Chapter 1: When Everyone Is Asleep

When everyone is asleep, the Ghostly Assassin reaps. It does not matter how deep you sleep, once picked, you have ceased.

This was a line from a song that suddenly emerged a year before the passing of the late monarch of the Auziven Empire, the Gentle Emperor.

A week after this song emerged, it spread to most of the empire, after another day or two, it was banned. A man once sang this in front of an imperial knight, the next day, he was missing a tongue.

On a particular night years after the release of this song, when everyone was asleep, a shadow jumped from roof to roof, as light and quick as the wind. Had there been no moonlight, one would not even notice a flash of this figure. It was like a ghost.

The figure suddenly stopped on top of a two-storey building in the middle of the town. This building was conspicuous, it was similar to the buildings beside it and no one would have thought that something nasty was happening here.

Moon climbed down the side until she was face to face with a window. She broke the lock with a flick and directly went in.

She did not need to be cautious at this point. She heard their movements and they were all underground. This building was just an empty shell, not even a guard.

Moon did not bother being subtle, she searched the building and knocked on every surface until she was able to find a suspicious opening.

Moon stomped on a spot and her foot cleanly passed through below. Her mouth twitched and she shook her foot, breaking the surroundings until the hole was large enough.

She jumped down the hole with no hesitation and was faced with a steep set of stairs and a fairly long passage.

The farther Moon walked in, the stronger the musty smell was. Moon had been to worse places than this, and had smelled worse, but this particular putrid smell mixed with that scent of indecency was what Moon hated the most.

"Vile." Moon muttered, but she did not cover her nose. One thing she had learned from her master was to take advantage of her tools. Senses were also tools, and she was going to make good use of them.

"Ah...ah..."

Moon eventually heard some sultry groans, it was coming from multiple people of different genders. Moon lightly pressed on her soles and even felt the muffled thuds and banging of their acts.

When she caught a whiff of a familiar smell, she frowned and her steps got quicker. When she was in front of the steel doors, she kicked like they were the flimsy paper doors from the east, and they also flew like so.

On the other side, they were frightened by the loud crashing of the doors. Those who were still able to, scampered up, and when the dust began to settle, those who were still barely sober saw a tall figure in black robe, and with the mysterious fog of dust, they looked menacing and daunting.

Moon silently scanned the large room. There were several barely clothed officials and more naked people who seemed to be in heat and sluggish, the latter had familiar collars on their neck and some were even still tied to chains.

Moon vaguely recalled a piece of news about a large purchase of slaves, it seemed that it was true. Moon glanced at the slaves, there were men and women, young and old. Their bodies were flushed and thin, filled with bites and bruises. They were obviously treated roughly. Some even had unrecognisable faces. More importantly, they were barely, if not unmoving at all. If Moon couldn't hear their faint heartbeats, she would have thought they were dead while still being violated. Perhaps that would be better than experiencing this alive.

Under the mask, Moon's face was ugly. She steadily walked in and angrily kicked the nearest man near her. The man happened to be completely naked, so she especially targeted the spot between his legs.

The targeted man, who had passed out, woke up in pain and shouted in despair. Moon pressed, and when she felt the squashing sensation, she removed her foot. The man had long passed out once again.

The other people who witnessed her actions were pale and frozen in fright. Still, a shirtless man nervously dared to stand up and scolded with feigned arrogance.

"Who are you? Do you know who we are? You've got guts going against the empire!"

Upon his instigation, the others slowly began coming to their senses. They stood up and threw the sluggish slaves on the floor, like throwing the reins of the horses they whipped.

However, their momentum was short-lived.

Moon wasted no time, she instantly pulled out a dagger from her waist and threw it across the room.

The people quickly followed the dagger, and they were shocked to their core when it landed on the head of the shirtless man. The shirtless man was stiff, and with a contorted face, slammed to the ground. The first drop of what later would be a sea of blood spilled, and the people could no longer be calm.

"You!"

Another person was indignant, and furiously pointed at Moon. But that was all he managed to say as Moon somehow instantly appeared next to the corpse, her hands in midair. The dagger had already hit it's next target.

The room began to get chaotic. They realized that it would be of no use talking. The people scurried and raced to leave, but before they even reached the hole that Moon had previously kicked, they quickly began dropping like flies.

Some desperate people even laid down and covered their bodies with the dead or the slaves, but their head was still stomped to death unknowingly.

It was still a quiet night.

At last, only one person was left. The fat man was cowering on a corner, hugging a crying slave in fright.

She managed to wake up despite the drunkening smoke. No matter whether she obtained a pill or simply resisted, she has some skills. Moon thought as she quietly glanced at the naked woman pressed to the fat man's body.

"I-I'm the secretary o-of Auckhill! I have money, land, women! I can give you all of them! Please spare me!" The fat man was trembling with his eyes closed, but he still remembered to negotiate.

Moon sneered underneath her mask. Truly an official.

The fat man felt Moon proceed to walk near him and he almost peed himself. The slave winced as his nails dug on her skin. She bitterly cried and gritted her teeth.

"I will be a judge of the next Warrior's Duel! I-If you let me go, I promise to give you the pardon! My cousin is an imperial knight assigned to the event he can vouch for me! A-Ask him!"

The fat man continued shouting some words, digging up his connections in desperation. Moon looked at him with cold eyes and blankly interrupted.

"Since I dared to do this, you must have realized that your resources are just fart to me."

The fat man shivered and then threw the slave roughly to the side. The woman gasped in pain and curled up. He then jumped in front of Moon, kneeling with his face on the ground.

"T-Then what do you need! I can give you anything!"

Moon looked at him in contempt, "You do have something I need."

The man was suddenly given hope, he excitedly trembled, his layers of flabs shaking under Moon's disgusted eyes.

"W-What is it?! Tell me and you will have it immediately!"

Moon held the dagger, "Your life."

The final drop of blood fell, and Moon finally got what she needed.

Moon wiped the dagger with someone's clothes and then kept it back in her coat. She then glanced at the woman who was clearly in pain, but was still vigilantly looking at her.

"You..."

The woman paled in fright when Moon approached her. She tried to speak but her throat was still inflamed and sore. She only coughed roughly, adding to her pain.

Moon paused. She took another look at the room and realized she still had some things to deal with, then she glanced back at the woman thoughtfully.

When she was trapped in that beast's arms, the woman was crying, but Moon saw anger in her eyes. She wasn't hopeless, she was angry and full of fire. She is the kind to return for revenge. Moon thought it would be a shame to let her die without causing havoc.

Moon suddenly raised her hand, which caused the woman to flinch. But the woman saw that Moon made no other move and she tried to relax.

Moon took back her hands and stared back at the woman. "Have you heard of Aura?"

The woman still couldn't talk, Moon didn't care and continued to talk by herself. "I used Aura to temporarily reinforce your body. You will be able to move normally, even better, but this will only last for 72 hours. After that, you will return to this miserable state."

Moon paused when the woman began to move. The woman was suspicious of Moon, but she tried to move, she realized that she was telling the truth.

"In this 72 hours, I want you to deal with them. You don't necessarily have to kill them." Moon shrugged, then began walking to the exit. "You can take care of them if you want, anyway, just make sure that they are not here, and that they will be unrelated to this within 24 hours."

The woman was about to speak when Moon suddenly stopped at the door and glance back at her, "Or you also could just escape by yourself. However, if you do manage to finish this task, I will know. I will reward you if you do."

The woman blankly watched Moon leave, dazed. She had never seen Moon's face, nor her expression, but she still felt like Moon could see her every move.

Anyway, it would always leave a mark on her.