Page 100 of Dragon 7

And then ten more figures stepped out of the plane.

Reo took them in. “Interesting.”

One by one these men damn near strolled down the stairs. I knew the difference before any of them reached the bottom of the ramp. These ten moved like cats walking across velvet. Like dancers who had killed a hundred men each.

They moved like art.

And every piece of clothing matched, head to toe in a single color. Jackets. Gloves. Pants. Boots. Even the leather masks covering their faces matched.

The all-red assassin carried twin curved blades resting across his shoulders as casually as another man might carry a coat.

The blue assassin wore a chain wrapped around one forearm.

Gold carried a bow carved with gold filigree and a quiver of black-feathered arrows.

The violet assassin twirled a narrow knife between his fingers without ever looking at it.

All-black wielded a long sword sheathed across his back.

Meanwhile, the bone-white assassin had no visible weapon at all. That worried me more than the others.

Forest green rested a hand on a polearm wrapped in deep emerald silk from blade to shaft.

The silver assassin wore metal claws over both hands. Moonlight flashed from every fingertip.

Burnt orange carried a pair of war fans painted with flames. Every edge looked sharpened enough to shave with.

The copper assassin held a spear with a copper tassel hanging beneath the blade.

And they all moved with the casual confidence of people who had spent their entire lives being the deadliest thing in every space.

We’ll see about that.

Yoichi spoke, “Assassins.”

Aki snickered, “Colorful ones.”

Yuki added, “How pretty.”

Reo nodded. “Let the Scales and Silent Ones handle all of the men in ranks, but you all are expected to take out the assassins.”

“Quickly,” Kenji added. “No dancing tonight. Kill them fast and without any mercy.”

Toma rubbed his hands together. "The red one is mine."

Kaede tilted his head. "I’ll take Mr. White. I like them clean before I make them bleed red."

The twins turned their masks toward the blue one in perfect unison.

Aki spoke first. "Blue."

Yuki finished. "Green."

I turned my masked face toward the twins. "Forget the assassins. Your only job tonight is to protect my brother. Whatever happens out there, you stay with Kenji."

The twins answered in unison. "Yes, Hiro."

Kaoru watched the violet assassin. "That one is wearing violet all wrong. I’ll have to teach him a lesson. Plus, one of my girlfriends hates that color. Her mother wore violet to her father's funeral."