Flames and thick smoke mingled, turning the hotel's thirteenth floor into hell on earth. The fire raged on the twelfth floor, and smoke wound upward like a giant python, staining the once-luxurious thirteenth-floor corridor a gloomy gray.
The alarm's shrill cries echoed like wolf howls through the ravaged corridor.
Karen stepped out of Room 1307. Black spots covered his face, and scorch marks marred his clothes, making him look like someone who had escaped the fire.
Next, he would pose as an evacuee and mingle with the others to leave the Royal Hotel.
"Excuse me, sir up ahead. Could you wait a moment?"
A gentle voice came from behind him.
Goose bumps instantly rose all over Karen's body.
Although twenty years had passed since he had crossed into this world, he had never forgotten that voice.
"The famous Thorn Princess. I never expected to meet you here." Karen turned around helplessly. Things had deviated from his expectations.
Yor had actually arrived at the Royal Hotel at noon.
I miscalculated.
Click, click, click.
"I never expected you to recognize me, sir. What an honor."
Yor wore a black evening dress, elegant and mysterious, like a ghost emerging from the night.
The alarm's red light danced over the tips of her jet-black hair.
She walked slowly forward, her skirt swaying slightly.
Her smile was gentle as water, but her eyes were as sharp as a cheetah's, fixed firmly on Karen.
"Sir, have you seen Deputy Minister Bunanren of the State Security Service?"
Karen's pistol appeared in his hand again. He shook his head. "I only do the killing. Who I kill or what position they hold is none of my concern."
"Really? That puts me in quite a difficult position." Yor shook her head regretfully, then her gaze sharpened. "In that case, may I pierce your chest?"
"And the information along with it!!"
Before her words had faded, she darted toward him like a snake. The hairpin-like weapon in her hand traced a cold gleam through the air, aimed straight at Karen's chest.
The pistol instantly slid into firing position in his palm. In such a cramped space, Karen had no need to aim. Drawing on the hand speed he had honed over twenty-five years of being single, he emptied the magazine in the shortest time possible.
Clang, clang, clang-
Yor whipped her hairpin through the air. Amid flashes of sparks and the clash of metal, she knocked every bullet aside.
"Are you even remotely human? You certainly live up to your reputation, Thorn Princess." Karen complained, but his hands never slowed. As he flung the empty pistol at her, another pistol appeared in his other hand.
Bang, bang, bang-
The pistol spat tongues of flame again, sending another dozen or so bullets pouring out.
Yor dodged without a hint of panic, her hairpin throwing off sparks from time to time.
Seeing Yor draw closer and closer, Karen swiftly retreated while pulling out the steel baton concealed at his waist.
The steel baton whistled through the air as it swung out from beneath his suit jacket, sweeping viciously toward the charging Yor.
Yor leaned backward to evade the sweep, her hairpin carving a groove two millimeters deep into the wall.
Karen had no desire to get bogged down in a fight with Yor. His only objective was the document.
He seized the opportunity to dash toward the stairs. Once he made it downstairs, Yor would be unable to touch him.
Members of Garden could not show themselves in public.
But while the idea was beautiful, reality was harsh.
Karen had barely taken two steps when a metal hairpin shot like a bullet into the railing.
Another whistle followed immediately as a huge oil painting hurtled toward him.
He turned and smashed through the flying painting. Yor stood amid the scattered fragments of its frame, holding a fire axe. Behind her was the fire equipment cabinet she had wrecked with a single punch.
"Please wait. Your tie isn't tied properly." An unnatural flush colored Yor's face as she raised the axe and swung.
Karen's pupils contracted, and he instinctively leaned backward.
The axe blade swept past his Adam's apple and sliced his jacket in two, sending the document flying out.
"Fuck, this is why I didn't want to fight Yor. She's seriously hard to deal with. One slip and I'm dead." Karen tore off his severed tie. Tiny beads of sweat covered the back of his neck.
"You're truly strong. Which assassin organization do you belong to, and what famous name do you go by?" Yor gently stroked her other hairpin, her face full of curiosity.
An ordinary person would have been long dead by now. Even an assassin would struggle to survive two moves against her.
Yet the man before her still seemed to have strength to spare. He was no ordinary opponent.
"Phoenix. Black Nightmare." Holding his steel baton, Karen studied Yor's current position.
Behind his back, his other hand had already finished reloading his pistol.
The corridor was quite bare. The only things that could qualify as decorations were the enormous potted plants and the chandelier overhead.
"So you're Mr. Black Nightmare of Phoenix. I've long heard of you." Yor bowed gracefully, her hairpin ringing with a clear hum. "With the world's second-ranked assassin visiting Ostania, please allow us, as your hosts, to extend our hospitality."
"Heh, heh, heh. My boss told me to come home early for dinner, so I won't trouble you." Karen took a deep breath. He had to leave as soon as possible.
Once the firefighters arrived, this place would soon be surrounded so tightly that escape would become even harder.
"No need to be so polite..."
A gunshot rang out alongside Yor's words.
Yor tilted her head slightly, effortlessly avoiding the lightning-fast shot.
Karen immediately unleashed a frantic barrage, counting each bullet as he fired.
Her movements were as light as a dancing butterfly's as she casually evaded the bullets.
Her effortless movements stood in stark contrast to Karen's storm of attacks.
"Now!"
Karen suddenly raised his gun and fired at the ceiling. The crystal chandelier came crashing down.
Hearing the rush of air overhead, Yor spun, her skirt blooming like a black night-blooming cereus. Her high heel kicked the glass lampshade into a shotgun-like shower of fragments.
"Oh, no, my dress ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅!" Yor cried out as she ducked behind a pillar. This was her only formal outfit, and she needed it for a banquet in a few days.
What was she supposed to do?!!
While Yor hid behind the pillar, Karen leaped down, grabbed the bottom of the railing, and swung onto the next flight of stairs. Within seconds, he vanished under cover of the thick smoke on the twelfth floor.
"It's over. I'm going to get scolded." Seeing that Karen was nowhere to be found, Yor burst into aggrieved tears.
The director had been searching for the traitor Bunanren. After learning that he would be staying at the Royal Hotel today, he had assigned someone to watch the place. The earlier fire had struck him as suspicious, so he had contacted Yor just as she was about to take her afternoon nap.
After receiving the director's message, she had rushed to the Royal Hotel, barely managing to catch the assassin as he was leaving.
Now the assassin had escaped, and she had botched her mission.
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