Chapter 5

“Who are you? Do you have any idea where you are? Men get him” the boss yells out to his men but he is received with silence.

“Boss, it's him. That's the guy that I saw downstairs.”

The boss calls out but no one answers his call.

“Where are all the men I hired? The damn good for nothing leeches.”

The hooded Talos remained silent as to not give away who he was.

“Shit, looks like we got to do this ourselves,” the rogue beastman stood up front. Behind him the Thief and the Seasoned Warrior got into position to attack the assailant. These men weren’t like the common thug. They came together at Talos with synchronized movement. They balance each other and cover the others' inherent shortcomings. They slash when Talos get in range of their swing but Talos easily evades the blade. The follow up from the beastman covers any loopholes in their formation.

Pushing forward, the three got arrogant.

“Fools who over estimate themselves”

“Many fools who think themselves strong have tried to beat us, but they have all fallen to our formation.”

“Your demise is set in stone. Now die” The three launched another attack, confident victory is at hand.

“First Form - Suzuran” Talos quietly muttered to himself.

Before the three realized what had happened. They had all been knocked forward falling over each other. The three struggled to get up and faint from the damage.

“What? Hey what are you guys doing, get up!” the boss clenched his fist while yelling at his fallen subordinate.

A smirk creeps up on the bodyguard as he finally sees a target he could fight. “Don’t bother bossman, those three aren’t going to get up after the beating they just took.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“This assassin is highly skilled. His strike was precise to the chin knocking out the three and before they even knew what happened he finished them with a sweeping kick. Finally, some entertainment. My days have been dull lately.”

“Well, it's what I paid you for,” said the confident benefactor. Swinging his large blade on to his broad shoulder, he steps forward to challenge the assassin. The tension in the room heightened as the two measured each other. Step by step they close in before Talos gets into the range of the bodyguard’s swing.

The very moment he steps into the range of the bodyguard, the tension breaks, and they engage in battle. He swings the broad blade across and Talos evades from below, closing the gap between them. The first strike came at the bodyguard and anticipating it he stepped back to avoid the strike and take down the Talos with a heavy swing.

“Now, it’s over with you”

The strike blasted dust into the air, blocking the vision of the boss and the benefactor. When the dust cleared, only Talos was left standing while the bodyguard was laid out on the ground.

In the VIP entertainment room a fully armored knight walked in. He surveyed the damaged room and the bodies covered with a cloth.

“It is like a wild beast was let loose in here,” said the vice captain of the knights walking in behind the knight.

“Vice Captain, this handy work is too skilled to be a beast especially on the lower floors. This assassin killed everyone without the workers on the lower floor realizing a thing.”

“He is right about that,” said the knight with decorations on his armor.

“Captain” the knights said as they saluted the captain.

“The bodies examined below are too clean to be a work of an amateur,” said a female knight walking in behind the captain. She is a captain adjutant and only female knight of this knight corps. “Only in the VIP area did a fight broke out.”

“This is going to be a pain” the knight captain facepalm as he sees the benefactor’s body beneath the cloth. “This one is a son of a small affluent noble part of the prince’s faction. While he is of no small stature, his death will cause a commotion.”

“It’s going to be pressure from the nobles to blame someone.”

After some deliberating, they decided to continue the investigation.

“Look at this” the knight pulling the cover off of the Thieving Subordinate. "This force looks as if a hammer was swung to the jaw to do this kind of damage.”

“It looks as if it happened to this warrior” revealing a fist imprint to the chest, “How hard does one have to punch to leave this kind of imprint. Even the weapon the warrior used was shattered.”

As the knight examines the Rogue Beastman, he notices that there is a hole in the ceiling where the body lay.

“Hey, look up there,” he points toward the hole in the ceiling. “Do you think the beastman left that hole?”

“I’m not sure I want to know,” said the female adjutant. “It's so scary just thinking about what kind of monster could do that.”

“It definitely looks like it,” the knight captain examines the head of the beastman. Noticing that only the head seems to suffer from any form of trauma. After examining the three bodies he came to the conclusion. “Each of them took only a single blow, The Thief took a hit to the jaw. The strike that hit the warrior broke through his weapon and his armor to hit him in the chest. The Beastman also took a hit to the head and was launched into the ceiling. This is no ordinary fighter that they faced.”

“Most of the damage it seems is done in the fight with the bodyguard,” Looking at a familiar face he knew. The bodyguard was an infamous adventurer known for his fighting prowess in the underground arena. He had once seen him fight and he knew that the bodyguard strength was above the average knight captain and closer to the knight commander. Which gave him pause when he saw the body since someone almost as strong as the knight commander was defeated. This was a serious issue that would need to be reported to the knight commander. “I can feel a bigger headache coming.”

“Do you recognize him, captain?”

“Yeah, he is an infamous adventurer that participates in the underground arena. His strength is almost comparable to the Knight Commander.”

“Seriously, someone this strong was defeated.”

“He didn’t go down without a fight as you can see the sword slashes against the wall and that is the problem.”

“What problem is that sir?”

“None of the slashes hit the target. The beast didn’t sustain any damage in his fight against the bodyguard. You could say he hunted the bodyguard in his own turf.” There was a sign of slashes but only the bodyguard body was indented into the wall.

“That’s terrifying captain?” the adjutant having a meltdown.

“That isn’t even the worst thing that happened here. Look at the boss.” Not even removing the cover as the body beneath the red dyed cloth was clearly split in two.

“What do we do captain?” the adjutant slowly escape reality

“This is far out of our scope. It would be a fool's errand if we try to solve this on our own.”

“Yes captain, let’s not think about this and investigate something else.”

“Men, keep what you see here to the grave unless you plan on visiting that grave.” The warning was directed at the other knights as many of them are known to gossip about investigations. A leak could put their lives in danger. “The beast is still on the loose and the walls have ears so best be careful."

All the knights in the room acknowledged the order and saluted the captain.

“Seal off the upper floors of the West Gambling Hall while I report to the Knight Commander.” After giving the final command to gather the bodies of the fallen guards in the main room of the 3rd floor. The Knight Captain sets off from the West Gambling Hall.

“Captain, this job…” said the adjutant in a cute whiney voice.

“Now, now, my cute little kitten. We still have a job to do.”

“But…”

The Knight Captain pulls the adjutant in his arms.

“Captain, someone might see us.”

“It doesn’t matter, they all have ideas, but…” He leans in to whisper into her ears to assure her that after he finishes his report, he will pamper her to make her forget about today’s event.

“Captain, you’re such a bad body” the captain chuckles.

“You know you like it.” The adjutant blushes in his arm hearing his voice that makes her feel secure.

“Alright,” She lightly pushes the Knight Captain back, “You better keep your promise after you report to the Knight Commander.”

“I always keep your promises.”

“I’ll hold you to it, not like last time.” The two walk off to make a report with the Knight Commander.

Inside the Knight Commander room. The Knight Captain gave his report to the Knight Commander.

“Are you certain it is him?”

“Yes Sir”

“Alright, you’re dismissed” The Knight Captain leaves the room leaving the Knight Commander massaging his headache at the news of the slain bodyguard, benefactor, and west gambling hall boss.

“The situation is grave,” said the flamboyant handsome Vice Commander.

“It never ends. Perhaps I should get married to Rose and retire to the countryside.”

“Surely you jest sir.”

“You can take over Knight Commander duty and handle all this headache.”

“The Kingdom still needs you. No one can take your place.”

“I wish I could just get married to Rose but the mistress is so demanding of my time. Time spent hearing the demands of the nobility.”

“Alas, the mistress is a cruel one”

“So cruel, she won’t let me get married.”