YIN-YANG DEVOURER

Ryu was pulled out of his thoughts and quickly got up to take the call from the woman who had been kicking his ass for almost four months straight.

'Shit my legs hurt' Ryu muttered as he walked with heavy steps.

Ryu did not take long to find Lira, since the latter was always on a small platform which she always used to monitor the mercenaries training.

"I'm here," Ryu said with his characteristic stoic face.

"Well... I see you've been training hard" Lira said half-heartedly as she took a look at the sweaty and exhausted look of the young man in front of her.

 "That's right... However, I haven't made any significant progress yet," Ryu said with a complicated look.

"Don't worry about that anymore..."

"Your new Master has finally returned to the City and has asked me to inform you to go meet him" Lira said with a smile, after all she herself had witnessed the hard work that this boy put in every day during his training.

Although Lira did the best she could, her specialty was in military training. Someone with Ryu's abilities needed the instruction of a person much more specialized in surprise attacks.

"Really? Where is he? Ryu asked in an excited voice. He had been waiting for his much-promised Maser for almost a month.

"He told me to pick him up at the terrace of the "Flaming Turtle Inn" Lira said with a smile.

"Mmm I know the place"

"Excellent! Before you leave I want to give you one last warning..." Lira said with a serious look.

"Yes?"

"Although Shadow Hunter is a reputed assassin... He has certain behavior patterns considered 'eccentric' at best, which can be quite disturbing. Especially for women..."

"I hope you will try to stay away from his "weird" hobbies while training with him" said Lira

"S-Sure," Ryu said with a confused look. After all, he had no idea what Lira meant by his new Master's supposed "Weird hobbies".

After a couple more words from Lira, Ryu finally went straight to meet his reputed new Master.

During his stay at the mansion he had been dedicated to gathering information about the legendary Assassin "Shadow Hunter".

Ryu was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was one if not the biggest Assassin of the entire continent of Marxus. The records indicated that Shadow Hunter had been in business for more than a hundred years and that its effectiveness rate was more than ninety-five per cent by the way.

After learning these facts, Ryu was immensely grateful to Ruvan for getting him such a great Master.

Ryu wasted no more time and after walking around a couple of streets he finally arrived at the famous 'Flaming Turtle Inn'. This place was a quite famous inn among the mercenaries of the City so it was always full of Mercenaries and visitors from far away places.

"Excuse me. Where are the stairs located?"

"Down the hall on the right hand side"

"Thank you" After a couple of instructions, Ryu finally reached the door that led directly to the terrace of the inn.

"Phew..." A long sigh was necessary before he finally had the courage to open the door.

The terrace was as silent as the same night. The lights of the buildings below were quite a pretty sight to appreciate, but Ryu's attention was on the figure standing with his back to the edge of the terrace.

"Are you Mr. Shadow Hunter?"

"I am Ryu... My master Ruvan told me that you would be my new Master" Ryu said in a weak voice as he started to approach towards the mysterious silhouette.

Seeing that there was no response, Ryu introduced himself again.

"I am Ryu."

"Shut up... I know that already" The guy said without even turning his head. His voice sounded quite old and above all rough.

Ryu did as he was told and quickly fell silent.

Time slowly made its move and his supposed "New Master" did not seem to move from the place.

"Mmm pink..."

"Oh! Those are white."

"Oh dear! It seems that she doesn't have... How daring she is hehehe" Shadow Hunter muttered some words from time to time which didn't seem to make any sense to Ryu.

Finally after almost an hour of being silent Shadow Hunter finally spoke.

"I heard from your master's brat that you're pretty good with the darknes element"

"That's right..." Ryu said with a half smile. His agility and level of concealment was something I was quite proud of.

"Mmm you sound pretty confident" Shadow Hunter said as he turned to look at his new apprentice.

For the first time master and apprentice met directly in the eyes.

Shadow Hunter wore an apathetic and indifferent look as he watched Ryu's face.

'A normal face... is definitely a good first step if he wants to become an Assassin' Shadow Hunter thought to himself as he examined Ryu's appearance from head to toe.

'Damn... His appearance is like that of an old decrepit' Ryu for his part was also surprised by his master's appearance. Calling him old was a compliment at best. If Ryu had to describe Shadow Hunter the right word would be: A 'Sack of Bones'.

"Let's test your skills" Shadow Hunter said after a few minutes in silence.

"You see the lighted window of that building"

"Yes?"
"There lives a married woman who has probably just started taking her foam bath every Thursday" said Shadow Hunter in a calm voice. The fact that he was keeping an eye on that poor woman didn't seem like a strange thing to him.

Ryu for his part was completely nervous. After all, he was completely sure that his master wouldn't waste his time keeping an eye on a woman so much if it wasn't for a assassination job.

'Shit... it's only my first mission and it's already my turn to kill someone...'

'Damn it. Should I ask him if she has done something wrong?'

'Forget it... He will surely get annoyed with me after all an assasin just does his job without asking'

While Ryu's head was spinning analyzing his first mission, Shadow Hunter's next words would leave him completely frozen.

"I need you to go into his room and steal one thing for me..."

'Oh hell... then it wasn't an assassination mission but a robbery mission...'

'Well. At least that's if I'm pretty sure I can do it...'

"What does the Master need me to steals? Any gems or maybe some piece of information?"

"No..."

"Something much more valuable..." Said Shadow Hunter with a solemn voice.

"Glup" Ryu.

"What is that Master?" Asked Ryu with a pallid face.

"I need you to steal a pair of pink underwear which she has stored in the second drawer of her bedside table" Shadow Hunter finally said.

"..." Ryu