6 years and 3 months since my rebirth - February 9th 1507
Everything was going according to plan. Luckily, Retribution hadn't sent any members after Shattered Veil yet, which was surprising considering we made our presence known to them a year ago. Truthfully, I deeply regretted letting that man live, as I have no doubt that Retribution is now aware of us due to him. But in the moment, I was just so... enraged. I couldn't tell you why, but I was so angry that I felt like I just needed Retribution to be aware that they fucked up, and we were coming for them.
I've adhered to my harsh training regime throughout the entire year, not a single day off - other than Tuesdays of course, because otherwise my uncle would notice I was gone. I had to say, it was definitely worth it. I was indescribably stronger than my past self. I was definitely quite far past the level of a noble, which was usually around 8 Star. But it still wasn't enough. If I had to guess, I was probably around 10 Star, Violet was about 7 Star, and Jade and Marcus were something like 5 Star. I was pretty proud of their improvement, especially Violet, but I knew that I hadn't improved enough. I still needed to keep training.
Shattered Veil had grown as an organization a frankly astonishing amount. Currently, if I had to make an estimate, I'd say that there's around 100 people in our organization. There's me, the Observer, at the top - my role is to be the main face of Shattered Veil, as well as being called in for absolute highest priority missions. I also oversee all of the most important decisions, make some of the more high priority plans of attack, and act as a pillar for the other members to look up to. Then, there are the Virtues. Currently, there are seven of them, and I don't particularly plan on recruiting any more for that rank. Their role is to act as the leaders of the organization. Sure, I do get final say in all decisions, but I tend to mostly trust their judgement. They're also called out for extremely dangerous missions, and act as the ones to carry out my will when I'm unavailable. The Virtues are required to be the seven strongest people in Shattered Veil, other than myself, and it's also required for their loyalty to the organization to be completely unbreakable - one of the main reasons why they only number seven. I need to be able to place my complete trust in every single one of them. Then, beneath them, are the Eyes. The Eyes act as commanders of sorts. They are the people that work directly under the Virtues. They do anything the Virtues ask, and are sort of each Virtues' own elite team of sorts. And finally, there are the Witnesses. They act as the regular members, carrying out lower priority missions, and helping us gain connections.
It's been quite satisfying watching the organization that Violet and I created 2 years ago grow to such a point. My only regret is that, due to my training, I've been unable to aid in it's growth. However, if I keep improving at this rate, I'll probably be able to reach Infinite Star by the age of 10, and so it shouldn't be too long before I return to my rightful position.
After thinking all of this over in my head, I decided to take my four hours of rest. My eyelids closed, and I embraced a comforting unknown.
Noble rank Retribution member's perspective - February 10th 1507
I sat on the eroded, uneven cobbles making up the floor. The Blacklight District. It was a dirty rundown area famous for it's crime rates. I had hoped to never have to go here for a mission, so I had made sure to work as hard as I could to improve my ability. I was the strongest Noble rank that Retribution had to offer - High Leviathan-tier (9 Star). But even so, I had still been called out along with four other Low Leviathan-tier (8 Star) Noble ranks for this one extermination mission. Apparently, it was of the highest priority.
According to madam Lust, our target was a short boy with long red hair and red eyes. There was one detail that confused me, however. He was supposedly just a child 6 years of age. Truthfully, I had no idea why we were tasked with assassinating a child in the first place, never mind why so many high ranked Nobles were required. It made absolutely no sense. Even if you entertained the idea that the child had truly formed a mana pool already, even the greatest mage to ever live, Ato Aywrath himself, would've only been around High King-tier (6 Star) at his age.
It just didn't make sense.
After a few hours of waiting, the boy passed by the alley we were hiding in. It was confusing why he was walking around already - it was only 4 AM, after all. But I didn't really care. The way I saw it is, the quicker we kill him, the quicker we leave this dump.
We followed behind him, far enough that he wouldn't notice us, but close enough that we would never lose sight of him. The boy truly was rather short, even for his age. Eventually, he arrived at an alleyway that was quite dark, even for their standards. However, he seemed to navigate it with a practiced precision, like he was overtly aware of everything around him.
Once he got to a point deep enough in the alley that nobody could see anyone inside from the entrance, he simply stopped. It was as if he was leading us to the perfect place to kill him, and then simply giving up. It was suspicious, but I couldn't waste an opportunity this perfect. I took a single, silent step. And by silent, I mean it literally created no sound whatsoever.
"There we go. I was wondering when you were gonna finally actually attempt to kill me, instead of just trailing me," The boy said, his cold voice carrying a cruel undertone.
"Since... whe-?" I was cut off.
"Since the beginning. I noticed you and your goons when you were in the alley by my house. You guys are terrible at stealth,"
How? We were trained assassins. We had perfected the art of stealth.
Whatever. The kid probably just got lucky. I couldn't let his words get to me. I was sure that once I released my aura, he'd practically piss himself. And so, I did it. I released my aura - the aura of a High Leviathan-tier (9 Star) Noble rank Retribution. This would make any grown man shit themselves.
But this kid...
"I see you released your aura... Hm, is that really the best you can do? Wow, you must be pretty weak, huh? Here's my aura,"
The kid's eyes glowed gold for a second, before it hit. This fucking aura. The ground and walls around us buckled and cracked. I collapsed to my knees, gasping for air. The other four Noble ranks fell to the ground, rolling around in pain. This was beyond terrifying. In fact, I don't know if there's a word or phrase in any dictionary that can truly express the level of anguish. I felt like every atom in my being had begun to scream, every mana particle begun to bleed, every essence of myself burnt to the ground. Painful doesn't begin to describe it. I'd prefer to have to break every bone in my body for every day of my life, than experience it even once. But the pain wasn't even the worst of it. The thing that truly made it unbearable was the fear. A fear that ate away at your very being, until you could no longer remember who you were. A fear that broke through the barriers of the universe, flipping everything you thought on it's head, before forcing you to ask every single question that could ever be asked, at once.
"See? That's what an aura is supposed to be,"
What an aura is supposed to be? What the fuck is this kid talking about? Even every single being that has ever existed and will ever exist combined could never produce such an aura. Including the Cardinals, Royal and Infinite Party. The aura of the universe itself wouldn't even begin to amount to 1% of this. How? Fucking how? An aura is supposed to be a reflection of a person's potential, but how can a person's potential not have a limit? It doesn't make any sense.
"Hm, well, that's rather disappointing. I thought I might at least get to fight you properly, but if you can't even match my aura, then I suppose it'd just be a waste of my time,"
After saying that, he approached the four other Noble ranks, and beheaded them with his flimsy sword, one by one. I didn't understand why he saved me for last. I just wanted him to put me out of this fucking misery. He approached me, and finally I felt the cold steel slowly cut through my throat - a pain that seemed about equal to literally just breathing in comparison to that aura.
In my last seconds of life, I wished for one thing. I wished that Retribution never sends any other person after this kid, as if they did, that person would unfortunately experience a fate that is incomparably worse than death. No one deserves this. No one.