Bad Born Blood-Chapter 184

Chapter 184

......I took a moment to think.

In the past, Ivan had hired a dual-blade assassin to kill Francec. If I hadn’t stopped it, the attempt would have succeeded, and war would have broken out under the pretext of an assassination attempt on the crown prince.

The dual-blade assassin was a foreigner, yet skilled enough to infiltrate the very heart of the Empire and target the crown prince. It wasn’t just combat ability—the assassin’s infiltration skills were exceptional as well.

At the time, I had asked the assassin how much they had been paid. Since the target was the Empire’s crown prince, the sum must have been beyond what words like fortune could describe.

’A sum large enough to change countless lives.’

That was the assassin’s answer. And now, someone willing to pay that kind of price was targeting Anguis Regina.

’Does that mean there’s someone who wants Anguis Regina dead badly enough to invest a massive fortune?’

And then, Jafa had noticed the attack in advance and contacted me.

Something was happening outside my awareness. It was fascinating. But to uncover everything, I first had to survive—while protecting Anguis Regina.

The objective was clear.

Creak.

The door swung open completely, revealing the assassin. The pitch-black full-body combat suit shimmered.

Zzt.

As the active camouflage deactivated, a surge of electricity flickered across the assassin’s suit.

’Dual-blades.’

The assassin, then and now, wielded a pair of blades of different lengths. It felt almost nostalgic—like meeting an old friend. With an enemy from my past standing before me, I felt as though I had returned to my youth.

It was a relief that I was wearing a mask. If my expression and emotions had been visible, the assassin would have recognized me.

’I’ll prove it to you right here.’

That I am not some broken, depressed patient struggling with aftereffects, but a sharp-edged warrior. I will prove it through you.

Bzzzzt!

I extended my Firelight Saber forward, waiting for my opponent.

’My weapon gives me a significant advantage.’

The dual-blade assassin knew about the Firelight series. They didn’t recklessly charge in but instead jumped lightly in place, warming up. Inside that helmet, their eyes were probably darting around nonstop.

’Being an assassin, they’d rather avoid fighting me. But unless they get past me, they won’t be able to reach Anguis Regina.’

I positioned myself precisely to block the assassin’s path. It wasn’t difficult for me.

’If they ignore me and go for Anguis Regina, they’ll die instantly.’

As my heightened emotions surged, my concentration burned even hotter.

Every ounce of my focus was locked onto the dual-blade assassin. No matter what they did, I would react.

’Come at me.’

The assassin tilted her head slightly, watching me with a hint of unease. She must have noticed that I was subtly shifting to block her movement path.

"......Not bad. So you’re not just wielding Firelight for show."

Realizing the situation, the assassin took her stance. She spun her dual blades, gripping them in a reverse hold before immediately correcting her grip—repeating the motion over and over. It was meant to disrupt my combat calculations.

For an ordinary fighter, such stance-switching movements had no real meaning. But for those of us who fought as if seeing the future, it did.

‘The realm of superhumans.’

In battles between superhumans, there were countless unorthodox, seemingly minor techniques, and those very tricks often determined life or death, victory or defeat.

Before we even extended our blades, we were already fighting to secure the optimal position, movement path, and stance. I liked this feeling.

I was standing face to face with a powerful warrior who had built their combat prowess by staking their life on it. And I was challenging the tower they had constructed. I would either conquer it or fall—one or the other.

For warriors and soldiers alike, battle was the only way to prove their abilities. The battlefield was the sole place where I could confirm how far I had come and what I was capable of.

In our world, no matter how evil someone was or what atrocities they had committed...... if they were strong, that alone made them worthy of respect. Because they had proven themselves before the world.

In that sense, this assassin was undoubtedly a formidable warrior—one who had her own ironclad principles.

In the past, I had survived thanks to her principles. Though she could have killed me as an obstacle, she had already failed the mission and chose not to commit unnecessary slaughter. She withdrew.

‘Now, you’ll pay the price for that misplaced mercy.’

She could never have imagined that the boy she once spared would now be the one standing in her way.

Vwoooom!

As time passed, my Firelight Saber began to hum from thermal amplification. Plasma energy coiled around one side of the blade, exuding a sadistic heat haze.

The assassin leaned forward, as if preparing to advance. Then, her feet left the ground.

Tap!

So, you’re finally making your move.

A grin tugged at the corner of my lips as I readied myself to face a true warrior. There was no way she could block my overheated blade. It would melt right through her weapons and cut her down.

‘How are you going to deal with this bizarre cursed blade?’

I was brimming with anticipation—to see just how ingenious her countermeasure would be.

Whoosh.

The assassin spread her arms wide. The bottom of her sword hilts opened, and wires unraveled, extending outward.

Screeeech!

The assassin appeared to charge forward but suddenly braked with her heel, coming to an abrupt stop. She hooked her hand through the rings at the ends of the wires, then swung her dual blades as if hurling them.

“Ha......”

I let out a brief exclamation of admiration as I braced myself. She whipped the wires around, pulling and swinging them to manipulate the blades’ trajectories in bizarre ways.

Screeeeeech!

The accelerating blades and wires let out an eerie sound. The assassin was aiming to fight from mid-range.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out. With the hand holding the wire ring, the assassin drew a pistol and pulled the trigger. It was an incredible display of finesse.

Zzt!

I blocked the bullet as if batting it away with my Firelight Saber.

The part of the blade that made contact with the bullet glowed even brighter. It was a beautiful but dangerous light. If the thermal storage limit was exceeded, the blade would explode and scatter into fragments.

‘As expected, she’s highly experienced. She knows exactly what to do in any given situation.’

The combination of wire-mounted swords and a pistol was so unpredictable that it was difficult to anticipate.

I was in a tricky situation. If I weren’t in a position where I had to protect someone, I could simply charge forward and close the distance.

But right now, I had to protect Anguis Regina. If I recklessly approached an assassin specializing in mid- to long-range combat, it would be difficult to intercept a sudden attack aimed at her.

‘No, actually, this isn’t difficult at all. I just need to cut the wires.’

A trick is just a trick. The only problem is unfamiliarity—at its core, it’s nothing more than a gimmick. If I stayed composed and analyzed it rationally, it was actually easier to deal with than a straightforward attack.

Screech!

The wires were made of some kind of high-polymer material—tough and durable. If I had been wielding Crucis, it wouldn’t have been easy to cut through. This wasn’t the kind of material that could be severed with sheer impact force.

Clang!

My Firelight Saber burned through the wires, severing them. One of the now-uncontrolled blades shot up and embedded itself in the ceiling.

I could sense the assassin flinch. She hurriedly pulled back the remaining blade, trying to recover it.

‘Your weapon compatibility worked against you, assassin.’

Without the Firelight Saber, this would have been a difficult attack to counter. She knew that as well, but she must not have had any other options.

The assassin had likely bet on me panicking and getting caught off guard. But I processed combat through Akies Victima. I excelled in handling unpredictable attacks and chaotic situations.

A real battle isn’t a fair duel. It’s not fought with equal equipment or identical weapons. Complaining that the opponent has superior technology is meaningless. Just like the world we live in, real combat is fundamentally unfair.

Zzzzt!

The tip of my blade barely grazed the wire. But just from the heat alone, the wire melted, unable to withstand the centrifugal force, and snapped.

Clang!

The assassin’s remaining blade also lost control, flying off and skidding across the floor.

A warrior without a weapon is a pitiful sight. The assassin raised her pistol, firing alternately at me and Anguis Regina. Even now, she deliberately chose only the most troublesome attack patterns.

I positioned my hand diagonally and deflected the bullets one after another. My prosthetic body wouldn’t be taken down by such pistol rounds.

‘She’s formulating the best possible countermeasures in every situation.’

The assassin’s tactics weren’t the result of Akies Victima, but simply the product of sheer experience. They weren’t calculated decisions—they were instincts honed through training and battle.

I couldn’t even begin to fathom how much experience she must have accumulated to reach this level.

‘There’s more, isn’t there? Show me.’

Having dismantled her dual blades, I advanced, pressing forward and cornering her.

Click.

The assassin shifted her stance as if switching combat styles. A faint noise came from the joints of her combat suit. She had reinforced her suit with an exoskeleton that accelerated movement and provided mechanical support.

Such reinforced exoskeletons granted similar enhancements to prosthetic limbs, but they were slower to respond and bulkier since they had to be mounted over organic tissue. They could never match the efficiency of built-in prosthetics of equivalent power.

‘Did she have something like this before?’

A brief doubt flickered through my mind. Back then, she was razor-sharp and destructive. She had been more than strong enough without relying on mechanical augmentations.

Whoosh!

She aimed a spinning kick at my face.

I could have severed her leg right then and there, but instead, I stepped back. She might still have some hidden trump card, so I remained cautious, observing her movements.

But something felt off.

‘Even with mechanical assistance, she’s slower and more sluggish than before. This is undeniable. No way.......’

A sudden wave of irritation surged through me.

Crack!

I swung my leg and kicked her.

Even though she raised her arms and legs to block, she was sent flying. Unable to disperse the force, her bones must have been crushed.

This wasn’t an act to bait me into dropping my guard—it wasn’t a feint. The assassin had genuinely become weaker. She was completely overwhelmed by my attack.

‘So all those desperate maneuvers and flashy tricks...... were just to hide the fact that she had weakened?’

I felt like an idiot for getting excited. I had wanted to go all out in a clash against her. But in the end, she couldn’t even handle half of my full strength. ƒгeewebnovёl_com

‘Damn it.......’

The assassin’s bones must have shattered into pieces, yet she persisted, relentlessly lunging at me. I swung my Firelight Saber, severing both of her legs at once.

Ssshhhhh!

A horrifying blaze of plasma burned through her flesh and bone. The extreme heat instantly carbonized the severed stumps, preventing even a single drop of blood from spilling.

“Hngh.......”

Even the formidable assassin let out a faint groan. As she collapsed, she pushed off the ground with both arms, trying to create distance.

Bang! Bang!

Despite losing her legs, she pulled out a pistol and fired repeatedly at me. I deflected the bullets with my arm, tilting my head to evade the shots as I closed in on the fallen assassin.

Crash!

I grabbed her by the face and slammed her against the wall. Her combat helmet shattered, revealing her face.

“Kh....”

She flinched. Through the cracks of her broken helmet, lifeless white hair spilled out in dry, brittle strands.

‘Aging?’

But it wasn’t just her hair that was strange. Her face was covered in deep wrinkles, like that of a seventy-year-old. It was hard to believe that only twelve years had passed.

The assassin I remembered had a biological age of at most thirty—forty, if I was being generous.

And yet, there was no doubt it was the same person. Her facial features and the sharp glint in her eyes were unmistakably hers. For some reason, she had undergone rapid aging.

‘......So that’s why she’s weaker.’

I frowned beneath my mask. In moments like these, a mask was convenient—no one could see what kind of expression I was making.

‘The price on Anguis Regina’s head wasn’t unusually high. This assassin was simply too weak to command a large sum anymore. High-paying jobs are reserved for those capable of handling them.’

She had probably never expected someone like me to be guarding Anguis Regina. At most, she would have anticipated a few Equessian mercenaries.

‘If she fails this job, she’s probably.......’

I swiftly shoved my hand into her mouth.

I had to stop her from killing herself.

“You’re not dying just yet. I’ve got plenty of questions for you.”

I deliberately kept my tone as mocking as possible. My fingers searched around her molars until I found it—a suicide pill.

Crunch!

I twisted and yanked out the false tooth embedded in her jaw.

Inside the translucent prosthetic was a dangerous-looking liquid, swirling ominously.

‘Goddamn it.’

Seeing her in such a pitiful state left me feeling conflicted.

A warrior who had once made me feel the weight of my own limits—reduced to this!

I now understood just how terrifying physical aging could be. Perhaps this very fear was what drove the people of the Empire to replace their flesh with machines.

Thud!

I slammed the assassin’s head against the wall once more. Her pupils lost focus as she slipped into unconsciousness.

A bitter taste filled my mouth.

A warrior who had once roamed freely through the heart of the Empire, untouchable, had fallen to this wretched state.

For the first time, I felt afraid of time and aging.

The skills once wielded with pride dwindling like dying embers, combat techniques honed over a lifetime rusting and breaking down—

If that ever happened to me, I would be no better than a worthless husk. What would I even have left without my combat prowess?

A man with a foul temper, one who only ever inflicted wounds on others—if even the violence I relied on were taken from me? The thought was horrifying. Death would be preferable.

And so, I realized—I was pitying this old assassin.

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