Timeless Assassin - Chapter 999 Close But No Candy
Chapter 999 Close But No Candy
(Ru Clan Territory, The Sky-Fortress of Vassa, Mauriss’ POV)
Ru Vassa did not immediately respond to Mauriss’ outrageous proposal, though the faint narrowing of her eyes made it clear she was not the least bit interested in biting on the line that the Deceiver had thrown her.
“You are bold,” she said at last, her tone level and almost amused, though the air between them remained thick with restrained power. “You propose that I betray centuries of alliance, dismantle the Great Clan equilibrium, and trust the most notorious Deceiver in recorded history… all because you suddenly feel generous?”
Mauriss smiled faintly, as though the question itself pleased him.
“Generous?” he echoed lightly, taking another slow step forward, the innermost barrier adjusting with a brief flicker before stabilizing.
“No, Vassa. I am practical. I see stagnation where you see tradition, and I see failures where you see allies.
The Great Clan alliance is in my genuine opinion a shackle on intelligent gods such as yourself.
And with history as my witness, I swear upon everything good and holy, that you would be better off without it…..”
Mauriss said, as the faint hum of a spatial anchor pulsed once, then recalibrated.
Ru Vassa noticed the pulse, yet she did not yet notice the delay, as her attention remained locked on Mauriss and his words alone.
“You speak of stagnation,” she replied calmly, folding her hands loosely before her, though several contingency runes flared invisibly beneath the marble floor.
“Yet you stand alone, Mauriss. The Great Clans may not dominate the
universe outright, but they endure.
We survived the era of the Timeless Assassin together.
We survived the rule of the Universal Government Together.
And we know for a fact, that we will outlast the Dragon Moltherak too….
The Great Clan alliance might not be dominant, but it has a reliable structure, and I have faith in it.”
Mauriss chuckled softly, tilting his head as another displacement buffer shimmered and corrected a fraction too slowly.
“Structure is simply slow-moving decay,” he said conversationally. “Moltherak has already demonstrated that your structure bends under pressure. Five planets in three months. Two more to the Cult. And you still speak of endurance?”
Ru Vassa’s jaw tightened slightly.
“Moltherak is an anomaly,” she said coolly. “And anomalies are temporary.”
“Is he?” Mauriss asked, stepping closer again, the outermost ward thinning like mist under unseen strain. “Or is he the new axis around which this era will rotate?”
A faint crack ran through one containment lattice.
It sounded like nothing.
It felt like nothing.
Ru Vassa’s gaze remained fixed on Mauriss’ face, watching for intent rather than movement.
“And what are you in this rotation?” she asked smoothly. “A savior? Or merely another predator circling the same prize?”
Mauriss’ smile widened just enough to suggest both answers were correct.
“I am offering you inevitability,” he said softly.
“With my blade and your influence, all our common enemies fall.
And once they fall, the universe reorganizes under fewer banners.”
He took one more step, and this time, the inner lattice did not hum, it flickered, as Ru Vassa finally noticed the issue.
‘Huh?’
She wondered, as her eyes sharpened instantly, and her heart skipped a beat.
“That delay…. It was too long!
She realized, as she finally noticed the faint stream of near invisible
divine essence that Mauriss had been manipulating for the past few minutes, using which he had successfully overloaded the protection charms.
“Mauriss,” she said slowly, her aura rising by a fraction. “What is the meaning behind this?”
She asked, however, Mauriss did not answer through words, but rather vanished.
*VOOSH*
He moved like a silent distortion that folded the remaining distance
between them like paper, as he slipped through the microscopic fractures he had spent the entire conversation engineering.
Ru Vassa reacted instantly.
A Fourth Dimensional Portal tore open behind her in a spiraling fracture of light as her body began phasing upward into higher spatial
strata.
“You arrogant-“
The Grudgekeeper Blade cut through the air without glow, without roar, without warning, as he aimed to decapitate her head from her
body, however, Ru Vassa twisted at the last possible fraction of motion, her body already dissolving into higher geometry as the blade
completed its arc.
*SLASH*
Instead of total decapitation, the blade’s edge kissed flesh, as a sharp,
searing line carved across the back of her neck, the edge biting deep enough to draw divine blood, yet not deep enough to complete the
kill.
*SPLAT*
*SIZZLE*
The wound hissed.
Reality rippled violently.
Ru Vassa vanished fully into the Fourth Dimension with a distorted shockwave that rattled the chamber’s pillars, her escape incomplete
but successful.
Silence fell.
Mauriss stood alone within the ruined lattice of wards, the last
containment rune sputtering into nothing.
He glanced down at the thin smear of divine blood along the Origin
Metal Blade and exhaled softly.
“Ooh lalalala, so close and yet no candy.
I wonder how the Timeless Assassin used to do it?
Gods have such unbelievable reflexes.
I thought I had her pinned for sure,
But she still managed to somehow escape.
Hahahahaha.
This is so unexpected.
I thought I’d get her for sure.
But now that she’s escaped, I can’t help but wonder how she will
react to me trying to kill her.
Hahahaha!”
Mauriss chuckled, as the very thought of the unpredictable chaos
that could follow his attempt to kill Vassa made him feel exhilarated.
*Slurp*
He licked the blood from the blade with a delightful expression on his face, as he enjoyed the thick and divine essence rich texture of the
liquid.
“Mmmm…. Delicious….”
He muttered, as he turned toward the fractured horizon beyond the
fortress windows, and calculated the ripple effect that was sure to follow his attempt at taking Vassa’s life.
“I may have failed, but I feel like sometimes a failed assassination can be more destabilizing than a successful one….”
He muttered, as with a delighted expression on his face, he opened a Fourth Dimensional Portal himself, as he returned to Granada at once.
