"Who are you?" the Scholar Girl said. "Why did you do this?"

"The client wants such." The man tossed away the extinguished torch and adjusted his hair. "No need to fish for information. I have no idea who the client is either. We Grey Hounds only accept money and execute our tasks. Better get our manager if you want to know the truth."

The Scholar Girl narrowed her eyes while distancing herself from the man. Her free hand flicked behind her back, opening a hidden pocket of her ordinary-looking uniform, and retrieved a pair of small blades before sliding them under her neat sleeve.

While the Scholar Girl and the man confronted each other, Barineer clenched her fists. "Why? Why must it be me? Is it because of my cursed green eye? Will I be alone now?"

"Don't worry. You aren't alone." The Scholar Girl smiled. "I'll protect you."

"She's right. You won't be alone." The man placed his left foot forward and held his sabre in front. "Soon, you’ll be with your family. I'll send both you and your friend together, so you won't feel lonely."

As his words fell, the Grey Hound sprinted forward. His feet sank in the dry soil, leaving a deep depression on it. Faint winds whistled along his track as he stabbed forwards, his sabre reaching Barineer before she could react.

Barineer screamed and closed her eyes. Her hoarse voice hurt her throat, but she felt no excruciating pain. A sharp metallic clash startled her. She opened her eyes and widened her mouth, shock spreading on her face.

With two blades between her fingers, the Scholar Girl diverted the sabre, grazed the Grey Hound's arm, and flung a knife at his face. While executing her move, she also retreated, pulling Barineer away from the strike.

Surprised, the Grey Hound held his breath as he raised his free arm. The knife pierced his flesh. Blood gushed out of his wound while pain radiated throughout his arm and chest. He swung his sabre down and leapt back, getting away from the Scholar Girl.

"You're an assassin?" The Grey Hound frowned. "Such viciousness. You don't even look eighteen, but your ruthlessness has already taken form. Who are you?"

The Scholar Girl let go of Barineer and bent down, pulling a dagger from her boots. Her innocence and diligence dispersed into indifference. She glared at the Grey Hound. Her piercing gaze even chilled Barineer, who felt that her best friend had turned unfamiliar, dangerous.

"Who are you?" Barineer said. "Are you still ———?"

The Scholar Girl glanced at Barineer, her eyes betraying a flash of familiarity. The sharpness inside them vanished as if afraid of frightening Barineer, her best friend.

"I've never shown you this side of mine because I don't want you to know I'm too talented." The Scholar Girl smiled. "Do you hate me now? It's dangerous to be near me, someone who has killed and will kill more in the future."

"Since when?" Barineer grabbed her knees and forced herself to stand up, trembling.

"Since the beginning." The Scholar Girl turned away from Barineer and walked towards the Grey Hound. "Leave, run away, and never return."

"How can I? This ma’s target is me; this is not your problem!"

"Don't make me repeat myself." The Scholar Girl scowled at Barineer. "You'll just hinder me. Get lost!"

The Scholar Girl's eyes glowed bloody as suffocating killing intent gripped Barineer. Despite her effort, Barineer could not stop her legs from trembling. She clutched her chest, panicked, turned around, then ran away. The fear and confusion on her face were like a needle, which stabbed the Scholar Girl.

Watching the event unfold, the Grey Hound massaged his wounded hand. Once Barineer disappeared under the shade of the night, he clenched his blood-soaked hand, his demeanour regaining its calmness.

"Earlier, I was careless. It won’t happen again." The Grey Hound grimaced. "You don't look like her guardian. You didn't even bat an eye when her family died. Why did you intervene?"

"It's amusing."

"What's so amusing? Don't be too arrogant. I must admit that your technique is superior to mine, but you're still a young girl. My physique is way superior!"

"A talking corpse doesn't need to know anything." The Scholar Girl stepped forth. Her figure slid between the line connecting the Grey Hound and her. She twisted her body, dodging a sabre strike, then pushed her dagger forward.

As the Grey Hound bent away from the dagger, the Scholar Girl flung a needle at his neck. He tilted to the side, letting his shoulder take the hit. Enduring the pain, he jabbed toward the Scholar Girl. His fist struck her stomach. She grimaced, clenching her muscles.

"Who's a talking corpse now!" He punched again and repeatedly slashed forward. His overwhelming momentum forced the Scholar Girl to retreat while parrying.

Every time her dagger clashed with his blade, her arm shook. Numbness ate away her senses, but she could not relax. She could barely parry the strikes while exerting her frail arms to the limit. If not for her needles and hidden knives' threatening him, she would have a much harder time.

Aside from the first strike, her attacks could at most graze or cut him, while his attacks numbed her hands.

The Scholar Girl flung a tiny spike at the Grey Hound. He easily deflected it, but the distance between them rose.

"If your friend were here, I would have a much harder time," the Grey Hound said. "However, it would also be a lot easier to finish the job. Right now, once I kill you, I'll have to waste a lot of time searching for her."

"If killing me is effortless, why haven't you done it yet?" The Scholar Girl panted, but her eyes stayed unwavering. "Tell me, are all the Grey Hounds as ignorant as you? Don't you know that trespassing into our territory is a capital offence?"

"If we knew the Junarc Family was under the eye of your Order, we wouldn't have accepted the request. However, you are weak, not even an official Assassin yet. Judging by the look, this relationship must be a secret one too. Two-Fold Wind Order never let any external relationship remain."

The Scholar Girl trembled. Fury erupted in her irises. "Don't remind me of the past. I will not warn you the second time."

"So, it's true." The Grey Hound laughed. "Once I kill you and that girl, there will be no evidence left. No one from your Order will know who the culprit is."

"Instead of hound, you should be a fox instead. It suits your nasty tongue better."

Frowning, the Grey Hound darted forwards and slashed with all his strength. His blade whistled through the air. The Scholar Girl smiled and sidestepped. Her body gracefully slipped past the strike as she stabbed her dagger on his waist. He twisted his body and pulled back his sabre, yet he could not keep up with her rhythm.

Agony came in like a punch. Searing pain drained his concentration and thought. He grabbed his wound while wildly slashing at the Scholar Girl. She danced around them with little effort, her movement incomparable from before.

"You," the Grey Hound said. "You're hiding your strength? You deliberately take a few hits to lower my guard?"

The Scholar Girl's expression did not shift. She silently gripped her daggers and jumped forwards. Her strikes and movements pressured the Grey Hound, who struggled to break free. Every bleeding wound added to his anxiety and despair.

While fighting, his chest tightened. Fires erupted in his lungs, burning his heart. He flung himself away from the Scholar Girl, enduring a stab on his right leg. His throat felt itchy and painful. He coughed, but the air was not the only thing that came out. Blood seeped between his teeth, dripping down his face.

The Grey Hound shivered. "You aren't getting stronger or faster. It's me who got weaker and slower. How did you bypass my resistance?"

Silence met his question. His vision was slipping, his teeth clattering. The Junarc Family mansion was in an isolated place with few people nearby. If the poison resistance he built up was useless against the Scholar Girl's poison, only the magical antidote could heal him.

There was little hope of surviving.

"No answer, huh?" The Grey Hound reached inside his jacket. "You must really see me as a talking corpse. However, can you bet that this corpse won't take you with it?"

He took out a blood-red bead and popped it into his mouth. His teeth crushed themselves and the medicine, mixing blood and gums with his saliva. The veins on his body enlarged as his pupils turned bloodshot. His vitality returned, but his sanity disappeared. He dropped the sabre and growled, turning into a rabid wolf in human skin.

The Scholar Girl tensed; it was as she feared. The Grey Hound title was not for show. The death bead was the mutually assured destruction method. Once ingested, it would turn its owner mad, granting them explosive strength at the cost of their lifespan. Such existence could only live in pain for a few days, but it would become a nightmare for its victim.

"Mad dog, you might be the end of me." The Scholar Girl sighed. "Even under the effect of the poison, you still look so ferocious. It seems like I won't die pretty."

The Scholar Girl threw her daggers at the Grey Hound and sprinted to him. Her burst speed pushed her figure near him. She stomped her feet and flicked a needle at his face while grabbing his sabre. The Grey Hound clawed the daggers, flinging them away. The blades cut his flesh, but the wounds were not deep as before.

He screamed and eyed the Scholar Girl. His right hand, gushing blood, curled into a fist and punched. It reached the Scholar Girl before she could dodge, hitting the sabre she used to protect herself. The impact knocked her a few feet back, but it also shattered the fist.

Screeching, the Grey Hound leapt after her. His broken hand did not hamper his violence. He clawed and bit like a wolf.

Buzzing noises rang in the Scholar Girl's head. Her left arm had turned numbed, and she was bleeding profusely. Though the Grey Hound was in a much worse position than her, she would die all the same.

"I guess this is my punishment. For I who killed my family, it is a fitting ending." The Scholar Girl exerted herself for one last time. Her right hand, holding the sabre, swung at the Grey Hound's legs. "I'm sorry, Barin. I can't see you anymore."

The Grey Hound's claw pierced through the Scholar Girl's stomach while her sabre severed his left leg. The two collapsed on the ground at the same time, breathing weakly. Their eyes locked on each other.

The Scholar Girl's eyesight failed her. Her tears and sweats blurred the boundary of life and death. She lay on the bloodstained soil, feeling the heat of the burning mansion behind her. The darkness of the forest surrounded her figure, looking at her slow descend.

A growling resounded. The Grey Hound whimpered as he crawled to the Scholar Girl. His blood poured out of his gigantic wound, yet it could not stop his hunger. His bruised arms dragged his unmoving body forward, creeping closer and closer.

Anger and hopelessness fueled the Scholar Girl, but her arms no longer listened to her. The pain in her stomach, the hole in her stomach, paralysed her body. She could only watch the Grey Hound's disgusting silhouette getting larger in her murky field of view.