It was a 10 trillion dollar mission.
There were five generals: Mori, Zinn, Calexis, Jazar, and Killer Karmel Kan.
Jazar's task was clear—eliminate a young Black teen named Demisaux, an Elite Guard ranked eighth.
Calexis, Mori, and Zinn had been sent to bring down the Watchers of the Wall: Osprey, Elite Guard Rank 0, and Aspera, Rank 10.
And Karmel Kan…
His mission was the most dangerous of all.
To kill Mr. N himself.
"Where's the President?" Kan muttered, lounging in the kitchen, his sharp eyes drifting across the room.
"Why are we meeting in a kitchen?" Mori hissed.
"Because we're gonna cook," Calexis said with a low laugh.
Zinn scoffed, rolling his shoulders as he adjusted the silver skulls hanging from his chain."Why's Cal even here? He's not a lieutenant."
The door creaked open.
A man entered.
Blonde hair slicked back. Pale skin catching the dim light. The blue and gold of his jacket gleamed faintly as he stepped inside, each movement deliberate, his hands wrapped in worn tape.
It was a lieutenant for the President's Elite Guard, Rank 1.
His name was Kik Rocks.
"Are you an Elite Guard?" Karmel Kan muttered, unimpressed. "I don't take orders from anyone ranked below five."
Rocks didn't even glance at him."Then today you'll learn to listen."
Karmel Kan stood cloaked in a tattered black coat, boots silent on the tile. His face was buried in shadow beneath the hood; only the faint glint of a rusted blade hung at his side.
Rocks placed a thin folder on the table."Inside is everything you need—abilities, positions, and what little we know of Mr. N. His power is… uncertain. Mori, you know his basics."
Mori whispered, "It doesn't matter. His abilities have changed. It's been like ten years." He rolled his eyes.
Kik Rocks clapped once."Well, you heard him. From here, Epicurus, Elite Guard Rank 6, takes command. You'll report directly to him. Any betrayal will be treated as treason—against the Elite Guard, and thus against the President himself."
Rocks turned toward the door—
But in a blur, Karmel Kan appeared before him, the air hissing in his wake.
"I said I don't take orders from lieutenants," he mumbled.
Rocks' voice dropped, cold and sharp."Then perhaps you're slower than I thought."
Rocks jabbed Kan so quickly no one in the room saw his hand move.
Just Kan losing his footing.
His legs gave out beneath him.
His brain spinning.
"What are your orders?!" Zinn yelled to Kik Rocks.
Rocks raised his eyes at last, steady and unflinching.
"My orders? Keep you four under control. If that requires force… I am strong enough to do that. That's why they sent me."
Karmel Kan's blade flashed.
Rocks moved to meet it.
The two collided in a blur of motion and steel.
Mori leaned back, exhaling through his nose.
Are we really doing this?
Our assassin's a hothead…
This mission's doomed before it begins.
He turned to leave.
Stopping Mr. N was suicide, and he knew it.
He hadn't come here to die.
He came to bring back an old friend.
This was the only way he could do it legally.
That was all there was to it.
And he was determined.
A few days later
Kan walked through the street, bandaged, holding the image of Mr. N's room in his mind.
White walls. Simple design. Three posters of famous girls. A huge window leading to a patio. Old bedsheets and underwear left out to dry in the sun.
"Okay… got it memorized. No doubt. Time to establish my legacy."
Elsewhere
Kik Rocks sat at a table, speaking to a mysterious man.
A Korean man with pink hair and a white eye patch—the kind you see in hospitals.
"So I had to beat some sense into him, essentially," Rocks slurred, unable to hold his liquor.
A bright smile appeared on the Elite Guard Rank 1 of the President's Elite Guard.
"As expected of my lieutenant."
Rocks nodded."So when do we fly to Asia? President's orders, right?"
Elite Guard Rank 1 smiled casually.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"The weapon to kill Mr. N."