Way of the Knights

Mark shifted into position like a ghost.

Even as he travelled amidst the dense crowd, he was untouchable and untraceable. He moved with such ease that he didn’t raise any suspicions around. Truly, this was the result of him growing up as a famed assassin throughout Divine Realm.

Mark surveyed his surroundings. He re-organized himself since he had to make sure that he’s going on the right direction. This place is a bit of a maze and if he made a fuss, he’d be discovered and that would really upset him since he didn’t want his mission to fail.

Currently deep within enemy territory, Mark’s mission was crucial to progress their plan. He’s targeting yet another resource node of Paradise, this one was the food supplier.

This place is at the extreme north of Paradise, the surroundings are a bit bleak but that’s because the power supply here is particularly bad. While this are is still connected to the power grid, there’s too much machinery in here that not much space is left for other Abyssals to build homes and there were solutions for this so far so they kind of just built their own homes in a weird way anyway.

Because of that, this place turned into a mess. It has become like a slum area for Paradise and generally, these placed breeds the rotten ones.

This place became almost like a lawless area, even so, it remained a strategic point to Paradise since the North is their major supplier of food.

Mark weaved through the crowd like a formless phantom. Searching for a way in so that he can begin with his mission.

In theory, there’s really no need for him to be this meticulous about his approach since he’s strong enough to plunge the entire north into chaos. But that would make things more troublesome for him and didn’t want to make this more harder than it should so he approached carefully.

Mark’s mission is to infiltrate the main factory where the food’s being produced.

This mission specifically calls for him due to his abilities, and if he can pull this off, the damage he will deal will severely limit the movements of the Abyssals and make it harder for them to recover.

It took him a while but he eventually found his way into the factory. Upon entering it, Mark was once again stumped…

If outside is a maze, the inside is even more so. Mark really didn’t like the layout of this place, it’s too crude. It’s like they just placed pieces of metals and arranged them in a way where it would function then called it a day.

They didn’t even bother re-hauling the design to make everything work more efficiently and possibly have space for more. Just for a single glance, Mark could already think of at least ten ways to improve this place.

Would he bother to do that? Of course not! Doing this would help his enemies, he hasn’t become mad yet so why would he do that?

He’s just annoyed since it’ll be more difficult to locate his actual target with how confusing this place was. It also didn’t help that he didn’t have a map of this place so he could only explore on his own.

Mark wasn’t sure if there’s any kind of surveillance running around the place but just to be safe, he entered stealth anyway. By minimizing his aura to the limit and employing a special technique he learned from his days of being an assassin, he can completely erase his presence to anyone and anything that he didn’t want to see him.

Mark took his time. Checked where the paths lead and formed a mental map of this place so that he’d have an easier time maneuvering this place.

Eventually, he located the spots where he needed to go.

One was located at the northwest of factory, one was at the south and the last one was at the center.

These spots are where the food were being process and packaged for delivery before sending to various places within Paradise.

Since he already located his target, Mark needed to formulate a plan so that he can proceed.

He observed the patrol routes of the personnel to see who amongst them will have the highest chance of visiting all three of these places without raising any suspicion. He’d prefer doing it himself but those areas are heavily guarded and monitored. Not just everyone can enter and if he forced his way in, he’d alert the entire colony.

Security is tighter nowadays and that’s understandable. As Humans attacked Abyssals where it hurts, it is already given that they would do their best to protect them.

Mark knows this the best since he was a part of the people who proposed this plan.

Yes, it’s dishonorable to fight them this way but it’s a necessary evil that’s needed to be done. Humanity is really weaker compared to the Abyssals so direct confrontation will never work, in fact that’d just spell their demise even earlier.

This tactics might appear roguish but it’s a viable strategy to even out the playing field. This war is something that Humans can’t afford to lose.

After surveying for a while, Mark found his target and his plan was good to go.

He waited until his target was away from any kind of surveillance before dropping down from above and assassinating them.

Mark’s movements were swift and decisive. There’s not an ounce of hesitation on his face as he executed them.

After assassinating his target, Mark swiftly disguised himself as the Abyssal he killed. Then he blended-in, following patrol route of the guard.

Since he also snagged the pass of the guard he killed, it meant that he gained access to the spots he was eyeing before.

First was the northwestern spot where the food preparations were happening.

According to the patrol route, Mark would stand guard in front of the door for about ten minutes to wait for someone to replace him. Once his replacement arrives, he could then enter the production line and patrol there.

After ten minutes passed, his replacement arrived on time. They nodded to each other and Mark entered the production area and started his patrol only, he didn’t stop at just patrolling the area.

He released thin, almost invisible threads of Crimson Death and infused with everything that he interacted with; food, machinery, Abyssals themselves, he infused everything with the Crimson death.

The effects will now show right away and that’s fine, that’s included in his plans anyway.

A little bit of poison will go a long way and Mark wasn’t really opposed into spending his time here to make sure his plan works perfectly.

After finishing his rounds in this area without raising any suspicion, Mark moved-on to his next area which was his target at the south. This one was packaging area. Mark planned in infusing a little bit of Crimson Death to every package in order to infect everything and everybody that interacts with them.

This will definitely help the spread of Crimson Death and the more Abyssals it infected, the higher the chances it will go out of proportions which is what Mark wanted and what his mission was to begin with.

He wanted to release a pandemic to weaken the Abyssals even further and make them more chaotic. He want them so terrified and so afraid that they wouldn’t even dare to step outside of Paradise anymore.

This mission is extremely insidious but it has its merits, which is why Mark was tasked to do it himself because he’s never been afraid to get his hands dirty.

Mark wanted them gone. Just the thought of these creatures ransacking his home with reckless abandon causes Mark’s blood to boil in fury. Had they remain ignorant about the presence and arrival of the Abyssals, things would’ve been much worse than this. And honestly, he didn’t know if he could bear it if something happens to his child.

This is why these Abyssals need to die. It would be for the best if none of them remain after they’re done with them.

Mercy had no place in this war. Whoever falters, loses. And losers will cease to exist. That’s the idea and the cold hard truth that everybody must realize.

Mark will take his time to complete this mission as discreet as possible. It may take days or months for him to finish this completely but he’ll see through it.

His Crimson Affliction, the lethal poison he injected on the food products, must spread all over Paradise. He didn’t want to raise a ruckus since if the enemy knew he’s here, they will lockdown this place.

The lockdown itself is useless against Mark since he can simply slip through the gaps but poison won’t spread that way which will be bad for his mission.

So, even if it means that he’d extend his time here to see this through, Mark doesn’t mind.

‘You all had your moment already, it’s time for you to go.’

‘I swear, by hook or by crook, all of you will die for the sake of my people and my family.’