Chapter 149 Black Christmas (VIII)
After Klaus revealed his name, the expression on her face changed drastically. The woman clenched her hand, and Klaus suddenly felt his body freezing.
"I\'m sorry, but you have to die tonight," the woman said.
Instead of panicking or feeling threatened, Klaus raised one of his eyebrows. "Wait a minute. So, you\'re an assassin? And I\'m your target? Hm, but how can an assassin not recognize their target?"
The woman twisted her face in confusion. "You should be concerned about yourself."
"Ha ha ha, no need to worry. I\'m perfectly fine," Klaus replied.
Sighing, the woman was puzzled by Klaus. Throughout her career as an assassin, she had never met someone so relaxed when facing death. Everyone who had been her target always begged for mercy or tried to bribe her.
"You are strange. You should know better than to help one of the groups attacking your house. I appreciate your kindness, but I can\'t let you live. It\'s my job. Don\'t take it personally."
Klaus nodded his head up and down. "Sure. Sure. Go ahead."
"You—!" The woman sighed. "Never mind. I will ensure you die quickly."
Narrowing her eyes, she concentrated to stop his heart\'s beating. Thus, he could die quickly.
However, nothing happened.
"What? Why is this still okay?" she murmured. Her ugly face contorted in confusion. She couldn\'t understand why Klaus could still smile as if nothing had happened. She was certain that she disrupted the blood circulation to his heart.
"Are you done? My legs are getting tired," Klaus said.
The woman ignored him and kept trying to halt his heartbeat. Meanwhile, Klaus just stood there with a smirk on his face.
"Do you need help?" he asked.
"Shut up!"
"Okay."
After 10 minutes had passed, the woman finally gave up. Sweat streamed down her face, and she was gasping for breath, using too much mana. No matter how hard she tried, Klaus seemed perfectly fine.
As she caught her breath, Klaus approached her. Naturally, her fighting instinct took over her brain, and she stepped back.
"How can you move? I locked your blood circulation!" she exclaimed.
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "You mean like this?"
Suddenly, the woman felt her body freezing. Instantly, panic took over her.
"What did you do to me?! Let me go!"
The woman struggled, but no matter how hard she tried, not a single part of her body would obey her. She felt trapped by her own power.
"Who are you really?" the woman asked in anger.
"Didn\'t I introduce myself already? I\'m Klaus Lee. The eldest son of Steve and Anna Lee. The person you were supposed to kill tonight."
All of a sudden, the atmosphere turned eerie.
Klaus, who had always shown friendliness on his face, turned into a terrifying demon. His smirk frightened the woman, and her body trembled as cold sweat poured down.
Klaus emitted a dense black aura. Its darkness felt like boundless space.
"A...a..."
Warm liquid flowed down her legs, and a foul odor permeated the air.
Klaus covered his nose. "Strange. You\'ve killed many people; you should be prepared to be in their situation someday."
The woman begged for Klaus to spare her life. "Please...please...forgive me! I beg you!" She prostrated, her nose touching the wet ground from her urine.
"I haven\'t even touched you, but you act as if I\'ve tortured you. What a drama queen. Raise your head and look at me."
Raising her head in fear, she did as he commanded, gazing into his eyes. Her body trembled even more.
"Tell me your name," Klaus said. "Tell me everything about yourself. If you dare to lie, I will snap your neck."
Hearing the threat coming from his mouth, the woman swallowed her spit in fear. She then disclosed her identity to Klaus.
Her name was Lana Hill, an awakener with the talent [Blood Control], allowing her to manipulate humans. Instead of using her power to make a living legally, she chose to become an assassin. She didn\'t have the usual certification like most awakeners. However, her battle power was on par with an S-Class. Lana also suffered from prosopagnosia.
Lana Hill has been killing for money for the past ten years. In the underworld, she is a member of the Shadow Brotherhood, a dark guild that specializes in dirty jobs. They are willing to do any job as long as the pay is good. One of their missions is to ambush the mansion where Klaus lives. Most of the members are former mercenaries, which is why they have military tactics and equipment.
Based on Lana\'s testimony, the Shadow Brotherhood sent 60 special troops, ten of whom are S-Class awakeners. They were all deployed solely to kill Klaus, considering the strong security of the Lee Family\'s mansion.
"Out of the ten awakeners, only two entered the mansion with armed units," Lana explained. "And the rest monitored the perimeter, on standby in case the police or outside reinforcements came. They would enter if the operation wasn\'t completed within 10 minutes. But until now, they haven\'t shown their faces. If you ask me where they are, I don\'t know. My communication device was destroyed."
"I know," Klaus replied.
Lana raised an eyebrow.
Klaus touched his spatial ring, and shortly after, eight human heads appeared from thin air and fell to the ground. Lana was shocked to find that they were her friends.
"I hunted them down when you wreaked havoc in my house. They were quite troublesome, running around like mice."
Swallowing saliva, Lana didn\'t pay attention to Klaus, her eyes still fixated on the eight human heads before her. They were all chosen awakeners in the Shadow Brotherhood. Their power was not to be underestimated. It would take a Top-Class individual to face five of them.
If they all died just because of one person, Lana couldn\'t fathom how powerful the man in front of her was.
"I\'m not interested in the Shadow Brotherhood, anyway," Klaus said. He moved closer to Lana, who trembled in fear as she looked into his eyes. "Tell me, who sent you?"
"I don\'t know," Lana replied. "We only receive orders from superiors without being informed of client information. So, I know nothing."
Klaus pursed his lips. "You\'re surprisingly quick to spill secrets. Your friends remained silent even when I tortured them half to death. Having subordinates like you must be troublesome."
CREAK!
"ARRRRRGH!"
Lana screamed in pain as her hand was twisted.
Klaus smirked. "I observed you from afar. You did this to my subordinates and seemed to enjoy it. I\'m curious, can you be as resilient as them when you\'re in their situation?"
Naturally, Lana was taken aback. Her animal instincts urged her to run immediately. Using [Blood Control] on herself, she forced her body to move and ran as fast as she could.
However, Lana was facing the Deathbringer. She couldn\'t escape anywhere.
Just a few meters away from Klaus, Lana suddenly floated.
Creak!
"Kya!"
She screamed as both her ankles were twisted.
"Let\'s begin," Klaus mumbled, smirking.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Fingers broken.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Radius twisted.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Ulna bent.
Klaus twisted every bone in Lana\'s body, from her arms to her legs. After half of her bones were dislocated or broken, Klaus stopped torturing her. She lay on the ground with a contorted body. Now, not only her face was distorted but the entire of her.
At a glance, Lana looked more like a monster than a human.
"Kill me, please. Kill me," Lana whimpered. Tears streamed down her face.
Klaus knelt in front of her with a devilish smile. "Nah, nah. Don\'t worry. I won\'t torture you further. You need to do something for me."
Lana was shocked. She would rather die.
"No please, please."
Klaus hissed. "Don\'t worry. This time won\'t be painful."
His hand touched her cheek. Then, a dark aura flowed into Lana, and she screamed hysterically.
"Kyaaaaaaa!"
At this moment, Klaus was applying [Soul Contract] to her. It was the same curse he had placed on Laplace. If Klaus faced a life-and-death situation, Lana would replace him. In other words, he was taking her soul.
After the dark aura disappeared, Lana lost consciousness.
"Phew, it\'s finally done. I didn\'t expect I would add a lowly human to the [Soul Contract]."
Klaus did this to find out who dared to threaten him and his family. After killing eight assassins, Klaus learned that Shadow Brotherhood was an organized syndicate. Like a lizard, it would cut off its tail if it felt threatened. And Lana was the tail.
Organizations like the Shadow Brotherhood are far more dangerous than Morning Star or Oathkeeper. The Five Pillar Guilds at least have some accountability as they operate in the light, while the Shadow Brotherhood operates in the shadows. This guild is willing to do anything to achieve its goals, regardless of the consequences.
Therefore, Klaus decided to spare Lana\'s life, using her as his spy to uncover the identity of the client who hired the Shadow Brotherhood\'s service.
As Klaus looked at Lana\'s dreadful condition, a voice echoed in his mind.
[My liege, someone is coming here.]
"I know, Laplace," Klaus replied.
He rubbed his face, and a dark shadow covered his head.
Shortly after, a humanoid wolf leaped out of the shadow and attacked Klaus. But he managed to evade it just in time.
"Graaaawwwr!"
Howling, the werewolf continued to attack Klaus. It tried to bite and claw at him, but Klaus easily dodged them.
Klaus leaped away from the werewolf. At the same time, it grabbed Lana and fled.
He didn\'t pursue them, merely watching them disappear into the darkness of the night. Klaus let the terrorists escape.