SEQUENCE 4: …EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED
*ANIMUS AUDIO TRANSLATION: ON*
A few weeks later, Kasumi watched from a rooftop as fireworks went off. Meanwhile, Imamura was arguing with a street vendor.
"I have no more money!" the vendor pleaded.
"You insolent dog! I am your master!" Imamura yelled.
"Give me more time!" the vendor pleaded again.
Just then, one of Imamura's guards thrust his wakizashi into the vendor's chest. Kasumi readied her bow, aiming at one of the guards. She drew the string and flexed the bow. The notched arrow flew through the air and embedded itself in the guard's jugular. Imamura turned around and noticed the body.
"Sentries! We are under attack!" Imamura yelled.
Kasumi leaped off the rooftop, extending her hidden blades as she descended upon the Templar warlord. Imamura's body broke her fall, and then the blades connected with his neck.
"What do you want?" Imamura wheezed.
"Your death. And I have gotten it." Kasumi replied, thrusting one of the blades into her victim's jugular.
Kasumi's mouth broadened into a sadistic grin as Imamura breathed his last. Just then, one of Imamura's guards approached her.
"You are a dead man!" the guard exclaimed.
"Wrong." Kasumi replied, holding a smoke bomb in her hand.
The bomb hit the street and exploded, unleashing a cloud of acrid smoke. While the guards were distracted, Kasumi leaped back up onto the rooftops and sprinted back to the Den. When she got there, Akihiko was there- and he did not look pleased.
"Kasumi, do you know the meaning of the Three Tenets of our Creed?" Akihiko asked.
"What?" Kasumi asked.
If looks could kill, Akihiko's would have caused Kasumi to drop dead instantly.
"Do you not know of the Creed?" Akihiko asked.
"I didn't know we had one." Kasumi answered.
Akihiko sighed loudly.
"I blame myself for not teaching it to you. Pay attention, for you have already violated one of the Tenets." Akihiko ordered.
"Yes, Sensei." Kasumi replied.
Akihiko inhaled sharply and began.
"The Tenets are our fetters. They keep us from falling to the level of the Templars. The first Tenet is to stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent. To kill an innocent is to besmirch the reputation of our Brotherhood. The second is to hide in plain sight. You violated this one by being seen approaching Imamura. The final Tenet is to never compromise the Brotherhood. If you were to betray us, we would kill you." Akihiko lectured.
"Is that the whole Creed?" Kasumi asked.
"No. There are the Three Ironies. We seek to promote peace, but commit murder. We seek to open the minds of men, but require obedience to rules. Lastly, we seek to reveal the danger of blind faith, yet practice it ourselves. As Altair wrote, one can be two things- opposite in every way – simultaneously." Akihiko continued.
Kasumi was stunned.
"Is there another part?" Kasumi asked.
"Yes. Our Maxim. Nothing is true, everything is permitted. In the words of Ezio Auditore, 'To say that nothing is true, is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. To say that everything is permitted, is to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and that we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic.' Or as Altair wrote, our Creed does not command us to be free. It commands us to be wise." Akihiko answered.
Kasumi was silent as she went back to her room for the night, thinking about the Creed, the Order, and Imamura's death.