“Damn it—You found a way around the oath, didn’t you?” Said Halif, slightly stunned at the realization.

I hesitated a moment, unsure of whether to actually tell the truth or not.

Then I figured it didn’t really matter if Halif knew. In fact, it might even advance my plans along a little. So, I grinned a bit, showing just the slightest hint of teeth, and nodded slightly.

Halif visually recoiled on seeing this confirmation, his expression growing even more shocked. His mouth flapped open and closed a bit, like he couldn’t think of what to say. I mean, to the best of his knowledge, there’s no way for someone to break a binding oath like that.

My grin got wider as I watched his dumbfounded face.

Almost in response to my grin, Halif’s confused expression morphed into a sneer.

“Are you expecting me to think this matters?” He said, seemingly having found his footing again.

“There’s still the poison. Only I can make the suppressant, and that which I’ve already given you should run out soon. You’ll die without it, and quite painfully at that. It would do you well to obey me.” Continued Halif in an overbearing manner. I think he’s trying to make up for his earlier faltering.

“Don’t want to.” I replied. I watched a vein on Halif’s neck stand out sharply in response to my comment.

“But you will die, you little idiot. Do you really understand that?” He asked, frustration evident in his voice. He knows things are spiraling out of his control, but can’t quite grasp why. He knows something’s wrong, but doesn’t understand what it is yet.

“No.” I responded.

“’No’? You don’t understand? What the hell even goes on in that head of yours? By the Divines, so much talent with you, wasted on an idiot.” He said.

Man, he has a problem with jumping to conclusions, doesn’t he? I think this is what happens when a smart man doesn’t stop to consider things for more than a moment.

I decided to clarify things a little.

“No, won’t die.” I said, seriousness evident in my voice.

Halif faltered again.

“’Won’t die’? You’ve ingested a poison that can kill even peak-level 12th divide practitioners. If you don’t have the suppressant, you will die. There is no curing it, no resisting the poison. Once it’s entered your Mana, you’re dead. A total system collapse will occur. There’s no stopping it.” He said, almost as if trying to assure himself that he was right, that there was no possibility of survival.

And I gotta say, he is right for the most part. Nobody under the 12th divide should have any possibility of surviving that poison. The Mana channels in those below that level would be too weak to stand up to it. They would simply implode under the poison’s pressure, killing them.

Luckily, that’s not the case with me. My Mana channels are strong enough to not only resist the poison, but they even broke the stuff down and got rid of it. Hell, the poison might have even helped strengthen my Mana channels, inadvertently.

Like I said, there are times where it’s good I’m like this.

“You are already dead, if the suppressant isn’t given to you. You will die if you don’t obey me. Now, tell me what you’ve done to me.” Said Halif, still continuing his line of dialogue.

I shrugged.

“Simple. Idiot for not knowing.” I replied.

Ooh~ that vein on Halif’s neck just doubled in size. He’s not liking this at all, is he?

He slammed a fist onto the table, as if it would intimidate me.

“Tell me if you want to live, stupid little girl.”

I reclined in the chair a little further, the casualness apparent in the action driving Halif further into anger.

“Do you even truly know the position you’re in right now? You have one of the most potent poisons known to man running thought your blood-stream, leaving you weakened in front of me, an assassin, who runs a clan capable of wiping out everyone you’ve ever interacted with in the slightest possible way. This includes everyone in your little school, and all of your little frien…”

*Crack *

Oops.

Halif slumped over, his broken neck halting whatever he was about to say midsentence. My goodness, but this man is an ass.

I sat him back upright in his boss-chair while placing something on the desk in front of him, and walked back to the other chair. I sat down, and made myself comfortable again.

Honestly. This is getting a bit ridiculous, and I think I want to just set the record straight with Halif.

So, I waited. I’ve been doing quite a bit of that today, it seems.

It paid off after a minute or so, though.

Halif shot upright, his neck making a popping sound as it realigned itself. He looked around crazily, before his gaze fell down onto me, leaning back in my chair without a single care in all the worlds.

“You….” He began, his sentence trailing off as he fought for the words to speak with.

I waved a hand, forestalling whatever he was about to say.

“Being idiot. Shut up, think.” I said, while pointing to the solidified black mass I’d set down on Halif’s desk before sitting back down.

His eyes widened upon seeing it, and he obviously recognized it somehow.

“This…” He looked up at me, and then back down at the black material.

“How the….?” He began asking, before trailing off somewhat awkwardly.

“Strong body.” I replied. What else am I supposed to say about being able to expel the poison from my body, and presenting it back to Halif? Yeah, that black mass is the poison that I had spat out in the shower. It had seemed a waste to simply let it go down the drain or something, so I had collected it, and let it re-solidify. There are still some impurities inside the poison though—a forgone conclusion after it had been used once.

“Then…the poison isn’t affecting you?” He asked, his face a mask.

I shook my head.

“Stupid notion.”

“But then, did the poison ever do anything to you in the first place?”

“Assumption on your part.” I said.

Halif had gone somewhat grey. He understood exactly what it meant that the poison hadn’t done anything to me in the slightest.

In addition to his recent realization that the oath did not bind me to him at all, this means that he effectively has no hold over me, no way to control me.

Whereas I have all the power here, in this room. I doubt he saw anything other than a slight blur before his neck snapped like a little twig. No, I know that he didn’t see anything other than a bit of blur. Otherwise, he would have probably been able to move at least a little, instead of just sitting there while his neck gets twisted.

And he knows that I’m the powerful one here, that I hold the cards. It took him long enough to realize this fact. And the best part is that he doesn’t know how I’ve done it. Knowledge is power, after all, and the lack of it can lead even the most intelligent of men and women to all the wrong conclusions. He can’t make any assumptions now, since he has nothing to support them. I’ve become an unknown variable to Halif. And I’m sure this scares him.

Why wouldn’t it? He’s an assassin. He plans out his actions carefully, since getting things wrong would mean disaster in his line of work.

“Why are you doing this? Why go to these lengths?” Asked Halif, who wasn’t looking so good at the moment.

“Ussen is friend, needed help.” I said.

“My son? He needed help? From what? I was helping him already, to become the best version of himself possible. He is going to be the greatest assassin our clan’s ever raised, and I am just helping him see that, since he is unwilling to face it himself!” Said Halif, his voice becoming more energetic.

“You have no right to waltz into our lives, our ways of living, and dictate what’s helping us! That’s for me to decide, and nobody else!”

“No.” I said, the iciness in my voice immediately halting Halif.

“Decision is Ussen’s alone.”

“He can’t see what I see though, and he has no idea the sort of potential he has. I’m not going just let him waste that for whatever childish fantasies are running though his head! The younger generations require the helping hand of the older, to borrow their experience and foresight. Else all that they could be would be squandered.” Said Halif.

I sighed. I guess this is where traditions and the judgment of the elder brings us. Really, if Ussen isn’t mentally suited for the assassin’s style of life, then he shouldn’t be going into it. His abilities might be perfectly suited for it, and he might have terrifying amounts of potential in that field—But it’s useless if it turns out he has the mentality for another vocation. Or if he hasn’t gotten the proper mentality for an assassin.

I mean, even if someone were the perfect killer Awakening and skill-wise, they’re worthless if they can’t spill blood.

Halif’s trying to force Ussen into being someone he’s not, and that’s what I think is wrong.

Unfortunately, there’s really no way to get Halif to see this for himself.

“Ussen’s life his own now.” I said, a decisiveness in my voice.

“No, he is still mine. No matter what sort of spell you’ve put over me, he is still created of my lineage, and must abide by the family rules! There can be no changing that, especially with all that he could become under the right hands.”

I sighed.

“You will not interfere.”

Halif shot me a look of supreme annoyance.

“Well, of course not. I can’t anymore, you bitch. I don’t know what you’ve done, but I physically cannot approach my own son. I tried to do something in order to hasten his growth, but something stopped me.”

“Wasn’t me. You did it.” I said, shrugging.

“Impossible. Do you take me for a complete idiot?” He ignored my nodding. “I wouldn’t do something that would keep me from my goals unless there was a supremely good reason. No, this is something you’ve done to me. Don’t try to tell me otherwise.” He said, crossly.

I felt like laughing.

Really, it was Halif’s own fault that he’s in this mess. He made a promise with no intention of keeping it, and now it’s backfired on him, unknowingly. Of course, he had no way of knowing that he’s now held to his word, and that any promises he makes from here on will be absolutely binding. He still thinks it’s something I’ve done, and hasn’t really connected the dots yet.

I intend to take full advantage of this.

Shrugging again, I repeated myself.

“Wasn’t me.”

“Inconceivable. I cannot think of any other who may be at fault. You must be at fault here.”

I tilted my head to the side in a questioning sort of manner, and stared at Halif with unblinking eyes. Very gradually, my left eye shifted colors from it’s usual moss green, to a vibrant blue that seemed to shine with an inner light of sorts. I raised my hand up, and started gently scrawling words in the air with my Mana like I had when explaining the oath business to Ussen.

The words this time glowed the same blue as my eye, and almost seemed to be effecting the space around them, like a small crack or rift had opened up in midair.

It lent the words I wrote a mystic and otherworldly quality. In addition, a faint hint of my power oozed from the words, subtle enough to be mostly unnoticeable, but pervasive enough that the aura from it filled the room.

The look on Halif’s face as he observed all this, and read the words while I wrote them was fairly entertaining.

‘I did nothing to you. However, I have a supposition as to what really happened to you. I’ll be willing to help. For a price, of course.’

I paused in my writing for a moment.

‘Also, know that your Awakening will not save you the next time my friends are threatened. I could very easily kill you, with no effort expended. Consider that long and hard the next time you decide to fuck with me.’ I wrote.

Halif didn’t speak for a while. I let the words burning in midair fade away, and my eye returned to it’s natural green. My aura disappeared from the room, tightly reined back into me.

I could see that Halif was thinking quite deeply.

Finally, he sighed.

“What’s this price you want? Just tell me what’s keeping me from even so much as speaking to my son, and I’ll do whatever you want. Need someone silenced without any strings leading back to you? I can do that. Need to frighten someone away? Consider it done.”

I held up a hand, telling Halif to wait while I dug into one of my pockets. I brought out a folded up sheet of paper and placed it in front of him. Halif raised an eyebrow, obviously noticing that I had the paper already prepared, and that I had planned for this to happen.

He unfolded the paper, and read through it. He got to the bottom, then read it again, a confused look on his face.

Then, he finished reading it again and looked up at me.

“Just an introduction to the information rings? That’s all you want?”

I nodded.

“Know information rings. Want access.” I said.

There’s a limit to how much I can do on my own, after all. And while I can pretty much cover the entirety of the Web with my programs and filters, I can’t learn about things that never make it to the Web.

No, I’d need to have access to an actual information ring, so that I can get at the information not normally seen by most people.

The only problem, is that the best and most extensive information rings won’t allow just anyone to receive their information. You need someone else to vouch for you, to give an introduction. Someone like me, who is completely and totally unknown, would normally never have a single chance to come into contact with the information rings.

“So, I just have to introduce you to an information ring, and you’ll tell me what’s keeping me from interacting with my son?”

I nodded, smirking a little inside. Halif still thinks himself so infallible, that he’s never stopped to think about that oath he made yesterday. It meant nothing to him, and still holds no meaning. I wouldn’t be very surprised if he’s forgotten about it, really.

“You’ll have to present information to them of equal value as that which you gain. You know that, right?”

Again, I nodded. Simple enough, when nothing on the Web is safe from you. Like, at all.

Halif sighed. I could see a fair bit of resignation in his eyes.

“Right then. All I have to do is sign this paper, and the deal is struck, no? In exchange for introducing you to the information rings, you will tell me what’s keeping me from Ussen.”

I nodded for the third time.

“And this is regardless of if the information rings accept you, correct?”

“Yes. Just need introduction.”

Halif rubbed the bridge of his nose, thinking for a while.

Eventually, he produced a pen, and sighed the paper, sealing the deal with both the paper as physical evidence, and the oath—which will hold him to any promises now.

Passing the paper back to me, he started speaking again.

“I’ll need time to set up a meeting between you and a member of the information rings with enough authority to accept you and whatever information you bring to the table. Until then, you have my word that I will abide by my side of this agreement.”

I nearly laughed aloud at this. His word? Well, it would have been next to useless a few days ago, when nothing would hold him to it.

Really, it’s lucky that I’m going to tell him about the oath now, before he gives his word on numerous other promises.

Why am I telling him? Well, I want to see his face when he finds out that he’s the one keeping himself from interacting with Ussen.

I took the paper back, and folded it into my pocket again.

Halif leaned forwards in his chair slightly.

“Now then, what’s happened to me? How can I get rid of it?”

I smirked a little.

“Oath rebounded. Affected only you.” I said.

“…What?”

I waited a little bit, letting it sink in before continuing.

“Must obey promises now. Binding.”

Oh. Oh~

That face is simply glorious~

The emotions that cross upon it as the realization dawns on him.

At first, it was a sort of pondering—as if he were considering the implications. Then, it was the sudden paling of the skin as he figures out the shit he’s in.

And then the horror as he looks back, and remembers those little insignificant promises he’s been bound to in the past day. And more specifically, the promise he made to me in my apartment.

I got up from my chair, happy. Man, has this made my day or what?

As I turned around, and prepared to leave, Halif spoke shakily.

“But…You said there was a way to fix it….” He said, almost accusatorially.

I paused just long enough to speak back over my shoulder.

“Funny. I lied.”

And then I left.

Really, Halif will be able to interact with Ussen as long as he stops trying to influence him.

But, until he realizes that, he can’t even speak to Ussen.

I don’t know if he’ll ever figure that out. I don’t know if he’ll eventually come to see Ussen as something other than a thing to be molded.

One can hope, but it’s unfortunately quite unlikely.

Oh well. I have my introduction to the information rings now. That’ll keep me up to date on things outside the Web.

Hell, maybe it could even give me some information on the Border wars. Those've always bothered me for some reason.

I blame the itching and nagging feeling I get whenever I think about them. That’s normally a good indication something’s not quite right.

And I want advance warning if something big ends up screwing with my life. At least so that I might murder those at fault before it becomes too bad.