Chapter 1: Chapter 1- The Black Phantom

Chapter 1- The Black Phantom

*5 years ago*

*Puff*

Two men stood in front of a large gate in the middle of the night. One of them was smoking a cigarette with an extremely bored expression as he stared dazedly at the horizon. Being awake for 18 hours straight wasn't the optimal thing for him but since this was his job, he had no desire to anger the boss and end up getting fired or even worse… dead.

Just the mere thought of that sent a chill down his spine even in the rather hot weather of the night.

"Hey, you have a cig?" His friend asked with an equally bored tone.

"Hm, here." Pulling out the packet, he pushed one cigarette out for his friend before he continued smoking his own.

"It's a quiet night, huh."

"Yeah."

"For fuck sake, why are we supposed to work on a Saturday night?! The boss really wants us to fucking die from boredom!" The second man said with an angry tone.

"Don't complain. We are getting paid enough to live. It's better than nothing."

"If getting paid that measly paycheck means I will lose my weekend then fuck this job."

"And then what? What are you going to do? Go back to smuggling cheap drugs to junkies all over the town and then never get paid?" Puffing out his smoke, the man said as he gave his friend a judging sideglance.

"Ugh…"

"We dropped out of school at the age of 11 and spent our lives in the streets fucking hookers and sniffing drugs. Don't whine that we ended up working this job. We're lucky we didn't end up in jail, dumbass."

The second friend couldn't retort to any of the words the other said so he grumbled and lit his cigarette.

As the two were enjoying their definitely-not-so-enjoyable night, a silhouette appeared on the horizon walking slowly toward them.

"Hm? What's that?" The first to notice was the first guy as he squinted his eyes. Since the street was barely lit, he couldn't clearly see who it was. "Can you see that?" He asked his friend.

"I sure do."

However, when the silhouette got very close, their eyes widened slightly.

"A kid?"

No matter how they looked at the stranger, they were quite short in stature, barely over 140 cm tall. His stature was quite small and weak too, provoking a sense of relaxation in anyone who saw him.

"What should we do?"

"I don't know. Pick up your gun." Saying that, the first friend stepped forward and yelled.

"Who are you? This is a restricted area! You can't go any further! Go back home, kid!"

However, the kid not only didn't respond in any form but also continued walking toward the man slowly.

"Is this kid lost or something? Sigh…" After rubbing the back of his head for a few seconds, the man decided to approach the kid. Lost or not, the boss's orders were straightforward. 'Not even a mosquito is allowed to step inside his residence at all costs.'

"Listen here, little guy. You can't go any further. Go back to Mommy now." The man said as he crouched in front of the kid to talk with him.

"..." The kid also stopped moving barely a meter away. Silence took over the place for a good three seconds.

Then, in a split second, the kid's silhouette vanished from the man's eyes.

"Wha-" Before he could even utter a word of shock, he felt two small hands grab his face.

*CRACK*

His vision was suddenly twisted upside down without any warnings. His mind wasn't able to register what happened before his eyes rolled inside their sockets and he fell down motionless. He had died without even noticing it.

"Huh?!"

The other guard saw that as his eyes widened to the extreme. The cigarette fell from his mouth and hit the ground. At the same time, the kid turned around and without any hesitation dashed toward the second man at an alarming speed that a small kid shouldn't have.

"What the fuck?!!" The guard didn't even hesitate for a second to pull out the gun he had and aimed it at the kid before he fired three successive shots in a panic.

The three bullets flew right toward the target but in the last second diverged from their path and hit the ground on both sides of the kid.

"The hell is this!!"

Fear took over the man's mind as he frantically aimed the gun again before firing all the shots he had. But, all of them still reached a certain distance before they diverged as if they hit a hard wall that changed their direction.

*Click* *Click*

The guard kept pushing the trigger of the gun but the bullets were over so he could only click his tongue and try to pull out a mag to reload. But, he was far too late.

The boy closed the distance between them before he sent a flying punch that exceeded in speed anything the man had ever seen in his life.

*BANG*

"BLURGH!!" Air was knocked out of his lungs as he fell down to the ground unconscious.

The boy then casually picked up the gun the man had and the magazine in his hand before he skillfully reloaded the gun. Then, he shot him in the head.

[From Hawk to Agent 0, do you Roger?] A feminine voice spoke in the boy's ear through what seemed to be a communication device he wore on his ear.

"Yes."

[What's the current situation?]

"I neutralized the two guards at the front gates. I'm sensing 8 more comings east and west. They probably heard the gunshots."

[Good. Continue according to the plan.]

"Roger." Then, the communication was cut off. After that, the boy continued moving in the darkness, vanishing from sight completely like a phantom.

***

At the same time, on the other end of the communication device, the woman put down the headphones and looked at the person sitting beside her. Another younger woman had a nervous expression on her face as she fidgeted in her place.

"What is it, Lilia?" The woman asked with a sigh.

"It's, uh, senpai… Is he going to be ok? Fighting against 8 armed guards seems to be too much."

"By 'he' I will assume you mean Agent 0."

"Y-Yes."

"You are still very new to this job, huh? Have you never heard of the nickname 'Black Phantom'?"

"Yes, isn't that the nickname of the legendary hitman that was able to finish 1000 successful missions without a mistake?"

"Yes. Well, Agent 0 is that 'Black Phantom' and let me tell you something, everything you heard about him, it's nothing but a watered-down version of the truth. He is a complete monster. At the mere age of 12, he is able to kill 15 black-belt Karate masters with his bare hands."

"I-I see…" Fear crept down Lilia's heart as she heard her senior's words.

"Whenever Agent 0 takes a mission, the only thing the target could do is either commit suicide before he comes to them or pray that Agent 0 will give him a quick death." The woman said with a cold tone.

"Then, why is he working in this small branch of the guild? Shouldn't someone as talented as him work for the main headquarter?"

"Well, no one knows why. But, ever since he appeared in the guild, he never accepted any invitation from the main branch. If it was any normal hitman, he would've been killed for their unruly behavior. However, Agent 0 was an exception. They saw how successful he was and so they left him to work here by his wish."

"I see..."

"Well, that's what the guild said. But, the truth that I believe in is that they probably tried to kill him... countless times. But, they couldn't."

"What?!"

"A monster like him can't be killed that easily. The guild knows that and so they could not risk sending a high-ranking hitman and end up losing them. He is that much of a monster even though he isn't even a teenager yet."

***

"Where did he go?!" A group of guards reached the front gates the next second carrying heavy guns and even swords.

Their faces looked horrifying with scars and tattoos littering their bodies. They were seasoned fighters through and through. Mercenaries to be precise.

The leader of the group stepped forward and checked the conditions of the corpses. The sight made his face frown.

"One died after his cervical spine was twisted upside down and the other died from a bullet to the brain." He murmured.

While the bullet kill seemed very clean which showed how skillful the culprit was with the gun, the cervical spine kill was a completely different story.

'The strength needed to twist an adult man's neck to that degree is unimaginable. Who could even possess such strength? Could it be…'

"Leader, what should we do?!" One of the men asked.

"Disperse across the house. Make sure to notify the inner guards of the potential threat. We must not let this person pass whoever it was."

"Yes!" They all nodded and turned around to leave quickly. But, the leader stopped them again before he added. "Tell them that the culprit could potentially be 'The Black Phantom'."

"T-The Black Phantom? Are you serious, sir?"

"Yes! Now hurry!"

"Understood!!"

After the group dispersed, the man's strict face changed to a strong frown.

"If it's actually the Black Phantom… Like hell, we will be able to stop him. Hopefully, I'm wrong." He murmured before he ran inside to join his group in search of their target.

Unbeknownst to him or anyone else, a presence was standing close by, listening to their conversation. His face was as cold and emotionless as that of an insect. Not even a shred of thought could be read through his abysmal eyes.

"8 guards, 8 assault rifles, 5 swords. More guards are inside." After saying those words, he vanished from where he stood. His destination... the house.