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A Knife All Blades (Die Another Day Spinoff)
by Dogdemon_5

Jyzal made his way through the throngs of elegantly dressed people, carefully following the Duke of Nantiel. Everyone wore a masquerade of sorts to the ball, a classic tradition that their host wanted to have. Jyzal himself had a black tuxedo and a wolf mask to cover his face, a perfect guise. Some of the ladies there at the party were wearing more traditional styled clothing, huge silk dresses that bloomed out into what appeared to be every color of the rainbow dancing around the ballroom. Fortunately for the blond-haired Jyzal, his target was impossible not to notice, even with his ridiculous wolf mask. The buttons at the seams of his old-fashioned suit –to go with the night’s theme- were ready to burst away at any moment. It was definitely impossible not to know who the grotesque man behind the golden lion mask was.

He moved a few feet closer to the Duke, whom was presently preoccupied with his beautiful wife, Catherine, who wore a green peacock mask. The newly wedded couple was enjoying libations together at one of the tables filled with food and drink, paying no heed to those around them. Jyzal decided it was time to make his presence known, not for the Duke’s sake, but for Catherine’s. The Duke’s wife was the first to notice the footsteps of their visitor, and she looked up to see who it was. She waved daintily to Jyzal, not quite recognizing him at first. The Duke was quick to notice his wife pay attention to somebody else; turned his head to see who it was. Jyzal just waved back to the both of them.

“Well hello!” Jyzal smiled in his voice, but behind the mask he had a blank face. The Duke waddled over to in front of his wife, the wolf staring down the lion. The lion-masked assassin made a mental note of where his knife and rudger were, just in case the fun started a little early.

“Hello to you too, Mister Lion.” Catherine greeted, pulling out a purple fan that matched with her massive, flowery, purple dress. “Here to enjoy the costumes?”

“I like to think that I am the best dressed here! Of the gentlemen at least. I mean, no one can compare with the beauty of the peacock.” Jyzal answered, bowing politely to the lovely lady. Her stance changed just a little bit, getting just a little more relaxed. Did she recognize him, even through the mask? Standing beside the elegant and voluptuous Catherine, the Duke straightened out his back and puffed out his chest. The super morbidly obese man motioned for Catherine to leave, and when she did he approached Jyzal.

“Who do you think you are, flirting with my wife like that!?” The Duke growled low, only Jyzal was able to hear him. After all, there was no need to make a scene about it!

“Flirt? That’s ridiculous sir. I’d never do something so rude!” Jyzal scoffed in offence, “It’s only gentlemanly of me to respond to a lady when she gives me the honor of acknowledging my existence. Surely you must know that.”

The Duke crossed his grotesquely obese arms, unamused. “Looks bub, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but stay away from my woman!” As a dignitary, the man did his best to remain calm, but his fat wrinkled face was visible turning red behind his mask. The Duke, about the same height as Jyzal, blundered closer to the much thinner assassin, threatening to knock him off balance and onto the ground. Jyzal glanced down, eyeing the buttons from earlier that looked ready to jump for freedom. He wasn’t typically one for empathy, but no wonder his wife didn’t want to tap that.

“Look sir, I really don’t know what you’re talking about. And if you keep this up, you’re going to make a huge scene!” Jyzal handed him a glance of wine, one in the hopes he’d ease up, and two so that hopefully he’d get drunk and he’d be much easier to kill in that state.

“No! Actually, I bet you’re the one that snuck into our Suit and slept with my wife!”

***

“Revolutionist!?” Jyzal repeated, though really not too surprised. Then he shrugged it off, “Whatever, finally something to do. Talon did a good job of finding this out.”

“Yes,” the black-haired Prince sat in his chair, his right leg crossed over his left as he leaned back, “so I hope you understand why I’m asking this of you.” Electric lights reflected off of the Prince’s suit, dim in the fading light; possessed a glass of red wine between his left index and middle fingers. One could call it business. Two different types of business.

“I see… So how many hours do I have?” Jyzal got up and walked over to his wall, retrieving a blade from off of his wall, a recently cleaned titanium double-edged dagger. Beside it were a handful of sniper guns and throwing knives of the sorts. A yard away, a two-person bed lay situated in the center of the room, a set of totally inconspicuous chains settled to the side of it.

“The Duke of Nantiel will be here for only a few days, so as of midnight tonight, you have forty eight hours.”

Jyzal tilted his head lazily, “sounds exciting.”

Shawn smirked, “So you’ll do it?”

“I’ll be sure to dispose of his heads.”

“Excellent.”

The first stop that morning was the Duke’s guest room, a lavish suit in a five-star hotel in the wealthier part of the city. His objective wasn’t to kill him there, only extract information. Surely his wife most know something that would be useful. A best place to kill him, his schedule, or possibly even some unusual habits that could be extorted. As Jyzal approached the glass building, he adjusted the tie around his neck that went with the suit he wore. The staff at the hotel were sure to kick him out immediately if he wasn’t dressed like the charming gentleman that he made everyone think he was! He walked into the building, greeted by a man at the door and a redheaded lady with a light amount of mascara at the receptionist counter.

She looked up at him, “May I help you?”

He put on his best smile, “Yes, I’m looking for an old friend of mine. He just arrived yesterday from Nantiel.”

“Didn’t he tell you what room he’s in?” The redhead inquired.

Jyzal sighed, looking a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head, “You’d think so, huh? But he sort of forgot to tell me when we were on the phone what room he was in, just that he was at this hotel. Surely a bright young lady must understand?”

Her freckled cheeks started to match her hair, and she shifted her green gaze away from the handsome Jyzal. “Y-yes, of course. His name?”

He gave it to her, and she immediately typed it into the computer at her desk. “And yours?”

“Jones, Matt Jones,” he lied easily, knowing the drill and having his cover ready.
“Alright Mister Jones. He’s in room two-hundred and six. Second floor.”

“Thank you, miss. Have a great day.” Jyzal bowed politely to the lady, departing towards the elevator. The security didn’t seem to be very tight in this place, so he looked around the room to admire the architecture as well as to spot the security cameras. Ah, there was one of them! Right near the entrance, and a second by the elevator. Looks like he was taking the stairs. He acted totally natural as he made his way up to the second floor.

The blond-haired Jyzal approached the room of the visiting Duke of Nantiel, knowing that he had left on important diplomat duties. A lock at the other side clicked open, revealing a pretty young woman, probably about early twenties. She had bright blue eyes surrounded by a heavy amount of unnecessary eyeliner, a small rounded face; long black hair that went down to her butt, braided into a French braid, and tied off at the end with a silver ribbon; incredibly pale skin, having what appeared to be a few layers of powder upon her face; long luscious eyelashes, light blush along her round cheeks, and thin red lips. Flowing down to her knees was a deep purple dress, strap-less, elegant, and otherwise very simple. A pair of thin black heels laced up her ankles, completed with a set of ten neatly black-painted toes. Upon answering the door, she looked up at Jyzal, whom was several inches taller than herself, she smiled warmly at him.

“Hello. Are you looking for my husband? I’m afraid he’s out.” She spoke with a sweet milk-in-the-morning voice, placing a hand on her hip. Her voice didn’t carry even a hint of disappointment to it, and her face seemed even… pleased. That was rather strange, considering that they were newlyweds.

Charmingly, he smiled back at her, “Oh that’s okay. I’m an old friend of your husband’s-” he lied through his teeth easily, “-and I just wanted to catch him before he left. Congratulate him on marrying such a lovely young lady!”

She blushed a little, looking away from Jyzal. “Thanks. Would you like to come in for some coffee?”

She beckoned into the doorway, and he bowed in acceptance of the invitation. “Oh, if it pleases you, ma’am. I would enjoy your company.” He smiled down at her some more, walking into the room. The first thing that he noticed was a picture of the newly wedded couple placed beside a desk at the front of the room, as well as a handful of “congratulations” letters and a vase full of bright red roses. Jyzal stepped towards the desk to get a good look at her husband, The Duke of Nantiel. Judging by the man’s facial structure, it was difficult to tell if The Duke was supposed to have a strong chin or not because he had several of them. He was broad-shouldered, definitely taller than the woman, and had a neatly trimmed goatee. His eyes were brown and his hair short and dark, trimmed to an exact one inch above his pale-skinned ears; rosy round cheeks. Completing the look was a pair of perfectly straight and shining smile, a couple of dimples; a scar on the right side of his face that met at his large lips and defiling what little appeal the man had left about him. There were red and white pimples covering his face as well, some of them looking as if he’d attempted to pop them recently. The tuxedo worn in the picture was difficult to see, what with all the curves and wrinkles scrunching everything up and making any important details hard to see.

“I see… Yes, your husband is very lucky to have you.” He reaffirmed, glancing back over at the small woman.

She fidgeted a little, playing with her long French braid. “Uh… yeah… Very lucky to have him as my husband. He’s um… A nice guy. Yes, nice.”

He stopped his looking around, “Nice? Well, that’s good. No gentleman should ever harm a lady. Verbally or physically.”

“Yes, yes he’s nice and um… Rich.”

That was it? Nice and rich? She made no mention towards anything a newly-wedded couple would be talking about, like “oh his arms are so strong around me”, “he really knows how to-” or, “oh he’s so handsome”, and crap like that. Jyzal contemplated the situation, deciding how to best go about the assassination. There was the Royal Ball tomorrow night. That would be an excellent time to get the Duke alone and away from his wife.

“When did you meet him?” He inquired, taking a seat on an oaken chair settled to the right of the desk. She claimed the well-cushioned seat across from him.

“Oh well, you see… We’re an arranged marriage.”

“Arranged? In this day-and-age? I know he mentioned getting married, but I had no idea it was arranged! But, as you said, he is at least a nice man, and won’t do you any harm. Yes?”

“That is true. He just… doesn’t quite do it for me.” She stopped fidgeting with her hair, and returned to the grace that she’d introduced herself with. The lovely woman winked at the charming Jyzal, who was far more appealing than her newly wedded husband.

Okay, so he didn’t get that much out of Catherine, since that was the wife’s name, but he did discover that she enjoyed cheating on her otherwise ungodly hideous husband. Hopefully that wouldn’t come back to bite him in the butt. He was making his way through the city’s red-light district, jumping over rooftop after rooftop, silently following after his target. Lining the streets, whores of both men and women put themselves on display with black fishnet stockings, leather heeled-boots, short skirts and corsets, pounds upon pounds of heavy make-up caked to their faces, and the gaudiest jewelry around their bodies. When his hazel eyes made contact with some of the loose people, they’d wave and wink at him, but he’d simply ignore them. He was following behind The Duke of Nantiel, there to study just how he should dispose of the Duke.

The Duke made his way through the streets, unaware of the assassin following him. Jyzal wasn’t stupid, he knew how to keep his distance without losing sight of his target. They walked past hundreds of gasoline guzzling engines, honking horns, host clubs, brothels, tourists pointing their cameras at the lovely sights, and couples holding hands and giggling at the “outrageous” view. The Duke moved through the streets, occasionally stopping to flirt with a whore that caught his fancy, and Jyzal would have to wait for him to finish with them before moving on. Just where was the Duke headed? At least it was easy to spot him from a distance. The large man’s saggy flesh looked ready to burst through the seams of his button-up blue suit. Disgusting, really. The only reason those women were even giving him the light of day was probably because of the fact that he just oozed off a wealthy aura, and everyone here was in the business of money-making. The fat Duke soon walked into a windowless building with the shadowed outline of what was implied to be a scantily-clad woman in heels. Jyzal just shook his head, knowing what this place was, and waited patiently for the Duke to leave in an hour. Good god, he didn’t have the time for that! It’s not like he could just walk in and observe everything without being noticed, though.

Ugh.

“The Duke of Nantiel? Well, I can’t quite recall… Maybe some incentive would ring a bell.” Jyzal grumbled a little and handed the prostitute a hundred dollar bill while she fixed her gaudy make-up with the screen on her phone. Normally he’d have threatened the woman with a gun to the head, but with so many people around, it was better to just oblige. The oriental woman smiled at him, and placed the ‘hard-earned’ cash into a safe place. She had a wider face, a nice body, heavy dark ‘look-at-me-I’m-for-sale’ make up like the rest of the prostitutes, and short brown hair. “That’s better. Let’s see… he came in here about two hours ago, paid for an hour, and then when his time was up, he left.”

“Really? That’s surprising, considering he has a rather lovely lady for a wife.” He commented. “What did his money pay for, specifically?”

She raised a neatly-trimmed brow, “you really wanna know that?”

“That’s what I paid you for.”

“Well if you must know, he paid for se-…”

He inwardly cringed as she answered his question that he should’ve foreseen coming, trying to get the disgusting images out of his head, but also wanting to continue on with the investigation that preceded his assassination. Jyzal had to know how to make as little of a scene as possible, right? He really did want to use his ruger as incentive though, rather than give up his hundred dollar bill.

“Like, did he talk to you about anything important? Did he pay you to keep any secrets?” He corrected, ready to puke at his mental images.

“Now why would I tell you that?” She cooed, holding up the money to the light to check for its legitimacy.

“Because if you don’t,” he started very calmly and softly, “you’ll get two bullets in your brain.” Okay, maybe he wasn’t going to stick to bribery.

Her eyes widened as he showed her his ruger automatic pistol. She stiffened a little and huffed. “Alright, alright. Sheesh.” He put the gun away, for now. “He was complaining about his wife, going on about how she doesn’t sleep with him. Probably why he came here. Can’t say I blame her though, the guy’s ugly as s**t. Actually, that’s insulting to s**t.”

“Uhhuh. Continue.” Jyzal showed his gun again as the prostitute got off track. She was quick to get back to the topic.

“Yes, right. He mentioned something about his wife not supporting him with something he was funding… Uh… Some revolution, or something like that.” Some arranged marriage, the parents obviously didn’t think this through very much.

“Ah, I see. Thank you very much.” Jyzal thanked, having obtained some very useful information. The plan of action was forming in his head, and he knew exactly what he had to do. The rest of the conversation with the whore didn’t get him anything else useful, so when she was done Jyzal left the building.

It was about half an hour later, while Jyzal was quietly made his way through the streets, did he discover why he should never trust a whore. There he was, just minding his own business, when suddenly some men in black grabbed him from the crowd and dragged him into a back alleyway! They blindfolded him, tied him up, covered his mouth with rope, and proceeded to kick the living crap out of Jyzal.

“Take that! Filthy spy.”

“You won’t be able to get up again after this.”

“Son of a b***h!”

Jyzal struggled as the strangers continued to beat him with their consecutive kicks and punches, one of them even pulling out a knife and making incisions into his skin. He grimaced, biting down on the rope, and kicking out in the place he was certain one of the strangers in black were. Someone yelped as his foot made contact with something hard, and something metal fell to the floor with a clang!. He managed to grab the knife, twisting the blade in his fingers and using it to cut opening the ropes that bound him. The others kept kicking him, one of them even trying to grab the knife from him but at that point he’d already sliced through the first layer.

“Give that to me!”

He heard the voice coming in from the left, so he rolled to the right to avoid having the knife taken. Quickly he sliced through the second layer, and the grip around his arms loosened tremendously. He pulled them free, rolling back to the left when he heard a voice from the right; using his now free hands to take off the blindfold. Oh crap. Surrounding him were three rather large men, each with bloodied fists, and one of them looking particularly pissed. That was probably the one he kicked.
They charged at him, but Jyzal stabbed one in the gut, evaded the second, and tripped the third. The second one got up, lunging for the blond, but he just jumped up onto a trash can to avoid the hit again. The third one had gotten up from where he’d been tripped, and as both of them attempted to get Jyzal from where he was on top of the trash can, he wiped out his own knife, jumped up, and thrusted the two blades down upon the back of their necks. The blood poured out, the light left their eyes, and the three strangers in black each lay on the ground in defeat.

“Well, that was fun. Thanks for that.” Jyzal told them dryly, now once again bored. If nothing else, this just proved that this mission was going to be more difficult than he originally gave it credit for.

***

It was the next day now, and Jyzal sat with Talon to enjoy some lunch. “You got jumped? Are you okay? How do you think the Duke found out?” Talon inquired, sitting across from the injured Jyzal, worrying about him. However, Jyzal was absolutely ecstatic about getting caught! He even got knifed to the point of feeling pain! Talk about excitement!

“I’m fine! This mission is much more exciting than I thought it would be!” Jyzal declared, getting up to leave for his room. There was a ball to attend that evening, even hosted by the Duke himself! He was going to attend the masquerade and get the fatass by himself, then… He grinned inwardly. Jyzal put on his tuxedo and tied the bow around his neck. They were supposed to be wearing masks right? So what did it matter if the Duke knew what his assassin looked like?

***

“Cheat!?” He acted like he’d genuinely been hurt in the pride. “You sir dare to accuse a total stranger of having adulterous affairs with your wife?” The Duke growled at Jyzal, unaware that this wolf masked man was the very same person his informant, that damn whore, had told him about. But, in order to avoid making a bigger scene, Jyzal just left it as is. “Whatever, sir. I don’t have to put up with this.”

The Duke huffed victoriously, as if he’d actually won that argument. The next few hours of the ball were spent with Jyzal drinking water instead of enjoying the libations like the super morbidly obese –which, yes, is a technical term- Duke was. He kept a constant eye on the whale in lion’s clothing, which was never a convincing disguise, noting just how many drinks he was in-taking and just how drunk he was getting. Catherine didn’t seem to mind either way, enjoying the party and herself while he hideous husband drank away the moments before his imbedding death.

It was around when the clock struck eleven, did Jyzal notice Catherine steering her seemingly very intoxicated husband towards the back exit. The blond couldn’t make out what was being said, but silently followed them nonetheless. They made their way back up through the hotel, since that was where the masquerade was being held, towards the second floor. Jyzal waited until the two had entered their suit before joining them.

Inside, Catherine was gone, the shower was running, and the Duke no longer appeared to be drunk. When Jyzal entered, the fat unmasked prey turned his attention towards the wolf.

“I knew it was you. You’re the assassin that the prostitute told me about. Guess bribery does work after all.” The Duke of Nantiel stepped forward to Jyzal from the bed.

“Me? No, you’re just drunk, hallucinating.” Jyzal lied in an assuring voice.
“Oh I’m definitely not drunk, I was drinking water the entire time. I just acted drunk to lure my assassin closer. But now that I know it’s you, I’ll have even more reason to kill you first!” Suddenly the Duke attacked Jyzal, his hands outstretched for a standard chokehold. The Ace of Spades ducked, easily avoiding the fat a**’s grip, then came back up with two swift punches to the face.

“Come on, fight like a man!” Jyzal taunted, intentionally trying to anger the Duke even more, hoping it’ll make the fight more exciting. Their face reddened with anger, sweat already starting to beat down his face. They’d barely even started!

“You stopped even being a man the moment you slept with my wife!” They shouted, going for a failed attempt to grab a hold of his blond hair and rip it out of his scalp. “And I’m when I’m done with you, Blondie, I’m going to feed you to the ******** pigs!” They lunged forward again, arms outstretched to try and grab him.

“Well maybe if you weren’t so god damn ugly, that would’ve have been an option in the first place!” Jyzal jumped up, evading the lunge from the not-really-drunk Duke, then landed on the other side of his fat a**. The Ace of Spades pulled out his knife, flipping it open. His ruger automatic would be too loud in the hotel, meaning he had to stick to being in closer quarters with the super morbidly obese man. When the Duke turned around, Jyzal underestimated just how bouncy his gut was, and was knocked to the side. Jyzal crashed into the lamp, making a rather loud crashing sound. He winced a little as glass imbedded itself into his back, digging into the wounds from the day before.

“Ow my back…” He groaned in pain, exhilarating adrenaline coursing through his body now. The pain was wonderful, absolutely wonderful! His heart raced, knowing that this fight wasn’t going to be as boring as he once thought it would be. Off in the background, the Duke’s wife, Catherine, could be heard singing in the shower. What a great soundtrack. As the Duke waddled closer at a speed Jyzal didn’t think was possible for a hippo, he rolled out of the way, and jumped back onto his feet. Giving Jyzal a right hook to the face with his pudgy hand, the blond merely side-stepped out of the way with a foot extended to behind the man’s leg. The grotesquely obese man was tripped with the very same foot that had been placed behind his left leg, followed by Jyzal’s right arm on his chest, and left hand placed at his shoulders. He fell to the ground with a thud!. The Duke rolled away like a ball, sluggishly getting back up. Jyzal held out his knife, thrusting it towards the blubbery whale, but was blocked with the Duke’s pudgy right hand pushing Jyzal’s right arm, followed by their left hand twisting his hand backwards. Removing the knife from Jyzal, the Duke then attempted to stab his assassin, but Jyzal stepped backwards then dove underneath the super morbidly obese whale. His feet kicked out and knocked the fat a** off of their own feet. The Duke fell forward and over Jyzal, the blond assassin making sure to alleviate the Duke of his knife in the process. He jumped up and yet again attempted to stab the Duke while he was down, but fighting someone as fat as the Duke –who very clearly had some martial arts background- was not something that he had been prepared for. Jyzal was blocked again, this time the knife smacked out of his hand completely, putting the assassin into an arm hold. Catherine’s gentle singing continued to provide music that was absolutely fitting for the fighting.

Okay, so knives weren’t working. Which sort of made sense, like, how was Jyzal supposed to find the man’s chest through all of those blubber rolls, anyways? Sorry, ‘love handles’. As he struggled through the arm hold, his right arm over his left, Jyzal twisted to his right. The swift motion undid his own arm hold, and crossed the Duke’s arms, which was a very bad thing to do in fight. With their arms crossed Jyzal forced his wrists away with two quick symmetrical ‘wax out’ motions, breaking the hold and giving him the ability to now return the favor by grabbing the Duke’s left forearm and bring it down upon his knee that thrusted up to break his arm. No one noticed the singing in the background stop.

Crunch!

The Duke screamed in pain, and as he fell backwards onto the ground, Jyzal slammed his booted heel into their knee and crushing from the sides. He screamed and screamed, and Jyzal was about to put him out of his misery, when the Duke reached out his other arm, pulled the assassin’s leg backwards and forcing him to fall forward, then rolled over on top of the blond to suffocate him. At least the glass shards in Jyzal’s back would dig through the Duke’s fat a** before the Ace of Spades passed out from lack of oxygen…

“But… Cath…” The Duke’s voice gasped out, and he fell over and off of the suffocating Jyzal, “and you, Catherine?” Jyzal breathed in deeply, his lungs and rib cage free from the weight of the fat hippo. After breathing in a few more times just to make sure that his lungs were still functioning correctly, he rolled over to see what the hell had just happened.

Standing over the Duke of Nantiel was his gorgeous wife, wearing a purple robe and a make-up less face. In her left hand was Jyzal’s knife, the one that he himself had failed to use successfully only moments ago.

“I’ve always hated you, you ******** revolutionist.” She told him, kneeling down to caress her husband’s hideous fat face. “I only agreed to marry you so I could kill you and get your money. I mean, why else would someone marry a fat a** like you?” Then she thrusted the knife into his chest between the ribs, killing him.
Jyzal’s eyes widened a little as he witnessed the other side of Catherine. He stood up quickly, taking the now drenched tuxedo off of him, all from that sweaty whale sitting on him. “Thanks. Can I have my knife back?”

She blushed a little when he took of his tuxedo, “Sure. And you can tell The Crowned Prince that you did this, don’t worry. I don’t want my name to have anything bad associated with it.”

He blinked. “But… You just killed your husband.” That was supposed to be his job! He wanted to kill the fatass!

She huffed, crossing her arms, “No one would suspect me. I’m too pretty, plus-“ she took pulled a wet towel out from thin air and wiped clean the blade of all the finger prints and blood, then handed it to Jyzal, “that’s not even my blade, and my finger prints aren’t on it.” She winked at him, coming closer to wrap her arms around his neck, and kissing him.

“Let’s have some fun before I leave tomorrow, okay?”

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