Chapter 2: Templars Become Assassins
“Wow—”
The cold water splashed on Angel's face and flowed down the smooth curve of her cheek, taking away the remaining fear and tension in her body.
The mirror showed a bewildered young woman, about 18, perhaps even younger. She had long, straight, soft, light-blonde hair, and sculpted, perfectly proportioned features set against a delicate face. Her deep purple eyes, like a pair of whirlpools, drew Angel's gaze. Even the oversized, blood-stained top she wore couldn't hide her tall figure.
"This is me... No, this is not me..."
Looking at this perfect female face, she fell into confusion.
Before waking up in the basement of this building, he was a member of the "Agents", the top combat force of the Church's Knights Templar. Even among the few dozen agents, Angel Gray was among the best. Just by looking at his number "007", it can be seen that there are only 6 people stronger than him.
Each of the agents possesses unique skills and is capable of fighting a thousand enemies at once. They have been fighting on the front lines against pagans and evil forces since their formation. After the world situation changed and various countries and religions united to fight against the increasingly active evil forces, they served as the backbone of the "Purifier" forces and built the last barrier to prevent the evil forces from invading the world.
Unfortunately, all this is in the past. In the battle to encircle and suppress the superior demon, in order to protect his friends, Angel was pierced through the heart by a flaming spear thrown by the demon before his death. His last memory was that his teammates surrounded him with grief on their faces, and then he lost consciousness.
She slowly reached out her hand and caressed the delicate face of the girl in the mirror. The girl in the mirror also reached out her hand, interlocking their fingers. The girl seemed to have a strange attraction, and her purple eyes seemed to be sucking her soul in.
"Assassin's Path..."
After the initial panic, the "memories" of this body slowly emerged in her mind, and she gained some understanding of the current situation.
First of all, it was obvious that she was no longer in her original world.
Steam engines, magic potions, gods, curses... This is a world where the level of technology is roughly between the two industrial revolutions, but there are also extraordinary powers. Mortals can possess various special powers through "magic potions", but they also face crazy erosion and the risk of getting out of control at any time.
This is Tingen City, a medium-sized city belonging to the Kingdom of Loen in the northern continent, and "I", Cole Granger, is an unofficial Beyonder in Tingen City.
Their mother died of an epidemic shortly after giving birth to their younger sister, Lily Granger. Their father, a sailor on a merchant caravan, raised Cole and his sister alone. Three years earlier, they had been killed in a pirate attack while sailing to the Balam Empire on the southern continent...
Wait, brother and sister?
Angel continued to dig deep into his memory, then smiled wryly.
Even if I had "traveled" a day earlier, at least I would still be a man...
Just a few hours ago, Cole Granger took a potion he had personally concocted, attempting to advance from Sequence 8 "Instigator" on the Assassin's Path to Sequence 7 "Witch." However, he lost control at the last moment, causing the ritual to fail and him to die on the spot.
In this world, failure to get promoted often means losing control or even death. Relatively speaking, death might be a more fortunate outcome.
The characteristics of the "Witch" potion will forcibly transform the user's body into a female. Although Cole Granger failed to be promoted, his body had completed the transformation before his death. This is why Angel, who "replaced him", has become the weak female he is today.
She raised her hand and looked at the flawless skin and slender fingers. It was hard to imagine that this perfect female body had once belonged to a man.
"You deserve to die, but it's a pity that you left me with such a mess..."
Angel didn't feel sorry for Cole's death because he was not a good person in every sense of the word.
Cole Granger initially pursued extraordinary powers solely for the purpose of giving his brother and sister a better life, but after taking the "Assassin" potion a year ago, in order to meet the requirements of his "mentor" and to master the potion as quickly as possible, he began to constantly play the role of an assassin, and his hands were gradually stained with blood.
Then comes the next sequence of assassins, "The Instigator".
Unlike assassins, instigators don't physically kill their targets. Instead, they hide behind the scenes, using words to incite evil in others, stirring up conflict and causing bloodshed. Cole's ascension to the rank of "Witch" required her to carry as many murders as her assassin counterparts. From her vague memories, Cole was implicated in at least several mass student incidents at Tingen University, resulting in numerous casualties and disappearances.
By this stage, Cole Granger had completely lost himself and forgotten his original intention of pursuing extraordinary powers.
Being able to advance from Sequence 9 to Sequence 7 in the space of a year shows that he is an extremely talented individual. If such a person were to follow the right path and receive proper guidance within the Church of the True God, they would surely be able to safely increase their strength and advance further, rather than rushing into advancement without being fully prepared and dying in their own basement.
——————————
After calming down, Angel Gray walked out of the bathroom.
The red moon, unique to this world, was still hanging high in the sky. This strange sight prevented her from rushing out, but instead she carefully inspected the building.
This building had two floors above ground and one underground. Judging by the building across the street, it was a townhouse facing the street. It had two entrances, one in front and one in the back. The main entrance opened onto the living room, which had no porch and faced the now-deserted street. The study and dining room were at either end of the living room facing the street, while the kitchen, bathroom, and storage room were located near the back door. The back door opened from the kitchen and led to a narrow, dingy alley. On the second floor were another bathroom and four bedrooms. Two smaller rooms were probably used as storage rooms, filled with unused tools and broken furniture. The two rooms facing the street were in normal use, and the master bedroom even had a small balcony. The entrance to the basement when she woke up was in the study on the first floor. The gas lamp on the wall was not on, but she found that she could clearly see the scene in the dark.
"This body possesses night vision... This should be the dark vision Cole Granger gained after taking the assassin's potion. It seems that I, or rather this body, still retains the extraordinary abilities brought by the potion."
Using darkvision, she returned to the basement.
The radiating pool of blood on the ground had long since dried up, which was irrefutable evidence of Cole's failure to get promoted. The wide range and heavy amount of bleeding made Angel suspect that Cole had exploded into a bloody mist at that time, and she was actually a completely different person now, who just happened to appear in the same place.
"This is going to be very troublesome to clean up. Even if you rinse it with plenty of water, the bloody smell won't go away within a week."
Just as she was worrying about how to clean the basement, she found a black gelatinous substance in the bloodstain.
I hadn't noticed it at all when I left the basement before, and I thought it was some piece of internal organs or a blood clot. Now, with dark vision, I can clearly see the difference between it and the surrounding bloodstains.
This piece of colloid is about the size of an egg. Due to gravity, it is half spread on the ground. Its color is close to purple-red. There seems to be light flowing on the surface, but the surrounding area is dark and seems to absorb the surrounding light, making the color of the colloid itself very prominent.
As he approached the gelatinous substance, Angel heard whispers in his ears and became irritated. It seemed that a desire to destroy and kill was surging in his heart, and the smell of blood in the basement became stronger.
This is an extraordinary characteristic!
According to Cole Granger's memories, when a Beyonder dies, the power in their body will condense into Beyonder characteristics that match their abilities and then be released from their corpse.
This gelatinous substance was obviously what was left behind when Cole died. Considering that he had only taken three potions: "Assassin", "Instigator" and "Witch", Angel speculated that it should belong to the extraordinary characteristics of "Witch".
But in Cole's memory, the characteristics emitted by the dead Extraordinary people should carry the complete Extraordinary powers they had in their lifetime. In other words, his body should no longer have the power of an Extraordinary person, but the unique "dark vision" is definitely not something that ordinary people can possess.
Maybe it was because I... no, it was because Cole Granger was not completely dead?
Judging from the abilities he possesses, this body should now be an "assassin"?
Former Templar Angel Grey could only smile bitterly.
She did not rush to put away the valuable and dangerous Beyonder characteristics, but first left the basement and went to the study above.
Beneath a floorboard in the study was a small, hidden compartment. Inside was a metal box Cole had bought potion ingredients for, which he had paid twenty pounds for. The seller claimed it could isolate extraordinary powers and prevent the spiritual essence of the ingredients inside from being lost.
Unfortunately, Cole didn't have any extra extraordinary materials, so this box had become his weapon storage box, and now it only contained a damaged revolver.
Although she didn't know if it really had such an effect or was just the vendor's exaggeration, this small box was the most suitable container Angel could find for storing extraordinary characteristics. With the mentality of giving it a try, she carefully picked up the extraordinary characteristics through her clothes and put it into the box, placing it together with the revolver with a damaged hammer that was previously in the box.
Fortunately, the moment the box was closed, the whispers in her ears and the smell of blood in her nose immediately disappeared.
Although it is not completely isolated, at least the side effects are within an acceptable range.
Angel put the box back into the secret compartment, put a few books under it, and closed the trapdoor of the secret compartment. The whispers finally disappeared completely.
After dealing with Cole's legacy of Beyonder traits, she went upstairs. Near the stairs was the second bedroom, occupied by Cole's sister, Lily Granger. It was decorated in a bright, girlish style. It had a dressing table and a dressing mirror, and the quilt was also lace, but it was covered with a dust sheet, lightly dusted. It looked like it hadn't been lived in for a while. On the bedside table lay a few novels and a closed photo frame. Angel lifted the frame and, in the crimson moonlight outside the window, could barely make out a black and white photo of the two of them.
There are several height lines with ages written on them next to the bedroom door, and the tallest one has "18 years old, 156cm" written next to it.
It's obvious that clothes that a 1.56-meter-tall girl can wear are not suitable for this body...
Angel stood by the door and compared his height. He was a head taller than the 5'5" line, which meant he was about 1.75 meters tall. It seemed he would have to get a set of Cole's clothes to wear first. Even if the size wasn't right, at least he could fit into them, which was better than wearing little girl's clothes.
The master bedroom belonged to Cole Granger. It was decorated in a simple and clean style with cool colors and no unnecessary decorations. The closet was filled with men's clothes, including two suits of the same color and several casual clothes. Angel picked up a shirt and tried it on himself. The size was the same as the one he was wearing.
She took out a shirt and a pair of casual pants, took off the blood-stained and hardened clothes, changed into clean clothes beside the bed, took the photo and went downstairs, returned to the relatively familiar study, turned on the gas lamp on the wall, and the dim and soft light dispelled the coldness brought by the red moonlight.
Angel examined the framed photo in her hand carefully, drawing the light. As expected, it showed a picture of a man and a woman, complete strangers. The man, in his early twenties, had short blond hair and wore a short-sleeved shirt and casual pants. He was tall and thin, with a delicate, soft face. His eyes and nose were very similar to Angel's current appearance. He wore black-framed glasses and a slightly contrived beard, attempting to enhance his androgynous features. The girl, about sixteen, was wearing a dress, had a round face, and her long blond hair was tied in a single braid. She cuddled up to the man, a novel in her hands.
Based on the girl's height and the novel in her hand, which he had seen in the second-floor bedroom, Angel concluded that this was the owner of the second bedroom where the photo was taken, her "sister" Lily Granger, who had left Tingen a year ago to study in Backlund.
The "brother" beside her, whose face was three-quarters similar to her current self, was naturally Cole Granger in his male form.
This photo was probably taken by the brother and sister shortly after their father's death. They both looked melancholy, which was in stark contrast to their bright clothing style.
As Angel was carefully studying the details in the photo, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.
“Dongdongdong——”
Who is it?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com