CLEAVER OF SIN
Chapter 90: Win-Win

Chapter 90: Win-Win

As Asher was happily testing out the new movement technique, a faint smile lingered on his face. However, his steps came to an immediate pause when he heard a knock on the door. His smile widened, for he already knew who it was, Lyra.

"Come in," he said with a calm smile, gently sitting down on his bed. At his words, Lyra stepped into the room, still dressed in her maid uniform. Her appearance remained flawless, as always, a testament to the fact that although she had been sealed away somewhere, nothing truly harmful had occurred to her.

"Good morning, Young Master," Lyra greeted politely, her voice as serene as ever.

"How are you, Lyra? I heard you were locked away to prevent you from assisting me," Asher asked with a gentle tone. Although she appeared perfectly fine, he still asked to be sure.

Lyra smiled tenderly before replying, "I’m perfectly fine, Young Master. Congratulations on successfully surviving the True Awakening. I never had any doubt in you."

"Your trust in me is always overwhelming, Lyra," Asher responded with a soft chuckle.

"Well, I was fairly confident you could have simply teleported here if you were in any real danger," Lyra replied with a touch of amusement. This was one of the key reasons for her unwavering confidence in Asher’s survival.

"Well, I am a Wargrave, Lyra. We don’t run. It’s in the name itself, Wargrave. We send our enemies to the grave, no matter who or what they are," Asher said, shaking his head slightly with a smirk of pride.

"You seem particularly cheerful today, Young Master," Lyra observed, noticing the constant smile that had adorned Asher’s face since she entered the room.

"I won’t lie, I am. Most people dread the True Awakening, but I actually wish there was a second part to it," Asher said candidly, not hiding his thoughts in the least.

Lyra sighed in exasperation as she remarked, "It seems the Young Master has become something of a battle maniac."

Asher smirked again. "Think of it as a side effect of having such a powerful bloodline surging through my veins," he said casually. He would never admit to being battle-crazed, blaming it all on the bloodline had sort of become his go-to excuse.

Standing nearby, Lyra shook her head subtly, clearly unconvinced by Asher’s explanation. Everyone knew that bloodlines typically came with zero actual side effects. And even if there were any, most people would still trade anything they had just to possess a powerful bloodline.

"May I ask what exactly happened during the True Awakening?" Lyra inquired. Only those who bore the Wargrave bloodline were permitted to witness the True Awakening ceremony; no one else was ever given access to that part of the family’s legacy.

"Hmmm... Well, let’s just say I danced with death and life far more than I should have," Asher replied cryptically, and then proceeded to explain everything in detail.

He didn’t hold anything back from Lyra. After all, there was nothing to hide. He began from the moment he woke up, described how he initially hid, the fights he engaged in, how he got injured, fought again, got thoroughly injured, ran out of stamina, teleported away, fell asleep from exhaustion, resumed fighting repeatedly, and finally left the forest through teleportation once more.

Lyra simply nodded as she listened intently to Asher recount the ordeal he had endured. Although she had heard vague rumors about the Wargrave’s True Awakening, she had never known any specific details, being just a maid.

Even among the Wargraves themselves, those who had not undergone their own True Awakening were never informed of what to expect; they were deliberately kept in the dark.

"It seems your True Awakening was relatively better, Young Master. It sounds like Virelass’s healing capabilities played a crucial role," Lyra observed thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, Lyra?" Asher asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Well, when the Ninth Sun returned from his True Awakening, he had lost an eye, his right leg, and his left hand. He was bleeding profusely. We could literally see his innards as he limped toward the estate gates," Lyra recounted solemnly, recalling the haunting image.

Asher didn’t doubt her for a second. Many maids and butlers must have witnessed the same thing. It appeared to be a family tradition for the returning Suns or Moons to walk from the Wargrave gate back into the estate, as if recognizing their survival in a life-changing battle. Thalric must have gone through the same ordeal.

’How come I don’t have any memories of that?’ Asher wondered to himself. ’I should’ve been around fourteen at the time, and Thalric would’ve been fifteen. Is it that those who haven’t undergone their True Awakening can’t witness someone else’s?’ He decided to drop the thought altogether, it wasn’t important right now.

"It seems Thalric survived purely through sheer willpower after suffering such debilitating injuries," Asher concluded. Injuries of that magnitude would have easily caused death from severe blood loss in his previous world.

"But, Young Master," Lyra continued, "where do these assassins even come from? Does the Household personally send them?"

Asher let out a sigh upon hearing the question. "From what Big Brother and Big Sister told me, Father places a bounty on our heads just a few hours before the True Awakening," he explained. Then, pausing thoughtfully, he continued, "But I suspect that Father, or perhaps the entire Wargrave Household, has some sort of arrangement with the assassin organization that sends those killers after us during the True Awakening."

Lyra fell into silence, contemplating Asher’s theory. "An agreement with an assassination organization?" she echoed, confused yet intrigued.

"Think of it this way," Asher began, "if I were the leader of an assassin organization, there’s no way I’d send novices or amateurs like the ones they usually dispatch, especially not to kill a Wargrave. I would’ve sent someone far more skilled to end things quickly. Yet, for some reason, they always send assassins who match our strength just enough to push us, to test us, but not overwhelm us."

He paused for a moment to let Lyra absorb his words.

"If the assassins succeed in killing the Sun or Moon they were sent after, the organization claims the victory. But if the Wargrave heir survives, then the Wargraves earn their win. A calculated risk. A win-win situation for both sides," Asher finished, his tone steady and contemplative.