Late at night, in the undercity, within a pitch-dark alley.
"...So the whole process is roughly like this. Do you think you can accept it?" Aiden held a suit of clothes he had bought, explaining to Avansa who was standing in front of him.
"No problem," Avansa replied blandly.
"I'm not asking whether you can do it or not, but whether you are willing to," Aiden emphasized seriously.
His question brought a hint of confusion to Avansa's poker face. "Why ask for my opinion? Didn't you say that in prison, one just needs to comply with orders?"
"The rules of the prison are indeed like that. But this time, it's a personal request from me. To put it frankly..." Aiden paused for a moment, "I am abusing my authority for personal gain. You may refuse such a request."
"I don't quite understand." Avansa tilted her head, "So should I refuse or should I agree?"
"If I'm asking for your opinion, and you ask me back, it becomes pointless."
Aiden couldn't help but hold his forehead. Although he had been dealing with Avansa for two years, he still found some of her idiosyncrasies a bit tough to handle.
After thinking it over, Avansa asked, "Then, is there a reward for doing this?"
"Compensation, of course, can be provided, but it must not violate the prison's regulations," Aiden folded his arms.
"Could I have that, then?" Avansa pointed a finger towards a shop window on the opposite street at the mouth of the alley.
Aiden turned his head to look. By this hour, many shops had already closed and turned off their lights, but with the nearby streetlight, he could still make out the items displayed in the window.
Opposite was a toy store with a giant teddy bear displayed in the window.
"You want that? It's possible," Aiden thought for a moment, "But according to regulations, such objects could be used by inmates to hide contraband, so it will need to be inspected daily. If you can accept that..."
Avansa was silent for a while, seemingly picturing her plush toy being opened up daily and its stuffing searched by the guards. She shook her head, "In that case, forget it, I'll just have the same as Daili."
"You also want cake?"
Avansa nodded.
"Alright then, I'll buy you some tomorrow," Aiden promised.
"Now, let's start the mission."
"I'm counting on you," Aiden handed the clothes to Avansa, then traced something on the ground with his cane, pausing for a moment.
A small swirl of mist spread in the alley, enveloping Avansa's figure.
This was the knowledge of dark magic that Aiden inherited from his predecessor, a former investigator of the heresy tribunal. Although he couldn't use it as skillfully as the original owner, he could still manage some gestures.
Making an inmate disappear from sight was a big taboo, especially someone as dangerously skilled as Avansa.
But Aiden still decided to respect the other person's privacy. He wasn't worried Avansa would do anything untoward—not out of naive trust, but because he held the fact of her life being in his hands.
After a rustling noise, Aiden heard a hoarse, gender-neutral falsetto from within the fog: "It's done."
When Aiden dispelled the magic and the fog dispersed, Avansa had already transformed, her stature elongated to tower a head above Aiden, now the very image of a large man. She donned the garments that Aiden had procured for her, swathing her frame entirely in a pitch-black robe, capped off with a full-coverage mask over her face.
The "large man" that Avansa had become reached out, handing over her shrunken prison uniform and the coat reserved for concealment to Aiden.
This was Avansa's unique constitution, not some illusion or deception but a genuine capability to alter her physical form directly.
She was an orphan taken in by an organization of assassins, who from the time she could remember, endured various brutal human experiments, eventually being turned into a weapon of flesh with numerous formidable skills at her command. However, as a price, she had also lost some of her senses, and her lifespan was substantially shortened.
"Very well, off you go," Aiden nodded in satisfaction, "Stick to the plan. The target just left the opera house for home; take him out while he's alone."
Bending her knees, Avansa catapulted upwards, scaling the alley walls with such agility and lightness, as if equipped with wings, soon vanishing into the night sky.
"Now then..." once Avansa was out of sight, Aiden curved the corners of his mouth upward, strolling towards the alley's end with his cane in hand, "Time to give that kid a good show."
At this very moment, Bruce Cain was walking alone on a nearby night road, his steps light and airy from excitement.
The pricy ticket for the royal opera house's evening performance had indeed been somewhat useful, as today, during the opera's climactic sequence, he finally managed to take Miss Mary's hand.
If things continued to progress this way, given some time, he would eventually establish a relationship with her. Plus, there was still some of that "savings" left...
At this thought, a fleeting unease crossed his mind, but he quickly cast it aside.
Engulfed in his own world, he failed to notice the imposing figure silently drawing closer behind him.
"Bruce Cain?" Avansa called his name in a disguised voice once she was at a suitable distance.
"Ah?" Hearing his full name called out on such a night road sent an automatous shiver down Bruce's spine as he turned around.
Before he could fully react, a dagger was pressed to his neck, eliciting a twinge of pain.
"Don't turn your head, don't shout, and don't move," Avansa threatened in a tone devoid of emotion, "Otherwise, I'll have to cut open your throat before I can speak with you again."
"You..." Feeling the threat to his life, Bruce's scalp tingled, "what do you want to do?"
"Don't blame me, I'm simply fulfilling someone's request," Avansa continued with the lines taught to her by Aiden, "My employer wants you dead, but before that, he has another requirement."
"What on earth are you talking about? I'm telling you I'm a police officer! You won't get away with killing me!" Bruce cried out in panic.
"I told you not to shout." Another dagger appeared in Avansa's hand, materializing mere inches in front of Bruce's eyeball.
Avansa's tone wasn't vicious; in fact, it was so flat and mechanical it somehow made it even more chilling.
Aiden had crafted a scenario specifically for Bruce, in which Avansa's role was that of an emotionless assassin, but she didn't have to pretend to be one since she was, in actuality, exactly that.
Bruce instantly held his tongue; the coldness and robotic precision of his foe were beyond anything he could comprehend. He had never encountered such a criminal. Avansa's caliber of criminality far exceeded what the mounted police force was capable of handling.
"My employer wants you to return the gold pocket watch you borrowed from him. You understood now?" Avansa stated calmly, "Hand it over, and your life will be spared. Otherwise... you will certainly regret the way you die when you look back."