Seducing the Conqueror

011: This Girl Really is a Monster

WHEN Nat got back from Hammoth, the city of tinkers, he saw an unusual but familiar scene. Daggers, knives, wires, swords, nunchaku and tonfa --- everything were laid down in a long table. Candice carefully and skillfully cleans and sharpens her weapons, and no one dares to approach her. She is as calm as the sea before the storm. Her eyes are focused, clear and full of fire.

Nat stopped one of Candice's soldiers from walking and took him to a corner. "Your commander looks like she'll kill anyone who will disturb her. Did anything happen while I'm gone?" he asked a five and a half feet tall lad.

The soldier’s brows furrowed showing a what-a-drag look on his face. But this doesn’t fazed Nat.

"The Black Conqueror came back to the city yesterday. She and Delicias saw the three captured rebels' decapitated heads being displayed in the parade," the soldier said nonchalantly.

Nat clicked his tongue. No wonder Candice became so quiet and focused. She became more determined in killing the Black Conqueror, he thought.

“Do you need anything else?”

Nat looked at the lad’s annoyed face. He is carrying a box full of scrapped weapons so he is obviously in a rush to take those away.

He patted the lad on his shoulder and motioned him to move along. The soldier didn’t waste anytime and moved away without saying goodbye or showing respect to Nat, who is also a commander of another team

Why does all of Candice’s soldier so disrespectful --- yet they are still an elite team who finishes most of the job quicker than everyone else? Nat wondered.

Nat’s eyes went back to Candice. Her face is still dark and looks like she is butchering someone while sharpening her tools.

I gotta do something about her, Nat thought. Then, a smirk escaped his lips.

He quietly walked towards Candice's direction.

In one quick move, he pulled out a knife and threw it to Candice. Candice immediately caught it between her middle and index finger without looking at it, and then threw it back to Nat. Just like her, he caught it with his two fingers. He threw a couple of more knives. This time, Candice used one dagger and deflected them all, without paying them a glance.

This girl really is a monster in times like this, Nat said to himself.

When he stopped attacking her, Candice threw three knives to the ground which nearly caught Nat’s feet.

"Nothing can really beat our master of knives!" Nat said as he pick the three weapons and walk towards Candice.

She glared at him and even without saying a single word, her eyes say it all: "Get lost, you piece of shit."

Nat laughed at her expression. "Chill! I'm just trying to ease the dark clouds above your head."

She ignored him and turned back to her tinkering. Nat took three pieces of paper from his pocket and pinned them at the table using the knives he picked.

"Choose one," he said. Candice examined the papers in front of her and quickly plunged a dagger at her choice.

"Assassination Target: Doriaki Suguya. Nice choice," Nat said as he read the assignment.

Doriaki Suguya is the owner of Ai no Hotel at Area 74 B. She abducts citylanders and forces them to become s*x slaves at her hotel. The Black Heart Rebel’s client is a noble who got her thirteen-year-old daughter kidnapped by Doriaki two days ago. Since the hotel is inside the gray area, the city soldiers' hands are tied. They can’t commence a rescue operation for the noble girl and this is a perfect job for the rebels.

Aside from being a rebellious group, the Black Heart Rebels are also mercenaries who take pay for dirty jobs such as assassination, theft and other things that the kingdom’s soldiers won’t dare involve their selves. But their customers have no idea that the guys they hire are part of the group not until the job is finished.

Nat tucked away the other two papers and handed Doriaki's file to Candice.

"Meet me in fifteen. We'll go to Doriaki's place together," he said.

Candice didn't argue with him and just quietly put away all of her weapons. A cold and dark aura still looms around her. Nat sighed but he left her alone as she began to prepare for killing her target.

❀°˖✧˖°✿°˖✧˖°✿°˖✧˖°❀

"WOW!"

Nat dropped his jaw at the sight of Candice. She is wearing a red sleeveless cheongsam with a slit that is as high as it can get and that bares her flawless back. She hid her emerald hair under a long curly auburn wig and covered her face with heavy makeup.

"Y-you look good," Nat stammered. Candice didn’t show any reaction and just stood quietly beside him --- already in business mode.

Nat can't take his eyes off of her two proud mounds that look so soft and smooth. He swallowed hard and tried to focus his mind on the mission.

"Y-your target is Doriaki Suguya. She'll be at the top room, waiting for her big time clients to discuss her new girls. Here is the blueprint of the building." Nat handed her a small paper containing the floor plan of Ai no Hotel. And after memorizing it in less than a minute, she swallowed the paper --- their protocol on every mission.

"We'll go together but I'll be in the shadows. You'll go straight to the top floor and pose as one of Doriaki's girls. By the way, everybody calls Doriaki as Dori-sama, so keep that in mind," Nat briefed.

Candice kept silent --- but attentive. The rays of the setting sun touches their skin but her cold eyes make Nat shiver to the bones.

It is actually not a bad thing for the rebels to have this side of Candice --- full of rage and thirsty for blood. Once she becomes like this, no one can ever touch her. Her senses sharpen thrice as her normal condition; and her moves get swifter, more polished and no unnecessary movements.

But Nat prefers the bickering, snickering and smirking Candice. He prefers to see her smile while spilling blood on her hand, rather than this stone-faced beautiful lady who coldly --- but effectively --- kills her target.

The sun still touches the street of Belmoure when Nat and Candice moved out. Unlike any other assassination organizations, they do not have to wait for the sun to set before they could kill the target. We strike while the iron is hot, as Nina said during her first mission.

Nat and Candice propelled down from the rooftop of the building three blocks away to Ai no Hotel, then, rappelled their way down to the hotel's 18th floor --- four floors below their target. Nat quickly picked the window lock on the east wing and they successfully made their way into the building.

Everything is quiet and in plan. Nat immediately tucked away all of their equipment on a rucksack and hanged it outside the window.

He then quietly followed Candice as she naturally entered the hallway. Every guard and every guest that she passes by were left in awe. Nat even heard some of them ask their companions how they could book a night with her. This only proves how convincing she is on her disguise.

"Where are you going?" Two masculine men in tux blocked Candice's path towards the elevator.

"Dori-sama summoned me," Candice said without batting an eye.

The two guards looked at each other. No one informed them about this lady but they didn’t get suspicious since it is a usual occurrence for Doriaki to especially call for an additional escort when a big client shows up with an unannounced companion.

“We need to do a body check on you first,” one of the guards said.

Candice didn’t complain and raised her two hands on her side. The two guards immediately did a body check on Candice.

Nat tried his best to keep his cool as the two guards trailed their hands on Candice's waist, back and bottom. Nat gritted his teeth for three long minutes.

When one of the guards tried to touch Candice's legs, she immediately grabbed his arm and stared at him --- calmly but intimidating. "Aren't I clear yet?" she said nonchalantly.

The guard cleared his throat and the two came back to their post --- gesturing Candice to proceed. Candice went ahead while Nat got inside an air vent and went straight to the elevator.

"Miss, please wait! I’m getting in!" Nat heard a man shouted when Candice arrived at the elevator.

But instead of doing as the man said, she looked at him with her cold eyes and said "This is an exclusive lift for employees only, sir." Then, she flashed a smile that made the man's heart froze.

Candice shut the elevator door and Nat came down from its ceiling. The elevator is a mechanical passenger lift operated through a lever that has five commands: high-speed downward, low-speed downward, stop, low-speed upward, and high-speed upward. It has four intricate lamps on its four side and has a handmade red carpet.

Nat switched the lever to high-speed upward.

"Are you alright?" he asked Candice as he looked at her reflection on the elevator door.

She still has her composure but Nat knows better than anyone that since she wasn’t able to cut off the two guards’ hands for touching her, her target --- Doriaki --- will surely feel her wrath in an unimaginable way later.

Nat switched the lever again to low-speed upward, then, put the lever to stop as soon as they reached the twenty-second floor.

"Don't slow me down," Candice said to Nat as she opened the elevator door and set foot outside --- pulling her knives from her holster hidden on her thighs.

“I won’t,” Nat said.

Then, one after the other, both of them carries their deadly weapons and stealthily walked the corridors of the twenty-second floor --- as their thirst for blood intensifies.