Give me a reason

"Ivan, a B-Ranker, is afraid of them..."

She had heard a lot about Ivan, especially since she had met him in the past, when she was a porter.

As per the rumors she had heard, Ivan was the strongest in the city, but he lacked motivation to grow beyond this small city and reach greater heights with his talent. He was the man that Lilith despised the most! He had talent, but it was all wasted since he would rather live a carefree life.

When he was a little over twenty years old, he rose quickly through the ranks to the point where he was already a C-ranker only one year after receiving his contract. Unfortunately, that was where his abnormal growth ended! He had left a life of fame and power and situated himself in a small city, living a luxurious life.

There were few occurrences where he battled a monster or a human. When he did, it was only if his life of luxury was threatened; otherwise, he wouldn't bother to leave his mansion. For twenty years, he lived this life, and his rank had risen only by one.

He might've been B-ranked, but his strength and skills couldn't compare to an ordinary B-ranker who wasn't affiliated with any powerful guild. He was basically a peak C-ranker and only had the B-rank position by name.

"That useless man…" Lilith tightly clenched her fists, creating an audible grinding sound that caused the man's face to turn pale.

Her fists were clenched so tightly together that her palms had started bleeding already.

When her parents realized she didn't have any talent, her life turned for the worse. There was no one there to support her, and to this day, after five years, she still couldn't understand why! Why was she born with no talent? Why did everyone abandon her? She was still a human at the time, so why?

The most caring parents she could've ever wanted in her life abandoned her as soon as they were told that she had no talent. This world was cruel for people with no talent.

But... Ivan was different. He was the opposite of her, someone with amazing talent and a great future that lay ahead of him. He had exactly what she wanted: talent, but it was all wasted; he didn't use his talent to become strong for anything but himself.

For a long time, she had resented him for failing to use his talent when he had it. Among all the people that she hated, she hated him the most. He was one of the people she wanted to kill, but it was impossible for her to kill him at the moment with the difference in their strengths.

It wasn't easy for her to kill Ivan, who was a B-ranker with strength a little higher than a peak C-ranker. She needed strength to pass through everyone who protected his mansion and kill him.

As she clenched her fist tighter, the cold dagger that was pressing against the man's throat was slowly cutting into him. Lilith subconsciously did this in her anger.

As the blade cut into his throat, he felt that he would die. He hadn't lied to her as he feared he would die, but after muttering a few words, she fell silent, only for her to release killing intent as he felt insatiable hatred.

His life was in danger, but he was too weak to save himself. His instincts weren't as strong as the assassin's, but they were strong enough to tell him this! He knew he didn't have long to live.

For some reason, even as he was facing death, he couldn't help but become curious! It must've been a last effort of his to rid himself of fear, as he wasn't too far from death's door.

Just what could've caused her to have such strong killing intent? Who was the person who angered her to this degree? He felt that even if the person were to run to the other side of the earth, they still wouldn't be safe from her wrath.

Lilith came back to her senses, releasing some of the pressure from the man's throat.

"Did I give you permission for you to stop? If you don't want to die, it would be best if you continued without stopping." Lilith spoke, not caring that she almost killed him.

He was of no value to her. She could simply find another person to get information from if he was killed by accident. It would take longer for her to find someone with enough information, but it wasn't impossible for her.

The man didn't show it, but he was relieved that he wasn't killed, but he wasn't safe yet; she was still a threat to his life.

She briefly paused for a moment and asked her second question.

"Why are the guilds here? This city has nothing that would've caught their attention. Why would the top guilds send out hunters to come here, a city that only has one B-ranker?"

This time, the man wasn't surprised by her lack of common knowledge. He answered as quickly and earnestly as possible. "I'm unaware of all the details, but there are only two reasons why a guild would send hunters to a city such as this."

"One is if there were a demon with strength that could threaten humanity, if not the entire world, but the possibility of that happening here is next to none. The second was where someone had such great talent that the guilds were forced to send out scouts to recruit them."

"The second reason is most likely true, as there was a divine tower of flames that only happens when someone's contract evolves to another level."

The longer the man spoke, the more surprised she felt after realizing how ignorant she was of the word. Who knew that holding a dagger to someone's throat who possessed knowledge of this world would be this helpful?

"What's the name of the person they're after?"

"Even I don't know that. All that I can tell you is that they are from the Durham gang. I'm not sure who it is, but my best guess is Kesean, the leader."

'Durham gang? Did something happen after I killed Kesean's son?'

….

After interrogating the man at knifepoint for an hour, Lilith felt satisfied. She kept her promise and let him leave without harm other than an apparent scrape on his throat, accompanied by a faint trickle of blood.

Through the man, she received a lot of information. Under the possibility of death, the man didn't hide anything from her, allowing her to get information on other things besides the city.

Unfortunately, the information she received didn't paint a rosy picture of the world or her future. It was more dangerous than she initially thought.

The lowest members of the top guilds were all C-rank or above. With her current strength, she wouldn't stand a chance against a C-ranker, let alone a guild full of them. Thanks to the man, she was at least aware of a few things she needed to be careful about, but it was still clear that there were many secrets that the man wouldn't have known.

No matter how wealthy this man was, he was still a citizen of this city. There was no doubt that he didn't know everything in this world, but his information was still valuable to someone like Lilith, who was ignorant of the world.

****

In an unknown part of the continent, in a place known as the "dead zone," where no humans lived and demons thrived, there existed a mysterious association that had the strength to contend with the top guilds of the world.

At the moment, there was a meeting taking place, where the seven rulers of the association were in one room, seated around a table. Each one of them spoke of a different matter, ranging from the different parts of the continent their forces were in.

"Everything's moving forward as planned. There shouldn't be any interference in our plans. We will commence the next attack in a week's time." Reia, a fiery red-haired woman, stated, finishing her report, her crimson eyes seeming to glow in the dark room.

Strangely enough, all seven possessed the same crimson eyes.

"I suppose it's my turn then." A young boy with long green hair asked, who appeared as if he was only fourteen or fifteen—nowhere close to being an adult.

"There-" He couldn't finish his sentence before a woman in black silently appeared behind him, kneeling to her lord. "Shadow… You should've known not to disturb our meeting, but you did. Give me a reason for me to spare your life."

"My Lord." Shadow exclaimed. "I've come with urgent news."