As the darkness claimed him, as the stab wound in his chest leaked out the last of his lifeblood, the last thought on Hans Regenschirm's mind was that years' worth of karma had finally caught up with him.

It was ironic, really, thought Regenschirm as the pale lights and the stench of blood began to fade away from his senses. At the behest of Abstergo Industries, Regenschirm had had an indirect role in the most important technological breakthroughs and discoveries in the history of mankind. The Animus, which he worked on together with an old friend of his. The bleeding effect which, even now, formed the core of the training program all Abstergo Agents were made to undergo. The brainwashing technique which – together with that same comrade – resulted in the successful assassination of one of their most dangerous enemies.

Yet here he lay, dying, in a cruel twist of fate, at the hands of arguably his greatest creation.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time; at the pinnacle of his career, Regenschirm had acquainted himself with some of the most brilliant minds in the world. Most notable among these was a man named Ichiro Mihara, widely known in his home country for his expertise in the field of robotics. For those not in the know, this very same man would go on to create robots practically indistinguishable from humans.

The two became fast friends, so much so that Regenschirm was there to witness the 'birth' of his daughters. He would then be present at the 'death' of one of those daughters, even comforting his friend as he stood at her deathbed. The same daughter who he pilfered out from under the nose of her 'father', and then brought back with him to Abstergo's Far Eastern branch for study.

The very same daughter who, as fate would have it, would today become Regenschirm's angel of death.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time; in taking this girl with him, Regenschirm intended to create the world's first combat capable persocom, in a project he himself named 'Project Seraph'. Using the blueprints he had duplicated from his erstwhile friend's files, he was able to fully restore this girl's systems, though not much could be done to restore her data and memories.

However, he was not content with merely 'resurrecting' his friend's beloved daughter – albeit in a twisted, morally ambiguous manner such as this. From everyday cooking and cleaning software, to combat data gathered from the Agents' Animus sessions, Regenschirm went on to transform Mihara's daughter from a normal girl – at least, as normal as a sentient machine could ever be – into the ultimate persocom, the Seraph-class combat model. The ultimate assassin.

The ultimate weapon...

…one that would unfortunately turn on her creator.

That it failed to occur to him that the persocom would retain memories of her past life, however faint, turned out to be Regenschirm's downfall, for she did not take to what had been done to her. At all. That much was obvious from the anguished scream she let loose on being told what she had become, to say nothing of how she strangled all his colleagues via cables that had shot out from her persocom ears. And of course, nothing could convey her feelings better than that final lunge, wherein she extended her right arm hidden blade – ironically enough, installed by Regenschirm himself prior to her awakening – and impaled him straight through the heart.

"My name is Freya. I am not your tool…"

Her voice, gentle yet unmistakably hostile, was like a whisper in the wind to him by now. And as his heart beat a final time, as the sound of breaking glass filled the room and she took a swan dive out of Abstergo's now-ravaged state-of-the-art laboratory, she spoke just one more time.

"I am not your monster."

But these words were no longer heard by Hans Regenschirm, staring glassy-eyed at the shattered window through which she took a dive.