Chapter 78
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Stop! [Halt!] (3)
Vanguard's footsteps ascending the mountain were as heavy as a thousand tons.
'That Four Thousand Four bastard...'
He'd mulled it over several times on the way up, but he still couldn't believe it.
The Heavenly Annihilation Division wasn't ordering Four Thousand Four's death because he'd killed the Zhuge Clan Lord. Nor was it because the seventeen-member killing squad under Vanguard's command was being pursued by the Zhuge Clan.
It was because of Four Thousand Four's damned murderous intent.
Was Four Thousand Four some kind of maniac who couldn't live without killing? Did he really need to murder someone just to fall asleep?
There were no assassins without blood on their hands.
Vanguard had killed plenty, and so had Jaja and Hanbi. But their kills happened in the course of carrying out missions—unavoidable necessities.
No one questioned those deaths.
Everyone knew there were attackers and defenders. One side had to die, either them or the enemy.
It was a world where if you didn't kill, you'd be killed.
But Four Thousand Four's murders were different. He killed for no reason at all, unrelated to any mission. He just wanted to kill, so he did.
This crazy bastard!
The Heavenly Annihilation Division had given up on Four Thousand Four.
They'd believed the command seal could control him, but even that failed to suppress his killing instinct. They'd succeeded in binding him with the seal, but only just. They couldn't curb his urge to kill.
Four Thousand Four had slipped away like a sneaky stray cat to murder people.
Forty of them? Ha!
When the hell had he killed that many? It meant he'd gone on his killing sprees whenever he was alone...
And surprisingly, Four Thousand Four had spent quite a bit of time alone.
From the moment he'd first descended the mountain alone to assassinate the merchant spy, until he'd rejoined the group—that had been a long stretch. And now this time, he'd moved solo again.
But the time he'd spent alone? It amounted to just a few days.
In those few days, he'd killed nearly twenty people. For no reason whatsoever.
Ha ha ha! All he could do was laugh.
What kind of lunatic does something like this? He was speechless.
Did Four Thousand Four really do it?
"You're back?"
Hanbi popped out from the side of the path.
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
Vanguard answered absently.
He'd nearly drawn his sword, mistaking Hanbi for an enemy.
His mind had been so deep in thought that he'd even let his guard slip.
"Where's Four Thousand Four?"
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
"Is Four Thousand Four here?"
"Of course he is. But why...?"
"Never mind."
Vanguard took the lead and kept walking.
Everyone gathered in one spot.
Vanguard had just met with a messenger from the Division.
If this had been before Four Thousand Four, Fox, and Wild Boar had joined, he would have demanded reinforcements for the One-Four-Six group. After assassinating the merchant spy, the killing squad had taken no losses, so they'd been assigned another mission right away.
This time was the same—no casualties. But jumping into another assassination with the Zhuge Clan's eyes hot on their trail felt iffy.
What orders had Vanguard received?
Vanguard looked at the four of them.
They were all elite assassins, ready to carry out any command without hesitation.
Vanguard spoke gravely, his face stiff and heavy.
"We've got our orders."
"Heh heh! Right on cue again. They know we're in a bind."
"Kill, kill, kill. It's endless."
Hanbi and Jaja chuckled as they spoke.
Vanguard didn't laugh. With a face weighed down like stone, he said rigidly,
"Assassination order. Target: Four Thousand Four. Effective: immediately."
For a moment, Hanbi and Jaja stared blankly at Vanguard.
They wondered if they'd misheard. They thought it meant Four Thousand Four was leading this assassination.
Then they grasped his words fully.
Shhh! Shwick!
Hanbi and Jaja moved at once.
They took positions to block Four Thousand Four's left rear and right rear, preventing escape. But they didn't draw their swords yet. They still couldn't fathom why Vanguard wanted him dead.
"This is insane!"
Fox cried out, his face pale as a ghost.
"Vanguard, cut the joke! What the hell are you doing? You really gonna cut down Four Thousand Four?!"
Fox yelled at Vanguard, then at Jaja and Hanbi.
Vanguard ignored Fox. He ignored Jaja and Hanbi's puzzled stares too. He only stared piercingly at Four Thousand Four.
"What do you think?"
"..."
"I'm asking if you think this order is unfair too."
"An order to kill me?"
"Yes."
"This one's easy."
"You planning to die?"
Four Thousand Four closed his eyes and said,
"As quick as possible. Please."
"Not even asking why... You really wanna die?"
Vanguard spoke to the closed-eyed Four Thousand Four. He was a bit rattled by how readily Four Thousand Four accepted death.
Four Thousand Four didn't reply. He kept his eyes shut, awaiting death.
"This is bullshit! Even if we're scared of the Zhuge Clan's revenge, killing a comrade? I can't accept this order! No one should!"
Fox blocked Hanbi and Jaja, desperate to stop Four Thousand Four's death. But Vanguard, who'd issued the order, and Four Thousand Four himself remained silent.
After a long pause, Vanguard spoke.
"I want to speak with him alone. Everyone else, please step back."
"Is it true?"
Vanguard asked abruptly.
"What do you mean?"
"That you've killed over forty people."
"Hm. That. Yes, it's true."
"Wh-what?!"
Vanguard was at a loss for words.
Four Thousand Four admitted it. Casually, as if stating the obvious.
Gulp!
Vanguard swallowed dryly.
This guy really was insane. Confessing to murder without a shred of guilt.
"Why? Why'd you kill them?"
Vanguard clung to a sliver of hope.
There must have been a good reason. Some unavoidable circumstance.
Even if Four Thousand Four had a valid excuse, the Division had already abandoned him—he'd have to die anyway. Yes, killing Four Thousand Four was inevitable.
But at least he could defend himself by saying he hadn't killed innocents.
They couldn't execute him branded as a murderer.
'You bastard! At least shed that murderer's stigma!'
This wasn't for Four Thousand Four. It was for those who'd survive him—for Vanguard, Hanbi, Jaja, and Fox. They couldn't bear the self-loathing of having cared for a murderer.
Four Thousand Four answered calmly.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you."
"Tell me anyway, damn it!"
Vanguard lunged forward and grabbed Four Thousand Four by the collar.
"Why! Why'd you kill?!"
Four Thousand Four opened his eyes and met Vanguard's gaze. In a steady, unwavering voice, he said,
"Four. Thousand. Four."
"..."
"You know what that name means."
"You fucking psycho?"
"The world calls me a murderer. You already know that too."
"You go mad if you don't kill?"
"..."
"How many? How many did you kill?!"
"Heh heh. Who counts every single one...?"
Slap!
Vanguard backhanded Four Thousand Four across the cheek.
Now it was certain. He'd held out hope, thinking maybe the Division had bad intel... But Four Thousand Four was a murder-crazed lunatic. He couldn't sleep without killing.
Shing!
Vanguard drew his sword.
"One last question. Your command seal—that seal made you kill the merchant spy and attempt to assassinate the Zhuge Clan Lord. You carried out deeds that would cost ten lives. Tell me: even that seal couldn't suppress your killing urge?"
Vanguard wanted repentance. But Four Thousand Four gave a strange reply.
"I kill without heart. Any emotion taints it with guilt."
It wasn't the answer he wanted. But it doused the flames of his rage all the same.
His grip on the sword slackened.
Killing without heart? A lunatic driven by bloodlust, killing habitually without guilt—that could be called heartless too.
But that wasn't what Four Thousand Four meant.
He'd added, "Any emotion taints it."
Four Thousand Four's heartlessness stemmed from cold reason. Not impulse.
'What the hell are you?!'
Vanguard stared at Four Thousand Four.
No matter how he looked, he didn't seem like a murderer. He showed no killer's traits. Then again, killers didn't walk around with "murderer" tattooed on their foreheads. They all looked normal on the outside.
"I heard you killed ordinary civilians."
"Yes."
"People who didn't know martial arts, just farmers."
"Most of them, yes."
"Not even a word of excuse."
"Nothing I say changes the fact that I killed them. That's why... I didn't want to leave. The Nineteen Hells were comfortable. That wasn't an empty statement."
"Argh!"
Vanguard raised his sword. But his strength had already ebbed. The raised blade lacked power.
"It's fine. Go ahead and kill me."
"If I kill you like this, your command seal breaks."
"Doesn't matter."
"What?!"
"My murders come before everything. Even if the seal breaks, so be it."
Four Thousand Four looked utterly at peace.
Vanguard hadn't understood how he could act so recklessly with a command seal. Everyone in the killing squad staked their lives on it. They'd die willingly in the line of duty.
To them, the seal was paramount.
The Division's orders were secondary. The seal was supreme.
Yet Four Thousand Four placed his murders above the seal. Above everything.
He obeyed the Division's orders to uphold the seal, but they couldn't interfere with his killing. That's why he'd done it so freely.
Vanguard finally understood why Four Thousand Four acted alone.
A man like this, with thoughts like these, couldn't be bound by a seal.
That must be why the Division ordered his death. If the seal couldn't control him, one day he'd turn his sword on them.
To Four Thousand Four, murder was supreme.
The Division had to choose: tolerate the murders or discard him.
Four Thousand Four would keep killing afterward.
He'd faithfully carry out any mission, but on the side, he'd pursue his own murders. Killing powerless civilians, just like now.
And not just a few.
How long since leaving the Nineteen Hells? Already twenty dead.
At this rate, a year unchecked would mean three or four hundred.
He had to die.
Not because of the Zhuge pursuit. Because of his murder spree, he couldn't be left alive.
Vanguard said,
"You have to die."
Four Thousand Four closed his eyes and replied,
"It's fine. One clean strike. Please."