Webnovel

Chapter 1: Blades and Bullets

This is the third night Lesley had been shadowing Harley since his brother left the Vance mansion and went on his quest to the Land of Dawn.

Per usual, she only watched him from afar through her rifle scopes; ignoring the chilly breeze of the evening and the pesky mosquitoes buzzing in her ears. She perched stealthily in one of the highest branch of a tree overlooking the village inn.

Lesley knew his brother is a troublemaker but she never stopped him from doing what he did as long as no one (especially him) got hurt. Ever since the Vance family adopted her, her brother became the most precious thing to her (next to her trusty rifle, of course). So she vowed to protect him ever since, even though her brother explicitly told her off not to - especially after he went on his crazy quest to prove his superior skills in the Land of Dawn.

After last night's commotion on the village before this one, Lesley thought she'd get a good night sleep now that her brother seems unable to pick a fight in the bar and headed straight to hit the hay.

She sighed and prepared to do the same too, "Looks like li'l bro's spent. It's a good thing I won't need your bullets today, mistress".

Just then when she was about to put away her rifle, she saw a peculiar glint in one dark alley in the village. Curious, she adjusted her scopes to see what's causing the irregular flashes in the dark.

She didn't knew then that what she will see next was going to change her life completely...

Blades as fast as lightning clashed through the shadows unseen by the sleepy village. Every struck between swords produced pale illumination on what was really happening. Surrounded by about a dozen cloaked men was a man with his endless barrage of daggers, trying to fight back from the incoming assassins.

The fight was too good for Lesley to even take her eye off the scopes. She was no stranger from the likes of assassins, she was one herself and she could tell that the man being pursued was out of his luck even for his inexplicable skills. One terrible mistake is all it's gonna take for them to incapacitate their prey.

But seeing the unwavering stance of the man in the shadows, Lesley knows this man will not go down alone. And so he did, he reduced a couple of them to piles of dust with his blades of lightning before a lucky one got to his back and grazed him in his right arm.

He crumpled and was surrounded by only four shadowmen who were left. Lesley gripped her rifle tighter as if her own life was at stake.

"Tsk. What are you doing? Get up." She sighed to herself as she was unknowingly rooting for the wounded man.

The man however did not get up from his position and the others kept their pace closing in on him.

She held her breath. "Well, are you just gonna watch there and let others die?" She heard her brother's voice in her head. That one line he said before he left on his journey to the Land of Dawn.

She cursed herself for not being able to resist a good show much less a good fight. This time, she's regrettably arguing internally whether or not she should meddle with another assassin's business. The latter being a job she knows a dangerous thing to mess with.

"Come on, you know it's the right thing!" Her brother's voice bugging her and serving as her conscience seems quite ironic in the occasion.

The four remaining assassins were now hovering over their prey. She took a deep breath and readjusted her rifle. The man despite his mortal wound still grasped at his daggers seeming ready to fight back at his opponents.

"Alright then, seems like you're still not giving up. Might as well help your blades with my bullets." She said before gripping the trigger of her mistress rifle.

The moon waned. Four "warning shots" followed. Bodies crumpled. One man remained. His daggers glistening in the darkness of the night.