The Reincarnated Hitman

"Shall we get started then?" Zero said as he stood up calmly.

Torque looked at him for a while before chuckling and chugging down the rest of his beer before he stood up.

"I am curious about the reason you’re so confident," he said, looking directly at the hitman before him.

"After all," Torque smiled and lifted his hand, "I could just do this."

A moment after his words,

Bang!

Zero suddenly felt a force slam into him, lifting him off his feet and sending him straight through the wall behind him.

"Damnit," Torque muttered as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "I just got this place; fixing it is going to cost a lot."

Well, he could always get either the HA or Red Fox to foot the bill, especially since this was another assassination attempt.

"I’ll probably have to—"

Clink!

His words were suddenly cut off by the sound of some sort of metal hitting the ground.

"Hmm?" Torque let out, but before he could get a proper view of the object—

Bang!

The object suddenly exploded, releasing a flash of bright light that disoriented the hero.

A second later, something slammed into his head, launching him backwards and into a wall.

"Usually, I’d consider sneak attacks cheating," Zero muttered as he stood straight and looked at the recovering Torque, "but I’ll overlook it since I’m basically here to kill you."

His head wound from the amusement park was suddenly reopened since he hadn’t had the chance to get it stitched yet.

But like previously, he paid it no mind; instead, he focused on his opponent.

He could have used his gas to knock the hero unconscious before finishing the job, but the client’s request was to ensure Torque felt every ounce of pain.

Of course, Zero could still render Torque unconscious first and torture him afterward, but that wasn’t how the hitman operated.

Which meant taking down this target required a good old-fashioned brawl... or poison, though he’d save that as a last resort.

Why?

Well, it had been quite a while since the hitman had gotten into a proper fight, and he’d be damned if he wasted this opportunity.

Also, this was a chance to see exactly what this body’s limit was.

Though Torque might not be the most suitable opponent to test those limits against.

Torque finally recovered from the effects of the flashbang and turned his gaze toward Zero, who appeared to be lost in thought.

The hero frowned.

The man’s very first move had been to disrupt his vision, which could only mean one thing.

He somehow knew about his weakness, something that he had ensured remained hidden.

You see, Torque’s Factor allowed him to alter the force acting upon a target; his earlier attack on the hitman was an example of this.

All he’d done was increase the force acting on Zero’s balance, violently throwing it off and sending Zero hurtling through the wall.

It was an absurdly versatile ability.

Yet, like every Factor, it had its flaws, and in his case, one of those flaws was his vision.

Torque couldn’t accurately manipulate the forces acting on something he couldn’t clearly perceive.

It was a flaw that he had gone to great lengths to hide.

Yet, the white-haired man before him, unlike his other assassins, immediately targeted that flaw.

"Who the hell are you?" The hero couldn’t help but ask.

"I thought that was already established," Zero muttered, "I’m a hitman sent here to kill you."

"Now then," Torque noticed his folded hand as he spoke, "catch."

Zero tossed something into the air, and before Torque had the chance to realize what it was, the object exploded again, showering them in another flash of light.

Torque’s vision was disrupted again, but this time, he didn’t panic.

Instead, he used his Factor to launch himself backwards, narrowly avoiding a blade to the neck.

But before he had the chance to let out a sigh of relief, Zero was already upon him with a katana in hand.

Fortunately for the hero, his vision had already recovered, and he managed to activate his Factor just in time.

Zero was launched away from his target again, but not before leaving him a third gift,

Another flashbang.

The constant barrage of flashbangs was leaving Torque both irritated and disoriented.

At this point, he was very certain that the man before him knew about one of his weaknesses, and he was very much using that to his advantage.

"Enough!" The hero let out a sigh, and Zero, who was quickly approaching, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Not because he was currently being affected by Torque’s Factor; rather, it was because the furniture around him was now floating.

The hero still had his eyes closed in fear that the hitman would use another flash bang, but he could still reach the objects around him with his Factor.

While his Factor required sight, that didn’t apply to objects in his ’zone’, hence the reason the objects around him were currently floating.

Without a word, he extended his hand forward, and the next second, they were shot towards Zero like cannonballs.

The hitman immediately dodged the first chair before lifting his katana and cleanly slicing through the second.

The thrown furniture barely posed any threat to him, but it allowed Torque enough time to recover.

The moment Zero dodged the last piece of furniture, he suddenly felt a force launch him forward, directly towards Torque.

The hero opened his palm, grabbed the hitman midair and slammed him into the ground.

But before he could properly take the upper hand, he was forced back by a sudden dagger in the Hitman’s hand aimed directly for his head.

The hero looked at him with a confused expression before asking, "Your Factor allows you to create weapons?"

"Close," Zero said as he stood back up, "it allows me to do this."

He tossed something again, and without hesitation, Torque’s Factor acted on it, immediately launching it out the window.

Unfortunately for the hero, that was only a decoy, and it was too late when he realized that.

BANG!

Another explosion went off, blinding him again, and this time, the moment he launched himself backwards, he felt something going through his back and out his chest.

Torque immediately froze as his vision slowly recovered, and he looked down only to realize that the bloody blade of a katana was coming out of his chest.

He immediately coughed out a mouthful of blood as his vision slowly faded.

"Good night now," Zero muttered as he drove the katana deeper into the man’s chest.

A single question repeated itself in Torque’s mind, ’Am I going to die?’

***

Tim’s expression was frozen as he looked at the woman before him slowly breathe her last.

"M-mom?" He called out in disbelief.

They were so close....no, they had already made it into the hospital and yet the doctors around were watching his mother die.

Why?

Apparently, a Beta-ranked hero was currently admitted to the hospital, and the hundreds of staff members were practically competing for a chance to attend to them.

Which was precisely why he and his mother were being ignored, because they weren’t important enough.

"H-hey," his mother called out as she placed a gentle but weak hand on his cheek before saying, "I’ll be fine... I just need a quick nap."

Tim grabbed her hand with both of his as he muttered, "P-please hold on for a little longer."

Tears streamed down his face as he looked around for anyone who could help; unfortunately, the injured hero took priority.

"Please..." His voice grew weaker, ".. anyone."

Unfortunately, an unawakened wasn’t important enough to warrant attention from the staff.

This was just how the world works.

No one cared about a nobody.

And so, that day, Tim watched his mother die and with her, any bit of empathy he possessed.

He had been largely disillusioned....who you were doesn’t matter; what you were mattered the most.

***

And just when he had finally become someone important enough to be acknowledged, he was going to die?

Torque refused.

"Huh?" Zero let out in confusion as the pressure within the room started getting heavier.

But before he had the chance to understand what was going on,

Bang!

A heavy force suddenly slammed into him, knocking him through multiple walls and directly out of the building.

The moment he recovered and stood up straight, his katana was suddenly directly in front of his face, forcing him to quickly lean back and narrowly dodge it.

"What the hell is happening?"