Chapter 1: The Return of the Young One (1)

“Grand Duke Grandel, the Sword Saint, and the seven Commanders of the Order of Imperial Knights.”

“The Great Sage, Bar Muore, Marquis, and the five Imperial Tower Masters.”

“Twelve High Inquisitors led by Cardinal Aquinas, and eight Holy Legion Commanders.”

This was the list of the strongest and most heroic figures, not just in the Holy Empire, but said to be the mightiest across the entire continent.

“Do you admit to the charges of attempting to assassinate them?”

Though now, it was nothing but a list of warriors who no longer existed in this world.

Sien did not answer immediately.

All the muscles and tendons in his body had been torn apart, and he couldn’t even lift his head. Even if he did, nothing would change.

Where his eyes should have been, empty darkness remained, his eyeballs plucked out while he was still alive, so there was nothing for him to see.

Sien’s world was filled with utter blackness. Not even the Grand Hall of the imperial palace, constructed from dazzling gold, could illuminate his world.

“Yes.”

Powerless, unable to so much as move a finger, Sien scoffed.

“I killed them all.”

A freezing silence descended, as if the coldness in that one short sentence could turn the air to ice.

The Grand Hall was so tightly packed with people that there wasn’t room to set foot, yet not a single one dared make a sound. Even though it was a glorious event to flaunt the Empire’s victory, it was no different.

Standing before the broken and defeated prisoner of a fallen nation—whose tendons had been severed and bones crushed, unable to move even a finger of his own will—.

They trembled as if the man standing before them was the Death Goddess herself.

No brave knight nor arrogant noble was an exception. Not even the sound of brushing fabric or breathing dared disturb the silence that floated down as softly as a feather.

“So, you admit your crime?”

“…A crime, you say.”

Sien asked in return, his voice hollow, as if his soul had already departed.

“What crime did I supposedly commit?”

“For slaughtering countless heroes and sons of the Empire, for disturbing the peace and order of this land, and for daring to defy the Empire of the Gods in a mere mortal body.”

The owner of the voice, ruler of the Empire, fell silent.

“Those are your crimes, Sien Nightwalker, Duke of Nightwalker.”

“So this is the end.”

The Empire had triumphed. Sien and his homeland had lost. Everything he tried to protect had been reduced to ashes.

“If I could set everything right, just once more…”

At the end of his thoughts, Sien let out a bitter laugh, mocking his own pitiful state, where he could only cling to such empty delusions.

Even at the moment of death, Sien’s world was buried in pitch-black darkness—just as it had been on the day he was born into this world.

***

Abandoned by his parents at birth, the one who took in the homeless Sien was none other than the crime guild of the Dark Family.

It was not some easy act of kindness born of halfhearted compassion. Raised by criminals, he was treated worse than a beast, not even as well as a slave.

At the age of seven, Sien killed a man for the first time.

If he failed, he would be blamed for everything and sacrificed as a disposable hunting dog of the crime guild, but Sien never failed.

Other “brothers,” raised for similar purposes, either failed assassinations and were killed, or were caught by the City Guard and hung from the Execution Platform. Yet Sien alone survived, clawing his way through.

Kill before you are killed. Kill to live. Whether his target was drunk and careless, or watchful and on guard, it made no difference.

The young Sien had a talent.

He could hide his presence in the shadows and, with deadly precision, strike at his target’s throat. The talent to kill.

The talent of an Assassin.

“That brat is way too ominous.”

“Damn right, he stood behind me with a knife and I didn’t even sense him. Shit, scared me half to death.”

“Like some sort of wraith’s child, I swear.”

“They say ‘those people’ have started showing interest, too…”

With each passing day, Sien’s blade became sharper and colder, so much so that even those of the crime guild who took him in grew fearful of the endless growth of the hunting dog they had raised.

—And so, he was abandoned.

He assassinated a rival gang officer with a taste for children, disguising himself as ‘merchandise’—that was Sien’s final use.

Betrayed and cast out, Sien ran. Fleeing, he killed ten pursuers, but was eventually captured alive by the rival guild. There, he was tortured for information and secrets he didn’t even know, suffering torments worse than death.

How many days passed like that?

“So, here you are.”

—She appeared in that hell. Dressed head to toe in black, a dark and mysterious lady.

Every step echoed, her black shoes and jet-black velvet dress flowing with dignified elegance.

“What the hell were those guards at the entrance doing!”

“How did a woman get in here…?”

The criminals didn’t even have time to finish their words. Instead, there came a sound, like a string snapping somewhere.

Sshk.

Nothing was in her hands. She didn’t even move a finger.

Yet every time the hem of her black dress fluttered, death danced.

Before their eyes, criminals had their necks severed, arms chopped off, legs lopped away. Blood spurted, intestines spilled.

Like untying a knot, their human forms unraveled far too easily.

“Chatter, chatter. Noisy things.”

The Death Goddess, whom no one could escape, was there.

How could he ever forget her form?

“Mother—?”

Sien asked unconsciously. Hearing those words, the lady in black laughed.

“What a funny thing to say.”

After laughing, she asked,

“Do you wish to become family?”

That day, she whispered to young Sien in a voice so gentle and warm, the same voice as before. His swollen, cracked lips barely managed to move.

Family.

“Anyone can become our family, but that doesn’t mean just anyone will.”

“Am I dreaming?”

He asked again, only to realize—this was a memory, a scene from the distant past.

Before Sien had been truly acknowledged as one of the Nightwalker Family. The moment of that first, unforgettable meeting.

He checked the condition of his body again.

The pain that now consumed Sien was child’s play compared to the agony the Empire’s torturers had inflicted.

His tendons and ligaments hadn’t been precisely severed, his bones weren’t ground to powder. It was only the beatings and broken bones from a bunch of amateurs.

The only thing that felt off was that even such crude torture was enough to make this child’s body scream in pain.

“…A child’s body?”

His drifting consciousness, as if wandering a dream, finally started to recognize the reality beneath his feet.

It was bright.

The world that should have been darkness after his eyes were plucked out was now filled with a light more brilliant than gold. Even if it was just the underground lair of a crime guild with not a sliver of sunlight, it made no difference.

The world spread out before him was blindingly bright.

“Can you move?”

“…Yes.”

“Good, very impressive.”

The woman seemed pleased with Sien’s answer, gently stroking his fingers.

Clang!

The chains binding Sien were sliced apart. As smoothly as cutting tofu. Not even a metallic clang sounded.

“There, now you’re free.”

The lady in black who had cut Sien’s chains spoke.

“You can leave the city and claim your freedom if you wish, or you can come with us—”

“I want to go with you.”

Before she could even finish, Sien replied boldly. Without a hint of hesitation. A faint surprise flashed across her face.

“Do you understand what that means?”

“Yes.”

He could choose freedom, or take the long, harsh trial to become one of them.

But Sien didn’t hesitate for even a second.

“I want to become a member of the Nightwalker Family.”

The most infamous Assassin family on the continent.

For an Assassin, such widespread notoriety might seem like a contradiction. But in truth, that contradiction helped spread their infamy, secure political leverage at the negotiating table, and instill fear and dread.

They were no mere back-alley criminals.

“Where did you hear that name?”

At Sien’s words, the woman’s calm expression turned icy.

[Mother of Assassin] Laila Nightwalker.

Before Sien was reborn as a member of the family, before he became the Duke of Nightwalker, the then-head and Duchess asked.

“I heard rumors.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“They say that the Nightwalker Family appears before children with exceptional talent—”

Sien answered, feigning calm.

“And accepts them as family.”

“What an interesting rumor.”

“But I’ve always believed it.”

“Why?”

“I always believed that someday, my ‘true family’ would appear before me.”

It was just a ghost story whispered in the back alleys, but it was no lie. The woman smiled with satisfaction. Sien smiled too.

“Becoming one of our family is a very dangerous thing.”

“Why?”

The woman asked, amused.

“As I said, our family is in the business of killing people.”

The way the Nightwalker Family chose its kin.

There was no blood tie. Only choice. Across the continent, through their hidden network, they searched for children with the innate talent for assassination.

And among them, only the most brilliant gems who survived to the very end could truly become one of them.

“So you’re doing the same thing as me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Killing people for a living.”

Sien answered.

“I’ve been living that way my whole life.”

“Is that so?”

The woman smiled, as if intrigued, though there was no way she could know the full meaning behind Sien’s words.

Sien had already become one of their family and seized the highest position within. No, even before she picked him up, Sien was already doing the same thing.

Killing people.

He remembered the doom that would one day approach him. The countless charges the Emperor listed in that fortress-like darkness.

But from the very beginning, Sien had only one true crime.

A crime of weakness.

Though he was strong enough to defeat the continent’s greatest heroes—Knights of Myth of Invincibility, archmages who reached the level of demigods, High Inquisitors called Heaven’s Agents, legendary generals who had never once lost a battle…

Though he could subdue the Empire’s greatest heroes, he was not strong enough to bring down the Empire itself.

“Follow me, child.”

And so began Sien’s original sin.