Sabrina doesn't know the parents who gave birth to her. What she remembers is not the person who bore her, but the cold appearance of the instructor who taught her swordsmanship.
From childhood, she was raised by the organization and brought up as an assassin. While other children played with toys, she first learned how to use blades.
The instructor was a cold person. He only spoke necessary words, and besides that, always showed only through actions. He ruled disobedient children with violence, and when necessary, did not hesitate to kill them cruelly.
Sabrina was clever. While other children were frozen in place, she acted desperately to survive.
Thus she gradually grew within the boundaries of death, and repeatedly survived even in moments of crisis. As scars on her body increased, her position rose and her voice became stronger. The number of people who opposed her decreased, and those who followed orders increased.
Sabrina felt pleasure from this. And she tasted a certain truth of the world.
Only the strong can grasp everything. Power decides everything.
Power is abstract. Personal martial prowess is power, but leadership that guides a group is also power. And in modern society, the capital one possesses has also become considerable power.
As soon as Sabrina rose to an executive position, she reorganized the organization and took on assassination contracts from outside. Results accumulated and money was made. The more this happened, the greater satisfaction she felt. This feeling was really good. It was as if she owned the entire world.
But it was still not enough. Above her head were more people. No matter how high she climbed, there was no end. Sabrina coveted their positions.Higher. More. She wanted to grab the ankles of those above and drag them down, devouring everything they possessed.
Sabrina wanted greater power and authority. This goal didn't change even after surpassing Dead Dagger's executives and later becoming guild leader.
After completely grasping Dead Dagger in her own hands, Sabrina could see a wider world. Ah, there are still so many who possess things in this world. She felt thirsty. The higher she climbed, the more her throat burned with longing. No matter how much she drank, she could not be satisfied.
Sabrina kidnapped more talented people and raised them as assassins. If she couldn't rise with her own power, she just needed to increase the excellent tools that would do it for her.
But something happened that Sabrina never expected.
'Malina.'
A half-elf child with jet-black hair. Malina, who inherited elf blood and was only beautiful, had outstanding talent as an assassin despite her seemingly fragile appearance. She absorbed all the techniques she taught and knew how to use them effectively.
This one. The tool that will lift me to a higher position. Sabrina drove Malina even more harshly. Ordinary ones would break from this, but Malina was different.
Even when she seemed to yield, she never gave up to the end and ultimately overcame it. She even became stronger.
Malina had the qualifications to become Dead Dagger's next leader.
'I'll hand over Dead Dagger to this one, and I'll come out from behind into the light and rise to a high position.'
Establishing influence as an assassin through Malina in the shadows, while she herself came out to the light to display her abilities. Sabrina's plan proceeded step by step, until Malina betrayed her.
Her left eye still throbs. Though it regenerated with the blessing of Red Eternity, every time she saw Malina, the scene from that day vividly came to mind.
That desperate face that suddenly leaped toward her and thrust a dagger. The thick killing intent she had never seen from her before. If there hadn't been guards, and if she had completely let down her guard, the blade would have pierced not just her eyeball but the brain beyond it.
Sabrina had underestimated how strong Malina's stubbornness was. She thought that if she kept pressing, she would eventually break and bow her head on her own, but that wasn't the case.
Malina never yielded to the end, and for long years crouched while watching for gaps in their side.
'Eerie and sharp-tongued bitch. Taking you in was the biggest mistake of my life.'
Sabrina hid in darkness again and built up power. She made contact with the Eternal Church, and even parasitically received subcontracts from Tirna's companies using assassins. For that, she had to bow her head to pig bastards, abandoning her pride.
But now it's different. She had grasped power greater than youth. She could finally implement the dream of reaching the pinnacle that she hadn't been able to achieve before.
For that, she had to defeat Malina, whom she had raised in the past, right here. Naturally, Malina had no chance of winning. Though she might have been stronger in the past, the current Sabrina had become a transcendent being far beyond her prime.
In reality, Malina couldn't match her when she revealed her power. Let alone now that she had mutated with the blessing bestowed by Red Eternity.
Be afraid. Tremble in fear. Feel that same despair I felt.
She glared at Malina with such eyes, but the response that came back was too unexpected.
"Pitiful."
It wasn't words meant to provoke her, but words that seemed to truly think so, with sincerity seeping through. Malina showed Sabrina a completely different emotion - not anger, hatred, fear, or terror. It was pity.
"Sabrina. At least the old you had more passion, and charisma that made me definitely want to kill you. But what is that appearance now?"
Malina felt disappointment at Sabrina's changed appearance. At least the Sabrina who taught her techniques was sincere as a Dead Dagger assassin.
But what was this appearance?
Her lower body had become a snake, her mouth was split long, and her arms had increased to four. Aesthetically hideous and the aura she gave off was also sloppy.
She couldn't feel even a hair's worth of the assassin's appearance that always valued patience, stealth, and precision above all.
"You're trash, I know that, but at least you were trash with pride in yourself. But now you don't even have that."
The thread of reason existing in Sabrina's head snapped.
"Shaaaak!"
Letting out not a human but a snake's shriek, Sabrina rushed forward. Her lower body slid like lightning across the floor half-melted with poison.
Malina gripped her weapon tighter. Though she had spoken without reading the mood, it wasn't that she wasn't nervous. The current Sabrina was strong. Much stronger than her in her prime.
Still, she had no choice but to fight. If she let her go here, she would return as a bigger boomerang later. The seed of disaster had to end here. It wasn't for the world, nor for this city.
'For my beloved brothers.'
She wouldn't have been able to come this far alone. That she could face Sabrina like this was also thanks to other people's help.
Sabrina had easily abandoned bonds with people. To her, humans were merely tools to be used and discarded. Having never learned about bonds, she dismissed them as useless.
Malina was different. The world cannot be lived alone. In the end, to live, other people's help is essential. The relationships formed between people become strength. Because such bonds existed, she could stand in this place.
And because they existed, she could finish preparing to fight the monster before her eyes without running away.
Unknown courage breathed vitality into Malina's body. The surrounding heat washed away the chill called fear. Her mind became clear and her senses sharp. Sharp enough to catch even the slightest scent brushing her nose.
What she felt in the rushing wave of death was the scent of a path to survival.
It sometimes disappeared and appeared, and its position changed too. What was important was timing and the boldness to seize the opportunity.
-Swooosh!
Sabrina, who had approached within arm's reach, thrust out both arms. Two spears made of shadow shot at her. They didn't specifically aim for vital points. With just size and power, wherever they hit would be instant death.
-Claaang!
At the same time, giant swords swung from both sides like scissors to slice her up.
If it had been the old Malina, she would have retreated and chosen evasion here. She would have hidden in shadows and only aimed for the opponent's gaps.
But now she knows. In truly important moments, one must not retreat.
Malina recalled the person who fought best in her mind. The phantom of a man appeared before her eyes. It was the figure of a knight fluttering a pure white cloak, advancing straight ahead.
As far as she knew, he was the strongest person in one-on-one combat. A person who calmly chose options she couldn't. That was also teaching material she should observe and learn from.
Malina took a step forward.
"...!"
In the slowly flowing time, she could see Sabrina's confused expression. It was an attack that expected Malina to retreat and sealed off that escape route. She hadn't considered her diving in reverse.
'Accelerate one more level.'
Malina increased her speed further and dove into Sabrina's embrace. If they collided like this, that would also be dangerous. Sabrina's body was itself a weapon. Especially the scales of her snake lower body would tear flesh with just a graze.
-Thwap!
But before colliding with Sabrina, Malina kicked off the floor and instead clung to her body. She could see Sabrina's confused expression. Regardless, Malina flowed like water from Sabrina's upper body down to her lower body.
Sabrina felt stinging pain from her abdomen to her lower body. Looking down, black daggers were periodically embedded along the path Malina had passed.
She violently swung her tail in a wide arc. She intended to shake off Malina running on top of it. But Malina didn't fall from Sabrina's body even during her rampage, as if adhesive had been applied to the floor.
Osian and Grace clearly saw that strange acrobatics that seemed to defy the laws of physics.
'Yes. Finally fighting like an assassin.'
Though most rogue-type classes specialize in assassination, that doesn't mean they always only ambush. In the end, in boss battles, they had to fight the opponent fair and square without stealth.
Cutting the enemy's breath with pure fighting skill was the most basic ability required of rogues in the old era.
Now it had regressed and disappeared, but at this moment it was being implemented again through Malina.
"What the hell!"
Sabrina screamed with confusion and shrieking. Malina's movements were unknown to her too because she hadn't taught them.
-Thwap!
Malina, who jumped high off the tip of Sabrina's tail, changed direction while floating in the air. Sabrina swung her sword. The sword leaving afterimages broke the sound barrier with a sonic boom. A black half-moon tried to cut Malina's waist.
Malina still calmly twisted her body with a light and graceful movement like a ballerina dancing. The half-moon's trajectory split the air. Malina moved here and there in the air several times, approaching Sabrina.
Sabrina couldn't react properly.
-Slash!
As a black shadow brushed past, one of Sabrina's arms was cleanly cut off. The arm holding the spear rolled on the floor. Blood flowed steadily from the cross-section of the wound.
It wasn't just the arm she lost. From Sabrina's face to her side, cuts continued several times.
"This damn bitch!"
Sabrina thrust her remaining spear timing it with when Malina would land. Such wounds couldn't even be considered minor injuries to her.
The moment the spearpoint was about to touch the back of Malina's head.
-Stop.
The spearpoint trembled and stopped an inch before Malina. Sabrina looked at her own arm.
-Clank.
Black chains were restraining her arm. They were vicious-looking chains with sharp thorns protruding like thorn vines. When? And these chains aren't techniques I taught?
'You look surprised, Sabrina.'
Malina read the emotion in Sabrina's eyes. It was strange. In the past, she often had her emotions read by Sabrina, but the positions had reversed.
Perhaps it was because she had become like that. The moment she perceived Sabrina as pitiful, her senses opened. It could be called enlightenment.
Her senses were sharp and her mind spun clearly. Within that, Malina could read several moves of what action Sabrina would take, and dozens of corresponding responses came to mind.
The chains she just used were the same. She got inspiration from the hair manipulated by her eldest sister, Grace Seeker.
Though they wouldn't suit an assassin due to the clanking sounds and rough appearance. What did that matter? There was no need to be picky about tools to use in a frontal confrontation with the enemy.
"This damn thing!"
She could see Sabrina trying to break the chains with force. Though they could bind a tank, they couldn't withstand Sabrina's strength.
But that didn't matter. It was enough if it bought just a little time.
Malina's form moved as if sliding. Sabrina tried to stop her with her remaining arm but Malina saw through that movement.
-Swoosh.
Like a ghost, a black shadow climbed up Sabrina's arm like a thorn vine.
The arm where she passed split with a crack and blood spurted. The acidic blood splattered everywhere, melting the surroundings, but didn't reach Malina. It was like facing a phantom.
"Protect me! You vermin!"
Desperate Sabrina shot mental waves calling the Dead Dagger assassins. The Dead Dagger assassins rushed at Malina, risking their own deaths.
-Psshing!
But that interference only remained an attempt. Red flashes crossed the air and pierced all the assassins' foreheads.
"Where do you think you're going to interfere on your own?"
It was support fire from Basilio who had arrived at some point.
Sabrina widened her eyes and stared straight ahead. At some point, Malina had appeared before her, assimilated with the black shadows. Sabrina swallowed. Without realizing it, she was overwhelmed by Malina's appearance.
"Goodbye, Sabrina."
With Malina's final farewell Sabrina had to feel the alien sensation penetrating her neck.
It was fast, sharp and very cold.