In a vast underground room at a secret location in the North of Angaria.
If anyone could stand in the corner of this room and hearing the sounds emanating from within, they would definitely be convinced that this was some kind of torture chamber where helpless souls were being inflicted endless pain and suffering.
However, if they entered, they would see that the sounds were coming from people who seemed to be submerged in pools of green, boiling liquid with only their head on the outside.
The underground room looked like it had been excavated recently using magic, which was evident from the clean cuts in the earth and the fact that all kinds of worms and snakes regularly drilled through the earth in the sides, not knowing that their routine path was how inhabited by multiple people who seemed to be experiencing having their bodies cooked alive.
Suddenly, a man teleported to a spot in the center of the room before shouting, "Shut up! If you can't even handle this amount of pain, you're all useless! If I hear even a squeak, I'll make sure you lose some more organs instead of letting you regenerate what you already lost!"
As the shout reverberated through the room, all 9 people shut up, with some even biting their lips so hard that blood dripped from their mouths into the liquid.
"That's better."
Flicking his finger, this man made a stone throne appear in front of him before sitting down and stretching leisurely.
The room had several pools dug out, but they had varying sizes.
The largest was right in front of him, and inside it was the perpetrator of the heinous act that had shaken the continent itself during the Olympics.
Only, he was almost completely unrecognizable now.
He had long hair before, and he had been more or less handsome.
Now, his head was completely bald, and there was something wrong with his face.
There were blisters everywhere, making him look like some kind of grotesque burn victim.
"Son, do you want me to dial down the concentration of the liquid?", asked the man, making an expression of fear appear on the face of the person in the solution.
Only, it was there for barely a second before being replaced by one of determination.
However, no one could tell whether this was real, or just something that had been pulled out from the depths of the man's mind in desperation.
"No, father. You can increase it if you wish."
"That's my boy. It's about time you took on the family legacy. That Percy is useless anyway. He doesn't have the guts or resolve to do anything. You, on the other hand, will be great. So what if you weren't born with the best talent? You're the Mad Doctor's son! With my handiwork, you'll be stronger than them all. Remember the humiliation you suffered in the hands of that village brat."
Hearing the last sentence, the determination on the man's face hardened, as if it had been strengthened due to the memory of wetting himself because he had lost all control of the part of his body he treasured the most.
After he was done talking to his son, the Mad Doctor walked to all the pools and dipped his fingers inside each before smelling the green liquid.
Each time, he would take out some vials from thin air and dump their contents in the pools, making the people inside bite their lips even harder so that they wouldn't cry out due to the increased pain.
Each of them had been told that their severed organs would be rejuvenated, but they would never have expected that they would also receive the Mad Doctor's 'boon' of having their power upgraded in the process.
They didn't even want that! But none of them had the courage to say so.
So, they suffered, day in and day out, wishing that they weren't also paralyzed from the neck down so that they could strangle themselves to make it end.
The sensations of pain were all magnified, but they just couldn't move.
Only, asking the Mad Doctor to let them go wasn't an option, as they knew that he hated weak people. Most probably, he would just subject them to more torture before ending their lives.
After finishing the examination of all the pools, the Mad Doctor returned to the middle of the room and let our a booming laughter.
While all 9 individuals watched, he stretched his arms out and said, "If you feel like giving up, just think of the Warrior Level Fighter Strength you all will have after this is done! Or, just think about bathing in the blood of the King of Lanthanor! Have fun!"
Leaving these words in a weird, cheery voice, the Mad Doctor left, making the moans and screams of pain resume in the chamber.
...
In the Hidden Kill Sect which was usually a quiet place with everyone calmly going about their work, there was now a hustle and bustle which was very uncharacteristic of assassins, in general.
Well, it couldn't really be helped, as today was the day when the substitute sect leader would be chosen to represent the Basilisk Rider who had saved the sect from calamity and also given them a huge victory.
The battle royale would be taking place in the indoor stadium that was usually used for the entertainment of the auxiliary sect members. With more than enough seats to accommodate the whole sect, this was the perfect location for such an event.
The rules were that participants could not be over 30 years of age, as the Basilisk Rider had said that he wanted someone young who could be groomed.
Power-limiting trinkets would be used, so the contest was all about pure skill.
However, magic was also allowed, as the Hidden Kill Sect was in possession of some very rare mageroot-limiting trinkets that decreased the overall power output of a mage.
In an assassination, the idea was that an individual would use everything at their disposal to get the job done. So, it wouldn't be fair if mage assassins had the disadvantage of not being able to use their training.
As for the competition itself, it wasn't a straight fight, as that would be just dumb.
Assassins didn't even focus much on head-on engagements. Ideally, a single attack would suffice, so the true skill that differentiated the great assassins from the good ones was the ability to make quick judgment calls to take the best route to kill a target.
So, this battle royale was designed to test these crucial skills of the members of the Hidden Kill Sect.
The format was simple: first, all participants would be placed in an isolated room, so that they would have no chance of finding out what was going on outside.
Then, the ground of the stadium would be remodeled into a certain scenario of assassination.
With magic, this was simple.
After that, display trinkets and communication eyes would be set up so that the crowd could clearly see what was going in.
This scenario would be populated with guards and a target, and there might also be certain environmental variables to test the participant's reaction.
The goal was to kill the target, and the judging would be based on the time taken, number of targets unnecessarily killed and whether the assassin was able to get away scot-free.
Such a format was unprecedented, but when one thought about it, it made sense.
Hence, on the day of the tournament, almost the entire sect headed to the stadium and was awed when they saw a 3 story building standing in the ground.
After they were seated, a display trinket popped up in the middle, showing the names of all the participants.
Many were names that hadn't been heard before, probably because of the reclusive nature of most who chose assassination as their life's work. So, the name "Luther" didn't raise many red flags among the crowd.
There were still 10 minutes till the time when all the participants were supposed to be isolated, and Luther was currently standing in the quarters of the sect leader along with Agmar.
"Sect leader, thank you so much for allowing my son to take part. He deserves to return to the sect, and I can think of no better way for that to happen."
"You've already said that three times, Agmar. Now, leave. I need to talk to Luther alone."
Nodding, the top assassin left the room with a smile.
This was actually the first time that Daneel had gotten this man alone. So, after making sure that there was no one listening, he said through the oathstone, "Luther, I am Daneel. The Big 4 mostly know this anyway, so I see no point in disguising myself in front of those whom I trust. Just relax."
Out loud, Luther said, "My Lord, mannerisms. I was already aware of that a few seconds after I walked into this room."
Oh. Yes.
Daneel had forgotten that this was one man whom he couldn't fool with a disguise. Even before, he had been caught in barely a few seconds.
So, putting all pretenses aside, Daneel said, "All right. Luther, I'll be frank. I want you to take control of the sect. I was going to do that directly, but it would raise too much suspicion. So, I set up this tournament. You need to win. Now, I have some plans here to make that happen. What you should do is-"
"My King. That is not necessary. I will win. Please believe in me. I believe that they are calling for us. Permission to leave?"
As Daneel was interrupted in this way, he just smiled and waved his hand, in response to which Luther bowed down low and walked out the door.
Leaning on his desk, Daneel felt glad to see that his commander was so confident.
For a moment, he considered whether to discard the plan to rig the event.
However, he couldn't take any chances.
So, deciding that he would only help if necessary, Daneel walked out of the room with his smile widening.
"System, stand by to analyze all assassination methods. Begin the development of the assassination technique as soon as you have enough data."
[Acknowledged.]
Of course, as always, there was no way that Daneel would waste this opportunity and not wring this tournament dry for all it was worth.
Also, he was rigging it anyway, so why not earn a few bucks in the process?
"Heyo, top assassins. You must have stashed away a lot of wealth, right? It's time to gamble! Your sect leader is accepting all bets!", he sent through the oathstone, chuckling to himself.