Dionysus chuckled to himself as he cleaned and assembled his AWP-308 sniper rifle. It was one mean piece of ordinance which does a half inch group at two hundred yards out of the box. The only people who would use it are snipers.

"Kami-sama, this brings back memories," Dionysus muttered to himself as he filled the chamber with two bullets. Those two were all her would need for one of his trademarked... jobs. "I can't believe that Susanne had the guts enough to ask me to do this."

Hotohori no Otaku had calmly and clearly asked him to take out the new Guardian that was assigned to her. That means Roger is out of the Game, he thought. At least for a little while. But I can understand where Susanne is coming from. Roger wouldn't risk his hide to do what I'm about to do, but I couldn't give a damn. Dionysus slung the rifle across his shoulder as he set off to the area where Susanne said her Guardian would be. I wouldn't let any other Guardian even look at Ce-ko when I was her "official" Guardian... what did those bakayarous think I would do after I got booted out? Let it happen? Roger's probably the same way.

"The Guardian's Council is gonna have all our hides by the time the Game is over," he said to himself.

Dionysus' thoughts of course, flashed back to his Ce-ko. He had managed to slip out of Castle Anthrax while she was busy going over some files that Bob had shoved at her. He took a deep sigh of relief that she had not gone overboard when she had faced that Kristisi girl. She had challenged, but the gleam of madness did not appear in her eyes. She always did love her work, he mused.

Dionysus' thoughts then turned to the wooded area he had entered. He climbed up a tree and took out a pair of binoculars. He swiftly scanned the riverbank. North--clear. South--there he is! Dionysus grinned as he watched Christopher make his way up the river. He had switched to human form--probably to cover ground faster--and was yelling out "Hotohori no Otaku" in a very pissed off tone of voice.

Dionysus lifted his rifle and got Christopher between the crosshairs of his targeting scope. "Poor baka," he muttered as he sighted down to Christopher's right knee. "Doesn't he know that making a lot of noise in a forest will only get you hurt?" Dionysus pulled the trigger and the sound of the gunshot ripped through the woods, startling the birds into flight. The gunshot was followed shortly by the sound of a man screaming in agony. Dionysus quickly aimed again, hitting the unwanted Guardian in the left kneecap before he had time to fall over. The Guardian screamed yet again, finally falling over with two massive injuries.

Dionysus climbed out of the tree and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He calmly walked over to where the Guardian was writhing in pain. "Hi there!" he said cheerfully to the man on the ground.

Christopher looked up and his eyes betrayed his terror. "You--" he managed to gasp out between groans of pain. "You were the one--"

"Yup, you got that right buddy."

"Why? I wasn't assigned to that charge. Everyone stays away from her."

"Oh, I know that. But, let's just say I'm doing a favor for a friend." Dionysus crouched down to look Christopher in the eye. "Let's just say that the Council is getting another rude wake up call. Roger stays with Hotohori no Otaku, Susanne... and I'm gonna make sure of it."

Christopher burst into tears. All Guardians had know of the way Dionysus had killed his fellow Guardians to keep them away from the girl he had loved. Still, he hadn't actually gone near that ebony-haired girl, right? He still had a chance... "What are you going to do with me?" Christopher asked.

Dionysus stood up, coldly looking at the man lying on the ground. His blood was rapidly pooling around him and he could see that Christopher's eyes were already glazing over from the pain. He reached to the holster at his side and drew his Glock 21, aiming it right between Christopher's eyes. "You already know the answer, don't you?"

"NO! God, please! I didn't do anything to you! I was just following my orders! I wasn't even assigned to that bitch Celeste!"

The pistol fired.

Dionysus looked down with a frown at the Guardian. "Wrong thing to say," he said quietly. Dionysus bowed his head for a moment before her pulled a small note out of his pocket and placed it on Christopher's cooling body. The Guardian's Council would be by soon to take the body. They would know what had happened. Hopefully, they would get a clue. Dionysus could calmly kill an army of men, but it didn't mean he liked it. He holstered his pistol and walked back to the Mori.

The note on Christopher's body stayed in place, the words written in a flowing hand was a virtual calling card.

"Bang. You're dead."

TBC...