1,000,000 Karma: My Reward Is a Quiet Life-Chapter 76: Finding A Path Through a Road of Shadows

"Tell me something, Van," Noah spoke calmly as they seemed to have found themselves at a crossroads. "Do you regret the life you’ve led?"

In the heat of battle, the question left the bruised-and-battered competitors standing there silently while the fire watched on, along with the curious audience.

Van stood there, peering at the young man from beneath his hood, "If taking my dagger and driving it through my own heart could bring back those I killed, I’d do it without a second thought."

"But, it’s not that simple, is it? Those who are dead can’t come back," Noah responded.

"No, you’re exactly right," Van agreed. "I killed a lot of bad people, those I would argue who made the world a better place by disappearing."

"Even so, those people had others that loved them, that grieved for them after what you did. That’s why nobody can judge the merit of a human life," Noah reprimanded, keeping a tight clutch on his handle.

["The day I decided it was enough...It was ten years ago now."]

Through the corridors of a lavish mansion, the contracted killer moved through the shadows without a single sound. He ignored the bedrooms of those that occupied the vast estate, making his way towards the library down the hall.

["The mission was given to me by one of the wealthiest merchants in the capital city, Osmand. It was simple: infiltrate Lord Simon’s home and start a fire in his library, where the documents were located. I learned the reason Osmand wanted the documents burned is it labelled the dangers of the main bridge connecting the capital to the Ashva Mountains. Without that bridge, Osmand would lose money in transports through there.

So, he wanted the Simon estate burned down, along with its residents."]

Emerging from the shadows, the silent-footed man stepped into the room completely outfitted with bookshelves. He found the desk littered with paperwork, lightly brushing his hand against the stacks to reveal one titled "Monster Threats of Ashva Passage."

Without a second thought, the masterful infiltrator brought tossed oil around the room, dousing the many shelves and documents. He brought a flame to it all, tossing the ember forth as the archive erupted into a blaze.

["I did my job, without any questions asked."]

From the gardens outside the mansion of the Simon family, he watched from the shadows as the flames spread through the place. Smoke began pouring out from the windows, seeping beneath the threshold of the front door.

As he made sure to confirm–

"Euaaaaaaaah–!"

–A shrill scream came from the inside of the burning mansion, that of a young girl, unmistakable. It made even the veteran assassin’s heart stop for just a moment as his blood ran cold.

["So afraid; that scream was so confused and scared. Who could blame the child? After all, for no good reason, the fire took everything away."]

Against his own judgment, the assassin sprinted across the courtyard, kicking his way through the smoking doors. Immediately, the fire roared out into the open, searing him all the same.

["Dozens, maybe hundreds, I killed. I had my own code I followed, though–I had to have one. You can lock away your heart all you want, but at the end of the day, there’s only so much you can handle, so much you can suppress.

I never took the life of a kid.

If I broke my own code, I’d be no better than a beast. A living dagger, bought by the highest bidder–I believed, if I had this code, I could live with myself."]

Into the hallway, the entirety of the mansion was engulfed in flames. The desperate man waved his arms while walking forward, doing what he could to combat the heat, but it was futile. Pieces of the home began to plummet, planks of wood crashing down into burning piles in front of him.

He ran up the stairs, only for chunks of the home to rain down with hellfire in his path.

"Hey–!" The assassin going against his own instincts called out, desperately hoping someone would hear him and follow his voice.

["I didn’t care. At that point, I was hoping for anybody to be alive, to get just one person out of there. I allowed emotion to come into my job for the first time, and opening that gateway–I couldn’t go back."]

All of it collapsed around him into burning piles where soon enough, the cries went silent. All will left the man’s body as he sat there in the unceasing blaze, as he too, was swallowed.

–

Van looked at his bandaged hands, recalling that day, "By some act of divine irony, I was the one that survived the fire."

"After that, then–" Noah asked.

"I quit," Van admitted. "But, not before taking out the man who gave me the job in the first place. He left out important details, so it ended up like that."

"It’s awfully convenient to strike the line there, isn’t it?" Noah challenged, not buying the recounting. "Taking a life is taking a life. Attempting to cling onto a twisted moral code while still killing others for compensation doesn’t make what you did any less unforgivable."

There was silence from the burned man, who stood there quietly as if pondering those truthful words.

"I’m not here to justify it. There’s no meaning in that," Van admitted. "It would be disrespectful to those I’ve stolen lives from, wouldn’t it? I have to at least pretend that taking those lives amounted to something–that there was some reason behind it. But, I know–it’s delusional."

"--" He let the man of many sins continue.

Much of the crowd started to boo at the lack of action, while others chattered about what could possibly be being changed by the competitors at a moment like this, where both men bled.

From the burnt ducts of his eyes, a single trail trailed down the rogue’s bandaged face, "Every day, I wish I could somehow change it. If I was never born, maybe some of them would still be alive. I’m a complete negative on this world, my single life took dozens, maybe hundreds. See? I couldn’t even count them all."

"Nothing changes now if you die. It won’t bring any of them back, but..." Noah said, suggesting to the remorseful assassin. "If you use the years you have now to do good, to even try to counteract some of what you’ve taken, then there’s meaning in that."

A hoarse laugh left the scarred rogue’s mouth as the daggers were clenched in his fingers, "Maybe I’ll do that then...Look at me, getting life lessons from an opponent half my age, if that."

"Wisdom comes from all sources," Noah responded, readying himself with a small smile.

"That it does," Van agreed. "Noah Soul–I’ll remember you, no matter what happens now. So, let’s see who deserves to make it through."