As an assassin, Halo had lived alongside comrades of every gender without the usual social barriers. They respected each other's sexuality and personal space, but the mixed housing never struck anyone as inappropriate or extreme.

Back at fifteen, he'd shared baths with his female superior without a second thought. Her leadership ended violently when his best friend murdered her for the position.

Despite not repeating the experience with other women since, he still saw nothing wrong or predatory about it.

Now though, he was questioning his entire frame of reference. He headed to Iris's room to talk. The moment he entered, he found her in only a towel wrapped around her torso. Her face turned bright red as she kicked him straight back out.

He backed out to the living room and dropped into a seat, genuinely confused. He couldn't understand what had provoked that reaction.

While he sat, lost in thought, Iris appeared from behind and spoke:

"I'm very sorry for acting like that, Halo. Could you please knock next time?"

Halo turned to her, raising an eyebrow. The issue clicked into place, he hadn't knocked before entering.

"That was it?"

He sighed.

"Don't worry, I will knock next time."

Iris met him with a soft smile and took her seat.

Honestly, he had no idea why knocking was a big deal, but if it made her happy, he wouldn't mind. Perhaps it was the culture in her world.

"I think you should knock on every girl's door and actually wait for permission before barging in, you know?"

Iris said, fidgeting with her fingers.

Halo shrugged.

"Okay…"

It was early morning, time for his daily routine. Before diving into that, though, he needed to know more about Iris. Beyond recognizing her brilliance and manners, he knew virtually nothing about her as a person.

This Purpose would bind them together for who knew how long. Building rapport requires mutual understanding. Since she struggled with social interaction, the responsibility landed squarely on Halo.

Halo seized the moment to ask about her past. Understanding dawned on her face immediately; she grasped his intention without further explanation.

"I don't know. Maybe that's simply who I've always been. Even when I was just a few months old, I did everything I could to avoid being a burden. I barely cried, slept whenever I could, and ate whatever my parents offered, all so they wouldn't have to worry about me…"

She gave her words a beat.

"Maybe… I just understood that if I didn't do what they wanted, I'd only become a burden."

Halo's gaze sharpened. His own emotional distance had emerged after his parents' death eight years ago, but she'd apparently lived with her Flaw her entire life.

He wasn't sure that was possible. Regardless, Iris was visibly uncomfortable with this line of questioning, so he pivoted.

"How'd you scrape together enough Sin Fragments for this house? You don't exactly give off 'mass killer' energy."

She frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Halo gave her a lazy look, watching her sit upright.

"I'm talking about your physical strength…"

Her golden eyes darted to her palm. She analyzed her body.

"I'm not sure what you call strength, but out here, no one is harmless. And I don't need my hands to end a life."

Halo understood that well enough. He'd never engaged his first Sinner in combat, just manipulated it into throwing itself off a cliff. It counted as his kill anyway. But that technicality wasn't what concerned him at the moment.

"I mean, sure… but you're not about to tell me you can wipe out thousands of Sinners with your brain alone, are you?"

She looked confused for a moment.

"You can. All that matters is that a Sinner dies because of you. That's the rule people like me live by. I'm not sure if it affects humans, but if I can make a thousand Sinners tear each other apart and die, every one of those deaths is mine. Hell… even if only one dies, I get the credit."

Before Halo could speak, she continued.

"I'm not as strong as you, sure. But my ability works both mentally and physically, just like any other. I just enjoy the thrill of wits… letting people think they've won before I kill them."

Halo frowned. She was a psycho.

Her ability activated when the odds dropped to nothing or below. Limit Break turned hopeless situations into opportunities.

Of course, pushing things that far against a superior opponent could get her brutally injured or killed. But the fact that she thrived on that danger proved she had exactly the right power.

But something else confused Halo.

"Is there more about True Abilities that I'm unaware of? You mentioned they function on both a mental and physical level."

Iris gestured positively.

"Limit Break can take any form I choose. Its nature is to grant me the one path through the impossible, be it a battle of wits or fists. The gods only provide the essence of an ability. The structure, the shape, and even the execution… that's left for us to define, so long as we remain inside its domain."

Halo's eyes narrowed slightly, and he gave a slow nod. He'd heard variations of this before, but now, for the first time, he was actually ready to take the words seriously.

Liam and Seraph had already told him that True Abilities could be shaped into anything once you understood them better.

In fact, Liam had learned to grow his feathers to nearly his own size, even though the ability's description never explicitly stated that it was possible.

'What can I do with my clones?'

He thought for a moment.

"We're meant to understand each other. But you… you haven't shared anything about who you are."

Iris's words snapped Halo out of his daze.

He had everything he planned to share memorized like a script. Iris was smart, and he wasn't going to let her use that cunning mind to extract more information than he intended to give.

Whenever she asked him anything, he wasn't ready to answer, he met her with silence.

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