Chapter 172 - The Clown

'Damn it. She's a lot more ruthless than what the rumors reported. I should have killed them when I could, but it's too late now. I don't think I can do that unless I want to face her wrath afterward. Even though my strength can be said to be the top among the people here, I still can't catch her figure with my eyes. It's laughable. Just as I thought I could beat her over something, there she goes and intimidates me with her frightening prowess casually. It's as if she can read my exact thought, what a freaking monster that woman is.' thought Frederic with a helpless sigh.

"Are you going to answer my question now?"

Ice Empress asked. This time the assassin didn't immediately dismiss her but instead fell silent and began to consider his option before replying to her. Now that he had lost one of his arms, he started to fear her for a logical reason. After all, she DID tear his arm apart rather than cutting it with a knife or something, which goes to show how frightening her strength is. Most importantly, he didn't want to sacrifice his life to his mission like the other professional assassin. To him, being an assassin is just another way of gaining freedom. Despite having a fearsome nickname like 'God of Death,' he's actually an assassin with an obvious flaw.

For the professional assassin, the moment they were captured, they would kill themselves soon after by either biting their tongue or poison themselves to death. To them, their priority is their mission. If it's a failure, they might as well call themselves incompetent and suicide. That's the code of conduct for an assassin. There's no need to compare the two as the answer is obvious; he cares more about his life than them, who was manipulated by the organization. At first, he was also like them but, after accepting mission after mission, he started to realize that the organization that adopted him was nothing but a crazy manipulator.

Looking at the assassin he hired from his seat, Frederic started to have a bad feeling. 'Is he really going to expose our deal with his organization's reputation in line? No, wait. I remember hearing a rumor about him somewhere...I think something to do with his weakness. But I thought that was a lie since among all the assassin one can hire, he was the best of all. Of course the better one is, the more expensive they are. But strangely, this man's cost is considered as cheap, so that was true all along? God damn it! Just as I thought I couldn't kill him because of that woman, I expect him to kill himself so that the deal won't get leaked.'

'But what is this? Why does he have that kind of look on his face as if he has come to a conclusion and decided to speak the secret of our deal? Don't you pull a joke on me! I paid for your service! And now that your life is on the line, you should follow your senior's footsteps by killing yourself! Damn it.' Frederic cursed inside his mind upon realizing the situation. Now that it came to this, he had no choice but to use 'that.'

"I am—"

But before he could continue his word, he was interrupted by someone. It was very sudden, which is why everyone in the room was surprised when a stranger suddenly intrudes in their meeting. The staff has been ordered not to interrupt them for an hour by the Ice Empress herself. Yet, someone actually has the guts to go against her, that person must have been crazy in their mind. 

Bang!

A gunshot resounds. 

"..Who let you in?"

"Guh!"

Ice Empress asked while her hand is gripping hard onto the neck of the intruder. If one looks down on the ground, they can see a single crushed up bullet with a pistol next to it. In the blink of an eye, the man finds himself strangled by her right after firing his gun. The intruder didn't just feel that his breathing becoming harder, he also felt very fearful toward her as at this very moment, there's a scary aura erupting around her. It was clear to everyone in the room that she's definitely angry. Although her aura isn't as scary as that split second when she's making her move, it still visibly affected most of the people in the room as with just a single look—one can tell they are having a problem breathing for a different reason from the intruder.

Sheila was also visibly affected even for a moment. At that very moment, she suddenly finds herself submerged deep in the seas while surrounded by a group of shark, swimming around her. She had thought she got transported into a new floor forcefully by the system, but it was actually an illusion caused by a scary aura. It was the first time for her to experience something like that. Usually, she's the one to frighten people, never the opposite.

"Tell me, who order you to do this?"

"!!!"

From her monotone voice alone, one might not be able to tell she's angry. The Ice Empress asked while slowly tightens up her grip around his neck until his face turned pale, it was only then that she pulled her hands away as he dropped to the ground. 'Shit. I knew that she's fast and all, but I didn't expect her reaction speed to be fast too. The further I go, the more she shows me what a monstrosity she is. Is she even human? No, the real question is, what is she? Some kind of alien, perhaps? ...This is not the time for me to fool around! If that assassin revealed the deal, I'm dead. Seriously dead. Damn it, do I have no choice but to do it myself?'

"Now that I give you enough time to get your breathing back to normal, tell me. Who gives you the order? Is it one of us?"

'!!! She knows! But how is it possible? When I left the house, I make sure to cover up my track so that no one would be able to follow me. Was it as I thought, a betrayal? But who would betray when all of them are as corrupted as they could get? Or did one of them got caught in the act? There's a possibility of that, for sure. As the saying goes, without smoke, there won't be rain. That has to be it. And here I thought of continuing with this act for a few more years...'

"...yes. It's F—"

Swosh!

Without even knowing his killer's identity was actually his boss, the man died of having beheaded by an invisible wind. 

"Alright, you have done enough. I'll take care of it from now, and as for you."

After finishing off his subordinate without batting an eye, 'Frederic' turned his cold gaze toward the assassin. The assassin immediately went panic upon noticing his gaze and tried to speak his way out of it. But as if he was looking at an entirely different person, 'Frederic' didn't say anything and finished him off the same way he did to his subordinate. From the very beginning, it was this man's fault for getting caught, and instead of killing himself as a way to cut off the information, the man went as far as wanting to expose our deal. That's why it turned out like this as a result.

"W-Wait! You promise—"

Swosh!

Even he didn't want to do this if possible. After all, it ended up wasting the effort he put into acting as another persona. Everything has gone to shit. It's really hasn't been easy for him. 

"What do you think you're doing?"

With the same monotone voice and expressionless face, the Ice Empress asked. When he makes his move, she didn't intervene whatsoever and let him do as pleased. If previously he didn't believe her, now he does. She really did know about the dirt I have done as 'Frederic.' However, he didn't know why but, she didn't inform the other about it. Is he lucky, or is it because her information isn't enough for a proof? Either way, she's not just dangerous with her frightening strength. It seemed she also has a brain in her head, unlike those morons.

"What else, other than cleaning up the mess? It's my fault for not planning properly after all. Now then, do you guys want to live or die here together with these two headless corpses?"

'Frederic' coldly smiles as he spoke toward the influential families while completely ignoring the Ice Empress at the head of the seat. 

"Who do you think you are? Do you think I'll be scared of you with that kind of show off?"

A round man in his 40s spoke with a prideful look on his face. Clearly, this man didn't understand the situation here. 

"Exactly. Most importantly, you rudely intervened in this case just as the man was about to tell us of the culprit. What are you going to do about that, huh?"

"Right!"

Although his voice might sound like a small boss living off from people's suffering, the man looks average in terms of appearance. And despite he has no talent whatsoever, he and that round man that spoke a moment ago, both of them are undoubtedly from influential families. But the things are, their family is truly the disgusting type that makes their people suffered from overtaxing them. And so, their reputation is as shit as one can get. They are the type that the Ice Empress hates the most. And though she wanted to bring them to justice, without any proof or intel, she can't make a move on them.

Actually, there are about twelve influential families around this district. But after a round of cleansing from her, the number decreased to ten. Even before coming into the meeting room, Ice Empress is still looking for information about rumors of the accursed, corrupted family. And in a span of a few months, she managed to destroy two whole families after gaining enough information about their corruption. Though she gained much support from the public, the enemies also increased as a result. What would she be afraid of when her strength is more formidable than theirs?

While the three Heads of their Families were getting heated up for some unknown reason, 'Frederic' simply swing his arm toward them before their head flew off from their neck, suffering the same fate as the corpse on the ground. 

"I give you a choice, but you chose to ignore it, now you can regret it in hell."

Zack coldly answered before tearing off the skin of the face-mask he wore, showing his true appearance to the people in the room. The clown known as Frederic is now over, it's time for him to get serious.

"You're brave, and seem very confident too. Not bad. But I wonder if you forget that I'm still here?"

Said the Ice Empress.