So it's you (2)

Iris was reading a book while her brother massaged her feet. She had grown used to having him kneel so the sight didn't bring much pleasure to her, but he was actually quite good with his hands so she kept him around. Iris was eager to make a connection with a Sky Realm expert, but she wasn't in a rush. She wouldn't be able to find such an expert while lying down, but it would be the same if she tried looking on the street. For this reason, she was waiting on her little devils to fetch her a list of possible targets.

Meanwhile, Iris was spending her time rather leisurely, but suddenly, she noticed that her brother was no longer at her feet.

"Huh?"

Even if he had somehow broken free of her charm, she would at least hear the sound of him moving, but that didn't happen. As if he had been teleported away, she was now alone in the room. She put down her book and swept the room with a wary gaze along with her spiritual sense, but still, nothing. However, right as she was about to stand up, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Please excuse me for barging in and clearing the room, but I need to speak to you."

Iris flinched at the sudden touch, but when she turned her head to look, both the sensation and the hand was gone. She panicked on the inside, but her mind quickly reorganised itself and turned on her seductive appeal.

With a coquettish tone, she asked, "May I know the name of my passionate admirer?"

For a moment, Shui was left speechless. He couldn't allow himself to be seen here, lest he be noticed by the underground guild or the assassins targeting her, so he used Soul Synchronisation. With this ability, he could become permeable and choose to become invisible as well. He could also use this ability on a much weaker target, so he took Iris' brother out of the room with it. Once they were alone, he planned on quickly getting the information he wanted while hiding his identity, but in one line she made him reconsider.

"Um, would you please figure out, who I am, Aunt Iris?"

By using his real voice and mentioning their relation, Iris was able to quickly narrow down his identity.

"Shui?! You were alive?" she exclaimed.

"Wow, I know you didn't like me very much but why does it sound like you wanted me dead?"

'Because I did.'

Shui could guess that she was thinking something like that, and she didn't bother to hide it either. Although she could throw away her shame at the drop of a hat, she didn't like the idea of acting subservient to him, and Shui was fine with it that way.

"So, what are you here for? To kill me for being a traitor? I still don't believe I made the wrong choice, though," Iris asked.

When she slipped out the fact that she was a traitor of the Heaven clan, Shui raised an eyebrow, but it wasn't too surprising.

"Well, it certainly may turn out like that, but I want to hear the full story from you first."

Shui didn't have much feelings for the clan itself, but he felt obligated to avenge his loved ones. Therefore, he had to know more about what happened on that day. With the corpses he saw, he had a decent grasp of the situation, but there were still a couple holes that needed filling.

However, Iris didn't care for his purpose.

"Hmph, and why should I tell you anything?"

She didn't know how he could hide his presence so well, but she refused to believe that this child would be a match for the current her.

"Oh? Don't you want to hear about your son?"

"Hmph, of course not. He severed his ties with me so that boy isn't my son anymore."

"Is that so," Shui said in genuine surprise, "To think he would still care for you after all you put him through."

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Iris with a confused look on her face.

In response to that expression, Shui had a nasty smirk that she couldn't see, "Oh, I wonder?"

For a moment, conflict showed on her face. She repeatedly told herself to forget about that ungrateful brat, but despite not knowing about their last interaction, Shui was certain that the bond between the pair of mother and child couldn't be cut easily.

Iris tried to resist it, but eventually, her will buckled.

"...Fine."

She then went on to explain everything that led up to that day. From how it started as a plan to guarantee Nathan's status and became a desperate attempt at survival, her attempt to persuade Nate and her lucky escape. Even during her explanation she didn't seem the slightest bit ashamed to say that she betrayed the clan, but rather than her, Shui's anger was focused on two others. One was the Black Dog Bandits, and the other was,

'The Clite clan!'

From the first moment he met the Clite clan and its Patriarch, Kalos, he had a bad impression of them, and that impression only got worse with every incident. Although there was certainly a bigger figure behind all of this, the Clite clan and the Black Dog Bandits were definitely on his must-kill list.

'I should probably bring Kate with me when I do.'

While Shui started setting up other plans, Iris rushed him for a response.

"Hurry up and tell me about my son."

"You don't have to be so impatient. Since I said I would, I'll do it. I'll start from beginning; because you forced Nathan to cultivate that demonic method, he attracted the attention of a certain evil spirit that migrated to his body and planned on taking it over."

"What? But it should be impossible for a random evil spirit to do a complete possession."

As someone who studied the demonic ways, Iris was familiar with evil spirits and their body snatching habits. Although a strong evil spirit could forcefully take over a body, it would merely be a temporary vessel. For an evil spirit to get a proper body, there must be a decent level of compatibility.

"You're right, a random evil spirit wouldn't be able to do it, but it just so happens that this evil spirit was born from the Progenitor of the Theos clan, in other words, our ancestor."

Joy began to show on Iris' face when she heard that Nathan had caught the eye of that famous ancestor, but then she processed everything and that joy faded.

"Then, was he taken over?"

Iris believed that was the only possibility considering the evil spirit's identity, but Shui said otherwise.

"No, he kept control of his body until the end."

"The end?" Iris gasped," No, you don't mean..."

"Nathan's dead. I killed him myself."

"You what!!!!"

Knowing full well what would happen, Shui spoke the truth. In response, Iris released a burst of nature energy that swept across the entire room. He knew that this was her attempt at flushing him out, but he easily made her efforts futile. With just a thought, he contained her and her energy in a barrier. Immediately, Iris knew that this barrier would be hard to breach, but the rage in her heart exploded as a black aura that came from the sigil on her back. However, when she was about to stand up, she felt the cold touch of a finger on her forehead.

"Calm down."

As much as she wanted to rip him apart, the sensation sent shivers throughout her body that stole her ability to resist. Once she sunk into her chair once more, the feeling was gone but all she could do was bit her lip.

'Damn it! How is he so strong?!'

There were a few more things Shui wanted to ask, but it would take time to read her mind and she probably wouldn't tell him anything else so he decided to stop here. Crippling her used to be an idea in his mind, but after that outburst he changed his mind.

"I'll give you two warnings. Since you were more cooperative than I expected you to be, and you weren't the direct cause for what happened to the clan, I'll spare your life. However, if you try to take revenge against me I won't show any more mercy. Also, two assassins are aiming for your life, so be careful."

Shui cared little about whether she lived or not, but he figured he could give her a chance to survive.