The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 312: Chapter 307 — What Now

Fifteen minutes earlier.

The prison cell was as gloomy as Kaiden felt.

Both arms and legs bound in rune shackles, he rested his back against the cold, dark stone, regret plastered across his face.

He’d been entrusted with one task, just one, and not only had he failed, he might as well have brought down the entire southern fortress with his failure. Once dawn came and the expected barrier collapse failed to happen, the southern army would be sitting ducks.

’Fuck.’

Kaiden slammed his fist against the wall, splitting open his healing arm and splattering blood across the stone. A small pool had already formed beneath him, and the wall was smeared red. He’d lost track of how many times he’d done this.

But he could barely feel the throbbing in his arm. The pain of his failure drowned it out completely.

How could he ever raise his head in front of them again? Especially... him?

How could Zephyrion ever entrust him with anything again after this?

’Maybe he was right not to even see me as a rival. If Zephyrion had come here, he would’ve finished the damn mission somehow. And I can’t even do the one thing he asked me to do.’

Kaiden’s jaw tightened.

He had really thought all he needed to do was act like Zephyrion and somehow, eventually, he would become strong like him. He’d changed everything; his mannerisms, the way he spoke, the way he walked, even his hairstyle. Instead of leaving it spiky like before, he’d styled it to mimic Zephyrion’s.

And still, he had ended up like this.

’Kaelion was fucking right.’

Kaelion. If only he hadn’t been so damn stubborn and had actually listened to him. Now, Kaiden could understand why Kaelion had practically looked down on him.

If their positions were reversed, he probably would’ve done the same.

Kaiden let out a heated breath, his heart pounding heavily in his chest. Somewhere across the hall, someone was whistling, though from where he sat, he couldn’t see who it was.

Surprisingly, they hadn’t tortured him. But Kaiden wasn’t stupid enough to mistake that for mercy.

Malach had plans for him, he knew.

The bars of the jail were thick and solid. He had tried countless times to break through them and failed. Even without the rune shackles blocking his element, he doubted he’d be able to force his way out.

How much time had passed?

They had taken his rune tab when they threw him into the cell, so he had no way of knowing. Still, he had no doubt dawn had already passed, which meant the southerners must have attacked by now.

What had happened?

Malach had tricked Zephyrion using his voice. Had Zephyrion realized it was a trap and refused to attack? Or maybe he had found some way to survive it.

’It’s Zephyrion. That bastard always finds a way.’

Then a far more frightening thought crept into Kaiden’s mind. Maybe the southern army had already fallen.

Would his people be dragged into these cells next?

Fuck... how the hell was he supposed to look any of them in the face then?

’All that training, all that talk about restoring the family glory... and this is all I amount to? Nothing’s changed, Kaiden. You were weak then, and you’re still fucking weak now. Restore the family glory my ass. I can’t even do one damn thing right.’

Kaiden buried his face in his arms, feeling wetness gather in his eyes.

Before the first drop could fall, though, something suddenly pinched his shoulder.

”...the fuck?”

Kaiden frowned and looked towards his right shoulder. Beneath his clothes, something appeared to be shifting. Blinking away the tears, he quickly tugged down his collar.

”W-what the fuck...?”

It wasn’t his clothes. Something was actually moving beneath his skin, writhing like some large throbbing vein or, far more disturbingly, a worm.

Kaiden had no idea what the hell it was, but he was damn sure it wasn’t supposed to be there.

’Oh, fuck no. Is this Malach? Is this that bastard’s idea of torture?’

His throat tightened.

Kaiden immediately slammed his shoulder against the wall, trying to force the damn thing out of him. Whatever was inside seemed to react, moving beneath his skin until it suddenly found a way through.

With a sharp burst of pain, it punched through his shoulder and dropped onto the floor.

Kaiden recoiled, quickly taking several steps back as he stared at it warily.

Lying on the stone was a small metal orb.

However, as the seconds passed, the orb began to shift and morph, stretching into a miniature stickman-like figure with a round head, long torso, and thin, rod-like arms and legs.

”What the hell are you supposed to be...?”

Kaiden stared at the little thing, thoroughly confused.

As though understanding his confusion, the stickman nodded and crouched down, tracing something onto the ground with one tiny hand. A single letter.

Z.

Kaiden’s eyes slowly widened.

”...Zephyrion?”

The stickman nodded before he even finished speaking.

”What the fuck...”

Kaiden blinked several times, wondering if he was seeing things. How the hell was this thing here? It had clearly been inside him all along. How...

Kaiden suddenly remembered his interaction with Zephyrion... and froze.

Back then, as they watched the forest burn and the northern cadets struggle, Zephyrion had called him aside to tell him about the mission. At one point, he’d placed a hand on Kaiden’s shoulder, looked him directly in the eyes, and asked if he could really do it.

Kaiden had felt a small prick on his shoulder then, but he’d brushed it off, thinking Zephyrion had simply gripped him a little too hard.

Clearly, that hadn’t been it.

After all, he was currently staring at a seemingly sentient metal stickman that had apparently been hiding inside him this entire time!

’Wait... no. It’s not sentient.’

Kaiden narrowed his eyes. The stickman had nodded before he even finished asking if it belonged to Zephyrion.

’The damn thing is programmed.’

Which meant Zephyrion had engraved sets of commands into the stickman based on how he anticipated Kaiden would react in different situations.

’Fucking hell... what kind of lunatic plans for someone’s reactions before they even fucking have them?’

Could Zephyrion even be considered normal? Kaiden clenched his fist, forcing himself to focus.

’Whatever. I can question that bastard’s sanity later.’

He could be shocked later. Right now, there were far more important things to worry about.

”Alright, genius. What now?”