Broad-Spectrum Assassin

The Gateway to the Truth

PROLOGUE

Black shreds fells from my tattered body and were consumed by the past. By the time my awareness stopped spinning, I found myself in a depressed cave. My sense of feeling gave me all the information I needed. The creatures of this place were massacred.

I alter my vision to detect life, but saw nothing. Even the insects have left this tunnel.

The tunnel is wet and drips with misery. The damp despair gives it a rather alluring shine along the purple walls, creating a simple source of light. The back of the tunnel, like the past is itself is a meaningless swirl of darkness.

My head is turned. I adjust my sight to see a grinning girl. I make note of her features: hair as blinding as the sun, pigtails shaped like arrows and a mouth like a predator from the deepest waters. Despite her short stature, she is brimming with confidence, rather like my dear daughter.

"You're going to tell the deity everything you know. Confess!" She shakes my ragged body.

My memory slowly fills my mind, like a poison filling its target. I was beaten and captured. This little ball of energy must have taken me away from my captors, a mysterious group of different species known as Shadow Truth.

Perhaps I can strike a bargain with the little creature.

"Great Deity, if I give you the information you seek, will you take me away from this place?" I ask.

"This is where the party is gonna happen. No way am I gonna miss the party." She hops in excitement.

"Shadow Truth is dangerous. They may bring you to the Nothing along with me." I cradled the little one in a weak embrace.

The girl pats me. "Poor unfortunate non-believer."

"A belief in nothingness after death is still a belief. Save your pity for the poor souls who are duped with the hope of rewards for a heroic death."

Heroes die. Assassins survive. Such is the way of things.

"You will bless the deity with story time and in return the deity shall give you the gift of faith." She sits cross-legged and rocks back and forth.

I'm too weak to escape and she's too simple-minded to bargain with. All I can do now is buy time for my daughter to flee.

TomCat steps into the cave, bringing my back to awareness. "Dere Dere, you better be here."

"Yay! Friendship time! The deity demands snuggles." Dere Dere hops into TomCat's arms and nuzzles her breasts.

I had thought this CatBoy general was killed, but some unknown events had her traveling alongside my darling cupcake. The CatGirl shifted allegiance to Shadow Truth so that she could kill me.

Vengeance is a gift that cheers us on but it cannot exist in the absence of hope. This hot-headed feline foolishly takes that hope for granted.

"Why are you looking at me?" she asks, her steamy muscles growing in her arm as she clenches her fist.

The vengeful soldier had a toned body, the eyes of a trained killer and cute fluffy kitty ears. Perhaps if they were sliced off her head, they would make for a nice gift for my sugar pumpkin.

"Stop staring!" She kicks me, causing me to collapse into a puddle of my own purple blood. "I would kill you but I want to know every word they said before you ruthlessly slaughtered them."

"I'll do my best to remember but the screams always get in the way." I scratch my head with a black tendril from my cloak.

Her eyes heat up like forest fires. She removes her heavy gauntlets with feline features before battering my body with her fists.