(Title at the end of the chapter.)
Ken was about to clash with the new bunch of elves.
But just then, he felt a presence behind him. It was the same frail presence that was trying to seek shelter in his shadows a moment before.
Because of the unusual situation the Fist Saint was in, the frail-looking girl managed to sneak behind him. And before Ken could understand the Whats and Whys of it, he felt his heart getting pierced by the girl's dagger from behind.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
Ken cried in pain when the girl's dagger came out of the other side of his chest. One had to say that the timing at which the frail-looking girl had chosen to attack Ken was just perfect. His back was the most defenseless at that time and the girl struck him where it hurt the most– where it dealt the most damage.
Swoosh!
Ken turned around and swung his fists. However, the girl was nowhere to be found. She just upped and disappeared without a trace after attacking Ken. As far as she was concerned, her job in the confrontation was done. It was now the rankers who were following her who attacked Ken in her place.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
A bunch of multi-element spells was executed to attack Ken at the same time. The Fist Saint tried to defend himself using the defensive spells he had in his arsenal. However, he was already at his limit at this point.
"Aaaaaaaaargh! Cowards! I'll kill you."
Ken understood what had happened to him when he saw Meesha approaching him from a distance with a smile on her face. It seemed that she had anticipated his escape from her ambush and arranged this trap for him beforehand.
Ken's Sansara tattoo started shining when it was confirmed that he had suffered a mortal injury. However, he was attacked with many spells and weapons at once before the defense mechanism could kick in. One of the attacks even managed to cut the hand the tattoo was on, interfering with the defense mechanism further.
Ken's body crashed to the ground when Meeshah came within striking distance of him. As a result of his defense mechanism's partial activation, his body was shining. However, it couldn't send him to the safe area anymore.
The infiltrators had introduced a delay in the defense mechanism to ramp up the killings inside Sansara World. However, it worked both ways and the infiltrators were also subjected to the same delay. That's how Ken was able to kill two rankers from Meeshah's team after all.
Ken's heartbeat started dimming. Darkness started surrounding his vision.
'Emotional fools suffer more than rational dickheads.
Hehe. He was right. He was always right. About everything.
But brother… I tried.
And for that, I have no regrets.'
Ken had a fleeting thought as he closed his eyes.
Even after facing a stab in the back, he managed to put a smile on his face with his dying breaths. It seemed that he had done everything he could to live life his way. And he attempted to change as well.
Ken couldn't get far with his heart on his sleeves. The same heart was pierced by the cruelty of the world he lived in.
However, he tried his darnedest to grow and survive while trying his best to stay true to his convictions.
Nobody could stop the Fist Saint from taking pleasure in the number of efforts he had put in to better himself. Even Meeshah stopped herself from taking pleasure in his misery when she saw that smile on his face.
Swoosh. Zoom. Chop.
Meeshah chopped Ken's head clean off just to be sure. He had already given them quite a scare with his ferocious avatar earlier. She was sure that even after combining the two teams from the beginning, she would have suffered more overall casualties if it wasn't for her strategy.
"Hehehehe! How did I do, Her Highness Meeshah?"
The frail-looking girl appeared beside Meeshah and asked. Her looks were complemented by two elf ears, which she had hidden earlier before approaching Ken.
Unlike Meeshah, she took joy in looking at her target's headless body. It was as if she was looking at a piece of art she had created herself.
Meeshah took a long breath before replying.
"You did good, Maylin. Your assassination skills are really something. This mammoth would have given us a lot more trouble if it wasn't for you."
Meeshah smiled lightly as she looked at Maylin. She was relieved that she had managed to hunt and kill someone like Ken in just three days.
Meeshah wasn't sure how the other royal elves were doing. But she could bet anything that nobody from her royal family could have finished Ken off this cleanly. The two rankers her group had lost were totally worth it.
Meeshah was about to say something when the ranger from before reported another finding.
"Captain, there's another target not too far away from us. He is heading southwest, away from us. What should we do?"
Meeshah looked at Ken's body and took it into her storage space. It could serve as proof of her accomplishments after all. She then clapped her hands and stood up straight before asking the ranger.
"What is it this time? I'd like to target the Duke's son Jason next if we can intercept him."
It seemed that all of Meeshah's kills were politically motivated. She had targeted Ken not because she had some unfinished business with him from their time on the two opposing sides of the border. She had targeted him because he was from an Earl's House. Killing him would have a broader impact on Edinburgh's masses.
"Yeah… negative. It's not Jason. It's that White Raven guy. What's his name again?"
The ranger blankly stared in one direction with his completely white eyes as he tried to remember the target's name. The royal scions from the kingdom of Layos who had infiltrated the Sansara World were given a hit list by their higher-ups. Ken wasn't their only target. There were a lot of other influential rankers within this generation that needed to be dealt with swiftly. Doing that would mean eliminating future trouble as well as spreading deeper negative emotions in the hearts of Edinburgh's citizens.
"White Raven? Hm? Oh yes!
Eren Elijah Idril.
Captain… let's target him next using the same game plan. Hehe."
As an assassin, Mayli remembered everyone on the target list well. She could also recall their backgrounds, their strengths and weaknesses, and known records of their past fights.
Of course, she was excited to take down someone like Eren Idril who had an entire city to his name. Killing him was like conquering his entire city in her head.
Meeshah pondered for a bit before agreeing with Mayli's plans.
And everything started heading downhill for Meeshah and her lot after that.
===
Chapter 1035 Title: A Hero's Death
