Shadow entered the blank realm with confidence.

Killing within Larta City is taking on a considerable risk. Though he was equipped to do it, the chance of being caught and executed on the spot was high enough that he preferred to avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

Not to mention, a caught criminal would have his origin tracked.

Soul checked. Memories probed. Connections confirmed.

Every single person tied to the criminal would be questioned, and depending on the severity of the crime committed, they could also be punished—or executed alongside the criminal. The organization behind Shadow doesn’t want that.

So, his plan was to simply knock the target unconscious with a serum and be done with it.

But since the target was inside a separate realm, the risk is basically none.

Dead or alive didn’t matter. As long as the target’s body was claimed, then that’s the task completed.

‘Hmm, those two aren’t exactly mortals. Judging from their feeble divinity, they are barely Demigods. I can ignore them,’ Shadow positioned himself beside the portal, arms crossed, calculating. ‘The serum is the clean approach. A blade through the heart is simpler. But maybe… I crippled him first. Then, use those women to draw out what he knows. Make it hurt before the end.

‘I’m sure the organization would appreciate it,’ He smiled, deciding on what he would do.

Shadow drew two blades on his back from their sheaths.

He cracked his neck and clicked a button on the handle of the sword, which let out controlled greenish liquid from the handle that coated the entire sword. A lethal poison that would paralyze the target from top to bottom.

Though the target wouldn’t be able to talk then, Shadow has a method for communication.

As long as the target’s mind is intact, then communication is possible.

But when he was about to move, the target’s head turned slowly.

And surprisingly, impossibly, his eyes landed directly onto Shadow.

A pair of crimson eyes that reflected an ocean of blood that could drown through a simple stare. Right at this moment, his Stealth Oustification was active, granting him perfect invisibility. No presence. No scent. No sound. Nothing.

But no matter which direction Shadow tried to move, the crimson eyes stayed focused on him.

Fifteen hundred confirmed kills. One hundred of them were Pale Defenders, and there are three officers.

In the organization’s hierarchy, Shadow and Jessie ranked as third-class assassins—a status neither had been gifted. They’d built it from nothing over thousands of years, accepting contracts so dangerous they had cheated death more times than they could count.

Yet in the moment, under that crimson stare, a cold dread slithered down Shadow’s spine.

‘I’m supposed to be invisible,’ He thought, swallowing down his saliva harshly. ‘How can he see me?!’

Almost out of instinct, he took out a golden coin marked with a skull and flicked it up.

He watched as the coin turned red and then melted into blood.

And that sight made his blood freeze, ‘He had harmed a God before…? What in the wo—?!’

Realizing that Rex was a far more dangerous target than he had anticipated, Shadow turned around to make a run for it through the portal again. He came through the portal expecting to become the hunter, but that wasn’t the case at all.

He wasn’t the hunter.

It was Rex.

Bam—!

A blow hammered the side of his face, sending him flying. He hit the shallow water and bounced.

Shadow recovered in an instant—his body thrummed with an energy Rex could not perceive with his senses. He was summoning something. Not that Rex knew for certain, but his intuition, as well as how Shadow’s arms were moving, indicated that.

He had no intention of letting Shadow complete his move.

In an instant, faster than the blink of an eye, Rex cut through the distance like it was nothing.

Claws drilled into Shadow’s stomach and came out from the back, forcing his body to bend.

Blood bursts from his mouth, wetting the purple shawl.

Everything turned red. Shadow grabbed Rex’s arm and kicked with both feet, pushing the claws out of his body as he made a somersault backward. The moment he landed, his body split into ten clones made purely of purplish smoke.

It dashed in different directions, but Rex’s body blurred again.

Activating his Primordial Step skill and the Voidal Moonflow Acceleration, his speed more than doubled compared to normal. He moved even faster, slicing all the clones into two before any of them could do anything.

Shadow was struck again and crashed down like a meteor.

His descent cracked the ground.

Rex gave him no time to think, let alone breathe. Before Shadow could gather his thoughts and stand up, he was already there, inside Shadow’s reach—unleashing a storm of blows. Shadow tried to match Rex, but he couldn’t.

Even in his human form, Shadow can’t keep up.

Now that he’s in his werewolf form, the gap became too much.

A punch slipped through and crushed his ribs. A low kick swept in hard and precise, snapping his shin.

In ten seconds, a hundred blows were exchanged, but every single one that landed belonged to Rex.

Clang—!

Shadow lunged, blade aimed for Rex’s throat. The sword was parried, deflected upward, spinning out of his grip. Rex snatched it from the air and drove it hilt-deep into Shadow’s stomach. Let him taste his own poison.

He pushed further, staring into Shadow’s eyes as if he could reach whatever soul lay beneath.

“I tolerated you, people, for watching over me,” He pushed the sword deeper. “But you crossed the line.”

Seizing the opportunity while Rex’s gaze was locked on his, Shadow used his second sword and struck for Rex’s neck. But in that instant, Rex’s eyes snapped to the right. A red energy, one that Shadow could not even sense, halted the blade an inch away from stabbing into Rex’s neck.

Rex reached for the sword.

He crushed Shadow’s hands until the sword fell to the ground with a sharp clinking sound.

“Do you think you can walk in here and meddle with my affairs as you own me?” Rex’s whisper was ice-cold. He bit down on Shadow’s hand—canines sinking deep, ripping flesh as the assassin’s scream tore through the realm. “Tell the High Lord that even I have a limit to my patience. I will represent him as per our deal. But I expect respect.

“Do you hear me?” His grip tightened, pushing the blood to squirt out. “Can you deliver?”

Just then, his eyes saw a glimpse of Shadow’s face behind the purple shawl.

He pulled the shawl down and realized Shadow’s face was unfamiliar.

It wasn’t one of the spies. He should have checked the stat window name tag—from the start, but rage had blinded him momentarily. The audacity of this intruder, the insult of it, had drowned out reason in him. Now, with blood still cooling on his hands, he realized it wasn’t one of the spies.

“Who are you?” Rex asked with clear confusion.

“I’d rather die,” Shadow hissed back, spitting blood at Rex’s face. “You won’t get anything from me.”

Rex didn’t react.

He simply wiped the blood away from his face and stared at Shadow.

From the moment Shadow entered the realm with bad intentions, Rex had already made up his decision to kill him no matter what. Evelyn and Gistella were shaken up, so he wouldn’t forgive anyone who would’ve spooked them like this.

And secondly, he also couldn’t let anyone know about his blank realm. At least not yet.

Shadow has to die.

Besides, he still needed more Godlings to devour to complete his sudden quest.

It doesn’t matter whether Shadow keeps his origin or not. He will die.

Rex’s gaze swept over Shadow, searching for anything that could snatch him from death’s door. Divine-rank items were common enough in the Primordial Meadow that everything was basically one; it would be foolish to assume the assassin didn’t carry some form of insurance.

Surprisingly, he didn’t stumble upon any item like that, but he did stumble upon an interesting item.

Around his neck, there was a necklace with a purple pendant that had quite an interesting effect.

It would unleash an invisible signal beacon that alerted the other person who wore the same necklace.

“Oh…” Rex looked at the panting shadow and grinned savagely.

Out of nowhere, he snatched the necklace and inspected it.

“Give that back!” Shadow roared, but his voice came out weak. “Give that back to me!”

“A necklace that could send a signal to the other wearer, so you’re not alone…” Rex’s finger tapped the pendant. Shadow’s face turned ashen as the gem began to flicker, its steady glow stuttering into irregular dimness. Active. “If you won’t answer my questions, I’ll go find your friend instead.”

“Huh, try it if you can,” Shadow sneered.

Having done countless contracts with Jessie meant there’s countermeasure for any situation.

Only the two of them really know how to communicate through their tools.

Shadow watched the flickering pendant with a mocking grin.

‘If he didn’t press it again at the fifth flicker, he’ll send a false alarm to Jessie,’ Shadow allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. He was sure that Rex had no clue how this pendant worked, only knew that it was some sort of signal transmitter.

There were plenty of necklaces with similar functions.

But this one was tailored specifically to him and Jessie. No one else could operate it.

Just as the fifth flicker happened, Shadow watched as Rex tapped the pendant again, which drained his face of all color. “What?” Rex tilted his head a little. His lips sliced upward into a sinister smile in the shape of a crescent moon. “Do you think I can’t use it? Unfortunately for you, I know everything.”

It was only then that Shadow truly regretted not listening to what Zev said to him and Jessie.

That Rex wasn’t a normal visitor who came from the lower realms.

He’s abnormally dangerous.

Sucking in the terror on Shadow’s face, Rex leaned closer.

“Now…” He whispered menacingly. “While we wait for your friend to come rescue you, let’s talk about how you can be invisible like that? Is it an Oustification? If it is, how did you even use it inside Larta City without being detected? I want to know.

“I suggest you to answer me,” Rex pointed at the portal. “Because your action would dictate what I’m going to do to that friend of yours…”

Meanwhile, right outside the building.

Jessie lingered outside the apartment building, though she wasn’t exactly on edge. She had even stopped at the ice cream truck for a cone. Unlike the countless contracts she and Shadow had executed over the years, this one seemed almost routine.

Hardly dangerous at all.

Killing a visitor from the lower realms is a common contract for them.

Other than it being annoying as it needed to be done in Larta City, everything was fine.

Of course, she couldn’t deny the unease, but that’s normal.

After all, this was a detrimental contract for them. It’s their life and death inside the organization.

Her brows furrowed into a frown when her necklace began to flicker, which was not a good sign. And when she got the confirmation at the fifth flicker, she sucked in a cold breath. “Shadow needed help…?” A wave of unease brushed her once again. “Is the target really that dangerous?”

Shaking his head, she went to a secluded alley.

Once she was in the clear, she tapped on the pendant and was teleported away.

She was now inside what seemed to be the emergency exit. The pendant would teleport her to the nearest safe spot from where the other pendant was, and it’s deliberate so as not to be teleported to her death. She followed the direction from the pendant, and soon arrived in front of a room.

It wasn’t locked.

Jessie slipped in and saw the portal.

She took out a steel handle, and with a flick, an energy blade manifested, glowing with a bluish glow.

Swiftly, she entered the portal with a dash and looked around.

Just before she could really digest the surroundings, two hands grabbed her face from behind.

And with a twist, the hands snapped her neck.