Five minutes later, Noah left the dormitory.
Finding a blind spot away from the surveillance cameras, he adjusted his gravity and floated into the air.
He landed at the city's edge and summoned his Device.
This time, the target was different.
"Annihilator, release."
He reshaped his soul, transforming his Device from Raven feather to Annihilator.
A Blazer's Device reflects their soul, crystallizing their values, aesthetics, personality, and survival instincts.
Changing its form is impossible without extinguishing their past self and abandoning everything they are.
Even if they managed it, innate traits remain unaltered, making drastic transformations unheard of.
Let alone shifting from bracers to a massive sniper rifle.
A 1155mm white heavy sniper rifle fell into Noah's hands, its familiar weight settling comfortably in his grip.
Then...
"Smelting."
He gathered local materials, manipulating sand and iron to forge a bullet casing as thick as his arm.
Without an Orario magic stone, the explosive yield wouldn't match his original artillery formula.
By altering the materials, the ammunition's penetration power increased enough to pierce heavy armor.
Using the Weaver's concept, he engraved the prepared spell into the shell.
The substitute for his cannonade spell was complete.
Noah swapped his Hagun Academy uniform for form-fitting black combat gear and donned a plain white mask.
He had transformed into an Assassin.
He wasn't foolish enough to wage war against the entire Kurogane Clan, but Akaza's audacity was intolerable.
Pulling out his smartphone, he noted that tracking down a high-profile target in modern society was surprisingly straightforward.
Glancing at the GPS coordinates, Noah silently praised the strangers on the dark web who provided the intel.
"Thanks for the info," he murmured, manipulating gravity to dart between the high-rises.
Arriving on a rooftop with a clear line of sight to the highway, Noah secured the Annihilator, cycled the action, loaded the magic bullet into the chamber and manually locked the heavy round in place.
"Tracking Arrow."
Having already Appraised Akaza, Noah knew the man lacked the combat ability to survive a bombardment.
A black, extended-length luxury sedan materialized in his crosshairs.
Noah narrowed his eyes, locking onto the rear seat.
Inside, Akaza examined the red wine in his glass, feigning elegance.
'As expected, the Calamity eliminated that useless waste,' Akaza thought. 'The disgrace to the Kurogane Clan has been dealt with, sparing us any negative impact.'
Since Ikki was the son of Itsuki Kurogane, the patriarch of the main family, directly killing him was impossible—otherwise, the branch families would have eradicated the threat years ago.
'Hmph.'
'That Calamity brat is useless. If he were competent, he would have killed that waste during their duel.'
'Next is the exchange student from that backwater kingdom. All I need is to spread a few rumors about him and the Vermillion princess... Hmm?'
'What was that?'
A crimson glow illuminated his plump face.
Beneath his terrified expression—
Boom!
In the tranquil city, a small mushroom cloud rose into the night sky, startling the civilians.
The rear half of the sedan vanished.
The driver in the front seat, protected by the airbags that deployed the moment the vehicle was destroyed, was knocked unconscious.
Meanwhile, Akaza dragged his battered body from the wreckage, screaming in terror.
"ARGHHHH!"
"I'll pay you five times, no, ten times the price! Please, I beg you!"
Noah approached him without a word, grabbed Akaza by the head, and hoisted him up.
Applying gravity to his hand, he slammed Akaza's head brutally against the asphalt!
Once.
Twice.
After six impacts, Akaza's skull deformed. Blood and indistinguishable fluid mixed into a gory mess.
He was dead.
'Whew...'
The thought that this man would never appear before him again made every cell in his body feel lighter.
'Time to leave.'
"Wait!"
'Hm?'
A sudden roar echoed.
Noah's air current perception sounded an alarm. His gaze darkened. Without turning, he shifted half a step to the left.
A sharp blade sliced down, grazing his shoulder.
Seizing the opening, he pressed the Annihilator against the blade, driving the steel deep into the ground.
He looked up at the person before him.
'A uniform... A League Knight? How did they arrive so quickly?'
'No, that's not right. This person must have been tailing Akaza. I didn't expect a coincidence like this.'
Realizing his ambush had been effortlessly countered, the League Knight's eyes widened in shock as he tried to pull his weapon free.
Noah anticipated the move, pressing down on the hilt to pin the blade in place.
"Ugh..."
"Don't make trouble for yourself. This doesn't concern you," Noah warned.
Then, using the knight's Device as a pivot, he propelled himself into a vertical flip, kicking off with both feet.
The League Knight staggered back several steps before regaining his footing.
Noah didn't linger.
He sprinted to the bridge's edge and vaulted over with a single hand.
The overpass stood twenty meters high, but Noah leaped with enough force to clear it easily.
Without hesitation, he moved swiftly, the wind whistling past his ears.
On the bridge, the stunned League Knight watched the assassin escape.
He pulled out his terminal and called for backup.
"Chairman Akaza has been assassinated at Bridge 53. The culprit, dressed in black, used a cannon-type Device and is fleeing towards District 49."
Sirens blared, shattering the town's tranquility and plunging it into chaos.
Regular police officers sealed off roads and evacuated civilians, while League Knights initiated a sweep within the cordoned-off area.
Noah leaned against a tree while frowning.
'How could they react so quickly? Is it because the target was Akaza?'
Ordinary police weren't a threat, but the continuous arrival of League Knights was problematic.
Getting surrounded would be troublesome.
As he pondered how to escape, a sudden whoosh pierced the air.
Almost simultaneously, his air current perception detected a disturbance.
Noah ducked instinctively, and a deep crater was blasted into the tree trunk.
'This power... a pistol?'
He locked onto the sniper's position and used Appraisal, revealing a D-Rank League Knight equipped with a revolver-type Device.
"Surrender immediately!"
Ignoring the demand, Noah charged towards the knight.
The seasoned Mage-Knight remained calm and fired without hesitation.
Dodging the first two bullets, Noah noticed something different about the third shot and hastily erected a magic barrier.
As expected.
The third bullet, which he clearly dodged, detonated.
A dense cloud of smoke filled the area, obscuring his vision.
Unwilling to reveal his identity, Noah didn't use the wind to disperse the smoke.
Instead, he exploited the enemy's cover and charged forward, drawing four throwing knives from his waist and hurling them at the pursuing Knight.
The League Knight, clearly experienced, remained composed.
He fired two shots, deflecting the closest projectiles, then used his compact revolver as a shield to block the remaining two.
By then, Noah had already changed direction and darted into the park.
According to the signs, the park's forested area covered nearly 40 hectares of dense vegetation.
As long as his pursuer lacked a tracking-type Ability, they wouldn't be able to catch him.
And indeed, that proved to be the case.
...
Back in his dorm room, Noah sat on a chair, watching the news report about the failed manhunt as if it didn't concern him.
He took a sip of his cold drink.
Two hours after the incident, the League invited Kurono Shinguuji to the crime scene.
She approached Akaza's corpse, surveyed the area, and activated her Noble Art.
Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, the final moments of Akaza's life unfolded before them like a holographic replay in vivid detail.
Kurono had used her time manipulation to rewind the events.
The onlookers watched the masked figure in black seize Akaza by the head and crush his skull.
Frowns deepened across the crowd.
"Thank you for your efforts. Can you track the perpetrator's escape route?" a League Knight asked, gazing at her with reverence.
Kurono shook her head. "Don't push me beyond my limits. The range of this ability is limited. Unless you can reconstruct every step the culprit took after leaving this place, I can't help further."
The League investigator responsible for the case looked troubled.
The last confirmed sighting had been outside the park.
But after the assassin fled into the trees, their trail vanished completely, as if they had disappeared into thin air.
The shocking news of Chairman Akaza's assassination—the head of the Education Committee of the League's Japan Branch—spread with alarming speed, shaking the nation to its core!
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