Thud, thud!“Mm. That’s the last of it.”Staring down at the targets who had fallen one after another, Aquila muttered to herself.Their eyes were already glazed from the truth serum they’d been dosed with before death, and drool was dribbling from their mouths.I suspected as much—these were flunkies too.The assassination had succeeded, but she was no closer to the ultimate objective: the identity of DON.Aquila hooked the dead man’s collar with the tip of her boot and flipped it back. A black tattoo near the heart came into view.A serpent biting its own tail—Ouroboros.The vast illegal syndicate Aquila and her colleagues were hunting—the darkest shadow of the Kingdom of Leandro.While the royal house had moved to abolish slavery and human trafficking, they had continued running a secret black market. National crackdowns, no matter how persistent, had done no good.The venue for the market changed each time, and even among nobles and government officials on the state payroll, Ouroboros infiltrators were embedded. The three who died tonight were likewise members operating in secret.The legendary beast said to devour its tail even as it regenerates—Ouroboros. There could hardly be a more fitting name for a group that seemed to sprout anew somewhere else no matter how many times you found them, found them again, killed and killed them.And their boss—the literal sovereign of the underworld.His name unknown, referred to simply as DON. His identity was still a complete mystery.Still, I pinned down a handful of likely sites for the next black market. If we hit the scene, at least the slaves there…Aquila squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and swallowed a sigh. The frustration of marching in place on endless repeat was starting to choke her.…No wandering thoughts while you’re working.She exhaled—huff—then clicked open the pendant on the ornate necklace at her throat. From inside, she took out a tiny note and a pen.After scrawling the intel she had wrung from the target, she puckered to whistle through the half-busted, creaking window.Whuff—!Not long after, a white eagle swooped down and alighted on the sill.“Hello, Reven.”Kree!The eagle cried as if in greeting. From the raptor’s call—its eyes shining all the clearer in the dark—she seemed to hear a familiar voice.If the enemy keeps regenerating, then we just don’t stop the hunt.The master who had raised that eagle, and the master of the secret intelligence unit Crows to which Aquila belonged—Crown Prince Joshua.Don’t give up. So long as you don’t give up, the day will come when you reach the serpent’s head.For his bold moves abolishing slavery and banning trafficking, the people had begun to call him the kingdom’s future.His problem is being too kind…Rolling the note and slipping it into the small canister on Reven’s leg, Aquila wore «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» a clouded look.The prince’s policies were welcomed by commoners who had suffered hereditary discrimination for generations, but the royal elders and the conservative nobility were fiercely opposed.So after his early, daring steps, he himself had hardly been able to move openly. Instead, the Crows—a secret intelligence unit made up of those indebted to him, like Aquila—were operating in the shadows across the realm…“…!”Whuff! The docile Reven suddenly sprang skyward. At the same time, Aquila snapped into a crouch.Thwip-thwip!Throwing blades skimmed over her scalp by a hair and bit into the wall.Aquila flicked her eyes up to take in the shape of the blades, then rose slowly. She fixed a chill gaze past the shattered cabin door at the black figures appearing one by one.“…Target confirmed.”“Female, mid-twenties. Red eyes, white hair.”“A wig, then.”Three assassins wrapped head to toe in black traded clipped words.Aquila reached to her head. Where the blades had grazed, her original hair showed beneath the askew black wig.Did I jinx myself today.Truly, a day riddled with variables right up to the end.While she sighed inwardly, the assassins fanned out to encircle her, each drawing their throwing blades.“Codename: ‘White Crow’ Aquila.”A twitch.At that, Aquila’s eyes gave a small tic. Whether they knew what that reaction meant or not, the assassins—dryly reciting their target’s data—charged her all at once.“You’ll have to die he— Urk!”But the first to fall was one of the three.“Words like that…”Aquila, who had vanished and in the same instant cut one throat, murmured low.“…should come after you kill.”Hadn’t they just handed the enemy information for no good reason.A bead of red on her cheek slid down. The two remaining rushed her at once. Aquila used the corpse as a shield to catch the blades, then vaulted, narrowly evading a knife lunging for her flank.Her long leg, freed by the generous cut of her red trousers, whipped around the assassin’s neck in a blink.“Aaagh!”“Too loud.”At the shrill scream, Aquila rotated her body and muttered. Neck and shoulder snapped at once; the assassin dropped his sword and pitched forward. At the same time, her wig came off completely and a waterfall of white hair spilled down.“Disqualified as an assassin.”With the dagger in her hand she slit his carotid in one stroke. Then she flicked a second dagger the opposite way.“Gah!”The dagger struck the forehead of the assassin who had been about to throw again. Only after dropping all three in a blink did Aquila allow herself a breath. She glanced at the Ouroboros men she’d killed.Bait?Even if these men hadn’t known, DON’s side might have caught wind of this assassination op beforehand. They knew not only her codename for this mission, but—down to the letter—her real name.There’s been a leak on the inside.Which meant: a traitor among her own.Aquila bit her lip and drew out the note from her necklace again. She had just begun to scrawl the new discovery into the cramped space when—KWA-BOOM!“?!”With the roar of a cannon, the ship heaved violently.Balancing on the bucking floor, Aquila whipped her head toward the window.The navy.The coastal patrol had apparently sighted the pirate ship.Soon she heard the pirate ship firing back. At this rate, this cruise ship—already riddled—wouldn’t last long.Aquila bolted from the cabin. The pirates seemed to have finished their pillaging; the twisted corridor was empty. The deck she reached at a sprint was the same.There should be a lifeboat at the stern…Bang! Bang! BAAANG!“?!”Aquila dove and rolled across the deck. Harsh gunfire shaved past her by inches.They’re aiming for me?Sheltering behind a broken mast, she squinted at the patrol ship drawing closer and closer.She could tell. Someone on that ship had their muzzle trained on her.Mistaking me for a pirate? …No. Not that.Instinct. That sniper wasn’t military. An assassin—like her, like the attackers from moments ago.Craaaack…!Hit by broadsides from both sides, the ship split and listed with a tearing sound. She clung to the mast with all her strength, but with the black waves opening a maw below and the muzzle tracking her, there was nowhere to go.Damn it.Her mind, racing through the situation, iced over. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled.Fweeeee…!Thankfully, an answering cry came from not far off in the sky—Reven.Good.Gritting her teeth, Aquila tore off the necklace and hurled it up into the high air with the last of her strength. The throw wrenched her from the mast; the body that had been hanging on by a thread dropped.The sniper didn’t miss that sliver of a moment.Again—Bang! A shot cracked, and pain ripped through Aquila’s shoulder.“Ghh…!”She screamed as she fell.Splash! The instant she hit the ice-cold sea, she caught the briefest glimpse of the eagle beating its wings through the typhoon far above.…You guys…Faces of comrades like family flashed before her eyes, then were swept away with the whirl of the sea.Through her blurring vision, she thought she saw a black silhouette coming toward her—but she lost consciousness.***Clack…Target eliminated.A marine on the navy patrol ship, peering through his scope with one eye at the sinking vessel, lowered his rifle.Another marine sprinted up and cuffed him on the head.“You maniac! How many times did I say cease fire! I told you do not engage the pirate ship! You think orders are a joke?!”“S-sorry! First deployment, my hands were shaking… I’m sorry!”The quiet killing aura from when he’d aimed at Aquila was gone without a trace; the assassin, posing as a bumbling rookie marine, bobbed his head over and over.His superior thumped his own chest.“Gods, you cursed—! That’s the Mostro pirates! We’re lucky they pulled back first and you pick a fight?! If you want to die, do it alone, alone!”“I’m sorry…”“Look, the enemy ship’s well off now anyway. If you look there…”Another marine, trying to lighten the mood, pointed past the horizon. Sure enough, the pirate ship was almost vanished into the thick fog.The superior, about to blow up further, only clicked his tongue as the cruiser’s mast collapsed with a crunch.“Begin search for survivors. Approach carefully so you don’t get pulled into the whirl!”“Yes, sir, under—”It was the instant the assassin—still aping the rookie—was about to echo the others.Bang…Huh…?The assassin didn’t know what had happened even as he fell.Neither did the other marines, who watched a comrade drop with a sudden bullet through the temple right before their eyes.Thud!Only after several seconds had passed did the screaming start.“H-hey?!”“W-what the hell—who fired a stray shot at a time like this?!”“Negative! All snipers are muzzles-down!”“Then…”Tap, pat. As fat drops began to fall one by one, the superior turned his head.His trembling eyes hunted for the pirate ship that had vanished into the fog, leaving no trace to be found.“…Monsters.”KR-THOOOM!With a crash of thunder, the rain came down in sheets.

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