In the hive city of Omsk, King Modur stood in red armor, lips pressed into a tight line, the corners of his mouth drooping slightly as he tried to suppress the roar of fury threatening to erupt.
"Your Majesty, the royal arena was attacked. The fire caused by the explosions is still not fully extinguished."
"Captain of the Guard, Urbanski, led a squad into the arena to apprehend the perpetrators. Two standard hours later, his corpse was found strung up on the royal flagpole in the center of the arena."
King Modur stared at the display screen, which showed the mutilated body, stripped naked and impaled on the flagpole.
His eyes bulged, bloodshot with rage.
"Trash. They're all trash."
"Mere mutant scum, and yet they dare throw the hive into chaos."
"This is a provocation. I will capture them and punish them so harshly they'll regret challenging me."
With that, Modur flung his red cloak and stormed out of the palace.
He boarded a steel-forged war vehicle, engines roaring, and sped toward the arena.
Just two blocks from the arena, Maria Kournikova stood atop a water tower, wiping her curved blade with machine oil and a yellow silk cloth.
She had already sabotaged the nearest water tower to the arena. The firefighting effort would be severely hampered, at least one full work cycle before recovery.
That false king did not have the patience to wait that long.
Maria walked to a metal door and swiped an identification keycard through a biometric scanner embedded in the wall.
Beep
The door opened.
She stepped into the howling cold wind. Wearing no respirator, the toxic industrial fumes didn't affect her; she'd been soaked in chemical baths since childhood.
The "Assassin" didn't take out her optical telescope this time. Instead, she looked straight down.
Thanks to her Heightened Senses, she has the vision comparable to an eagle, and is capable of night vision. Through the flickering, dim lights, she scanned kilometers below.
Maria marveled at the power and couldn't help but glance into the distance.
'Thank you, my lord, for this gift.'
She drew her eyes back and swept her gaze across Old City Street and Glory Avenue.
Just then, her communicator crackled with the worried voice of Tsvetana.
"Maria, the false king has two routes from his spire to the arena. We're set up on Glory Avenue. What if we miss him?"
Maria's deep blue eyes were resolute. She replied calmly.
"Old City Street has better infrastructure and is safer, but it would force a detour through Birch Street. With that false king's personality, he will take Glory Avenue."
"That's right," added Dementieva sarcastically. "That vain bastard loves to parade down Glory Avenue, the one named to commemorate his purge of the underhive gangs."
Maria responded after the quip.
"The target usually travels with a hundred guards. There are only three of us. If we want to succeed, we can't split up."
"He will come down Glory Avenue."
Tsvetana fell silent, convinced by Maria's certainty. The comms channel went quiet.
Time passed.
Suddenly, Maria's eyes narrowed, and dozens of armored vehicles came speeding into view. At the front was a gaudy gold falcon banner fluttering in the wind.
"Target confirmed. Move into position."
She issued the command and then leapt off the tower.
Her Feather Fall ability is capable of making her body as light as a feather. She ran along the metal sides of the tower without a sound.
On the roof of a factory, Tsvetana aimed through the scope of her las rifle, locking onto the convoy.
As the convoy entered the kill zone, she pressed the detonator.
A thunderous explosion rocked the upper hive. Glory Avenue, barely 25 years old, was split like a fish on a chopping block.
Vehicles two through four were flipped by the blast, and a trench several meters deep and nearly twenty meters long was torn into the road.
The fifth vehicle couldn't stop in time. The driver slammed on the gas and charged forward, yelling.
It miraculously cleared the trench, only to slam into King Modur's falling armored vehicle, knocked from above by the blast.
The king's personal vehicle, highly fortified, sustained no meaningful damage, not even a crack in its reinforced glass.
But as it landed, the fast-moving truck collided with it from behind, sending both vehicles spinning down the street like drunken fighters.
The rear convoy screeched to a halt, panicked. After a moment of chaos, they split into two groups, trying to flank around the wreckage.
Tsvetana tossed aside the detonator, raised her laser rifle, and fired, hitting a tire dead-on. The beam left a nail-sized hole but caused minimal damage.
As the vehicles collided and swerved, a truck came barreling out of a side street.
Dementieva, behind the wheel, slammed the brakes and skidded to a stop in front of the king's limo.
Just before impact, she leapt from the truck, rolling to safety.
With a tremendous crash, the limo slammed into the truck, loaded with flammable chemicals.
The explosion rocked the street. The limo flipped several times, its right side smashing into the pavement and skidding meters before coming to a halt.
The king's guards scrambled out, attacking Dementieva, who now held a riot shield.
She jabbed a combat stimulant into her neck, ducked, and charged forward shield-first.
Tsvetana pulled the trigger, and laser beams flashed, dropping multiple guards.
King Modur roared in rage and charged at the assassin.
But before he could reach her, a shadow burst from the corner of a nearby building.
The "Assassin" had arrived.
In an instant, she was beside the king, her left hand wielding a Fra'al glass blade. With all her strength, she drove it into the king's high-grade power armor.
Modur was stunned; the tall assassin's blow had pierced his armor.
Before he could react, he felt the blade jam within the armor plating.
Barely surviving the strike, he swung his power sword at her.
But the blow missed. The moment her blade connected, Maria had already leapt back.
Modur, confused, suddenly saw the edge of the glass blade shatter, and tiny fragments burst outward into his body.
He screamed in terror.
The guards, seeing their king stumble and fall, charged at Maria in fury.
She stepped lightly, weaving between walls and fences, vanishing from their view.
Meanwhile, Dementieva smashed into the guards, wielding a warhammer and crushing one of their skulls.
Maria, cloaked in shadows, became invisible to the guards' senses.
Each time she reappeared from the darkness, she claimed another life.
Ten minutes later, all guards who hadn't fallen into the trench were dead, slain by just three assassins.
King Modur, once a formidable warrior, was dead. His demise shook the hive city of Omsk to its core. The nobles he had long oppressed began to stir.
Citizens locked their doors tightly, clutching weapons, wary of what might come next.