Chapter 139: Shattered Gla.s.s
Debra didn"t have a name. She was a pure a.s.sa.s.sin, trained since adoption, and the only significant tool she ever had since her birth was a useful knife.
Despite many years of brutal training and even having her body modified into a penumbra creature that greatly increased her ability to conceal herself, Debra bore no grudge nor took it for granted. She was proud of being able to provide her strength to the organization.
She wasn"t qualified to know the real name of the organization and could only remember its symbol—a long sword cloaked in flames.
Debra had a fervent love for the organization. She knew how powerful the organization was with its far reaching resources and how they constantly pushed towards a path of light and righteousness.
They had many enemies, and they would make enemies with the rest of the world. But their cause was absolutely just and they would eventually achieve victory!
For this reason, Debra was willing to be an insignificant stepping stone in the pioneering process of creating this new world.
This was her life"s purpose. All the pain and sacrifice was for a great cause, even if it meant death!
Therefore, when she was tasked to a.s.sa.s.sinate Wilde, she accepted it without hesitation.
She even accepted an extremely painful second modification that allowed her to become a true umbra creature. There was a very special gap within reality and dream, known as the "shadow realm", where umbra creatures could inhabit temporarily.
Normally, umbra creatures weren"t aggressive and were just like plankton, spending all their time jumping through shadows, feeding, merging, and continuously being born.
They were discordant with the real world and only very few magicians could manipulate them, however, this was merely composed of changing the shape of their shadow, or making an umbra creature leave the shadows.
However, an umbra creature couldn"t leave the shadow realm, just like how a fish couldn"t be out of water for long without dying.
Summoning these creatures wasn"t of much use, and as time pa.s.sed, umbra creatures weren"t of much interest to anyone.
Debra was a failed specimen of the organization"s new experiment involving the shadow realm. The process involved forcefully merging with an umbra creature.
Beings like her were termed "shadow bugs" by the organization. The outside world referred to these mysterious killers as "shadow a.s.sa.s.sins".
She could shuttle freely between reality and shadow, but had to endure an excruciating and soul wrenching pain each time she melded into the shadow realm.
Many shadow bugs went crazy and killed themselves because of this.
But everything is all worth it! All who stand in the organization"s way must die!
Debra knew that Heris" name was on a certain list.
He was another tool different from her, but much more useful and more difficult to control. Therefore, the costs of planning by the organization was high. Heris should have used the Magic Ovum Mirror to summon a Supreme-rank dream beast that the organization required, and he would have absorbed Scarlet Cult as well as a large number of small to medium-sized hunter organizations and merge to become an even more useful tool to the organization.
However, because of Wilde"s intervention, Heris had died and became a sacrificial offering. On top of that, White Wolf and Scarlet Cult were destroyed and the hunters forces that were supposed to be integrated had become a brand new hunter organization.
The organization"s years of meticulous planning had all gone down the drain!
This was the information Debra received. She was to remove all obstacles for the organization and therefore, Wilde had to die!
"Voice of Doom" would dissolve Wilde"s thoughts and mind. In the beginning, it should feel as if ants were crawling all over his scalp before creeping into the cerebral cortex and brain. The extreme itching would destroy his will and cause him to start scratching till he tore his scalp, bored into his skull and finally dug up his already parched brain. Only then would he be free from the pain.
This was what Debra had envisaged and reveled in the imagination of his target"s helpless struggles. After all, she was just a mere step from success.
This was her style of a.s.sa.s.sination. A clean hit without any delay. Wilde entertaining an ordinary person wasn"t within her scope of consideration, but all she needed to do was hide and slip in the poison when she got the chance.
However, as she was waiting patiently, she suddenly saw that seemingly ordinary young man fish out a coin from his pocket and flipped it with a smile.
Ding.
The spinning coin froze in midair for a moment, the spindle engraved on its face was like a pupil, and the entire coin was like an eye that suddenly came alive.
An indescribable sensation gripped Debra"s soul. As if she was being watched by something invisible, as if she was being held tightly by a formless hand. In an instant, she felt tremendous pressure and absolute terror.
Run!
Run!
Run now!!!
Her instincts screamed at her, urging her to leave this place, for a great danger was coming.
However, she had no time to react, nor did she have any way to react.
The coin which had momentarily froze in midair descended, hitting the rim of Wilde"s gla.s.s cup. It had probably hit a critical point of gla.s.s as a shallow crack appeared which quickly spread to the rest of the cup.
Crash!
The gla.s.s was instantly shattered into a thousand pieces by the coin and tiny translucent shards flew in all directions. The water within the gla.s.s spread out, enveloping half the table and all gla.s.s shards on it. But for some reason, the shadows of these shards seemed to vibrate with a slight t.i.ttering sound.
Ahh ahh ahh ahh—!!
Debra let out a silent shriek. The "Voice of Doom" had slipped between the real world and the shadow realm and had fallen on her.
The real world wouldn"t affect her if she were a true umbra creature.
And if she were a complete humanoid being, "Voice of Doom" would only corrode her mind and not hurt the rest of her.
Unfortunately... there were no ifs.
She was a syncretic creature, affected by both reality and shadow. And because of her part umbra creature characteristics, every part of her body was a complete thinking organ.
An itch like ants crawling all over spread throughout her body, boring in bit by bit. The pain was worse than traversing between the reality and the shadow realm, which made her want to crush and tear herself apart.
She started to dissolve, absorbing herself and regenerating, screaming in silence as it became a loop.
The scattered shadows didn"t attract any attention.
Debra had no way to leave this place. This darkness, despair, and pain would accompany her for all time... With no end or conclusion.
c.h.i.n.k c.h.i.n.k c.h.i.n.k...
The coin hit the floor, bouncing several times then rolling for a bit before it fell, revealing the side that hadn"t been marked with the red dot. Misfortune.
“Uhhh..."
Lin Jie"s lips twitched as he stared at the table full of shattered gla.s.s, not knowing how things had turned out this way. Wilde"s face darkened as he stood up abruptly, watching the shadows of the gla.s.s shards as if he were deep in thought.