The Martial Unity

It was an insane thought. Yet it was one that he considered nonetheless.

"How many innocent civilians are there in the Shadow Isles?" Rui asked.

"Hah," The professor snorted. "None. The Shadow Isles has become an infestation for assassins and all activities related to assassinations. There are managers, agents, representatives, bureaucrats, and others who specifically ensure that the commissions for assassinations all reach the assassins quickly and smoothly."

"Hmm..." Rui considered that. He would have been very hesitant if the man had said that there were plenty of peaceful villages and settlements across the entire archipelago. But Rui's moral consideration tended to plummet if the people who would become victims to his plans were not good people.

He wasn't sure if he would go ahead with the plan nonetheless, it was maybe too extreme. 

Still, eliminating his competition was definitely the best way to use assassination to fulfill the objective of being accepted by the Silent Shadow as a student. Furthermore, doing this would also simultaneously fulfill his commission payment to the Beggar's Sect. 

Thus it was a course of action that had double the benefits.

If he did choose to go that path, however, he would need to ensure that he was up to the task of successfully completing it. Because assassinating and eliminating an entire archipelago worth of assassins was most certainly an extremely difficult task. He didn't think he would be able to fulfill it that easily.

For one, the biggest issue was the Martial Senior assassins of the Shadow Isles. Getting rid of them was going to be the hardest. The moment he got rid of them, he would be able to get rid of all the other Martial Artists with ease.

"How many Martial Senior assassins are there in the Shadow Isles?" Rui asked.

"About thirty-seven." The professor replied.

That was not a small number for the total number of Martial Seniors. It was actually quite dangerous for Rui to try and kill every single one of them, especially given that he was quite new to the Senior Realm. There were probably several who would be able to crush Rui in a fight just due to how much greater their accumulation was.

Thankfully, assassinations were not fair fights. The goal was to kill, not to win. He could use preparation, exploit vulnerabilities, and aim for moments and places where their guards were lowered. Rui especially was extremely good at exploiting preparation to output performances that were far superior to his natural capabilities. 

The issue was the means of killing. While Sonic Bullets were quite overpowered in the Squire Realm due to an absolute inability to sense them, he had already seen that that wasn't entirely the case in the Senior Realm. Senior Minneson had been able to briefly sense them with his Martial Heart.

Given that Martial Seniors could reflexively and automatically activate the Martial Hearts in emergencies, it meant that he couldn't leisurely snipe them from a great distance away with a powerful attack. 

At the very least, at full power, it was no longer something that could be hidden too very well. It was no longer something he could rely upon to kill his targets without them ever seeing it coming.

Unless he found a way to overcome this hurdle, of course. He was not willing to abandon this assassination tool. It was just too useful. The Pathfinder technique was a grade-ten Martial Squire technique that could snipe its targets from great distances away. It had allowed him to replicate Senior-level feats as a Martial Squire.

Now that he was a Martial Senior, he would be able to strike Martial Artists from an even longer distance away. 

"Say professor, would the Beggar's Sect aid me with free intelligence if I were to help the sect dismantle the assassination industry in the Derschek Region by killing assassins?" Rui asked. "Or would I have to pay for that intelligence as well?"

"We are not impractical." The professor replied briefly. "Rest assured, we will help you help us free of charge."

Rui smirked. That meant that he could rely on the Beggar's Sect to gather intelligence on all his targets free of cost, while he prepared predictive models on them. This greatly simplified his task.

The issue of finding a foolproof method of killing them or upgrading the Mighty Roar Flash Blast technique still remained.

His mind scoured through the physics of the technique, revisiting classical wave theory and harmonics as he looked for ways to upgrade the technique in regard to its capabilities as a tool for assassination. 

"Can the Beggar's Sect get me one of those musical training sets that musicians use to train their pitch?" Rui abruptly asked out of the blue.

The professor frowned. "We are not a delivery service. Why would you need such a thing from us in the first place?"

"It's relevant to the operations you want me to do for getting rid of the assassination sector," Rui replied.

"That's absurd." 

"I'm serious." Rui heaved a resigned sigh. "I'd find it myself, but that could take quite some time. You can it put it on the tab along with some considerable interest."

"We charge a high markup for our services. Do not complain if you find out that you have an unpayable debt due to how liberally you borrow from us. Do not think of defaulting on us, either. We will find you and we will kill you."

The professor's tone was uncaring and unforgiving despite the fact that he was a normal human and Rui was a Martial Senior. This was the power that came with being an official of a foreign affairs department of a powerful continental force.

"Rest assured, I don't have any intentions of doing that. In fact..." Rui smirked. "By the time I'm done here, it will be Christmas for the Beggar's Sect."

"What is that?"

"Don't worry, you will. For now, I would appreciate if you could help me with that, and in turn, help yourselves."

"..." The professor stared at Rui with sharp eyes. "...We will oblige. However, the more you rely on us, the greater we expect you to perform. Do not forget that, Senior Falken."