Chapter 52: Sisters

Inside the cavern, former friends—even siblings—began a cruel, bloody fight to the death.

"Clang!"

The dagger and claws collided, and somehow faintly produced a metallic echo.

The slender demon collided with the agile leopard-woman assassin, and the one who seized the advantage in strength first was actually the much smaller female assassin!

The wild brute force came from boiling blood; Talia's exceptionally outstanding racial talent allowed her to display a short-term burst of power and strength that an assassin should not have.

The poisoned twin daggers spun like twin blades, one fast, one slow.

Under the boost of her acceleration talent, she displayed an extremely precise level of control.

Blocking and counterattacking are the basics of dual blades; the constantly shifting rhythm difference is the premise of a killing move—accumulating wounds while also accumulating poison.

The demon, at a disadvantage in a frontal fight, was surprised at the new wounds constantly appearing on her body, yet could still talk tough.

"Impressive, impressive, Big Sis, you're way stronger than back then. I thought the current me would be stronger—but how long can you last? One minute? Thirty seconds?!" What the horned follower Haiya said was the absolute truth.

Both of Talia's powerful racial talents consumed an enormous amount, lasted an extremely short time, and had quite severe aftereffects.

Flicker-Dance Phantasm (Bronze) could even bring about a bullet-time level of perceived acceleration, but once the power faded, it would leave the user with sluggish reactions and a scattered mind.

Blood-Soaked Berserk (Silver) brought wild brute force and an increase to all attributes, but the aftereffect of total exhaustion was basically a suspended death sentence on the battlefield.

In Haiya's memory, the assassin Talia only had that one burst.

Either live, or die—a fitting assassin, a fitting creed.

So the frenzied demon simply gave up on defense, tanking hits head-on with her regeneration and vitality!

She believed Talia couldn't hold out much longer and would soon weaken.

But that was the Talia of the past—the one in her memories.

"Crack."

A syringe stabbed straight into Talia's shoulder.

The specially made "mixed venom" flowed rapidly along the blood vessels into her internal organs, immediately stimulating her heart and making it pump blood in a frenzy.

"Ugh." She gasped for air, yet her flesh visibly swelled a little; the effect of "Berserk" intensified alongside her boiling blood, making her even stronger.

At the same time, the paralyzing venom completely dulled her fatigue and pain, while the stimulated heart brought greater endurance and explosive power—kids, don't try this; a normal person playing like this would have dropped dead on the spot!

And part of Talia's physical body, under the unfolding of her class ability, began to turn illusory.

Shadow particles supplemented her flesh, bringing greater resilience and stamina.

"Shadow-Poison Sting?!" Haiya was somewhat surprised—this was quite rare.

A rare and powerful Tier-3 Assassin advancement, adept at using venom to strengthen herself and weaken her opponent, borrowing the power of shadow to enhance her overall capabilities.

Its signature half-elementalized (shadow) body could greatly extend the duration of toxins and berserk states.

But the prerequisites for the advancement were Poison Specialization, Poison Resistance Training, and Shadow Talent—an exceedingly demanding rare advancement.

Like many seasoned strong fighters, Talia used her class abilities to compensate for the weaknesses of her racial talents.

Physical hardware (evolved race and racial talents) and software (class, soul abilities) complemented each other, together forming an excellent combat system and combat logic.

It's just that—

"Sis Talia! You actually use the power of the Black-Cursed Sting? And you still have the nerve to be a police officer?" This rare advancement belonged exclusively to a certain assassin organization on the western continent that specialized in creating terror incidents—utterly infamous.

Perhaps being a child-killer was not Talia's darkest past.

"Compared to considering the good and evil of power itself, who holds the blade and who it is thrust into matters more."

Even while in berserk, Talia could still speak steadily.

The half-elementalized body gave her greater controllability.

"Ha, you're always right, always correct—truly sickening! You're clearly a filthy assassin, yet you constantly lecture us with your grand principles, and you even said—"

"Dina, even now, it isn't too late. People like us can still have a future. Our power can also be used in the right places." She had recognized her younger sister.

The original hesitation and blankness had vanished without a trace; now Talia earnestly tried to persuade her.

She had thought it through—just as Li En said, the strength she possessed was hard-won and still had value.

"Too late, far too late!"

The frenzied Haiya no longer cared about the attacks of blades and poison, just burying her head and wildly swinging her twin claws.

"I'm a monster, a man-eating monster—how could I turn back, why should I turn back!" Claw after claw forced Talia to retreat again and again.

"Aaaaaaah!" Haiya grew more and more frenzied; her twin claws became even more swollen and deformed, and her power became uncontrollable.

"Boom!"

Finally, even Talia's blade-wielding arm after going berserk once more showed an even greater gap in physical opinion.

Her right hand was broken by the monstrous strike, and along with it the dagger flew from her grip.

"Boom."

It was Talia, sent flying by Haiya's direct slap.

"Smack!" She slammed hard into the wall.

The woman rolled a good distance across the ground, while Haiya, gasping for air, simply stared fixedly at her.

"Clatter."

A knight in silver armor, sword in hand, stepped in front of her.

Li En had arrived, and a dazzling holy light bloomed on the holy sword.

He silently raised his sword; this time, he was confident he could slay the evil horned follower.

"Li En."

But his arm was grabbed by the woman.

When he turned his head, he saw the leopard-woman looking at him with a pleading gaze.

Was she telling him to spare it? No, that wasn't it—she wouldn't do that.

"The one you know." Li En's words were somewhat bitter; he had already seen through everything.

"Mm, it should be my sister, my best sister."

Talia stood up, gave her wrist a sharp *crack*, and the fractured bone wrenched itself back into place.

She drew a deep breath, picked up her twin daggers again, stepped past Li En, and silently walked toward the opponent waiting for her.

Li En could only sigh helplessly; since she didn't want him to interfere, all he could do was watch the fight.

But his sword was still gripped in his hand—he had always been a bastard who put results first.

Throughout this process, Haiya remained standing in silence.

She didn't flee, didn't attack, didn't even let out a single beastly roar.

"I'm not Dina." She merely said slowly.

"Dina, I'm sorry."

The killers still chose to tear into each other.

Wound for wound, blood for blood.

Daggers and claws traded blows, and the wounds on both sides grew ever more numerous.

The female assassin became a phantom, leaping ceaselessly across the battlefield, while the beast-transformed Horned One kept swelling and regenerating, trading flesh and blood for wounds upon her foe.

Fatigue was accumulating, and so was fresh blood; in this internecine battle between former killer partners, neither side behaved very "killer-like" at all.

This fight didn't last long—or rather, this kind of fighting could never last.

When both sides had gradually reached their limits, their gazes met, and tacitly agreed to one all-out strike, a survivor naturally emerged.

The frenzied female leopardfolk once again completed her frenzy, and she and her twin blades became a streaking meteor together.

And the ferocious horned beast answered with roars and lunges.

Time froze at this moment—could kin who shared no blood truly be trying to kill each other?

"Aaaaaah!" Haiya's frenzied claws were about to fall upon Talia's face.

But the lethal poisoned dagger pierced Haiya's heart a step ahead.

At that instant, shadow and venom poured into the monster's body simultaneously, and the notorious power of the Treacherous Sting completed its eruption.

She—the killer Dina, the Horned One Haiya—was perhaps about to die.

But she could still crush her sister's skull.

In the end, the clenched fist became fingers that gently stroked Talia's cheek, wiping away the tears upon it.

"Boom."

Haiya Dina collapsed onto the ground.

Compared to the earlier Haike, Haiya's regeneration was clearly far weaker. Had she not eaten enough?

Her flesh visibly crumbled into black ash—or perhaps, this was the fate of those who borrowed the power of beasts.

"Dina." Talia half-knelt on the ground, tears falling beyond her control.

The teardrops fell onto Haiya's cheek, and the monster seemed to regain a sliver of reason.

"I'm not Dina, I'm... Ben. Big Sis, thank you for setting me free. Sorry for making you do something so painful."

The monster, before dying, became human again.

"Silly Dina. How could big sis ever mistake her own sister."

"Silly big sis—the one who calls other people silly is the real silly one."

This was, perhaps, an ugly smile, and also the most unforgettable smile.

The ashes scattered, and all that remained on the spot was a weeping big sister.

The weeping lasted only briefly; the female assassin stood up once more.

When everything had settled into calm, Li En was the first to step into the cave entrance.

"Let's go. It's time to end all of this, and make those bastards pay."

(End of Chapter)