Blood flowed from the zenith of Mt. Furi. A pile of corpses was stacked almost as high as the mountain itself. And at the top of it was...
"Haah... haah..."
If seen in any other situation, one would probably identify the being atop the mountain as a beautiful dancer. This interpretation was not entirely incorrect - it was a dance of death.
*Bang bang bang bang* . . .
At tens, hundreds, no... almost thousands of times per second, the sounds of gunshots dissipated into the open sky as the woman spun around firing a myriad of weapons. Every gunshot was an explosion, and with every round, multiple corpses joined the ever-growing pile. Despite her best efforts, the pursuers never faltered. The number of people after her was endless.
However...
"I..."
*Bang bang bang* . . .
"WILL..."
*Bang bang bang* . . .
"NEVER..."
*Bang bang bang* . . .
"FALL."
As soon as she spoke these words, a giant explosion emanated from the peak of the mountain. It was as if the mountain was a dormant volcano that had erupted. This was her final move, one that would wipe out everything around her in an unprecedented radius. Nothing survived except for Mt. Furi itself. It was as if the corpses and blood from earlier were just an illusion. And of course, there was one other person. In the center of the blast radius, the woman stumbled and fell, her stamina drained.
"Did... I finally get rid of everyone..."
As she uttered these lines, she knew that she possibly raised a flag. So she gathered her willpower and remaining stamina to stand back up and search her surroundings.
Mt. Furi was vast. Even the peak was a kilometron in diameter. However, despite its large size, there was not a single life form remaining. All that remained was the Gun Swap Goddess herself. She didn't have any doubts about her ultimate ability, but she couldn't help but feel uneasy. The freezing gale howled in the empty space at the peak of the mountain, adding to the unnerving atmosphere. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't detect anybody nearby. However, she knew this was impossible. Because...
*THWACK.*
A dagger landed squarely in her back, and the woman toppled over in a manner unbefitting of her title.
"Fae Sol... no. Gun Swap Goddess."
A male voice came from behind her, and she was unable to detect the being approaching her. This meant it was a counter-class being, most likely an assassin-type, on par with herself. There weren't many that could match this criterion, but she expected something like this to happen. Ironically, the countless people sent after her were merely throwaways. However, against the Gun Swap Goddess, this number was necessary in order to drain her stamina. And now, a real threat had arrived.
"What... do you want?"
Fae attempted to rise off the ground, but no matter how hard she tried, only her fingers twitched. It was a fast-acting poison that could even paralyze the Gun Swap Goddess herself, which meant that it was one of the highest-level assassins in existence using one of the highest-grade poisons. Unfortunately, this information was not enough to identify the killer.
"Of course... I won't give it to you... no matter how much you plead..."
"The Slyker Dynasty must fall."
"...!"
*What?*
At this, Fae Sol... no, Jisha Slyker, felt fear for the first time in a while. Her eyes widened. Did she hear that correctly?
"What... do you exactly mean by that?"
"I meant what I said. The Slyker Dynasty must fall. You must be eliminated."
"What...!"
*THWACK!*
Another dagger was implanted in her back, and with double the poison in her bloodstream, she became unable to speak. She wanted to yell, send a message to anybody about her situation, but the poison prevented her from doing so.
Fae heard footsteps slowly approaching her from behind. Fortunately, the system prevented those with crude thoughts from performing vile actions, so she was not that afraid. After all, if she died, she would only be afflicted with a minor penalty. There were more important issues at hand.
*Our dynasty will be eliminated? When this is over, I must tell Father...*
Thoughts of who to contact swirled around her head, but one sentence cut them short.
"The Emperor is dead."
*...huh?*
A sentence so strange that Fae couldn't process what she just heard. Of course, her face remained expressionless due to paralysis.
"... Ah... I forgot you're paralyzed. It's a shame I couldn't see your face twist in despair."
*...what? Father is dead?*
The assassin kicked her back and slowly fiddled with the dagger in the wound. Due to the paralysis poison, she couldn't feel any pain, but she knew she was being humiliated. However, such a feeling wasn't strong, because the Emperor of the Slyker Dynasty was supposedly dead.
*How can Father die? He's lying.*
As if the assassin could read her mind, he responded emotionlessly.
"You obviously don't believe me, but it's true. I did it myself."
Fae's brain short-circuited. She couldn't form a single thought besides...
*How? He's lying. He's lying. It's impossible. There's no way.*
"Do you want to see how?"
*...*
Fae heard rustling behind her that drew closer.
"Ah.. where is it..."
The rustling stopped, and the man spoke up again.
"Here."
A black gloved hand placed a screen in front of her eyes that was playing some footage. If she wasn't paralyzed, Fae's eyes would have gone wide. Because the footage was of the Slyker Royal Palace ablaze.
"Your father is indeed dead. Very dead."
The assassin was no longer able to keep an emotionless tone as he burst out into laughter. He continued in a merry tone, as if his emotionlessness from earlier was merely an act.
"And do you want to know something even better? Your father isn't the only one."
*...no...*
"Your mother, your sister, and... mostly everyone else in the palace! Because I forgot who was in there..."
*...no...*
"You know, it was surprisingly easy to do this. You would think there would be more security around a royal palace..."
*...*
As the man rambled on, Fae involuntarily tuned him out. As she was mourning her losses, another question popped up in her mind.
*Wait... How am I still alive?*
This was because the body of Jisha Slyker should have been inside the royal palace. Even though she was deep underground, there was no way the assassin was careless enough to let her get away.
"Of course, I saved the best for last."
*...!*
When the man spoke these words, adrenaline kicked through Fae's body as her fight or flight response was triggered. However, the result of such a response was lackluster. Because... everything went dark.
Jisha Slyker woke up in a basement room of the Slyker Royal Palace. Immediately, she was on guard. However, she was unable to feel or see anything because of the status of the virtual gaming cabin.
*Force logout?*
There were only a few methods of a force logout. One was if the body was experiencing extreme hunger or thirst. Another was if the body was experiencing extreme pain. And the last one was...
*The cabin was disabled.*
Jisha's latest model of virtual gaming cabin was forcibly turned off. This was why she was on guard. Someone had removed the power source from the cabin.
Jisha's body was lying backside down in a pool of sensory deprivation material, and was wearing relatively little clothing because of this. After a moment of nervous hesitation, Jisha opened the cabin lid. The top slid off and she was able to sit upright. Though the room was dark, it was still brighter than the complete lack of light inside the cabin, so it took few seconds for her eyes to adjust. Despite the footage she had witnessed, the room she was in was unscathed. However, she knew she couldn't let her guard down because somebody had been here to disable the cabin's power.
Jisha climbed out of the cabin, put on her nightclothes, picked up a laser pistol that was on a nightstand, and slowly headed towards the exit of the room.
However, before she could reach the door, she noticed something that made her heart stop. By the door, there were multiple charred corpses lying on the ground. Though they were badly burnt, Jisha recognized them at a glance. They were...
"Father? Mother? Sister?"
Jisha fell to her knees as it seemed like the world spun around her. She thought it was impossible, yet the evidence was right in front of her eyes. Once again, the same thought ran through her mind.
*How?*
She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. She wanted to cry. However, she was unable to do any of those things. Instead, she pathetically fell to the ground. Perhaps it was because of the shock. Or perhaps it was because of...
*Shik.*
A cold dagger in her back that paralyzed her. In a ridiculous series of events, she died the same way twice. She couldn't even laugh.
*...Am I going to die like this? Is this really the end of the Slyker Dynasty?*
Though her willpower was never-ending, it could not prevent the poison from spreading throughout her body, nor could it prevent the blood draining from the wound of the melted ice dagger.
*I... can't... die... here...*
With these thoughts, she tried as hard as she could to move to no avail. As her consciousness fizzled out into nothingness, she heard a voice whose gender could not be specified. The contents of its sentence brought both warmth and chill.
"I'm sorry to do this to you, sweetheart."
As those final words entered her ears, Jisha Slyker passed away.