Volume 3 Chapter 64: Sunset【Assassination Organization Arc】

What Lubucera had been thinking.

He had anticipated that he might not be able to beat Artemis.

For that reason, he had prepared a trump card to defeat her.

That trump card was Balor.

For Artemis, Balor was her greatest weakness.

Since Balor himself possessed no combat ability, capturing him was easy.

If he were in the Apophis territory, with every maid except Artemis surrounding him day and night, he probably couldn’t have been taken hostage.

However, he hadn’t expected that he would be killed without ever getting the chance to use that trump card.

It was truly regrettable that the trump card he had so painstakingly prepared would only be utilized after his own death.

“D-don’t come any closer! Don’t move a muscle! B-before you kill him, I can cut his neck off, you know!”

“Ah, ah… Master…”

Some man was speaking, but Artemis brushed off his words.

Or rather, they didn’t even reach her ears.

All that filled her mind was the image of Balor, battered and collapsing.

It was a careless mistake.

To think that being away for just these few hours today would lead to such a mess.

Usually, she only had to deal with assassins on Ashvin’s orders.

Thus, while it was true that she had been protecting Balor, it was an aggressive form of defense.

Ashvin was not here.

Izun had already returned to the Apophis territory in Artemis’s stead, and Nanashi was sound asleep.

There was no one left guarding him.

“I—I did it because the boss ordered me! I’m not in the wrong, you know! D-don’t move a muscle. If I can’t see you, I’ll wait a whole day!”

The man backed away, dragging Balor along.

If Artemis so wished, she could have ended him in mere seconds.

However, he was also a member of the underground assassin organization.

In those few seconds, he might not have been able to escape or stop it, but he could have taken Balor’s life.

All he could do was keep staring at the receding Balor with his golden eyes.

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

“Is the boss dead? This is our chance, isn’t it?”

“You all…”

At that moment, additional assassins appeared.

They—who had been on high alert on Lubucera’s orders—had gathered around.

Smirking at their collapsing boss, they surveyed the situation from above.

“Ah, a hostage, huh? That means he can’t move right now. Isn’t that just perfect?”

“Hey, don’t resist. If you do, I’ll inflict even more pain on that hostage.”

“Master… Master…”

Lewd eyes were fixed on Artemis.

However, she didn’t even react.

All that was reflected in her golden eyes was the battered Balor.

“…You’re not showing any proper reaction. Is he that important to you?”

“Well, it’s all convenient for us, so who cares? Let’s just get it over with.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, hey.”

If she doesn’t resist, then his current state is acceptable.

With that in mind, the men moved closer to Artemis.

One of the men carrying Balor tried to hold them back, though not out of concern for her.

How could they so boldly approach a woman who had killed their boss and showed no sign of serious injury?

For a moment, he attempted to stop them, but then quickly shifted his thoughts to escaping amidst their commotion.

It was then that Balor’s body twitched.

“…Huh? Hey, don’t move!”

“Shut up. What did you say…?”

Irritated by the interference, the man approaching Artemis turned around…

His crimson eyes fixed on them.

“I won’t allow it.”

◆

For Balor, it came completely out of the blue.

He had been drinking, letting alcohol build up in his system, and was sound asleep.

He was extremely pleased to be able to do something he rarely got to do in the Apophis territory.

That is exactly why being abruptly jolted awake by searing pain filled him with astonishment and a hellish fury.

He couldn’t understand what had happened.

When he woke up, the face of an unfamiliar old man was before him.

And on top of that, he was being assaulted—getting punched and kicked.

“(What is happening here!?)”

She couldn’t help but exclaim in refined, ojou-sama style, though she made no outward show of it.
However, pressed into such close range and having not the slightest grasp of close combat, Balor was completely at their mercy.

After being beaten into a pitiful state, he was carried away by a man.
Under Lubucera’s orders, he returned to the boss.

Balor, unaware of any of this, could only realize that he was being kidnapped.

“(Meat shield! Why aren’t you here at such an important time!?)”

A man who so readily uses his own maid as a substitute—this is divine punishment.

Yet, while he was being unilaterally beaten and abducted, during that brief period Balor felt an anger simmering like magma.

“(To think you’d dare tarnish my good looks… I will never forgive this. Even hell is too mild. I’ll have you suffer ten thousand years of torture…!)”

Balor spat out a barrage of curses.
Yet, ironically, his body was frail.

He lost consciousness… yet his anger and grudge remained.
Therefore…

“I won’t forgive!”

Balor’s demonic eye was activated.

◆

“…What is this place?”

The men stared in disbelief.
They rubbed their eyes vigorously, doubting whether the scene before them was a dream or an illusion.
Yet, the scene persisted, undeniably real.
It wasn’t just a visual trick—they could smell it and feel the breeze.
Clearly, this was real; they weren’t asleep, so that was only natural.
It was 【not the dark city they had been in until moments ago, but a hill where a blazing, red sunset could be seen】.

“Hallucination? I haven’t been on drugs recently…”
“Since there’s someone else here, it can’t be the drugs.”
“…Then, where are we?”

Unbelievable.
Did we just teleport in that instant?
There was no assassin with such a skill here, and of course it wasn’t the work of Balor and his group.
Teleportation is the kind of far-fetched, dreamlike magic that only historical figures known as sages could use.

“But man, isn’t it incredibly beautiful?”

If your location suddenly changes, it’s natural to go into a mad panic.
Yet, they remained strangely composed.
That was likely due to the breathtaking beauty of the scene before them—a sunset blazing with red fire.
They were watching it from atop the hill, and as if in a dream, the sunset appeared unbelievably vast.
It bathed the bare, barren hill in red, not a single blade of grass in sight.
It was a sight none of them had ever witnessed before.
While sunsets are seen every day, they had never before beheld one this close.

“…Now that I think about it, how long has it been since I last saw a sunset like this?”
“Ah, it’s warm. So sunsets really are warm, huh?”

They spoke in hushed tones.
They felt incredibly serene.
Having spent their lives in the underworld, it might have been the first time they experienced such tranquility.
That was how entranced they were by the beautiful scenery.
At this moment, the idea of killing anyone was inconceivable.
That was exactly how they felt.

They stood on the hill, as if the sunset were etched into their eyes and enveloping their entire being.

“Warm, so warm… hot?”

They noticed something was off almost immediately.
They had been immersed in a pleasantly comforting warmth, but then suddenly realized they were feeling an overwhelming heat that made them sweat all over.
Ah, it felt just like summer.
Slowly, sweat trickled down as their skin started to burn…
Yes, literally, their skin was scorching.
Flames of inferno engulfed their bodies.

“Hot, hot, hot, hot, HOT!!!”

They writhed in agony.
Yet, the flames around them did not show any sign of diminishing.
The sunset had grown even more enormous—so colossal it seemed poised to swallow the men whole.
However, those writhing in flames would never have noticed.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Shortly after the men’s agonized screams echoed, the barren hill—without a trace of any green—was completely gone.
Only a black, burnt scar remained.