PROLOG

 The brown-haired girl stared at the overweight, sweaty man approaching her with a lewd grin on his face. She shivered, an expression of disgust appearing on her immature, beautiful face.

 Sumnar Zhan slowed down his advance toward the huge bed at the centre of the room looking delightedly at his prey lying on the bed, helpless. The mixture of fear and disgust clearly visible on the young girl's face only served to heighten his anticipation and excitement.

The lithe body concealed by a thin robe, the frail looking slender limbs, the hauntingly beautiful brown face with delicate features, those charming almond shaped eyes with those mysteriously captivating heterochromatic irises and oh, the abundant, soft and curly brown hair. Ah, an absolutely delightful feast for his eyes, and soon foe his rampaging member.

 "There, there little lassie," he said as he hastened toward the bed, unable to hold back anymore, "you may not enjoy it at the beginning, but by the time I'm through with you, you'll be begging for more."

Smiling nefariously, he then swiftly disrobed and climbed on the bed, caressing the soft, supple skin of the immature beauty lying on it. Finally, on his hands and knees above her, he smacked his thick meaty lips together with relish and reached down to disrobe her.

 Just as he grasped the hem of the robe to remove it, a cold light flashed past his throat. He reacted almost instantly, springing off the bed with unnatural speed that did not match his huge size and retreated a few metres away from the bed. Alas, it was too little, too late as blood dribbled out from the thin but deep cut across his meaty neck.

 Clutching his throat with both hands in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding, he looked with horror at the young girl, no, boy, casually changing into a black outfit taken from the storage ring that suddenly appeared on his finger and the bloody dagger lying on the bed beside him. "You, you're no girl, you're a boy," he gasped, blood trickling out from the corners of his lips.

 Done with changing, the boy put the dagger into the sheath strapped to his thigh and leapt of the bed, landing in front of the dying Sumnar Zhan. "Duh," he replied as he stared at Sumnar, amusement and disdain plain on his face, "scum like you deserve a fate worse than death, so you should be grateful to me that I'm merely killing you, you know. Besides, just how twisted do you have to be to be more obsessed with my gender than the fact that you're about to die"

 Sumnar Zhan was unwilling. A powerful warrior like him, falling victim to a child assassin's plot. His powerful superhuman senses and awareness failed to pierce through the veil of deception covering the child, he was even unable to react quickly when the child struck. How? Just how could he possibly fail to defend himself from a mere brat, especially when thousands of assassins older and definitely more experienced than the brat had tried and failed, falling prey to him and ending up killed by him instead. 

How hateful. Moreover, that cocky look the lad's face was so vexing. Treating him like scum, eh? He yearned to strike and kill the brat, but his body had weakened rapidly, leaving him weak and powerless. There seemed to be a mysterious power within the boys' dagger that prevented his body's powerful healing abilities from functioning, rendering him helpless. 

He felt his consciousness fading away, he could practically feel death's icy hands caressing him. No! If he was going to die, then the boy might as well accompany him to the underworld. With the last bit of his strength, he gathered his inner energy into his slit throat, temporarily sealing his wound and roared out, "guards! Assassin!" He then collapsed on the gold tiled floor, dead, the sight of the brat smiling at him mockingly his last memory of his short, vile life.

 Barely a minute later, the shut doors of the room burst open, flying of their hinges as five silver armoured guards burst into the room, swords drawn with brownish earth attributed mana wreathing their bodies. They were met with a shocking sight, Sumnar Zhan the city lord laying naked on the floor in a widening pool of his own blood, the only window in the room opened, a cool breeze coming in through the opened window, the light curtains fluttering in the breeze. "Shit, the city lord has been assassinated!"

 "Lock down the city. Mobilize the entire City Guard. Search every nook and cranny of this city till find the bastard who dared assassinate Lord Sumnar. If anyone dares obstruct you, slaughter them." The leader of the four guards, a ferocious looking dark-skinned man roared, a look of absolute fury on his face.

 "Yes sir," his subordinates responded solemnly. They exited the room swiftly, going forth to carry out his orders. The guard leader stared at Sumnar's lifeless corpse grim faced. Lord Rahma is definitely going to give me an earful, he thought, sighing resignedly. A few minutes later, thunderous shouts echoed throughout the city.

 "The city lord has been assassinated!" "Lock down the city!" "Search every inch of the city!" "Find that bastard who dared murder the city lord!" "Anyone who dares obstruct, slaughter! anyone who tries to escape… exterminate their entire family!" terrifying auras flared up throughout the city as tens of thousands of bronze, black and silver dead-iron armoured guards swept throughout the city, securing all possible exits while searching for the assassin.

 Meanwhile, Jarrhod the guard leader searched the room, looking for the young girl the city lord had taken into his room. Although he loathed the city lord and his disgusting tastes and had even wanted to kill that perverted prick himself, he had to capture and kill the assassin in order to ensure that his men didn't suffer any punishments for allowing the city lord to be killed while on duty. 

Yes, the assassin had unknowingly done him a huge favour, yet he refused to let his men pay the price for Sumnar's death. The Zhan family's wrath was bound to be terrifying once they found out about the death of one of their scions, he dared not imagine what terrors would befall him and his men if they failed to capture the assassin. 

After thoroughly searching the room, he found no sign of the girl, not even the faintest trace of mortal aura apart other than that of the city lords could be detected by his sensory probes. 'Weird, could she be the assassin?" no! Impossible! He shook his head chuckling wryly. How could the city lord be murdered by a powerless child? 

Something like that happening would be the greatest joke ever. A powerful transcendent phase warrior dying at the hands of a powerless little girl. But how come there was absolutely no trace of her aura in the room? 

Ha! The unfortunate child was probably taken away by the assassin… probably to prevent her from leaking out their identity. Mmn, yes, the assassin probably erased all traces of the child's aura to make it impossible for the guards to track him or her using that aura. 

Glancing at the bed and noticing the lack of blood on the grey sheets, he smiled. Maybe the child wasn't so misfortunate at all. As long as the assassin wasn't a pervert like the late city lord or going to murder her to keep her silent, she might have stumbled onto a surprisingly good fortune… as long as they failed to apprehend the assassin… and there was absolutely no way that he and his men were going to fail. 

"The perpetrator most likely has a brown-haired little girl roughly eight or nine years old with extraordinarily beautiful features with them," he telepathically transmitted to all the searching guards, "keep that in mind." He then exited the room, leaving to go inform the city guardian; Rahma, of the city lord's murder. 'Hopefully Lord Rahma won't be too hard on us. Perhaps he might even help us avoid the wrath of the Zhan family'

 That night the city of Ceruze was engulfed in a storm of total chaos as the enraged city guards and soldiers swept through the city searching all homes and establishments for traces of the mysterious assassin. Many offended and irate property owners resisted the intrusion of the soldiers resulting in altercations. 

Local gangs and mafias clashed with the soldiers when they attempted to raid their haunts, joining forces with fellow resisters. Barely an hour after the soldiers began their search an all-out war erupted on the streets as rival gangs, mafias, home owners, and heads of various establishments, riled up by the overbearing actions of the soldiers joined forces to resist them.

Sounds of clashing weapons, the roars of combatants and the cries of the wounded and dying filled the air. Warriors unleashed their various techniques upon their foes wreaking havoc and destruction in the city.

Some terrified ordinary citizens of the city holed up in their homes and shelters, not daring to come out for fear of death. Many more fled their homes moving towards the city gates.

 In a three storied tavern close to the northern entrance of the city however, the atmosphere was calm and idyllic, a total contrast to the chaos outside its doors. The Silent Sovereign; the property of the most powerful trading group in Kith'san'ba, not even the troops of the City Lords mansion dared to cause trouble there let alone the weak gangs and mafias in the city.

 Thus, none of the chaos caused by the fighting in the city came near its doors, neither did the soldiers try to forcibly search the building. After having their request to search the tavern get ruthlessly rejected by the barmaid, they left quietly and never returned. The soldiers however put the tavern under surveillance in case the assassin happened to be hiding in there.

Inside the tavern, a few burly men sat at the bar quietly drinking their beer, the beautiful, buxom barmaid refilling their jugs once they were emptied. The bartender sat on a stool behind the bar having a conversation with one of the customers. A few tables were scattered across the tavern floor with a few patrons occupying them, either chatting or quietly enjoying their drinks.

A black cloaked figure sat at the south-eastern corner of the room, alone at a table, sound asleep, head face down on the table. The hood of the black cloak concealed the sleeping person's facial features. The barmaid observed the sleeping person curiously, a small smile on her face while she served the guests.

Suddenly, the sleeping person shuddered violently and sat up abruptly, the hood falling off to reveal a bewitching and immature beautiful face with delicate features. A face identical to that of the City Lords' murderer.

As soon as he woke up, the barmaid moved from the bar to his table and sat down across from him, staring at his extremely disgusted expression with amusement. "So how was the mission?" she asked with a mocking smile, "did you have… fun?"

Once again, a violent shudder shook the boy, the look of intense disgust on his face intensifying as he furiously rubbed his arms and legs. "Ugh, please don't remind me of that," he grumbled, "I'm not the main and I wasn't present but I feel like he actually touched me. So, so disgusting, I definitely need a long hot bath to wash away that disgusting sensation."

The barmaid giggled, taking delight in his discomfort. She reclined in her seat, adjusting her posture to feel comfortable and asked, "so where's the main?"

"He's off dealing with some other issues, things to do, urgent unexpected situations to handle. He'll most likely be done in an hour or three. No need to fret, no need to be curious."

The barmaid arched her eyebrow, "evasive, aren't we?" she scoffed. "Tch, well if you don't want to tell big sis then don't bother."

The boy shrugged and rose, yawning, "I'm going to take a short nap before leaving."

"No clean-out this time?"

"How can I possibly leave without a clean-out. We'll strike early in the morning. Then we leave."

The barmaid watched him walk toward the stairs, the corner of her lips curling into a small smile as she also got up from her seat. 'You want to deceive this young lady, hehe, you're still far from capable you little brat.'