“Good evening...?” Said Edmond as he let the back entrance close behind him, slowing it down with his foot to prevent a noisy spectacle. Dressed differently, he now wore a unique black shirt and dark slacks.

  “Why are you asking… Oh, is that what I think it is~?”

  “Back off, dude! Edmond made it, so he decides who gets the first slice! … So, do I get it now? Look how respectful I am!”

  The quarreling duo consisted of a tall young man with a scar on his lip and sandy blonde hair, and a young woman with black hair in a high, loose bun and an ear with three piercings, both in their early twenties.

  Cole Aker and Samantha Cain. Two of Edmond’s coworkers at the bistro known as Le Petit Concert.

  “You’re actual vultures, I swear. Can’t you at least wait till I get my stuff in a locker?”

  Edmond grumbled as he walked past them to the employee storage area. He could not leave the plastic bag with carefully packaged cheesecake on its own, even if he had to carry it with him all the way.

  Naturally, he was followed.

  “Come on, Ed. It’s freshly made cheesecake!”

  “I made it last night!”

  “Compared to what we can normally get, that’s as fresh as it gets.”

  Somehow, the teamwork of these two was even worse than their bickering, at least for now. Then again, Edmond acknowledged their point as he opened his assigned locker and placed his two backpacks inside. Most fans of cheesecake still would not bother with four hours of delicate work, and he knew very well just how disappointing a store-bought one could be.

  “Where’s everyone else?” Securing the lock, he tried to change the topic.

  “Noelle’s outside, talking to Mr. Theron. Luke and Rosa are getting tables ready for the night opening in a bit.” Said Samantha.

  “Amanda got here like ten minutes ago, but Naomi’s not coming today. Caught something bad.” And Cole added.

  … Well, that’s pretty sad.

  Edmond was certainly disappointed, but that was it. He expected all the veterans to be together for the occasion today, but it was not the first time things did not go according to plan. More than that, there was no way he could complain if she was absent due to illness.

  Not that he had much time for that, one way or the other.

  “I heard there’s cheesecake! Gimme a slice to make it through the shift!”

  “You wouldn’t believe how much nonsense we had to deal with in the afternoon!”

  “In time for the main event, eh~?”

  The aforementioned coworkers began to flood the lounge one after the other.

  “We’re just minutes away from opening for the night…” Even the red-haired manager, Noelle Theron, had come along with them. The mood she showed was very different, though.

  Edmond’s look was one of utter defeat as he took out the package from the bag. He did desperately want to take a bite from his carefully made confection, and while he himself preferred to wait for the actual celebration after the shift was over…

  “It’ll be good for everyone’s mood if we at least eat some for a start, right?”

  … He had no right to force those preferences onto others. The cries of exaltation that came after were strident enough to nearly make him regret his words, though.

  “I get a slice with three raspberries, not one or two!”

  It was not unexpected for Noelle to finally show her true colors, rather shamelessly at that. Not that it was any less amusing for it, Edmond’s laughter streaming from the start as if skipping all buildup.

  “T-Two it will be, then… hah…” The server on his hand trembled, heavy care needed so that the slices would be even and to prevent the crust from crumbling too much.

  That sound, almost an auditory massage, probably beat any spa trip when it came to these workers.

  “Come to mama…”

  “Edmond might be switching to part-time, but the full days he spent with us will not go to waste!”

  “Five months down our bellies with this, huh?”

  More than one person may have felt concerned about Le Petit Concert’s employees.

  The cheesecake was large, but not so much that pieces for six people and those reserved for a few more would not come just short of decimating it. Further considering those who had talked their way into second slices, it was only a matter of minutes before an amount equivalent to either one largeish or two small slices was left.

  “This is mine, okay?! Seriously!”

  Edmond could not deny the persistent fear of someone suddenly snatching it even as he held the now closed package overhead. Cole, enjoying the final edge of crust somewhat covered in cream cheese mixture, spoke without regard.

  “Ed, let’s get married.”

  “You’re four months into a relationship!” Interrupted every step of his way to the lounge refrigerator, the previously laughing Edmond was nearing the end of his patience.

  “It doesn’t matter! I can’t live without more of this creamy heaven!”

  But Cole showed no sign of stopping, at least not until he found himself bent back by his hair, pulled painfully by Samantha.

  “Shame on you, for real. Edmond would never take a guy who so easily drops several months of commitment… especially not when he’s marrying me here, isn’t that right? Cooking that cheesecake for me every week…”

  … He would have said he was a fool for trusting her to stop while she was ahead. But in all honesty, he never thought she would. Finally placing his remaining cheesecake in the fridge, he heard Noelle’s loud, yet not unpleasant voice.

  “Alright, we’re three minutes past the actual night opening time and we’re out of cheesecake, so get going to your posts, everyone!”

  Of course she had to add us being out of cheesecake there. She could have easily waited a full fifteen minutes or more so long as we still had some, right?

  Edmond’s look was deadpan, his manager as willful as ever whenever the owner was not present. With how expected this was, though, he did waste a second before walking to the kitchen alongside Cole and Amanda, the three of them tying dark bandanas around their heads.

  Prep work was done early every day and backed up after mid-day closing if needed. So whenever the bistro actually opened, it was time to take and deal with orders and hardly anything else.

  “Two for crab cakes, one medium-rare filet and one lamb to go!” Luke stated as he passed by the kitchen, leaving tickets on the counter.

  “Right on it!” The cooks replied almost in perfect unison as they continued to work.

  “Two onion soups and one fish pie! Make it quick and perfect!” At what seemed to be minutes later, easily more, Samantha added more tickets.

  “Duck breast! Three of them!”

  “One salmon and one more octopus appetizer!”

  “Where’s the lobster casseroles!?”

  “One tomato risotto, one seafood pasta, both to go!”

  Orders had easily exceeded a dozen by now, but even with Naomi absent in the kitchen, the actual workload was not heavier in any noticeable way.

  To begin with, stations were not static among the veterans at Le Petit Concert. Hot appetizers, meat, fish and garnish; the four cooks had experience in all, switching whenever necessary or useful.

  Overall, Edmond quite enjoyed this work environment; certainly more than his day shift on the other side of the bistro. As a cook, there were rarely any dull moments, he got along with his peers, and at least for the first half of the shift, the various smells of ingredients cooked in different ways were very pleasant.

  These two are almost… that’s it. Just some thyme and—

  His thoughts were interrupted by an unusual ringing sound. Or rather, it was not that the sound itself was unusual. The counter had a call bell used by waiters to update on new orders, and for the cooks to make it known when they were done. Both ways of use were accompanied by a loud voice from either side.

  But not only was this not heard; the bell had also been rung twice in quick succession, almost like a door knock, rather than the one time used by cooks or waiters.

  … What?

  Edmond was positively confused, but he had no time to express that.

  “I’ll take care of it.” Cole did first, after all. His usually jovial, handsome face stained with annoyance.

  Edmond knew better than to interrupt him of all people when in that mood, so his focus returned to the crimson-tinged, thick risotto with peeking bits of pancetta and chives. From the same order, the long pasta with creamy seafood sauce had already been placed in its travel-friendly container just a minute ago. It was time for the tomato risotto now, utmost care placed both to not spill anything or close the container improperly.

  “How long on the risotto and seafood pasta!?” Cole’s voice resounded from the counter.

  Talk about good timing.

  “Walking, walking!” Said Edmond as he took out the appropriate plastic bag and placed the tightly packaged meals inside.

  He stepped forth, bringing food over to the counter just like any other time, despite the somewhat unusual circumstances.

  Circumstances which quickly became very stressful, as when Edmond laid eyes on the person on the other side of the counter, he outright froze.

  They were certainly not an employee, but more than that, this was a unique customer outright. At least for him that was the case.

  She was quite tall for a girl, probably around his seventeen years of age. Tied in a long, medium-high ponytail, her hair was of a chestnut brown that contrasted imposingly with her fair, but healthy complexion. Striking were her large eyes framed by brown fringes, turquoise in color and with a sharp disposition so very particular to the girl. Wearing a dark blue denim jacket and a lilac tank top, her lean but strong physique was quite apparent.

  He had been waiter to this girl and a friend who tagged along with her maybe four times over the last month, and had gotten to know her name as a result. Tatyana.

  Remembering a regular’s name was not unusual for Edmond, nor for most of the veterans at Le Petit Concert, but Tatyana was a somewhat different case. After all, as averse as Edmond may have been to say it out loud, the chance to see her was a recent and huge boost to his daily motivation.

  But honestly, now he was just proud to have properly placed the bagged orders on the counter without dropping them on the way. Such was the surprise of seeing Tatyana at the counter..

  “Weren’t you a waiter here? Are you switching over?”

  Her uniquely husky voice addressing him all of a sudden felt like someone had let an ice cube fall down his shirt.

  “… I’m a waiter during the day hours, but work in the kitchen for the later shift.”

  Every minuscule mistake, any semblance of a voice crack, all signs of awkwardness. No matter how small or even imaginary, Edmond lamented a different thing by the second, his face heating up increasingly more on each one he became aware of.

  “And we are oh so grateful~!”

  Somewhat embarrassingly, he had forgotten Cole was even there until the older cook spoke up with such an irritating tone. But still…

  Thanks, man.

  … that attention-grabbing attitude had effectively done away with some of Edmond’s nervousness. Enough that he came across a brand-new thought. An unusual, somewhat bolder idea.

  Deliberating over his choice for a single second that felt like ten, he spoke up.

  “Can you wait just a minute more?”

  On Edmond’s voice, Tatyana turned to him curiously. Her attention felt equal parts threatening and exciting.

  “Mm? Sure, but why?”

  Edmond, regrettably, had set off the moment he heard her say ‘sure’. Damning his nerves leading to mentally telegraphed actions, he decided against turning back in what could be more embarrassment. The mistake had been made.

  Instead, he made steady way toward the lounge. More specifically, the lounge refrigerator, where the remaining cheesecake was. Before leaving the kitchen, he had taken a smaller ‘to go’ box for desserts.

  After taking the cheesecake out of the fridge and uncovering it, Edmond eyed it with just the slightest pang of regret before carefully slicing it into two small slices with the nearby, cleaned up server.

  I can just make another one next week.

  He thought while placing the pieces in the box. Outside of something work related, Edmond could hardly avoid embarrassing himself in this situation. But for all that mattered, he did have confidence in his cooking, especially the cheesecake he had made with so much effort and care. If Tatyana could enjoy it, then last night’s sheer exhaustion was worth ten times over.

  In fact… just the mental image of her tasting this cheesecake with similar delight to his coworkers earlier was enough to make him shiver in enthusiasm the entire way back to the counter, where he placed the new box on.

  Tatyana’s sharp gaze became visibly confused as she glanced at it. To Edmond, it was still charming, but it also worried him.

  “What’s with this?”

  “Cheesecake.” Almost as if by the action of a button, Edmond let out the excuse he had been thinking from the moment he walked away. “We had leftover slices from an employee celebration today and the manager mentioned how nice it would be if you and your friend got to try it out. A special thanks for your patronage, or something.”

  Such a justification sounded a bit flimsy, even to himself. Not enough to be easily judged as nonsense, though, and he did not feel dissatisfied considering the brief time he had to think it up.

  While he was still worried, the small smile Tatyana showed right after took his mind away from any such concern, while paradoxically also making his heart beat faster.

  “Huh… mm, thanks then. That’s really cool of Noelle.”

  The last part stung slightly. But that was the narrative he himself used, so he complaining was out of the question. He was more than happy enough with the apparent satisfaction the treat had brought her.

  “Anything else you need?” Cole’s dry question snapped Edmond out of his momentary daze.

  Tatyana shook her head confidently as she placed the third box inside the bag.

  “Nah, I’m good. Thanks a lot, for the cake and everything. Tell that to Noelle and the owner too when you can, okay?”

  Her smile grew just a tad more as she waved, yet not decreasing any of the moxie shown as she turned and walked away.

  Edmond hardly remembered to go back to his station until Cole spoke up.

  “Seriously, man? I’ve already told you how going for high-maintenance girls like that is a bad idea without experience, but you at least saw the opportunity and built up the courage to actually do something for once… Still, why’d you throw away your chance at the end!?”

  “I really don’t know why you came up with that excuse. It’s not even a mixed signal, you just neutered yourself, and willingly at that.” Amanda added coldly as she took out a pie with golden-brown gratin out of the oven.

  She didn’t even stop cooking and she’s still giving me grief!?

  Edmond briefly closed his eyes and resisted the urge to shake his head as he began work on the next tickets.

  “Why put her on the spot when there’s other people watching? All that matters is she’ll probably enjoy something I worked on.”

  Cole sighed at this response. Loudly, obnoxiously, as if trying to force his two coworkers to listen to it fully.

  “She won’t even know it’s you, though. I swear, it’s like ninety percent of your brain cells are just for cooking, and now ten percent for knight school or whatever it’s called. Ed, you and I need to go clubbing and get you some dating experience asap, because is lunacy.”

  “You really think Edmond’s the kind of guy to do well at clubs?” Finished with the fish pie, Amanda proceeded onto the next ticket’s appetizers without any loss to her tongue’s sharpness.

  “Doesn’t matter, it’s something everyone has to go through at some point. You saw how he does when left to his own devices!”

  Leaving aside how he was being increasingly more belittled by the minute, Edmond did appreciate such attention and care from his cowork… friends.

  He still thought he had made the right decision, but it was hardly possible for him to get upset when they put such thought and emotion on how to help him, regardless of what the topic was.

  Not that the proposed plans were very feasible.

  “I’ll tell you if I get a free night, Cole. But as it is, it likely won’t be anytime soon.” He said while stirring spinach with cream.

  “Huh? Oh, right. You have that late night gig going on too. I really don’t get how you aren’t more of a cranky asshole with how much you have going on.”

  On Cole’s words, Edmond’s thoughts went to the backpacks still in his locker.

  “It’s more of a passion project. I don’t really see it as actual work.”

  They would remain there for the remainder of his shift at Le Petit Concert.

  “Have a good night!”

  Edmond tried to be as cheerful as possible in his departure, but was quickly crushed out of any hopes for cheering Samantha up when seeing her face. He was the second to last leaving, but with the amount of management work left unfinished by Noelle, Samantha still had a long while before she would be able to go home.

  “Just get going, I don’t need your pity.” She looked so soulless when saying this that Edmond’s heart probably broke twice over.

  Taking the hint and her word, he set off without complaint. Edmond would have insisted on staying with her, sharing a workload he was not qualified for and being overall as much of a comforting presence as he could be. But he knew how much Samantha disliked anything she saw as pity, and besides… Edmond still had a lot more work left to do.

  In fact, one could say that what Edmond saw as his true vocation began late at night, after his shift at Le Petit Concert. But first, he needed a place he could be alone in.

  Le Petit Concert was located in a relatively secure part of the entertainment district’s eastern portion, so people still hung out and walked around at many places, even as night went on later than the current time.

  The usual dark alleys or empty parking lots were still present, but finding those that were good enough was a little tedious. Edmond was not quite a newbie, however, so he found a useful six story building without much delay. He had actually used this very building as his preparation spot a few times already, so there was no doubt on what to do.

  Taking care that truly no people were near, he stepped up the fire escape while making a significant effort to not cause any noise. He traveled all the way to the roof, where as expected, there was nothing other than a few discarded, broken down appliances. They would be gone once clean-up service reached the place, but until then, he could make good use of them.

  Edmond walked toward an unplugged refrigerator that had seen much better days, then lightly lifted and plopped it down to cover the door to the rooftop. He had already used it in the same way previously, so it was quite near to begin with. And by walking over to the door’s wall that was unseen from the fire escape, he was confident both in terms of privacy and his ability to act in time if someone did arrive. It had never happened before, but one could never be too cautious.

  Edmond followed up by opening one of his backpacks and pulling out the outfit inside. It consisted of two main parts, upper and lower body sections with gloves and footwear included. The majority of it was of a gray so dark that it looked black in the current lighting, an opaque leather-like material with a decent give to it but without being too elastic. Most of the stretchiness, outside of allowing the suit to be put on, seemed geared toward improving its overall strength, which was noticeable both on touch and pull.

  The organite plates did further work toward that end, a couple of shades lighter than the rest of the outfit and giving off a decent, if deteriorated shine under the moonlight. By the suit’s looks, they should have normally been placed on the front and back of the neck, major joints, forearms down to the back of the hand, shin, and top of the feet. The chest and spine in particular had the plates assorted in a way vaguely reminiscent of crocodilian armor. However, it was the ease with which this image came to mind that the ravaged state of the suit became so apparent.

  To begin with, this idea for the armor placement was only possible if the plates were symmetrical, which was far from the case. Many of them were worn and cracked both from apparent blunt force and heat, some having peeled off outright. Even the fabric itself was gashed in several places, leaving visible gaps in certain areas once the suit was worn.

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  But beyond a few memories of related events, Edmond cared little about the damage the suit had piled up. It was a good advantage on the field, but it was far from what he considered as requirements for his activities. He placed the suit on the floor nearby and proceeded to undress.

  … If he were to be completely honest, this was the most dreaded part of the whole process. While he did wear a gym shirt and shorts underneath, they were both thin and tight, essentially useless during the advent of winter.

  Letting out white breath in shivers, Edmond quickly put his shoes in a prepared plastic bag and stored them with the rest of his clothes inside the first, empty backpack. He then quickly wore both major pieces of the suit, the inner insulating layer giving his body some much needed respite as it steadily warmed up. Organite plates buckling the two parts together through a belt at the waist area, he took out the hooded sweater from his backpack and zipped it close, over the suit.

  Edmond then opened his next backpack, counting the ‘volatiles’, as most might consider them.

  Disposable cellphones, three of them in a bag of cloth.

  Prana shocker, with mid-range shooting capacity. Just in case, the barely under brick-sized self-defense tool had its security lock placed properly.

  Gamma-class orichalcum shortsword, a training tool loaned by the Knight Corps. Its sheath was also tightly locked, so the danger was minimal, but he preferred holding on to it in case an emergency came up.

  And lastly, containment tools. Placed inside another small cloth bag, he remembered taking twelve with him and counted them carefully. Of a dark gray color somewhat similar to his suit, they looked and felt like marbles made of extremely hard rubber. In proper terms, they would be called ‘delayed activation’ type spells, some made from scratch and others simply maintained as part of Edmond’s training every morning. Without delay, he buckled the bag containing them alongside the shocker, the blade and the bag of cellphones on his belt’s small gaps.

  That was it for the dangerous tools, but there was one final thing Edmond was taking. Inside the backpack for volatiles, the vague glistening of more organite could barely be seen. Edmond took it out and immediately wore it on his face; a mask.

  Or at least that’s what it looked like now. The amount of damage on it put the rest of the suit to shame, torn in such a terrible way that the entire top right corner, along with the top side and back portions all the way until the top-left of the forehead, were gone. What used to be a full helmet looking like a mere mask only covering three quarters of his face spoke enough of its condition, most of the edges jagged and bent as a reminder of all it had gone through.

  But regardless of its tremendously weakened protective potential, the face covering in tandem with his hood was more than enough to hide Edmond’s identity, as was very necessary. It could still buckle properly on the neck armor portions, the light gray lens on his left eye hardly impeded his vision when regularly cleaned, and the inner layer made it about as comfortable as the suit.

  He closed the second backpack and slung it over-shoulder with the first one, exiting from his hiding spot next to the wall and finally lifting the refrigerator away from the door. He walked away from it and toward the rooftop’s edge, an almost painfully chilly wind assaulting the uncovered parts of his head and face.

  Edmond Bach’s nightly routine that he trained every morning for, what some would call ‘vigilante work’, could finally begin. Or at least, that is how it would usually go, if not for something unusual drawing his attention.

  He likely would have missed it if he was not improving his vision with prana as part of his usual scouting, but several streets away, below the neon lights of what appeared to be some bar or nightclub, he could barely make out a girl past the window.

  A girl who almost… seemed to have noticed Edmond as well, looking straight back at him.

  … Am I crazy now? I barely even noticed her, even with enhanced vision. She must be looking at the moon or some weird car parked outside.

  Regardless of what the event truly was, Edmond pulled up his hoodie. He generally preferred to have his hair covered during patrols to be less identifiable, and the girl simply appearing to look at him with it exposed did make him uncomfortable. While at it, he also opened up more of his regulators, allowing the prana in the environment to flow through his body, improving his physical ability with a fundamental strengthening spell.

  He leapt away from the rooftop into another one right after, some added hooks on the mask’s sides preventing the hood from blowing back. Before anything else, he had to reach one of the hiding spots for his backpacks, all the while watching out for questionable activity both on windows and at ground level. Edmond’s pace was not the fastest it could have been when doing this, but that was hardly important. Dark attire and soft soles on the suit’s feet, he was hard to detect even if someone were looking for him, let alone for the average passerby.

  Each backpack was left at a different, but easily remembered place. One at a roof corner of the local big name newspaper building, on a decorative marble wyvern, and the other one on the protective lightning bowl, meant both to stop lightning strikes and store them as backup power, of a large department store. If nothing else, the night was pretty lonesome around both places, so there was no danger.

  Edmond jumped back from the bowl and down the roof’s edge, landing on another rooftop. Uneventful nights were fortunately more common than otherwise, and this one was not shaping up differently. But in his experience, low-ranking criminals tended to not be thoughtful enough to write diversionary notes. With a wary heart, he braced himself for whatever activity he might find witness Epsilon Five.

  He leapt and ran his way to the southeast, landing on building tops or rushing up walls when needed, making sure to scout his surroundings as attentively as he could while doing so. He had lived in Seyfelt for several months already, so he knew more or less how to get to any general area without the aid of a map application.

  Before long, he came across the establishment in question after hopping down onto a warehouse. While the building itself looked normal, a contemporary bar or restaurant type that was wide and surrounded with lightly tinted glass walls, the sign at the top with lit-up lining was unmistakable. A very characteristic inverted ‘3’ followed by a ‘V’, glowing in electric blue.

  Only one rooftop diagonally away, Edmond heard a sound that forced him to lay down on his stomach, only letting his face lightly peek out of the roof’s edge. A running engine, from a hatchback that drew nearer by the second. The car itself was nothing special, but after it parked near the other three in the vicinity, the people that exited did show some particular traits.

  There were three, probably two women and one man, judging from their builds. Edmond could not be sure since they each wore some kind of face covering. What was more concerning, however, was that two of them had varying amounts of purple on them. Whether dyed hair fringes, a t-shirt, tattoos or any other thing, at least one clearly visible bit of purple was on them.

  Violet Thorn.

  That sort of appearance was typical of one of the major gangs in Seyfelt, commonly called ‘Thorns’ for short. Some of them did not share the look, such as the thugs Edmond had taken the note from and which he now doubly suspected to be part of the gang, but it was still seen in more of them than not, even for apparent low-rankers. For what he knew, it was probably a sign of status for completing a certain amount of tasks.

  Edmond did away with such pondering after the three Thorns entered the pub. Carefully, he lifted his body somewhat off the rooftop, looking at his surroundings. He heard no more cars arriving and those parked were shut off. There was hardly a chance people were still in any of them, and no more could be seen in the vicinity beyond that.

  Safety mostly confirmed after an extra peek through the car windows for either captives or crooks, Edmond raised his body and dropped down from the rooftop, landing on the sidewalk opposite to the pub. Being as silent as he possibly could, he hurried closer toward a side of the building before crouching behind one of the parked cars. While he left his head out to see inside, there was no one looking straight in his direction, and with the combined factors of the darkness, the pub’s inner lighting and his own clothing, Edmond could have probably stood up entirely without being noticed for several minutes.

  He saw six people in the pub. Five of them were Thorns going by the face coverings and overall situation, two of them seemingly without any visible purple on them. Edmond could not confirm, as the sixth person, sitting opposite to one of the Thorns on a table, became the focus of all his attention near-instantly.

  It took him a few seconds to fully comprehend who she was. Not by failing to recognize her appearance, or from still being some distance away, but due to the difficulty of accepting she was there, less than twenty meters away from him.

  Her hair was platinum blonde, reached down to her shoulders and probably had not seen a brush in at least a month, while her eyes were a striking forest green. Her clothes were normal, a purple V-neck shirt alongside gloves, jeans and matte boots of a shared black color. She was not particularly tall, and while what could be seen of her musculature was splendid, no one would call her bulky either. If there was anything that particularly made her feel like the ‘largest’ in that room, it was the extensive scarring visible on her uncovered skin. Across her arms, neck and even face there were rough, scab-like marks of varying sizes and jagged shapes. Their color was a solid, almost painful-looking lacquer black.

  Fittingly, this young woman seemed to go by ‘Scar-Tail’. One of the big names in the Violet Thorn who had gone up against powered authorities several times, yet was still doing business without bothering with anything to hide her identity. A criminal of the feared type commonly referred to as ‘Unmasked’.

  Inside the pub, she took a couple pills from a small purple case, seemingly without a drink before continuing to count bills from a wad handed over by the Thorn sitting opposite to her. Edmond had arrived at his hiding spot just in time to see another one leaving the table before this one, so it was very likely she was verifying the low-rankers had made enough money on the given time, and taking her cut.

  As he kept watching, Edmond opened one of his bags and took out a disposable phone. He knew he would find some unique activity due to the note, but one of the Violet Thorn’s Unmasked was far beyond any expectations he held. Even now, he had to consciously control his breathing to maintain a normal pace, trying his best to calm down the dread-filled racing of his heart. The trembling of his fingers made the task of dialing the police’s number frustrating, to say the least, so he kept watching.

  The previous Thorn got up from the table, and was followed by a red-haired one, likely male. His nervousness was incredibly apparent, even as far as where Edmond peered from, the slightly but clearly smaller wad of bills he presented making the reason beyond obvious.

  No way.

  “(Seyfelt Police Department, what’s your emergency?)”

  The almost instant response from the operator went nearly unnoticed due to his shock.

  “Violet Thorn members, including an Unmasked, are doing suspicious business at the Epsilon Five pub.”

  “(Did you say ‘Unmasked’ and ‘Epsilon Five’? Are you sure?)”

  “Yes, definitely.”

  Edmond had to make an actual effort to not yell at the operator simply doing their job. With each second he watched the scene before him unfold, he felt increasingly short of breath.

  Why did you even come without the money!?

  The bills were counted very quickly, Scar-Tail probably not caring much for accuracy when the amount was obviously less than desired. The remaining four Thorns stood by, perhaps unflinching, or more likely just terrified of what might happen next.

  “(Okay, sir. I’m dispatching a powered police unit but I need you to stay on the line and remain calm.)”

  Come on, please. He’s one of your own guys, fuck!

  Edmond could hardly hear the operator by now, only his heartbeat echoing as far as he could tell.

  His unspoken begging was, of course, useless. The red-haired Thorn was forced down on the table by the others while Scar-Tail stood up from her chair, a long appendage seemingly unwinding from around her stomach. The shell-like covering on it was eerily akin to her scars.

  “(Sir? Sir, can you hear—)”

  Edmond immediately crushed the cellphone in his grip, running barely shaped prana through it to ensure its destruction.

  He stood up from his hiding spot and put his hand forward, fingers extended more for aim needs than anything else, while prana flowed and condensed in front for heat and concussive force. Before a second passed, two magic bullet spells were shot, one slightly ahead of the other and both piercing the pub’s window without setback.

  The first of the baseball-sized bullets of orange light impacted Scar-Tail’s black tail, deflecting it from its descending course. The second hit Scar-Tail herself on the temple, knocking her through tables and chairs into the pub’s wall.

  I really did it now.

  Not only had Edmond attacked an Unmasked, one of Seyfelt’s most dangerous criminals, but he had completely blown his cover while at it. The masked Thorns, noticeably shaken from their boss suddenly being knocked aside, set their sights onto Edmond and opened fire with two or three handguns, releasing the red-haired one.

  He quickly stepped aside from the bullets’ path, running diagonally to the left and leaping to the building’s top. Specifically, Edmond stuck to the part of the building above the entrance, hearing the gunfire right beneath him.

  Come on out, please. Before that crazy woman gets a steady walk!

  Thinking desperately, Edmond took the prana shocker with its safety lock removed in one hand and three of the dark gray ‘marbles’ in the other, retying the bag right after. Fortunately for him, the pub’s ceiling proved too tough for the bullets to break through, so the four Thorns hurried out of the pub to hunt him down.

  Perfect!

  Without wasting a second, Edmond fed a spark of prana into one of the marbles and threw it full speed at one of them. Upon impact, the small projectile expanded tremendously at a great speed, causing the Thorns to step back. All except for the one hit by it.

  From one second to the other, the tight marble had become a huge blanket of thick, rubbery material, driven by momentum to one of the parked cars alongside the impacted thug. She tried to break free, quite vigorously at that, but on top of the actual strength of the substance, it stuck to the car and pavement below as if glued to them.

  Edmond’s regulators may have not been anything special whether it be in quality or quantity, but even he could develop and use a strong spell like that so long as he had enough time beforehand. And for his line of work, there was hardly anything more crucial to focus whatever skill and knowledge he had into.

  The remaining three Thorns quickly recovered from the shock of the recent assault and shot at Edmond again, who leapt from the building’s top and past them, landing just under two meters away. The containment rubber would wear off in around an hour, so he could ignore the trapped Thorn for now.

  He had already begun to bring the hand holding the prana shocker forward, but a unique flash of blue-green light forced him to step back by reflex. A sound like a static pulse was heard, followed by the asphalt being cracked and torn from the missed strike. One of the three Thorns was holding a javelin-like sectioned weapon, surrounded by very dense prana.

  Is that a field-use Knight weapon? Alpha-class? How does a guy like this have that?!

  Even while wondering about such strangeness, Edmond did not stop moving. In fact, now that he knew what weapon he was fighting, he could step closer not only to dodge the resumed gunfire, but to deter further shooting due to his proximity to the enemy’s ally. It was while doing that, however, that he saw the red-haired Thorn staring from the pub in a frightened daze.

  “Fuck off already! You think you’ll get another chance!?” Edmond shouted in a rage. The shock of seeing the would-be victim still present had almost led to him being pierced right through by the prana-powered javelin.

  Thankfully, it seemed like his frustration had snapped the young man out of his stupor as he began to run off right after, but Edmond had turned his focus back to the battle without being able to completely see him off.

  On the next attack by the javelin, he did not dodge, instead blocking the Thorn’s arm. He wasted no time in pressing the prana shocker against him and pressing the trigger, a powerful current running through the thug’s body and quickly rendering it limp, leading him to drop the javelin.

  A prana shocker, much like a stun gun, used a high-power current to disable attackers, but per its use as a self-defense tool against prana users, it was improved by the same resource. Though that function was geared toward breaking through prana defenses, so outside of that, its efficacy was similar to a normal stun gun.

  Knowing the thug would just be stunned for a brief time, Edmond shoved him aside into the Thorn aiming her gun but still unable to shoot. As they fell onto the street, Edmond swiftly turned toward the last remaining Thorn, shocking one of his arms before he could regain the presence of mind to shoot again, and kicking him away right after.

  Edmond quickly activated the remaining marbles in his hand and threw one at each side, one impacting the two Thorns downed together and the other hitting the one most recently beaten. The three were completely trapped by the next second.

  “Hah… shit…”

  He did not know how much time the whole ordeal had taken, but it was surely much less than what it felt like. Rather than exhaustion, it was stress that had hit him now, but he was still making up for the accompanying lack of breath nonetheless.

  Still, he did not have time for anything else.

  Edmond only moved again after hearing the strident noise of shattering glass. He quickly dashed to the side, seeing the bulk of the pub’s counter flying through the front end. It was large, heavy and very fast, Edmond’s hand unable to get out of the way before it was struck.

  Bursting, lightning-like pain spread from it, causing him to drop the prana shocker that had miraculously avoided contact. The counter itself kept flying straight into the building opposite to the pub, shattering with a terrifying sound. But Edmond could not afford to turn and see, since from the broken glass at the pub’s entrance, Scar-Tail stepped forth.

  The tail coming out of her lower back, thickening progressively from the origin point until the base of its stinger, had grown more than twice its previous size. The somewhat curved point itself, maybe seventy centimeters long and thirty thick, dripped a dreadful, colorless fluid. Even her scars seemed to have grown as well, their jagged edges sharper and pulsating forcefully.

  And still, all these changes paled in comparison to the sheer anger and ferocity present in her expression. Unconcerned with the threads of blood trailing down the side of her head, she lashed forward.

  Edmond could barely see the tail’s movements, but somehow avoided it in time, seven meters and maybe two tons of danger smashing down on the spot he had just been in. The pavement almost seemed to explode, gravel flying in all directions from the sheer force.

  Scar-Tail roared in a way that was somehow completely human, and all the more terrifying for it. She pursued Edmond, her tail thrashing about with a speed and precision that stood completely at odds with its size and strength. It took all of his attention and agility to stay out of its path, even by using the cover of a few cars and walls the best he could.

  “Wanna shit around, pig-fucker!?”

  Her words did not quite reach Edmond in full, as he was examining the situation as quickly as he could. The actual damage to his hand, pain aside, was unknown, but the counter had luckily hit a place covered by his suit’s plating. Without that, he would have had to deal with a completely shattered wrist rather than whatever ache he currently had… if it was not torn off outright, that is.

  He had dropped his shocker, however, so that was one less offensive option he could rely on provided he managed to close the gap, but honestly, his advantages perhaps leaned in the opposite direction.

  I have more reach!

  Edmond stepped back, spacing increasingly farther from Scar-Tail’s weapon as he condensed the prana around his hand. Nearly reaching his conversion limit, he jumped to the side with all his strength, briefly stepping on the wall of the nearby warehouse. He shot all of it without delay, three magic bullets this time.

  Stressed as he was, one of them missed just barely, but the other two went well on their way toward Scar-Tail’s torso. He did not know for a fact if they were faster than her tail, but their small size coupled with still being quite fast had to make them at least somewhat difficult to counter.

  And indeed, they did make it past the deadly appendage… but right after, Scar-Tail simply smashed the magic to bits with her arm.

  Edmond’s heart sank. He knew she needed an incredibly developed musculature to move that tail around like such, but that she could power through his offense so effortlessly…

  Well, range advantage’s a bust. Unless I somehow catch her completely off-guard, nothing like the first shot will happen again.

  Not only was she strong enough that his spell was useless, the speed of her reactions also meant that a containment marble would not land on her either. But Scar-Tail gave him no more time to think of any alternative before resuming her assault, the armored appendage on her back drawing an arc as it gouged every bit of wall on its path, aiming for the descending Edmond.

  He flexed his legs and sprung away from the wall before being hit, landing only around six meters away from Scar-Tail. Well within her range, she did not even have to move her legs for her next attack, the black tail swerving behind her to strike from the direction closest to her enemy.

  Edmond was ready to resume his evasion as soon as he landed on the street, but what he saw through the corner of his eye during his previous jump made this impossible. In his desperation to avoid the natural weapon, moving to any safe place in what little time he was afforded, he had landed extremely close to the two Thorns he had trapped earlier.

  She wouldn’t—!

  Edmond’s mind raced as his body felt like it was steaming, the armored tail approaching from his right at a blinding speed. Unable to think of anything else, he ripped the Gamma-class shortsword from its buckle.

  Making his best attempt to deflect it even slightly, the tail smashed into his makeshift shield with enough force to numb his arms, as well as shatter the shortsword’s sheath. Edmond flew aside like a ragdoll, faster than with any of his jumps until stopping upon collision with the warehouse’s wall.

  His consciousness briefly faltered as a terrible ache spread from his upper back, right shoulder and elbows, all the way to the rest of his body. Even the noise produced on impact went completely unnoticed by him, his hearing itself briefly muffled by a terrible ringing. Unceremoniously dropping to ground level, his head was somehow spared from a second hit.

  Thoughts flooded Edmond’s mind. He had not been pierced by the stinger, and he managed to see the gray containment substance undamaged, the Thorns’ heads and some limbs sticking out just like before. The worst had been avoided, but he could not even acknowledge the relief before seeing the black blur approaching once more.

  Scar-Tail had knocked him so far away that she needed a brief moment to approach, and Edmond made full use of that delay. Pain seemed to pierce him from the inside out as he forced himself to action again, but it would definitely be much worse if he did not. Edmond rushed away with clumsy movements, the black tail piercing through the warehouse’s concrete with hardly any loss in momentum.

  He needed to get out of her range, first and foremost. Focusing on only one goal at a time, he hopped onto the building’s fire escape and began to climb with the best speed he could muster. Unlike running up a wall, there were several real footholds on such a ladder, so even in his current state he could arrive at the top rather quickly, getting an ample view of the surroundings while at it.

  Edmond expected Scar-Tail to pursue him, hoping the counterbalance of her tail would give him at least a small edge when taking the fight vertically. But the trembling he felt at the top of the fire escape, almost like a tremor, betrayed all the possibilities he thought of.

  “Fucking monkey, I’m sick of your shit!” Scar-Tail snarled like a bundle of pure rage.

  She had not bothered to even take her tail out of the building, instead tearing through the concrete itself like a paddle through mud. An increasingly long and wide gash opened across the wall with shocking ease as the fire escape produced a strange noise. His foothold loosening, Edmond began to lose his balance.

  Is she about to…!?

  Then, the fire escape was soon torn away completely from the warehouse, falling along with several fragments of the wall. Edmond jumped off as soon as he could get a grip of his thoughts, but the position was too unnatural, his footing too weak. Bearing the brunt of the fall with his arms, he still failed to land properly on his feet, rolling a couple of meters on the ground afterward.

  But still, he had managed to choose the right direction just in time, as he saw the prana shocker on the floor where it had fallen before. Finally back within reach.

  Edmond powered through even more ache as he turned around, then saw how the fire escape had luckily landed quite far from any of the trapped Thorns. But by focusing on it, he noticed many parts of it dissolving strangely, like acid might do in a movie.

  So the stinger doesn’t even have venom. It’s… much worse.

  Things were beyond critical now. He was now in a half-sitting position, with Scar-Tail still fast on his trail. She was not as far away as on her last attack, and he was still not on his feet to be able to dodge. Even so, there was still something he could do.

  Success would partly depend on her own reaction, but with hardly any other options, Edmond did not hesitate to take the riskier one.

  Rather than wait for Scar-Tail to arrive within her range on her own, the first thing Edmond did after barely getting on his feetwas dash forward. The distance between the two shortened much quicker, and the woman’s attack was delayed briefly from surprise.

  As he approached, Edmond brought forth the prana shocker he had just recovered, but Scar-Tail’s reactions and fighting sense were truly amazing. She was likely aware of where he had jumped toward from the start, making such a feint quite predictable.

  Thus, without delay, she brought down her tail closer to herself, to finally crush an insufferable foe’s body for good.

  That’s it!

  Scar-Tail’s visible disbelief as Edmond suddenly stopped his approach, narrowly avoiding her preemptive attack, could have made him jump from joy. A motion practiced several times in his mind, he pressed the other trigger on the prana shocker. A projectile of paired points fired without delay, connected back to the shocker via specialized wires that drove the prana charge in immediately as they reached the upper part of Scar-Tail’s torso.

  She screamed, her body and even tail crumpling and contorting uncontrollably, but she did not fall yet. Edmond expected this much, however, and quickly moved further in as he saw the finish line in sight, driving a kick into Scar-Tail’s abdomen that laid her down on her side.

  Quick, quick!

  Unwilling to give Scar-Tail any time to recover, Edmond took out two containment marbles from his pouch. Without even closing it first, he triggered both spells and threw one on the woman herself, while another went for her tail. The dark gray spheres expanded into thick covers a few shades lighter and covered each place, even overlapping to an extent due to their proximity.

  “... Hah…”

  That’s… it, right?

  Edmond stood there silently, looking over her and the Thorns, as well as the damaged street while catching his breath. Tying the bag with the containment marbles closed again, he finally collapsed on his hands and knees...

  "Fuck yes!"

  ... before jumping into the air with both fists above his head. Even after landing, he could not help but bring his arms up and down in sheer euphoria, laughing breathlessly all the while.

  It was difficult to come up with a part of his body that did not hurt, radiating the ache everywhere else while at it. Even more than that, especially after his instinctive celebration, the whole ordeal assaulted Edmond with an overwhelming sense of sleepiness. He did not remember many times he had felt so exhausted.

  But... I won. Against one of the Violet Thorn's Unmasked, I actually beat her!

  Still, he could not stop yet. The police would arrive any second now, so he had to make his escape while he could. But it was not a police car that drew Edmond’s attention so powerfully.

  Instead, a unique shadow had become visible right after he stood up, produced by something… no, someone standing on the edge of the warehouse’s roof.

  Edmond turned in alarm, freezing up as he saw the ponytail swaying in the cold wind. He had no time to try and make out any features before witnessing a great amount of prana gathering in the figure’s hand, condensing silver light into the form of a spear. Even as far away as he stood, Edmond noticed the intense compression that had rendered it near-solid.

  This person was very good, and began their attack with enough speed to blur their body. Edmond’s hasty dodge still resulted in his hoodie being slashed, but only then did he notice the brilliant, deep brown ponytail, the sharp turquoise eyes…

  Her!?

  Tatyana, the girl whom he had cooked for earlier today, and been a waiter for several other times. He could not hope to figure out the reason why, but she was here nonetheless, bearing witness to a situation that would look beyond shady to a just-arriving third party.

  “Please wait! It’s not how—”

  Her attack resumed before he could even begin to explain.

  Edmond raised his training shortsword in a desperate attempt to block, but his shock was too much, while Tatyana’s swings were heavy and fast.

  His guard was quickly torn down, and he failed to bring it back up as Tatyana stepped closer in to strike.

  —!

  The magic spear pierced through his abdomen smoothly, and Edmond registered a pain and sound distinct from anything he had ever felt.

  He could hardly believe that he managed to restrain a scream, but the suffering gasp released in its stead was hardly any better. Edmond sank to his knees while desperately covering his wound, the copious amounts of warm wetness felt through his gloved, trembling hand almost making him vomit.

  He was truly defenseless now. But as more time passed, the only thought that was competing to an increasing degree with the fear of his deep wound was relief at her halted assault. He could not block or dodge, but she had stopped attacking, with a perplexed expression on her face.

  Did I convince her?

  The increasingly close sound of police sirens interrupted Edmond’s thoughts before he could get any answers, and he was not the only one. Without a clue as to how he retained the necessary presence of mind, it only took him seeing Tatyana become distracted by it to spring back into action.

  Exceedingly close to his limit, Edmond forced another excruciating spurt from his body to rush up the warehouse’s wall, using his hand and the fabric worn across his body to slow down as much bleeding as he could.

  He ran, jumped, and even tripped. Edmond escaped as far away as he could with all the stamina he could muster for one sprint, until finally, he had to lay down next to the lightning bowl he had placed one of his backpacks in.

  “…”

  He remained silent while trying to breathe, as calmly as he could barely manage. Clearly, and just as expected, his final run was a tad too much for him as things were. Mentally berating himself, trying to rationalize things the best he could, Edmond took out the second of three disposable cellphones he had brought, dialing a number he knew without even thinking about it.

  The other side of the line picked up almost immediately, but waited for the one calling to make themselves known first. So very him.

  “Claude…”

  “(Edmond? What happened? Tell me everything right now, you sound—)”

  “Later, please. I’ll give you all the details you want, but now… I just need some help getting one of my backpacks. And… I might need some help myself, getting home that is…”

  “(… Where are you now?)”

  Edmond’s face showed a boyish smile, his skin beyond pale. He was truly fortunate to have such a friend.