We had just finished our reading and writing class and were preparing to head to the yard for our usual afternoon battle training when Spiro suddenly raised his hand.
"Training is canceled today."
For a moment, nobody moved.
Theo blinked several times as if he had heard the wrong words. Robert looked toward the yard door like a dog that had just been told dinner was canceled. I stood still, waiting for Spiro to say something else.
He didn't.
Instead, he walked to the corner of the room and returned carrying a stack of wooden boxes. One by one, he handed them to us.
"Open them."
The box was heavier than I expected. When I lifted the lid, I found a neatly folded black robe and a black suit inside.
There were two sets.
The cloth was thick but smooth when I touched it. The stitching looked strong, especially around the arms and shoulders, where movement would stretch the fabric.
"This is your formal assassin uniform," Spiro said while crossing his arms. "You will wear this whenever you go on outside missions."
He paused for a moment.
"Just like during the Wrock brothers' job."
That made my stomach tighten slightly.
"The second set is a spare," he continued. "You'll ruin the first one eventually."
Theo immediately started examining the seams like a curious tailor. Robert simply nodded and closed the lid again.
After that, Spiro gave us another order.
"Rest for the afternoon. Take a proper bath. Clean yourselves thoroughly."
He looked directly at the boys when he said that.
"Then wear the uniform and gather in the main hall tonight when the sun goes down."
Margaretha tilted her head.
"Why tonight?"
Spiro's answer was short.
"The Master has called a full gathering."
Margaretha and Pritha looked genuinely happy when they heard that.
Mostly because they loved taking baths.
They washed themselves every single day without fail, while the rest of us usually only bathed when Spiro yelled at us because we smelled too bad after training.
Still, when I heard the word rest, something uncomfortable stirred inside my chest.
Breaks meant quiet.
Quiet meant sleep.
Sleep meant dreams.
Or nightmares.
That night after the Wrock brothers died, I saw their faces, in addition to Frans, Father, and Mother's melting face when I closed my eyes. Their blood was spraying from the neck. The sound the body made when it collapsed.
Even now, those images sometimes slipped back when my mind had nothing else to do.
So I made a decision.
I would keep my eyes active all day.
If I stayed awake long enough, maybe the nightmares would stay away.
And if they didn't…
Then I would simply train harder at night.
I tried to sneak outside with my sword that afternoon, but Spiro caught me halfway to the yard.
"Where are you going?"
"Training," I said.
He shook his head.
"No."
"But…"
"Rest means rest."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was firm enough that I didn't argue again.
So instead, I walked around the hideout with my Avenir Eyes activated.
The hideout felt different today.
Busier.
People moved quickly through the hallways carrying boxes, weapons, and strange tools I didn't recognize.
Most of the activity seemed to come from the basement.
I couldn't see inside it from where we were allowed to go, but with my eyes, I could sense the mana signatures of many people working below.
The air felt thick with magic.
Sometimes groups of people would walk down the stairs and disappear. When they reached a certain point, their mana suddenly vanished from my senses.
Not faded.
Gone.
Like a candle blown out.
I frowned slightly.
A barrier…?
There were several places in the basement where I simply couldn't sense anything. Blank spaces inside my vision.
It felt strange.
Almost like staring at a hole in the world.
Spiro had told us before that the basement was still off-limits for us. But tonight's gathering would take place there.
For the first time, we would see what was hidden below.
The rest of the afternoon passed slowly.
When evening finally came, we changed into the black suits and followed Spiro down the stone stairs leading into the basement.
The air grew cooler as we descended.
The stairs opened into a large underground hall.
It was bigger than any room in the hideout above.
Stone pillars lined the walls, holding up the ceiling. Lanterns filled with blue mana crystals hung from iron hooks, casting a cold light across the room.
Many people were already there.
And more kept arriving.
All of them wore the same black suits.
When I activated my eyes again, I felt something unpleasant crawl along my skin.
Their mana was dense.
Heavy.
Every single adult in the hall felt stronger than the bandits we had fought before.
For a moment, my body stiffened.
The crowded room, the dark clothes, the dense mana pressing from every direction—
It reminded me of something.
Soldiers.
The soldiers who had filled my village the night it burned.
My breathing suddenly became shallow.
Too many people.
Too many weapons.
My eyes moved quickly across the room, searching for exits without thinking.
Door.
Hallway.
Stairs.
The same habit always appeared when I felt surrounded.
Margaretha noticed me shifting beside her.
"You okay?" she whispered.
I nodded quickly.
"Just looking."
She studied my face for a moment but didn't push further.
After a while, the room grew quiet.
The Master had arrived.
He stood at the front of the hall wearing a black suit and a black mask.
Even among all the powerful people in the room, his presence was overwhelming.
His mana felt like a deep ocean pressing against the senses.
Then he spoke.
"This is our first full gathering as the Fated Circle."
His voice was calm, but it carried through the entire hall.
"What is our purpose?"
Almost everyone shouted at once.
"TO KILL THE EMPEROR."
The sudden roar made my shoulders twitch.
For a moment, it sounded like a battlefield cry.
Like the shouting soldiers when my village was full of rising smoke.
My hands clenched slightly.
The Master asked again.
"What is our purpose?"
This time I shouted too.
"TO KILL THE EMPEROR!"
My voice came out louder than I expected.
The Master nodded slightly.
"Good."
He began explaining the problem calmly.
"The emperor is strong. A Ninth Circle Archmage. We cannot simply kill him."
He then described the Royal Guard and its leaders.
The Three Empire Swordmasters.
Then the emperor's powerful allies.
Duke Baltazhar, ruler of the underworld.
Duke Germaine, master of the Avantgarde Magic Tower.
Duke Francis, controller of the central merchant guild.
As he listed the names, my mind tried to imagine them.
But every time I pictured an enemy, the face that appeared first was always the same.
The captain of the Starheim Knights, the one who laughed as he started killing Frans.
The old man in the Cave of Honor, the one whose blade almost reached my throat before the others stopped him.
And the first soldier I killed was the one who desperately attacked me when he was trying to run away.
I still remember the sound the sword made when it hit his back.
My chest tightened for a moment.
I forced myself to keep listening to the Master's voice.
"But do not worry," the Master continued. "I have a plan."
He raised one finger.
"The Rising Phase."
We would gather strength. Recruit bloodline holders. Grow our numbers.
A second finger.
"The Infiltration Phase."
We would join the emperor's loyal factions and serve them.
Only to betray them later.
Then the third finger.
"The Harvest Phase."
His voice became colder.
"When we kill them all."
First, the dukes.
Then the Royal Guard.
And finally…
The emperor.
As the hall fell silent again, a strange feeling spread through my body.
Not excitement.
Not exactly.
It felt more like the moment before a storm.
The air heavy.
The world is waiting.
Goosebumps crawled along my arms, but it wasn't just from the speech.
It was because something inside my chest, something small and burning since the night my village died, suddenly had a shape.
Before today, revenge had always been like shouting into the dark.
Anger without direction.
But now there was a path.
Steps.
Phases.
A mountain with a road leading to the top.
My fists slowly tightened.
For the first time, the fire inside me didn't feel wild anymore.
It felt… steady.
Like a blade being sharpened.
And for the first time since the night everything burned, revenge no longer felt impossible.