Damien grabbed the hilt of his katana and unclipped it from the side of his body, preparing himself for the possibility of a fight. His plan of catching the target off guard had failed, and he was left with few other options.

Ivan The Butcher grinned at the sight of the sword. “So you’re not just following me for fun, eh? Someone must’ve put a bounty on my head.” He eyed Damien up and down, his wild smile growing bigger. “You the best they could afford? Just some random street samurai? You’re in over your head, kid. Tell me who put out the hit and how much they’re paying you. I’ll double it.”

Damien said nothing as he cautiously stepped toward the mass murderer, his fingers tightly clutching the weapon at his side. The lack of fear on The Butcher’s face, and the casual way in which he spoke troubled the pirate slightly. Ivan had known he was being followed, and he’d chosen to lead his pursuer into a dead alley, just to nonchalantly negotiate with him? It didn’t seem right at all.

On the other hand, perhaps it should have been expected from someone with a reputation for arrogance and being somewhat deranged. Killing people for both fun and business was normal to Ivan, so maybe he was hoping to call off the hit through a transaction. Someone, somewhere had put money on his head, and he was raising the price to get rid of the bounty.

Or maybe it was a bluff or a distraction of some sort. Regardless, Damien had no intention of accepting the offer or backing down. Ivan was utter scum, and the money for the job was just a bonus for taking out someone so heinous.

“Strong, silent type, huh? Guess I gotta get rid of you the hard way.” Ivan slipped both of his hands into the pockets of his trench coat, then pulled them out again, revealing a knife in each hand.

Damien halted his step and immediately scanned the weapons.

Jagged Fangs

Damage: 28

Bonuses: +10 Thermal Damage

Rarity: Uncommon

Condition: Good

Those could be the weapons he uses to kill his victims, Damien thought as he eyed the irregular, rugged edges of both blades. Looks like he won’t go down without a fight.

It was only the two of them in the shadowy alley, the afternoon sun blocked by the high-rise buildings that surrounded them in every direction. The sound of crowds bustling could be heard somewhere in the distance, but a melee battle here would likely go unnoticed.

The small blades on Ivan’s knives suddenly let out a hum, and they began to rotate violently, like mini-chainsaws. They quickly reddened in color until they began to glow with a deep, fiery orange. Ivan’s grin grew much deeper, and his eyes bulged. “Last chance, kid. If you don’t wanna die, don’t fuck with me.”

Staying vigilant of the rotating blades, Damien took a deep breath and stepped forward again. On top of eliminating the target, the job required that he secure some data stored within Ivan’s neural network. That data would quickly disappear upon death, so he’d only have a short window of time to complete the extraction, or it would be lost for good and he’d fail the mission.

Ivan narrowed his eyes and took a battle stance, his Jagged Fangs spinning violently.

If those blades touch me they’ll probably melt through my sub-dermal armor and do some real damage, Damien thought to himself as he mentally prepared a battle plan. My katana will give me the advantage in range. Best to make use of it.

Damien made the first move, dashing forward and swinging his sword, trying to catch his target with the outer half of his blade. Just as the tip entered into range, Ivan shuffled backward, expertly evading the strike.

Another set of swings followed after him, but the Butcher was more slippery than he appeared, evading each attack with minimal effort while jockeying for an opening. Frustrated, Damien attacked with a powerful thrust, but once again Ivan danced around the edge of the katana and slipped past it, closing the distance in one motion. He was now within range for his own weapons, exactly what Damien didn’t want to happen.

“Gotcha!” Ivan exclaimed as he thrust one of his Jagged Fangs directly at Damien. From that distance, there was no way for Damien to reposition and block in time. Luckily, he had a trick up his sleeve.

Parry, he called out in his mind, activating his Skill. A streak of black, red, and silver flashed across his vision as his arms moved with unnatural speed to crash down on the knife, knocking it out of Ivan’s grip and on to the ground. The maneuver kept the pirate unscathed.

Ivan’s eyes sprang wide open as he backed off, a look of pure disbelief replacing the arrogant smile he wore earlier.

“Almost got me.” Damien smirked as he checked his Status in the corner of his vision.

HP: 100/100

Stamina: 100/100

Focus: 93/100

Just as he’d expected, the difficulty of the maneuver had cost him a decent amount of Focus, but it was a small price to pay to keep himself safe. This was the strength of a versatile skill like Parry. Even when caught off guard, he could protect himself by surrendering control of his body, and allowing the skill to surpass the limitations of his own manual movements.

With this trump card, he could defend himself from a wide variety and angle of attacks, provided that he had enough Focus to use it, and that he was prepared for the attack in the first place. Since he had plenty of Focus left, he had his defenses covered, but there was still the problem of catching his slippery opponent, who’s look of shock was starting to morph into anger.

He’s too good at dodging my strikes, Damien mused. Which means I need a different approach…

He charged forward once again, preparing a similar strike with his weapon. Again, Ivan kept his eyes on the katana waiting for the perfect opportunity to evade it. Then, as Damien got into range, he planted one leg into the ground and raised his other foot, bringing his knee up to his own chest. With his entire body behind the attack, Damien slammed his raised foot square into the midsection of his enemy, knocking Ivan backward onto the ground. In an instant, he was on top of the mass murderer, and he drove his katana into the Ivan’s chest, spilling his blood onto the dark and quiet alley.

Just like that, it was over.

Damien allowed himself to relax, surprised and grateful that his enemy didn’t have any sub-dermal armor of his own. Without armor to provide resistance to the blade, Ivan’s fate was sealed the instant his body was pierced.

Was he really so arrogant that he would fight without armor? Damien thought as he stared down at his fallen enemy. I guess you don’t need it when your victims are mostly innocent civilians… Oh crap!

The mission objectives sprang to mind once again. With the target dead, he didn’t have much time left before the data the client had asked for would be gone for good.

He dropped to a kneeling position and began searching for the neural slot. As expected, he found a thin slit on the side of Ivan’s head, right beside the temple. From his pocket, Damien pulled out the Dream Eater--a chip that Valerie had given him-- and slipped it inside the neural slot, allowing the program within to secure the files for him.

A few seconds later, the end of the chip let out a flash of green, signaling that the extraction process was done, and that the data had been sent to Valerie, the woman who had hired him for this job. He mentally opened his GPI and sent a message to her:

Final target has been eliminated.

Confirm that you’ve received the designated files.

A few seconds later, he received a reply from Valerie, the notification popping up in Damien’s field of vision.

Confirmed.

Well done, Ghost. The client should be pleased.

Transferring payment over now.

Quest Complete!

You have completed the quest: Eliminate the Human Traffickers!

Received 1,000 Funds from Valerie.

Level Up!

You have reached Level 6!

You have gained 1 Skill Point!