Fantasy Assassin in a modern world

169 The growing urban legend

Michael’s words once again dumbfounded Loki, but after calming down he sighed as he looked at the serious expression on Michael’s face.

“I can already guess what you have planned. An after-school club is just a facade for your true goal which is to make me teach you after school. It’s quite a plan you’ve thought up on the spot, but it’s obviously full of flaws, which is expected of something you haven’t thought about deeply enough, there are too many things that could go wrong... Well, if you really are able to start such a club somehow, then I might consider being its adviser. So what kind of club will it be?”

“Huh, umm... How about we make an occult club?”

“That’s pretty good actually, so if we use mana and practice some spells we can make an excuse of it being part of club activities. Still, you do know that to create a club you need at least five members, and the approval of the student council president, meaning the first hurdle is you need four more people to join... Even if you do find some people to join, and miraculously convince the student council president, how are we going to practice spells, are you going to tell the other members of the club about the existence of mana?”

“...”

.....

Michael did not know how to respond to Loki’s questions and became silent as he realized that making such a club would be harder than he initially thought. On the other hand, seeing Michael’s reaction Loki couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m heading back first.” Michael broke free from his thoughts when he heard Loki’s voice. Michael stood in front of Loki and bowed his head.

“Thank you for the training. I’ll do my best not only in continuing my training but in creating the club as well.”

“Do your best.” Loki waved his hand as he headed down.

...

After leaving the shrine Loki went home, but when he arrived neither one of his siblings was there. As a very concerned big brother, Loki already knew that they were also out there training hard.

Liam was creating a new style of martial art using guns and Matsuri was helping him, on the other hand, Alisa found a real expert to teach her a supposed ancient martial art.

When Loki was investigating the old man called Lyner he couldn’t even get close to the other person without being detected. With one encounter Loki knew that the old man was the real thing, he could also sense that the other party wasn’t just using inner energy but he also had a technique to access mana, but unlike Loki, the old man could only access the mana of the world for a few minutes.

Loki had asked Harold to check if he could find anything about the old man Lyner, but even with Harold’s skills he could not find much, all he could dig up was what Loki already knew.

At this time Loki decided that since this was his little sister’s choice he would not prevent her from learning the old man’s martial art, but if the old man does anything out of line he would destroy the other party.

...

‘Hmm, I wonder what I should do now? The underworld groups have been slowly moving out of the city ever since I killed Catherine Walker. Right now there are only a few of those underworld bosses left in the city. Even that assassin the Elegant Scorpion hasn’t shown himself after I defeated him. I wonder should I go out and patrol the streets like some of those heroes in the shows Liam likes?...’

Loki mused to himself as his lips arced upward and shook his head. No matter what he does it’s impossible for someone like him to become something like a hero.

‘Still, I guess I can do some minor jobs just to make some of those low-level hoodlums know that I don’t just target the big guys.’

...

In a dark alley, two guys were smoking at the side of the wall, one of them was admiring the night sky and puffed out some smoke, while the other was shaking a bit.

“Hey, are you nervous?”

“I think we should stop.” The other guy who was shaking quickly responded.

“What, we haven’t even done anything yet. Why are you so nervous?”

“Haven’t you heard of that assassin that kills guys like us? I heard that even people like Catherine Walker couldn’t do anything to him.”

“Oh that guy, you mean the urban legend Fade?”

“Yeah... I heard that his not just an assassin but a monster that hides in the shadows.” Seeing his companion nervously explaining the other guy couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What the f*ck are you saying? You’re making him out to be some kind of boogeyman.”

“Isn’t he?... Aren’t you afraid?”

“Why should I be afraid? We don’t even know if Fade is real or not. The only time we ever saw him was through a video and a blurry one at that. There only rumors of rumors about him.”

“Then who was it that killed Catherine Walker, and the other gang bosses?”

“Anyone could’ve killed those guys, Catherine Walker was indeed a big shot that people in the city feared, but she had a lot of enemies, the same as those other underworld bosses. Many people had the motive to kill those guys, and there were a few that had the ability to do so. There’s also the fact that no one has actually seen Fade, and most of those so-called sightings came from rumors, we’re not even sure if Catherine Walker is truly dead, for all we know she could’ve just left the city because of all the sh*t that’s been happening.”

“... Yeah, you do make some sense.”

“Of course, I do make sense. Not to mention even if Fade is real he doesn’t really target petty thieves like us. Also, we’ve been stealing from this area for a few days now, and no shadowy assassin came to attack us, so chill alright? Stop thinking about stupid things like a fictional boogeyman coming out to attack us.”

When the cowardly robber heard his partner’s explanation the shivering guy nodded his head as he was finally calming down.

“Alright, now let’s, oh wait somebody’s coming are you ready?”

The cowardly robber nodded his head as he took out a knife while the other guy took out a loaded gun. The alley was rather dark and the two could barely make out who the person walking towards them was, but it didn’t really matter to them as they just wanted to rob the other person.

“Hey friend, how about you hand over your wallet and nobody gets hurt.”

The person with the gun pointed it at the newcomer, it was at this moment the two robbers felt like something was wrong. Usually, the moment they take out a gun, the victim would either scream in fear or threaten them, some even beg and cry, but the other party did none of those.

“Hey buddy, just hand over your wallet and we can all leave.” The shadowy figure in front of him didn’t comply and instead started walking forward.

“Wait, who told you to move? Stop right there, I said stop!”

The armed robber started to panic as he shot a bullet in the air, yet the shadowy figure did not stop and continued to move forward. The robber got angry and this time he was about to shoot closer to the shadowy figure but then the gun in his hand flew out, it was also at this moment the two robbers saw who the shadowy figure was.

.....

A man in a black trench coat, a white mask, wearing black combat boots. This person was the very man they were talking about, Fade. Seeing the urban legend was true, the man with the knife quickly started running away leaving his companion behind, but before he could get far something wrapped around his leg which made him trip.

The confident robber who said Fade was just the boogeyman a fictional character, was now trembling in fear as he fell to the ground looking at Fade. The robber felt his very soul trembling as Fade approached him. The robber saw the man with the white mask looked down at him and spoke.

“For as long as the reason is just and the price is right, I shall bring death to any and all evil. Hmph, how fortunate for you two that you aren’t unredeemable just yet.”

The robber was going to ask what Fade meant when he suddenly felt something hit the back of his neck, it was then his consciousness started to fade. The last thing the robber saw before fainting was Fade’s white mask inches away from his face.

...

A few minutes after that encounter, when the police arrived all that was left at the scene were the two unconscious robbers.

It wasn’t just those two robbers, dozen of would-be criminals, or low-leveled thugs that lost their masters have been beaten unconscious and tied up. Many of those who woke up later claimed that they have met the legendary Fade.

The news of those criminals being caught by the police got a lot of attention the following days, as many speculate that it was a Fade wannabe that beat them up as the Modus Operandi was different from the original Fade’s MO. For one thing, this time the criminals were alive, whereas most of the rumors before claimed that Fade took the lives of all his targets.

Still, no matter what the truth was, Leim City was slowly becoming a place where the people fear of even thinking about doing a crime.