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Chapter 51: Sinia and the Empty Bag (2)
Chapter 51: Sinia and the Empty Bag (2)
Chapter 51: Sinia and the Empty Bag (2)
In Sinia’s view, the strange man in the filthy mask was quite the expert.
His ability to hide his aura.
And his method.
He was an assassin, at least of the 6th tier.
Sinia had an intuition that this weird man also noticed her tier, maybe even noticed that she was tracking him.
And yet, he had revealed himself again without any caution?
It couldn’t be a coincidence or a mistake the second time.
‘No way.’
Sinia arrived at a possibility.
She had long been secretly trailing Rendal of Sesone, a direct descendant assassin of Harashin.
But then Rendal of Sesone suddenly vanished.
And then this high-tiered assassin appeared right in front of her, just as she was scrambling through the back alleys to find Rendal of Sesone.
‘Is he trying to lure me?’
Yes.
That was the conclusion that Sinia had reached.
Harashin had noticed her. Noticed she was chasing after Rendal of Sesone.
And so, to trap and eliminate her, they sent an even stronger assassin.
Sinia was in agony.
Should she fall for this man’s trap or not?
The logical choice was to back off.
This was the underworld.
Although it was the shallowest part of the underworld, it was still the underworld.
Sinia, a person of the frontlines, had strayed into Harashin’s territory in the underworld.
And ignoring the strange feeling in their territory was akin to walking into enemy territory unprotected.
‘But-‘
Sinia remembered the weird man she had just encountered.
His ability to erase his aura.
His intuitive skill to detect her own intuition.
This was an assassin who was at least above the 6th tier.
He could be Harashin’s direct master.
Her heart pounded.
This was a huge opportunity.
An opportunity incomparable to chasing after a direct descendant like Rendal of Sesone.
She was caught at a crossroads.
Would she risk it all for this opportunity?
Or keep herself safe and distant from this opportunity?
“Sister…”
As she was deep in thought, a face emerged in Sinia’s mind.
Then, her hesitation vanished.
With a resolute expression, she followed the man.
After tracking him carefully, she came upon a building.
“Huh..?”
Blood.
The overpowering smell of iron was enough to make her head spin.
A man and a woman were in the center of the dark interior.
The man with long fingers was dissecting the woman.
She was the source of the metallic smell permeating the air in the building.
Sinia recognized the man who was dissecting the woman.
He was the fixer for Rakar, the criminal organization that controlled the underworld.
The Empty Bag.
The man with long, slender figure and fingers, like a withered tree, flashed a wide grin as he spotted Sinia.
“Steel Wall! What brings such a dignitary to this humble abode?”
Thump.
He dropped the woman he had been disassembling in his hands.
The woman was evidence.
Evidence that testified as to why he was referred to as ‘The Empty Bag’.
Despite the horrifying sight that could turn the stomach of just about anyone, Sinia maintained her cheerful expression.
She remarked with a spirited voice.
“Quite a distasteful hobby, isn’t it?”
“I apologize for your unpleasant sight. But let’s get one thing straight. I’m just someone who had their privacy invaded.”
“Who is this woman?”
“A rat. Just a rat that crept into our organization. I discovered her and our boss left it up to me to take care of this rat. That’s all there is to it.”
“Hmm….~”
“You wouldn’t go meddling in our underworld business over one lowly woman, would you?”
If, at this point, Sinia were to condemn The Empty Bag in the name of ‘justice’, she will be criticizing the criminal organization that sent this ‘rat’.
Even if she didn’t, she would still be intervening in the affairs of the underworld.
Would an individual of Sinia’s stature interfere with underworld affairs?
Meddling in the dealings between criminal organizations that rule the underworld?
The resulting repercussions, even for someone as powerful as Sinia, was not something she could handle alone.
Despite these odds, The Empty Bag stood defiant, fully aware of his exposed criminal activities.
Sinia silently glared at him.
Keeping her cheerful expression intact.
And then, she abruptly spit out a word.
“Harashin.”
Sinia’s unexpected assault.
The Empty Bag’s outward calm remained but he couldn’t keep his inner self as composed.
Thump!
A disharmonious sound escaped from him, reaching Sinia.
“Getting treated as Harashin just for having a secretive hobby. That’s a bit much.”
“Haha, acting is over now. Shall we get straight to the point?”
The identity of the mysterious man she had been chasing was The Empty Bag.
And the true identity of the Empty Bag was Harashin’s assassin.
That was the conclusion Sinia arrived by trusting her instincts and intuition.
The innocent smile on The Empty Bag’s face suddenly vanished.
His expression became sharp, turning to Sinia with a hard look.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Haha, what are you talking about after leading me on like this?”
Their conversation failed to align.
But they overlooked it.
What was important to Sinia now was the fact that the man in front of her was Harashin.
And to The Empty Bag, what was important was the fact that the woman in front of him knew he was Harashin.
“Empty Bag, I have a suggestion. Would you like to hear it?”
“What is it?”
“Could you possibly cooperate with me? If you do, I won’t kill you.”
Hehe.
The Empty Bag’s eyes and mouth opened wide in a grotesque smile as if to tear his own face skin apart.
“Can I make a suggestion too?”
“What is it?”
“Have you ever thought of submitting yourself to the one who gathers lost souls by your own will?”
“The one who gathers?”
Haaaa.
The thrill that The Empty Bag showed when he was disassembling the woman.
The Empty Bag exhaled, filled with a thrill that was incomparable to what he had previously felt.
“Do you not anticipate how joyful the arm that gathers and the one who gathers will be when they collect you?”
“Hmm… Not really…?”
Wham!
A gust of wind swept through the room.
The air, unable to keep up with the movements of those who entered the realm of the heroes, churned as it tried to catch up.
In Sinia’s two hands are the long sword and the heavy sword, dual-wielded.
The Empty Bag’s long fingers stained red.
The two clashed weapons creating sparks.
“Wow, your fingers are so hard?”
“Steel Wall. Occasionally, I wonder. What kind of noise would it make if my fingers were to go inside you.”
“Yuck! That’s disgusting!”
Sinia pushed off with her twin swords.
Their blades, which had been locked against each other, pulled away only to clash again immediately.
After clashing like this several times, they returned to a standoff.
The Empty Bag resumed speaking.
“But no matter how much I imagine it, I can’t visualize it. The scene where my finger goes inside you. Or the noise it would make.”
“Could you stop it? If you keep this up, I won’t be able to control my power when I interrogate you.”
“It’s the one who gathers that answered my wish. They desire you…!”
“…!”
Sinia’s expression twisted at that moment.
She quickly retreated from The Empty Bag.
“What the…!”
Touch.
Sight.
Hearing.
Smell.
Sinia’s senses were trying to break free from her control.
Her swords, her mana, were all trying to break free from her control.
Assassination techniques, laboriously cultivated to a certain level, will invalidate an adversary’s existence.
Right now, countless ‘Unfair Mana Needles’, created using the assassination techniques by Harashin’s direct lineage master ‘Long-Nailed Edony’, were bombarding Sinia’s body.
“Kuh…!”
Sinia realized she had fallen into complacency.
The assassination techniques she had arrogantly believed were adequately dealt with, the assassination skills unfolded by the direct lineage master of Harashin, far surpassed her expectations.
Her mental and sensory faculties were being battered.
Her mental energy and mana were rapidly depleting due to the brute force of the mana interference that she was experiencing for the first time.
“Iron Wall! Even you seem to lose your cool in the face of the authority of your captor, no matter how many years it’s been!”
She felt disoriented.
The voice of the empty bag was testing her auditory senses with its slurred pronunciation.
The ground was shaking.
Countless ants seemed to be crawling over her skin.
Am I holding a sword right now?
At that moment, when Sinia was confused due to the sensory discrepancy caused by the assassination techniques,
The Empty bag-
Long-Nailed Edony began to move.
“…!”
At that moment, Edony’s figure trembled like a shimmering flame within the darkness.
-Clang!
Edony, who had displayed his assassin skills, had unexpectedly approached Sinia while his figure was still trembling like a flame.
Sinia barely managed to parry the ten claws he had extended towards her with her twin swords.
It was an instinctual movement that defied her control over her senses.
That was what saved Sinia.
But it wasn’t a complete save.
In her hazy senses, all she could feel was pain.
Numerous red lines were drawn on Sinia’s body.
Edony’s attack was relentless, continuing from there.
Sinia could just barely keep up with the assassin’s movements, which were hard to follow even with her full senses, through her repeatedly negated senses.
No, she was following them.
But in the end, it was still inadequate.
-Malevolent!
-Malevolent!
Each time Edony’s long claws moved, a red line was added to Sinia’s body.
Had she really reached the realm of a hero?
Sinia gradually adapted to Edony’s movements.
But her mental strength, mana, and physical strength were being exhausted at an alarming rate.
I can’t go on any longer.
It was at that moment, Sinia, who had made that decision, was about to unveil her trump card.
“…!?”
“…!?”
The world stopped.
It was an illusion felt by Sinia and Edony.
Why did they feel such an illusion?
“Don’t move…!”
Having completely lost control of their senses, their movements had stopped perfectly.
Assassination techniques that reached a certain level negate their targets.
Right now.
Their senses were thoroughly denied.
As a result, their world had stopped.
In the world that had stopped like this, there was someone moving leisurely…Sinia’s lips moved very slowly.
‘You…!’
In this stopped world, how much time would it take for those slowly moving lips to utter the words they wanted to say?
Perhaps it would be close to eternity.
It was a robe, cut out the darkness as per his will and draped over his body.
He seemed like a giant who had thrown the whole night sky into his robe.
Above all, there was his mask, which was so unusual it made everything else seem routine.
From the eyes of his mask, a black gleam was flowing out.
The strange man who had guided Sinia here, was moving freely in the stopped time.
“…”
The strange man, who had gazed at Sinia for a brief moment, went straight up to Edony.
He manipulated the body of Edony, who was preparing to deal the next blow to Sinia.
As if controlling a puppet on a string.
“…!”
And so, Edony threw out his hands with all his might.
And embraced his hands.
His five pairs of long fingers, were pointing towards himself.
Edony’s lips moved at an incredibly slow speed.
‘No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
To scream out an exclamation filled with all the emotions he was feeling right now.
But it wasn’t permitted.
In this halted world, the only being allowed to move was the strange man wearing the unusual mask.
He mumbled softly towards Edony.
“You lost and wandering left foot. Harashin’s left eye has been turned upon you.”
Just like the abyss beyond the graveyard gaining a will and igniting, an endlessly deep voice resounded from within the mask.
“And so, I, Harashin’s Right Arm, pave the way before you-”
The strange man placed his large palm on Edony’s face.
“Ragadiearias.”
He swept his palm down as he continued speaking.
“Egonoearias.”
Finally, the frozen world allowed movement to Edony.
-Whoosh!
His five pairs of long fingers slashed through Edony’s body.
Thud.
Edony fell to his knees.
His eyes were closed, and wings made from his fingers sprouted from his back.
Even though it was undoubtedly a disgusting sight, it brought about a strange sense of reverence.
“…!”
Thump!
The deity of blasphemy now stared at Sinia.
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump
Inside Sinia’s halted world, only her heart was free to race.