A Hitman's Guide To Becoming A Hero

Nicholas stood at the end of the track, exhaling softly as the crushing gravity around the other racers disappeared.

"America came first once more! Leaving with a complete 100 marks!"

As the gravity lifted from his body, Bullseye staggered forward a few steps before collapsing onto his backside.

Cold sweat poured down his face as his mind refused to let go of the horror he’d just experienced.

Unknown to him, the monster that caused this was still standing right in front of him.

’I didn’t expect his ability to have a paralysis effect as well.’ Nicholas thought, glancing back at Bullseye who’d fallen on the ground, his body covered with sweat.

As he noticed Nicholas’ gaze lingering on him, goosebumps crawled up his back.

But Nicholas gaze didn’t linger, as he casually walked to the elevator.

’If I didn’t have the third eye active, then I might’ve never noticed him’ Nicholas thought as he recalled the race.

Bullseye had latched onto him the second the race started.

Bullseye’s ability allowed him to lock onto a target. No matter how far they moved, he could instantly teleport beside them.

It was a spatial ability, but since it didn’t have much spatial influence, Tor’s spatial distortion didn’t have much of an effect on the ability.

With the third eye active though, Bullseye was truly unfortunate to have latched onto Nicholas.

The third eye had proven to be a rather valuable skill since the start of the event.

’I actually had fun’ Nicholas thought, a small grin tugging at the side of his lips.

Even though he’d been confident in his ability to win, nothing had been guaranteed. Every country had brought strange abilities to the table, and there was no telling what they’d prepared beforehand.

In the end, though, it hadn’t mattered. He’d already prepared for the unexpected. Of all things, he was simply glad everyone left with their limbs in place.

To make things even better.

{+200 Charm points}

{CP: 3025}

He’d gained a significant amount of charm points from the race.

While he’d used a good number during the race he didn’t have to worry about the charm points since more kept coming in.

’At this rate i might never have to worry about charm points.’

He had a significant fanbase that kept feeding him with charm points every minute.

As the elevator rolled upwards, Nicholas could hear Julie’s comments through the speakers as she announced the remaining winners.

"Second place goes to Australia! Taking it two times in a row as well!"

"China’s Kite managed Third!"

"Our German Queen Acron, leading us fourth"

"And Star! The Brazilian Idol leaves in fifth place"

"And with that! We’ve come to the end of the Racing Event! A thrilling show from all the racers! With every second filled with uncertainty. Stay tuned for me! And like I said, you’ll be seeing this face more often"

He could see Julie flashing a bright smile at the camera making a V sign with her fingers.

"You did a great job, Phantom! I expected nothing less. Here—I brought your coat."

Light stood in front of the elevator, holding up Nicholas coat.

Nicholas casually took the coat from him, "You did a great job too."

Light’s eyes lit up as he heard Nicholas words, ’Phantom praised me?! This is so cool!’ his eyes lit up and a bright smile cut across his face, "Tha—"

"Next time, if anyone passes you break their legs. That way you won’t have much of a competition" Nicholas as he turned back to the elevator.

Light’s smile stiffened and he scratched his head nervously, "T-Thank you... I’ll do that. Haha..."

"I’ll be heading to my room to clean up" Nicholas said about entering the elevator.

"Wait Sir Phantom! Miss Dana and Selena are still in the theatre hall, they said we should meet them right after the race"

Nicholas looked at him for a long minute before letting out a sigh.

"The theater’s just down the hall. I figured we’d head there together. The others already went ahead."

’That explains why he’s the only one here’

"Alright then, let’s go meet them"

He left the elevator joining Light to go to the theatre hall.

As they approached the hall, they easily noticed the group of heroes outside, the door was open and it seemed everyone was already making their way out.

And in no time, Selena came out and turned to his direction, "Phantom, you did an awesome work out there." She said with a warm smile as she walked up to him.

"For real! You really had me, thought you’d let those losers steal from you at the last moment" Dana chipped in, a smug grin on her face.

"They definitely didn’t see that coming" Nectron said as he approached from the back.

Nicholas glanced at Nectron, "Your ability is quite good for situations like that"

Nectron let out an awkward laugh hearing Nicholas supposed compliment, "I guess so, it is a really powerful ability"

"You know, I used to compete with Nectron back then, seeing someone use both our abilities is quite humbling." Vixen said with a chuckle, "I’m glad it could be of help during the race."

’True, of all the abilities I’ve acquired both their abilities always seem to be the most useful’

"We should celebrate our victory, it’s not easy to come out with winners in a race like this" Dana said with a loud voice.

"Dana, you have no plans to stop rubbing it on their faces" Selena muttered rubbing her forehead.

"No, I have no such plans" she replied, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

As the others turned to look at them, Nicholas gaze couldn’t help but drift to the Chinese heroes.

Ever since his little chat with Tianzun, he couldn’t help but keep thinking to himself how the monk managed to see through him.

’Perhaps his ability can only be seen with the Third Eye? What sort of ability does he have, Even Supervisor Selena had no idea what his ability was and after all these years, no one seems to know’

Tianzun had an air of mystery that genuinely piqued his interest.

Nicholas activated the third eye and the moment he stared in Tianzun’s direction.

Tianzun’s eyes snapped toward him. His mouth parted as though he’d wanted to say something, but it was too late.

Nicholas had already seen what he wasn’t meant to. The pressure came down on him in an instant.

More powerful than anything he had ever experienced. It felt as though his brain was being fried from the inside.

’..W-what is this...’ as he instantly turned off the third eye, but the damage was already done.

Blood leaked from his eyes, ears and mouth in an instant.

"Phantom!"

"Nicholas" Selena yelled as she immediately grabbed onto him.

His eyes rolled to the back of his head and the last image he caught was Tianzun shaking his head, as though disappointed.

But Nicholas couldn’t focus on that anymore. His thoughts, incoherent.

The image he’d seen flashed in his head once more

’What the heck....was that’ He managed the thought, as the world around him went black.

—————

A/N: Well, we’ve officially wrapped up the Race Event! Next up is the Crucible, the second event.

If the race wasn’t quite what you expected, I apologize. It was my first time writing something like that, and I did my best with it.

This arc has been a little slower because I wanted to incorporate more slice-of-life moments after some readers mentioned they wanted to see more of that. I’m not sure I executed it perfectly, but sometimes the story just takes on a life of its own.

😭 Truth be told, I don’t plan nearly as much as some of you think. I usually have the overall arc in mind, but Nicholas and his team somehow end up deciding everything else.

That said, I’m really grateful that you’ve all stuck with the story and are still enjoying it. It genuinely means a lot.

If you have a moment, I’d really appreciate a review. Whether it’s praise or constructive criticism, I’m open to hearing it all. I’m still learning and growing as a writer, and your feedback helps more than you know.

Thank you all for sticking with me on this journey! 💜✨

My Apologies for the long announcement. Do enjoy your reading!

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