A shadowed figure of legend stirred darkly within the grim confines of her dimly-lit prison cell. To call it such a thing was something of an exaggeration, as the single cell possessed by the village of Mount's Ankle was in truth just a converted stable, with a few bars thrown across the window. And while its occupant was certainly more famous than the usual fare of drunkards, poachers, and traveling Insurance Salesman (jailed purely on principle) that most frequently occupied the cell, to call her a figure of legend was also something of an exaggeration.

However, this suited Nina Janin just fine. After all, Exaggeration was a major guiding principle of the Way of Chuunibyou, following closely behind Murder. The Duskstrider took in the run-of-the-mill furnishings of her chamber. Wooden walls, obviously in disrepair. The planks were warped enough by the years of wind and rain that there were gaps large enough to fit a hand through in some places. Most of these had been patched up with mud at some point, but even that was dried out, and starting to crack. Nina rolled her eyes. A good kick would probably knock most of those boards loose, if they didn't snap in half first.

The floor was packed earth, and scattered with sawdust. Nina clucked her tongue disapprovingly. They couldn't even afford proper mossy flagstones? Poor showing. Nina rated this a 2 spoons on her proprietary Jail Rating system. Not conventionally chic as jail flooring goes, but she could dig it.

Even the bars on the window were mostly for show. They looked like they were just sort of slotted into the wood, and weren't even properly secured. If Nina weren't shackled to the ceiling, she could probably pull one of the bars right out, and squeeze through the gap. She looked up at her shackled hands, and shook them, jangling the chain above her head. You did have to give them credit for the shackles, at least. A lot of the previous cells she'd found herself in had just left her to her own devices. A poor decision on their part, as she had devices aplenty.

"Hey!" A gruff voice barked from outside her cell, "Quit that jangling in there!"

The Duskstrider let out a defiant laugh. "Ha! I'll jangle as I please, Jailer! Just try and stop me!"

With that, she proceeded to shake the chains even harder, letting loose a riotous clanking of iron.

"NO!" The guard shouted, banging his fist against the wooden door. He peered in through the small barred porthole on the door, glaring at the assassin. "Knock that off!"

The legendary cold-blooded killer stuck her tongue out at him and shook her chains harder, fueled by pure spite. The guard's face began to redden, but a calm hand on his shoulder restrained him from flying into a restraint-related rage.

"Kevin..." the second guard said softly. "Remember what Ma said. You gotta pick your battles."

The face disappeared from Nina's view, and somebody —presumably Kevin — took a deep breath through their nose.

"Yeah... I know. It just... makes me angry, is all. It's like..." he hesitated, sighing.

"It feels like she ain't taking us seriously. And after what she did to Caroline... I- I know it's wrong, but she's really making me want to smack her around a bit before the Imperial soldiers get here."

"You should definitely try it!" a voice happily encouraged from within the cell. "I cordially invite you to me kicking your ass."

Kevin glanced for a moment at the old war rifle leaning in the corner of the 'jailhouse'. The other guard followed his gaze, then shook his head fervently.

"I know, Benny," Kevin sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "I know." He turned to the porthole of the cell behind him, looking in to address the prisoner within.

"You shouldn't be so rude to us, you know. I don't think you get the p—" he trailed off as he saw Nina within, hanging upside down with her feet braced on either side of the spot where the chain was moored into the ceiling. "...position that you're in. The Imperial Guard is on their way."

The assassin let out a grunt as she yanked on the chain, pressing the roof with her feet for extra leverage. Kevin watched nervously, and felt a surge of relief as she failed to tear the chain out of the roof in a display of supernatural strength. The assassin slowly lowered her feet back to the floor.

"Good chain," she remarked. "Not too sure about these shackles, though."

Benny peered in alongside Kevin. "What's wrong with the shackles?"

"Well," their captive began, "they don't seem like they're standard issue. Like, at all."

Benny adjusted his helmet, which was a holdover from some old war or something like that, and was about two sizes too large for him, its strap dangling uselessly below his chin. His adjustment made it worse, and it fell to cover his eyes, so he adjusted it again, shoving it back on his head and making it worse than when he'd started. He glared through the door's porthole at the assassin (and worse: prison critic) within.

"Our jail cell hain't ever needed any shackles. We got those on short notice, so we could be sure you can't get away."

"Hm," she remarked, scrutinizing her bindings with a careful eye. "So, the pink fur is—"

"Ms. Deboroux had a pair that she bought by accident. She lent us the pair, and some special bolts for mounting it to the ceiling, and a book on how to set it up. That she also bought by accident."

"Handy!" Nina replied cheerily.

"She also had a muzzle with a kinda odd shape, but we thought it'd be inhumane,"

"Probably shoulda accepted it..." Kevin groused.

"Sounds like you guys got lucky," Nina replied with a smile. "If you hadn't locked up my arms, I'd probably already have killed you both and escaped by now, haha."

Benny's expression fell, and his face paled a shade or two. "H-haha, yeah." he warbled, before his face disappeared from view, quickly withdrawing from the small window.

Kevin also pulled away from the window. Nina smirked to herself, as she heard the pair exchanging worried whispers. She felt the slight prickling in the back of her head, as a tiny amount of her Key replenished itself. Her scarf, which they had left on her (after removing the 26 knives and a small tin of Choconuts she'd hidden among its folds) gave the faintest of flops, as it lifted slightly into the air and fell limp once more.

One worried eye peek around the corner of the porthole before disappearing from view, causing the assassin's eyes to glint in triumph. The pair of guards had been a bit too casual with her, after all. They had forgotten for a moment that she was a force that could wipe an entire town off the map, should the whim take her. An unstoppable whirlwind of death and destruction, which offered no quarter, brokered no peace, and heeded no pleas of mercy. She was fear incarnate. A bloodthirsty killer.

A Chuuni.

It was time to put her devious plans into action. She cleared her throat and spoke.

"Um~ Excuse me, Mr. Guard-san(s). These shackles are really cute, but they're really tight. They're probably cutting off my bloodflow, I think. Would you pretty please come and loosen them for me? Just a little bit?"

Benny spared a questioning glance over to his fellow guard, who rolled his eyes.

"You must think we're really dumb, huh?" Kevin grabbed his spear from where it rested, leaning against the corner of the small room the guards stood in. He rapped the tip against the bars of the porthole.

"Is that too much to ask?" Nina muttered under her breath. Then, loud enough to be heard, she replied "No, no, I just thought you were men of noble character. I didn't want to mention it, but um..."

She shuffled her arms a bit, twisting around, until she managed to achieve her desired effect.

"You see, my shirt is falling open, and I'm at danger of exposing myself to the world. I can't quite fix it, but if my shackles—"

"Didn't you have chest wraps on under, anyways?" Benny interrupted, failing to adjust his helmet to a comfortable position once more.

Kevin looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "How d'ya know that, Benny?"

Benny flushed and looked down, mumbling to himself. "They came up above her n-neckline is all, so I just figured..."

"Hypothetically," Nina interjected, "If I were to, say, NOT be wearing my chest wraps, then would—"

"We're NOT loosening your shackles! No matter what!" Kevin shouted, hitting the bars of the porthole once more.

"Wakarimasunderstood."

Kevin rubbed at his forehead again. The headache was back.

From within her cell, Nina got to work. She shifted her foot and lifted it free from her tabi, before lifting her leg and twisting with a flexibility that would make a rhythm gymnastics performance look like one of those sweaty teens stomping on the DDR machine in a local arcade for three hours, monopolizing the damn thing when all you want to do is play 'Speed Over Beethoven' once.

Benny relaxed a bit, leaning against his spear. He looked over at his older brother and figured it would be a good idea to start some kind of conversation before the he hurled his spear through the window in a fit of rage.

"So, uh, how is Caroline doing?"

"She's holding up alright," Kevin responded, with a sigh. "She's already jumping back into her work. Wants to make the spot where the Gun Knight captured—" he jerked towards the door with his spear, "—her, a local landmark. She's drafting up a plaque and everything."

An excited voice chipped in from within the cell.

"Oh, well, if she needs any help, I'd be happy to give her a hand. I can tell her all the details about the fight, and if she needs any lore or backstory—"

"She doesn't need YOUR help! You tied her up and threw her in a closet. And then went around pretending to be her." The guard glared at the door, his knuckles whitening as he tightened his grip on his spear.

"I compensated her for her time!" the assassin protested.

"You left her a stack of cards with your face on them!"

"Excuse you," Nina huffed, "those are rare collector's items. They'll be worth a fortune in the future. I even signed them."

As the assassin spoke, she moved her foot with one last, decisive motion, freeing herself from the bindings she'd been working at for the past few minutes. Her distraction had paid off, buying her valuable time to execute the next step of her plan. She glanced at the door with a devious glint of extra-saucy mischief in her eyes.

"Oh noooo~ Somehow, my chest wrappings have also come undone, and fallen to the ground! Why, with my shirt still undone, and my hands still bound above my head, how am I ever to protect my modesty?"

"I already told you, we're not going to loosen your shackles!" Kevin shouted. His voice was starting to get a bit hoarse, and he glanced anxiously out the front of the jail, towards the road. How long would it be until the Imperial Guard showed up?

"Oh, no no no... I would never ask you to loosen my shackles. I know that you're both professionals when it comes to doing your job. And yet, my pert, bountiful breasts are not going to cover themselves. I may be an incredible, legendary assassin, but I am still a lady, you know! If only there was a brave, handsome, noble guard who would come help me cover up my extremely mentionables. Why, I'm blushing at the very thought."

The guards hesitated, looking at each other. Benny ventured a glance into the cell, and let out an incoherent choking noise. He turned to Kevin, his face scarlet.

"She-she, um, uh."

"She's not lying about her chest wraps, then?" Kevin asked. Benny shook his head violently, and the older guard let out a long sigh in response.

"Should we...?" Benny asked, his voice betraying a hint of hope. Kevin glanced towards the door, and opened his mouth to speak.

"I dunno if—"

"And if that handsome guard was carrying a set of keys, that'd be even hotter!" Nina interrupted.

"—Absolutely not." Kevin finished, abruptly.

There was a long silence, before the Chuuni spoke again, her voice as sweet and thick with feigned innocence as can be, the tonal equivalent of a Jello dessert with chunks of corn in it. Obviously wrong, but not so wrong that you could call it out as being malicious.

"You know... if the Imperial Guard shows up and finds me in this condition, they're going to come to a couple conclusions. It'd probably be in your best interest to help me cover up before they get here."

Kevin grimaced. "We—"

"Alternatively," Nina interrupted once more, "You could... y'know, just go for it."

There was a long, uncomfortable pause, as Kevin's eyes focused on something a few hundred miles beyond the walls of the cell (probably some really cool bird or something), and Benny did some quick mental arithmetic on his fingers.

"Go for it," Kevin repeated incredulously, voice cracking slightly.

"Yup!" Nina replied happily.

The guard sighed. "Look, you... first of all, you're tied up and our prisoner, so even if you're inviting us directly, it's not alright."

"Wait, even then?" Benny asked, surprised.

Kevin shrugged. "I read it in a book, It'd be like... taking advantage of her or something."

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Nina reassured him, "I'd totally be the one taking advantage of you."

"See, and that's the next thing. You already said you're gonna kick our ass if we come in there, so why would we believe you when you say you want to have sex instead?"

"...s'not mutually exclusive..." Benny muttered. Kevin glanced over at him.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing."

Kevin rubbed at the bridge of his nose. His headache was getting worse.

"Even puttin' both of those aside, I'm not gonna take you up on that offer, because I- well..." He tilted the spear, looking suddenly bashful. He glanced over at his brother, lip working as he gathered up his nerve. "I...I'm going to ask Caroline to marry me."

Benny's eyes widened in surprise. "Wha?! Kevin, that's great! Congratulations!"

Kevin laughed, flushing, as he waved away the praise. "Pshaw. C'mon, save your congratulations. She ain't said yes yet."

"Oh, but she will!" the Assassin within the cell declared. "I should know, I was her for an hour or two. She's a great girl; you guys are gonna be super happy together!"

Kevin narrowed his eyes at the door, but was still unflappable in his good humor as Benny patted him on the arm and went on about looking for Ma's old wedding dress.

"Or, well... you would. Except for the poison..."

Kevin's smile dropped from his face like a shelf of fine china caught in a tragic bull-related shop accident.

"What poison?" he demanded.

"Then again..." The Duskstrider mused, ignoring him, "I'm sure they already neutralized it. After all, there are clingberries just outside the village."

"What poison?!" He shouted, banging on the door.

Nina shrugged dismissively, waving him off with one bound hand. "Oh, just some insurance. I don't think you have to worry about it, though. She's probably fine."

"Are you talking about Caroline? Did you poison her?!" The guard gripped the bars of the door's window, and he began to break into a cold sweat as he stared at the remorseless killer within.

"Yup!"

"'Yup?!' Don't just 'Yup' at me about something like that. What- how... how do you cure it? Give me the antidote!"

Nina tutted at him.

"You need to relax. Deep breaths, now. I already said she's probably fine, you know? The doctor already had her drink some clingberry juice, didn't he? I'm sure he probably found the poison already, right?"

Kevin said nothing, but gave the room's only exit the dogged, anxious look of the sort reserved for those with a loved one in dire straits or those who thought they had just enough time between rounds of an online game to make a delicious grilled cheese sandwich, only to see the match start as soon as the bread hits the pan.

"They... I don't know."

"Oh no," Nina replied, gasping slightly. She attempted to cover her mouth with one hand, which went about as well as you might expect. "Well... I still wouldn't worry about it. She has at least until..." she glanced out the window of her cell, "sunset I'd say."

Benny glanced back and forth from Kevin to the door, concern growing on his face.

"What time do you think the Guard is going to show up, Kev?" he asked quietly.

Kevin closed his eyes, his lips working and brow knitting. After a moment, he came to a decision. He stood up straight, and set his spear to lean in the corner again before peering into the cell, his serious demeanor only ruined slightly as he glanced aside rather than stare directly at the half-naked assassin.

"Clingberries, you said?"

"Oh no! I accidentally told you the antidote, didn't I? Dang it. I probably could have bartered my way out if I hadn't, huh? Shoot." Nina kicked herself, literally, lifting one foot to smack herself in the small of her back.

"And clingberries are normally so rare!" she continued. "I didn't think they'd grow around here. I should have used something else, damn it all."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Right, then." Kevin turned to the younger guard, eyes blazing and jaw set.

"I need to go. Caroline needs me. It'll be up to you to keep her locked up. Do you think you can handle it?"

Benny stood straight to match his brother, throwing up a crisp salute that sent his helmet hopelessly askew.

"I'm counting on you." Kevin said, and then left, hurrying out the front door and towards the village center.

The sound of his hurried footsteps receded into the distance, before fading out altogether. The prison filled with an uneasy silence, broken only by the constant jangling of chains, and the occasional grunt from within the cell.

"W-well," Benny began, breaking the awkward tension with all the uneasy confidence of a gambler who'd guessed the last three roulette spins correctly. "L-Looks like you messed up pretty bad just then, huh?"

"Huh?" Nina asked, her voice distant and preoccupied.

"You, um, you accidentally told him the antidote to the poison. That was probably your only way out of here. Right?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I guess I did. Darn, damn, fie it all etc."

Benny smiled, slightly relieved. Things had been a little out of sorts and stressful earlier, but it looked like the night was taking a turn for the better.

"But, alas," the Chuuni sighed, "It seems I've made yet another mistake."

The guard frowned, his prior relief rolling out of the ring to tag in a healthy dose of paranoia, diving from the top rope.

"Um. What- what kind of mistake?"

The assassin let out another long, melodramatic sigh. "It would seem I made a critical miscalculation re: my belt and its security. And as a consequence..."

Benny flushed preemptively, reaching up to adjust his helmet, even though it was only obscuring a record-low 25% of his face.

"Is it, um... your p-pa—"

"It's my pants."

"Oh."

He glanced at the rifle in the corner, and then at the spear his brother had left behind.

"That... that's not going to work on me, um, f-floozy. Sorry." He flushed, immediately apologizing for his cruel and sickening words. "That's, um, the oldest trick in the b-book."

"Benny," the Duskstrider commanded, "look at me."

He did.

"Bluh..." he managed, choking slightly on his own tongue. With great effort, he gasped out "...'satrick."

Nina leaned to her right, lifting one leg slowly to the side and up, until it was pointing vertically towards the ceiling.

"Maybe. But it's a very good trick, isn't it?"

"Mglrf," he agreed.

"That's probably why it's been in the book so long, don't you think?" She beckoned him, slipping one hand from her shackle to casually curl a finger as if drawing him in by a string.

He grabbed hold of the knob on the door, starting to open it before glancing at it with a somewhat dazed expression.

"No... you're just going to beat me up, aren't you?"

"Don't be silly! You can even leave the keys outside. That way I can't steal them, either."

He hesitated. That did sound pretty foolproof. "You promise? You're not going to try to escape? I can just help... um... help you with your clothes?"

"Or other things," she suggested.

"U-um..."

"I promise I won't beat you up, or try to steal the keys. Scout's honor."

"Well..." Benny sighed, his face flushing a deep scarlet. "That... that's fine, then."

The young guard opened the door, and entered the cell.

****

Meanwhile, an iconic late-afternoon peace had settled over the tavern, where a number of the village's workers moseyed in after a hard day of work. Caroline, the Village Tour Guide, was seated alone, eating a basket of buffalo wings. They were a bit pricey of course, especially since it was still a few weeks until buffalo season started in earnest. But, after her ordeal she felt justified in splurging a bit.

She was lifting a wing to her mouth when the door to the tavern suddenly slammed open, a haggard figure darkening the doorframe. The madman rushed to her table, clutching a wooden bowl filled with berries, and she was so startled that for a moment she didn't even recognize the man as her beau, Kevin Hill.

He plopped the bowl on the table, sliding it towards her. He stared at her, his eyes wild with emotion, twigs and brambles caught in his dirty hair.

"Kevin!" she exclaimed. "Were you practicing your parkour in the woods again? You're a mess."

Kevin shook his head. "There's no time to tell you what happened. You need to eat all of these." He pushed the bowl of berries towards her, carefully setting her basket of wings to the side.

"Wha-?" She boggled at the bowl, which was full of plump, ripe clingberries. "Why are you doing this? I don't understand. Shouldn't you be guarding that assassin right now?"

"I... yeah, I'll head back right after you eat those." He glanced over at the window, and pushed the bowl a bit closer to her. "You need to hurry, we're almost out of time. It'll be sunset soon!"

Bewildered, she picked up a few of the berries and popped them into her mouth. Her mouth full, she furrowed her brow in the expression commonly understood to mean 'Please, my beloved, tell me why you are demanding I eat a bowl full of berries out of nowhere.'

Kevin glanced towards the door and grimaced. "You were poisoned."

Caroline stared at her buffalo wings, eyes widening in shock.

"No, not the wings. I'll- I'll explain it later. I think... I think I gotta get back. I got a bad feeling alluva sudden."

With that, Kevin departed, leaving Caroline to give another uneasy look to her wings before shoving another handful of berries into her mouth.

***

Kevin burst into the prison, as fast as his tired legs could carry him. The guard post was empty; his brother was nowhere to be found. He lunged and seized his spear, still leaning in the corner where he'd left it. He reached for the door to the cell and hesitated, before reaching out and grabbing the old rifle, which he tucked under one arm.

The guard slammed the door open, raising his spear defensively. The room was empty save for a lone figure hanging from the shackles, clad only in underwear, head bowed. Kevin started to aim the spear at it, before realization came to him, which was somehow not accompanied by surprise. He sighed.

"...Benny?" Kevin asked quietly, lowering the spear.

His brother raised his head, grinning with a sheepish, faraway look in his eyes as he hung in the shackles.

"Where are your clothes?"

Benny gestured to the side, nodding limply towards the corner, where his clothing was neatly folded, with the helmet set on top.

Kevin grabbed his brother gently by the chin and tilted his head, staring at a series of welts on his neck with alarm.

"You're injured!"

"It's um... not an injury." Benny muttered, finishing with a low, giddy chuckle.

His brother leaned in, scrutinizing the marks in the dim light of the cell.

"Ah. You're right, it's not."

The older brother sighed and looked around the cell. No sign of the assassin. He scratched the back of his head, cursing her internally.

"So... I take it she took advantage of you and kicked your ass?" he asked.

"Mm. Just the first one." Benny muttered, a tired grin spreading across his face.

Kevin groaned and leaned his rifle against the wall, followed by the spear. He bent down to pick up his brother's clothes, wondering what to tell the rest of the village.

"Lucky you, I guess. She promised she'd kick our asses, so I'm a little surprised she just locked you up. Guess she must have changed her mind?" He clutched the pile of clothes against his chest and started to stand, when a voice spoke from behind him.

"No. I didn't."

A sudden impact on his rear end sent him sprawling forward, into the wall. He scrabbled at it for purchase, twisting himself to turn and face his assailant. He scuttled with his feet, pressing his back to the wall, seated on the ground.

The Assassin stood behind him, as if she had appeared from thin air. She was once again fully clothed, and her scarf was drifting out behind her, lazily waving in the wind. The memory of the poison, and his wild hunt for clingberries came back, filling him with a righteous anger. He gave a quick glance at the rifle leaning against the wall, before staring her down. The Chuuni merely narrowed her eyes, her lips spread in a predatory grin.

"You'll need more than some old pea-shooter to deal with ME, 'Kev'."

His anger fueling him, he lunged, seizing the rifle and swinging it around to point at her before she could strike him. He was startled to see that she had not even attempted to move or to attack, even as the rifle was pointed directly at her face. The Duskstrider merely tilted her head to one side, amused.

"Are you a hero, Kevin? Rushing off in time to save the girl, and back in time to stop the villain, hm?"

Kevin felt the heat and rush of his rage suddenly seep out of him, draining down and out of his body as if somebody had pulled a plug from his heel. The woman before him was practically a different person from the annoying brat that they'd had in chains. She even seemed to stand taller, and her eyes had a malicious sheen, practically glowing in the dimness of the cell.

"You are out of your element. Don't you know who I AM?"

The Duskstrider took a single step towards him, her scarf whipping wildly behind her. The very air itself seemed to darken, and her eyes began to glow, one green, one purple, as if lit by some ghostly flame.

"I am the shade that moves in the night, that sends the cold shiver of the grave down the spine of all who stand in my way. I am the darkness that rests within the hidden recesses of every soul. I am the KILLING SHADOW!"

She knocked the rifle to the side, sending it spinning from his grasp. It slammed into the wall, but rather than bounce off as Kevin had expected, it instead slipped through the wall, sinking and disappearing into the shadow cast by the Assassin's body as if it had plunged into a lake. He tried to stagger back, but realized too late that he was already pressed against the wall. The Duskstrider seized him by the front of his shirt, and with strength disproportionate to somebody of her size, twisted and lifted him from the ground, ducking low to hurl him headlong to the far side of the cell.

He slammed against the wall, feeling the impact jar his head in his helmet, before sliding down its length to gracelessly impact the ground. The force of the collision shook the walls of the cell, and his spear slid from where it had been carefully placed, falling flat. The head of the spear was only a few inches from his hand. Desperately, he glanced up at his assailant, who had turned and calmly taken a single step towards him.

She reached out towards the wall, brushing her fingers against the shadow cast by Benny's hanging form. She extended her arm, plunging it up to the elbow into the shadow. Kevin reached out for the spear, his fingers barely wrapping around the handle before he was suddenly yanked backwards, slammed up against the wall. A pale arm released his shirt, sinking back into the shadows on the wall behind him, as Nina withdrew her arm and stepped forward.

Benny rattled his chains, kicking out futilely at the Chuuni, who simply sidestepped his wild swings. "Y-you l-leave him alone!" he meekly yapped.

The Duskstrider regarded him for but a moment before holding her hand, arm outstretched, to point at Kevin. Benny's shadow leapt from the wall, weaving through the air to land on the ceiling. The rifle fell from with its depths, into her outstretched hand.

Kevin's pulse quickened, and he screwed his eyes shut, jabbing out with the spear in a desperate last-ditch effort. A shot cracked out as the rifle fired. The force of the shot shook Kevin's entire body, and he lay against the wall, killed instantly.

The Chuuni tossed the rifle to the side, dusting her hands off and bending over to pick something off the ground. Kevin, laying dead on the wall, opened one eye carefully, to see the assassin picking up the head of the spear, still attached to a few inches of shaft where the shot had broken it. The guard blinked, and carefully looked himself over. He wasn't dead. How had...

"Hmph. Perhaps you're a bit stronger than you look, deflecting the shot like that," The Duskstrider growled. Kevin followed the direction of her gaze to see the broken, jagged haft of the spear, still in his hand. Deflected? Had he done that? He could see the hole in the wood next to him, where the bullet had exited the jail. He must have done it unconsciously somehow. The Assassin moved, and his attention was jerked back to her as she spoke.

"But now your luck runs out!" She flipped the spearhead in her hand, and lunged towards him. He held his arms up, blocking her first wild swing with the spear haft, before she arced her arm back and lashed out again. A line of heat spread across his side, and he grimaced in pain.

The assassin backed up, flourishing the spearhead and leaving Kevin to stare in disbelief at the bloodstain blossoming across his stomach and side. The thin line of cut fabric was quickly lost in a spreading stain of red as blood seeped into his shirt. His breathing hitched, and he looked back to his assailant.

The assassin towered over him, her scarf flowing wildly behind her as her eyes blazed in the pitch black darkness of the cell. How had it gotten so dark? Had the sun already set? Delirious, and alarmed, Kevin thought of Caroline. Had she finished the berries? The Duskstrider moved, and Kevin tried to focus. He could worry about Caroline later. Right now, he needed to worry about himself. The Assassin struck a sudden pose.

"Time for my KILLING BLOW!" She roared, her booming voice shaking the walls of the cell. With a badass backflip, she flipped the spear head into the air, tossing it from one hand to the other as she leapt towards him in a deadly lunge with a completely unnecessary but also totally fucking cool pirouette.

Kevin tried to lift himself to his feet, but his blood-slick hand couldn't find purchase on the wall. He turned his head away, shoving towards her with both hands, as a sharp pain grazed him across his closed right eye. He tensed his body, waiting for the final blow with bated breath. A second passed, then two, but the killing blow did not come.

"Nngh..." she grunted, "You're... pretty good."

He opened his eyes, blinking away the blood from his cut eyebrow, to see the Chuuni, impaled in the side on the broken haft of the spear still clutched in his hand. She pulled away, her wound making a sickening suction noise as blood oozed from it. She pressed her hand to the wound, staggering back.

"D-damn you." She muttered, backing up to the door of the cell. She stared down at the wound on his side where she had cut him, scrutinizing it carefully, before revealing her teeth in a monstrous grin.

"Hehe... well... it's no matter. You'll never survive that injury. This will be the last time we meet. Perhaps in your next life, you will learn better than to face me."

She pushed the cell door open, limping out before turning to spare them one last look, full of arrogance and spite.

"Farewell."

With that, the Duskstrider disappeared into the evening sun beyond the jail cell. Kevin grunted, clutching at his side. He glanced over at his brother, still bound in the shackles, then to the cell door. The guard tried to stand once, but his legs felt like jelly, and his hands were slick with his own blood. He slid back down to sit on the ground.

"Benny..." he muttered. "I don't know if I can make it to the keys."

Benny whimpered, shaking the pink fuzzy shackles binding his wrists.

"D-Don't worry, Kev. I... I'll find a way..." He paused, as his hands happened upon something buried in the fur covering. " I... W-wait... there's a- a latch here."

The younger guard depressed the switch, and the shackles slid open with the quiet sound of steel sliding past steel.

"H-huh?"

Kevin stared at the shackles and gave a single, tired chuckle.

"So... she could have escaped at any time? Why...?"

"Don't worry about that right now, Kev! I'll... I'll go get help."

"Benny..."

"I'll-I'll... just hold on, I can—"

"Benny."

Benny leaned in, fighting to hold back tears as he stared down at his wounded brother.

"Yeah, Kev?"

"Put some pants on first."

******

The Duskstrider limped away from the makeshift jail, hand clutching her side. Her scarf flared behind her, dancing in the wind like a living thing. Her skin crackled with unsung power. That encounter had gone about as well as she'd hoped. Her Key was nowhere near fully replenished, but it was back up to working levels, at least. It was a good thing her guards hadn't been a bit more canny. Her plan had worked out well enough, but it definitely wasn't her best work.

The Chuuni glanced back, determining that she was out of view of the Jail, and nodded once. Her plan had worked well, but she was in a bit too much of a hurry to be mortally wounded right now. She stood up, pulling her hand away from the gaping wound that the haft of the spear had struck her. She ran her hand over the area, a few inches away from her skin. As her hand passed, the mess of blood and gore faded into shadow, coagulating back into the shadow left in the wake of her hand.

She rolled her shoulders and checked herself for an actual wound. Not bad. There was a bit of a scratch, and a splinter caught in her shirt, but nothing serious. She left the splinter where it was. It would make a good indicator for later, when she needed to be grievously wounded again. For now, she just needed to stay out of sight.

She darted through the village, flitting from shadow to shadow, in a conventional way. This wasn't a particularly high-security village, so there was no need to waste her Intent using the Name of Shadow, nor to expend any of her Key. Her own training in the ways of stealth were enough to avoid the few people out and about, and before long, she found herself outside the Headsman's building, where they were storing her confiscated belongings.

The Village Headman was standing outside, speaking to the Tour Guide and a few other townsfolk, who were speaking animatedly and gesturing in the general direction of the jail cell. Perfect. Nina closed her eyes, taking a few slow, deep breaths and focused her Key. A sharp pain struck her suddenly, and she winced, clutching at her side. She hissed through clenched teeth.

"D-damn it. My wound is reopening. That cursed guard really got me good, huh?"

She glanced down at her side, where a gaping wound was pulsing, blood staining the torn mess of her shirt. She pressed her hand against it, trying to push away the pain. She wouldn't have to deal with it long, if the next step of her plan worked. The assassin took a step forward, then paused for a moment as an idea struck her. Reaching up with the hand she'd been pressing to her wound, she smeared blood across her face in a long diagonal swipe.

She inspected her reflection in a nearby rain barrel. Her reflection stared back, a nightmarish mess of blood and gore. Even better than she'd hoped! Now, to put the plan to action.

"-and then he just ran off! I don't really know what's going on, but we should send somebody over to to jail right away!" Caroline finished.

"The Guard should be here soon," the Village Headman informed her, "but I agree, the Hill boys might be in trouble. We should—"

He cut off suddenly, as a voice shouted, and Georgie, the Village Fitness Instructor gestured, pointing off to the shadows across the street.

Emerging from the darkness, the Chuuni assassin walked forth, spinning a knife in each hand. She stood tall, grinning viciously at the gathered crowd.

"You bastard!" the Village Fitness Instructor shouted, "How dare you show your face around here!"

He tore away his vest and began to lope towards the criminal, rolling his shoulders as he raised his arms into a boxing position. He started to pick up speed, when a sudden blur of motion from the Chuuni brought him skidding to a halt, staggering a bit as his momentum took him off balance. Two glinting knives impacted the dirt in front of him, sending up a puff of dust as they stabbed into the earth.

Georgie looked up, glaring at the assassin, who was now unarmed. She chided him, wagging one finger back and forth while she clucked her tongue in a quiet 'tut-tut'. The man was undeterred, however, and charged towards her once more.

"Georgie, be careful!" a woman in the crowd shouted. Georgie smiled to himself. "Don't worry! Against my patented 'New Body in 30 Days' style, there's no way she can beat me!"

Georgie reached the assassin, who promptly ducked and spun on one foot, delivering a roundhouse heel kick to the side of Georgie's head. The Fitness Instructor spiraled in the air, launching a few feet before slamming into the dirt. The Assassin continued on, not even bothering to spare him a glance.

"Your hubris led to this," she announced, "Thinking that you could cage the very shadows themselves. You cannot keep me from my mission. Just as you cannot keep me from retrieving that which you've stolen from me. To face me is to court death."

She advanced towards the Headman, forcing him back as he attempted to keep space between the assassin and himself. She opened her mouth to continue, when suddenly Georgie slammed into her from the side, in a diving tackle. He squeezed her with the kind of arms you could have for a low, low introductory rate of 25 Emone a month, aiming to crush her ribs.

Somehow, his plan worked even better than he had hoped, as the force of his tackle and his crushing strength reduced the assassin to a cloud of smoke and shadows, which quickly faded into thin air. He stumbled, the lack of resistance to his charge putting him off-balance and sending him flopping to the ground. Before the stunned eyes of the crowd, he brought himself to a sitting position, staring in awe at his arms before triumphantly flexing a 'cep at the gathered townsfolk.

"How was that?" he asked.

The Headman opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a voice coming from the darkened doorway of his hut.

"Not bad, for a start."

The assassin staggered out of the doorway, fully equipped with her belt, shuriken, and other sundry. She was gripping the wound in her side with one hand, while bracing her other on the doorway.

"But if that's how you fare against a single one of my Shadow Clones, you're a thousand years too early to beat me!" The Duskstrider stepped forward, chuckling. "Of course, in a thousand years, I'll be even stronger, and you'll probably be dead, so the math doesn't work out in your favor, here."

"What'd you do to the guards?!" Caroline demanded. The assassin threw her head back and laughed in response.

"To think you could contain the likes of The Duskstrider, the legendary Lady Shade, in an old stable," she admonished. "The guards did their best, but Benny had no hope of escaping my web. Even if he was really, really, really good at sex, he couldn't outmatch my diabolical schemes."

Caroline opened and closed her mouth once, as a few of the gathered townsfolk murmured quietly amongst themselves.

"And Kevin, well... he fought as best he could. He should be proud, as he's one of the few souls to actually land a blow on me." The Duskstrider glanced down at her wound. The Fitness Instructor winced at the sight of the blood, and the Chuuni sneered.

"Looks like I'll have to use... THAT."

She reached into her belt, withdrawing a small glass vial, filled with a glowing red liquid. She pulled the cork from the vial with her teeth, spitting it out.

"Too bad for him, I have a first-rate healing potion, which can restore anyone back, even from the brink of death." With that, she tipped the vial to her lips and drank greedily. The wound on her stomach instantly began to knit itself back together, disappearing before the eyes of the crowd, and restoring the assassin back to her full, devastatingly powerful health.

The Duskstrider glanced to one side, then tossed the vial casually in that direction. She bounded down the steps of the Headman's building, and with each step, the crowd parted, as if pushed back and apart by a mighty blast. She made it to the bottom, and stared at the crowd. Her scarf whipped into spirals in the air above her, and her shadow seemed to dance in the sunlight, making maddening shapes on the building behind her.

"Kevin put up a formidable fight. Even if he drove me off, I left him with a mortal wound. There's no chance he'll survive until nightfall."

Caroline gasped, staring in the direction of the jail, before she suddenly charged at the assassin, swinging her fists wildly. The Duskstrider gave her a mocking laugh, before stepping back and plunging down, disappearing into her own shadow.

"Let this be a lesson to you all," her voice rang out, echoing from all directions. "For years to come, you will whisper around your cups, about the time you ALMOST caught the legendary Me Lathor, the Duskstrider!"

The voice faded, drifting away like smoke on the breeze. Caroline leaned on the banister of the stairs, clutching at her chest. Kevin was in danger. Was he even still alive?

"Kevin..." she moaned, staring into the bushes and trying to stop the furious beating of her heart. A sudden glint caught her eye, and she reached out. The vial. The one that the assassin had tossed aside. There was... still a bit of healing potion within it, a trickle at the bottom. Enough to bring anybody back from the brink of death... She seized the vial, whipping around to show it to the Headman.

"We need to hurry!" She urged him. He nodded once, and the crowd began to rush towards the jail.

Nina smiled, watching them from the bough of a nearby tree. It was a good thing the Tour Guide had happened to be in the crowd. Nina had considered wounding Kevin a bit more substantially, but had decided against it. It wouldn't be worth the Key to make sure he lasted long enough for somebody to find him. With Caroline rushing there with the potion, they would with any luck apply it too quickly to notice just how superficial the cut was. Hopefully his face would still scar up nicely, though.

The Duskstrider nodded to herself. A good eye scar would cement his reputation, as the brave soldier who stood up to the Legendary Assassin and lived. That was the sort of story that stuck around. With any luck, Benny would be a legend of his own, for similar, if slightly different reasons.

Satisfied that it would be a good, long time, before the people of Mount's Ankle forgot about her, the Chuunin assassin turned and leapt into the forest, heading through the trees until she reached the road eastward. She performed a superhero landing on the road, smiling to herself. She hadn't planned on getting caught, but it wound up working out in the end. Still... she had a few things to report back to the Elder. She stood up and dusted her hands off, looking towards the village, with the mountain and buildings framing the sunset perfectly.

"Hmph. Farewell, bleak little village. May you never forget the day you were visited by the inconquerable Duskstrider."

With that, Nina turned and started down the Eastern road, coming face to face with the squad of Imperial Guardsman and the prisoner cart that had been sent to take her into custody.

"Ah," she commented, eyes blinking in honest surprise.

A dozen rifles raised at once, leveled squarely on her. The assassin blinked once more, feeling her Key rising within her, roiling like a storm after her encounter in front of the Headsman's house. She ducked her head, grinning a smile at the soldiers staring her down in a mixture of fear and trepidation.

"Looks like things just got interesting..."