The assassins of the Hashshashin Sect lived and thrived in the shadows. The Poison Girl, Hassan of Serenity, was no exception to the rule.

In her life, she had been to the narrow but lively streets of Indian slums, the lavish mansion of Persian Kings and Nobles, and the rebellious capital of the Far East — the expansive nature of her occupation gave her an opportunity to taste the air of countless locations.

She still wasn’t prepared for her; it made her squirm in unease. Surrounding her was a pitch-black darkness that twisted even her excellent sense of distance. An inexpressible anguish filled the air within the vague boundaries. She could hear vague shrieks around her.

A room so unbelievably wide, yet she felt uncomfortably pressed.

“Sakura-chan is manipulating Haru’s servants. What a naughty child,” a woman thought out loud. “She is exceeding my expectations, that innocent girl.”

“Who?”

“Ara, I forgot I put you here.” The woman turned her attention to Serenity, her amber eyes boring two holes in the darkness. “Don’t worry, Child. I will not harm you, but he will.”

Serenity didn’t reply to the playful voice. There was nothing to speak about, anyway. She was caught in her mission before she got the time to gather intel. Only death awaited for failures in her occupation. A pitiful but fitting end for the one revered as Visha Kanya, with a poisonous heart and body.

A vague silhouette emerged in the darkness. The form became cleared as Serenity focused.

“You…”

Serenity’s heart nearly stopped. Few could seize her throat by shock, but the spiritual body before her defied all logics set by a normal soul. It was a monstrosity that could destroy the mind of people with a weak will. Even a servant like her wasn’t immune. A distortion erupted in her mind.

“It’s hideous, isn’t it?” The voice now carried self-loathing. “This happens when you dip your toes in another's job. Level 1 warrior attempting to create a Philosopher’s Stone. Ah, merging two souls — what was that idiot goddess thinking?”

Serenity retracted her gaze. “Kill… me.”

“Ara, don’t be hasty~.” The voice turned playful and teasing. “My son might be the person you’re looking for. Until he comes around, have some rest in this artificial dark world~.”

“The person I’m looking for…” she muttered.

Who was she looking for in her life? It had been forever since she last thought about it. But the answer was, will, and always be the same.

Someone she could touch without the fear of killing them.

Someone who won’t succumb to her poisonous self.

A simple wish of the simple girl who was tired of ripping families apart by her poison.

“Hassan of Serenity, I have changed my mind. I will free you, but on one condition.”

“What condition…?”

The air suddenly froze, and all of her senses collapsed as if she was in a void. A playful laughter boomed as the woman’s spiritual body flickered in and out of reality.

The world distorted and ruptured as a new reality emerged. Ancient buildings rose from nothing, illuminated by the dazzling light of two suns in the sky.

‘Two suns?’

“Fufu.”

Another veil was lifted as the sun twisted and revealed their original form — a pair of radiant eyes. Then she emerged. A giant surpassing the scale of normalcy. The world seemed like a mere marble in her hand.

A pair of golden eyes, the size of a star, gazed down at Serenity. The Assassin was pulled in, forced to stand on the giant lady’s palm, which was the size of a city, perhaps bigger. Her sense of scale had distorted in this dimension, and nothing she saw could be believed.

The woman with silky brown hair giggled. “Hassan of Serenity, assassinate my child, who commands six servants against your evil mistress. I am giving you the job you came here to do.”

She, who lacked embodied meekness and obedience, nodded her head. The goal aligned with Serenity’s own goal.

“Make it fun, my adorable child~.”

***

Gears of fate didn’t stop rotating during Haruki’s sleep. He stretched his arms as he sat up on the bed.

Haruki raised a brow at the somewhat confusing ability. “How do I use it?”

He looked at the flowerpot sitting on the table and imagined a void between the pot’s base and the wooden surface. An invisible space pushed up the flowerpot. As the flowerpot neared the ceiling, Haruki winced and covered his eyes. Overusing the ability caused a sharp pain behind his eyes.

The flowerpot broke into pieces. The space he created ceased to exist once his concentration broke.

“Even the watered-down version of space warp is giving you a headache,” Arch mocked him. “Do not call me Mom from now on. I’m disowning you.”

‘Whose fault is it I didn’t awaken my powers? Huh?’

It took him four days to reach his current strength. Only four days. He might be one-shotting Gilgamesh and Heracles if he awakened his powers at birth.

“Can you stop bringing it up over and over?” Arch snapped at last. “If you want to blame someone, blame your hoe of a mother.”

‘What? My mom did that? Why did she do that?!’

Arch went silent, refusing to answer any of his questions. He felt another headache creeping over him. His own mother chose to make him powerless, even after knowing his helplessness over Sakura’s fate. She watched Sakura suffer with a smile, all the while referring to her as her daughter.

He just couldn’t believe Kaede being so cruel towards Sakura.

‘Arch could be lying.’

There was no definite answer to the mystery until he got both of them in the same room and interrogated them.

“It’s impossible. I suggest you give up. I’d rather die than breathe the same air as that traitorous wench.”

‘I’ll make it happen, Arch.’

The mother-lover took a solemn oath.

The door creaked open, and a grinning head popped out from the small opening. “My Master~, you are awake!”

“Focus on Semiramis and the war,” Arch said.

Glorious_Milfhunter

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