Adopted Soldier

Chapter 280: 280

In a darken hallway Shadow was surprised and happy to see that his daughter Sayaka was finally able to deal a blow at him . This meant that Sayaka has finally understood the secret behind the final Shadow technique, that was passed down to the first born of the main family of the Mutsus .

"You have finally grasped the essence of the technique . Now that there is nothing left to teach you, I can finally go do my mission worry free . "

Sayaka was surprised to hear that her father had an actual mission and didn’t do it immediately . Instead he went ahead and trained her first, before even deciding to go . This statement triggered warning signals inside Sayaka’s head .

"Father, is the kill that difficult this time?" Sayaka couldn’t help but ask, since this was the first time she felt her father actual feel unsure of the kill . The current Shadow, that was her father was only second to the founder of the Mutsu clan in terms of skill . He was once even called the second coming of the Mustu family’s forefather . Yet this father of hers, who has never failed once in killing a target was actually exuding a feeling of uncertainty .

Her father who usually never showed his true form, as his body face and everything else was hidden in a blurry image, had now actually shown his face . This was the first time Sayaka has seen her father’s face . . . No that wasn’t right, it was a faint memory but Sayaka was sure that he has seen his face when her mother died .

Yet now his face was obviously different as it looked a bit older than the last time she saw him . Still even though her father was a bit older now, he still looked like a dignified young noble . While Sayaka was still in a state of stunned surprise, her father smiled at her . He then patted her head before speaking .

"I won’t hide anything from you Sayaka . My mission this time was given to me by the current President of Berdonia . I the head of the Mutsu Family, the one who bears the name Shadow have been given the honor to take the life of the Granado Empire’s Emperor . "

When Sayaka heard this she was really surprised, then her face turned serious . She was now sure that her father knew that this mission would be his last . Showing his face, even to his own daughter, wasn’t something, someone who had the burden of being called the Shadow was allowed to do .

Sayaka, even though she was long ago aware that in their family’s line of business, death was always close, it was beside them like their best friend . Still she never expected her father the best assassin to ever fail .

"Father . . . I . . . You-" Shadow placed his finger on top of Sayaka’s lips and smiled at his daughter . It was a gentle loving smile, that Sayaka never expected to see from her father .

"Sayaka, I know what you want to say, but as a Mutsu you must never say it . We are the clan that holds Berdonia’s hands through the darkness . It is our mission, our duty to protect it from the darkness . So do not worry my Daughter, the Shadow never dies . "

After saying that line Sayaka’s father kissed his daughter’s forehead, and once again hid his face and body type in a blurry figure .

. . .

That was the conversation Shadow and Sayaka had a month ago, and right now Shadow was near the throne room of the Emperor . It wasn’t easy to infiltrate such a heavily guarded place, but Shadow was still able to do it .

He waited for the right timing, when the Emperor was about to go to sleep . The Emperor’s room was hidden behind the throne room . After a few rounds of scouting Shadow was able to find the room’s exact location .

This was his chance, since all of the ten generals were out today, this was the best time to kill the Emperor . Shadow could feel his heart beating faster than normal . This made him smile as this feeling he had was the same feeling he had, during the first time he was sent out to kill someone . He was ten at the time, when he was given his first kill target . At the time the anxiety and the excitement had both mixed in as he did his mission .

That feeling slowly went away as Shadow got better at his job . It even got to the point that no matter what happened, his heart rate remained ever steady . Yet today it was like he was that young inexperienced assassin once more .

. . .

Once the darkness of the night enveloped the Emperor’s room, Shadow went in for the kill . Before he assassinated the Emperor, he double, no, triple checked if he had the right person . Once he confirmed that the person sleeping soundly on that bed was in fact the Emperor, Shadow swiftly went in for the kill .

Yet the moment the deed was done, the lights in the room were turned on . Not only that the whole room seem to went into some kind of lockdown . Shadow was confused as to how this happened . He moved in perfectly and he hid his presence perfectly as well . There was no mistakes made . . .

Still he was already expecting his death this time around, so he was ready for whatever it is to come . An assassin that was caught in the act was second rate assassin, so Shadow was already counting this as a failure . Yet even though he considers this a failure, Shadow was still able to successfully kill the Emperor . When he thought of this he heard a familiar voice that shouldn’t exist in this world anymore . The person in question was not present, but his voice echoed throughout the room most probably from a speaker somewhere .

"Look at what we have here . How nice of the traitorous slaves to send out their best assassin to kill me . Still as expected of lowly slaves, the assassin they sent has failed spectacularly, since the one you killed was nothing more than a clone . "

When Shadow heard what the Emperor said, his body jolted . Not only was he trapped and was discovered, he even failed to kill the target . This was the greatest blunder he had made in his life .

"Now that you failed to kill me, that would mean the hundred percent kill rate of the Shadow no longer exist . It is the end of a legend, how sad . " Hearing the sarcastic tone of the Emperor got no reaction from Shadow .

"Emperor of the Granado Empire, the Shadow never fails to kill its target . The next time would be your last . "

Hearing Shadow’s comeback made the Emperor laugh .

"How will there be a next time, if you die here?"

"Shadows never die . " The moment Shadow said this he used his tongue to tap a tooth . The moment he did this, the sound of ticking could be heard .

’Sayaka, I hope you no longer be bound by the Shadows . ’ That was Shadow’s last thoughts before his head exploded . After the explosion of his head, Shadow’s body exploded right after . Turns out the thing Shadow tapped on his tooth, was something that activated the explosives inside his body, that were placed just in case he failed a mission .

The body of a Mutsu held too many secrets, that’s why once they failed, the members of the Mutsu family would readily destroy their bodies .

The Emperor was shocked to see what had happened . This move that Shadow made was something he wasn’t expecting, right after Shadow declared that Shadows never die . This made the Emperor feel a bit anxious, as the final words of Shadow became a somewhat ominous prophecy .

. . .

When the Mutsu family heard that Shadow had failed, the successor of the title was appointed, but it wasn’t Sayaka who was appointed as the next Shadow . It was someone from the branch family . It would seem that Shadow named a child of the branch family as the next successor of the title . He did this to ensure that his only daughter could break free from the Shadows influence . Yet Shadow wasn’t able to properly predict what Sayaka would do next .

Sayaka could obviously understand what her father wanted to happen, but she didn’t want to accept it . So Sayaka challenged the current successor for the title of Shadow .

"Father I know this isn’t what you want from me, but . . . In the end I am a Mustsu, and your daughter . It could never be anyone else . . . Only I am allowed to finish your last mission . . . Shadows never die . . . Right?"