Chapter 1141: TheAssassin of No Heart, No Self
“Oh… an Evil God?”
Lord of Scales and Feathers read the thought in Eivass’s mind. He leaned forward slightly and let out a hearty laugh. “Is that what you were thinking?”
“Just kidding, just kidding…”
Eivass chuckled awkwardly.
To avoid being overheard, Eivass hadn’t spoken at all. Instead, he relied on Lord of Scales and Feathers’ mind-reading ability to communicate with him through “thoughts.”
If it were someone else, such internal ramblings might be considered a brief mental complaint. But to Lord of Scales and Feathers, it was equivalent to a direct verbal complaint—which now seemed a bit impolite.
“I was just joking.”
Lord of Scales and Feathers leaned back with a chuckle, reclining on the opposite side of the carriage. “I wouldn’t get angry about something like that—is there a possibility I’m actually an Evil God myself?”
—You really seem angry!
But faced with Eivass’s increasingly subtle gaze, Lord of Scales and Feathers calmly said, “Don’t worry about the details. In the end, what’s the difference between an Evil God and a righteous one?
“Darkness is swallowed by greater darkness, and villains can be united against a greater villain. It’s like the Eagle Eye assassins.
“From their inception, they were seen as destabilizing elements by the rulers, a force of uncontainable darkness—no ruler in this world could tolerate an assassination group whose skills were so advanced that they could easily kill them, yet who were not under their absolute control.
“Yet, faced with the ever-expanding influence of the Children of the Moon, the Iris Flower Royal Family chose to tacitly approve, even protect, the Eagle Eye organization. During the era when the Royal Family still stood, every generation would see members of the Royal Guard, or even distant relatives of the royal family, join their ranks.”
Lord of Scales and Feathers said with deep meaning, “The leader of the current generation of Eagle Eye—is from that very lineage.”
“…Speaker Pierre?”
Eivass suddenly understood.
No wonder the three Dukes had such a favorable attitude towards the Eagle Eye organization. They weren’t Extraordinary individuals who adapted their paths. To them, both Eagle Eye and the Children of the Moon were “outsiders,” yet the Dukes clearly leaned towards Eagle Eye—unlike many other nobles who were heavily biased towards the Children of the Moon. And while the three Dukes openly called themselves “Dukes,” they weren’t targeted by those “assassins who pursued freedom and equality.”
Eivass had initially thought it was because they had sponsored the Eagle Eye organization and received their protection. He never imagined it was the “result” rather than the “cause.”
Although the Eagle Eye organization was vast in scale, the proportion of Extraordinary individuals within it was less than a fifth. Most were peripheral members like those Arsen had encountered at the bar. Even among the Extraordinary individuals, the majority were Lower-Tier… The few High-Tier Extraordinary individuals had to take on assassination missions to support the organization, and even then, it was incredibly difficult to sustain so many people.
They were indeed in dire need of money, extremely so.
With the protection of the Children of the Moon, the nobles weren’t particularly afraid of them, so they were unwilling to pay protection fees… Rather, if they hadn’t had a few family members killed by Eagle Eye, the Children of the Moon might not have trusted them.
And if the Children of the Moon came looking for trouble, it would be the same fate.
The only ones willing to sponsor Eagle Eye were those three Dukes.
Despite the Eagle Eye organization’s practice of recruiting primarily from the dregs of society—the homeless, orphans, prostitutes, gangsters, unemployed, debtors, fugitives, and other societal outcasts—to prevent infiltration and corruption by the Children of the Moon, its core even reached the level of “distant royal relatives.”
…No wonder Eagle Eye had been sending people to secretly protect the King.
Louis Vaux, the “passionate youth” who had assassinated the Swan King back then, had succeeded by bypassing Eagle Eye’s surveillance and protection.
At the time, Eivass had heard that Eagle Eye was also conducting surveillance, but he had found it strange and hadn’t thought about it carefully. Now he understood the principle behind it…
The three Dukes continued to sponsor the Eagle Eye organization because Eagle Eye had become the sole legitimate entity of the Iris Flowers.
How ironic.
“…But speaking of that,” Eivass recalled another matter, “Speaker Pierre taking all the blame onto himself to exonerate the Eagle Eye organization… it seems rather misguided.”
Speaker Pierre himself possessed a trace of royal blood, which allowed him to stand out in the Great Tree Party’s elections. It was precisely for this reason that the Eagle Eye organization received tacit approval and funding.
But if his own reputation suffered, what value would the Eagle Eye organization have?
“Wait, could it be…”
Eivass realized.
—He’s sacrificing his reputation to survive?
“As expected of you, you realized that so quickly.”
Lord of Scales and Feathers smiled with satisfaction.
The fact that Speaker Pierre, the leader of the Great Tree Party, was the head of the Eagle Eye organization was a closely guarded secret, known only to the high ranks of Eagle Eye, the three Dukes, and a very few others.
If the Children of the Moon had known this, he would have been dead long ago.
Although on the surface, the Eagle Eye organization was composed of mercenaries from the Black Hawk Duchy, the assassinations carried out by Eagle Eye had brought the Iris Flowers into conflict with Avalon and the Church, which would have allowed the Children of the Moon to launch an attack. And the Healthy Party, controlled by the Children of the Moon, was in opposition to the Great Tree Party.
If the Children of the Moon had seized the opportunity to purge them, with the Healthy Party becoming dominant, Speaker Pierre could have also faced serious danger. This could have been in terms of his life, or in terms of his political standing.
But if he chose to tarnish his own reputation, taking all the responsibility upon himself, and causing public discontent towards him and the Great Tree Party… that would buy him time.
Due to these continuous scandals, he was sure to lose the next election, and the Healthy Party wouldn’t take any unnecessary, risky actions.
After all, the Children of the Moon had an almost infinite lifespan, and time was on their side.
They were accustomed to this tactic of wearing down their enemies and slowly eroding their influence through attrition.
“But this is not thorough at all.”
Eivass also immediately realized another drawback of this strategy—it didn’t actually solve any problems, only postponed them. In fact, it seemed to have made the problems even worse.
The Eagle Eye organization still carried the stigma of being untrustworthy, and the originally highly respected Speaker Pierre had also become vulnerable due to his defense of Eagle Eye.
Now, with the sudden demise of the Children of the Moon, the Healthy Party had completely lost its ability to resist.
During this golden age of internal strife, it was impossible for no one to drag Eagle Eye down with them.
—After all, the true epithet of the Iris Flowers was the “Land of Love and Beauty.”
But where was the beauty?
The four Iris Flowers on the Iris Flower flag represented their adherence to The Path of Beauty. The Path of Beauty was the original orthodoxy. This was because the initial group of nobles who formed the Iris Flowers came from the Art Association of the Hrasal Empire.
These were the same people who had chosen to wage war against the Alchemy Association because of the painting “The Alchemist” back then. They possessed the most orthodox and ancient artistic heritage, not inferior to the necromancy inheritance of the Spirit Tower.
The reason for the current situation of Eagle Eye and the Children of the Moon dominating was that they had tacitly agreed to hunt down the Extraordinary individuals of The Path of Beauty.
If it weren’t for the assassinations and corruption targeting artists, the Iris Flowers would undoubtedly have the highest proportion of High-Tier Extraordinary individuals in the Path of Beauty.
With the extinction of The Path of Love and the emergence of weaknesses in the Path Adaptation, they had to try and turn the tide. If they didn’t make a move now, there would be no chance once those scumbags from Eagle Eye rose to power.
Eagle Eye was certainly not foolish. If they wanted to rise to power, they would first have to eliminate these individuals. Compared to artists, assassins who specialized in assassination had a much greater advantage in the realm of “physical destruction.”
—How ridiculous.
After the Children of the Moon, the enemies of humanity, were annihilated, humans engaged in a life-or-death struggle amongst themselves—and if they had possessed such courage earlier, the weak Children of the Moon would have been expelled or imprisoned long ago.
“Isn’t it interesting? And in this situation, the senior members of Eagle Eye chose an even more interesting path—”
Lord of Scales and Feathers burst into laughter. “That’s why I appeared here to tell you all this! If you don’t even know why the other party is coming, it would be too boring!”
Eivass’s mind buzzed, and he understood everything.
Chloe’s grandfather probably never expected the assassination to succeed. Or rather, regardless of whether the assassination succeeded or not, his plan would be accomplished.
—He intended to stop this infighting that would inevitably destroy everything.
In the name of Eagle Eye… to the best of his ability, assassinate Eivass.
If it succeeded, he would have avenged his family.
They would then face the wrath of the New Hrasal and the Church. The disorganized Iris Flowers would be easily defeated and absorbed into the New Hrasal system. The Eagle Eye organization, having successfully assassinated Eivass, would therefore be purged.
If it failed, Speaker Pierre could use it as an opportunity to launch a major purge of Eagle Eye, thereby gaining favor and assistance from the Church and the New Hrasal, and successfully severing ties with the Eagle Eye organization.
Even if Eivass had guessed this, he wouldn’t show leniency to Eagle Eye.
Regardless of success or failure, Eagle Eye would be destroyed because of this.
And before that, during its prolonged struggle with the Children of the Moon, Eagle Eye had already absorbed almost all the dregs of the Iris Flowers.
With the destruction of Eagle Eye, all these people would be annihilated at once.
The nation would regain peace, the dregs would be destroyed, the monsters would be eliminated…
—And the Iris Flowers would usher in a new era.
“The resolve of an assassin…”
Eivass murmured.
This didn’t seem to be the principle of Path Adaptation—but rather from the Twilight Path.
Had he shifted towards the Twilight Path because of his old age?
He had no descendants, and his bloodline could not continue. The strong urge to be remembered, and the repentance of wanting his life to have meaning… led him to choose this path.
It was for this reason that the Master Assassin was more dangerous than any assassin of the same level—
He cared not whether the assassination succeeded, for even failure was a victory;
He cared not whether he died, for his death was certain;
He cared not if he implicated others, for his purpose was to drag them all to hell with him;
He even cared not whether the Iris Flowers would survive—for if he didn’t do this, the Iris Flowers would be utterly destroyed by themselves.
No killing intent, no retreat, no business, no hesitation.
No heart, no self, no ego—
At this moment, Eivass suddenly felt a tightening in his chest, and his scalp tingled instantly!
Dim Yellow light flowed through, and the entire world seemed to freeze in an instant.
—He couldn’t move.
Completely unable to move!
It wasn’t that his body was intimidated by killing intent, but rather that the sense of time was stretched infinitely in that instant. Since not even a tenth of a second had passed externally, no matter how hard he exerted himself, his body couldn’t move.
In the next moment, the carriage, which was slowing down as it turned, was instantly pierced from the side.
Two arrows, as black as thorns, struck Eivass’s left and right chests respectively.
A third arrow directly severed one of his antlers, which had been hidden by an illusion, and perfectly pierced his forehead.
The arrowhead emerged from the back of his head, while the shaft was still lodged in his skull. In any case, these were clearly fatal injuries…
Then, time began to flow normally again.
The carriage continued to move forward, and the coachman in front didn’t even realize that Eivass had been assassinated. The three arrows that pierced Eivass were completely silent, leaving only thumb-sized holes in the carriage. The carriage didn’t even vibrate.
It was an assassination in “an instant.”
From sensing the danger to the third arrow hitting its mark, only 0.05 seconds had passed.
He didn’t even know where the assailant had launched the sneak attack from before the fatal wounds were inflicted.
The arrows seemed to possess some special power that could seal Extraordinary Power upon contact with the body.
Generally speaking, High-Tier Extraordinary individuals were practically immune to physical impacts from arrows and bullets. At least, it would take heavy artillery to cause any damage.
But these special arrows easily broke through that defense. At the moment of impact, they completely suppressed Eivass, rendering him unable to use his Extraordinary Abilities—whether it was his Healing Ability, the ability to manifest Don Quixote’s shield, or the ability to summon other Beasts of Sin were all sealed. The Mana within his body rapidly burned, causing continuous damage to his flesh.
For a normal person… even an Extraordinary individual of the Fifth Tier would have been severely wounded by such an attack.
But at this moment…
Eivass, with a black, curved, thorn-like matte arrow protruding from his head, turned to look at Lord of Scales and Feathers in astonishment.
He was not dead.
He didn’t feel any pain at all.
Instead… he felt an intense, intoxicating pleasure.
Eivass finally understood why Lord of Scales and Feathers had been so cheerfully watching the spectacle without any haste.
The reason was simple—
“This is the Eagle Eye organization’s most valuable Divine Artifact, a set of nine God-Slaying Arrows. These are crossbow bolts capable of assassinating the Eternal Pope—but when he chose to use these bolts, his failure was already sealed.”
Lord of Scales and Feathers said leisurely, “Because these arrows are crafted from concentrated, refined Sin Thorns. Sin Thorns cannot accept any Extraordinary Power from the Origin River, yet without Extraordinary Power, they cannot be refined. Therefore, these are arrows forged by ‘Demon Craftsmen’ of Fourth Tier or above, at the cost of sacrificing their own abilities and souls.
“One life for one arrow. The Void Power contained within the Sin Thorns can indeed pose a threat even to gods… after all, even Pillar Gods can be infected by the Void. But for you, it has no effect at all.
“In the past, his granddaughter, who took pride in controlling shadows, died under your Shadow Demon; now, he takes pride in being able to use this Sin Thorn crossbow… Isn’t this a cycle of [Fate]?
“—I wouldn’t be needed at all, Eivass. Your life is much harder than you imagine, you should be more confident. If you couldn’t withstand it, why would I have brought you to this World?
“Now, transform into a Sin Eater Beast… and finish him.”
Eivass didn’t even need Lord of Scales and Feathers to speak.
Catalyzed by the power of the Sin Thorns, Eivass’s body began to deform uncontrollably.
The Sin Thorn arrows ingested into his body began to melt, dripping. Like chocolate being scorched by a blowtorch, they gradually dripped into Eivass’s brain.
The Mana burning in Eivass due to the Sin Thorns was replenished at several times the speed, even recovering to overflowing.
The concentrated Sin Thorns rapidly increased Eivass’s transformation rate, which quickly surpassed 60% and was still increasing!
