 Chapter 11 : Red Viper

[??? PoV]

The full moon and a starfall adorned tonight's sky, inevitably bringing back memories of my father from my childhood.

I was born into a branch family of Clan Ashina, renowned as the finest assassins on this continent.

That was because of special techniques passed down through generations from our ancestor, Hatori Ashina, who came to this continent 400 years ago from the distant eastern lands.

It remained a mystery why Hatori Ashina left his homeland to settle on this western continent. Still, it was certain he'd been the son of one of the eastern continent's Daimyo.

After marrying a princess from the Kingdom of Pulisha's nobility, Hatori settled down and built a village near the Carpathian mountains.

Our clan now spanned ten generations and had grown well-known in the underworld. Many hired our services, whether as bodyguards, scouts, spies, or for assassination missions.

Still, doing this kind of dirty work wasn't without its risks. Many held grudges against us, including one family that had once been a target of Clan Ashina's assassination.

20 years ago, a family in the Republic of Venetia hired a Warlock to place a curse spell on us.

A Warlock was a dark mage capable of using curse magic, known to be extremely dangerous. Unlike ordinary magic, curse magic had a broad scope and long-lasting effects, sometimes even spanning hundreds of years.

Even though we succeeded in killing that family and their hired Warlock, the dark mage managed to place a Sterility Curse that left every man and woman in Clan Ashina barren, unable to bear children.

This curse was marked by a Mark appearing on every clan member's body. The curse mark appeared on men's shoulders, while on women, it appeared below the abdomen, exactly where the womb was.

I'd only just been born when this curse struck our clan, leaving me with the same fate as the rest of them.

After receiving this curse, Clan Ashina's population, originally around 400, declined to roughly 150 people. If left unchecked, our clan would go extinct on this continent.

That's why every member of Clan Ashina was currently trying to find some way to break this curse, no matter the method.

Five years ago, my father struck a deal with a noble from the Empire. He said he knew how to remove our curse. He'd share this knowledge on the condition our family serve him for ten years.

My father agreed and performed a Blood Pact with the noble.

A Blood Pact was a ritual oath in which whoever violated the agreed terms would die. Though it appeared extremely binding, the Blood Pact ritual could still be worked around.

Because of this, my father agreed to the deal.

Last year, the noble ordered me to monitor his son and report on all his activities outside the academy.

So far, I'd reported on the young noble's activities twice. The first was when he formed an organization, and the second was when he fought Vampires a month ago.

Right now, he was standing with his eyes closed, alone in this dark, quiet place. I didn't know why he'd come here, but my job wasn't to figure out his motives — just to report his movements.

Before long, the black-haired man opened his eyes and leapt onto a rooftop, leaving the area.

Hmm... this was strange. Why did he suddenly seem to be in such a hurry?

Activating the Featherstep technique, I began trailing him from a distance.

This technique allowed the user to move without producing any sound at all, and could only be learned at the Training Camp in the village where Clan Ashina settled.

I slowed my pace across the rooftops, having lost track of the black-haired man. His parkour ability and speed weren't half bad, either.

Activating one of my Profound Codexes — Foot Trail — I could clearly see traces of his footsteps within a hundred-meter radius.

I leapt from one building to another again, following the trail I'd managed to read.

But his trail suddenly vanished atop a tall building. I tried climbing up to spot his trail again. But upon reaching the top, the black-haired man suddenly rushed toward me and launched a thrusting attack with his sword.

Still, with my quick reflexes, I managed to dodge by a hair's breadth.

"So you can dodge that after all," the black-haired man said. "Just as expected from a Clan Ashina assassin."

My identity had been exposed, and it seemed he'd also noticed I'd been tailing him recently.

In that case, could this have been his way of luring me out?

Drawing my sword, I focused on preparing to fight him. My other order was to eliminate him immediately if my presence was ever discovered by this man.

"Did he order you to kill me if you were ever caught?" the man asked, pointing at the sword I held. "He's a terrible father, isn't he? What kind of father would hire an assassin to kill his own son?"

Honestly, I didn't care about the relationship between this father and son. I only cared about completing my mission.

Activating Accel magic, I charged toward the man and unleashed two diagonal slashes, but he managed to block my attacks with his sword.

Not stopping there, I spun my body to build up momentum and launched another slash at him.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

—Clang!

He blocked it again. But this time, his body was pushed backward, nearly falling off this tall building.

The man stared at me sharply, settling into a firmer stance, as though the real fight was about to begin.

Unexpectedly, though, he leapt backward, jumping off the tall building.

Damn it, he's trying to escape!

I quickly followed. He kept driving his sword into the building's wall and pulling it back out, several times, to slow his fall.

I didn't need any tricks like that to get down.

Focusing mana into both my legs, I simply walked down the side of the building with ease.

The man looked astonished, seeing my legs running while clinging to the wall.

How about that? This is one of our clan's specialties!

I threw three shuriken at him, but he managed to block them well. He then landed on a shorter building and ran off, fleeing from me once again.

For several minutes, we played a game of cat and mouse throughout this fortress city. What exactly was he planning?

The man leapt from another building and grabbed a hanging rope, then swung through the air above the townspeople.

I searched for an alternate route to get ahead of him.

Passing through a narrow alley, I leapt onto the building where he was about to land.

—Clang!

I attacked just as he was about to land, but he blocked it again.

"How long do you plan on running like this!?" I asked him.

"Ah, you're finally speaking," the man said. "That's the first step, if we're going to work together after this."

"What do you mean, work together? My current job is to kill you!"

I charged toward him again and unleashed an eight-hit combo called Cherry Blossom Dance. But he managed to read every one of my attack patterns with ease.

Had he seen this combo before? But only Clan Ashina assassins could master this attack.

Could he have encountered one of us before?

But just as I was pondering this about him, he fled from me again.

Tch, I'm tired of chasing him endlessly. I'll use another one of my Profound Codexes — Beast Instinct — and break his leg to interrogate him.

My body emitted a red magical aura, my strength feeling far greater than before. Without wasting time, I immediately pursued the man.

He glanced back, his expression still looking calm. But I'd soon turn that into a fear of death, before long.

—Clang!

He blocked my slash with his sword, but his body was still sent flying from the increased strength I now had, using Beast Instinct.

The man crashed into a building's wall. I gave him no chance to breathe and attacked again with my sword.

He tried to dodge, but my blade was faster and managed to slash his stomach.

"There's no point running. Both my speed and strength increase while in this mode," I told him.

The man clutched his left side, cut by my sword.

Beast Instinct didn't just boost strength and speed, but also body reaction and attack precision.

Time to activate this sword's ability.

I charged toward the man again. This time, instead of fleeing, he faced me in a proper swordfight.

I aimed a horizontal slash at the right side of his stomach, but he still managed to dodge by a hair's breadth. Still, his face showed shock as the blood from his wound was drawn toward my sword.

Yes...

My sword possessed a special power: it could absorb and consume someone's blood when close to them.

The blade's edge began turning a reddish hue.

"Your sword's quite troublesome," the man muttered.

Curse Sword — Sengo Muramasa...

This sword could consume someone's blood to strengthen its attack power once the blade turned fully red.

On top of that, the enemy would gradually weaken the more blood this sword drained.

"I won't have a chance to win right now!"

He fled again.

I chased him at full speed and appeared behind him in an instant.

—Clang!

He blocked my vertical slash, which knocked him into a narrow alley, slamming into the ground. On top of that, Muramasa had already managed to draw more blood from the wound on him.

He got up and ran again, trying to escape me.

"You know it's pointless to keep trying this!" I shouted at him.

Right now, Muramasa had turned fully red. I was about to unleash another of this sword's abilities.

Settling into a stance, I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Target Lock..."

I locked onto the man, who was leaping onto a building.

"Bloody Fang!"

The moment I swung this sword toward him, the blood gathered within it formed into a dozen or so blood daggers, streaking toward the locked target.

The man turned and tried blocking each blood dagger one by one while airborne. But he couldn't block them all — several managed to slash his arms and legs.

Muramasa's color returned to normal, and the red magical aura wrapping around my body vanished as well, its duration having expired.

I walked toward the man, now lying on the ground.

He tried to get up, but his body clearly couldn't handle it, trembling from the wounds sustained from my earlier attack.

That last attack hadn't been ordinary blood daggers — blood already absorbed by this sword turned poisonous, so anyone struck by it would gradually weaken.

"..."

Suddenly, he raised his hand, as though surrendering.

"Isn't it a bit late to surrender now? Besides, you're going to die from my last attack anyway," I told him.

But the man only smiled and laughed at my words.

He then dropped the sword he was holding.

My heart pounded rapidly as I felt the cold sensation of a blade pressed against my neck.

—Clang!

The sword he'd just dropped had only now hit the ground.

"You've lost..." A whispered voice suddenly appeared beside my ear.

How had he suddenly vanished, then appeared behind my back? Was this one of his abilities?

"Let's talk, Akane Ashina..."

My eyes widened in shock, hearing him call out my real name.

We assassins of Clan Ashina always used aliases while carrying out our work, and only within the village did other members ever call me by my real name.

This man... not only knew our techniques but also my name, which no one outside the village should have ever known.

I tried to move, but the man suddenly pressed the blade harder against my neck, drawing a small cut from the knife.

"Don't do anything foolish, Akane," the man whispered into my ear. "Listen to what I have to say first."

"Never call my real name directly, bastard," I spat coldly.

"Is that so? Should I call you Red Viper instead?" the man whispered again. I could feel his warm breath tickling me at this close range.

"What do you want?" I asked, curious about what this man was after.

"You're looking for a way to remove the curse afflicting your clan, aren't you?"

Just as I suspected — he knew a great deal about our clan, even though this information was only known among our own members.

"I can remove your curse within two years' time," he whispered again. "I know you've made a deal with my father, but you shouldn't trust him too much."

I was fairly shocked hearing that. What exactly did he mean?

"It's true my father will eventually remove your curse, within the agreed timeframe," the man revealed. "But the problems he'll bring upon your clan will be far greater than this curse, if you continue working with him."

Problems? What exactly did he know? Still, I needed to be careful here. Let's hear what he's offering first.

"So, are you offering a better deal than his?" I asked him.

In response to my question, the man pulled the knife away from my neck.

I turned around and saw his face had already turned blue from the poison effects of the Muramasa sword. His expression, straining against the pain, looked rather amusing right now.

"I want you to give my father a false report," the man answered. "In exchange, I'll free Clan Ashina from the curse it carries within two years."

Two years, huh? But this deal would be quite risky if his father ever noticed something off in my report.

"How exactly will you free us from this curse?" I asked, wanting to confirm further.

"A curse can remain extremely powerful and endure for a long time because it's reinforced by certain artifacts belonging to the Warlock," the man answered. "I'll find the Warlock's artifact that cursed your clan and destroy it, so the curse stops functioning."

It was true — this method was far safer than what his father had offered us. Still, finding a Warlock's artifact would be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

"Alright, if you perform a Blood Pact ritual with me, I'll agree to this deal," I told him.

The man smiled, then began collapsing onto me.

"Emm... do you happen to have an antidote for that sword's poison?"

And that's how my partnership with Raul de Garcia to remove my family clan's curse began, from that moment on.