Cassandra led a life of death and blood; trained from a young age in both murder and subterfuge by her father, the current Guild Master of the Assassin’s Guild. She had also grown up on tales and fables, fed stories by her mother of valiant and heroic assassins who slew corrupt kings while sneaking past the guards who were forced to work under him. Perhaps it was due to her own guilty conscience that her mother had chosen to do so, but due to her mother’s teachings and tales, Cassandra grew up with a strong sense of justice and a good heart. She would commonly dress in form fitting gambeson armor, her modest body shape with little of excess, including her blonde hair which she kept short, allowing her sharp green eyes to catch every detail of her marks during missions.
 
 
Sadly, her romanticised image of the guild’s nature was shattered when she was old enough to join the guild. Working for corrupt officials to help plant false evidence on innocents, killing high ranking guardsmen whose only crime was helping out the lower folk, or assisting dark hearted nobles move up by assassinating their good willed competitors, her employers were all the kind of scum she would gladly sink her knife into instead. Despite her reluctant efforts, Cassandra’s skills with blade and stealth built for her a substantial reputation within the guild, but she constantly wished to break free from the guild. Warned by her only confidant, her mother, that the guild was a lifelong commitment and cautioned to keep quiet about such matters, she kept her ire buried, but never forgotten. Her own mother’s death as Cassandra turned 20, presumably during a failed assassination mission, was what made those desires flare up once more. By her own research the circumstances of her mother’s death were too sketchy to be true and made Cassandra wonder if she had tried and ultimately failed to get away from this all.
 
 
With nowhere else to go, and no way to escape the blade of the guild should she flee, Cassandra had no choice but to keep on working. Her work led her to her current job under a lowly noble born whose failing business schemes and ventures caused his wealth and position to dwindle. Afraid that his title might be taken away from him, he began searching for any noticeable folks, those who would catch the eye of the lord, and attempt to snuff them out before they drew attention: for the sole reason of reducing the amount of nobles about who could lay claim to his title. Of course, such fears were clearly unfounded, as there had been no case of the lord taking a title from one nobility to pass it on to a commoner, but perhaps, Cassandra mused, it was due to the munkweed she smelled in his breath. Munkweed is an easily grown herb and its refined form is a popular drug for the wealthy. When properly produced and distilled it has very few side effects aside from its addictivity. But Cassandra’s current employer was probably not wealthy enough anymore to afford the good stuff and now had to deal with the side effects, some of which included paranoia and delusions.
 
 
Having acquired her mission from its source, Cassandra reluctantly went to work. First going to the home of her marks, a pair of adventurers, one known as the Slime Tamer, Luciel, while the other goes by her name, Jaria. The simple two storey house had little out of the ordinary and she easily broke in through the second floor window. Her targets were away, but her aim was information. She carefully looked through their belongings, finding Jaria’s diary. Skimming through the book sent a blush to her face as the woman documented her sexual escapades with her companion, starting with how she was rescued by the slime tamer from kidnappers and rapists. She quickly closed and rehid the book, her heart aching as her mind went to the mission.
 
 
Weeks passed as Cassandra continued staking out the place and stalking her marks through town. Their affection for each other was clear for all to see, the more intimate encounters in the bedroom were seen only by Cassandra, a spectacle which her vantage point had easy view of. She watched as the long haired slime tamer caressed and licked her short haired companion, their blonde hair mixing into a mess as they tumbled around in bed. She had many opportunities to perform the deed, at times even able to make it seem like an accident, but guilt stayed her hand, her head throbbing as her mind tried to reason with herself to complete the mission, a common occurrence for every kill that would taint her soul. The turmoil in her heart soon grew too heavy to bear, and she soon found herself in the local tavern, drinking up a storm in hopes to get some liquid courage to finish her mission.She was nursing her half empty mug at the back of the tavern when she noticed a hooded figure moving towards her, a smile visible beneath it.
“May I sit here, miss? You look troubled,” the figure spoke, her tone pleasing, but also insistant. Acknowledging with a grunt, Cassandra watched as the hooded woman sat down beside her, too drunk and tired to care that the woman began patting her on the head. Closing her eyes, she noticed the sounds of the various patrons muffling to silence. She then jolted her eyes open, seeing a hazy dome around their table, the woman still stroking her head as her eyes glowed blue.
 
 
Realising the possible danger, Cassandra examined the woman more closely, the shock shaking her partially out of her drunk state, just as the woman pulled back her hood. She was an exotic beauty, her long black hair flowing out of the hood. Piercing blue eyes contrasts her tanned skin, a feature which is almost never seen in these lands, hinting at the distance between their places of origins, while her body shape exudes a sense of motherliness, with bountiful bosom and shapely hips. Her posture felt akin to that of royalty, something Cassandra herself had to learn if she was to mix amongst nobles.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you~. Just listen to your worries~. You seem the type to want some privacy anyway. No one but me can hear you~,” the woman coos, smiling sweetly at Cassandra while still patting her on the head. There was something about her voice that resonated with Cassandra, feeling honesty in her voice. With their eyes locked, Cassandra suddenly felt her emotions well up inside her, as all her grievances she bottled up inside came bursting forth like a broken dam. She had no idea what came over her, but she told the stranger everything: her desires to leave the guild, her suspicions of her mother’s death, even her reluctance to carry out her current mission at the cost of her life. Meanwhile, the exotic stranger simply smiled and nodded, urging Cassandra to continue her tale when she began to slow, and helping refill her soon empty glass with water from a flask she procured somewhere through the one sided conversation.
 
 
It was close to dawn when Cassandra finally finished talking, her mind worried what the stranger would do with all the information she blurted out, but she felt relieved regardless as she is finally able to share her burdens with someone else. The woman took a sip from her own glass, smiling at Cassandra.
“You know,” she said, the next words causing Cassandra to stare in shock. “I could use someone like you. Someone who has a good heart. I will help you leave your guild for good. But it is not good to leave a job incomplete. The two girls’ fate is unfortunately sealed, but I’ll see you again, when it is all over. I wish you the best of luck~.”
With her piece said, the woman got up and leaned over to kiss Cassandra on the forehead before walking off with a smile, disappearing amongst the early bird patrons, the sounds of the morning bustle returning to Cassandra as she vanished.
 
 
She sat at her table for a few more moments, piecing together what had just transpired, feeling strangely energetic despite the lack of sleep. Assuming the woman to be an assassin from a distant land, she hoped that the woman had the power to protect her when she did abandon the guild. Still, her heart ached once more as she gathered her wits, making sure her equipment was in place before heading to her vantage point that overlooked her target’s house, moving a bit quicker than she usually would. She had a minor case of nausea as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, but assumed it was due to her intoxicated state and hastened movements.
 
 
The sun was just breaking the horizon when she arrived, and she saw the two targets still asleep in bed, their bodies entwined in embrace as they slept. With no more need to be sneaky about it, wanting the assassin’s guild to take the full blame of her actions, Cassandra unlocked the window and snuck into the room, carefully watching for any of the slime tamer’s pets but seeing no signs of them. She then had another shot of guilt as she drew her daggers, shaking her head to dispel it before leaping onto the bed, imbedding her daggers into the necks of the lovebirds, feeling the blades sink in between the bones of their necks.
 
 
Tears started unexpectedly flowing as she felt her victim’s warm blood pool around her hands, but the moment was short lived as she heard the door behind her open, the exotic stranger walking through while giving Cassandra a sarcastic clap.
“Feeling guilty for the lives you took? I didn’t expect you to start crying like that though~,” the woman remarked, as Cassandra glared at her.
“Was this all a test?” Cassandra thought to herself, as she let go of her blades, standing up on the bed. “Y-you were waiting for me, here?”
“I did say we would meet after the deed is done, what better place than the scene of the crime itself~?” the woman replied with a delighted chuckle. “Honestly, I’m glad you felt remorse for your actions, even though you went through with it regardless. If you felt nothing, I would have killed you and left it at that. No one goes after the lives of me and my lover without any consequences after all”
 
 
Before Cassandra could even parse what the woman meant, hands reached out from below to grasp her wrists. She looked down to see the two bodies rising up, yanking the blades out of their necks and severing their heads off with their free hands, the heads melting into blue goo as they hit the bed. “Y-you…. The slime tamer? B-but…” Cassandra muttered, confused and shocked, as she watched the exotic woman change before her very eyes.
 
The woman’s skin turned paler, her long black hair turning blonde as her body shape shifted from that of a mature woman to someone more akin to Cassandra’s age.
“It is I indeed, you fell nicely into my trap, little Cassandra~,” Luciel chuckled, her piercing blue eyes remaining the same even after she removed her “disguise”, the woman walking towards the bound assassin. Unexpectedly, Luciel stepped up onto the bed, giving the woman a kiss on the forehead.
“I’m also surprised the little experiment worked, you still are yourself despite what you’ve been through in these few weeks” She remarked, her eyes softening as she smiled sweetly.
 
 
The assassin looked blankly at Luciel, her mind trying to parse her current situation. Her captor seemed almost affectionate with her. Cassandra blushed at the kiss, an act only her mother ever did to her, before she realised what Luciel had said.
“W-what did you do to me?” she asked, worriedly, before she felt a jolt of pain in her head. She started panicking as she felt fluid flowing from her right ear, while Luciel just idly patted her head, her other hand going to the ear as if to catch what was flowing out.
“I did this, little Cassandra~.” Luciel said, after the flowing stopped, grasping Cassandra’s head and shaking her from side to side, her skull hollowed out except for something bouncing within her cranium. Despite the clearly fatal affliction of being brainless, Cassandra still felt fine, testing her fingers and toes to feel them still all working properly.
“Now do you see the power I have on you? I turned your adorable little brain into a slime without you even knowing it~. All I had to do was sneak a small little droplet into your ear while you were engrossed with my little lover’s diary. I could have easily have it eat your brain and be done with it, but you seem more useful to me alive than dead anyway~.” Luciel chuckled, bouncing the green sphere of slime that flowed out of Cassandra up and down in her hand.
 
 
With the shock of all that happened, Cassandra slumped down on the bed, feeling the core rattle about in her skull.
“S-so… w-what’s going to happen to me now?” she asks, defeated, watching as Luciel placed the slime that came from her onto her head, feeling it flow back into her skull to fill the void it created in its absence.
“Simple, you work for me now~. All your past acquaintances will find you dead, and maybe I’ll even help take revenge for your dear momma too~. Take it as payment for your services~,” Luciel says with a smile, sitting down on the bed as the two headless slime figures melt into blue slime and get absorbed into her body.
“Like how you made copies of you and your lover, and used them as bait?” Cassandra asked, before a question came to mind. “Where is your other half, anyway? Was she always a fake?”
 
 
Luciel chuckled, before her chest opened up, showing her slimy insides, and the face of a short haired girl within. The girl yawned as she was exposed, opening her eyes to see Cassandra.
“Ah, so she’s the one who tried to kill us, darling~? She is a cutie indeed~” The girl, Jaria, remarked with a chuckle, before snuggling into the slime, reaching her hand out to pull her lover back closed.
“She stayed up all night waiting for me and is a little sleepy as a result. I’ll leave her in for a bit longer to compensate~,” Luciel remarked, chuckling at Cassandra as if they were long time companions, who just nodded in reply, still trying to come to terms with her new “employers”. “Now, I’ll let you relax for a while, your slime bane concoctions have already been nullified, so don’t think of stabbing me with that, or yourself for that matter. Death of your body won’t save you from your fate, and I would suggest you begin exploring yourself deeper, learn about what it’s like to be a slime~,” Luciel coos, giving Cassandra another kiss, before getting up and moving to the door. “I’ll prepare breakfast, so just relax~.”
 
 
Finally alone with her thoughts, Cassandra laid down on the damp bed, feeling her brain-turned-slime core sloshing about in her skull. She closed her eyes to meditate, trying to relax and adapt to the situation, like she was taught so very long ago by her father. She could tell she was no longer human, her body but a puppet to her core, but she was still whole, though seemingly more attuned to her body than she ever knew before. She could sense every organ, nerve, muscle and cell in her body and as she idly shook her head, she had to admit, the sloshing in her head felt strangely pleasant. Shaking her head more, she focused on the flowing motion within her, letting it expand out to envelop her whole body, not realising that in doing so, her physical form was beginning to melt. Soon, she was naught but a squirming jiggling mass of green slime upon the bed, unable to see nor hear what was around her in her complete zen state, wholey accepting her new form.
 
 
Luciel returned to the room to find Cassandra replaced with a quivering green slime, and she chuckled to herself, not expecting the assassin to adapt so fast. She placed her hand on the rippling orb, and told Cassandra to pull herself back together, communicating via their slime cores. Cassandra began reforming her body, starting from her chest and extending out to her arms, legs and head. She was soon back to normal, armor and all, laying on the bed with a pleased smile on her face.
Seeing Luciel, Cassandra got to her feet and bowed. “Thank you for this opportunity at a second life, my queen.” She said respectfully, as Luciel was surprised once more. She hadn’t expected to gain Cassandra’s respect so fast, but wondered if it is also due to the hierarchy of the slimes affecting her judgment. It mattered not though, for it just meant that her plan to erase Cassandra from human records could progress a bit earlier.
“Come, let’s have breakfast, I’m sure you are hungry after having explored your body to that extent,” Luciel gestured, the assassin nodding before following behind her with an excited smile on her face.
 
 
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Baron Cavendish sat on his chair in his office, chewing on a wad of murkweed angrily as he watched the crowds pass from his window overlooking them. His eyes were locked on a loving couple, a long haired blonde and a short haired one. He had ordered their death a month ago, and yet they still live. He spat the wad of chewed up plant into a spittoon before turning around,only to see the assassin, who was supposed to have done her job, standing there without a care in the world, idly playing with a dagger.
“Why aren’t they dead? Your guild said you were the best,” he barked, infuriated at the lack of respect or attention the woman was giving him, a sharp contrast to the bowing assassin he talked to a month ago.
“About that, there seems to have been a little issue. You see…. I’m already dead,” the woman put simply, as she walked forward, her head morphing as if it was engulfed by acid. Baron Cavendish cried in alarm as the woman continued walking towards him, watching chunks of flesh fall from her face, her skull exposed and brain melting before his eyes. “The slime tamer is much more formidable than anyone can handle, as my body shows. She will let you off with a warning for now, but try that again, and you will end up like me~,” the corpse laughed, as continued melting and melting, the laughter soon turning to gurgles as it all fell into a puddle that burnt a hole into the ground, cries of alarm coming from the housestaff below. After that shocking display, Baron Cavendish withdrew his assignment, informed the guild of what happened as reasoning, and locked himself in his room, fearful for another one of those creature’s return. A few days pass, and after one of his servants realised he didn’t take the meal left out for him, she entered to find his room empty with nothing out of place, except for the fact the baron was never seen again.