Rakoji stood there, confused. His head slightly turning, not knowing what he should say to such an opponent, who was waiting for his death. In fact, that seemed to piss Rakoji off. Is he not going to try? No effort, whatsoever?

  It sounded too easy and Evto even had the audacity to provoke Rakoji into attacking him. Rakoji shot distant green plasma waves of HYPERVOLVER toward him, it stood out greatly in the blue and grey atmosphere.

  Evto started walking towards Rakoji, dodging the two with meticulous timing as if he could see the future. The waves would narrowly miss him, as if he knew where they would go.

  Was this precognition, or Evto's years of training as an assassin that allows him to foresee movements based on your footwork alone. That was more likely. Evto has decades of experience as an assassin, meaning he had many chances to fight someone of similar strength, or even a bit weaker.

  Evto's Soul is weird. He is known as the Ghost Assassin purely because of his ability to annihilate Souls in just one hit. Meaning if he were to punch Rakoji just once, anywhere on his body, the Soul would be annihilated and Rakoji would die.

  That was Evto's unique ability, something every Soul has alongside their movesets and attributes. He could even guarantee his sure-fire one-shot unique ability in different Soul-Techniques and imbue it.

  There was one drawback to his ability though.

  Every sure-fire hit lost is one used up, meaning he has only a set amount he can use since every sure-fire hit takes 15% of his Soul-Energy away. This is why he moves slowly and cautiously, to waste no hits.

  But now that Rakoji has seen him and is actively fighting him, how can he guarantee an insta-kill without burning out on Soul-Energy so quickly?

  .:. The hell is he doing? Surely he knows I can just keep my distance. .:.

  As Rakoji took a step back, Evto then ran at high speeds towards him. Rakoji stumbled backwards, barely keeping his footing as he tried to land another shot, Evto suddenly closed in on him, almost touching the muzzle.

  Rakoji vanish-stepped away, on top of his ship.

  "I know how your Soul works! Don't think for a second I'll let you kill me that easily!"

  Evto vanish-stepped as well, appearing above Rakoji. If Rakoji jumped away, this would guarantee his ship will be annihilated by Evto's punch. He may have sure-fire Soul-Annihilation hits, but that doesn't mean his punches are weak.

  They can hit like freight-trains to those without a Soul.

  Sometimes it is better to have no Soul. However, those without a Soul can still be affected, since they have Soul-Energy from a third party like Life itself.

  Rakoji had no choice but to take the brunt of the hit of his own HYPERVOLVER plasma beam and detonating in point blank distance. This blew Evto away, but Rakoji too.

  The ship would take minimal damage, only taking the shockwave and the push of the explosion. It shook him, but not enough to not have him conscious or functioning.

  "This guy... is fucking crazy! He really wanted that shot!" Rakoji gripped his HYPERVOLVER then roll-dodged left, where Evto tried to take an opportunist stab. Rakoji dash-dodged further right as Evto rolled under his swing and tried an Soul-Annihilating uppercut.

  The only thing Rakoji had to do was not take any of Evto's direct punches. If he kept avoiding, he could outlast Evto, but Evto also had the option of running away.

  Evto also knew not to use up his sure-fire punches against someone who knows how to play dirty. Now if it was a fair one-on-one fistfight, this would be a piece of cake.

  Rakoji pistol-whipped Evto before beaming him far enough for a possible escape. A combination of a knock-back, an overhead shoot and then vanishing into thin air. He had no intentions of facing the Ghost Assassin up close.

  "Too far- That's it. I'm getting the fuck out of here." He wasn't being smug about this whole ordeal anymore. There was no way he was going to stay and fight this long game.

  He is no match for Evto.

  As Evto landed on his feet, Rakoji shot a volley of 15 bolts toward Evto in a way to try and incapacitate him.

  Evto jumped in the air and slammed the ground, sending a shockwave emanating from his Soul to annihilate the bolts. Rakoji would feel the shockwave from all the way here. It didn't directly touch him, but the annihilation of the bolts was enough to damage the Soul itself.

  Now that was scary.

  Even if Evto needs to have meticulous, precise aim to one-shot Souls with a direct punch, an indirect attack is enough to damage the Soul. This was a person with fundamental power, carrying a Soul that only knows how to kill Souls.

  Evto activated a Soul-Mirage, allowing 15 bolts to pass through his afterimage. The afterimage would then vanish, appearing in front of Rakoji and kneeing him in the gut. Rakoji was lucky to not get a punch from him, as Evto knew a punch from this short of a distance wouldn't be enough to annihilate the Soul.

  Rakoji kneeled over, not expecting a sudden attack. Thinking on his feet, he aimed HYPERVOLVER to the ground on their left - shooting it to blow them both away before Evto could begin a combo.

  He then landed, instantly opening up with a flurry of bullets at an unnaturally high shooting speed. This prompted Evto to speed to the side to avoid all of them.

  Rakoji turned quickly - shooting more where Evto went, intentionally missing some to catch him if he dodged to the left of right. This only showed how Rakoji was paranoid of sudden attacks.

  The skill set and mentality he has built for being a merc didn't seem to do him good in an actual Soul-to-Soul battle. A Soul-Battle was completely different than a standard bullet-fest or hand-to-hand combat, which seems like most of Rakoji's jobs.

  Occasionally, he does pick up jobs at his caliber, but it's not a given if the person he is tasked to kill is just very good at utilizing Soul-Energy or has a Soul himself. It's usually the former and not the latter.

  Evto speeded right past the bullets and headed straight towards Rakoji, forcing Rakoji to jump upwards, shooting where he was originally standing to catch him on the blast.

  Evto wouldn't just stop there, as he shot a beam and vanish-stepped the beam above Rakoji to fly downward. Rakoji would appear to have his senses fine-tuned and would not be so foolish as to follow this man up close.

  His trick-shots weren't fast enough to catch up to Evto, which was something that worried Rakoji. Evto could always stay in the same place to ensure a one-shot on Rakoji, while Rakoji would need to waste Soul-Energy if he wants to fire rapidly.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Evto then jumped upwards, grabbing Rakoji by the back and kicking him toward the beam, ensuring the beam, which was imbued with his unique ability, would hit Rakoji in mid-air.

  "Fuck!" Rakoji used a last resort vanish-step to appear above his ship again, almost completely raining him of Soul-Energy. Vanish-Stepping is taxing on the body as well as the Soul. He doesn't exactly want to waste all of it, since he has no idea how much Evto has left, but a mistake like that can't be corrected easily.

  "G-god damnit!" Rakoji landed hard onto his ship, the structure not completely firm and it was about to tip over if Rakoji weren't holding on. He wouldn't waste the opportunity, though.

  While Evto landed behind him, Rakoji let go and dove-rolled over. In such a state, with his balance gone, he needed to wait for the ship's counterweight system to restore it, before firing more rapid-fire bullets to hit him again.

  Evto kept up the pace by following up with rapid dodges and vanish-steps to where he was constantly close. Each evasion Rakoji was getting worse at reading Evto, and this was more or less a disaster.

  What could he do, though? Nothing really. All Rakoji could do was hope he doesn't miss a bullet to score an impact on Evto, but if he does, he'll find himself being shredded alive by that one punch.

  .:. "You had balls, willingly crashing like that!" .:.

  The entire dialogue came rushing in as Evto put his plans into motion, each punch at the right timing as to not spend an entire hit, as he had limited uses to it.

  But Evto found it hard to match the timing and Rakoji would vanish-step to distance himself from the ghost. He had to find a way to either get closer and land a deadly blow or he can try and run.

  Rakoji pulled out a Plasma grenade, already ticking to explode. He tossed it downwards at Evto as he was suspended in the air.

  "Hmph!" This one move caught Evto in the brunt of the explosion, no chance for the ghost to escape the Plasma blast. He closed his eyes as it detonated. A purple-red explosion obscuring his view.

  However, this still wasn't enough to put Evto down.

  .:. You're KIDDING ME! .:. Rakoji cried to himself.

  There came Evto flying out of the smoke and toward him, grabbing his arm and whirling around then threw Rakoji against his own ship, dropping HYPERVOLVER at an impressive amount of speed.

  Rakoji would crash through the window of the corvette, crashing onto the control panel, now broken, breaking the display and most controls to the point there is no repairing this corvette. He could still fly it, though. Just with nothing visual to see what's ahead of him and no radar or sensors to go by.

  The way he crashed in the corvette's control area damaged most of the outer areas around his chest area and arm. The impact would seriously hinder him for a couple seconds, disallowing him a window to pick up his HYPERVOLVER. Better yet, his Soul-Energy was depleted. He coughed, pulling his mask off and coughing into his hand, leaning upwards to look.

  He saw his blood, a sight he hasn't seen for a long time. It made him laugh, but then cough, knowing he was done for.

  His left arm was bruised from finger to shoulder, while his right was broken. His legs were okay, however too weak to give him a moment to try and retrieve his fallen weapon.

  Because his Soul-Energy was depleted, the weapon would dematerialize.

  Rakoji then looked up, realizing Evto was just standing in front of him, ready to kill him. Evto could end his life with a Soul-Annihilating punch right now but decided against it.

  Rakoji then braced for impact, cowering behind his arms like a child who just got bullied in the schoolyard.

  "Go on then... KILL ME! YOU GOT ME, OKAY!? Just FINISH IT!!!"

  This type of psychological warfare made Rakoji piss his pants, shivering like he was stuck in the ice planet. He would curl his toes up in horror, but Evto just stood there, with a body language signifying pacifism.

  "... Cancel your contract." Evto said, putting both of his hand in his pockets, turning around.

  "W-wha..." Rakoji was perplexed, looking up. He tried standing up, but his legs failed to support him. He needed a bit more time for his Soul to replenish Soul-Energy.

  "Your methods are not shabby by any means. My reason being, we should not be fighting. We could be good friends." Evto admitted, wanting to be more in agreement than fight each other for nothing but a piece of imaginary money.

  "F-friends...? You've lost it... What the f- I killed your friend! Your ALLY! How are you-... H-How are you calm about this?" Blood drooled from his mouth.

  "Megami Duvet was a friend indeed, but she only did her job and died because of her job. You may have killed my friend, but I do not believe there was ill-intent behind your motives and the means. You were just doing your job, for the money, correct?"

  Rakoji took the statement in mind and sighed, leaning upward.

  .:. "Just a few weeks ago, alright? They tried putting a hole in my head! MY head, you know!? They can deal with their piece of shit whore having a hole in hers! Justice! SHE KNEW WHAT WAS COMING FOR HER!" .:.

  .:. "Right... you'll just kill anybody. Doesn't matter who or why, do you? Even when there's innocents? You don't care, do you?" .:.

  .:. "What you did wasn't justice. It was disorder." .:.

  "I... I am nothing if I don't get what I want! Everything was taken from me... I'm not doing this for the sake of it! Those who kill for sport... that is NOT MY IDEAL!"

  Was Rakoji lying to himself? All his actions up until this point showed a different narrative, however would he change, even if this were to come down to it? If all he does is kills people, no matter how evil or in his eyes is 'innocent'... will his views change?

  In some places in this god-forsaken galaxy, you must kill to get money. You must get money to kill people. You must kill people, to be on top.

  Rakoji thought for a moment, leaning forward and coughing again - the crash phased through his Cirumite armour.

  "I'd be worse off than I was before... don't make it any harder for me. Not only a fugitive to White Eye and Nextellar... or even Dark Intrinium, but a failure to them as well."

  Evto then pointed back at his destroyed ship.

  Rakoji looked at it in silence and wondered why he pointed.

  "There is a reason I crashed the ship the way I did. I doubt anyone can survive something like that."

  Ah.

  "I see where you're going with this... You'd have to leave White Eye, go on the run... and have assassins sent after you just like me. You really willing to do that?"

  "An assassin being hunted, hm?" Evto looked up at the sky, observing the red sun setting behind the clouds and salt. The bluish and purply crystals shown even more and now the sunset made everything sparkle. "I'll properly resign."

  "... If your sister finds out about this, I won't just lose again. I'll kill you before you get a chance to run, understood?"

  Evto watched Rakoji putting his mask away, leaning onto the metal and hoisting his legs on top of the rubble. It took him quite a while for Rakoji to build back his strength and fix himself. He walked up his ramp and paused near the top.

  He watched back. "You resign; I'll pay someone at the media to say you crashed afterwards- that way we don't get caught. Got it?"

  They both nodded at each other. Rakoji's gaze lingered for a moment, before coughing into his hand again. He took that as a cue to leave and patch himself up. Walking into his own ship, he shut the ramp and closed the hatch.

  Evto turned around, walking away in what seemed to be a straight line to nowhere. He heard Rakoji's ship taking off.

  -

  [ 17 hours later ]

  [R] – “The White-Eye hitman Evto Mugen - otherwise known as the Ghost Assassin would be ironically assassinated after being shot down by two missiles and crashing into the dense salt surface of Kirulan. White Eye and journalist ships have been permitted to land to search the wreckage under the watch of Civil Defense squads, as examinations of the incident are underway.

  Evto Mugen was known primarily as the Ghost Assassin - a name earned by his spectre-like tactics in combat and his haunted personality. Interviews with those who worked with Evto in the past detailed him as a reserved and detached man with little to say. The few reliable sources of his missions say that he would act efficiently and avoid the killing of innocents when possible.

  As for the man who killed the Ghost Assassin, they remain to be anonymous - however blood was found nearby the crash-site, allowing Kirulan Law Enforcement to identify and link the assassin in some capacity. If Eukaron is to be trusted, the man who killed the Ghost Assassin was the same who was involved in the Ubashi Plaza attack and the hero of Thousand Leaves' attack in the Envia Dome. While unidentified beyond their class, the Martian Government has sanctioned a reward of 15,000 credits for their work in defeating the fundamental powered Soul-Wielder just a few days ago.

  The recent attacks against White-Eye have become a growing concern for investing partners of the organization, as they lose confidence in White Eye's abilities - with three funders already pulling out of their contracts. White Eye has attempted to mitigate the damage, accusing Nextellar and justifying them as hiring assassins against them. Nextellar has yet to make a comment.

  Next article we discuss the history of the Nextellar-White Eye conflict, as well as going into more detail of the identity of the Envia Dome attacks and the battle at Ko--...”

  Rakoji turned the radio off, smirking at his success. Not only did he eliminate an entire problem, a hindrance to his mission, and possibly a new friend but a good cover story on top of that.

  Before the news, Rakoji contacted Evto if he resigned and so he did. Of course the media wouldn't let him disappear- Rakoji knew exactly how this was going to be. He spent a good hour giving them the information, where it should and shouldn't say.

  Evto is dead, to the public eye... but to Rakoji, he was now the true GHOST Assassin. Rakoji laughed.

  "... What a bad pun he turned out to be."