The hooded figure knelt down before the seemingly indescript man seated in an office chair. Slim, of average height and looking slightly plain, the middle-aged man seemed completely harmless, but in actual fact he was the most dangerous person in the entire temple.

"Shakes. What's up?"

The Grand Master of a.s.sa.s.sins smiled pleasantly, his eyes twinkling as he set them on his subordinate. The hooded figure stiffened, knowing that there was more than meets the eye when it came to Drake Vangorvich. Even when he was smiling, there was something far more dangerous lurking behind that genial expression.

A promise of death, perhaps. For many a victim, that friendly smile was the last thing they ever saw before they died.

Shakes suppressed his fear and swallowed. Despite Vangorvich's superlative a.s.sa.s.sination skills, he was never one to needlessly or excessively punish his subordinates. Indeed, Vangorvich never sanctioned execution or the death sentence for any of his operatives unless absolteuly necessary. Even for the traitor Anastasia, he issued a single order.

Capture her. Do your best not to kill her.

That was also why the a.s.sa.s.sins so faithfully and loyally served Vangorvich. Despite his ruthless and merciless approaches toward his targets, Vangorvich never failed to ensure the welfare of his own operatives. While they understood the necessity of leaving or sacrificing a.s.sa.s.sins in the field to ensure a mission's success, Vangorvich never carelessly expended their lives for his own goals. Those who returned in less than one piece were provided the best healing treatment he could afford. And he did not scrimp on their weapons and equipment.

For he believed that his operatives deserved nothing less than the best. Vangorvich treated every a.s.sa.s.sin, regardless of sect, as his own child, and it almost seemed as if he personally took a hand in nurturing each and every single one of them.

That was a lot more than Shakes could say for the various masters of each sect. it was unfortunate, but the individual sect masters were a lot colder and less…kind than Vangorvich. The current leader of the Veneneum Sect, who took over after Vangorvich was elevated to his present position, was intent on eliminating Anastasia so as to wipe out whatever embarra.s.sment or shame she felt at having a member defect to the enemy. Most likely Anastasia betrayed them because of the treatment she suffered at the hands of the Veneneum Sect.

Those who were not directly under Vangorvich usually ended up being puppets or p.a.w.ns in their respective leaders' play for power. No doubt this incident was a blow to the current Veneneum Sect leader's ambition to succeed Vangorvich as the next Grand Master. Not that Vangorvich would be leaving his position anytime soon…

In any case, that was why Shakes was unable to shake off the caution and fear that haunted him. As part of the Umbra Sect, he had been subjected to the cruel politics and power plays that took place in the shadows. He still couldn't easily trust anyone, even the Grand Master himself.

"Shakes?"

Vangorvich repeated his question, his tone still mild, but Shakes's muscles locked up. Was it psychological conditioning? Or perhaps there was force of will in that deceivingly gentle voice of the Grand Master? Whatever the case, Shakes found himself answering automatically, without any hesitation, before he realized it.

"Our plans to infiltrate the Silver Wolves' base has failed. Our operative has been killed in action."

"I see. So Ha.s.san has failed." Vangorvich steepled his fingers, looking grim. He sighed and shook his head. "What a pity."

"What do we do next?"

"What do you think we should do?" Vangorvich smiled humorlessly, his eyes glinting. Even though he was looking straight at Shakes, the subordinate had the sense that the Grand Master was staring at someone else, somewhere else. "If at first you don't succeed, try again. Since the Umbra Sect has proven themselves to not be up to the task, send an a.s.sa.s.sinf rom another sect this time."

Shakes swallowed and lowered his head, his throat stuck. Vangorvich softened his tone.

"Relax, Shakes. I'm not blaming you. You're not the one who failed." He sighed and leaned back in his great chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You might be from the Umbra Sect as well, but another Umbra a.s.sa.s.sin's failure isn't your failure. Even so, we must move fast." Lowering his hand, Vangorvich allowed a flash of frustration to cross his face.

"Lord?" Shakes ventured uncertainly. The Grand Master glanced back at him, his dark eyes refocusing.

"I am well aware of the politics between the leaders of the various sects and the stunts they try to pull behind my back. The Veneneum Sect leader, in particular. She's the one who is obsessed with eliminating Anastasia, what with her determination to clear the stain on their honor or that nonsense. I must capture Anastasia before she succeeds in killing her…or capturing her for herself."

"I have conveyed your displeasure to her," Shakes informed him. Vangorvich chuckled and nodded.

"I know you have, Shakes. And she's trying to be careful. That's why she enlisted the Umbra Sect leader for a favor rather than employ her own Veneneum a.s.sa.s.sins. After the last time I…told her off, she knows better than to directly defy my orders."

Shakes watched the Grand Master cautiously for a moment, trying his best to hide the frown that he felt. Vangorvich chuckled again and waved a hand in his direction.

"I know what you're thinking, Shakes. Don't worry, you don't have to hide it from me. I'm not going to kill you just because you have doubts against my orders."

"Begging your pardon, Lord," Shakes began uncertainly. "But why do you want Anastasia alive? Isn't she more of a threat alive? Providing our enemies with information about our guild, and all that."

"Can any a.s.sa.s.sin ever claim to be knowledgeable enough about everything in our Guild?" Vangorvich responded mildly as he spun his chair around to stare out of the dark-tinted window behind him. "I dare say that Anastasia doesn't even know the full details of her own Veneneum Sect…she does not even know the name of her own sect leader. What would she know about the other sects, or about the Guild?"

That was true. Being in this line of work, Drake Vangorvich was as cautious as ever, taking care not to mention the names of the various sect leaders despite only speaking to Shakes. This wasn't because he didn't know their names – as the Grand Master, he was the one person with the privilege to hold onto the knowledge of their ident.i.ties. However, one could never tell if there were bugs or spells that allowed other people to eavesdrop on their conversations within Vangorvich's office. Even though the Grand Master was confident of the soundproof and anti-spy defensive spells that enchanted his headquarters, he couldn't be too sure.

Even the sect leaders were unaware of each other's ident.i.ties, and to maintain the balance in power, he would like to keep it that way.

"Even so…despite her being in her current condition, you still wish to capture her instead of leaving her to die? She doesn't deserve to be saved."

Vangorvich laughed at that.

"My dear Shakes…do you actually believe I intend to save a traitor? An a.s.sa.s.sin who has defected to the Silver Wolves?"

Shakes blinked at that, looking puzzled. "I apologize, my lord…then why is it that you have ordered the Veneneum Sect leader to refrain from killing Anastasia?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Vangorvich smiled slyly. "It's because she is worth more to me alive than she is dead."

"I don't believe she will willingly rejoin the a.s.ssa.s.sins Guild…especially after what the Veneneum Sect did to her."

"No, no. You misunderstand me, Shakes." Vangorvich shook his head, thoroughly amused. "I am not trying to recruit her back to the Guild. Ah, it's only natural that you do not know about it…you're not from the Veneneum Sect, after all. You've not heard of the Woeful Poison Body, have you?"

Shakes scowled. "Yes, I have. But isn't that from Battle Through the Heavens? What does that have to do with…oh."

"Yes." Vangorvich grinned. "Although our dear Creator obviously ripped it off from a Chinese web novel, this still applies somewhat to our reality. Anastasia is pretty valuable as material for another Veneneum a.s.sa.s.sin."

Shakes suddenly recalled that Drake Vangorvich was the former leader of the Veneneum Sect before he became Grand Master. Before his name was known (because the Grand Master of a.s.sa.s.sins had a seat with the High Lords of Terra…I mean, connections with the ten Great Families of the Federation and was thus required to partic.i.p.ate in politics and present himself as the face of the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild), he was known as the shadowy, terrifying and almost mythical Veneneum Sect leader with the greatest number of successful kills. Small wonder that he beat his rivals to attain his current position.

"If that is the case, wouldn't the Veneneum Sect leader want to capture Anastasia alive rather than kill her? Then why is she publically…?"

"She can't possibly announce to the other sects that she's about to consume a former subordinate and take her powers for herself, to increase the lethality of her own Woeful Poison Body, can she? I don't think it'll go down that well for the others." Vangorvich chuckled. "Just as I trust you not to carelessly inform the other sects about this…"

There was a slight warning in his voice, but it was more than enough to cause Shakes to tremble all over. For some reason, he had the feeling that a wrong answer would see him killed instantly, before he even knew what was going on.

As expected of the Grand Master of a.s.sa.s.sins. Despite the immense amount of time he spent in the office, he was still no less deadly than before, back when he was a nameless, shadowy figure known only by his myth.

"No, my lord. I have no intention of leaking this to anyone else."

"Good. I wouldn't want to lose a valuable subordinate just to preserve any secrets." Vangorvich didn't seem to care that he was the one who leaked it. He was aware that Shakes would find out sooner or later, being the competent and resourceful operative that he was.

That was fine. Vangorvich trained his a.s.sa.s.sins to be competent and resourceful in the first place. They would be useless in the field otherwise.

"I will leave the a.s.signments to you. If one operative isn't enough, send several." Vangorvich smiled as he leaned forward. "The Umbra Sect might want to make up for their failure this time. I can authorize an Execution Force if you need me to."

"That's…unnecessary for now, my lord."

"Ho…? I like your confidence. But you had best hurry." Vangorvich was not worried about the doctors finding a serum and neutrailizing the toxins in Anastasia's body. That was fine with him – in fact, that would benefit him even more. A more powerful Woeful Poison Body, especially one belonging to a pract.i.tioner who had control over the toxins within her body, would be more valuable as material for absorption than someone on the verge of eruption. Rather, he was more worried about someone else. "I heard that one of the Dark Cardinals is on the move. Or ex-Dark Cardinals, I should say. Apparently she showed up to butcher a bunch of idiots stupid enough to kidnap her daughter and attack her stepson."

"Ah…" Shakes knew what Vangorvich was referring to. He had seen the news too, and could scarcely believe what he had watched. "Do you think she…is the real thing? Why has she returned, after all this time? Just for her daughter and stepson? I didn't think she had any close relations to them, what with abandoning them so many years ago."

"She must have her own circ.u.mstances. Who knows?" Vangorvich shrugged nonchalantly. "Who cares? Truth be told, I don't think she was saving her stepson. Her priority is most definitely her daughter, and I doubt she rescued her simply because of motherly love. There must be a reason why she couldn't allow her daughter to fall into enemy hands."

"What reason is that?"

"As I said, Shakes, who knows? Certainly not me. More importantly…" the Grand Master of a.s.sa.s.sins leaned over, and while his voice remained amicable there was more weight to his words than before. "I've given you an order, have I not? Why are you still here?"

"My apologies, my lord!" Shakes hastily bowed and departed the office, visibly shaken. Drake Vangorvich watched him go before he idly leaned back in his chair, his fingers lazily drumming against the surface of his desk and his eyes taking on a faraway gaze.

"Seems like the gears have been set in motion," he murmured to himself. "And everything will change, whether it's for the Federation, the Dark Church or…my a.s.sa.s.sins Guild. The world will never be the same again."