A masked man wearing black robes walked into a dark room, inside the room, there sat a single man, his face was covered by a mask as well. Seeing the masked man walked into his room, the man sitting inside spoke, "You are from?" "Shadow Of Silence." The masked man replied. "Ahh, have you decided? I gave you time to investigate your target, honestly, you came here faster than I thought, it is usually not a good sign. Let me tell you in advance though, if you wish to reject the mission, then you are missing out. I know, the target is strong, and with your Hall's current capability, dealing with the target is not possible, however, you don't have to worry. Honestly, this mission is a freebie, although it states you have to kill the target, in truth, you just have to send some people, we will be the ones doing everything. I know, you must be thinking that why contact you in the first place, right? Although I can't tell you the reason, just know that there is a reason behind it. And don't worry about your safety, if you agree, we will proceed with definite contracts that ensure your safety. Nothing will happen to you or your Assassination Hall members, you just need to be there and take the money. So? How about it? Will you be taking on this so-called mission?" The man sitting on the chair questioned after a detailed explanation. Honestly, with the conditions he proposed, one would beg to take this mission. However, deep down, he knew, not many people would accept this mission. This reeked of trouble, after all. The conditions were just too good to be true. So even if this man rejected the mission here, he wouldn't mind, he would just need to try his luck with some other Assassin Hall. Time was on his side, after all. "The reward is too low." Suddenly, the masked man spoke. "Huh…?" The man sitting on the chair tilted his head in confusion. "The reward. To assassinate a Saint with such a strong background, the reward is too less." "W-W-What are you talking about?" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖 "Am I not clear enough? Increase the reward and we will accept the mission." "W-What do you need?" "An 11-Star Artifact." "H-Huh?" The man couldn't believe what he heard. He then looked at the masked man in front of him and, "Y-You aren't even d-doing anything, we will be the ones doing everything. H-How can yo-" The man wanted to retort, but then, the masked man threw something toward him. The man caught it via instinct, however, soon, his body jolted in fear as he realized what it was. It was a finger with a ring on it. "W-W-What is it?" "We have already captured the target, give me what we want, and we will kill her. Else we will simply set her free." "Y-You already captured the t-target?" The man's eyes widened in shock. "Why are you stuttering so much? Just decide already, do you accept my conditions or should I set the target free?" "I-I cannot d-decide that o-on my own, I need to d-discuss it with my master." "I believe what I have asked is a fair price." "I-I still need to discuss it with the M-Master." "Then next time, it would be better if your master came to me directly." Saying those words, the masked man disappeared. The man sitting on the chair couldn't help but tremble as he held the finger in his hands. He knew that the ring on the finger was a storage ring, the person it belonged to was a big shot, and this ring had carried treasures that he would never see in his entire life. Let alone him, his next few generations would be able to live comfortably if he kept the ring to himself, however, he didn't dare to do it. He simply rushed out of the room and walked towards his master. On the other side, the masked man who had disappeared from the room walked into another building, this building was much grander than the simple room he visited before, however, just like the room, this grand building had a gloomy, dark atmosphere. The man then walked into a specific room, then, he removed his mask and sighed. "Good job, Alistair." Inside the room, sat an extremely beautiful white-haired catkin. "Lady Rune." Alistair bowed his head. His eyes fell on Rune's right hand, her ring finger was missing. She had cut it off in front of him. "Was it really necessary, Lady Rune?" Alistair couldn't help but question. "It was." Rune nodded as she glanced at her missing finger without any changes in her expression. "We need to make it as real as possible. That is the plan." "The Plan huh…" Alistair muttered. "Wouldn't it be better if we simply capture that man and interrogate who his master is?" "That won't work." "I know it will be a complicated network but we trace it-" "It would alert them, Alistair. I cannot take that risk. We just need to follow through with the plan. Don't worry, I am sure they all must be panicking right now." Rune spoke with a small smile on her face. "We just need to wait for our bomb to burst." Alistair couldn't understand what this woman was thinking, however, in the end, he simply bowed his head. She had saved his life, now there were people after her life, so he would try his best to return the favor. "Anyways, I will be taking my leave now, Alistair. When they come, use this to call me." Rune spoke as she passed a Call Artifact to Alistair. It was an artifact that sends a single to its counterpart once Mana is infused into it, it is quite a simple, yet useful creation. "As you command, Lady Rune." Alistair bowed as he held the Artifact. Rune then walked out of Alistair's room. She walked forward a bit more, she paused, "I know you are there, come out." She spoke. "Hmm? How did you sense me?" Nux questioned with a playful smile on his face. "I didn't, I just knew you would be there." "You know me quite well, Lady Rune. We definitely have some sort of connection with each other." Nux smiled. "I think they will come here in 3 days, I have given the Call Artifact to Alistair, but I still think it is better for us to stay here for the next 3 days." Rune replied, completely ignoring Nux's words. Nux just sighed.