Creaking tree limbs groaned hollowly as the night air stirred against them. The moon, full and bright, shone brightly down atop a darkened city scape. Shadows twisted in their black and writhing manner. At first nothing stirred save for the wind and shadows, but soon atop a nearby roof a darkened silhouette formed against the rays of the bright moon above.

A slight figure clad head-to-toe in skin tight cloth moved swiftly in the moonlit darkness. The silhouette looked much like a black shadow as it leapt from one roof to another rooftop nearby. A small castle up ahead was its destination, though it was not a medieval scene. It was a modern fortress replete with turrets and armed guards who wielded automatic weapons.

They were skilled professionals, each an elite member of an even more elite organization. They were ready for anything. At this stage in their life, nothing their world had to offer could shake their resolve.

The shadow walked through the massive stone wall that guarded the place as though it were not there then crouched low behind a bush. Two guards on patrol soon walked by. Silently, the shadow threw a dart toward one of the men even as it slipped forward to slide a garrote wire around the neck of the other. The dart landed and a virulent poison took hold. The afflicted man found that he could not speak, as though his vocal cords had been restricted. His body refused to move or he would have fired a weapon. The cold paralysis of voice and body were but a precursor of things to come. Soon, he fell to the ground silenced forever.

The struggle of the remaining man was brief. Unable to call out due to the lethal weapon choking him, he lost consciousness almost instantaneously. No blood was left to mark the scene of the double homicide. Soon the bodies were hidden well outside of the light in the shadow of the massive wall that surrounded the castle. Their black body armor easily prevented them from being seen by a keen observer, of which there was currently none.

It moved, the silhouette. A murderer in the night in search of a different prey, it moved through the shadows with intense purpose.

Voices reached the silhouette. Masculine. Proud. The voices of men who knew themselves to be the best of the best.

"We've never had it this good. The boss really is something," said one man.

The slender figure watched as the guards continued to walk past while they chatted merrily. So concerned with their conversation that they might not have seen it in broad daylight, they knew nothing of the fate that lurked nearby.

"You really think he's a god like he claims?" asked the other man.

"Who knows? I've never seen anyone who can conjure weapons out of thin air, and he made this entire castle by himself in a day," said the other man.

"Doesn't matter. God, alien, just another man... He pays well and nothing can stop us as long as we work for him," said the first man.

The silhouette allowed the men to pass unmolested. Their chatter would help to cover any errant sound that might be made by its movements.

Through the castle halls it strode. Shadow to shadow it moved with feline grace, and the blistering speed of a bird of prey.

No guards caught sight of it. Not even a whisper of sound betrayed it as it passed within a hair's breadth of some of them. It would have been quite simple to reach out and snap their necks, to end their lives. It was unnecessary, however. The first group of guards were alert in their fashion. So far the rest seemed unconcerned. They were unassailable. They were fools. Alert guards were a concern, but foolish ones were a gift from the gods.

Up the stairs, and then onward to the topmost floor the shadow went. Soon, peculiar sounds echoed through the air. Passionate cries of a woman who cried out in ecstasy, it was obvious what the shadow's target was up to that night. Good. This would be easy.

Through the wall went the shadow, and into a large well-appointed room. Silk curtains, satin sheets, and pure gold ornamentation all around the room. The man inside lived well indeed.

Three women of buxom form and lustful demeanor were sprawled across the bed. A veritable mountain of a man who could easily be eight feet tall pounded away between the thighs of a blond woman who seemed to be enjoying every moment of it.

"Fuck yeah. Take it you filthy slut," said the man. He groaned loudly then slapped her across her large bouncing breasts. "Earn that money."

"H-harder!" she cried. He obliged by slapping her across the breasts once more. Her legs rose up and she locked her ankles behind his bucking hips.

The shadow tilted its head to the side briefly. Unnoticed in the dimly lit room, it gestured in the air before it and a small vial appeared. Quietly, it remove the stopper and an odorless vapor seeped out.

Several minutes of wanton fuckery continued unabated before the women began to feel an urge to sleep. The man slapped their breasts or asses now and then to wake them up, but after several minutes he too began to succumb to the allure of sleep.

"Can't believe you sluts are wearing me out," he muttered. He still kept pounding away, however.

The vial continued its work. Soon, he started to pant and gasp for air as he struggled to remain awake. Certain that he was merely exhausted he said, "Whoo! These bitches will be the death of me," before he slumped down atop his red haired whore, the current recipient of his affections.

Another few minutes passed in complete silence, before the shadow moved. It stopped at the foot of the bed, then gestured in the air. A pistol with a silencer on it appeared. Above it, the words 'Mission Completion Weapon' appeared.

The shadow emptied the entire magazine into the man's back, and then it dispersed into motes of light. The whores were left alone, as they were not the target.

Soon, a bright light appeared off to one side. The shadow looked around the room then snatched up a few golden trinkets, including a necklace that adorned the head of one of the bustier sluts. Briefly, the shadow toyed with the woman's nipples and pressed on the pliant flesh of her oversized breasts then unleashed the first sound of the night, a snort.

Done with the brief bout of molestation, the murderous shadow strove toward the light and escaped the castle uncontested. Mission complete.

A delicate yawn escaped the figure's lips briefly, but then it rushed over to the glowing orb that acted as the heart of its home point. Quietly, it received its reward for the murder of the large man then turned away.

Normally, there would be down time after such a mission. The pay was excellent and it would be good to live freely for a time. However, to the shadow's surprise a new message and mission briefing appeared.

Message!

Greetings murderer.

You have been chosen for a special assassination assignment. A high-priority target has appeared. Eliminate the man in the mission assignment and receive fabulous rewards. Fail and be eliminated.

"Another player to kill?" asked the shadow, its voice soft and feminine in tone.

The figure removed its body suit revealing a lush feminine frame. Not as needlessly buxom as the harlots in the last mission, but quite the well-toned handful, she would have been the envy of any woman and desire of any man.

She checked the mission briefing then blinked. Delicate fingers gently traced the name of the man whom she must kill. "That name takes me back... It can't be him, but that's certainly a surprise."

Curious, she read through the mission briefing then tilted her head to the side. "The assassination will take place during the next time that he enters a storyline mission. I have three chances to kill him... What is this?"

This was an unprecedented assassination assignment. Usually there was only one chance to kill a player. Succeed or die. What was so special about this blue haired man who had a name so similar to someone she had been quite fond of back on Earth? They wanted him dead to such a degree that she would have three chances to kill him, and those chances would continue even if he completed his story mission before she ran out of chances. She would simply be put in holding then have to try again during the next story mission.

Her lips quirked into a sinister smile, though it did not reach her cold dead eyes. "This could be interesting."

The murderer continued to smile at the named target for quite some time. She would be subjected to waiting in the loading area until he went on a story mission. The time would pass quickly for her, but there was no way to know how long it would take for him to undertake such a mission. Such was the fate of one who had been labeled with the charge of murder for player killing as a means to survive. Her life was no longer her own. She had to work toward defeating the Grand Emissary, even as she was forced to murder the hope of her world one champion at a time.