Crimson Karma - Chapter 2

Raw provider: Tsalispark
Translator: Rhyme
Editor: Milac

Every single day was stressful. Add to this mess, a woman, who suddenly appeared and was to be your boss. Not one soldier was content.

In the unknown homeland, that useless woman, who was their so-called boss, completely ignored them which made the soldiers explode with anger. She was ostracized by everyone because they considered her an ambitious person climbing the ranks only because she had someone behind her. They would call her ‘Parachute’.

They would either blatantly disregard her commands or outcast her in every way. They didn’t even consider her as a woman as they employed all methods to harass her. Especially calling out obscene remarks whenever she would pass by.

The quiet acquiescence of her superiors regarding these actions made the soldiers more audacious.

But Kasia would just ignore these.

The soldiers who disobeyed her commands were severely punished. She consistently disregarded the mocking towards her. That infuriated the soldiers.

Since the soldiers couldn’t beat Kasia, they ganged up against her and dragged her into an isolated storeroom. It was their biggest mistake but it was the chance Kasia hoped for.

A soldier, who was reprimanded because of his peers who missed the bedtime call, led the Lieutenant and Captain towards the storeroom. To be truthful, everyone was aware of the lynching that was planned for that day. Since it was known beforehand, they weren’t nervous at all.

When they opened the storeroom door, they witnessed a very unexpected situation. Seven burly male soldiers were sprawled out on the floor.

Meanwhile, a slender, unharmed Kasia was seated on a chair in a corner of the storeroom. Rubbing the blood – that wasn’t hers – off of her hands onto her pants, she slowly raised her head. They, for the first time, understood the meaning of being ‘alive’.

The Captain condemned her due to her actions and imprisoned her on the same day. But soon the Captain was reprimanded by the Commander for not controlling his soldiers properly and ordered to release Colonel Kasia.

At that time, everyone would say that ‘It’s quite different for one with a patron’ or ‘Even for a small thing like this the Commander was contacted, her backer is not common’. As days passed, they started to realize that Kasia was very different from them.

If one were to define her in a word, she was a ‘Machine’.

Her eyes were equally empty when facing a hostile enemy or a friendly troop. For the sake of victory, she didn’t care whether the one who died was an enemy or an innocent.

She greatly emphasised victory. To kill 100, she didn’t think twice about sacrificing 30. According to her, it was just akin to doing business. Many soldiers lost their peers because of this. During several operations, many soldiers lost their comrades, who they had mingled with the day before.The soldiers strongly criticising her actions and asking for military trials had become a common occurrence.

No one accepted their request. It was because of the success of her operations, even with the cost of sacrifices.

They criticised her more saying that she avoided the trial only because someone got her back. But one day she suddenly infiltrated into the enemy camp which mocked them, assassinating the enemy leader and coming back victorious, the criticisms towards her started to fade away.

No one could fathom how she was successful in assassinating the enemy but it was thanks to her that they could leave the battlefield within three days. And it was not a person or two who were saved because of it.

That was the time, the Captain, who despised her, was told by the Commander about another of her names.

‘Finisher’.

The only one who would finish the war.

Commander Lambert, the then Captain, was seated in his office rubbing his temples.

Shortly after the assassination incident, he understood what type of tool Kasia was. Kasia was someone who was raised to be an assassin since she was a child. She was one of the best human weapons in the world.

Her existence could be considered as that of a Joker.

If she was to enter the battlefield, victory was certain. If she participated, the battle would conclude rapidly.

But she didn’t participate in every battle. Because she was a person that could die. The one who ‘owned’ her had their special purpose, so she was permitted to fight the battles that had to be won. Hence, her identity was confidential.

Even if she was sent to assassinate someone, it had no official connection with either the U.S. Army or the Special Force. According to the documents, there existed a soldier named Kasia Del Roman but no assassin named Kasia.

If she were to die as Assassin Kasia, nothing would connect her to the U.S Army and all data related to her would be erased.

There was a high probability of having innocent sacrifices during Kasia’s assassinations because the means she used could be considered taboo, internationally.

In the beginning, when Lambert was told the truth, he was shaken.

He was scared of the power which used humans as weapons of destruction and, of course, there was Kasia, who disregarded the fact that she was used as one.

“The files about Kasia are top-secret. If her identity as Assassin Kasia Del Roman is leaked, there are high chances of her being killed. It will be a huge loss for us,” said the Commander who disclosed the secret about Kasia to Lambert. It didn’t mean that he was concerned about her life. The commander advised Lambert to enjoy her till she worked as ‘Finisher’.

Later, he fought several battles alongside her.

Although Kasia aged with time, she didn’t look much older. Instead, she became more and more like the ‘Machine’ that she was called.

‘The operation this time seems weird for some reason…’

Looking back at Kasia’s missions as Finisher, there were many times when the main enemy was to be eliminated first to drive the remaining forces to a corner and dispose of them to end the battle. This time, too, the situation was similar.

Previously, even before her departure, Kasia was sure to succeed but this time, there was something enigmatic about the situation.

“Ahmad’s hiding place… Is the data reliable?”

Lambert watched Kasia with nervous eyes.

“I have no other choice but to believe.”

Unlike the nervous Lambert, she replied drily.

“Ahmad would be more thorough in hiding after the last Mosul bombing. Hasn’t his hideout been found too soon?”

“There’s no evidence that the intel is wrong.”

Despite the warnings, Kasia was determined to carry out the mission.

Rather than someone adamant to die, her expression was of someone who didn’t care whether they died or not.

“You… Aren’t you scared of dying?”

Kasia shifted her sight from the tabletop map to Lambert.

Though nothing could be read from her still eyes, he stopped breathing the moment her empty eyes locked with his.

“Death is believed to be a very terrifying experience. But in fact, it isn’t.”

After spitting out her reply to Lambert with a straight face, she left the Commander’s office to prepare for the mission.

*     *     *

Kasia was an orphan among Lebanese refugees.

When she got on the boat from Lebanon to Europe, she had a mother. Upon reaching Europe, she was alone. As a young girl, she didn’t even realise that she had  already lost something important as a human.

Soon, after experiencing long periods of starvation, struggling with the waves, the selfishness of human nature and numerous deaths because of it, and understanding how futile was faith or religion, she became indifferent to death.

No place welcomed these refugees who had just barely set their feet on the ground.

To survive, they pleaded with many European countries to shelter the old and the children. One day, some soldiers came and took away the orphans promising to provide them food, shelter and education.

The place they bet their everything on and followed was called ‘Camp X’. Even till date, Kasia couldn’t determine their real identity.

They were children whose life and death were not recorded anywhere. In that place, they were made into human weapons of destruction who, according to documents, did not exist. They were made to fight each other which pushed some children to insanity and even caused some to commit suicide but most of them were killed by their opponents.

Out of 150 children who entered Camp X, only 17 survived.  Though these 17 survivors could be called humans, they had lost the basic emotions which made one human. Unlike other weapons, they could think and move efficiently. They were the greatest weapons in history.

She didn’t know about the lives of others. Other than herself, she knew only one person from Camp X.

Escaping from a war, she landed in camp X. As her training progressed, humanity diminished in Kasia. Especially the concept of life and death was equivocal.

‘Everyone has to die one day. Nobody knows when. So there is no difference between dying today and dying tomorrow.’

In reality, Kasia was looking forward to death.

Her life was nothing but following commands and practising. Every time she went on a mission, it was a close bet between ‘Will I die this time’ or ‘Will I not’. She survived persistently. She could do nothing else and grew tired of the same as a ‘daily routine’.

‘What awaits me this time? Will I be able to die?’

Kasia thought about the dagger on her waist.

The next dawn, Kasia disappeared to infiltrate the enemy camp.

In the Commander office, everyone was nervous thinking about the measures to be utilized if she failed the mission. A command from the very top was received. ‘Prepare for a retreat before the 13th.’ The frontline busied themselves planning a retreat without being noticed.

Everyone, but Kasia, was on edge.

Kasia donned her combat gear and pulled up a hood, covering her face. Taking advantage of the darkness, she drove into the city and hid out of sight, waiting for the right time.

The sun rose, seeming to burn everything. The confrontation between the Allied Forces and ICS showed no change and a familiar tension flowed. She endured the heat without moving.

At two in the afternoon, she felt the awaited sandstorm beginning. Putting on her protective goggles, she ran into the sandstorm.