Chapter 1 : The contract

It's dark, the cold is numbing my skin and I hold firmly to my weapon, a Thales-T, a semi-modern weapon.

It seems I'm heading toward a sort of manor old enough to be from the first era, an antique. I'm starting to remember, the manor, the betrayal, it was the contract.

T. was at my right, Franco at my left and Jack behind with his scope rifle to guide us and protect our back.

Cold air grew fiercer, screaming in my ears, I had to close my eyes, the wind started shrieking louder and louder, snow started falling and slowly hiding the faces of my comrades until I could only see N. The wind was getting louder and louder, as if a monster approached me, then it formed a voice.

"Mister. Do you hear me, mister, it's probably not a good idea to stop in the middle of the street, please follow me."

T whispered an unintelligible phrase to my ear. I closed my eyes and opened them again. There was no more manor, nor traces of N. or the other contractors. Instead stood a man wearing a coat and thick glasses in the center of a decrepit alley with no light.

"What, where am I ?" I whispered quietly enough so the man could not hear me, I needed to get my head straight.

"You remind me of an urban legend, someone accepting any sort of contract and who has apparently lost his mind since long ago. It might indeed be you." The four-eyed man mused, muttering to himself.

I'm starting to remember, he betrayed me, I'm supposed to follow the man with the coat, I can't remember, what was I dreaming of?

While following him, I looked around, no matter how much we walked it was the same scenery, only ruins of buildings and alleys filled with the reflection of the homeless' eyes. They were just bags of bones, a terrible spectacle for those non-accustomed to it, but I knew their true self better than anyone else, they probably joined the Sinless to survive, all too happy to kill the weak.

Those places were nothing new for me, I already went to similar locations to kill gods, they were master of murder with genetically modified DNA, only to be more powerful, however those "transformations" were more often than not failures, leaving a mass of disfigured meat for a human, the ones successfully integrating the D.N.A modifications generally settled down with joining a gang and becoming their guardian, they were powerful, but not the only menace in these kinds of contract.

The Sinless is an organization of homeless people, they are what you'd call a mercenary organization, the real difference between a contractor and a sinless is first the legal paper that the contractor signs, legally binding him to his duty and preventing him from killing the contractee, the second is strength, a sinless is a nobody while a contractor is someone at least stronger than a C-5 artifact.

Sinless' aren't terrifying when put like that, but they have something the contracted does not have, or should we say they lack something compared to us? The will to live, something every human inherits when birthed, but also something you can lose along the journey of life, they were stripped of every valuable thing life could have offered, leaving them with hunger and void in their eyes, the only way for them to survive is to accomplish what they're tasked with. They'll throw themselves on you with their knifes even if it means their demise. Showing them compassion is also not a good idea, they'll just consider it a show of weakness and try to use it for them, whether it means stripping you off or killing you and then stripping you off. I knew it for having lived with them.

"So, can you talk about that contract of yours, or at least give me your name?"

"Leolio," he coughed, seemingly surprised while daydreaming. "I am called Leolio, didn't I already tell you so? And you, how may I call you?"

"Huh, you don't know a contractor never gives his name, only a pseudonym, so, let's say you can call me...let's see. I know, you can call me 0."

"Very well then, mister 0. As for the contract, we will further talk about it inside my home, when nobody could possibly hear the details of the contract."

All the while talking, Leolio was heading toward a seemingly disaffected building. He opened the door with a magnetic key and went straight to the middle of the room which extended to an immense dusty rectangle lacking furniture, he stopped when at the center of the room and kicked the ground, it was followed by a robotic voice answering the kick.

"Greetings, dear master."

Without waiting a second to think, Leolio responded. "Hello, Hera"

Having finished the conversation, the scientist waited for a trap to reveal itself, leading to a labyrinth of stairs.

I followed suit after he started walking down, my guard up, after all, prudence was never enough in jobs like this. As we were walking down the stairs, he explained what my contract mostly consisted of.

"Your target is a god, even if I believe in your reputation, I must warn you and ask extreme carefulness and please, do take note of any suspicious action the target might do."

"You know, you don't have to be so stressed out if it's just a god, even a powerful one is barely above what a normal human could do."

Except for enhancing strength, those experiments could also, sometimes, give 'superpowers' to the host, such as mastering of fire, ice, sometimes it was just an above the-average-god's strength or speed without any superpower. The thing is, they were never powerful, maybe the best of them could fry an egg or make the room temperature go down a few Celsius degrees, but those were the best of the best, end of the story.

"I fear you did not correctly assert what I just said, I am not referring to a lower god. Do you know what a superior god is?" He looked at me, somewhat seemingly expectant to hear my answer. I did not understand what he was trying to say.

"Gods are experiments first made by Montezio's which were later leaked, allowing some crazy wannabe-geniuses of the street to experiment on either volunteering crack-heads or kidnapped hobos. Do you mean by 'superior gods' that they're stronger than usual ?"

"A superior god simply is the successful version of the experiment of the doctor L. Rad, head chief scientist of the Sciences & Technologies of Montezio's. Few people know of their existence, due to them being deceased, killed by you target. In fact, they're not supposed to be created. As such, only a few tens exist, only problem being their incredulous strength when compared to a lower god. Do you still wish to continue on your path, or will you abandon the contract?"

"I never give up a contract, no matter the job." That was the main reason why I was one of the best contractor in the city, my reliability and my perseverance.

As we finished our discussion I could finally see the end of the stairs, they led to a door, beyond which stood a technologically advanced cave, creating a remarkable contrast with the lack of furniture upstairs. There was a tactile table equipped with seats floating few centimeters above the ground, there was also a shelf filled to the brim with books, a more than surprising feat.

Books became scarcer and scarcer with time until it became a relic of the first era, with only the richest of the town able to possess one, or maybe even two, for themselves. But him, he had an entire shelf dedicated to that! The more I stayed with him, the more I asked myself who this Leolio truly was, he knew a lot of things he supposedly shouldn't and had things to back up all the nonsense he spouted.

"That's my base, impressing, isn't it? On a more serious note, I advise you to sit down, you'll have to process a lot of information."

I quietly looked around, my eyes stopping at the table, where a document was laid.

"What is that?"

"I was curious about a tale, so I requested someone to discover wether the tale had a semblance of truth or not, that's what he brought me back." On the document was written a list of names, Jacques Austin was one of them.

I ignored the document for the time being and instead asked him about my target.

"Oh, him. Indeed, it is quite complicated to explain however... apart from his name and power, I know nothing of him. He's calle-" My face hardened and a laugh escaped from my throat.

"Wait a minute, are you kidding me, is it some kind of joke, or you're being serious about it? Have you ever done a contract? To realize my job, I need personal intel, I have to know if he's alone, accompanied by some bodyguards, if he's whether cold-blooded or easily upset, and a lot more if I don't want to risk my life, but here you are, like a moron, honoring me with a prey of at least rank A-3, and to top it all with almost zero information?"

His face did not tremble an ounce. This guy, there's something messed up with him, like he feels nothing, I got to admit he's the kind of person I'm the most scared of.

"Please, calm down. You need to understand, this... thing, is unique and unequaled, it is hard to learn more than what I already know." I slowly breathed out, trying to release the tension in my neck due to the sudden rush of anger and decided to give a chance to this idiot in a coat.

"Okay, if you say so. Just tell me everything you know about him, I guess it will help me enough," I responded while grumbling.

"He's named Tezcatlipoca, mostly known as Tezca, as for his specialty... well let's say it is somewhat special considering what you might have encountered thus far."

I asked him what he meant.

"If I had to simplify for you to understand, I'd say he can crawl into your consciousness to... paralyze. Yes, paralyze is the right word."

The more he talked, the more I wanted to get out of here, what he was telling me, it's beyond the strength of a A-1, it's beyond what can exist, a being unrestrained from the limitations of reality, a bug in the matrix. There are two solutions :

One. He's a really good liar who gets off by spouting nonsense to strangers, or he's crazy and does not differentiate his imagination from reality.

Two. He's telling the truth, and in that case, my target is unique and probably much more dangerous than the guardian of El Cerro de Oro, I'd prefer if he got off by lying to people, unfortunately I doubt it.

This time, a long saddened sigh escaped my throat, I rubbed my eyes for a good second, and started talking. "If you really want me to do your damned contract, you'll need to tell me everything, no secret, got it ? Or else I cancel all this bullshit."

"Do not worry, I already planned to explain everything to you. It is understandable to believe this contract is in no way beneficial to you, but trust me, the reward is worth it."

He took a deep breath and resumed talking.

"Firstly, you have to know that by killing him you'll greatly help not only humanity as a whole, but also our planet. Next, I do believe having said he is part of the successful experiments, however, every experimentation needs its scientist, and it appears that the scientist of this experimentation was me. I created Tezca, it was a terrible mistake to invoke such an horror." For a brief instant regrets and fear could be felt in his voice. "And now, I need someone capable enough to destroy it. I have a last warning to tell, I explained earlier that his name is Tezcatlipoca. However I do need to specify the origins of it. Coming from the Aztec mythology, Tezca is the most feared god, also called 'Titlacauan' which signifies 'we are his slaves' or also 'Ilhuicahua Tlalticpaque' that is, possessor of the Sky and Earth, he is the most exact reproduction and, the most similar, of said god, the strongest, most horrible, and destructive god of all."

"Well, at the end of the day it's just a nickname. A god is just someone weak who wishes to become powerful, but without the sacrifices that come with strength."

Just when I finished my remark, he jumped up and started screaming sentences without any sense all the while glaring at me.

"Just a nickname ! Do you even realize what you imply, you fool, you did not understand a thing ! Gods aren't simple legends to give hope for an after-life to humans, gods are the most unpredictable and murderous creatures that have ever haunted this planet damned of their presence ! They are no simple beliefs, they are nightmares, beings of unspeakable power, that cannot be stopped ! They are real, and it took millennia to chase them, so do not let your guard down because you think you are a professional, do you understand!"

It took me some seconds to react, I only met him a few hours ago, but I was already starting to get accustomed to this taciturn attitude of his, showing no emotion, seeing him like this surprised me.

"I-don't worry, no matter the enemy, I always give it my all, I just let my thoughts talk, nothing more. I'll just need you to remind me of his specialty and other little things, alright?"

Leolio, still furious at my remark, carefully sat back down and started talking once again with the taciturn tone he had before exploding.

"As I was trying to say, his power is related to his divine representation, that is, Tezcatlipoca, he can crawl into your thoughts and instill chaos, doubt and suffering in them. I do not know however how it will bring these, when he was still with us, he kept mysterious concerning his powers, only allowing us to observe it. Unfortunately, none of the test subjects were able to tell what they endured. On a brighter note, his hideout was localized, if I'm not mistaken, he should be in District S, finally, concerning the reward, you will obtain knowledge concerning the location of the person you're looking for. Is that alright?"

"Didn't you tell me you knew nothing about N. ?"

"It is true I do not know of this person, but Tezca does, he could show you where you nemesis is, that is, at one condition. Your target always wear a broken mirror on his left ankle. This mirror is an artifact, it shows your deepest desire, for you it is to find him, am I correct?

"You're not wrong, well then, you still need to give me weapons to kill him and the exact location, then I'll do my part of the job."

"Very well. I almost forgot, his ability activates when he is looking at you all the while pointing at you with his left hand, be careful."