Tserriednich's booming laughter echoed in the night. What a bold woman. He idly wondered what she wanted out of him... money? Fame? "Kings have no friends. Only subjects and enemies".
"Oh? Is that something your father told you?", she said, impertinently.
He raised his eyebrow, trying not to let her taunts get to him. "Well in any case, you certainly caught my attention now". He seized her up, scanning her from head to toe, wanting for her to feel like cattle.
"Do you recognize me?", she asked him, unfazed.
It dawned on him. Yes, he did recognize that face. "You're that terrorist. Kakume Reznikov". He closed his eyes and made a smirk, then stood up and put a bathrobe on, advancing on her. "Is that why you're here, then? To give me a taste of divine retribution for the sins of my people?"
"No", she said simply, her face a mask of its own. "I need to get to the Dark Continent. My reasons are my own".
Tserriednich found that endlessly amusing. Get to the Dark Continent? There must be dozens if not hundreds of easier routes to achieve that. "I heard that some of my younger half-siblings are hiring bodyguards, or their mothers are anyhow. Why go through all the trouble of reaching me for it?"
"The guards are hired through the Hunter's Association and Parison Hill, that's why. Since I refuse to become a Hunter, I had to get creative. I figured... you seemed like a man who plays to the beat of his own drum. So here I am. To offer my service".
"Service? I should kill you where you stand", he began, furious.
She approached him dangerously. A shiver went up his spine, and he felt something akin to fear rush through his entire body. He couldn't remember the last time he felt that way. Her face stopped inches before his own, her eyes ablaze. "But you won't. You know why? Because you can't. Because I'm stronger than you. You know it too, don't you?" She smiled victoriously.
He felt mad, humiliated, but he stilled his temper. "Before I can give you an answer, first you must answer me this: how did you manage to get past my guards?"
"Your guards don't know their ass from their elbow", she replied. That didn't shed any light into the information he sought from her. He pressed on. "You used the Sorcery, didn't you?"
The girl, Kakume, kept her silence. That told him everything he wanted to know. "I'll hire you on one condition: you show me how to use it. Is this an acceptable term?" He extended his hand forward.
She hesitated, then smiled thinly and shook his hand. "Got it, boss man".
-
The guards' bounds released the moment Tserriednich walked out the door, dissolving into a puddle of blood. Mark walked by, watching them with big, incredulous eyes. "Prince Tserriednich", he said, firm as a rock regardless. "Who was that girl? I don't remember sending her to you. Wild card?"
The prince exploded. He screamed in rage and kicked a table off the wall, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. Even good reliable Mark flinched at the sight of his horrible fury. She had made a farce out of him... she will pay dearly for that. He'll mobilize the entire Kakin army if that's what it took to rid the world of her presence. Yes... he had the means to do whatever he wanted. Who did that terrorist think she was, to make such a foolish display? She essentially signed her own death warrant... the wool-headed witling really had no sense at all.
"Mark", he said, already feeling pacified at the thought of it. "I want you to keep tabs on her, have someone track her every movement".
"Already taken care of, sir".
He nodded swiftly. "Very well. Now, bring me 85. Maybe the kid had the chance to get a read on her".
His assistant made an expression of discomfort. "We cannot find her. It would appear this woman had protected her from the guards and helped her escape".
"How do you know? Has anyone seen it?", Tserriednich asked him urgently.
"All the guards are dead, but Linda is still alive. Injured, but alive", Mark answered.
"Lead me to her right away".
-
Linda was crushed under the sparkling chandelier, her torso coming out from the side and her eyes facing upwards. Shards of glass were sticking out of the skin of her arm and neck. Her spectacles were cracked and leaning in an awkward angle. The poor woman was hanging by a thread. Tserriednich stepped towards his previous head of staff, not feeling much of anything at all, besides the burning desire to gain knowledge that could help him utterly destroy the girl responsible for it.
He crouched and looked down at the woman's glazed eyes. "What happened here?"
"Devil", she spurted out, a crazed expression on her face. She coughed up blood. "The way she moved, the way she... I've never seen anything like it". She was shaking. "And her eyes... oh god, her eyes. They turned red. A devil, she was a devil".
The prince smiled gently. "Thank you, Linda". He took her head into his strong hands and cracked her neck. It crumpled on the floor like that of a broken puppet.
A laugh crescendoed out of his throat. Mark watched him uncertainly.
Yes, he thought, ecstatic. Finally, I have found you. The Kurta who left such destruction in her wake. I'll never forget the moment I saw you in the streets of Diguo, bloodied from head to toe in the arms of that swindler. Your eyes were such a terrifying shade of crimson. And when I crossed the doors to Jabatai's mansion, that's the moment I set my eyes on your masterpiece. My heart has never been the same since... I have never since seen such perfect art.
"Mark, have someone clean up this mess", he said. "Oh, and don't bother with any more of those stupid cows. I tire of butchering such mindless animals".
"Sir?"
He smiled maniacally. "I have found myself a long-term project".
YOU ARE READING
The Reason We Fight
Fanfiction[A Hunter x Hunter Story] Fleeing her life as the associate to a self-serving con artist, brazen, hot-tempered Kakume Reznikov becomes entangled with the Red Hands terrorist group in an attempt to give her life meaning. Her targets? The Kakin Empire...
