Genius Empress Cross

Prolouge

Pain—unbearable pain, piercing sadness and hollow emptiness, that's how she described what she felt right now.

She couldn't believe that they killed the man she loved in front of her. She thought that once she completed all her missions, killed her way to the top, and be the Number One Assassin, she could retire earlier and finally live a normal life. A normal life, with the man she loves.

She should have known better, and that the only way out was through Death. She didn't think that she was still so naive, to believe and be fooled by The Company's promises. No wonder they said, that when top agents choose to retire, their records will be permanently erased and they can start a new life. She chuckled at the thought. "New life indeed, only it's in the afterlife".

Dr. Jeri Simyl was her lover's name. They were both working in The Company; she as the Queen of Assassin with the code name Bloody Cross, and Jeri as the genius scientist capable of creating weapons, gadgets, and devices for their kind of work.

Unbeknownst to them, he was also the genius behind the creation of Ai or the State of the Art Artificial Intelligence Network that could perform almost a multitude of things. Ai's range of execution covered close to literally anything. It included simple hacking to providing advance and complex medical assistance. Ai was nearly perfect. It only lacked a soul and it could be a super human in a tin can. The Company discovered this and wanted to keep it for themselves.

On the day of their supposed retirement, she went to Jeri's office to help him pack his things, when they were suddenly confronted by The Company's hundred agents who demanded that they hand Ai's ownership to them. Jeri refused adamantly; he didn't know how The Company got a hold of the information about it. He created Ai for her, to give her the power to escape The Company in case they decided not to honor their retirement.

"Dr. Simyl, just hand over the Ai and we will give you both a swift and painless death," Agent 3132 said while aiming the gun at Jeri's head. Jeri instinctively used his body to shield her.

"For the umpteenth time, I don't know what you're talking about. We have already retired, why can't you just let us go?" Jeri said while gritting his teeth in anger.

"Bring her," Agent 3132 ordered, not taking his gaze off the couple in front of him. He couldn't afford to lose his concentration; after all, he was facing the one and only, Bloody Cross. He might be one of the Elite, but Agent 3173 is the Queen of Assassin and that title is definitely not just for show. If death was a female, it would be her. If he wasn't aiming the gun at the man in front of him, they already would have been dead a thousand times a moment ago.

One of his subordinates brought another woman to stand in front. She was wearing a white lab coat. Her arms were both bound and she looked disheveled. The reddish tint and puffiness on her face showed that she'd been crying for a long time now. She was Jeri's adoptive sister, Dr. Joy Simyl.

"Let me go!" she screamed at the agents around her. Looking up, her eyes widened in shock. Her gaze passed to and from Dr. Jeri and Agent 3132.

"What are you doing? Why are you aiming your gun at my brother?! You should aim your gun at her!" she pointed her bound hands at Agent 3173, who was standing behind Dr. Jeri.

Someone roughly grabbed Dr. Joy Simyl's hair and slapped her hard in the face. "You don't have a say in this matter."

"What's the meaning of this!?" shouted a confused Jeri.

"Joy? Why are you pointing your hands at Erhinai?" he inquired with his brows knitted. "And please, don't hurt my sister," he coldly said to the agent who just grabbed Joy's hair and slapped her.

Joy's countenance softened and she gently coaxed her big brother. "Brother, just hand over the Ai to them. Please. I know that you created an Ai and gave it to her so she could escape from here. I overheard you talking about it when she was in a coma after her heart surgery."

"So it was you." And that was the only time Erhinai spoke. There was a flash of disappointment and cold killing intent in her eyes as she looked at Dr. Joy. For an instant, it made the people around her unconsciously shudder.

Jeri was taken aback by his little adoptive sister's confession. He had treated her very well all this time, even though she was not his real sister. He cared for and loved her just as a big brother would love his younger sibling. He couldn't help but ask, "But why?"

Dr. Joy didn't answer but for Erhinai, that flash of hate and jealousy on the other girl's eyes already gave her the answer she needed. Erhinai coldly smirked. "How petty."

Joy's face scrunched up in anger and embarrassment. She screeched like a banshee, "What do you know? b***h! If not because of you, it would have been me that big brother would marry!"

"Enough!" Jeri shouted. "What are you saying? Why would I marry you? Are you insane?"

"But...but we're not really siblings. We're not even related by blood! I have loved you from the start, big brother. I've been with you since we were kids. You should've chosen me, not her," Joy countered.

"I love you, yes, but never like this," Jeri said with a mixture of frustration, anger, disappointment, and a little hint of disgust in his tone.

Erhinai looked at Joy with unconcealed disdain and contempt. Who would've known that they were now tossed in this situation because of a petty reason such as jealousy? She couldn't tell if she wanted to laugh or cry.

Joy saw the look of contempt in her eyes and suddenly, her anger broke lose.

Erhinai couldn't tell if the girl's mind was entirely muddled by jealousy or because the slap she received earlier got to her head, but all of a sudden, Joy was able to free herself and rush forward to assault her, disregarding the tense situation they were currently in.

A shot was fired, and it seemed like time had stopped. Her attention was momentarily occupied by Joy and it only took that fleeting second for her world to crumble.

Agent 3132 was already extremely tense. So when Dr. Joy Simyl jumped and rushed in front, her sudden action startled him and caused him to accidentally pull the trigger on the gun that was aimed at Dr. Jeri's heart. Since the deed had been done, without hesitation, he fired multiple shots, this time all aimed at Agent 3173.

It must have been the shock of seeing her lover being shot and falling to the ground in front of her, but Erhinai was not able to retaliate right away. That gave Agent 3132 a chance to open fire and shower her body with bullets. His subordinate soon stopped his vicious performance and shook his head, telling him that Erhinai and Jeri were already dead. Agent 3132 sighed with relief. But his relief didn't have the time to last long when he, along with his crew, and the entire The Company, was blasted into oblivion.

The moment the gun was fired, Erhinai placed her body as a shield in front of Jeri, but it was already too late. She heard multiple gunshots and knew she was shot as well, but the pain didn't register in her mind, not until she stumbled and lay on top of her lover. Blood was quickly blossoming on Jeri's chest and he coughed out a mouthful of blood, trying to speak to her.

"E...Er..Erhinai, I'm sor...rry I-I c-can't f-fulfill my p-promise."

"Shhhh, don't say that. I will always be your wife." She smiled at him and hugged him, laying her head on his chest as blood dripped down the corner of her mouth.

"Erhinai, I love you. Always." Jeri closed his eyes and breathed his last.

As the darkness also claimed her, no one noticed the ring on her finger as it glowed with a dim, purple light, seemingly drinking the blood that it was soaked in; Erhinai's and Jeri's blood. It was an old, beautiful ring that Jeri had given her when he proposed to her. The figures of a golden phoenix and a dragon were crafted to form the ring. Jeri secretly bought it from an Antique shop when he caught her looking at it in a trance. Afterwards, he used it as an engagement ring when he proposed to her after deciding the date of their retirement from The Company.

When Erhinai's heart stopped beating, the self-destruct mode on the Ai's chip that was implanted in her heart was automatically activated. If The Company did not make the mistake of killing her, they would have had a chance to know that the Ai's main objective was to protect Erhinai, and if it failed to keep her alive, it will annihilate the entire The Company.

Well, they say there is no medicine for regret. And if there was, itwould still be too late, because from the moment Erhinai's heart stoppedbeating, the Ai released a powerful force and blasted everything around it to smithereens.The entire The Company's island was now permanently erased from the world map.