Kaya had everything prepared. After the life she’d lived, a few hitn were hardly a big deal. The only problem? These weren’t just people; they were beastn, capable of transforming. While she knew Veer could handle the snake woman and Cutie could deal with the others—with Sparrow being, well, useless—the real issue was the nature of the fight.
She could fight them all, yes, but her goal wasn’t just to survive. She wanted the broker. This plan was the riskiest she’d ever conceived, a declaration of war. It wasn’t that she feared death, but a flicker of doubt remained. Had she underestimated them, or overestimated herself? Because these beastn... they were really sothing else.
Kaya let out a sigh. Her life was a constant cycle of chaos. Just when things started to feel normal, when she could jump and run around freely, soone would try to poison her. Like that snake woman—that viper, really, calling her a bitch would be a complint she didn’t deserve. Poisoning her food? Oh, God.
It was an old habit of Kaya’s to test her food by dropping a few crumbs for the ants and insects on the ground. A rabbit might take hours to show a reaction, but small bugs? Poison worked on them fast. Right now, she was staring at a grasshopper twitching on the floor after taking a slight sip of the soup that had splashed from her bowl.
Kaya was utterly dumbfounded. *Are these people even hitn?* she thought. *You poison the food and just hope for the best? Who does that?*
She wasn’t even worried. If the grasshopper hadn’t given it away, Cutie would have. That bastard had a mind so precise he could probably sense the exact gram of steam rising from the food. Of course, he’d noticed the slight change imdiately.
Literally, Kaya sat there, genuinely wondering if human hitn were just better. If she were back in the human world, they might not have killed her, but they would have at least injured her. She’d seen plenty of hitn with that level of skill.
And these people? They were called the "top five" hitn. One was lying unconscious in a spare room. The other four were god knows where, jumping around. The day had already ended, and none of them had killed her yet.
And that damn broker, the real target, was still hiding, god knows where.
.
.
.
The sun finally dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and blood. The deadline. Kaya pushed the bowl of poisoned soup away with a flick of her finger, a bored expression on her face.
"Well," she said to no one in particular, "that was a disappointing performance. I’ve had worse attempts on my life from jealous ex-lovers."
Veer let out a sharp laugh. "Expecting a five-star assassination, sweetheart?"
"I was expecting competence," Kaya retorted, leaning back in her chair. "At this rate, I’ll die of old age before any of them land a hit."
Suddenly, the air went still. The usual city noise from outside seed to mute. Cutie, who had been silent by the door, tensed. His gaze flickered towards the main window.
"Showti," he said, his voice flat but alert.
CRASH!
The large window on the balcony exploded inward as the Wolf beastman smashed through it, roaring. At the exact sa instant, the main door splintered off its hinges, and the Snake Woman slithered in, daggers glinting in the dim light. From the ceiling, a figure shimred into existence, dropping silently to the floor—the Chaleon beastman, his skin rippling as it matched the wooden floorboards.
A three-pronged, coordinated assault.
A slow, genuine smile spread across Kaya’s face. The boredom vanished, replaced by a live-wire thrill. "Finally," she breathed.
"Veer, the dog is yours," she commanded, already on her feet.
"With pleasure," Veer grinned, drawing his weapon and lunging to et the Wolf’s furious charge. The sound of steel clashing with claws echoed through the room.
Cutie was already a blur. The Chaleon tried to strike from the shadows, but Cutie was there to et him, their fight a dizzying dance of impossibly fast dodges and counters. It was like watching two ghosts trying to kill each other.
That left the Snake Woman for Kaya.
"I’m going to enjoy watching the life drain from your pretty eyes," the snake hissed, lunging forward with her poisoned blades.
Kaya t her with a cold smile and her own dagger drawn. "You’ll have to get in line. A lot of people have said that."
Their fight was a whirlwind of motion—Kaya’s precise, deadly strikes against the snake’s venomous, frenzied attacks. But the beastn were desperate. The Wolf began to transform, his body swelling, fur bristling as he grew into a monstrous version of himself. The Snake Woman’s skin hardened into scales, deflecting a blow that should have cut deep.
The fight was becoming more difficult, more chaotic. Sparrow was screaming in the corner, a detail everyone else had the good sense to ignore.
Just as Kaya parried another strike, she saw the Chaleon finally get an opening. He had Cutie montarily off-balance, his sharpened arm-blade raised for a killing blow.
And then, he froze.
His eyes went wide with a terror that had nothing to do with Cutie. He wasn’t looking at his opponent. He was staring at the empty space behind him. A soft, gurgling sound escaped his throat, and a thin, perfect line of red appeared on his neck.
He collapsed to the floor without a sound, dead.
Silence.
The wolf, mid-transformation, froze. The Snake Woman, who had been about to lunge at Kaya again, stopped dead in her tracks. They both stared at the body of their fallen comrade, then at the empty space around them.
No one had touched him.
Kaya’s heart hamred in her chest. She hadn’t done it. Veer was busy with the wolf. Cutie was in front of the Chaleon, not behind him.
The Snake Woman let out a choked shriek of pure terror. "He... He’s here..."
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