The Assassin's Resolve

CHAPTER 33: Not the Time to Talk about Marriage!

Anyone will know if they are in a wrong way just by using their instinct, but it also requires guts and most of all, confidence which Karma absolutely possess. His incomparable intuition took him to the abandoned drug laboratory, the Shizu Corp which they also call suzu or 'bell'.

Karma already surveyed the place but there's nothing suspicious... yet.

He looked down for secret passages but he found nothing. For others, this might be the time to give up, however, Karma's gut feeling says 'not yet'. He feels he's close. He looked up at the sky and it was getting humid, implying that winter is approaching...real close.

I'm close. I'm sure.

Not long enough while resting on a branch, his peripheral view caught a flying sparrowhawk. He traced the direction where it was coming from and saw another one flying away.

Bingo.

He quickly climbed the hill where the birds came from, finding out that he's correct.

He first saw Tomoko who was seriously fighting against-

What the f-

He stealthily moved towards Karasuma who was struggling to get up while his sister was buying him some time.

Luckily, Tomoko knew. She sensed Karma and shook the trees that caused the birds to fly and reveal their location. She then gestured Karma to help her disarm Hiroshi who were still unaware of the red hair's presence.

Karma watched their fight closely and saw the big difference on their combat skills. Hiroshi has the upper arm, and without her abilities, Tomoko wouldn't be able to close the gap. So he thought of other way to stop their target instead of showing up and blow their only advantage.

No, there's no need to fight.

Inside his coat was a pocketknife, batteries, phone, nail cutter and an elastic rope cord.

The heck Rio, what's with the nail cutter?! He internally cussed.

He took the rope and carefully climbed a tree to set up a trap while Tomoko was waiting for him to finish. When he was ready, Tomoko led Hiroshi to the trap but he caught Tomoko in a chokehold-perfectly below Karma.

Perfect.

Karma lowered the rope and strangled Hiroshi before he can break Tomoko's neck. Karma jumped with the rope in his grip as they watched Hiroshi who was struggling to get out of the trap. Soon, they lowered him, confiscated his weapons, tied him up and forced him to sniff chloroform to make him sleep.

"That was close." Tomoko dried her sweat., eventually remembering that her brother was at his limit.

It's a relief the Karma studied first aid, so he attended to Karasuma who was close to passing out due to excessive blood lost, taking him to the closest hospital afterwards. And the first thing he did at the hospital was contact Aguri to report that Karasuma was out of commission.

...

The battle felt endless. The guards kept on showing through the hallway of the hotel. The civilian customers were hiding in their rooms, trying every way to call for rescue but the connections were already jammed and they were too afraid to sneak out.

The noises and groans only stopped when Koro, Aguri and Rio reached the door to the basement where the liquors are stored. From there the room was easily lock picked with Irina preparing for a trap at the other side of the door. However, she cancelled the attack, recognizing Koro's confidence.