The assassin stopped, wide-eyed, and quickly brought up his

weapon. It went flying from his grasp. He grabbed for his sword,

but it sprang out of its scabbard as if by its own volition and went

spinning end over end into the bushes. He fumbled for the pouch on

his belt, but his trousers suddenly fell down around his ankles.

Panic-stricken, he struggled out of them and took off running in the

opposite direction.

“A man should not go running about without his trousers, ”

Merlin said. He gestured at the discarded pants. The black trousers

sprang up, as if filled by invisible legs, and gave chase.

The assassin glanced over his shoulder and screamed as he saw

his own pants chasing him down the path. He sprinted for all he

was worth, but the pants gained on him quickly. They flew through

the air and wrapped themselves around his ankles, tackling him.

He fell sprawling, his legs trussed up by his own trousers. He

thrashed on the ground, struggling to free himself, then looked up

and saw the young boy who had bested him walking toward him

purposefully. His eyes were glowing with blue fire. If he had been

wearing his pants, the assassin would have wet them, but before

his body could react to the terror that had seized him, he felt an icy

cloud enveloping his mind and he ceased his fruitless struggles.

Tanaka had dropped down out of the tree as soon as he saw

Fugisawa fall. He was unconcerned about the remainder of the

battle. He had done his job and he had performed it flawlessly. The

rest of it was Nishikawa’s worry. He moved with quick and calm

precision. He ran over to the bush where he had hidden his case,

pulled it out, set the rifle down on top of it, and quickly stripped off

his ninja suit. He rolled it up and stuck it underneath the bush,

then reached for his sniper rifle to break it apart. And suddenly a

voice spoke out behind him.

“Going somewhere?”

He spun around, bringing up the rifle, and Modred, moving with

uncanny speed, smoothly drew his Colt 10-mm and shot him. The

powerful slug smashed into the sniper’s shoulder, tearing through

flesh and pulverizing bone, exiting out the other side. Tanaka was

hurled backward by the impact and the rifle fell from his grasp. He

tried to scramble for it, but Modred kicked it out of his reach.