Astrid Kaltvein had been circling in the shadows for more than a week, watching the golden nun and her ragtag band like a hawk circling its prey.
She had been hired through layers of cutouts.
The coin probably came from an anonymous noble purse - she didn't know the client's name, nor did she care.
Assassins who grew too curious rarely lived long enough to tell the tale.
She only knew the target: Fanática, the traveling nun.
"Make it quiet," the note said. "Permanent elimination. Double reward if done within two weeks."
So Astrid observed the party patterns, almost glued to the target.
---
Day two: orphanage visit.
Faná arrived carrying bread and a small pouch of aure. Astrid watched from the roof of the adjacent bakery.
The nun knelt in the courtyard and led a quiet prayer. The children copied her solemnly.
For about eight seconds.
Then the chaos began.
One boy poked the halo.
Another climbed onto her shoulders.
A third declared himself a "holy knight" and charged her with a wooden spoon.
Faná laughed brightly and surrendered after a heroic struggle that involved three children hanging from her sleeves.
Afterward, a small girl tugged at Faná's sleeve.
"Sister, can you do the glowing thing again?"
Faná clapped her hands together in prayer.
Golden sparks flickered between her palms.
Her party stayed in their usual tavern, called Rusty Tankard.
She had no weapons or armor with her.
Astrid blinked.
If the contract is real, this will be the easiest kill of my career.
---
Day five: field work.
Astrid had begun to suspect the nun was not merely a traveling charity case.
Adventurers did not wander towns this long without work.
The party accepted a contract from the guild shortly after sunrise.
Astrid followed them at a distance.
She used a special magical device to spy on her target from afar.
The group moved with loose discipline.
The barbarian walked in front, while the dwarf guarded the rear.
The apprentice mage stayed well behind the line.
The huntress walked some distance away, an arrow already in hand.
The nun walked next to barbarian.
This time she was wearing armored robes and that ridiculous hammer.
Astrid frowned.
Clerics usually stay behind the fighters.
The goblins attacked first.
A dozen of them poured from the quarry pit, shrieking and waving crude blades.
The barbarian met them head-on with a roar.
Steel rang, blood sprayed, and two goblins flew through the air like kicked dogs.
The dwarf locked shields with a goblin, his hammer rising and falling in brutal rhythm.
Somewhere off to the side, arrows began to pierce the goblins' throats.
The boy mage shouted a spell and produced a shaky wall of force that stopped a flanking pair of enemies.
_Standard adventuring company.
_The nun finally joined the fight.
She swung the enormous maul in a wide arc.
A goblin disappeared beneath the blow with a wet crunch.
Another goblin lunged forward to attack.
The nun struck him mid-jump and he flew several feet backward, dead before he hit the ground.
Faná raised her hands hopefully.
"May I-"
"No!" three party members shouted at once.
Faná sulked and smashed a goblin.
Astrid tilted her head.
Strange command structure.
The trickster lay in ambush and suddenly jumped out from under the rubble onto the young mage.
The mage hissed and grabbed his arm - it was a deep cut.
The barbarian finished off the last goblin by throwing it against a rock wall.
The nun immediately knelt beside him.
She pressed her hand to the wound and murmured a short prayer.
Warm golden light flowed between her fingers.
The cut vanished.
Healing miracle, Astrid noted.
Useful, but harmless in a fight.
Faná stood and looked around the battlefield.
"I believe I could have ended that faster."
The dwarf snorted.
"Aye, and turn the loot into holy dust again? Not happening."
Faná folded her arms and glared at the goblin corpses.
Astrid frowned.
_Argument over spoils.
_Astrid disappeared quietly when the party started to gather their spoils.
---
Even the Dark Guild had its own rules. She didn't want to go solo, even though the reward was very tempting.
Her instincts kept nagging at her. Something about the job felt… off.
She couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that she was missing something important.
Astrid, as meticulous as ever, also reviewed the reports and read eyewitness testimonies on the destruction caused by Faná party.
Destroyed taverns, breweries, large areas of forest flattened - she subconsciously suspected that the mage might have had a hand in it, but it was better not to take any chances.
They had to attack suddenly, by surprise, when target would be alone and without giving any time to summon divine power.
Target assessment:
Combat ability - moderate.
Magic - minor clerical support.
Kill difficulty - low.
She hesitated for a moment.
Then added:
Observation period was limited. Client requested swift elimination. Requesting deployment of a small strike team.
---
Day eight: patterns confirmed.
Faná visited the orphanage again, alone, unarmed.
Astrid assembled her team - five shadows like her: two archers with poisoned darts, a pair of blade specialists, one brute for distraction.
"Hit fast, and hit hard. She's only human." she ordered, then added,
"You cannot give the target time to pray. Eyewitness accounts confirm its enormous destructive power."
They struck that night on the dimly lit street back from the orphanage when the fog was rolling in, no witnesses.
Faná walked alone, robes swaying, humming a hymn.
"Now!"
Darts whistled from alleys - one hit her shoulder, poison tipped for quick paralysis.
Blades flashed as the strike team lunged: brute from front, specialists from sides.
But Faná didn't fall. The poison should have dropped a horse.
She twisted - unnaturally fast - catching the brute's arm with one hand. Bones snapped like dry twigs. He screamed.
She punched him, unarmed, but the hit caved his chest like a hammer blow.
Astrid blinked: the nun's fists glowed faintly.
Two assassins lunged with their blades.
"O Goddess of Wrathful Mercy!" Faná cried and raised both hands, "Let Your light erupt where I stand! Let corruption shatter and evil flee before Your mercy!"
She then clapped her hands together, as the blades slashed at her with blinding speed.
The sound cracked like thunder.
A dome of blinding gold erupted outward.
The assassins were thrown across the street as if struck by a battering ram.
Astrid swore under her breath.
Priests are not supposed to do that.
Archers fired again; Faná summoned a golden shield from thin air, darts bouncing off. She simply charged at them.
_
Radiant shield.
_But no priest she had ever seen could raise one that fast.
Seeing the nun unarmed, the archer dropped his blowpipe and drew his blade. His partner jumped down from the roof, and silently moved in from the nun's blind spot.
Astrid cursed and fired her own dart - it grazed Faná's cheek.
The two remaining assassins lunged at the nun.
Faná reached out.
For a heartbeat her hand grasped empty air.
Then light condensed into the shape of a massive hammer.
_What in the hells-
_The hammer came down.
And then both assassins ceased to exist.
The nun turned, halo blazing full now, illuminating the street.
Her radiant eyes locked on Astrid.
_Ten seconds.The entire strike team was gone in ten seconds.I need to run._Astrid bolted. She climbed onto the rooftops and ran.
She looked back, there was no pursuit. Seeing this, she sighed with relief.
Then something struck her mid-jump.
She crashed into a wall, ribs cracking, pain exploding and stumbled down into a side alley.
On the ground, she looked down. An arrow with black-and-white fletching had pierced straight through her ankle.
Gritting her teeth, she lifted weakly, blade in hand and saw a silhouette drop from above: dark leather, hood, silver hair, green eyes.
"You don't know who I work for," Astrid gasped.
The elf drew her dagger. "Worked. You're a dead woman."
Astrid lunged with desperation. Her opponent slashed only once - it was a clean hit. Astrid dropped, lifeless.
"You chose the wrong target," the elf muttered, vanishing into the night.
---
Later, the Rusty Tankard door creaked open.
Faná entered - slightly bloodied, her robes torn with several holes.
The party stared wide-eyed.
Gorzod recovered first, dry humor in his voice: "Rough day at the orphanage? Did the orphans fight back this time?"
Thrain sighed, eyeing the damage. "That was a new robe. The diocese'll bill us for the replacement. Again."
Erian looked serious, chair scraping as he stood. "What happened?"
Faná smiled radiantly, sitting down as if nothing occurred. "The Goddess led some vile knaves to me, but they will bother good folk no longer."
The innkeeper, from behind the bar, crossed himself and muttered a prayer.