The World’s Deadliest Assassin is Now a Lazy SchoolBoy

When I died, the world lost its best assassin.

When I woke up, it gained a complication.

Now, that complication had a name.

The Black List.

It started with a whisper.

A late-night message pinged into my student account. No sender. No subject.

Just a single line.

They put you on the List. You need to disappear again.

I stared at the screen.

The words weren't a threat.

They were a warning.

Which meant someone still remembered who I used to be.

And someone was watching close enough to know I'd been flagged.

My hands stayed steady. But my mind was already moving.

The next morning, things felt different.

The halls buzzed with an energy I couldn't explain. Whispers passed like currency. Heads turned faster when I walked by.

More cameras.

More security.

Too much attention.

"Cain."

I looked up. Aria was standing in front of my locker, arms crossed like usual.

"What?" I asked.

She glanced around, then lowered her voice. "You're being audited."

"For what?"

"Nothing. That's the point. Top-rankers get monitored, bottom-rankers get ignored. You? You're screwing up their math."

"Maybe their math was flawed."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're not the only one on the List."

Now I was listening.

"I overheard faculty talking last night," she said. "There's a Black Tier recruitment program. Off-record. No one's supposed to know about it."

"Recruitment for what?"

She shook her head. "No one knows. But it's invite-only. And dangerous. No one who joins comes back to normal class."

"And I'm on that list?"

"I didn't say that," she said. "But… I checked the servers."

She handed me a small, translucent chip — encoded student data.

"I risked expulsion getting this."

I held her gaze. "Why?"

She didn't answer. Just walked away.

Again.

Later, I decoded the chip in the dorm.

It wasn't just a list.

It was a watchlist. Tagged student profiles. Color-coded risk levels. Live surveillance logs.

I scrolled until I saw my name.

Subject 043: Eli Cain

Status: Unawakened (F-Rank)

Threat Index: Red

Behavioral Flag: Combat Anomaly

Monitoring Agent: Assigned

Tag: Ghost Protocol (Pending)

Ghost Protocol.

Of course they'd call it that.

It meant they didn't know what I was. Just that I wasn't what I pretended to be.

And that I was dangerous.

I looked further. Ten other names were marked similarly.

Most were ranked A or S.

Then I saw one name I recognized.

Subject 002: Aria Vale

So… she was being watched, too.

Which meant we had more in common than either of us wanted to admit.

That night, I left my dorm and moved like I used to — silent, low to the ground, untraceable.

Security cams? Avoided.

Drones? Mapped and looped.

Guards? Blind angles.

I reached the Lower West Archives — where student records were stored and modified. And probably where the Black List was compiled.

Inside, I bypassed a low-level scan, slipped through a maintenance hatch, and slid behind a ventilation panel overlooking the main data core.

Two faculty members were talking.

"…The Cain boy?" one said.

"Still too early to tell," the other replied. "But he's already drawn attention from Directorate 5."

"Is he awakened?"

"No. Worse. He's a null. No recorded power, but abnormal reaction speed and threat response."

"So he's just… trained?"

"More than that. He moves like someone who's killed before. And not once or twice."

My blood ran cold.

They were close. Too close.

"Orders?" the first asked.

"Keep him monitored. If he breaches protocol or discovers the List, initiate Phase Two."

I slipped away before they said more.

Phase Two?

Didn't like the sound of that.

By the time I returned to my dorm, a message was waiting.

[Unknown Sender]

— You shouldn't have gone into the archives. They saw you.

— You've been moved to Tier One Observation.

— Get out while you still can.

I stared at the message.

Then deleted it.

If they wanted a ghost, they were about to get one.

But this time, the ghost fought back.

The next day, everything changed.

Principal Voss entered homeroom unannounced. That never happened.

Tall, cold-eyed, and dressed like a funeral director, he moved with the weight of someone who could kill you with a look.

"Effective immediately," he said, "five students have been selected for Elite Combat Training under Special Curriculum 9."

Everyone straightened in their seats.

"Aria Vale."

She stood, silent and unsurprised.

"Jason Korr. Mira Lune. Derek Han."

They all stood, visibly shocked but trying to play it cool.

"And…" he paused, eyes sweeping over the room.

"Eli Cain."

Gasps.

Even I blinked.

"Report to the Zenith Wing after class," he said. "Attendance is not optional."

Then he left.

Everyone stared at me.

Even the teacher.

Zenith Wing was a part of the academy most students only whispered about.

White walls.

Private elevators.

ID scans with three levels of clearance.

The five of us stood outside a sealed door, the air practically humming with security fields.

Jason looked me up and down. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm the mascot," I said.

He scowled.

Aria didn't speak. Just watched me, arms folded.

The door slid open.

We stepped into a room filled with combat dummies, advanced weapon racks, and a glass observation bay above — where people in suits were already watching.

One man stood waiting.

Gray suit. Tall. Glasses. Calm.

"Welcome to the Evaluation Room," he said. "I am Director Halver. You are all being assessed for possible advancement into Tier Black."

He looked directly at me.

"Some of you were selected for potential. Some of you… for danger."

He gestured.

"Pair up."

Mira immediately grabbed Jason's arm.

Derek turned toward Aria.

But she walked straight past him and stood beside me.

The director raised a brow. "Interesting."

We were given simulation gear — pressure suits and neural trackers. The sim would record not just actions, but intent.

It wasn't a test of power.

It was a test of control.

We stepped into the arena.

Derek and Jason took the far side.

Aria and I stood on the other.

Simulation countdown started.

3… 2… 1…

The world around us shifted into a ruined cityscape. Crumbling walls. Broken streets. Smoke. Fire.

"Scenario: Team Combat. Eliminate opposing team."

Jason grinned. "Time to end this, Cain."

Mira conjured wind.

Derek lit up with fire.

Aria didn't wait. She raised both hands and called forth ice — lances, fast and elegant, cutting through debris.

I moved forward.

Faster than they expected.

I was already behind Mira before she fully turned.

One strike to the side. Another to the back of the knee. She went down.

Derek roared and threw a wall of flame.

Aria answered with a frost dome.

Jason lunged at me.

I sidestepped, grabbed his arm, and used his momentum to spin him into a metal pillar.

Hard.

He didn't get back up.

[Simulation Complete – Victory: Aria & Cain]

We stood in the center as the world faded.

Above us, the suits whispered.

The director nodded.

"This concludes your preliminary evaluation," he said. "Those selected for Tier Black will be notified. The rest will be… dismissed."

He didn't look at me again.

But I knew.

They weren't going to let me go.

And now?

I wasn't sure I wanted to.

That night, another message came.

This one was voice-only.

No ID.

Just a quiet, clipped voice.

"Cain. We know what you are. The List was just the beginning. If you want answers… meet me tomorrow. Library. Basement level. Come alone."

Click.

No trace.

I stared at the screen.

Then shut it off.

Tomorrow, the hunt would begin.

And for once…

I'd be the one doing the tracking.