Hassan Sabbah

Countless people had set their sights on the "Mountain." Some might fall halfway there, while others might make it to the foot of the mountain, but without exception, their fates would ultimately come to an end.

Because that "Mountain" represented only one person: "Old Man of the Mountain," "Old Man of the Mountain," "the First Hassan Sabbah," "King Hassan." Yet no one had ever been able to see his true face.

With only a single exchange of attacks, Ishtar had already identified her opponent's identity—the Assassin who walked through the Hollow, but not the first one.

Ishtar said, "I never thought I'd actually get to see a walker of the Boundary of the Hollow. What a pity that you aren't that first Old Man of the Mountain."

"Indeed. If you were the first 'Old Man of the Mountain,' I might have met my end here. What a pity that you aren't him. In that case, you can't obscure the goddess's radiance."

Ishtar still hadn't realized how serious the situation was.

As the battle began, Ishtar easily shattered her opponent's Spirit Core.

But the opponent's movements showed no sign of stopping. It was even as if his combat ability hadn't been affected at all.

As that pitch-black figure swept past, darkness enveloped everywhere it went, as though someone had painted a stroke of ink across the world.

Ishtar, on the other hand, illuminated everything in the world. As a goddess, she could make reality conform to her words. If she wished, she could even immediately invoke Negation upon a species, causing that species to be erased completely without leaving the slightest trace.

Light and darkness intertwined in the sky. One side had only dyed the heavens black when the other side turned them bright and luminous again.

Yet that pitch-black shadow