Rose Manor, or now known as Steel Manor, on the rooftop, four Assassins looked at each other in dismay while Nanyu, in the courtyard below, excitedly eyed the four - Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning - already unable to restrain himself from wanting to collect their heads.
This man was no longer fit to be an Assassin, or at least this was what the deputy believed. The organization had trained them, imparting as their first tenet that the mission was of utmost importance.
But Nanyu had clearly violated their creed; they were Assassins, not mindless Berserkers with a lust for slaughter.
The most rational person at the scene was probably this man. The deputy tugged at the hood over his head, revealing a skull mask that appeared quite eerie in the darkness of the night.
"Make it quick and decisive."
As these words were spoken, Nanyu, the Assassin, couldn't hold back any longer and struck at A-Lei.
Blade Edge drew a cold glint across the dark night, outlining a silver glow, its speed so fast that ordinary people couldn't see clearly.
The ghostly speed was exhibited to perfection by Nanyu, pushing velocity to its limit, Blade Edge aimed straight for A-Lei's neck.
Watching A-Lei raise his hands in an attempt to protect his neck, Nanyu let out a cold laugh; the blade's edge turned, savagely redirecting its tip towards A-Lei's heart.
Feinting, Nanyu from the very beginning had no intention of striking at A-Lei's neck, but aimed at his heart. His previous move, seemingly thunderous, was nothing but a feint.
The seemingly unchangeable trajectory of the blade, under the superb muscle control of Nanyu the Assassin, with art-like precision, switched directly towards A-Lei's heart.
Red light flickered in Nanyu's eyes, as if he had already foreseen the moment A-Lei's heart would be pierced by him.
Blade Edge was deflected by something. Nanyu, with a look of astonishment, gazed at A-Feng who suddenly appeared in front of him, wondering in his heart how there could be someone in the world faster than him.
While the heart was a picture of the universe, Nanyu's body reacted instinctively. After the strike missed, he leapt, performed a backflip, and jumped to a distant spot.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Countless bullets drew a fiery arc in the night, hitting the ground and starting to ricochet in all directions.
Realizing that such attacks were ineffective against these men, and not wanting to cause friendly fire, the bodyguards had no choice but to stop shooting.
A-Dian commanded from the side, instructing the bodyguards to retreat for the time being.
Three Assassins joined Nanyu, but he angrily pushed them away, licking the blade edge, enraged by A-Feng, whose speed was even faster than his.
"I'll chop off your limbs and turn you into a human stick!"
He had already lost his reason, to think that it was over such an affair that he had become irrational. The deputy laughed mockingly, feeling desolate in his heart, wondering why his teammate tonight was this kind of person, completely unsuitable to be an Assassin for the organization.
Perhaps truly giving up on Nanyu, the deputy exchanged a glance with the other three, reading each other's intent in their eyes, and then they dispersed in different directions.
Leaving the three people to delay Nanyu here, the task of finding Chen Fengnan and taking his life was left to him, decided by their quick and silent exchange of looks.
Since it had come to this, it was worth a try; the deputy had just leaped onto the rooftop, intending to carve out a bloody path, when he suddenly realized he had been targeted.
The howling bullet tore through the night, the high-speed spinning projectile racing towards his spine.
The bullet was deflected by Blade Edge, and the assassin's palm oozed scarlet blood, the short knife in his hand snapping into two pieces with a crack.
Without any hesitation, he could switch to a new weapon and still cut his way out of the encirclement.
But he had underestimated A-Yu; those bullets that he hadn't cared about, confident they couldn't hit him, seemed to grow eyes, crazily flying toward his body.
"Leave this one to me, you go deal with the other four!"
A-Feng, seeing the assassin on the roof attempting to break out had already failed, drew a pair of Scalpels from behind and walked toward Nanyu.
"You want to play with me? Fine, I'll play with you!"
Although A-Feng didn't understand the unintelligible Greek being spoken, he could still read the madness in the man's eyes.
The opponent had already marked him as the primary prey.
A-Lei clenched his fists, and A-Dian also stepped forward, surrounding the three assassins.
The fight was about to erupt, Nanyu and A-Feng tangled in combat, while A-Lei and A-Dian kept those three assassins at bay.
A-Yu kept her sights locked on the assassin who kept trying to leave; all four of them appearing here confirmed that Chen Fengnan was ensured a position of absolute safety.
Even so, she could not let any of them escape, lest complications arise; and each of these assassins could inflict severe casualties, so A-Yu couldn't allow him to leave for any reason.
The modified Colts in A-Yu's hands kept spitting flames, silver special bullets, caliber .45, powerful and with a recoil that ordinary people couldn't bear.
The potent recoil was as if nonexistent for A-Yu; her arm didn't move a twitch as she precisely aimed at the shadow on the roof, her cold and attractive face illuminated by the muzzle flash.
Several throwing weapons were launched from the assassin's hands, blocking some bullets and altering their trajectory.
The longer the time dragged on, the darker the heart of the assassin on the roof, who was ready to break through to find Chen Fengnan, grew; their mission tonight was likely to fail.
"That's about enough."
Suddenly, such a voice rang in his ear; it was Rupert's voice.
This operation's second in command, he looked down below, then glanced in the direction outside.
A-Yu had run out of bullets in her twin guns, and it would take approximately 0.8 seconds to reload, a detail he had taken note of.
0.8 seconds would not be enough to break through and head deeper into the manor, but it was possible to jump the wall and return to the forest.
Almost at the moment the empty magazine hit the ground, A-Yu completed the reloading action and then aimed at the man again.
But in the next moment, the man flipped over the wall, and even though A-Yu had pulled the trigger, the bullet only hit his right shoulder.
The figure of the man faltered mid-air and disappeared into the dark night in the blink of an eye.
Nanyu and the other three assassins were left behind; aside from Nanyu, the other three showed no sign of reaction. Instead, as if in a frenzy before dying, they began a desperate counterattack.