Assassin System... Level 1

Hearing those words, Shinra knew this was bad.  There were 15 zombies, including himself, and he bet his dagger was the only weapon.  

‘It worked on that bastard last night, but he was not expecting it, and within striking distance.  This guy probably has a few spells that can take us all out without even getting off his horse.’  Shinra looked around, seeing if there was anywhere to hide, but the road was bordered by fields with only waist high grass.  He reached up to touch the hidden dagger.

[Assassination System: Lv 1]

[Online]

[Assessing]

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[Combat is already engaged.  Assassin is not the primary target]

[Target is a Mage Knight: Lv 5]

[Difficulty rated high.  Success probability Low]

‘What the hell is happening!’ Shinra screamed in his head.  He watched as Woodruff moved his horse closer, and everyone cowered more.  The group felt like a coiled spring, they could scatter or break out in tears at any moment.

[Unlocking Skill Tree]

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[You have one skill point available]

[585 experience points until level 2]

[Use Skill Point?]

Shinra wasn’t sure if he was going crazy or not. The voice was clearly only in his head, but now he could see the words in front of him. It was like looking at a window with writing on it where he could still see the world beyond.  ‘What do I do?  Can I slip into the grass and hide? Will that matter if he drops an area effect fireball?’

[Use Skill Point?]

‘Dammit. Yes. What is a skill point?’ Shinra replied to the craziness in his head.

[Skill Points Can be Used to access Assassination Skills]

[Opening Lvl 1 Skill Tree

Fade 1: Skill Point 1

Silence 1: Skill Point 1

Targeted Strike 1: Skill Points 2

Night Vision 1: Skill Points 2

Sprint 1 : Skill Points 5

Assassin Kata 1: Skill Points 5 ]

Shinra saw the text scroll on the window in front of his eyes, but it didn’t really make sense to him.  ‘What am I supposed to do? What do these things mean?’  

“Woah there zombies. It’s alright.  I’m a merciful man.” Woodruff dropped down from his horse and approached the group slowly.  “You heard Lord Jala, he wants all of you dead.  And I don’t really mind, but it seems like a waste,” he said while looking at Sophie and the other girls.  “If you want to live, I want the men over there, and the women here,”

Shinra moved with the men, who made up most of the group.  A surprising number of mage women liked spending time with male zombies.  So did a number of male mages, for that matter.

Six women, girls really, grouped together as Woodruff walked over. His hand was already loosening his belt.

‘Focus Shinra, you know that Knight is going to kill all of you when he’s done. He just wants an audience.  I have 1 of these skill points, and it looks like I have 2 skills that cost 1 point each.’  He looked at the list again.  ‘Fade and Silence.  I guess they are self explanatory… I don’t see how either will help right now though.’

“Come here darling,” Woodruff said to Sophie’s friend, the blonde girl.  “Help me get these off?  I need to keep my hands free.”  He indicated his pants, and then pulled his thin sword from its sheath.  It looked more like a duelling sword than something useful for the battlefield.  

The girl started to pull at his belt and the ties on his pants.

‘Fade.  I choose Fade,’ Shinra said in his head.  ‘Maybe I’ll melt away and won’t have to see what is about to happen.’

[Fade 1 selected.]

[Upgrade initiated]

A sharp pain stabbed through Shinra’s eye, deep into his brain.  He almost cried out, but before he could, the pain was gone.  He took a deep breath, but then he felt a general pain suffuse his body.  It was like touching a week old bruise, painful, but showing where the healing was happening.

‘Well, that did something.  Is the Assassin System magic?’  He really hadn’t had time to think about it at all, but the dagger had to be enchanted enough to pierce a mid-level protective shield, so the system must be some other magic embedded in the blade?

[Fade skill now available]

[Would you like to use it? Yes/No]

Without really thinking about it, he said “Yes” out loud.  Some of the men around him shot him dirty looks, but then they resumed staring at the ground and ignoring what Woodruff was up to.

[Fading]

He felt it.  As soon as the voice finished, the bruised feeling of his body intensified, and his vision started to get fuzzy.  ‘Huh.  Am I melting or going blind?’

The bodies of the men around him became less distinct and more colourful. The nearby shadows all seemed to get much darker.  So dark, and inviting.  Shinra moved towards the nearest shadow, cast by a tall boy beside him.  He unconsciously ducked his head and hunched his shoulders, minimising his presence as he slid into the darkness.

Immediately his vision went back to normal.  ‘No, not normal. I can see better!’  Suddenly his companions’ indistinct outlines sharpened to telescope clarity. He could see the folds in their clothes and the dirt on their skin as if he was standing next to them.

‘That damn Knight is going to assault those girls in front of us,’ Shinra thought.  His enhanced vision showed him too much of the Knight, whose pants were in a pile on the road.  Some of the girls had started crying, and all of them were pulling their dresses down.

Shinra moved from this shadow to one closer to the edge of the road.  He didn’t think much about it, but aside from his sharper sight, he could sense all the nearby shadows.  Everyone was distracted, and now he was closer to the girls and the Knight.  He slid back off the road and crouched down into the waist high grass.  

His vision worsened, but it was still much better than when he was in the middle of the road.  The grass provided cover, but the shadows were thin and insubstantial.  ‘If I can get behind the Knight… What? Am I a hero now?’  Shinra hadn’t planned to try and save the girls, but his feet had brought him this way.  ‘Sophie is undressing for this piece of shit, and he’s going to kill us all anyways.’  Maybe he was just trying to save himself, but he slipped further down the road through the grass, coming to a point past the girls and Knight.

‘If I can go back onto the road without them noticing, I might be able to come up behind the knight while he’s distracted.’  The knight had the girls lined up, undressed, and was already having his way with the blonde one.  He still had his sword out, and that was the least of his weapons.

Shinra saw the shadow of the horse, huge and beckoning.  ‘That would be perfect, the Knight is only a few arms lengths past it.  I just need to cross through the open 10 metres to get there.’  He didn’t think it would work. Even distracted, he’d be crossing past the Knight’s periphery to get there.  He was a trained warrior, he would notice.

Shinra pulled out the dagger from under his shirt, feeling a bit naked without it in his hand.  As he did, he looked at his hands. ‘What the hell!?  Am I a ghost?’

Fade didn’t just affect his vision, because Shinra’s arm was almost see through.  Not clear like a window pane, but grey and dark like a wood fire’s smoke.  He looked like a shadow made flesh.