In the suburbs of Hilton City, located in the eastern region of the Northern Union, Aya Middlestone is known as a single mother, a loving parent, and a devoted family woman.


    She is the ideal image of a perfect woman—the type who wakes up early in the morning and drives to her job as a cashier at arge mall owned by one of the influential figures in Hilton City.


    Aya is a mother of two, who sent her daughters to the capital to receive the best warrior training avable in the Northern Union.


    Because of this, she has be known as a hard-working mom, dedicated to earning more money to support her children''s needs.


    Everyone admires her. Mothers praise her tenacity and work ethic; children wish she were their own mother. However, her own daughters wish the earth would split open and swallow her whole.


    While Aya may seem like the most caring and hard-working mom on the surface, in reality, she is one of the most ruthless assassins in the world.


    Her code name is Lady Death. She has carried out some of the most daring assassinations, earning numerous des from the organization she works for—the Dark Order.


    She had risen through the ranks and be one of the strongest assassins in the Dark Order, particrly when it came to operations in the Northern Union. Aya was in charge of their unit in the Eastern region.@@novelbin@@


    For years, everything had been going smoothly. She had issued countless hits and executed many of them herself. However, everything changed one day when she received a high-priority target: a young rising star named us Hanson.


    The assignment was marked as a priority kill, meaning failure was not an option. She delegated the task to her most capable subordinate to ensure swift execution.


    Initially, the mission was deemed sessful. But after about 70 days, the unimaginable happened—us, who was supposed to be dead, rose from the grave, and that was when her troubles began.


    us made sure the Dark Order felt his wrath. His first move was to humiliate them, and he seeded in doing so to an unprecedented degree. In response, Aya issued another hit order on him, but from then on, all she received were reports of failure.


    Weeks passed, and frustration took root. Desperation drove her to send Sages and even Great Sages after us, but no matter what strategy she employed, us was always one step ahead.


    The pressure from her organization grew unbearable. They threatened to strip her of her position if she did not put an end to us Hanson.


    This ultimatum did not sit well with her, so she resorted to tapping into her privatework of elite assassins which consisted of 12 Great Sage assassins, including her two twin daughters.


    The same daughters who were believed to be away at a warrior training academy were, in fact, under her seal, serving as her weapons.


    She sent her own daughter to pursue the elusive us, but even after months, all she heard were reports of obstacles her daughter encountered when making her moves. Her daughter even messaged her, saying she was seeking help from her sister.


    This situation puzzled her greatly. She had expected her daughters toplete the task easily, but it seemed she had underestimated us''s supposed hidden protector.


    For months now, she had deployed all 12 of her personal assassins, along with some from the Dark Order, yet us was still alive. Every week or so, she would receive reports of the deaths of her assassins.


    She had be frustrated, but with her two daughters out there, she kept assuring her superiors that she would get the job done.


    Since us was set to leave for the Celestial Mountain Academy, they wanted him eliminated before then, as it would be difficult to infiltrate the academy.


    Today, Aya woke up like any other day and prepared to head to work. She took some time to perfect her persona as Aya Middlestone before leaving the house.


    As expected, the neighbors greeted her with smiles, and she responded with the same smile.


    One had to admire her acting skills.


    She went to work as usual, striving to work harder so that the Employee of the Month award wouldn''t slip through her grasp. She had been so dedicated to her job that she couldn''t afford to let this side of her make a mistake.


    However, today, she did slip up. In the middle of her work, she received a text from thest person she would have wanted.


    The text came from us and read:


    "Sorry you had to hear this from me, but Nuna and Luna said they loved you before I severed their heads from their bodies... Lol.


    "By the way, when are you sending the next wave of assassins to bless me with EXP points? I''ll be waiting. Oh, and I don''t know what you did to your daughters, but they screamed rather loudly when I was torturing them for your contact."


    Experience new tales on empire


    That''s all...


    From your very best assassination target, us Hanson."


    A murderous look appeared in Aya''s eyes, making her, for the first time since she started working at John and Jameson Mall, ask for a sick day. Naturally, it wasn''t denied.


    She left work and headed straight home. When she arrived, she went to her room and essed a hidden section that housed her office as the infamous Lady Death.


    She began checking through some information on her system, but a few minutester, she felt her eyelids grow heavy.


    She shook her head and returned to her task, but it didn''t take long for the same dizziness toe over her again.


    "What is happening to me?" she muttered.


    "You''ve been poisoned, dummy." Suddenly, a voice came from the inside of her bedroom. In her haste, she had forgotten to close the door.


    She stood up and walked back to her room. There, on the bed, us was lying with a drink in his hand.


    "Surprise..." us said with a mocking smile.


    Aya''s primal instinct kicked in as she retrieved a dagger and lunged at us. However, she only managed to take a step before feeling her strength vanish.


    "Oh... Performance issues?" us asked, tilting his head.


    "What did you do to me?" Aya shouted, but her voice wasn''t as loud as she intended.


    "What do you think?" us said, still maintaining his smile as he sipped his tea. "I had to level the ying field somehow, Lady Death," he added.


    "You..." Aya tried to move, but her legs gave out. She couldn''t move or even shout. She wanted to clench her jaw, which meant only one thing: to kill herself.


    But before she could bite down on the poison hidden in her tooth, a kicknded on her jaw, sending the poison capsule and some teeth flying.


    "Hi, Mom," Luna said, stepping out of the shadows.


    Another kicknded on her ribs, breaking a few. "Long time no see, Mom," Nuna also said, appearing with an angry yet satisfied smile.


    us looked at the twins and smiled. Then, with a snap of his fingers, a lightning bolt moved and paralyzed Ayapletely. Nuna delivered another kick, knocking her out cold.