Read Novel Full Chapter 603: Hardened Assassin?
Chapter 603: Hardened Assassin?
With a kick off the ground, Marionette leapt towards Lillian with glowing eyes.
Seeing this, Lillian immediately raised her arms - prepared to take on the Assassin.
She knew Marionette wasn’t doing all of this in the right mindset; she was being controlled!
Although Lillian didn’t know how or why Marionette’s current condition had progressed up to this point, all she could do now was restrain her beloved girlfriend and administer her blood.
Using her magic, Lillian created a tall wall of water behind herself, several metres thick enough that Marionette wouldn’t be able to penetrate it easily.
With her mind split into creating the wall and also watching Marionette, Lillian took a step forward - intending to meet the Assassin head-on.
With how Lillian was right now, having reached Tier 3 and having a body tempered against several kinds of life-threatening obstacles, she should be able to contend with Marionette - even without her items!
That...
That was what she thought.
SCHWOOP!
’Fast!’
In the fraction of a second, Marionette suddenly bridged the gap between them with a speed even she couldn’t react to!
Simultaneously, she had even noticed her surroundings had become exceedingly dark.
With only so much speed and time she could muster, Lillian instinctively tilted her body to the side - dodging the barrel of Marionette’s revolver, who aimed for her head.
Amidst her dodge, Lillian became shocked; did she really just aim at her? At the head, even?!
This wasn’t a simulation!
As Lillian screamed this inside her head, Marionette, who had anticipated that Lillian would dodge, vanished into the darkness.
Despite the strong clutches the True Darkness had over her mind, Marionette’s ironclad will to prevent any harm towards Lillian would still reign supreme - taking priority.
Flustered by Marionette’s disappearance, Lillian twisted her head side-to-side.
She had lost her!
’Crap!’ Lillian shouted in her mind before sensing the burrowing through the wall she created.
With a quick turn on her heel, Lillian turned back, finding a large dark hole through her wall.
She widened her eyes, shocked, but also dumbfounded at her own forgetfulness. Lillian had forgotten that Marionette could utilise the True Darkness itself to get through her wall!
’Shit!’
Lillian moved towards the hole.
How naive was she to think she could contend with Marionette! Tier 3 this and Tier 3 that - even as a Tier 3 mage, the player would struggle to contend with Marionette!
[Darkness Empowerment], the more there was darkness around her in both quantity and density, the stronger Marionette grew with no visible limit!
On its own, unless you had another ability or item to get it to work, the only other way to make use of this Trait would be to use it at night. However, in the hands of someone who had the ability to create and control darkness itself...
’On top of her enhancements, battle experience, and talents; this was one of the things that allowed her to fight those above her Tier!’
The fact that she had managed to get this specific Trait again must not be a coincidence!
Lillian took a step forward towards the hole, but the moment she did, time suddenly slowed down for her; a humanoid frame appeared behind her.
Snaking under her armpits, a pair of arms wrapped around her chest.
Marionette held Lillian from behind, hugging her tightly as she leaned into Lillian’s right ear; she then whispered:
"For all the things I did for you, this is how you repay me, Lillian? I’m hurt."
"This is all still a misunderstandin—!"
The Rabbit stiffened, freezing in place as Marionette pulled her head to the side - forcing her way into the crook of Lillian’s neck, making her flinch and shiver.
Sniff. Sniff.
Marionette’s nose twitched several times, taking in Lillian’s scent before completely burying her face into the Rabbit’s neck.
Sniffff...
After having recovered and fully processed what Marionette was doing, Lillian immediately designated part of her mind to create a prison around them.
This was her chance!
However, her actions didn’t go unnoticed.
While rubbing her face into Lillian’s neck, Marionette tightened her hold around the Rabbit’s chest, then muttered quietly:
"If you think I’ll let you go and let you walk into someone else’s arms, then you’re too naive, Lillian."
The second after she said that, Lillian felt her body become light as she was lifted into the air, becoming disoriented as the top of her head was now parallel to the ground.
It was a russian suplex!
Bending her body back with amazing flexibility, Marionette slammed Lillian into the dark puddle that opened beneath them.
The two disappeared, but only for a few seconds.
Marionette pulled herself out of the dark puddle, shrugging off the sludge of darkness that clung to her - followed by Lillian, who was completely encased in a thick black cocoon.
Not knowing where she was, Lillian tried to break free by thrashing about, which was unsurprisingly ineffective.
The Assassin watched as the black cocoon stretched irregularly from within, recognising the cause to be because of Lillian’s struggle. She then turned around, moving indifferently to the hole she created.
"Stay there and wait for when I get back. Just know when I return, I will have a punishment in mind for your actions."
Marionette’s eyes glowed menacingly as the black veins crawling up her neck deepened and webbed outwards.
The Assassin then dived through the hole; her path was now without obstacles.
"Shit!" Lillian squealed from within the cocoon, then began to call out for her girlfriend, "Marionette?! Marionette!? Don’t do this!"
After a while, without response, Lillian’s face darkened.
She needed to escape!
Stopping her useless thrashing, Lillian quickly covered her entire body with her Parasitic Element, which - upon contact with the dark interior of the cocoon - began to drain the mana held in its structure.
Since all magical constructs needed either a constant source or storage of mana to exist, all she needed to do was take away the thing keeping it together!
On the outside, the darkness that made up the cocoon began to dissipate - breaking apart.
Eventually, Lillian was freed.
Thud...!
Plummeting a metre to the ground, Lillian let out a soft groan before immediately getting up.
She needed to move. Quick!
However, the moment she got up to her feet, she froze in fear as a—
"AHHH!"
—Bone-chilling shriek resounded from much further down the corridor.
"S-SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP! TRICIA! LILLIAN—!"
"SHIT!" Lillian subconsciously shouted, summoning her black shortsword and boosting her speed.
Following that, she sped down the corridor, hoping to get there in time.
...
Aurelia crawled back on the ground, distancing herself from a tall woman shrouded in darkness; her eyes were blurred with tears as she held her hand fearfully at Marionette.
At the tip of her fingers, thin lines of silk shot out with desperate speed - in hopes of keeping the bloodthirsty Assassin back.
Unfortunately, they did little to nothing as they were quickly severed with a blade of darkness.
Swish...!
Aurelia watched as the strings glided to the ground; fear gripped her heart even tighter, causing intense panic.
"S-someone..." Aurelia shakily muttered, "SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP! TRICIA!? LILLIAN—!?"
Marionette flashed forward and swiftly kicked the side of her ribcage—
Crack!
—Causing her to fly into a wall.
Thud!
With her back slumped into the wall, Aurelia wept and snivelled, clutching the side of her chest; were her ribs cracked?
Aurelia wasn’t sure, but it felt like it.
However, all that she was certain of was that...
’It hurts...’
Marionette lowered her leg to the ground and made her way over slowly.
"Who do you think you are to call out her name?" The Assassin coldly spat, raising the barrel of her gun.
BANG!
"KYEAAHHHH!" Aurelia let out a shrill cry as the arm she used to clutch her side got blown off her shoulder.
Soon, the adrenaline began to take effect, but that wasn’t enough to calm the creeping sense of death breathing down her neck.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Aurelia breathed in rapid, deep breaths, trying to calm herself down as her hazel eyes began to glow slightly; her emotions were in turmoil.
In all her life, she hadn’t experienced pain like this before!
Even with the bullying she experienced, she had an easy sailing - she had even been given help through her Trial, allowing her to stay away from the majority of harm!
Marionette swiftly kicked Aurelia again, shattering through the other side of the girl’s ribs and sending her through the air - leaving a trail of blood along her flight.
The Assassin cocked the hammer of her revolver again.
Then fired—
BANG!
—Blowing off Aurelia’s other arm before she could even hit the ground.
THUD!
Watching as Aurelia hit the ground, sprawling and crying in pain, Marionette walked forward - following the trail of blood along the ground.
She was indifferent to Aurelia’s cries, courtesy of her flaw.
She didn’t care about how many she had to kill to achieve her goals, courtesy of seeing people as corpses.
No matter how she acted around Lillian or how many emotions she expressed, Marionette was still an assassin; trained since young.
She was an assassin, who had killed countless under orders; her hands were stained, even with the blood of innocents.
She was the Lady of Roses, who had plucked the heads of every bud that threatened her growth.
She was Marionette Von Roselle, the Heiress to a family of killers.
Stopping beside Aurelia, who was on her stomach, Marionette looked down at her with cold indifference.
The act of torture wasn’t her usual style. In most scenarios where she was tasked to kill, she would always do it swiftly without beating around the bush.
However...
She felt like taking her time.
Aurelia, who was losing too much blood, had long blacked out from the pain - it was too much for her. Perhaps, this was her body’s way of saying that it gave up.
An instinctual decision that could be seen in most animals, who were left with no choice but to submit themselves to their predators.
Marionette slowly raised her right black heel above the woman’s head.
Then...
Stomped down.