For the sakes of innocents, some of the guilty should not be allowed to live.

"Dude, you have a scary look on your face."

Glen turned slightly pale and gulped when he saw Shun Yin's hardened expression. He shook his head and sighed.

"Relax, man. Don't start getting reckless and think that you should go after the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild and hunt them all down. That's a job for the adults. Kids like us will be getting way over our heads if we get involved."

"I know." Shun Yin gritted his teeth. "We've to become stronger. That battle earlier…we were lucky. If you didn't summon White Tiger, we would have been obliterated by that huge a.s.sa.s.sin. If I hadn't trained under my master at the Miyamoto dojo, I would have been killed several times over by that female a.s.sa.s.sin."

"Yeah, she used poison, didn't she?" Glen shuddered. "A single cut from her and we would have died. Good thing you were the one fighting her instead of me. I have no idea how you did it, but I would never have been able to escape completely unscathed."

"Master trained me to fight in such scenarios." Realization was dawning upon Shun Yin now. "That was why he was so fixated on ensuring I master the basics of martial arts and swordsmans.h.i.+p instead of teaching me advanced magic or powerful spells. He was aware that no matter what sort of magic I wielded, if I get cut by a poison user or come in contact with a curse, everything would be over. The foundation is the most important thing. Having a strong foundation will prove the difference between life and death."

If he had focused more on magic than martial arts and swordsmans.h.i.+p, he would have died the moment the female a.s.sa.s.sin grazed him with her poisoned weapons. Shun Yin couldn't help but feel grateful to his master.

"You should introduce me to your master sometime," Glen joked. Shun Yin, however, nodded seriously.

"I'll bring you to Miyamoto dojo."

"Uh…one day. I've my own master." Glen hastily raised his hands and tried to divert the topic away. Taking a deep breath, he glanced back at the aquarium the two of them had exited. The Porter clan's staff were still all over the place and cleaning up the scene, but they mostly ignored the two young high school students. "We'll just get in the way if we stick around. Let's go home. And as you said, we're going to need to train more to become stronger. So it's best if we return home early and rest, so that we can begin tomorrow."

"Yeah."

Shun Yin's eyes dropped to the body bags that were being loaded up in what seemed like hea.r.s.es, and his chest tightened. Even though the majority of them belonged to the enemy, he still couldn't erase the image of Mei from his mind.

"Speaking of which, what do you make of their research on spirit technology? Using a human or monster as a host…a vessel for the spirit?"

"Ethically? h.e.l.l, no." Glen made a face. "Did you hear what they were saying? Did you see the data? It's certain death for the host. Once the spirit fuses with the host, it will burn his or her life out very rapidly. In exchange for…what?"

He then glanced at his smartphone, as if remembering something. Conjuring a holographic screen, he skimmed through it, and his expression darkened.

"Worse…it seems that the majority lose their sanity. Even those who don't go mad from merging with the spirit lose their humanity…they lose their personality and huge segments of their memories." He glanced at Shun Yin. "Mei…she wasn't able to remember who her parents or family were after the experiment."

Shun Yin balled his fists, his hands trembling uncontrollably from anger, but he managed to prevent himself from howling in frustration.

"What do they take human lives for?"

"They are a.s.sa.s.sins," Glen reminded him. "They kill for a living. To them, human lives are something to be taken. Just like…currency."

"f.u.c.k this!" Shun Yin furiously punched a lamppost. The entire metallic structure caved in and crashed downward, the gla.s.s shattering as it impacted against the ground. The Porter clan staff turned to stare at him in shock, but Glen quickly intervened, gesturing for them to ignore them, and escorting Shun Yin away.

"I know how you feel, man, but calm down. Yelling and breaking public property isn't going to stop them."

"You're right. Sorry." Shun Yin took a deep breath. Raising his head, he glared at the sky. "But I swear, I'll stop them. Whether it's the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild or whoever, as long as they are villains, I will stop them. I will prevent them from killing any innocents…even if I have to b.l.o.o.d.y my hands and wipe every single one of them out."

If he had to be evil to become a hero, then so be it. If he had to kill every single villain in the world in order to save countless innocents, then he would happily b.l.o.o.d.y his hands. He didn't care if people label him a hypocrite.

At least they were alive to call him a hypocrite. That was more than enough for him. That was the weight…the burden he had to shoulder as a hero. So that others could keep their hands spotless and clean. He should be the only one to take on the sins of everyone, so that every innocent could live freely, cleanly and happily.

But to do that, he had to become stronger. Much, much stronger than he was right now. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to withstand such a tremendous burden.

"Let's go," he told a visibly relieved Glen, and stalked toward the nearest train station.

*

"This seems like a dead-end," Glen remarked as he stared at the empty office. There was no sign of anyone ever having occupied it. The desks were empty, the seats were deserted, the cubicles were lifeless and the shelves were vacated. No doc.u.ments, no computers, no files, no stationary, nothing at all.

It had been two weeks after the raid on Vermillion Aquarium. Shun Yin and Glen had continued to track down the locations on the map that Michael had gotten from the warehouse. Often, they had close brushes with skilled a.s.sa.s.sins, who managed to escape before the two could defeat them. Not that Shun Yin and Glen could easily beat them, of course. Often they had close brushes with deaths before the a.s.sa.s.sins bolted.

Only for Michael and the staff of the Porter clan to arrive minutes later, finding a dazed and surprised duo standing in the remnants of the room.

"You two are too reckless!" Michael would often reprimand them. "Do you really think you can fight a.s.sa.s.sins at your level?"

"But we survived, didn't we?" Glen protested. Michael snorted.

"If they wanted you dead, they would have killed you already."

That got Shun Yin wondering. Why wouldn't the a.s.sa.s.sins want them dead? They had been raiding their bases and headquarters, causing quite a huge amount of disruption, and in all probability being a thorn in their side by delaying their research and trying to save test subjects. However, other than Mei, they found no other survivors.

And just a few days ago, Shun Yin and Glen ran into the same pattern. They would often find themselves in clearly emptied and vacated bases. As if the a.s.sa.s.sins or the enemy within had known they were coming and quickly evacuated or abandoned their bases. It was occurring far too frequently to be a coincidence.

"This is weird…"

Shun Yin realized something was amiss. If the enemy knew he and Glen were coming, why didn't they just prepare an ambush and lure the two of them into a trap? From the few times he and Glen fought against them, he was aware that they were highly skilled enough to defeat the both of them…or at least had the numbers to overwhelm the both of them.

Yet they didn't. It was as if they were doing their best to avoid killing the two of them. Why? It made no sense.

The main bulk of the enemy comprised of a.s.sa.s.sins. It was their calling to kill others, to take lives. So why would they spare him and Glen?

"d.a.m.n it! Not again!"

Glen was cursing behind Shun Yin as he kicked a desk in frustration. Not too hard that he would break the furniture. At least the blond mage knew how to hold back.

"We always miss them! Why do they keep running away?!"

"Yeah…wouldn't it be easier for them to lure us into a trap and ambush us if they know we are coming? They should be finding us quite the nuisance."

"You have a point there." Glen was looking stumped. Their confusion didn't last long, however, because Glen's smartphone rang. He sighed and answered it grumpily. "h.e.l.lo? What's up?"

Then he turned extremely pale, his eyes widening when he heard what the other party had to say.

"Yeah, I'll be there immediately."

"What happened?" Shun Yin asked after Glen hung up. His friend turned to look at him gravely.

"There has been an attack on the main Porter's manor. a.s.sa.s.sins are killing the clan elders and the current Clan Leader right now."