us, still smiling, stared back at the Lady Assassin, who was looking at him with a mix of emotions ying in her eyes. He had just revealed something she never expected anyone to know. That was a bold move.


    When us first realized he was being followed, his instinct had been to kill her. And he could have done it easily. Even though he hadn''t unlocked the Darkness Element yet, he was still an Elemental Overlord. He has connections to the elements, just that his control is limited without him first unlocking them.


    us didn''t feel sympathy, especially not for an Assassin sent by the Dark Order to kill him. His first thought had been to eliminate her and be done with it. But just as he was making ns to kill her, the senior stopped him.


    That was the sole reason why he had spent over fifteen minutes browsing through paintings of himself earlier. He was actually talking with the Senior in his soul sea, and from their conversation, he learned that the Assassin had some kind of seal on her.


    It didn''t take long for us to figure out she was either being controlled or ckmailed into this kind of work. Of course, he wasn''t going to trust an Assassin so easily, but he decided to y along.


    That''s what led them to sit together over coffee, despite the danger surrounding them. us wanted to learn more about her, and if possible, turn her to his side. That would be a great advantage.


    "Well, you can tell me your name, or we can just sit here and stare at each other all day," us said, his voice calm but firm. He wasn''t about to go soft on an assassin, no matter her state of mind.


    "Luna. My name is Luna," she finally said, her voice tense. "And how did you know there''s a seal on me? Who are you?" She stared at him, her suspicion clear, but us just smiled.


    "Well, Luna, let''s not get ahead of ourselves," us replied smoothly. "If we''re going to be friends, we can start by putting away the hostility." His eyes flickered to the dagger she had pulled from her shadow and now held tightly in her grip.


    "We can start by putting away the dagger... again," he added, still smiling. Luna hesitated, unsure of what to think. She''d been stalking him for three days, ready to end his life, but now here he was, sitting in front of her—calm,posed, and strangely disarming. It didn''t make sense. This white-haired young man had said something that made her question everything.


    Slowly, she put the dagger away again, her eyes never leaving us. "How do you know there''s a seal on me?" she asked, her voice quieter now, almost wary.


    us leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Let''s just say I''ve dealt with people like you before. That seal on you—it''s not hard to spot if you know what to look for. But that''s not really the point, is it?" He tilted his head slightly. "The real question is, why are you letting someone control you?"


    Of course, us couldn''t tell her the full truth—that he had a mysterious figure inside his soul sea who seemed fascinated by anything dark or dangerous. The senior had been especially interested in the seal when they talked during those brief ten minutes. He was more intrigued by the world us was in and how someone could craft such a powerful seal.


    The senior had casually mentioned that he could help us remove it easily, but he held back. First, he wanted to learn more—specifically, who had the power to turn a Great Sage into their obedient assassin.


    "Don''t worry," us said, his voice calm as he leaned back in his chair, "the person who put the seal on you won''t hear anything you say. So feel free to talk when you''re ready. I won''t judge."


    Luna''s eyes flickered with doubt, but she could sense no malice from him. Her grip on the chair tightened, torn between the urge to speak and the weight of her silence.


    "My mother... she was the one who ced the seal on me," Luna suddenly revealed.


    "Wait, what?" us jerked back in his seat, caughtpletely off guard. Of all the things he expected, hearing that a mother had sealed her own daughter to turn her into an assassin was not one of them.


    That was cold—so cold that even us felt a chill run down his spine. In this apocalyptic era, most mothers fought desperately to protect their children. The idea of one doing the opposite, binding her own daughter as a tool for murder, was hard to grasp.


    "What kind of mother would ce a seal on their own daughter just to turn her into an obedient little assassin?" us muttered, still in disbelief. He shook his head. "That''s... beyond cruel."


    Luna''s eyes darkened, her expression unreadable. "She''s not like other mothers," she said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.


    us leaned forward, his voice softer now. "Tell me more. Why would she do that?"


    "Me and my twin sister... we awakened a rare kind of Talent and ss. It gave us great control over darkness and shadows," Luna began, her voice steady but distant. "Of course, nobody wants to be a tool for murder. I know I didn''t. But when you have a mother like mine, you don''t always get what you want."


    us listened carefully as she continued. "She ced a seal on both of us and trained us to be her killing weapons."


    us raised an eyebrow, intrigued by her words. "So, there''s a second you out there?" he asked, leaning forward.


    Luna nodded. "Yes. My twin sister. She''s still out there, under the same seal, doing my mother''s bidding. Just like me."


    us leaned back, processing the information. "So, tell me, what''s your rank in the organization you work for? I know you''re tied to the Dark Order. What''s your number? I''ve dealt with a few of their assassins, so I know they use a grading system."


    Luna shook her head slightly. "I''m not with the Dark Order. I work for Assassin Number 7—my mother. Both my sister and I answer directly to her. We''re not linked to the Dark Order itself."


    us raised an eyebrow again, surprised. "Wait, so your mother—Assassin Number 7—she''s running her own operation?"


    Luna nodded. "Yes, she operates outside the Dark Order. She has her own agenda, and we follow her orders. Whatever ties she has to the Dark Order, they don''t involve us directly."


    us rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting. So, she''s got her own game going... but why use you and your sister as pawns in all of this?"


    Luna''s face hardened. "Because she can."


    us listened carefully to her answers but noticed something odd. Even though she was talking about how her mother had practically enved her and her sister, there was no hint of killing intent when she spoke about her. This intrigued him, so he quickly contacted the senior through their mental link.


    ''Senior, why does she seem so calm yet angry, but shows no killing intent toward her mother?'' he asked.


    ''That''s because showing any form of murderous intent toward her mother would bring her unimaginable pain,'' the senior exined. ''If I''m not mistaken, she''s been through so much torment that even the thought of finding ways to kill her mother has stopped crossing her mind.''


    ''That''s cold,'' us thought, once again feeling something unsettling—something he didn''t know humans were capable of. A mother torturing her daughters for power. It was wild, and he didn''t want to dwell on it.


    ''Brat, do you really want to remove the seal?'' the senior offered. ''I can teach you a way to change it and take control over her. That would be much more convenient.''


    ''No, Senior, you heard her,'' us responded firmly. ''She clearly doesn''t want to be a killing machine, but she doesn''t have a choice. If I turned her into my ve, I''d be worse than her mother. I''ll try to reason with her. Worst-case scenario? I remove the seal, she tries to kill me, and like always, I will murder her before she could seed''


    ***


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