Unexpected Return

In a small arena a boy with red hair who looked like he was in his early teens was currently topless which showed off his well-built body and pale skin, he wore nothing apart from black shorts and a pair of black gloves with a golden eagle on the back of the hand and a golden magic circle on the palm. The boy is currently surrounded by robots on all sides, he easily deflects most attacks but a few still manage to hit him. Sometimes his right-hand shoots out and every time his palm hit a robot they exploded.

*Beep* *Beep* " Alright that's enough" As the voice sounds the robots stop moving and the boy sits on the floor. " That was pretty good, only 13 and already having such mastery over the exploding fist you truly have my blood running through you Hahaha," Gramps says as he walks into the arena where a tired and sweaty Erik lay on the ground trying to catch his breath.

"I wouldn't have been able to make them explode so easily if not for the gloves you gave me, without them at most I can make someone spit out blood but on robots it may not even affect them" Erik felt it wasn't enough, he could only do so much because Gramps gave him some special gloves that help with prana control without them he felt too weak.

"Just forget they're there and one day you'll take them off and be able to easily to do it, in a way it's a long term training program" Gramps was very proud, It only took Erik a few years to get so far in the exploding fist. "Alright go get a drink and then rest a while you can stay here tonight I'll get someone to send you home tomorrow." Gramps then leaves to do who knows what.

Erik lets out a sigh before slowly getting up, first he went to take a shower in one of the shower rooms in the training room. He dressed casually and went to the kitchen to get some food.

Erik had been coming to Grimes family mansion every few weeks for the last few years and he always did the same thing after training. The chefs knew he was in the mansion for his training today so they had already prepared some food for him when he got to the kitchen.

"Thanks for the food as always old Ben" Erik would be fine with making his own food or eating something simple but old Ben always cooks for him even at such a late time of the day and he never takes no for answer so over the years Erik had gotten used to it.

"Hehe, no problem it's enough that you enjoy the food" Old Ben as his name implies is an old man who heads the kitchen in the Grimes family mansion.

Erik took his food to the lounge where he sat on a sofa eating and drinking while watching something random on TV. Just as he finished his food he saw his uncle enter the room.

Damien Grimes the oldest son of Gramps and the next head of the family, he also has a son who while talented in magic didn't have any special bloodline nor did he inherit the Grime family eyes so he couldn't even train in exploding palm. Erik and his cousin have some bad blood, it happened last year when his cousin who was jealous and tried to pick a fight in a pure magic fight but Erik simply sped himself up using wind magic and beat him up with his fists before he could even do anything.

Uncle Damien is known to spoil his son so things were awkward between them, so Erik was surprised when his uncle next to him. `This can't be good sigh~`

Uncle Damien looked a lot like Arthur, but while Arthur looked strict but was carefree Damien looked strict and was strict. You could also tell he was a schemer you had to be careful while talking to him. They sat in silence Erik was still watching TV trying to ignore his uncle while Damien was staring at Erik without even trying to hide it.

"Erik, would you like to help with the family business?" That's all he said and then waited for his answer

`F.u.c.k that's suspicious and he isn't even trying to hide the fact there's a scheme here` Erik hadn't ever heard of the family business, he was sure if he was meant to know either his father or Gramps would tell him about it.

"What family business? If I was meant to know about it Gramps would've told me" Erik didn't want to just sit and be bullied but wanted to see what he had to say.

"Of course he wouldn't tell you, he no longer runs it I do." Damien'ss face had never changed since he entered the room, he was completely indifferent. "If you agree to help me with a few things and you succeed I'll give you a reward you'll definitely like"

"Whats the `family business` ?" Erik knew it wasn't as simple as Damien made it seem.

"It's simple, it's killing," Erik thought he misheard what he said but looking at Damien's face it seems he heard correctly.

"You want to send me, a child to kill someone?" Erik thought maybe his uncle wasn't as good at schemes as everyone thought.

"You're 13, what child you'll have to kill someone one day anyway, what's a few years earlier? I'm helping you prepare yourself for the future" Erik wanted to punch him in face `who the f.u.c.k do you think you're fooling`

"What's the reward?" Erik wasn't expecting much but curiosity got the better of him.

Damien simply put a box he brought with him on the small table in front of them. He then opened it to reveal a pistol. It's silvery white, looks like a desert eagle but thinner and is slightly smaller while still keeping the barrel length.

"It's a new type of gun which cost me a lot to get. It's called the Comet, you put prana into it and it transforms it into ammo. You can shoot as long as you have prana making it extremely strong. It also has a high fire rate as long as you give it ammo it can shoot just as fast. It's not sold anywhere on Demia so almost no one has it." Damien looks straight at Erik while saying the last part trying to bait him.

"I don't want to kill innocents" Erik really was about to take the bait, that gun could really be useful. `I was trained by ninjas and did their dirty word for 12 years, how hard can this be` Erik didn't believe that Damien would give him a hard mission.

"You won't have to worry I'll make sure to give you targets who are criminals or people just as bad" Damien thinking he had baited Erik into taking the job wasn't surprised since he thought Erik was just a child who was born lucky and didn't have any other worthy traits. Especially his smarts which Damien assumed that Erik was just a stupid naive child so he didn't even bother trying to act.

"Fine, but my parents probably won't allow me to take the job so I need a cover story" Erik wasn't worried about the mission even if Damien did something to make it more difficult but his parents definitely wouldn't allow him to go around being an assassin.

"It's fine I'll just tell them you're going to take a trip with me" Seeing such a simple solution Erik couldn't say anything. "Then we'll start your training tomorrow, for now, I'll take you somewhere and you'll stay there until you learn the basics of stealth and assassination, You will depart in one month whether you're ready or not." Damien then left.

Erik no longer being in the mood for TV turned it off and went to bed.

Next morning Erik called his parents to tell them he was going to do some training that will last an unknown amount of time, although Nina didn't want her child to be gone for such a long time she still agreed to let him do it since he would be with his uncle.

On the same day, Damien took Erik to a hidden facility, while both Erik's family mansion and the Grimes family mansion were on the outskirts of the capital city, Oramond. The facility was no longer in the surrounding area of Oramond, it was 12 hours away by car.

When they arrived it was already late, Damien led Erik around the facility. The sparing and training area's, the canteen and the dorms that's all there was. This place was clearly not meant for long time living. Erik was then sorted into a dorm room, It was a simple small room with only a bed with enough space for a single person. The bed was uncomfortable but Erik didn't mind and easily fell asleep.

In the morning Damien took Erik to a room made of metal with holes in it and then left. After 10 minutes of waiting, a man who was around 40 with a cold face appeared claiming that he was going to train Erik in the art of stealth.

All Erik had to do was reach the other end of the room without any of the machines detecting him, although this wasn't the best way to teach someone stealth it was the one with the quickest results. As long as you make any noise or touch one of the lasers you have to start again.

Erik was in a skin-tight black training suite that showed no skin apart from the area around his eyes, the only part of the outfit he replaced with his own was his gloves since Gramps basically told him to never take them off and Erik felt vulnerable without a weapon so he always kept them on.

The lights went out and dark red lasers came out of the holes in the walls. It was hard to see the lasers in the darkness since they were also dark in colour. Erik was confident in his sneaking ability but now he realised his method was a bit outdated and he would probably get caught by some sort of machine if he didn't improve and learn ways to avoid cameras and things that can detect or see him.

His first run through went horribly, he was instantly caught because he made too much noise. That was because he used to sneaking around using tabi shoes but was forced to use combat boots for the training. The boots were heavy and unnecessarily wide.

He managed to make it halfway by the end of the first day of training, it took him 23 times to get that far. Erik moved incredibly slowly after the first try and slowly tried to increase his speed while maintaining the same amount of self-awareness. The lasers weren't too hard to avoid but Erik had problems with the noise he made because of the boots.

This went on for a whole week before Erik finally managed to do it almost seamlessly. After getting to the end of the room 4 times in a row he was allowed to move on to the next training program.

Erik was currently sneaking around a room that was pitch black around the walls while the middle was lit up. In the centre was an old man who seemed completely ordinary he had his eyes closed and had a walking a stick in his right hand. Erik's goal was to hit him with his wooden dagger as long as he hits any vitals he wins.

The old man, however, has an amazing sensory ability, it's almost like he can see everything within 360 degrees. Every time Erik attacks, the old man ends up hitting him with his walking stick at the last moment. Erik could use nothing but his body while the old man was probably using magic to see around him.

The test is completely unfair, and that's the point. While Erik has experience this is a different world that has magic and advanced technology meaning he has to learn a lot of new things and adapt some of the things he already knew to the current circ.u.mstances.