Rieda had made herself one of the most powerful people in the entire world. She had control over many companies both light and dark. She went after and intimidated the leaders, all they had to do was occasionally follow her orders and she would allow them to live. Although some were far more stubborn, and refused to bow down to her. In those cases, she put someone else in power and killed the original person. Rieda was just relaxing in one of her bases. It was a secluded house built by a cliff with a waterfall as the back view. “My preparations are nearly complete, all that’s left is to wait for Misen to lose a bit more. Although, perhaps I could help with that.” Rieda smiled, and laughed. Her light gray-colored eyes were lit up by the sun rays beaming upon her.

The sun rays hit Misen as she awoke inside of her inn room and she just stared at the ceiling. She couldn’t help but think about the irony of it all. “Haaaah~ to think that I would be upset over the death of my mortal enemy’s kin.” Misen sighed. “Had I only gotten there sooner, then perhaps they both could’ve made it out alive. Whoever put the hit on those two must have some powerful connections to find out they even existed. I once asked Voulin to contact Jessica about seeing if he had any relatives, but the only thing they could find was some distant relatives.” Misen continued to speak her thoughts aloud and stare at the ceiling.

The ceiling’s paint was peeling ever so slightly it only reminded Misen of her fate. One that she alone would have to bear. The more she loses the more her humanity slips away from her. It’s only a matter of time before she stops being human. “What does it mean to be human?” Misen spoke with a lifeless tone. She was slipping and she knew that. She simply stared at the unmoving but not unchanging ceiling of her inn room. “Once Voulin, Frey, and Raffie die will there be anything left?” She said as she went back to sleep. She had left her window blinds open to let in the sun. Once she awoke once more, she was inside of a container of some kind. It had many layers of metal plates. Realizing that she had been kidnapped she attempted to break out by swinging her fists and enhancing them with blood. She was denting the container, and would likely break out soon when gas seeped into the container containing a more than lethal amount of sleeping gas. It would be lethal for a non-immortal and they knew that she had a resistance of some kind.

They were part of a group that had been studying a blood sample left by her thirty years ago. The blood sample that came from when she had poisoned herself with poison she bought from the black market in Airere. The person who originally saw her had also drawn up a reference picture which they used to identify her. She looked the same as she did thirty years ago. The pair were just walking through the streets of Umitana. When they noticed a face that had been burned into their memories just sleeping in an inn room without the blinds covering the view. They dropped their ice cream cones and just looked at each other wide-eyed, completely stunned. They looked at each other then at Misen and then at each other. Upon realizing that the face was identical to the one in the picture they quickly moved to action. They brought their cart up to the street by the Inn and drugged her to ensure she wouldn’t awaken. They were assigned by their bosses to hunt for the woman whose blood had been used during the research. It was a seemingly impossible task because they weren’t even sure if the blood sample came from a human or not. It sounded like a fairy tale during briefings. However, the job of hunting for her was very desirable, as you got to travel the world at the company’s expense. They’ve only held the role for five years, and they thought they would just be another pair to eventually come up with nothing. The only reason people ever gave up the position was if they wanted to settle down as you were forced to constantly be on the move.

In the middle of transporting their target, they heard the sound of metal bending. They looked behind and noticed that their target had woken up and began to dent the metal crate she was in. The one driving the cart asked his buddy, “Hey can you please do something about her? It’s one thing to waste the company's money and end up with nothing, but it’s another thing entirely to waste the company’s money, and fail to capture her.” He ushered his buddy to do something quickly. His partner, not wasting any time, looked for a possible solution and realized they had a large tank of sleeping gas that had been unused.

“How much should I use?” He asked as he panicked and hooked up the gas to the breathing hole.

“All of it, she is supposedly unkillable or has some super regeneration. Just use it all!” His buddy who was driving said, trying to maintain his composure. The one who hooked up the gas just left the tank’s nozzle open hoping she would eventually stop banging on the walls. When Misen went silent he was too afraid to stop the gas and just left it seeping in. He sat on his ass just completely dumbfounded. After a couple of moments, he got up and started to celebrate, but stopped himself after looking at the plethora of dents in the metal container. They made it to the meeting up area for that town attempting to keep a straight face. It was a seemingly ordinary cafe on the exterior and interior. It was also the place they were staying in for this town. It was still rather early in the morning, so while the cafe was open, it only had a few customers. The pair waved to one of the people working at the cafe and they brought their manager outside. The manager was a tall older woman in her sixties. The manager was a larger woman with gray hair in a ponytail, green eyes, and big muscles. She had a smoke in her mouth when she came outside to greet them.

“What do you two want? Shouldn’t you be off enjoying the company’s money somewhere?” She laughed, she knew their job and what those in that role did.

“Ma’am we have her. We have her in our cart right now.” One of them said, using his thumb to point to the metal container behind them with dents throughout.

“You have who?” She asked, speaking before taking a moment to process what they had said. “Wait, you have her?! You numbskulls actually have the one from that picture. You’d better not be lying.” The woman said mouth agape, her smoke fell to the ground, out of her mouth. “I’d like to see the person that our company has been obsessing over these past thirty years.” The woman said as she began to move towards their cart.

“It took all of our sleeping gas to even knock her out. I don’t know how long she is going to stay asleep. Let's just get her to the basement and transport her. You’ll see her when we put her onto the train.” The one close to her crate stated. The woman was disappointed but remembered the story, and looked at the dents she decided to go with their idea. She didn’t want to mess up this exceedingly rare opportunity. They brought the cart to the back of the cafe and opened it. Revealing the black-haired sleeping beautiful monster. They then carried Misen’s passed-out body down into the basement and went onto a lift. Then went down as fast as they could. Awaiting them was a single operator of an underground station. He was barely awake and they rushed her into a transport car and sent her off.

They all were just absolutely dumbfounded that they had just completed the job that was supposedly impossible. They just stood completely in disbelief as they watched the car disappear into the distance. “I wish my fifties treated me that nicely.” The woman laughed, as she lit up another smoke. “Well, good job boys. Looks like we’ll get to party on the company’s money.” She said as she blew out a puff of smoke.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Misen was still asleep as she was being transported at high speed to some unknown destination. The technology that created the cart she was in was made with a mix of science and magic. She had been placed into a pod within the cart that would keep her asleep. Her body didn’t register the sleep agent as a threat so it was slow to adapt to it. It also didn’t make her lose any blood, so her blood wouldn’t be replaced with new clean blood. It was only a sleeping agent and not poison after all. Misen had no clue what was in store for her once she arrived. All she knew was that when she woke up, she was in a dark metal box and then put to sleep once more. She had no clue where she would end up next.

She was having a pleasant dream, her family was alive and well. They were hosting a big feast, her brothers Ren and Kenji had grown into fine young men. She had invited Voulin, Jessica, Frey, Raffie, and all of the children to the event. The young ones made it quite lively while the adults were enjoying drinks together. Everyone had a smile plastered on their face including Misen. Misen stole a glance at herself by looking at a polished piece of wall decor. She was in her fifties and felt she had aged rather nicely. She wished this dream could last forever.

Misen awoke with a tear shedding down her face. A salty taste touched her lips, as she opened her eyes. A blinding white light greeted her. It was no sun, it was lights from a pure white ceiling. It was odd, as she had never seen a ceiling so white before. Her curiosity about where she was outweighed her frustration of being kidnapped. The ground beneath her was soft, not unlike a bed. She got up and noticed that she was alone in the room, not another soul in sight. Her blade had been confiscated, not that it mattered as she could easily produce a new one. There was no discernable entrance or exit in sight. The opening to this place must be seamlessly hidden somewhere. Perhaps the ceiling was fake or maybe it’s a hidden entrance from the wall like Airere’s black market? Should I just recreate my sword and attack randomly or should I just wait? Misen pondered her possible courses of action. She decided to sit and wait for whatever or whoever was about to come. She sat down, went onto her knees, and sat back on her heels. Finally, she put the tips of her fingers together and began to meditate.

Somewhere else a certain blond-haired older gentleman was buying some groceries at a marketplace. “I wonder when I should let my two girls explore the world. Perhaps I should consider it as long as they aren’t with Misen.” He laughed. He walked into an empty alleyway. “I know I’ve gotten old, but I haven’t gone senile. Show yourselves and state your business with me.” He declared in a serious yet calm tone of voice. Two people in dark clothing leaped out from atop the roof and landed on opposite sides of the alleyway. Voulin threw a knife into the air and it landed on a still hidden third person’s head. “I told you all to show yourselves, not just two of you.” He shook his head. Although he had officially retired from being a mercenary and adventurer he refused to get rusty. Though they were performing a pincer maneuver and had him outnumbered they were quite wary of him. “I assume your business is to assassinate me. Well, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline.”

The two rushed towards Voulin bearing their blades at him. Voulin glanced between the two and noticed they were both going for horizontal slashes at different heights. The two wielded short swords which were quick and light. Voulin jumped into the air to avoid the two incoming sword attacks. They smiled as Voulin had no way of moving once he was in the air. Their comrade who was hit in the head with a knife was still alive and launched two knives towards the still airborne Voulin. “I must be getting rusty.” Voulin sighed. He caught one of the airborne knives and threw it at the neck of one of his grounded attackers. He then landed on the ground and the other knife was a mere inch away from his face. However thanks to his quick reflexes he pinched the knife by its blade between two of his fingers. In less than a split of a second, he immediately threw that knife towards the other grounded attacker. They attempted to deflect it however Voulin grabbed their sword out of the way. The knife was able to hit its mark and kill the attacker. Voulin jumped up towards a small windowsill and jumped off of it to make it to the roof. He greeted the wounded assassin by throwing a knife into their chest. Voulin grabbed his knife and the other knives they had on them. Then he jumped down and took the knives lodged inside of the corpses. Finally, he grabbed his groceries and headed on his way.

Not too long after another member of the assassin organization located the aftermath and saw the corpses of the assassins. “Seems like we’ll need a stronger and larger force to take out this target. Although, these three were an excellent trio with amazing synergy. It seems we’ll just have to overwhelm him with skilled numbers. I must return quickly so we can mobilize a larger force sooner rather than later.” The shadowy figure disappears after they finish their investigation.

Voulin makes his way towards a seemingly normal alleyway. Yet, as he walks, he makes it to a random part and pushes a brick inward. Followed by another brick, and he vanishes. The bricks reset to their original positions. He had teleported to a dark hall filled with doors. The doors led to different places around the town. He headed over to a lone larger door and teleported once more. The door led him into a hub with thousands of doors. Unlike the previous area he was in, this one was filled with people commuting around the continent. He made his way towards the reception area and was greeted by one of the workers at the counter. She was a brunette wearing her uniform as a member of the Invisible Ear gate receptionist.

"Returning home mister Voulin? Please enter the gate near the reception counter to enter the restricted area. I'm sure you know the way from there. Have a nice evening." The uniformed woman expressed. Voulin made his way through the gate to enter the restricted area. It was the first of two security measures to enter his home. In the restricted area was a well-lit-multi-leveled room with many stairs and doors. He pulled out a gold key and stood in the center of the room. He held his key in front of him, which materialized a door. That he promptly opened and went through. He had arrived home using a network of secret portals made by the Invisible Ears. In the past, the network was portals in dimly-lit tunnels that were not well maintained. However, thanks to Voulin's monetary contributions alongside his wife, Jessica's authority as the leader. He was able to transform it into being cleaner and better. His reforms also led to an increase in jobs within the organization. In addition, it increased morale as the atmosphere does matter for locations.

Voulin had arrived at his home and carried his groceries inside. He was deep in thought. Should I let my daughters freely explore the world? The only times they had been outside our secluded home were with either me or Jessica. I worry even more so, now that I am currently being targeted by some unknown organization. I know I have plenty of enemies. However, I am unsure of how powerful this organization is, but I do know they were powerful enough to track me down. I'm not sure if my girls are ready to face the dangers of the outside world without him. Perhaps I'll never feel ready and I'll just have to believe they are strong enough to survive.

Elsewhere at the assassin organization Rieda is eavesdropping on the report. "It seems the assassination attempt on Voulin has failed, not unexpected though. I'd love to keep sending assassins after him, but perhaps it's better to wait for him to get weaker or croak so as to not waste too much manpower." Rieda sighed. "Oddly, we haven't been able to find anything on the whereabouts of the other two members of Misen's party. They seemed to vanish out of the public eye a few years back. I doubt the red wolf and wizard would merely die, so Voulin must have done something. That would be the logical explanation as to why we aren't able to find anything." She was attempting to piece things together. "I wonder what Misen is currently up to right now?" She spoke with a smile.