The Reincarnated Hitman

"Now then," Zero said as he crouched low, "it’s my turn."

Torque’s eyes widened as the hitman disappeared from his sight.

His instincts suddenly screamed at him, forcing him to launch himself backwards just in time to avoid the katana aimed at his neck.

Zero seemed a bit disappointed that his attack had missed the hero’s neck; still, he was satisfied.

His current body might be a bit weaker than his last; it seemed ridiculously adaptable.

An untrained body wasn’t supposed to withstand the punishment he had just endured, let alone move at the speed he had just displayed, but besides a bit of pain here and there, he felt completely fine.

Well, that might mostly be due to the adrenaline pumping in his veins right now, but it was still ridiculous.

Anyways, he’d think about that later....for now, he had a target to deal with.

"How?" Torque let out, genuinely confused.

"Well, I always considered my body a bit delicate," Zero answered, "but thanks to you, I learnt that wasn’t the case, so I’m currently finding out what its limits actually are, so please entertain me for a while."

The hero’s frown got darker; after all, he understood not a word of what the white-haired man before him was saying.

But what he did know for a fact was that Zero had become a lot more dangerous, and if he wasn’t careful, he would truly die tonight.

"I refuse to die here," the hero let out as the rubble around him started rising.

The next second, he launched them towards the hitman, this time with the intent to kill.

Zero was ready for the incoming attack, so he crouched low in response. The next second, he launched himself towards his target.

He weaved through the gaps between the rubble, narrowly dodging them all as he reached the hero.

Torque didn’t get the chance to react as Zero quickly entered his guard, and with a swing, the hitman cleanly cut through his arm.

It took the hero a second to realize what just happened, before —

"Aaaagh!"

Torque let out a blood-curdling scream as he stumbled back, clutching the bloody stump.

Zero silently looked at his reaction, then back at the arm on the floor before sighing, "I’d have gone for the head if you stayed completely still."

Torque’s face got even paler as he realized that the man before him had no change in his reaction despite what had just happened.

"Y-you’re a monster," he let out, his pain still evident in his voice.

"I can swallow a bottle of alcohol, and I..." Zero started but suddenly paused, let out a sigh before adding, "well, not really, I don’t really like alcohol...<anno data-annotation-id="0c1afbe0-6a0c-46e3-bd83-6edea3b01a57" data-title=""">"<sup>1</anno>

Torque, still in pain and having no idea of what the man before him was saying, lifted his remaining hand.

With both anger and pain in his eyes, he let out, "Die!"

The next second, rubble launched itself towards Zero from every single angle, but they were not moving fast enough to reach him.

Or at least, that’s what he initially thought, but just before he could move, his feet suddenly slid on the floor.

It was almost as if every bit of grip that his feet had on the floor was suddenly gone.

Which was exactly the case.

Torque had completely removed friction on the ground around him, making it almost impossible for him to move properly.

That created an opening that the rubble immediately took advantage of.

The first reached him and slammed into him, launching him backwards into another incoming rubble.

Zero quickly twisted his body mid-air before landing on the second rock and launched himself to safety.

Unfortunately, just before he could land, all friction was removed on the ground below him, forcing him to stab his katana into it to avoid slipping.

He then spat out a mouthful of blood caused by the earlier hit.

Torque didn’t allow him a chance to recover, though, because more rubble was launched towards him.

’Think Liam, think!’ Zero let out as he watched the rubble get closer.

He couldn’t take advantage of his higher speed right now, thanks to the frictionless floor, which meant he had to adapt to the hero’s attacks.

And that was exactly what he did.

"This is going to hurt," he muttered as he pulled his katana from the ground and turned toward the rock that would put him at the perfect angle.

Zero raised the katana just in time to block the fastest incoming rock, but the force launched him backwards and high into the air, just as he had intended.

Using that momentum, he landed atop another rock midair, finally gaining enough footing before disappearing completely.

Torque’s eyes widened as he realized that the advantage had switched hands again, and as a last desperate attempt, he removed all friction from the ground around him.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as he had expected.

The next second, he felt a cold metal go through his chest again, but this time, it seemed to pierce straight through his heart.

"H-huh?" Torque let out a gasp as he looked down.

It was his turn to let out a mouthful of blood, but unlike Zero, he could very much feel that death was upon him.

The hitman stood a short distance in front of him, and that was when Torque realized that, instead of charging toward him, Zero had simply hurled the katana at him.

Hence, he completely avoided the frictionless ground around the hero.

Torque slowly lost strength in his legs as he went down, his Factor deactivating from everything around him.

He lay flat on the ground with his eyes looking up at the skies, that is, before Zero came into view.

The hitman’s grey eyes looked down at the dying hero without a single change in his expression.

"P-plea—"

Torque seemed to want to say something, but the light faded from his eyes before he could.

In the seven minutes of memories his dying brain showed him, only a single question remained as life faded from him,

’W-why did I become what I hated?’

Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets now as life completely faded from him.

Zero finally let out a sigh of relief as he crashed to the ground, all the pain hitting him at once.

But his job had undoubtedly been completed,

Torque, the popularity-chasing hero, was now dead.

He looked up at the starry sky before letting out a sigh and pulling out an earpiece.

Zero put it on, tapped it and said, "The job is done."

<annotations style="display: none;">Someone please get this, else author San and Zero will be embarrassed.</annotations>

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