Four Split Personalities

Admittedly, she really liked her Sister Liya, but that reason alone was nowhere near enough for Scarlett to burst out 120% of her Strength to save the other party in a situation where their life wasn’t actually in danger. To be honest, she just thought it was troublesome.

However, Scarlett ultimately never got to use her "backup measures," because the progression of the battle had been locked down way too tightly. No matter how tenacious the Holy Spear Knight Academy was, no matter how suffocatingly strong the Snow Bathing Sword was, Silent Brother still had everything arranged down to the last detail, and there wasn’t a single unexpected situation all the way to the end.

After that, things stayed calm for a while, until three days ago, when a bored-out-of-her-mind Scarlett received another contact—one that was outside the regular communications.

It was a rather interesting anonymous commission, already taken on by the Clown Brand, and after being studied and discussed by that "Ghost Card" and Red Heart K, they unanimously concluded that Scarlett was very suitable to participate in this task.

The content was very simple, namely—"Kill a certain official member of the City of Miracles’ delegation."

To be honest, even with Scarlett Disel’s mental resilience being far above average, she still got scared out of her skin when she saw the specific Task Content. She jolted so hard her head smacked into the bedboard, and her whole person went a bit blank.

She knew there were plenty of Niu Chao people in the organization, but she also knew that as a newly risen black-evil... uh, charitable organization, the Clown Brand didn’t actually have that deep a foundation, so this matter was really just a bit too outrageous!

Assassinating someone wasn’t a problem; as long as it was a stranger she didn’t know, Scarlett’s three views weren’t all that upright to begin with. If the other party was scum, then there was naturally nothing to say. Even if they weren’t some heinous criminal, if it was just someone who had to die because they stood on the opposite side, she had pulled that kind of trigger before.

Assassinating someone from the City of Miracles, though, was a bit of an issue. After all, anyone counted within the City of Miracles’ sphere of influence was basically a Niu Chao-level figure, either someone standing on the upper tiers of the Mage world’s pyramid, or one of their Apprentices or related people.

And assassinating an official member of the City of Miracles’ delegation—that was just going too far.

You had to know that most factions weren’t like the Diesel Family, who treated the exchange conference as a big vacation (plus some horse dealing). Take the Holy Church Union as an example: their entire exchange group only had seven people—Motan, Yu Chen, and Black as probationary members, Yizou as a bodyguard, and then Archbishop Spurada, Master Tom, and Wealth Saintess Fyari as official members.

And among these six people, aside from Yizou, even the three probationary members held identities respectively as the Dawn Saintess, the Sun Saint Son, and the Dawn Religion’s new General Star. You could say the lineup was pretty damn stacked.

In other words, the situation on the City of Miracles’ side likely wasn’t much different...

Uh... it shouldn’t be much different, right?

Before she opened the task details, Scarlett had actually been harboring a bit of lucky optimism.

Yeah, that optimism evaporated the moment she flipped it open.

The materials Red Heart K sent over were very clear: this time the City of Miracles had only dispatched three people in total. One was the "Tuning Sage" from the Council of Truth, another was the eldest young miss of the artificial Magic Eye family, Ivy Lehman, serving as a probationary member, and then... came the target of this mission, a full-element high-level mage named Double Leaf. Though both her strength and qualifications were not yet sufficient, she had still managed, with a single paper, to make the "Mist Moon Sage" Kenneth A. Achizolti her sponsor, joining the delegation as an official member under the identity of "City of Miracles Scholar"—a solid, bona fide rising star and up-and-coming talent.

Not only that, according to the appendix, that Double Leaf was even the younger sister of the Mist Moon Sage, and the Apprentice of the Grand Astrologist Diana A. Achizolti. The latter had also come here this time; although she represented the Archizoldi Family rather than the City of Miracles, the two of them had been living together ever since they arrived at Academy City.

And she was actually being commissioned to take part in assassinating a person like that?

Scarlett was completely dumbfounded at the time. She couldn’t help feeling that no matter whether this deal succeeded or not, by the next day there probably wouldn’t be a place for her anywhere on the whole Continent.

The Diesel Family was indeed Niu Chao, indisputably the number one knightly family, but for one of its members to go and assassinate a City of Miracles Scholar for no reason—and one with such a terrifying background at that—once this got exposed, not even Darian might be able to cover for her.

The Diesel Family did indeed have Legendary Strong People, and probably the strongest Great Lord in this world to boot, but there were even more Legends in that Floating City. Those "XX Sages" in the Council of Truth were all real-deal Sages! Sages in the same sense as Great Lords!

To be honest, if not for the over ten pages of concrete plan and risk assessment attached after the intel, Scarlett would probably have torn up that stack of papers Red Heart K had someone bring her on the spot.

But...

You had to admit, the Clown Brand had indeed sunk a lot of effort into this operation. After carefully reading the action plan, Scarlett found that as long as she followed the instructions to the letter, then whether the assassination succeeded or not, the chances of "Scarlett Disel" being exposed would be infinitesimally close to zero. Even if things went south, Red Heart K had subtly hinted that the Law Enforcement Force would do their utmost to help wash her clean of involvement, even to the point of fabricating exonerating evidence...

As for the risk, the target was "only" a high-order pinnacle mage, and the intel in that regard was extremely detailed as well. It not only mentioned that Double Leaf was a full-element Mage, but also provided very thorough ability evaluations in all aspects, even including her personality. It was just like... a roundworm inside Double Leaf’s stomach had defected.

Damn! Still not doing it! This is a problem.

And by the time Scarlett began seriously thinking about this problem, the answer was already self-evident.

...

"Honestly, no matter how you look at it, this is a bit too thrilling."

Being herself also at high-order pinnacle, and having studied abroad with the Fernan Family for a full seven years, deeply inheriting the true teachings of the current "Iron Gate of the Empire," Grand Duke Hg Core Fernan, Scarlett was by no means weak. In fact, in one-on-one duels, she had already surpassed the vast majority of Professionals at the same high-order pinnacle tier. Even Liya Delin might not gain any advantage in front of a fully serious Scarlett.

However—

If the materials provided by Red Heart K were accurate, then that Double Leaf, a high-order pinnacle Scholar from the City of Freedom like herself, was probably, in terms of combat strength...

"On the level of the Snow Bathing Sword, huh."

Having already changed into a different outfit, Scarlett let out a deep sigh and draped a grey cloak around herself.

Right now she was wearing a set of silver-grey full plate, of a very form-fitting cut. The two oversized gauntlets, a bit disproportionate in terms of visual balance, each held a set of Magic Scrolls and dozens of Magic Power gemstones. At her waist hung a single-handed Warhammer, entirely black, looking rather ferocious.

But none of that was the main point. The most important thing was the dark purple, diamond-shaped Shield locked onto Scarlett’s right arm.

[Scenery]

category: One-Handed Shield

Quality: Unique Epic

defensive power: Rather Strong

Attributes: Strength +20, Constitution +80, Agility -25, Shield Mastery +5, Critical Strike Rate received -25%, Critical Damage received -25%

Trait:

[Liberation]: When you use specific Skills, you can split the Shield into up to four [Broken Scenery] parts. Each part combines with the others and has independent Attributes equal to 1/4 of [Scenery]’s Attributes.

[Spin]: When the Shield is driven away from your body, its Attributes are treated as 120%, defensive power is upgraded to [Strong], and the effects of related Skills are increased by 30%.

[Return]: After [Spin] is properly triggered, [Scenery] becomes easier for you to control.

[Reconstruct]: After being split, [Broken Scenery] can be freely recombined. Depending on completion, their Attributes will be 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of [Scenery], with no limit on recombination patterns.

[Fragile]: Durability consumption is 200% of similar Equipment. Once Durability is fully depleted, it cannot be repaired.

Equipment Requirements: Strength > 100, Constitution > 130, Shield Mastery Level 40

[Note: On the 8th day of the Chanting of the Mist Month, Holy Calendar 8203, this was a gift from the Fernan Family to the current Clan Leader of the Marshalls, in gratitude for the latter’s massive disaster relief funds given free of charge.]

...

"I love advance payment~"

Scarlett gently caressed the Shield on her arm and planted a light kiss on it—

"I love the Clown Brand~"

Chapter 1347: End