Chapter Twenty

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.- Isaiah 53:9

* * * *

The sound of the clock ticking was the only sound that could be heard in Yuri’s bedroom as she sat on her bed, tracing the photo of her uncle, her mother, and a younger version of herself. Yuri’s mind was rather fuzzy when it came to her own childhood memories.

And from what she could make out of the photo, it seemed to be taken at a park of some sort. Her uncle had her in his arms, and her mother had one hand on her uncle’s arm. The only thing that Yuri remembered of this photo is that the stranger who had helped to take this photo had mistaken her uncle as her father.

Well, he wasn’t exactly wrong as her uncle is the only father figure in her life.

Yuri sighed as she focused on her uncle’s face, with the man managing a very small smile. She rarely sees her uncle smile. And not that the man is cold and unfeeling. No. He probably just didn’t know how to express his own emotions. Being in Hati tends to do that to you.

And almost like a movie on fast rewind, several of Yuri’s memories reached the surface of her mind as she stared at the photo of her uncle.

Do you want to live, Yuri?

If revenge is called Justice, then that Justice breeds yet more revenge, and becomes a chain of hatred.

You want to be stronger. Stronger than anyone else. You’re just an amateur now, but you’re got the spirit. The spirit of a killer.

The life of an assassin has no allowances for failure. If you fail, you die.

Will you regret your decision?

Yuri sighed as she looked at the photo again.

“I can never return to those days…never again,” she muttered.

She chose to be a killer. This is the path that she had chosen, and she knew what it had cost her. Yuri sighed before getting up from her bed, pulling on her coat.

She badly needed a walk.

A long walk to get her mind off things like that.

* * * *

Staring into the window glass of some random boutique in the streets of Shinjuku, Yuri saw nothing at all. Not even the display that was currently on display in the shop window, and the reflections of the various people walking past her.

She saw nothing at all but herself.

She saw what she had now become, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it.

It is true that Yuri had chosen this path, and it is true that she knew what it may cost her. But actually fully seeing it for the first time ever since she had chosen this path is something else entirely.

Yuri sighed, pushing her bangs out of her eyes, and she froze as she caught sight of someone else standing right behind her in the reflection of the window glass. And that someone was none other than her own arch nemesis.

Jessica Kwok smirked before pulling an object out from within her coat, and Yuri’s mind nearly shut down when she saw that the object was none other than a gun. Almost like in slow motion, she watched as one finger pressed down on the trigger of the gun, and Yuri threw herself to the ground at the same moment when a gunshot rang out, shattering the window glass of the boutique instantly, causing several civilians to scream.

Yuri was quick to get onto her own feet, resisting the urge to pull out her own gun as she glared at Jessica who had that self satisfied smirk on her face which Yuri just wanted to wipe off her face.

“What do you want?” Yuri nearly growled.

If it is even possible, Jessica’s smirk grew larger. “Let’s play,” she said before pointing her gun straight at Yuri who took that as a signal to run.

Yuri rolled over and hit the ground as several bullets peppered around her before ducking behind a wall. Out of the five shots that Jessica had fired, four missed, but one just grazed her on her left arm as she ducked behind the wall, but Yuri barely felt it.

Yuri growled as she tried to think of a way out of her current situation. She really should not be surprised to have Jessica paying her a ‘little visit’, especially since it will only be a matter of time before Raven’s Gate and Hati come to clashes.

But if that worthless excuse of a whore thinks that she’s going to fight her in a place where there are innocent bystanders, even if this is a part of underground Shinjuku, then she’s got another thing coming. Leaving her makeshift shield of a wall, Yuri dodged the bullets from Jessica’s gun as she lured the girl to a place where there would not be anyone around.

And as Yuri ran through the streets with Jessica hot on her heels, she could have sworn that she saw Selina’s bewildered face somewhere among the sea of people that she ran past.

* * * *

Yuri lured Jessica to a lonely stretch of an alley behind some abandoned building in the underground Shinjuku district, and now that she actually looked around, she recognised it instantly as the same place where Tatsuya had died years prior.

Yuri groaned to herself. Talk about fate at work here…

“Now that we have no interruptions…” said Yuri, turning around to face Jessica with a cold look on her face, withdrawing Odium from her holster and releasing the safety catch on it. “We can begin.”

Jessica smirked before tossing the gun in her hand over her shoulder.

It seemed like her gun is out of bullets.

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The girl then drew out three crystal green darts from within her coat, holding it in between the fingers of her right hand. And Yuri was ready to bet everything that she had that the darts were poisoned. Especially since she knew that it was those weapons that had killed Miki.

Jessica then smirked, readying her darts. “Let’s.”

Yuri narrowed her eyes, pointing her gun at Jessica.

And the next instant, they moved.

With quick reflexes, and even quicker speed, Jessica threw all three of her darts towards Yuri who narrowly dodged two out of three darts, and knocked the last dart away from her with her gun. She knew from experience that even a slight graze with a poisoned dart could be her undoing.

Yuri growled before aiming her gun at Jessica and firing two shots. The girl dodged one bullet, but was too slow to dodge the other bullet which hit her in the arm.

Jessica winced as she covered her wound before glaring at Yuri who was glaring right back.

“Back then…why did your mother kill my mother?” Yuri nearly growled in her throat. “And why did you kill Miki? She didn’t do anything!”

Jessica glared before getting to her feet slowly, one hand covering the gunshot wound on her left arm. “They’re interfering with me.”

“It’s just that?” Yuri narrowed her eyes.

For such an idiotic reason…

“You should know this better than anyone else,” hissed Jessica, glaring at Yuri with menacing eyes. “Be it you or me, everyone has a dark side to them that they’ve kept hidden from the rest of the world. The darkness in your heart…is me, isn’t it?” Yuri’s eyes widened a slight fraction. “You know that I speak the truth. Revenge is in your heart. It has been for a long time.”

“No!” Yuri denied fervently. No. That’s not true! No, it’s not!

Yet, in her heart of hearts, she knew that Jessica spoke the truth. The only reason why she’d left Singapore all those years ago to come to Japan was because she wanted justice done for her mother’s death. Yuri may speak of it as justice, but she knew that it was just pure vengeance that she sought.

“You can’t deny it.” Jessica taunted, taking one step forward, ignoring the gun pointed at her that could take her head off at any time. “Why else would you choose to be a killer? Why else would you choose to tread this bloodshed path? You are Hekate. You represent vengeance itself.”

“No. No! That’s not true!”

For the first time in years, Yuri was losing control over her emotions. Her uncle had trained her to be an efficient killer. And that meant that she had complete control over her emotions too. But for some reason, Jessica’s words hit a nerve in her. And deep inside her, she knew that they were words of truth.

Yuri glared at Jessica with as much hatred as she could muster.

She is the reason why her mother is dead. She is the reason why Miki is dead. She is the reason why Michio-nii and Michiru-nii are dead. She had ruined her life, and had forced her to flee the country that had been her home for much of her childhood.

Why couldn’t she just stay dead?

A gunshot rang out.

* * * *

Yuri had always been confident in her combat skills – both hand-to-hand combat as well as her skills with her gun.

Her accuracy had always been top-notch, and so was her marksmanship. And she rarely missed a target with her bullets unless she wanted to miss.

Yuri had been an assassin for nine years now, well, eight really, if you count that one year of assassin training under her uncle. And she had been a member of the Phantoms, the Hati elites, for close to six years now. Thus, she had tones of experience beneath her belt.

Thus, imagine her shock when she saw the guy standing right in front of Jessica who had deflected her bullet merely by using the flat part of the silver dagger with dragon carvings on the hilt in his right hand, a nonchalant look on his face. A similar looking dagger could vaguely be seen from the pouch hanging around his waist.

Yuri was stunned, though she didn’t show it as she fixed her gun onto Jessica and the new arrival standing in front of her. ‘My bullet… He deflected it so easily?’

“S-Sam?” Jessica stuttered, blinking for several moments before her face took on an angry look. “What are you doing here? I don’t need your help!”

Sam didn’t say a word; he merely turned around and struck Jessica in the stomach which caused her to crumple to the ground immediately. And now that Yuri could take a closer look at him, she saw that this Sam guy was handsome in a way, with that silver hoop-like earring in his left ear, and the long length of his hair – which almost reached his shoulders, with his hair dyed a golden-brown.

“You’ve acted a little out of line,” said Sam, almost growling. “You know very well that you are not supposed to go after any of the Phantoms unless it is an order! Kami is not pleased with you. Either you come back with me peacefully, or I’ll kill you myself right here.”

“What is this? Fighting amongst friends?” said a voice, and Yuri turned only to see Selina walking from around a corner and standing beside her, Vigrid out and in its full glory.

“Selina?”

“I saw you when you were running from that crazy girl earlier in the streets of Shinjuku.” Selina answered Yuri’s unasked question. “Raven’s Gate again, huh?” She then paused and frowned when she caught sight of the Sam guy, and narrowed her eyes. Her eyes then widened a slight fraction. “It can’t be…! S-Sam?”

Yuri looked from Selina to Sam and back again. And out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jessica doing the same thing, also with a confused expression on her face.

“Selina, do you two know each other?” asked Yuri, a tad bit confused. Her question was answered immediately with Sam’s next words, and his cold voice nearly caused shivers to run down her spine.

“It’s been a long time, Selina,” said Sam in a cold voice, twirling his dagger in between the fingers of his right hand as he did so.

Selina blinked for several moments before an angry expression soon appeared on her face, and Yuri cringed at the sight of it. The way that Selina was fuming now was enough to send any sane being running in the opposite direction.

Apparently, there is some history and bad blood between Selina and this Sam guy.

“Not long enough, I assure you,” said Selina coldly. “Mind explaining why the fuck are you still alive when you should have been dead two years ago?”

Sam smirked. “Being one of the Apostles had its benefits,” was all that he said.

Selina narrowed her eyes dangerously. “I see,” she said, flexing the fingers of her right hand. “Then I shall make sure that you stay dead this time!”

“Not today, I’m afraid,” said Sam coldly before he grabbed Jessica’s arm and pulled her roughly to her feet. “I’m just here to retrieve one of our own. Rest assured, we’ll meet again someday, Selina.”

“Wait!”

But it was too late, as Yuri saw Sam draw out two small black balls from within his pockets which she recognised immediately as smoke bombs which Sam threw on the ground immediately, enveloping the entire area with a thick white smokescreen.

And when the smoke had cleared, they were both gone.

* * * *

Starlight’s Hall

Kabukicho, Shinjuku

“I see,” said Ren thoughtfully that night in Starlight’s Hall as he set his glass down onto the top of the counter with a light tap. “And what did the Elder say?”

Yuri had her head resting onto her arms on the counter top of Starlight’s Hall, with Ren and Tohya seated on either side of her. It didn’t take too long for the story to spread among Hati that Yuri had been attacked by an Apostle of Raven’s Gate, though only Yuri, Ren, Tohya, Selina, Sunny, Riou and the Elder knew the complete story.

There wasn’t much of a crowd in Starlight’s Hall that night, a fact that Yuri was thankful for, as she isn’t exactly in the mood for some rock music that would probably make her migraine worse than it already was.

Riou had been out of the headquarters for nearly the entire evening to prevent the ‘shooting incident’, from getting into the papers as well as to come up with some cover story.

“Nothing,” said Yuri with a deep sigh, still with her head resting on her arms. “Selina, on the other hand, had locked herself in her room ever since we returned to the headquarters, and had given our report.” She frowned. “That Sam guy…Selina seems to know him. I’d asked Sunny about it, but he’s quite tight lipped regarding this particular affair, and he looks quite angry as well. I’m guessing both those two siblings knew who he was.”

Tohya sighed, tilting the contents of his glass slightly. “A ghost from Selina’s past then?” he mused, shaking his glass, causing the ice-cubes of his glass to rattle. “I always did wonder a little about that, you know. She came from the ‘normal world’. Up until two years ago, she had nothing to do with our world.”

Yuri sighed as she straightened up on her seat. “Well, that’s her story to tell,” she said.

Ren then glanced at Yuri. “And…how’s Selina doing?”

Yuri suddenly became very interested in the table top before her. “I think that you should know the answer to that.” She then sighed before slipping off the stool. “I need the toilet.”

Yuri then headed towards the direction of the female restroom, but she didn’t actually enter the washroom itself. Instead, she turned towards a different direction and it took her before an oak door with the sign ‘Employees Only’ hanging on it.

Yuri then pushed opened the door even without bothering to knock, only to find a slightly startled Mizuki sitting on one of the couches in the room with a pile of files on the table before him. She then slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.

“Yuri?”

Yuri sighed as she leaned against the door, keeping it shut.

“I need a word with you,” she stated simply. “And keep this from Tohya and Ren.” Yuri bowed her head to a bewildered Mizuki. “Please.”

Mizuki stared at Yuri unblinkingly for several moments before he sighed. He then got up and cleared away several of the files on the couch before him, gesturing for Yuri to take a seat which she did.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve had it, Mizuki-san,” said Yuri, with her voice sounding like she’s about to cry at any moment, something that she hadn’t done ever since she was nine years old. Yuri had her head in her hands, with her bangs covering her eyes. “I’m tired. I’m really tired. I’ve had enough. How many lives must they trample on before they’re satisfied? No more running.” She looked at Mizuki straight in the eye. “I need you to put out some information for me, Mizuki-san. Make it difficult for someone to get if they should be investigating about the Phantom XIII of Hati.”

Mizuki sighed. “In other words, so that your enemies won’t suspect anything if they’re searching for any information pertaining to you,” he stated, and Yuri nodded.

“That whore ruined my life.” Yuri nearly growled, clenching her hands into fists on her knees. “I will ruin hers the same way that she’d ruined mine! She wanted victory, isn’t it? I shall let her have it…if only for a little while. And then I will make sure that her fall will be harder than anything else in the world! The Phantom XIII of Hati, Hekate…isn’t to be made a fool of!”