So it is done

Between rock and a hard place

Marcus, upon reaching the hotel where he was staying, not under his own name, of course the first thing the professional assassin did was go to his room. All done as nonchalantly as possible, in no way giving away the fact that he was to blame for the failed assassination attempt on King Osmond, which had not yet been announced on television, yet.

But while Marcus was still trying to maintain a facade of professional detachment, more out of habit than remembering exactly why he needed such behavior. And even though the scratch on his body had already healed completely thanks to his regeneration and aura, Marcus Black's mind was certainly no place for calm at all. No, Marcus Black practically breathed out anger and hatred.

"Maybe I should strangle the little cunt later." Marcus thought aloud. While he was not some crazed maniac who craved to kill children, or even particularly enjoy the sight of blood, the opposite was also true. Marcus was not the romanticized image of an assassin, beholden to some kind of code of honor. No, he simply killed for those who paid more, nothing more nothing less, a simple paid killer. Man, woman, child, the elderly, it made no difference to him.

It wouldn't even be the first time he killed a kid!

In fact, it would be the third. First time he killed a kid, it was a minor heir to a big business who got in the way of some powerful deputy. He remembered it quite clearly, since he had pinned the crime on some random Hunters with, um, specific tastes in sexual partners... Was definitely something memorable.

Anyway, killing children was not anything taboo for Marcus, so the thought of taking his anger out on the little brat later, strangling her after he'd dealt with Jonathan. The thought of it echoed a pleasant anticipation in his soul. But, it certainly wasn't enough to fully appease the anger raging in Marcus's soul, and certainly could in no way obliterate the objective reality before Marcus's eyes.

His attempt to gather information had failed miserably, all before he could even gain an iota of information.

It was... for Marcus it was a unique phenomenon, his tactics had never failed before! Even animal instincts, when confronted by an insentient, flying and invisible observer who had no plans to attack, would not trigger. He knows that well, since he had done the same thing to even Faunus before. So why did it happen now!?

And so Marcus, faced for the first time in a long time with something that went completely against his plan, was... Puzzled.

Once upon a time, when he had just begun his journey as a professional assassin, taking quite insignificant orders, in terms of payment relative to his current rates, Marcus had been serious about preparing for his assassination attempts. He made plans after plans, studied his targets extensively, even looked for escape routes, in case his assassination was noticed or if his attempt failed, But now?

For seven years now, Marcus Black has been killing ordinary, unprepared people. Although he had done so in his early days, trying his best to maintain his previous level of professionality, in case one of the guards of the next target turned out to be a Hunter or something, he had slipped. Marcus Black has not used such rudimentary things as 'strict planning' and 'contingency plans' for five years now. Gradually, his mind and expertise simply converged on the fact that he no longer needed such things. That he had simply been lucky enough to draw lucky cards from the deck of fate, and that he simply could not be beaten.

In other words, the decline of Remnant's most famous assassin's skills had begun long ago. It was just at this very moment that the coincidences that had long been waiting to happen lined up in a single chain that led Marcus to fail.

And Marcus' main problem wasn't that he'd been driven away from his target, or that someone had managed to hurt Marcus despite his prowess, or even that the target was now certain to know that Marcus was around. In fact, the main problem for Marcus was that he,