Published at 10th of August 2023 11:18 am

Chapter 76: Triple Cross

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The five knights rushed down the hallway, prompting Kyle to focus on the first knight in front of him first. Without a word, Kyle immediately brandished his Vibration Cleaver, charging at the knight and swinging downwards.

The knight blocked the cleaver with his vambrace before throwing a jab at Kyle’s waist, forcing Kyle to back off. The Vibration Cleaver hardly made a dent in the surface of the knight’s armoured arm, the backlash rippling through Kyle’s arm. High defence – not your normal hitman.

Just as Kyle was about to launch another attack, one of the other five knights made it into the room, reaching out to grapple Kyle in a sudden ambush.

Intimidation Aura!

The outstretched hands of the ambushing knight froze for a split second as his heart stuttered due to fear, allowing Kyle to spin out of reach before chopping off his wrists and reducing them to stumps. Kyle instinctively dodged with a quick sidestep, the edge of the first knight’s sword nearly grazing his body.

“Should’ve gone for the head.” Kyle taunted as he delivered a strong kick to the now whimpering ambushing knight, sending him flying towards the door and slamming into the others who tried to enter as well. He parried three more strikes from the first knight, before aiming at the knee and slicing straight through before thrusting the tip of the cleaver deep into the chest of the first knight.

[System Message]

Killed [Versian Special Division Knight], +250 EXP

Special Division?! Penchant for Violence hit its time limit, the familiar stimulating strength leaving Kyle. However, Kyle didn’t have time to think; the remaining four knights entered to apprehend him.

The intimidation aura began to afflict them, allowing Kyle some time to lunge at the closest knight, killing him with five rapid strikes as he precisely aimed the gaps in the armour, chewing away at the flesh with the Vibration Cleaver like a chainsaw.

[System Message]

Killed [Versian Special Division Knight], +250 EXP

Kyle suddenly heard a loud bang, followed by a searing pain in his thigh. Necklace of Healing! He glanced up to see the remaining three knights holding arctech handguns that seemed like replicas of his.

“Don’t try anything else, Mr Greyborn. Otherwise –“

The healing aura surged around the wound, numbing the pain. Kyle took the advantage to sprint at the knight speaking, catching him by surprise and driving the tip of the cleaver right up into his chin, the vibration churning his tongue and brain into a bloody mush.

[System Message]

Killed [Versian Special Division Knight], +250 EXP

Kyle kept the cleaver lodged in, spinning the body to block the follow up shots by the other two knights, before grunting and tossing the clearly dead knight towards them. Using the body as a distraction, he moved to the left, nocking his arm back before unleashing a straight horizontal swing at the knight’s neck.

However, the vibration cleaver failed to make it past the armour of the knight who caught onto the ruse, blocking it with both arms. The force sent both of them flying back, with Kyle earning more than three shots to the arms and legs, staggering him.

Weird – they are not planning on killing me. Kyle would’ve activated This is My Turf or Negation Field by now, but he felt no sign of killing intent at all. Maybe…

He ducked out of the way, rolling on the floor of the empty room as the knight fired two more shots before the handgun stalled, a sign of bad craftsmanship. As the knight quickly pulled out his sword, Kyle lunged – but not towards him.

Instead, Kyle aimed for the whimpering ambushing knight who was now wincing on the floor, killing him instantly with a quick decapitation.

[System Message]

Killed [Versian Special Division Knight], +250 EXP

“I surrender.” Kyle dropped his cleaver to the floor, raising both hands up.

“What?” The remaining two knights were caught off-guard, with one pinned under a dead body, struggling to shove it off.

“I surrender.”

The two knights looked at each other in confusion, the blood still thumping in their ear as they were just in a life-or-death fight. In fact, they were both equally sure that Kyle could have killed the both of them if he wanted to.

Penchant for Violence ran out quite some time ago, and my Intimidation Aura is going to run out soon too. Kyle knelt onto the floor, his hands placed behind his back.

The two knights did not hesitate any longer, bringing out arctech handcuffs and tying both his hands and legs. One of the knights delivered a strong punch to Kyle’s cheek, bruising it. “This is for Ali, you fucker.”

Kyle simply smiled in response, infuritating the knight even more.

“Don’t bother with him – he’ll suffer for it later. Pack him up.”

The knights stuffed him into a body bag, making it impossible for him to see where they were going. He could sense he was at one point thrown into the back of an arctech wagon, while the paving of the road was steadily getting worse and worse.

After half an hour, he was unceremoniously taken out of the bag and hauled into an empty room which seemed like a makeshift cell. Made in the last month or so – was it meant for me? I have a rough idea of who it is.

They bolted the door behind them, leaving Kyle in near complete darkness as the hushed discussion of the two knights could be heard outside the cell, with Kyle’s hearing enhanced by his stat points.

“Fuck… Ali…” One of the knights lamented. “That guy fucking owed me three drinks. The cocksucker. And to think my handgun jammed halfway even.”

“That guy, who the fuck even is he? He’s a monster! I never seen a human do anything like that – not even our instructor was that fast.”

“I don’t know and I don’t want to know. As long as he is in chains, I’m fine. When is he coming?”

“He’s still on the way – it’ll be five more minutes and then we’ll hand him over.”

“Got it.”

Five minutes passed with the knights checking and fixing their equipment. Kyle breathed slowly, waiting patiently as he tested the strength of the handcuffs. The bright engraving seemed to be unbreakable by his current standards.

The rumbling of an arctech wagon soon alerted him, prompting Kyle to crawl closer to the door as a group of footsteps echoed through the dilapidated building.

“Where is Mr Greyborn?”

“Tied up in the room behind me. That fucker killed five of our knights.”

“Five?! How? Was he armed with a repeater?”

“No – he did not have a single gun. All he had was this.”

“This is a joke right? You are the Special Knights of Versia! You’re supposed to be the cream of the crop! Why does the state even pay you guys?!”

The knights had nothing to say, remaining silent.

“Fine. He’s under my custody now. I’ll find a way to cover it up.”

“Yes, sir.”

The sounds of the knights clanking armour were now replaced by another set of footsteps. Bodyguards. Kyle straightened himself up against the wall, leaning against the wall as he waited for them to approach the door.

As soon as he heard a hand touch the door’s handle, Kyle leapt into action. Penchant for Violence!

His strength doubled – allowing him to easily break off the handcuffs. The first bodyguard stepped through the cell, only to have his head grabbed by Kyle and unceremoniously squashed against the wall, knocking him out immediately. Kyle immediately ducked as the second bodyguard reacted quickly, firing three shots at Kyle.

A bullet grazed Kyle’s shoulder as Kyle closed the distance in one strong leap, toppling the bodyguard over with a martial arts flip and slamming his back into the ground. The bodyguard nearly gagged as Kyle delivered three punches to the face, concussing him immediately.

Grabbing the handgun, he positioned himself at the edge of the prison cell door. As he tried to peek his head out, two shots rang clear, pinging off the concrete walls and forcing Kyle back into cover.

“Minister Dekar, this is quite the welcome. I did not know Versia was so well-versed in hospitality.” Kyle yelled out through the doorway, while checking the magazine of the handgun.

“How are you enjoying Tenar, Mr Greyborn? This might be the last time you get to see daylight.”

“I could say the same for you. You should hope your bodyguards are better than the Special Ops Knights you sent. I was under the impression this was to be a clean business transaction.”

“The sale and production of weapons for the military is done through state-owned ventures. I can hardly allow you to run free and set up a private venture. For all I know, you could be funnelling the money that you would earn back to Raktor, or even leak military information. Please understand that this is simply a security measure.”

“So you decided to try and capture me as a prisoner.”

“As long as I have your brain, I don’t need to deal with you at all. Give it up. If you kill me – you’ll never make it out of Versia alive.”

“Are you sure?”

Kyle stuck out his handgun, firing back in the general direction where the two shots came from. He did not hit anything, but the bodyguards and the minister began to take cover.

Kyle peeked out his head to finally have a good view of where he was held – a derelict warehouse with plenty of pillars. Already four bodyguards were hiding behind the pillars, armed with repeater rifles that were clearly stolen from Raktor.

“I read about the reparations deal - but it seems you were lying about the military not being involved in the smuggling of weapons.”

“Versia needs every bit of help it can get. If you are truly sympathetic to the cause, as you previously said when we first met, you will surrender yourself now.”

“Minister Dekar – the world works on mutual benefit.”

“You will have the benefit of knowing you are working for a brilliant ideal.”

“Don’t try to push your luck any further, Dekar. I only have so much patience.”

“Says the person who is trapped in a room. What can you possibly do against four repeater rifles?”

This is My Turf!

Kyle stepped out into the open, shocking the Minister. “Don’t kill him – aim for his limbs!”

The four bodyguards opened fire, the hail of bullets rushing towards Kyle. Instead of blasting apart his flesh, the bullets were all deflected, ricocheting and lodging into the walls and pillars.

“What the-“ Before Minister Dekar could exclaim out loud, Kyle was already sprinting down, closing the gap with the bodyguard. Kyle rushed headlong into the bodyguard, knocking him over with the barrier before jumping up high and landing on top of the fallen bodyguard, the invisible barrier flattening him to the ground in a cry of pain.

Kyle continued to rush the bodyguards, timing himself. As soon as he had ten seconds left on his skill, he sprinted for Minister Dekar. Just as he reached the minister, the skill wore off, allowing Kyle to grapple Minister Dekar from the back and use him as a hostage shield, the barrel of the handgun aimed at the minister’s head.

“Now, let’s have a nice talk, shall we?”

“Idiot. I have even more bodyguards outside who-“

A loud explosion suddenly blasted through the shattered windows of the warehouse, with sounds of shooting and fighting outside. The bodyguards who had their rifles aimed at Kyle were all stunned, wondering what was happening beyond the walls.

Suddenly, a veritable barrage of bullets fired through the various windows, nearly two hundred pelting the entire area. The four bodyguards who were standing in the open were all riddled with bullet holes as the force staggered their bodies back into a ragdoll corpse that slumped across the floor in a pool of their own blood.

Kyle grabbed the Minister and pulled him low onto the ground, keeping their heads down as the barrage of bullets flooded the warehouse. “Your bodyguards are a bit too trigger-happy,” Kyle yelled into the Minister’s ears over the raging sound.

The suppressing fire soon died out, with the Minister utterly confused now as well, his mind racing through all the possibilities. “None of my bodyguards have that kind of firepower!”

“Then someone else is trying to kill the both of us together.”

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