Hitman with a Badass System - Chapter 1408

1408 Astrology Puzzle

"You can't kill Xyloth, or Rin," the clone chuckled, his voice a chilling echo of Michael's own. "They're death incarnate. You can't kill what's already dead."

Michael laughed, a harsh, grating sound that echoed through the chamber.

"Last time I checked, the God of Death was well, Death, not Xyloth or Rin," he said, his voice dripping with a mocking amusement. "Enough of this shit. Let's end this."

He vanished, reappearing a heartbeat later beside the clone, a blur of motion, a flicker of shadow. The clone, anticipating the move, reacted instantly, his crimson swords raised, ready to parry.

But he hadn't anticipated Gaya.

"I'm ready," Gaya's voice echoed through Michael's earpiece, sharp and clear. "Just give the word."

Michael grinned, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "Now, Gaya!"

As the clone focused on Michael, he clenched his fist. The whirring shield, a dark disc of razor-sharp edges, shot out from his wrist.

The clone, sensing the new threat, tried to deflect the shield with his swords. But Michael activated the shield's rotation, the jagged blades spinning with a high-pitched whine, a sound like a chainsaw tearing through flesh.

Michael, with a burst of speed, slammed the clone against the wall, his hand clamping over his mouth, muffling his scream. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Frostbite," he whispered.

Soon, a wave of absolute zero, a surge of pure, icy energy, erupted from him, encasing the clone in a thick layer of frost. But the clone, its body imbued with something some kind of power, was resisting. It pushed against the shield, its crimson swords scraping against the metal, its eyes blazing with a furious light.

And then Gaya's arrow struck.

A bolt of pure lightning, crackling with energy, shot through the air, impacting the ice that encased the clone. The effect was instantaneous. The electricity, amplified by the ice, coursed through the clone's body, a blinding flash of light that made even Michael shield his eyes.

The clone convulsed, his body arching, a silent scream of agony etched on his frozen features.

It was only a few seconds, but those few seconds were all Michael needed.

He pushed, forcing the spinning shield against the clone's face, the jagged edges tearing through flesh and bone. The clone screamed, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony, as blood, a dark, viscous fluid, sprayed outwards, splattering the walls, the floor, Michael's armor.

He pushed harder, the whirring of the shield growing louder, more intense, as it ground through the clone's skull, mangling his face into a bloody pulp.

And then silence. The clone's body, its life force extinguished, went limp, the crimson swords clattering to the floor.

The hall trembled, the walls shaking, the ceiling cracking. Above them, a section of the ceiling opened, revealing a staircase made of light, leading upwards.

Ignoring the staircase, Michael retracted his shield, his gaze fixed on the remains of the clone. He picked up the crimson swords, their surfaces still slick with blood, and with a flick of his wrist, stored them in his System inventory to analyze them later.

Gaya landed beside him, her boots crunching on the debris that littered the floor. She looked at the mess that had once been a clone of Michael, and then at the empty space where its contents had been.

"Fucking hell," she muttered, her voice a mix of disgust and disappointment. "Not even a souvenir? That's just rude." Gaya said, kicking at a stray piece of something that had once been part of the clone. She looked up at the staircase of light, her expression unreadable. "Up we go, then?"

"Let's see what other bullshit Nithroel cooked up for us." Michael nodded.

They ascended the staircase, their footsteps silent on the ethereal steps. The light, soft and warm, seemed to guide them, leading them upwards, towards the next challenge.

"It's blank," she said, her voice a mixture of frustration and disappointment. "Of course it is." She crumpled the parchment in her hand, cursing under her breath.

But as she turned away from the statue, walking past the circle of symbols, Michael noticed a flicker of light and a reflection. On the polished surface of the God Slayer crossbow, slung across Gaya's back, he saw it. A reflection of one of the symbols on the floor. But it wasn't quite the same.

It was different. The symbol, a swirling vortex of blue on the floor, was reflected as a constellation on the crossbow's surface. A cluster of stars, arranged in a familiar pattern.

Pisces.

The zodiac.

"Gaya, wait," Michael said, his voice urgent. "The reflections. Look at the reflections."

He pointed towards the crossbow, his gaze fixed on the altered symbol.

"The symbols they're not what they seem. The reflections they show their true form."

He looked at the other symbols, his mind racing, trying to decipher the puzzle.

"They're astrological," he murmured, more to himself than to Gaya. "Zodiac signs. But incomplete. We need to find the missing pieces. The order."

He looked at the symbols again, his gaze sweeping across the circle.

"Pisces that's water. What follows water? What's the next sign?"

Gaya, however, was not impressed.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Michael?" she asked, her voice laced with exasperation. "Astrology? Zodiac signs? You think Nithroel based her divine trials on some star signs?" She rolled her eyes. "Just pretend I'm retarded, which, frankly, at this point, isn't that far from the truth, and explain it to me. Slowly."

Michael sighed. He gestured towards the symbols on the floor.

"Look at them, Gaya," he said patiently. "They're not just random squiggles. They're constellations. See that one? The swirling vortex? That's Pisces. The fish."

He pointed towards another symbol, this one a crimson triangle.

"And that one that's Aries. The ram. It's fire. And this one" He moved to another symbol, a blue circle with a dot in the center. "That's Aquarius. The water-bearer. It's air." said Michael before turning his gaze at Gaya.

"They're astrological signs, Gaya. But they're incomplete. The reflections they show us the missing pieces. The order. We need to activate them. In the right sequence."

"And what's the sequence?" Gaya asked, her brow furrowed. "And what the fuck does this have to do with Nithroel? She's the Goddess of the Hunt, not the Goddess of Horoscopes. Why would she put a zodiac puzzle in her temple?"

Michael chuckled. "Maybe she liked astrology. Or maybe it's a metaphor. A representation of something else." He shrugged. "Who knows? But it doesn't matter. We need to solve it. To get to the next floor. To get to the bow."

"But how?" Gaya asked with frustration. "You said the reflections show the true form. But which reflection? We don't have a mirror."

Michael smiled, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his face.

"We don't need one," he said, his gaze fixed on Gaya's crossbow. "We have the God Slayer and its time to solve this puzzle and get to the next level,"