Timeless Assassin

(That same night, Leo's POV)

By the time lights began dimming across the base, Leo already knew where Lieutenants Larry and Aaron lived, thanks to the subtle information he'd pieced together during casual chats with the janitorial staff.

So when curfew settled in and most personnel retired for the night, he stepped out of his quarters under the pretense of needing a smoke on the terrace, when in truth, he was heading out to kill Larry.

*Drop*

Once on the terrace, Leo slipped out of his loose janitorial robes and into his familiar assassin gear, the fabric settling over him like a second skin.

He cast a quiet glance across the sprawling military complex, his form fading from sight as he activated [Vanish].

'In a way, this will be my first real assassination,' he thought, fully aware that while he bore the title of assassin, this was the first time he would be putting that identity to the test against a true high-profile target.

'Every hour spent training at Rodova… every technique Ben drilled into me… it all comes down to moments like this,' Leo reminded himself, as he jumped off the three-storey tall building and landed on the ground below without making the slightest of sounds.

*Rustle*

Moving like a whisper through the Zone Twelve military base, he kept to the shadows, skirting along dim corridors and blind spots in patrol with calculated precision.

His destination lay in the North End of the base, where the offices and living quarters of high-ranking officers were located.

For twenty minutes, he evaded the sights of any alert guards, before finally arriving at the outer perimeter of the northern housing district without drawing any attention.

'I just hope Veyr doesn't screw this up and raise an alarm while I'm in the middle of doing my job…' he thought coldly, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the well-lit and heavily secured zone ahead.

The two of them were supposed to handle most aspects of the reconnaissance mission together, but when it came to eliminating their targets, that part was strictly solo.

They were vastly different fighters, each with a unique skill set that didn't align well for coordinated close-quarters assassination, which made joint execution unwise.

The plan that worked for Leo wasn't something Veyr felt confident attempting, and the same held true in reverse. In the end, they agreed to act independently, each handling their assassination in the style they knew best.

'The infiltration ahead won't be easy… I'll need to time the gap between patrols perfectly and use [StormFlash Traverse] to reach the top of Larry's apartment,' Leo calculated, as he crouched in the shadows near the complex and studied the rhythm of the patrol guards, tracking every step they took, while scanning for gaps to exploit.

*Click*

*Click*

*Click*

A clock began ticking in his mind as he carefully followed the movement patterns of the patrol guards, observing their rotations for thirty minutes straight.

It wasn't until the twenty-seventh pass that he noticed it — a narrow twelve-second window between one guard's turning point and the next's arrival around the corner, which, after careful deliberation, he marked as his best shot.

'Next time that window arrives in about five minutes, I'll make my move… and enter through the second-floor window that's been left open,' Leo decided, before quietly resuming his wait, as he kept scanning his surroundings for unexpected threats.

*Tick*

*Tick*

*Tick*

The final seconds passed, and the moment to move arrived.

'Alright… now.'

The instant the first guard turned, Leo activated [StormFlash Traverse], channeling mana through his legs and core as he vanished from the shadows in a blur of high-speed displacement.

Under a second later, he reappeared atop the rooftop, where he landed softly on the balls of his feet without a sound.

*Jam*

In one smooth motion, he unsheathed a dagger from his utility belt and jammed it between two rooftop panels, anchoring it at a downward angle.

Then, he quickly proceeded to tie a strong rope to the hilt using a secure hitch knot, before tugging it firmly to test the tension.

'Seems solid enough—'

*Slide*

Sliding down the rope with practiced ease, Leo braced his heels against the wall to control his speed, adjusting his descent as the second-floor window came into reach.

Once aligned, he paused for a split second to scan the room and confirm it was empty. Then, with a shift of his weight, he slipped inside like a passing breeze.

*Yank*

Wasting no time, Leo gave the rope a sharp pull, dislodging the dagger from the rooftop as the rig recoiled smoothly into his hand.

*Store*

Quickly tucking both tools into his storage ring, Leo ensured that no ropes dangled behind, leaving no trace of what had just transpired.

*Tick*

*Tick*

*Tick*

The seconds passed, but no alarms rang out. Neither from the outside, nor within the building, as his entry seemed to have gone unnoticed.

'Alright…. So far so good,' Leo thought, sweat beads beginning to form on his forehead, as he finally began feeling the pressure of executing this mission.

A single slip-up could thrust him into a world of troubles, but such was the Assassin profession as a whole.

Here…. There was no margin for error.

'Time to locate Lieutenant Larry….. if my understanding of the layout of this apartment isn't wrong, then he should be in a room on the far end of the ground floor, at the end of a narrow corridor—' Leo thought, as he soundlessly made his way down the floors, until his gaze landed on the ground floor corridor, where two soldiers stood guard just outside a narrow passage leading to a single bedroom.

'Tricky….. this is tricky for sure. The guards are only Grandmaster Level, and I can kill them easily if I want, but that will raise lots of red flags tomorrow when those two don't report at the end of their shift.

I need to find a way to get past them without killing them, and then enter Larry's room without making a sound….' Leo thought, as the biggest challenge of this mission, now began.