The Author's POV

-Spurt!

Appearing behind one of the guards patrolling the area, Kevin swiftly and silently slit his throat.

Dragging the guard's corpse behind a bush, Kevin came back out wearing a black uniform and a hat. On his right peck, a white nametag rested on the uniform.

After scouting all of the guards from the drone, Kevin had a general idea of the guard's movement pattern.

Turning right, Kevin passed by another guard that was patrolling not so far away from where he was.

Nodding his head to greet Kevin, the guard moved past Kevin.

-Spurt!

Swiftly appearing behind the guard and silently slitting his throat, Kevin dragged his body away.

Coming back out, Kevin replaced his previous name tag with the one of the guard he had just killed.

The reason for his action was because certain guards were only allowed to patrol certain areas. If they found out that the guard that was supposed to be patrolling the outside perimeter was outside their designated area, they would no doubt become suspicious.

Though he knew his plan wasn't going to last long, he would at least like to reach a certain point before bulldozing his way towards his target.

Realistically, remaining hidden was not an option...but it's not like Kevin cared. He was that confident in his skill.

Entering the villa, Kevin lowered the hat he was wearing. Masking his face.

Right now Kevin had to operate fast.

His target already knew that he was on his tail.

Previously, he had sent several scouting devices inside of the villa, and thus he knew exactly where Victor was hiding.

However, despite the fact that their cloaking function was fairly good, they had all already been seen through by someone.

Kevin estimated that whoever found the devices, was at least <E> rank, if not even <E+> rank. Only someone of that calibre could detect his scouting devices so quickly.

Though he knew there was going to be someone of that level as the system had already warned him beforehand, he had to confirm for himself.

...and now he knew.

Increasing his pace, Kevin walked in the direction of where he last detected Victor. He knew he couldn't waste any time.

If he let the target escape, the next time he tried to assassinate him, chances were that he would be more prepared. Even worse, he would hide until Kevin had no choice but to return to the academy, preventing him from completing the mission.

He had to kill him now at all costs. If not, there was not going to be a second chance.

Turning left of the hall, Kevin passed by two guards who seemed to be in a rush.

"Hey!"

Hearing someone shouting in his direction, halting his steps, Kevin kept looking at the front.

"Morrison, what are you doing here?"

Jogging to where Kevin was, one of the guards looked at Kevin suspiciously.

"You shouldn't be here. We just got an emergency message regarding someone infiltrating the premis--kh"

Just as the guard was about to finish speaking, Kevin subtly looked at his nametag 'Leo' and swiftly stabbed his heart.

Supporting Leo's lifeless body with one arm so that he remained standing, Kevin pretended to converse with him. Halfway through his conversation, Kevin slightly loosened the grip of Leo's body, and it slowly sank in his direction.

"I know, someone ordered me to...hey? Leo are you okay?"

"What's going on?"

Noticing something strange, the other guard that was accompanying Leo, whom Kevin had just killed, jogged in Kevin's direction.

Using his shoulder to mask the blood that was slowly seeping from Leo's body, Kevin flusteredly spoke.

"I-I don't know. I was just talking to him when he suddenly just passed out in front of me"

"Hey, Leo!"

Arriving next to Leo, the guard gave him a gentle tap

"...Hm?"

Noticing a small red stain on the ground, the guard instantly felt that something wasn't right, but before he could react, a silver streak of light appeared before his heart.

-Spurt!

-Thud!

-Thud!

Knowing that his cover would be blown any second, Kevin sprinted towards where Victor was hiding.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

As he was running, he met a couple of guards that tried to block his way. However, it was all futile.

Stepping on the side of the wall, Kevin stabbed his sword in their direction.

Noticing Kevin's action, the two guards immediately tried to block Kevin's attack...

...but suddenly out of nowhere, the sword that they assumed was coming from the front suddenly appeared on the side, completely catching them off guard.

-Spurt!

-Thud!

Killing one of the guards, using the momentum he had from having propelled himself off the wall, Kevin somersaulted in the air and slashed towards the other guard.

Flustered, the guard tried to block Kevin's attack, but similarly to the first guard, just as the sword was about an inch away from him, it suddenly appeared in a completely different direction, completely catching him off guard.

-Spurt!

-Thud!

Without looking back, Kevin continued running and killing guards left and right as he bulldozed his way towards where Victor was.

"Stop right there!"

Just as Kevin was about to reach the room Victor was hiding in, a large towering man appeared before him, obstructing his path.

A large pressure emanated from his body.

Stopping, Kevin looked at him and said

"...so you must be the one who found my Scouters"

Without answering Kevin, the towering man looked at him up and down. Frowning, a trace of astonishment appeared on his face.

"E rank? H-how's this possible?"

"You should be worried about something else instead of my rank!"

Appearing before Eldor, Kevin drew his sword and slashed in his direction.

"You dare!"

-Clang!

Before Kevin's sword could hack at Eldor, a giant axe appeared in his hand, perfectly blocking his attack.

-Kach!

Taking a couple of steps back, Eldor hacked his axe on the ground to stop himself from moving further backwards.

Regaining his bearing Eldor solemnly looked at Kevin.

"To be able to push me this far back...You're not half bad"

-Shua!

Without answering Eldor, Kevin appeared on his left side and stabbed towards his head.

Just as Eldor was about to block Kevin's sword attack, midway through his motion he stopped and redirected his axe to the left side of his body.

-Criiick!

"khhh..."

Barely managing to block Kevin's attack, Eldor's axe grazed Kevin's sword.

Though he managed to stop Kevin from stabbing him in the liver, a large gash appeared on his body.

"What kind of sword art is that?"

Dumbly looking at his wound, Eldor looked at Kevin who was a few steps away from him.

Ignoring Eldor, Kevin once again attacked.

-Shua!

-Criick!

Staring at the sword coming in his direction intently, Eldor once again managed to barely deflect his attack.

"Khhh...dammit"

Holding on the side of his body, Eldor took a quick potion from his pocket and downed it. Slowly, his injuries started healing.

-Shua!

Appearing on Eldor's right side, Kevin's sword hacked towards his head, and a whistle arose as the sword split the air.

-Clank!

Firmly blocking Kevin's true attack that was heading towards his heart, a smirk appeared on Eldor's face.

"You think I wouldn't be able to block it after the second time?"

Using his enormous frame, Eldor pushed Kevin back.

"Hhuuuuaaa"

Raising his axe in the air, Eldor firmly hacked it towards Kevin's direction.

Sidestepping, Kevin tried to avoid the attack, however, midway through the air, Eldor's axe twisted to the side in a J motion.

-Clank!

Blocking the attack, Kevin felt all the bones in his body vibrate from the clash.

"Again!"

Raising his axe again, Eldor once again hacked.

-Shuuua!

Frowning, with his right hand holding the grip of the sword and his left hand holding the body of the sword, Kevin followed the axe's movement and redirected it to the ground.

-Baaam!

Breaking the marble floor into millions of pieces, a large cloud of dust swept the area.

Noticing the slight opening, Kevin decided to act

Swiftly turning the tip of his sword, a whistle arose! Kevin's momentum suddenly changed. His gentle attacks from before were long gone, and what replaced them were fiercer and heavier strikes that overwhelmed Eldor.

Following the heavier strikes, Kevin's sword became even harder to trace as every single one of his attacks would look like the real deal. He would occasionally pretend to do a feint when in fact there was none. This was so that he could destroy Eldor's mentality, increasing the chances of him making a mistake.

Eldor, who was under the barrage of attacks, could barely hold on as he used his giant axe as a shield.

The fact that he couldn't rely on his sight made things that much harder for him. He had to pay extra close attention to the sound the sword made in the air, else he wouldn't know where the sword was coming from.

"Khhh, dammit"

As he was being pushed back, Eldor grit his teeth. Looking at Kevin whose momentum was increasing by the second, Eldor who knew that this couldn't keep going anymore decided to use his strongest move and end things.

"You leave me no choice!"

Suddenly, a black glow emanated from Eldor's body as his muscles started bulging from his body.

Kevin who noticed these changes immediately attacked him more fiercely, but it was to no avail as Eldor who was struggling before was starting to defend his attacks more accurately.

'He's using something similar to overdrive'

Stopping his frontal attacks, as he knew it was useless, Kevin decided to rely on his agility and swiftly moved behind Eldor's thick body

Noticing Kevin moving behind him, Eldor turned around at an astonishing speed. The giant axe in his hands was covered in a thick black glow before Kevin knew it, and along with it, a supremely fierce and immense pressure bore down on Kevin who was caught off-guard.

-Whaaam!

As soon as the ax slashed horizontally, Kevin felt the air and the surroundings vibrate intensively.

It was so fast that it was impossible to dodge!

Seeing that he couldn't dodge, Kevin met the axe head-on.

-CLANG!

A large shockwave swept the surroundings. Taking ten steps backs, Kevin felt an iron-like taste in his mouth.

-Spurt!

After a couple of seconds, Kevin couldn't hold it anymore and spat a mouthful of blood.

"Huaaaa!"

Before Kevin had enough time to catch his breath, Eldor's giant axe came swinging from above.

-Kacha!

Narrowly dodging the attack by a hair's breadth, Kevin saw the giant axe split the marble floor into dozens of pieces.

"..In the end I have to use it, huh"

Looking at Eldor, who was preparing himself for another swing, Kevin closed his eyes and let out a long breath

[[E] Overdrive]

As if all of his muscles had been rejuvenated, Kevin felt an unprecedented power rise from deep within him.

Tensing his calves, Kevin appeared behind Eldor.

-Thud!

Slashing upwards, a head flew in the air and a massive body fell flat on the ground sending debris all over the place.

"Khhhhhh...."

Deactivating [Overdrive], Kevin's muscles spasmed continuously. The pain was so strong, that he barely managed to stop himself from passing out.

...in the end, he had to use [Overdrive]

The side effects of using [Overdrive] were currently too much for him. If not for the fact that he had no choice but to use it, he would've never used it.

In the end, despite being stronger than Eldor, his experience was still far lower than his.

He wanted to win without needing to use [Overdrive], but in the end, without it, he wouldn't have been able to win.

-Gulp! -Gulp! -Gulp!

Gulping down a couple of potions, Kevin felt a little bit better...Well enough to stand up.

Looking around, Kevin walked towards Eldor's headless body.

-Shaa!

Slashing towards Eldor's hand, Kevin took it and headed towards a large wooden door.

-Beep!

Placing his finger on the lock in front of the door, Kevin waited for the door to open before entering.

Waiting on the other side of the door, Victor stood up and let out a sigh of relief.

'Only Eldor can unlock the door, this means he succeeded right...?'

-Click!

As the door fully extended, Victor's smile froze as he saw two scarlet red eyes staring in his direction.

"Hiiiiii, w-ho are you?"

Slumping backwards, Victor trembled as he crawled backwards...As far away from Kevin as possible.

"Who am I?"

Looking at Victor's sorry figure, Kevin smirked. Extending his hand upward, he slowly hacked in his direction.

-Slash!

-Thud!

Watching Victor's fat head rolling on the floor, Kevin slowly said

"I am Kevin Voss"