At that moment, so many things dropped at the Tower plaza: the bass, the assassin's lifeless body, and everyone's jaw. They couldn't believe the sudden turn that this contest had taken!

Markus had almost been assassinated! Who dared! The soldiers were shocked just from imagining the terrible outcome that had barely been averted. They furiously growled before spreading like warrior ants protecting their queen— eh king? 

"Quick, try and find if he has any accomplices!" Roderick instantly understood the crux of the matter. The chances that a nameless lone killer had the guts to target an A-Rank official in public were slim.

"Josh, how did you guess that this would happen?" Amidst the commotion, Alexa curiously asked. None of the security U-Bots had detected anything, and it was the same for the hardened soldiers. Yet, he had! 

Josh calmly shook his head as now wasn't the time for this. They had other matters to deal with, two of them.

As soon as he had dealt the fatal blow, Josh had felt two individuals send extremely sharp killing intent his way. But, a fraction of a second later, it had disappeared akin to snow on a warm stove.

This meant that these people were trained killers: the absolute worst! Their kind would hunt their target until it fell, no matter what. They would inevitably show up in one's darkest moments to add fatality to injury! 

Back on Earth, Josh had experienced it firsthand. For an entire month, he had been hounded by a man with no face and a perfect assassination record. It was only through a series of coincidences that he had even survived. 

He quickly searched for his two targets, finally finding them mixing into the crowd. At first glance, they appeared nothing more than two worried strangers wondering about the nature of the commotion.

One looked like an everyday unranked Climber with the face of someone that had half-given up on their dreams. The other appeared to be a clerk that one would likely find monitoring a 24/7 U-Bot operated shop. 

There was no sign whatsoever that they knew each other or had been near the assassination attempt in the first place. These were boring people that would fly under the radar anywhere. Or they would have, usually. 

Gaiden was busy taking care of Markus, who kept shouting "BEER!" for some reason.

In the meantime, Roderick approached to get some info: "Josh, do you have any idea who that man was?"

"No, but we'll know soon. Don't worry. We'll take care of it." He turned toward the Draconic members, grinning. "Is anyone up for some friendly competition? A race of some sort..." 

"A race?!" Usain Dash had appeared out of nowhere as if teleporting! But, the many soldiers he had toppled on his way dispelled that illusion. 

"You race addict! Can't you just go slowly for once!" AIYA snorted. 

"I am speed," Usain stated. 

"Alright! Just tell us who we are hunting already." Kasha was already stretching her long legs with a playful grin. 

Josh pointed to the two individuals from their blind spot. "These two." But, the two targets instantly began sprinting away, somehow immediately knowing that their cover was blown. 

"Let the hunt begin!" Josh declared with all three participants bolting away. 

Usain dash was the first to leave, dashing out with the speed of a rocket. Just the air he was displacing was enough to cause cries of panic within the crowd. But, this time, he made sure not to collide with anyone. 

Kasha followed right behind as she flashed with a green aura before vanishing completely and reappearing about 50 meters away. Then, she kept using that ability, and they lost track of her. 

As for AIYA, he could be heard cursing as he followed them at a tortoise pace. "This is bullshit! The both of them are cheating, I swear!" 

"Is he going to be fine?" Dale asked, concerned on the side. 

"He literally just joined to prove that he's a great hunter too. But you should be worried about the Metropolis instead. He tends to cause a lot of destruction whenever he gets his titanic bow out." Joe commented. 

"'Lots of destruction', says the mad berserker!" Emsee couldn't help but point out the irony of it. 

That's when Gaiden made his way over, done handling the once drunk and now deathly embarrassed Markus. "What's the situation? Why is everyone just standing by?" He asked, puzzled. 

"These guys are professional assassins, the slippery kind. Sending tons of troops will just increase the body count and the overall confusion. It would easily allow them to use the chaos to their advantage." Josh explained. 

"I still think we should establish a defense perimeter." Gaiden reiterated.

But it's at that moment that they could see Kasha appear, furiously dragging along a man by the scalp. That had to hurt! She had a triumphant smile on her face as she ignored the cries of protest of their opponent.

Josh glanced at her, smiling back. He had to admit that her current appearance was awe-inspiring: she looked akin to a war goddess.

"Damn, you're good! I knew I could count on you! This calls for some classic celebratory brownies! Ah, do we still have some of the ones that Ness made, or did you guys eat them all?" Josh said in a great mood. 

"Afraid they're all gone, but we can always grab some the next time we pass by Metropolis-C," Emsee replied while scratching his head. 

Josh approached Kasha to grab her prisoner, looking her straight in the eyes. In this glance, there was profound admiration for her, along with hints of affection. For a single instant, the world stopped, and they shared a beautiful moment. 

That's when she jumped at him, along with her supposed prisoner, both wielding dark deadly-looking daggers that pierced directly toward his heart.

Josh's death was inevitable....or so they thought. Minor's barrier was already around him and foiled their plans as their weapons bounced back, not causing any damage. 

That's when Josh went for the kill, enhancing himself with mana. Just as he was about to deliver the killing blow, he felt some faint killing intent coming from a distance. There was one more! 

Afterward, both enemies were quickly restrained by Team 7, knocked unconscious, and tied up like dumplings. 

"I'm glad you guys understood my message," Josh laughingly told them. 

They could only roll their eyes. As if they could forget Josh just eating brownies while they painstakingly fought Ness in the Alter Tower!

Josh turned toward the two generals. "You guys wanted to be useful, right? You can interrogate these two. Who they are, why they want to kill Markus, who hired them, etc. Thanks a lot!" They nodded in agreement. 

"As for us, how about we—" But Josh stopped abruptly. 

The real Kasha had appeared along with a visibly annoyed AIYA. "I can't believe those bastards would come back here instead of running away!"

Then Kasha noticed her "doppelganger". She frowned, slowly approached the unconscious target, and lacerated her face until it was unrecognizable with all the blood. Only then did she give a satisfied smile while many gulped at how naturally she had done so. 

"Welcome back. Now let's—" Once more, Josh was interrupted. 

A fully armored Climber had appeared a distance away, pointed straight at Josh, and shouted: "This one has come to defeat you! Prepare yourself!" 

-_- What was it now?! ...

Creator's Thought

Their decision to kill me was truly questionable. Were they seriously expecting to succeed? Still, kudos to them for temporarily fooling Kasha and AIYA even if it was a very sad display overall. As for Usain, could he be considered MIA? How something like that can even happen is beyond me.