---How [i]dare[/i] she.

The entire future of her nation, of all the people of her nation, of the people of every nation, is in the balance.

And yet, she's here, standing here, talking to these knights of hers as if nothing else matters. As if whatever petty delusion has crawled into the rattling, shriveled thing she's claiming to be a brain is far more important then countless lives.

I've killed plenty of foolish targets who placed some stupid desire of theirs before their nation. They cared for no lives but their own, and thus they lost it.

This is no different, except in its magnitude. Her entire country is at risk---

There is no speaking to this woman. There is no reasoning with this woman. I am a shinobi, so such things were never my duty, but no-one would be able to reach this [i]Grovemaster Isolde[/i] when she's already sunken into---

... It has been a little time since I carried out a duty like this. I normally keep any feelings far away. They only get in the way of my mission.

Perhaps that is just how foolish this woman truly is.

But this isn't something as base as feelings getting in the way of the correct course of action in order to fulfill my duty.

The parameters given to me were quite clear. I was not here to kill, unless no other choice was viable. 

There is no other choice.

To allow this to go on would be actively contradictory to my assignment. It would practically guarantee the fall of another nation.

The rafters were the perfect spot to enter, and I was already close to her balcony to begin with so I would better be able to hear her speak. They're well-maintained, so I can move along them easily. It's not as if I would make sound to begin with, but the fact the wood is in good condition means that there's little risk of anything unexpected occurring. The knights are focused on the Grovemaster, and the Grovemaster is focused on her speech.

I can get closer.

I have to get closer.

I will only have a single opportunity to ensure that the greatest threat in the room is removed, after all.

Relying on a thrown kunai is too risky. I have faith in my aim, but the mere chance it could wound rather then kill is too great. I have to make absolutely certain there is no recovery. And that means that I have to be as direct as I can.

I wrap my fingers around the hilt of my katana, and slowly draw it from its place on my hip.

The angle. The trajectory of my fall. I calculate these as I near her, scenarios refining themselves in my head again and again.

Here.

Even if she looks up, it will be too late.

It's not unfamiliar.

My feet leave the rafters, and push me out into open air. It rushes around me, the colors of my scenery blurring and running together like spilled ink.

I've approached from this angle before. Killed at the end of a fall, using my momentum to take my target to the ground and thrust my blade through their throat.

This isn't any different.

To me, she is nothing but the same pompous, self-centered, and petty nobility I've exterminated before.

For the sake of her country, and everyone within it.

If Isolde truly cared for her people, then she would know this is the right path. If she were truly a Grovemaster of Drana Asanaeu, then she would see that these actions will only bring pain and destruction upon her people, even if Valheim's approach wasn't imminent. The fact she has engaged in such actions means that she does not appreciate her position, her situation, and she does not care for her country.

And so, the only answer she deserves is obvious.

In my free hand, I draw a smoke bomb from my pouch. The magical energy required to ignite its fuse passes into it, setting it alight as I reach the balcony. By the time I land, it should have gone off.

Will she look towards me?

Will she see me before the blow reaches her?

It doesn't matter. There's nothing she can do, now. The space between us is shrinking far too swiftly. All she will be able to comprehend is the fact that the answer to her words is the swift approach of death.

The edge of my blade glints in the lights of the massive hall as it reaches for her throat.

[@Psyker Landshark]