"As expected of the assassin of Kruule, you're quick to take notice of things," Uruk complimented Agatha. "The Reyna and the Prinsesa are now being held in the prison chamber. Their only use is to grow hatred towards me, after all. As for you..."
Uruk gestured at the high commander holding Agna to give the girl to him. The high commander did just that, and now Uruk has Agna, grasping her arm hard and making her groan in pain.
"You have a very useful ability. Agatha, and I'd appreciate it if you can work for me like usual."
"And you expect me to do your bidding just like that?" Agatha reposted.
"Well, I know that you're a good knight, you do things that are given to you because you know they are for a good cause, but..." Uruk stated as his other hand became clad in dark flames. "I am not asking for your service, I am giving you a choice."
"Agna!"
Uruk puts his burning hand threateningly close to Agna's face.
"Ina, Ama!"
"A...gna..."
Agario couldn't speak coherently, all he could do was to glare at Uruk with his half-open eyes. It's the result of trying to protect himself and his daughter when everything went south, he had countless bruises and injuries, making himself look helpless as a group of knights is pinning him down.
"Damn you... I don't know who you are or how you possessed the Hari, but I'll kill you." Agatha declared with a stern gaze towards Uruk.
"No, you're not going to kill me," The unfazed Uruk replied. "You are going to kill one of them."
"Wha?"
"If you kill Agario, you and your daughter gets to live, but your daughter will become everyone's slave."
As soon as Uruk spouted those words, the crowd of soldiers and escaped prisoners broke into malicious half-suppressed laughter. Just one single glance and Agatha could tell what's hiding behind those hideous smiles.
"If you kill your daughter, you two get to live, serving me until your last breath while bearing the fact that it was your hands that killed your child."
"Y-You bastard...!" Agatha furiously tightened her grip against her dagger. It was so hard that one could hear the sound of the handle cracking while tearing apart from the inside, and it's supposed to be made of a hard material, too.
No matter what choice she make, Agatha knew she would be suffering in the end. There's no point arguing which one is better, the choice Uruk gave her is nothing but to make the assassin suffer.
'I'm not choosing either of them,' Agatha said firmly in her mind. 'If I can't save both of them, I might as well die with them.'
Agna is still young, but Agatha is certain that her daughter would understand that the only way they can get out of the situation is by dying altogether. However! As if Uruk could read what's inside Agatha's mind, the Hari added:
"By the way, the sumpa I put inside you is unique compared to the sumpa that I'll be putting onto everyone else later on."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"The curse is made to protect you from harm, such as trying to kill yourself along with your family," Uruk replied, following a devilish smirk after seeing Agatha flinch from shock. "You thought about killing your family and then committing suicide right after, isn't that right?"
"Wha...?"
Slowly but surely...
"Didn't I tell you that you have a useful ability? Why would I let something useful go to waste, hm?"
Uruk's words are gradually tearing Agatha's composure apart.
"Now then, make a choice!"
Can his curse prevent me from killing myself? He's gotta be bluffing, Agatha thought. She pointed the tip of the dagger to her stomach before pausing.
"A-Agatha! No!" Agario voiced desperately with his weakened strength.
"Ina!"
As Agna and Agario's voice started fleeting away, Agatha thought to herself:
'The only way to know the truth is by trying to stab me in the gut, but if Uruk ended up bluffing and killed myself right here, what would happen to Agario and Agna?'
Sure enough, Agatha could picture a horrible fate awaiting Agario and Agna once she killed herself first.
'W-What now?' Agatha started sweating profusely, her breathing slowly became unstable.
"I see, so you won't answer me unless I make it harder for you huh? Very well!" Uruk dragged Agna by the hair in front of him, giving Agatha a closer view of her daughter crying in pain and despair.
"A-Aga...tha, kill m–"
Pow!
"Shut up! The Hari is not done speaking!" Uttered, one of the soldiers pinning Agario to the ground.
"I will count to five, if you can't decide who you want to kill until then, I'll have Agna kill his father and become nothing but a plaything for my followers!"
"No... Ah...!"
Helplessness. That's what is coursing Agatha's mind and body right now.
"Isa!"
"N-No please!"
The defeated and hopeless look of the assassin who once humiliated the prisoners and stood atop the ranking of soldiers in Kruule puts a smile on the faces of those surrounding Agatha.
"Dalawa!"
"Nooo... Ahhhhhh...!"
While he continued counting, Agatha finally broke out into a wail, her eyes are overflowing with tears as she began speaking incoherently and started acting as if she couldn't see anything or was disoriented.
"Tatlo!"
"Agatha... Kill me!" Agario pleaded with all his might, but his wife could no longer hear anyone but Uruk. However, Agatha held the dagger forward, at the same time she started walking towards Uruk and Agna.
"Apat!"
"I-Ina! What are you..."
"Agatha! Stop!"
With a dagger in her hand, Agatha decapitated Agna with a quick swing.
"Agna...!" Agario's jaw dropped down in total shock.
There was no hint of hesitation coming from Agatha when she did it. Well, she cannot afford the time to be hesitating in the first place.
Uruk wordlessly released the severed head of Agna's hair from his grasp, and let it fall onto Agatha's shaking hands.
"Agna..." She hugged Agna tightly.
When Agatha went and severed her daughter's head, this is what she had in mind.
'If I kill you, you won't need to suffer along with me and your father. That's right, this is the only way to save you. This is it. Forgive me, Agna. Goodbye.'
Agatha whimpered as she caressed Agna gently like an innocent little girl in her sleep. But just then...
"I was lying."
"...!"
When Uruk spouted both Agna and Agario jolted, their eyes are wide open.
"My curse doesn't protect the person from harm, it only prevents you from becoming an Anino, but it can kill you if you even think of going against me in the slightest."
At that moment, something within Agatha have been broken. She gave Uruk a blank stare.
"You can go ahead and kill yourself. But, I certainly doubt that you can do it, now that you have a reason to hate me and think of assassinating me one day."
Just like that, Uruk, Gilberto, and the others walked away and left Agatha and Agario seemingly stupefied. Agatha eventually fell on her knees and looked at her hands that are stained with Agna's blood. Although all she could see is red, there's no denying that the blood in her hands is Agna's.
"Agatha, how could you!" Agario scowled at Agario. "I told you to kill me, you idiot!"
"Ah... A-Ah...!"
Everything that has happened was just to throw Agatha off. And Uruk succeeded splendidly.
Clang!
"Hng!"
She grabbed the dagger in an attempt to kill herself one more time. But even now that she knew the curse wouldn't stop her from committing suicide, she couldn't bring herself to push the dagger onto her gut. Because deep inside her, Agatha is telling herself she cannot die until she gets to assassinate Uruk, or at least whoever is controlling Uruk.
In the end, all she could do was to let go of her dagger and powerlessly slam the ground with her fists. And right in front of her bloody weapon and her daughter's head, Agatha's overwhelming emotion busted out.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!"
Agatha's vision gradually became blurred with light. Then shortly after, the light dissipated, bringing her back to her senses, to the present time.
"Agatha! Boss!"
A faint voice slowly becoming vivid rang her ears. Then, she gradually opened her eyes.
"Boss!"
"Ah...!"
Her vision finally cleared up.
"Agna?"
"Agna?" The man repeated in confusion. "You've been calling that name while crying for a while now, boss."
"Huh..." Agatha touched the tears that ran down her cheek with the tip of her fingers, and sure enough, she was indeed crying. "Where...?"
"You mean Lyrica and the knight?"
"Lyrica?"
It's been a whole minute since Lyrica struck her with a beam of light, the assassin informed Agatha that the two already left.
"We have to follow them." Agatha stood up. "I need to talk to–"
The assassin stood before her way, keeping her from moving forward.
"We're not following them anymore."
Agatha glared at the assassin.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" She puts her dagger onto the man's throat. "I am the one who makes order here."
"Yes you are, but you're not you anymore." The assassin reposted. "That's because you've been blinded onto seeing your daughter who's already dead."
"You!!"
"I never see your daughter's face even once, but I can tell you it's not your daughter."
The assassin gently puts the dagger away from his throat.
"Lyrica is not Agna."
Agatha furrowed her brows upon the truth that her soldier stated. Lyrica is not her daughter, Agna is long dead. And there's no way for her to bring her daughter back.
"Agna..."
The one who's known as the strongest assassin sat on the ground and turned into a sad and frail woman, crying in pain.
"Sorry, boss." The man gave her boss a melancholic gaze, showing his sympathy towards her. "Either we find another head to show the Hari or we head back and tell him that we failed, we have to get back, boss."