In total, Bai Xieren gave him 5 assassination targets.
Along with Aubrey Price, they were named Eli Rodgers, Joe Bernard, Elizabeth Oscar, and Lynn Carter. Each of them headed a separate branch of research, and none of them were easy targets.
Wasn’t this a bit too much?! Why was Bai Xieren punishing him like a jealous wife?! Damien lamented about the workload he gained when he just finally guaranteed his safety.
‘It won’t even be close to easy. These people don’t have high strength since they focused on research, but they are constantly surrounded by guards and eyes. It’ll be impossible to just kill them whenever.’
Actually, even Damien Grey had an entourage of guards that would usually stick around him, but his laboratory and home were strictly off-limits. The guards could only stay outside.
But the lab was practically impenetrable through force, and the perimeter of guards around his home guaranteed its safety.
But that was just how Damien Grey did things. He didn’t know the personal preferences of those other researchers. If they clung to their lives dearly, perhaps their guards would maintain close proximity for 24 hours a day.
‘Hm? Lynn Carter?’
Damien’s attention was suddenly focused on the last name on the list. The name sounded oddly familiar, which didn’t fit with the fact that it was his first time in this world.
Where could he possibly have…?
It didn’t take long for him to recall the memory. His Spiritual World was far more enhanced than someone at his level should’ve been. Indelible memory was a perk of that.
Well, calling it indelible was a stretch, but Damien knew he’d get there eventually.
The memory he recalled this time, however, was actually from Earth.
A group of researchers in an underground laboratory, all headed towards the same place. A voice rang out from among them filled with complex emotions.
“Commence trial 127 for project title: Core Extraction.”
Damien’s eyes immediately hardened. Right, the woman named Lynn Carter was there on Earth. She and the scientists under her were in charge of a project with an exceedingly ferocious name.
Core Extraction,
To rob a world of its core, what did this mean? It wasn’t just the destruction of the world, it was the destruction of all life existing on the planet.
And aside from that, if the process wasn’t completed properly, the vacuum created by the World Core’s absence could lead to the formation of a Dead Zone.
And in Dead Zones, even time became inconsequential. It was a true hell of blackness.
‘Is this it? Have I stumbled upon something great so easily?’ Damien questioned himself.
Naturally, the information he had on Lynn Carter didn’t mention the Core Extraction project at all. It instead listed her as a key figure in Chimera research along with Audrey Price.
Did it mean that even those who gathered information on her didn’t learn about the project, or did it mean they were intentionally hiding it?
Damien didn’t know, and he had no intention of informing Aishia about it. While on the surface, she was a hero of justice and a woman filled with vengeance, Damien’s trust in Asgard was waning.
Not that he had trust in the organization in the first place, but their actions only continued to build suspicion in his heart.
He needed to find a moment to sneak out. He could tell Aishia about the other assassinations, but he would keep Lynn Carter a secret.
In that way, he would have a convenient alibi.
‘Should I inform Long Chen?’ He shook the thought off immediately. Long Chen’s involvement would most likely lead to Aishia’s suspicion.
As they said, to fool one’s enemy, one must first fool one’s friends.
Damien locked this plan in his mind.
‘To think I would find something big so quick. Core Extraction…not only should I destroy this research, but I should also learn from it. It will be very useful in the future.’
The duty of a Celestial was to rule over celestial bodies. To rule meant to bring prosperity. And for prosperity, any bad seeds needed to be pulled out before they could contaminate the rest.
If he had to destroy a world for such reasons, he’d do it without hesitation.
Currently, Niflheim was in question.
He hadn’t seen the World Core yet, and he hadn’t even explored the world. Still, he had the vague feeling that he was surrounded by enemies, and he didn’t want to let this feeling persist.
‘First, let’s complete Bai Xieren’s task. I’ve always thought an assassin with spatial powers would be overpowered.’
An assassin who had no limits but their own imagination. An individual who could appear anywhere as long as the ever-present folds of space accepted his entry.
Even if spatial locks existed, and spatial fluctuations left traces, Damien had the means to deal with both of them.
And he also possessed the ultimate weapon for killing silently.
Wisps of pitch-black essence snaked around his fingertips so covertly that not a single soul noticed its presence. A ruthless grin threatened to spread across his face.
Once again, it was time to go hunting.
***
In the dark of night, somewhere in the South Wing, a woman lay silent in bed, getting ample rest during the night so she could return to her research when day came.
Her breathing was even, her chest rising and falling steadily. Unfortunately, she was alone in the bed.
But to her, this was quite fortunate indeed. Research mattered far more than any mere human relationship.
As for the woman’s identity? Naturally, she was Aubrey Price.
As she slept, guards moved around the perimeter of her house. There was even a burly man blocking the entrance to her room, and another in front of the window.
When it came to security, although Aubrey wasn’t the most uptight, she also wasn’t lax.
But tonight, she’d learn that it wouldn’t have mattered either way.
A shadow appeared on a roof roughly a kilometer away. Its cold eyes easily gazing the distance and set its target.
Vector control moved into action, any momentum his spatial fluctuations left being muted to the extreme. At this level, it could only be considered a regular movement of the spatial layers.
Flash!
The shadow disappeared. When its figure became visible again, it was hovering over the sleeping figure of Aubrey Price.
Pitch-black essence covered the shadow’s hand. In his mind, he said a small prayer.
‘May you be tortured for eternity in the depths of hell, your soul never being allowed into the cycle of reincarnation.’
His hand covered her face. In that instant, the ever-present yet nonexistent essence on his hand snaked into her body, rapidly spreading.
The shadow didn’t even wait to see if his work was finished. Without a sound or even a single trace, he vanished from the area, reappearing on the same rooftop as before.
As he watched from safety, Aubrey’s body slowly turned pitch-black, scattering into a fog that merged with the Void Essence in the room and dispersed into the atmosphere.
And with the qualities of Void Essence, there would never be a single trace of it left.
Even if those who investigated found traces, they’d only find spatial mana. In this case, they’d assume she was kidnapped rather than killed.
Damien smiled at his handiwork. Assassination was far easier than expected. Twirling the access card in his hand, he flashed away, none being the wiser about what went down that night.
As for Damien’s destination? It was the location the card in his hand granted access to. It was a privilege belonging to the lab’s owner alone, a way to bypass the troublesome procedures that scanned even one’s genetic makeup.
‘It’s time to raid her lab. If I don’t like what I see…I don’t mind letting it go up in flames.’