The Virtues' Magecraft

Page 65: Vice and Virtue

Hassan comes from a long line of assassins. His family wrought the original Heretic Hunters through the Order of the Assassins, hundreds of years ago, and collectively changed the course of the business of assassination itself.

He never killed for fun. His job wasn't indiscriminate. It wasn't even a job, in all honestly. He could not be swayed by money nor position or power. His was a duty. Everything he did, everyone he killed, it was his innate duty to the ideals of good.

And so, he gazed and examined and investigated. He watched Alexander Lane.

He was a devil, one that must be put down for the sake of what is right and just.

The boy was walking along a corridor of pale-painted walls and wooden floors. It was only illuminated by wall lamps that stood next to each door, meters and meters apart. He was in the dorm building, on Magecraft Academy ground– Official property of the Union.

What's worse is that his target walked alongside two others, nearly surrounded by them, one brown-haired, the other blond. They were some of the other 'Heavenly Virtues'. But they were not his targets. They had done no wrong in his eyes, and death was not something they deserved.

Hassan carried thirteen weapons. Always thirteen, never more and never less, precisely because it was such an unlucky number, because the number knew brought anything good into the world.

He had always understood that killing wasn't good. It was a simple necessity. If some must die, then let them die at the hands of rightful justice.

Even as he carried this will and this strength in his beliefs, he couldn't deny the deep pleasure that he gained through taking lives. The sight of fear and despair in a person's eyes as their life begins to leave their physical body...

That was ecstasy to him.

And that alone pushed him away from his family. But no matter what happened in life... The joy of fulfilling his duty and purpose was one he could never escape.

As he unsheathed a single dagger from within his cloak, he didn't let out a single sound. Alexander walked two feet ahead of his two friends. If Hassan launched his blade with the right force, the right timing, the right aim, he could send half a foot of steel into the back of Alexander's neck, right through his vertebrae, his brainstem, and every blood vessel and airway all at once.

His lips began to curl into a smile.

And with that, a sudden chill entered the corridor. The three Virtues froze.

Slowly, with the pace of a heartbeat, they each turned and faced the man shrouded in his black cloak. They each fixed their sights on different aspects. All Leonard saw was the thin man in his cloak, a man without much magic energy.

Gabriel saw him as an immediate threat. An attacker from the Golden Dawn, perhaps? Lost in these thoughts, Gabriel paused for a moment. No... He hesitated.

Alexander, on the other hand, had spun with the intention to fight. And as the assassin's blade left his fingertips and ripped through the air in its clear path to Alexander... He took in a sharp breath.

They all understood this man was a threat. And so... They acted.

He dropped to the ground. The dagger whizzed over him, and like a beast in danger, he clawed his way off the floor and charged at the attacker. He burst forth past the others and towards the dark-clad man.

Hassan's smile widened as he hopped a step back and threw a device to the ground. It clattered onto the wooden floorboard and bounced back up, only to crash once again. And with its second impact, a flash of magic energy exploded into the air.