In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 83: Name That Gods Will Know

Deadshade is a man of an exciting life with a particular set of skills. When he was only seven years old, before earning his nickname as Deadshade, he killed a man with a simple steak knife after the man attempted to steal his only coin out of drunkenness. Of course, this was a very traumatic event for a young boy but growing up in a slum, his perception of life and harsh reality hardened his mind to make something out of it. With the taste of first blood under him, the boy pursues the path of blade for hire and soon attracts the attention of the city's underworld organization.

After becoming a novice in the organization, the young man found his calling through the art of assassination and espionage. It turned out, that the young man was natural when it came to stealth and acrobatic, which gave him tremendous advantages no one could match. Seeing a potential within the organization, the council of shadows decided to invest a large amount of resources to create the greatest master assassin in the history of their organization.

At the age of 13, a young man trained in higher education above the average peasant would. By attending an academy for nobles and wealthy merchants, the young man adapted to the situation and blended in with the higher class as if he belonged there. For five years, no one knew the truth or suspected the young man to be a slum rat or lower class as his act was flawless until the end.

After graduating with honor and making several connections with the noble houses and wealthy merchants, the young man's proper training started. The mastery of stealth and blending could do so much without drenching his hand with blood as a young man spend four years with several masters of various skills to learn. From the art of blades to poisons, the young man expanded his skill sets beyond what ordinary assassins could learn in their lifetime.

By the end of his training, he was ready, and to ensure he was loyal to the organization, he killed his masters and anyone who knew his identity. With his training finished and passed beyond his masters, he discarded his name and accepted the new name the counsel gave to him, Deadshade.

Deadshade shook the underworld for many years and brought countless coins to the organization. From the humble killing of a minor nobleman who didn't pay protection to the assassination of royal blood, Deadshade's blade was drenched with blood and poisons as his legend grew. By the time assassin passed his prime, he had multiple pupils under his wing, and very few managed to stay alive to follow him during his mission given by the council.

Deadshade didn't take anyone under his wing to train them and pass on his knowledge. Taking an example from his dead masters, Deadshade teach each student one set of skill that would match their natural talent but withhold the rest. None of his pupils learned everything from their master, and those who survived continued to hone their skills to the point they became masters of their own set of skills. Few did attempt to take their master's life, but with limited skill under their belt, Deadshade returned the favor and separated those loyal to him and those who are to the organization.

With all his achievements and stories that would pass on for generations, Deadshade wants one thing and one thing only. It is to mark one for the history book as a legendary assassin and place his name among gods, forever remembered by everyone. At this moment in his life, one particular request came to him caught his attention. An exiled royal family with a considerable amount of gold coins sent the enormous bounty of the king's ransom. The assignment is very political but would set organization for hundred years and will help Deadshade accomplish his life goal. The task is to kill the warlord known as William and bring down his grip on the Legellan capital city.

'Finally, someone who can help me reach my name among gods.' Deadshade was thrilled to kill the man who is also on the same path to place his name among the divine realm. After gathering the necessary information and tools for the job, Deadshade assembled all his pupils with him and went on a mission he will never forget.

---------------------------

"Save me!" A man in dark clothing screamed as a gigantic wolf bit off most of his lower body with a single bit. Without warning, a giant wolf came out of nowhere and attacked the man as if he was a tiny mouse caught in the act of stealing the grain. From a single bite, a wolf, if a person can call it, bit off a large chunk of the stomach and munched as if he was soft jerky.

"Please. Oh, gods, anyone, please help me." The man cried out with his last breath, but it was quiet as a whisper. The creature finished its first meal, returned right away, and bit the man's head, crushing the skull with a cracking sound.

[In the name of gods, what is that thing? Master, what do we do?] One of his pupils, the master of a dagger, asked her master with hand gestures as everyone else stayed hidden. Stay focused and follow the rules on the job. Everyone knew to use hand gestures to communicate or receive orders.

[We move on. While the creature is distracted, we escape before guards show up to investigate.] Deadshade gave his instructions and was about to move from the shadows when the loud sound of 'BAM' came behind the wolf and hit the female pupil he was communicating with.

The pupil who was Deadshade's student for nearly seven years exploded immediately as her entire chest now had a large hole, and part of her bones became shrapnel, wounding two more who were close to her. Out of six pupils, Deadshade brought with him, already four are down, unable to recover them, while two next to him are shocked as they made a slight sound of panic under their breath.

"Come out, little rats. I can hear your heartbeats and smell your breath. You should know not to venture into wolves' den and expect to survive." Deadshade turned his head to see who had said that, and he immediately regretted his action instead of running away. Behind the giant wolf, the largest man Deadshade had ever seen walked in with some kind of metal crossbow in his hand. What made Deadshade regret wasn't the man's formidable size to fight a bear or war plate that would weight wagon, but his ferocious appearance.

'He looks more like a wild barbarian than a knight.' Deadshade thought to himself and pulled out his poison-throwing knives. Following their master, the two remaining pupils pull out their respected range weapons with poison-coated ammunition. Three men throw/ fire their poison weapons at the knight, but to their surprise, the giant knight pulls out a shield with a wolf symbol on it out of nowhere. The two pupils' weapons bound off, and only Deadshade's dagger stuck onto the shield. Seeing this, the knight withdraws the shield and pulls out the dagger from the shield with his other hand using two fingers (While holding the bolter simultaneously).

"Hmmm, smell just like the poison in Lord Willam's soup." The knight sniffs the dagger and tastes the blade with his tongue.

'What is he doing? That poison is from one of my own formulae.' Deadshade was surprised to see a knight stupid enough to consume poison from the blade that was aiming for his life a few seconds before. But before he could organize his thoughts, the same loud noise could be heard from the opposite sides, and the two remaining pupils met the same faith as their bodies exploded.

'Shit, how are they keep finding us so quickly? The concealment magic should have made us invisible.' Deadshade quickly changes his position and moves within the shadows. At the sametime, he quickly turned around to see who fired the strange weapons, and to his surprise, it was a single woman in full body armor, including a strange white helmet.

"Lord William said he wanted the assassin alive, but he didn't say how many. Now, accept your faith and stay still, or I will hit a vital part." The woman in the full suit of armor aimed her bolter, but the giant wolf jumps in front of her to prevent Deadshade from meeting his maker.

"Damn it, woman! That was my prey before you came here. I smell the damn assassin before you could detect him with your fancy thermal sensor." Wolf Seer shouts as he aims his bolter at the Deadshade. Sister's reaction is expected if Deadshade knows when women are told by brutish men what she can and can't do.

"You savage Astartes are nothing but shame to the Emperor's name. All you did before I came in is to feed your pet wolf and drink on the job!" Sister Superior changes her aim toward Wolf Seer and his wolf as she points out that Wolf Seer was indeed drinking this entire time from his ale canteen.

"Well, if you didn't kill the other two, I would have secured three prisoners instead of one. Why don't you leave this to the real servant of the Emperor, and you instead go hunt some mutants or heretics?" Wolf Seer put away his ale canteen and changed his aim to the Sister as his wolf began to growl. This didn't scare Sister Superior as she pulled up her helmet visor and growled back at the wolf, which started to back off a little bit.

'What the FUCK is wrong with these people?" Deadshade quickly kills his presence and makes his escape while two warriors and a best are distracted. The standoff between Astartes and Sisters of Battle continues after the master assassin managed to escape as the rest of their respected group joined in, creating more problems than a simple case of an assassination attempt.

---------------------------

The Roof of the Fortress,

'Ok, I just need to jump and glide out of here. Forget about this job. I'm retiring.' Deadshade extends his clothes to connect the parts so he can glide among the winds when he makes the jump. This particular idea of escape was created by someone named Makato, who provided design and method to the organization in exchange for eliminating a specific group of adventurers rival to his group.

Just as Deadshade was about to jump, sharp pain flowed into his body as if he was stabbed in his legs and arms. Unkown to the master assassin, a sniper from the far distance fired four rounds with precision to prevent the assassin from escaping without killing him. Laying down on the rooftop before losing consciousness, Deadshade saw a woman in a dark skin suit approaching him and looking at him as if he was a lesser being, as if his life work wasn't worthy and noticeable to her.

----------------------

Mechanicus Laboratory and Workshop,

[What is your wish, Lord William? Our time is more important to unlock Omnissiah's gifts than modifying this flesh.] Magos Callias asked William with a bitter tone as if William had just interrupted the tech priest's lecture.

"I just need you to get information from him before he 'expires,'" William said to Magos Callias while two assassins dropped a wounded man still breathing and alive.

[He won't expire. My scan indicates this man's wounds are nonlife-threatening as his organs are still functioning within 47 percent. I recommend giving it to Sister of Battle since they are experts in torturing and information gathering.] Magos Callias scanned Deadshade quickly as possible and pushed the responsibilities as if this was an irrelevant task.

"I would if Sisters and Space Wolves actually followed my order instead of brawling among each other. Both groups are under heavy repent for their lack of discipline." William sighed, remembering his judgment which took two hours and strict sentencing for both groups.

[You could just consume his flesh and assimilate his knowledge. Your Omophagea gene-seed organ is more than capable of gathering all the information you need to find your killer. Of course, I was informed that consuming the brain would be much more effective than flesh. Let us test this theory.] One of Magos's metal arms changes shape into a laser scalpel while his facial expression somehow changes from irritation to excitement.

"Hold on. I'm not eating human flesh. For Emperor's sake and mine, please extract all the information. In exchange, you can turn him into a servitor." William protests and holds his hand to stop the mad tech-priest from making William into Hannibal Lecter.

[That is the most efficient method to serve the Omnissiah. I understand, my lord, but please remember to use your full potential instead of holding back.] Magos express his concern and retrieve the nearly dead master assassin into his custody.

'My full potential?' Magos's last comment made William wonder about his biology as Space Marine and if he is indeed using the full ability, it provided. Aside from his nullability, physical strength, speed, and endurance, William never used acid spit or Omophagea to acquire knowledge from other sentient beings.

'Maybe I should get a small bite,' The thought came to him automatically as if it was the idea of getting a midnight snack. Without William's knowledge, he became more Space Marine while losing his emotional state as a human from Earth. Not correcting his thought, William followed the Magos by himself while sending his assassins away for different duties.

---------------------------

From the elimination of master assassins:

[Null Marines (Formerly from Raven Guard Chapter) x40: Master of stealth and shadow, these Null Marines specialize in infiltration and sabotage behind the enemy line. As sons of Primarch Corvus Corax, the former Raven Guard possess an unnatural ability to blend with darkness and speed to remain stealthy. Holding rank among the original founding chapter, these Astartes continue the fine art of Wrath-slipping and the lesson of tactical data collection to evaluate the enemy before striking them down. Due to their military doctrine, these Astartes have their armor painted black as their primary color instead of black grey to blend with the environment suitable to them. Each member possesses a set of lighting claws, chainsword, jetpack, and bolter rifle with long-range scope.]

---------------------------

Note: Blacksouls' colors are,

Primary armor color: Dark Grey

Secondary armor color: Black Blue

Decorate color: Silver or gold

Symbol: Number zero with the letter I in the middle. Power hammer behind the zero with the head of the hammer engraved with the Aquila of the Imperium of Man.

[The number zero symbolizes the Nullability of the Chapter, while the letter 'I' doesn't represent a connection to the inquisition but rather one unity of all Astartes as Blacksouls accept other Space Marines. The Power hammer symbolizes the powerful strike at the enemy of the Emperor, but it also represents the symbol of hope to rebuild the Imperium and stop the stagnation it is experiencing. Finally, the Aquila within hammerhead is to show undying loyalty to the Emperor as Blacksouls follow his teaching of Imperial Truth, not Imperial Creed.]