“Come on, it’s been an hour already. You’re only hurting yourself by letting that go to waste.”

  It was probably the fourth time Valentina had heard such words. For what amounted to maybe a week of imprisonment, it made her wonder if all these prison guards were made at the same shitty factory.

  There was no need to grace them with a response, especially when she already had the expected burning pain to deal with. Raising her cuffed hands, she caught a glimpse of the scarring under the long orange sleeves, not missing it under the jumpsuit’s legs either.

  She turned fully away from the tray of gruel that had been given to her and glanced at the most important part. Her tail, stuck in its smaller, ‘resting’ state while pinned to the gray wall with several restraints of its own. The containment procedure left nothing else to be desired; they had clearly done their homework with whatever info was available on her.

  Which meant that she could not even try to swing it around to alleviate some of the ache or even distract herself. It could somewhat squirm against the solid metal restraints, maybe slightly wave its stinger back and forth, but that was it.

  The only thing she could work on and look forward to as the days passed. Over and over, her tail flexed in whichever direction seemed the least strict at the time, all the while minuscule cracks appeared and spread across the scarring shell, so occasionally that each time felt special.

  “My pills are still not here.”

  So unbearable of a time was Valentina having, that she had broken her inner commitment to silence before she knew it. As expected, the guard reveled in it, and she knew he was smiling from his voice alone without so much as lifting her eyes.

  “Did they rot your brain that bad? Or are you just this clueless? You getting high is not really our priority, so they’re in the lab to stay.”

  Valentina’s eyes, which had grown tired and almost permanently half-lidded, opened to their fullest extent for the first time over this last week. Her lips curved into a full, almost pure smile from the guard’s clueless explanation.

  It was not that his words indicated something good; rather, it was the opposite. Her pills being analyzed in the crime laboratory was bad news that would only make future operations riskier.

  Still, Valentina had been so lucky that she could not stop smiling. To think that the pills were already being analyzed, but their true purpose was still yet to be discovered... Were local chemists incompetent? Or was the manufacturing of the pills just that clever?

  Whatever the case was, Valentina may have only had until today before things became hopeless. And today was precisely when all had become just ripe enough.

  Through the increasingly larger cracks in her tail’s scarring, her venom slowly seeped out, dripping onto the restraints that had been purposefully made to resist it. The same went for the thin coating that had been applied right on her stinger, where most of it came out.

  But such countermeasures were perfect only when considering the available information on Valentina. The purpose of her pills? That was still unavailable to this day.

  No one could fault the local officers, for only her four associates and the pills’ original maker knew that they were not a recreational drug. Rather, they were medication to make her day-to-day somewhat bearable.

  Within seconds, she felt the restraints on her tail weakening, growing steadily thinner under the venom they should have endured without a problem. Valentina leaned back into the wall and turned her eyes to the side, noticing the sheen of her stinger’s coating being replaced with a bone-like dullness she was far more familiar with, as well as the gradual return of the familiar liquid dripping off it.

  It was only natural for this to happen. Restraints made to counter a specific substance would never last forever against an ever-changing one, a venom that with time on its side, would evolve to shave away whatever tried to stop its advance.

  The body born with that curse may have held the opposite, necessary ability to change in response and survive, if only for an amount of time other people might pity. But if even her body could not keep up with the speed of the venom’s growth, needing the use of constantly improving drugs just so she could approach a normal lifespan, what hope did these stagnant restraints have?

  Over her eighteen years of life, Valentina’s venom had been challenged on equal terms by only one thing: a demon not from this world.

  This city’s police force was simply no match, she proved once more when forcing her tail into its true state after one long week, shattering whatever remained of the restraints that had kept it on the wall.

  The pain intensified as she kicked her body into overdrive, having gone through quite a long period of inactivity, but she could more than bear through it. For she knew that the more pain she felt, it only meant the venom now eating through her cuff links was that much stronger.

  Besides, the frozen look of horror on the guard’s face served as more than adequate relief. Valentina may have even laughed, had her focus not already been placed onto her next move.

  A single, brutal sweep from her tail’s colossal mass was more than enough to destroy the cheap teracrylic wall in front of her. Full confidence had been placed on the tail restraints they had constructed specifically to imprison her, so such a generic safety barrier was little more than a formality.

  The guard’s response time was rather impressive, considering his swelling panic. He had activated the ear-splitting alarm without even sparing the console a look, trying to escape at the same time.

  But that was the most he could do. Before the hand holding his ID card even reached the sensor on the door, Valentina’s tail sprang forward and jabbed its stinger straight through the man’s calf.

  “—!”

  Humans truly were something else when backed into a corner. To think the guard’s scream would be so clear despite the loud, grating alarm.

  Valentina reeled her tail back across the ground, dragging the man as easily as a small fish while stepping forward. Two times on the floor, a third on the arm flailing under her to a satisfying crack, and a scream not quite as shocking as the last.

  Having pinned the guard by his hand and foot on one side, she had no problems crouching to pick up the ID card nearby, still attached to his neck strap. But issues lay somewhere else, as she could not even resume her walk to the door before hearing numerous footsteps out in the corridor.

  So quick. If something good can be said about these people, they have a surprising presence of mind.

  She probably could no longer avoid some sort of confrontation, but would she be able to just brute force her way through the incoming security staff? … Even if it was not impossible, it was too risky to attempt.

  Regarding overall options though, Valentina did not find them lacking. All she did was look around the room, until her eyes settled on the lights above her head and a perfect idea came to her mind.

  Warden Tristan Briar felt rather proud of his restraint for once. Being unable to contact Earnhardt ever since the alarm was set off awoke both fear and resignation in his heart, but the intense wish to see the young man still alive almost made him walk into an entirely dark cell room.

  Rizzo reacted very quickly, grabbing his shoulder to ensure he would not make that mistake, but Tristan had no intention of falling for such a desperate trick. Regardless of what condition Earnhardt was in, getting someone else killed in a rushed attempt to rescue him would be nothing but an insult to him.

  “Come on out, Scar-Tail! Even you should know you blew your chance!”

  Tristan and seven guards raised their weapons, aimed unhesitatingly at the cell room Scar-Tail had destroyed the lights of. Whether they were mobile prana cannons, wrist-mounted barrels or simple firearms, they all had more than enough range to not walk into the darkness she was baiting them into.

  There was no other door in that cell room. No back entrance, no windows; not even an air vent if she felt like trying some stupid movie escape. All there was outside of that cell room was the hallway they currently occupied, so her only options were to attack at close range where darkness hid her, run out and be gunned down…

  “Aah…”

  … or use a hostage. The one hostage she had access to: Damian Earnhardt, whose wails could still be barely heard despite the rampaging alarm that blotted out so many sounds. So he was still alive, and Scar-Tail knew of the utility he presented.

  Nonetheless, she clearly did not know about their commitment.

  Tristan sighed, muttering an apology under his breath before giving a single direction with his free hand. That was all it took for him and his subordinates to open merciless fire into the cell room, regardless of her ‘hostage’.

  Rather unfortunately for her, Scar-Tail could pride herself on the fact everyone at this detention center considered her a priority threat. Several meetings had been held about her and the more recent arrivals associated with her, discussing what to do with them in various potential emergencies.

  The verdict? Lethal force was authorized should any of them try to escape, both for the Violet Thorn in question and whichever ill-fated hostage they took.

  Tristan held no joy in signing a hard-working colleague’s death sentence, but Earnhardt had accepted the possibility it might happen. Everyone had, as allowing any of these five lowlifes to escape was simply not an option.

  Only after a full minute of continuous fire did Tristan raise his hand again, signaling his colleagues to stop alongside him. Only the sound of the alarm now remained, though it had gone on for so long that he had mostly grown numb to it.

  He brought his hand back down, pulling the flashlight out of his belt and pointing it at the pitch-black cell room. The results… were about as expected, in that neither criminal nor hostage remained in one piece anymore.

  There were no corpses, limbs, or even ‘paste’. Much of the weaponry employed was either heat-based or used some components of that sort, so blood was also mostly absent. Most of the cell room was simply charred, with what must have been human bodies before now reduced to carbonized bits and pieces no larger than a golf ball.

  Still, he did not expect the criminal’s tail to suffer this kind of fate as well. Scar-Tail had confronted the police several times before being captured, and the durability of the appendage that served as her namesake was common knowledge. The weapons they attacked her with… Tristan simply did not believe they were powerful enough to pulverize that thing in just a minute. So why did he not see it anywhere?

  There was the chance Scar-Tail had clung to the ceiling of the cell room in response to their fire, but both Yamada’s explosive shells and Rizzo’s hovering blades should have covered that area as well. So had Scar-Tail’s desire to conserve stamina or even her death itself resulted in her tail returning to its ‘standby’ state? One report spoke of a previous incident in which a high-frequency bullet had been enough to puncture its shell before it could grow, so that could be the case…

  … He needed to make sure either way, which meant entering the room to take a proper look around with the flashlight.

  Even now, after the implacable assault he had ordered into the place itself, a measure of nervousness remained in Tristan’s heart. Still, logically speaking, there was no way for Scar-Tail to survive, even if she shielded herself with her tail. Safety at this point was simply a matter of deduction, so after sharing a few knowing looks with his team, Tristan led the way down the hallway and into the cell room.

  One slow, careful step. Two of them, then three in utter control, surrounded closely by his men just in case. Not one stone unturned, the flashlight traced across every bit and corner of walls… and the floor alike.

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  Was that Rizzo who seemed about to gag? Or was he perhaps on the verge of tearing up, thinking of Earnhardt’s family now that this was all that remained of him? Either way, Tristan did not have the heart to speak out against it.

  He finally turned the flashlight up to the ceiling… and the damage was clear. Their weaponry had done a number on it, with traces of slashes and sweltering blunt force alike being very noticeable. But Scar-Tail’s tail was not there either.

  Were his guesses correct, then? Had he been worrying over nothing? Criminals like her might warrant the utmost care, but perhaps it was a mistake to doubt himself like th—

  “…?”

  —is…?

  The next place the flashlight revealed nearly made him drop it, as it was one wall completely different from the others.

  Damage was still very present on it, but of a sort that did not make sense considering any of their weapons. It looked like a collapsed tunnel, a large gap now covered up with pieces of rubble in a haphazard, but effective manner.

  The counterattack came not even a second after Tristan realized they had been outdone.

  “—!”

  The massive tail lunged in an arc with a speed that did not suit it, coming from the top of the room’s open entrance and striking Evans in the head so fiercely it seemed to explode.

  Yamada came next, having stuck the closest he could to the wall by his right to prepare a shot, but the tail’s following sweep brought a swift end to that by flattening his chest against the hard surface, as if he was an overripe fruit.

  Dencik did not even stand a chance, being knocked onto his front as he tried to avoid the previous attack, then grotesquely impaled against the ceiling by the follow-up.

  How did things even come to this? Looping around behind them through that tunnel, making it collapse behind her and then clinging to the wall right above them was a logical, even perfect approach to the situation. Unable to even target Scar-Tail herself, corralled into a single room against that fearsome tail and at risk of friendly fire… Such a one-sided situation, but it should have been impossible.

  For how had Scar-Tail even opened that tunnel in the first place? This may have only been a temporary prison, meant to hold criminals until they were properly convicted and sent to a bigger, more specialized facility. Still, it was designed to imprison powered individuals effectively, and this was reflected in all aspects of its construction.

  They knew of Scar-Tail’s abilities. She possessed titanic strength, and the venom that seeped from her tail was beyond menacing, but neither should have been able to break through the prison’s walls. So what had she done? What had they missed? How was this happen—

  Those were all the thoughts Tristan Briar was allowed before being struck himself.

  His reflexes allowed him a paltry attempt at dodging, but all he achieved was the right side of his waist being pierced, rather than the center of his abdomen. The force was such that he wondered whether he had been torn in half, unable to feel, let alone move the lower half of his body as he fell to the floor.

  Had he been the last one to be done in? Or was his consciousness far too fractured to remember even the previous five seconds? Whatever the case was, the massive tail’s movements had slowed down noticeably now that the eight officers were all dead, or about to be.

  The warm, heavy liquid reached Tristan’s hands first, then Scar-Tail’s shoes as she approached. He could not even recall when she had dropped from the wall outside.

  She spoke, but he could barely hear her footsteps right next to him. There was no hope of understanding anything Scar-Tail said as she began to search the officers’ bodies for something.

  In that instant, unable to even turn away from the sight of Fors’ mangled body, Tristan Briar wished with his last thoughts that any remaining officers would just escape.

  This was not a woman they could prevail against.

  Days after, Javier’s mind had yet to move on from the battle. Every waking moment, every dream within the deepest slumber, they all in some way returned to that night.

  He had lost before, but life was a larger battle for survival, so if he was alive by the end, whether he had been victorious or not was inconsequential. He would remember his mistakes, take note of everything he could use for the next conflict, and focus on the future.

  Somehow, this time was different. He had long since gone over every error he had committed, but even before then, his focus was undoubtedly on his opponents above all else.

  The girl had proven to be formidable during their brief first clash, and still managed to exceed all expectations once they could finally go all out against one another. Some would have pegged her for a privileged pushover, unable to truly make good use of her great power after living such a coddled life, but that could not be farther from the truth.

  How many attacks of his had even properly landed? Maybe five? And none of them for free, with a dangerous counterstrike answering each. While she must have had reasons to not do so, their fight would have likely gone very differently had she given it her all from the start.

  And then, there was the boy. The one some called ‘Nemesis’.

  Similar to the girl, they had fought before, and Javier had not been impressed at all. It was not even about his combat ability, which while modest, had indeed allowed him to defeat a restrained Valentina. Rather, it was his mindset that Javier could not even begin to respect.

  Fearful, guilt-ridden, mortified over things completely out of his control, to the point of risking life and limb over them. How could Javier ever consider someone like that as a threat? Why worry over a man who could not even recognize what was truly important?

  But that was his greatest mistake. As even if it was natural for a stray dog to focus on that mighty lion of a girl, it was still the seemingly pathetic hyena whose bite would not let go until crushing bone.

  And he still saved you, eh? If not for Veltis’ little pet throwing a tantrum like that, then Krisma’s heir would have dragged us to Einitra. That would’ve been really bad…

  … Yes, he knew that.

  While the restraints that had been placed on Javier did a more than adequate job at keeping his ‘partner’s’ powers manageable, with the cell itself providing some support as well, they still managed to communicate with him occasionally during his imprisonment.

  Enough to let him know the gist of what happened after his defeat. About the insiders they had allied with betraying them, and of the fearsome battle that took place soon after.

  Nemesis’ rage had repelled the four ‘former’ cadets, preventing them from retrieving Javier and the demon as they apparently wished to. So while his survival itself may have been a coincidence, his stay in this very world was due to the boy.

  He may have been imprisoned as a result, but the intent of those four was clearly to take him as a captive as well. Only in a completely different place, one he knew so little about, where his survival would be up to them.

  This result was much better in comparison. Which meant that—

  —A crash. A violent one, followed by crumbling. And if Javier had heard it from behind the thick teracrylic in front of him, it must have felt beyond strident for the three guards keeping watch.

  They all stood up and two of them instinctively reached for their weapons, but it was too late. The assailants not only had the element of surprise on their side, but they were simply faster.

  Or rather, it was faster. It being the massive, stinger-ended tail covered in scar-like armor, whipping around at a terrifyingly unfitting speed. Within a couple of seconds, the cell room had become a gruesome scene soaked in red, with the only people still in some proper physical integrity being Javier…

  “Good grief, did only those three remain?”

  “Doesn’t matter. It changes nothing if a few of them escape.”

  … and his four fellow Thorns. Valentina led the way, clearly no longer under the influence of her safety drugs, while Alain, Irina, and an unusually inexpressive Jae-sung tagged closely behind.

  “Heh. You’re quite lucky, aren’t you? Most of us would’ve died several times over from what you’ve been through.”

  Valentina’s smirk was tinged with both amusement and surprise, her words probably referring to the still extensive layers of purple crystals on Javier’s body, covering the worst of his injuries until they could properly heal.

  He was by no means healthy, and there was still a lot of pain to be felt, but no vital body functions were at risk, and there was no danger of anything slipping out of the worst wounds on his torso.

  “Can you walk?”

  Her question was complete nonsense, but he replied properly for the sake of time.

  “Yes.”

  Without delay, the teracrylic was smashed to bits.

  “So, what’s the plan?”

  “Obviously we’re skipping town. No way we have anything left here to salvage.”

  Alain replied without looking back at the conflicted-looking Irina. His focus, as well as that of Javier and Valentina, was on choosing a few things to take from the dark, dusty warehouse.

  Going back to their respective residences after being arrested would be almost suicidal; they were now controlled by the police as areas of interest, but this was a place chosen and loaded ahead of time with money, product, clothes and many other things they might need in case of an emergency.

  It was their first time actually using the stash, but they all knew what to do. Though in Irina’s case…

  “Damn it… What will I tell Marcus and Vanessa…?”

  … there was some hesitation. One that only found some apparent sympathy in a rather unlikely source.

  “There’s still some time for you to visit them, clear the air and shit.”

  That being Valentina, who was now stretching into a tight black t-shirt and cargo trousers, the orange garb she previously wore now ripped apart by a corner.

  “We’re not heading out immediately?”

  Jae-sung asked perhaps a little too quickly, still being the one most wary about the group being found even at the warehouse.

  “Of course not. I don’t really care what you guys do in the meantime, but I still have to pay that masked fucker a visit. From what you told me, he should still be in the knight hospital, right?”

  “…”

  Not one person could respond quickly to such a declaration. There were wishes they had misheard, and probably also wishes that she was joking, but that was pure fantasy.

  Was she crazy? Had she really forgotten the very reason for her arrest?

  “Tina, you already got beaten once by the guy. No matter how pissed you are, there’s no way you’ll win now that he’s in a place crawling with other knights.”

  “Last time he came out of nowhere, while I was still fresh on a batch.” Valentina replied with barely any consideration for Alain’s words. “This time will be completely different.”

  “No, you don’t get it. If we had everything planned out and still couldn’t pull things off, then how can you expect to—"

  “Irina, you have everything in reverse.”

  Valentina uttered, completely undeterred and with enough poise to briefly silence all dissent. Did she really mean…?

  “It’s not ‘you guys lost at an advantage, so I can’t do anything’. It’s ‘you guys lost at an advantage, so I don’t care what you have to say’.”

  Her words were blades, and her smirk an iceberg of contempt.

  “Cocky bitch, what did you just say!?”

  One that people such as Jae-sung would never take just like that. But Valentina was not rattled in the slightest; even worse, she approached the ireful Jae-sung with barely concerned steps.

  “I said you four are pathetic, and there’s no reason for me to listen to you. What was it with you? You got capped by some unpowered random? I could barely believe it when I was told. The locusts may compensate for the damage, but even now…”

  Valentina raised her tail, which for a while now had remained in its shrunken, resting state. It still was well over two meters long with its stinger visible, but compared to the one she actually employed in battle, it was unimpressive to say the least.

  Which was what made Jae-sung’s reaction, a reflexive jerk away and a release of Macedda Locusts firmly clumped around his body, so unexpected.

  “… you’re terrified of everything. You thought you were untouchable but realized you’re as killable as anyone else. Some weakling completely crippled you, and you think you can boss me around?”

  The scarred blonde turned around without any hesitation, as if the possibility of Jae-sung attacking her from behind was not even a relevant concern, then spoke with total calm.

  “Of course, you’re free to try if you want to stop me. I’ll give you five seconds, so come on. Prove me wrong, if you dare.”

  … How frustratingly sly.

  Not only was Valentina confident in her ability to win against the three of them, between Irina lacking the usual preparations that made her strong, Jae-sung’s very fresh trauma, and knowing Alain’s limitations very well. She was even more confident in her value to the group, her unique abilities serving as insurance that they could not simply leave her behind.

  Maybe the other two would be more reluctant to admit it, but Alain knew that without either of Valentina or Javier, they would be quickly absorbed by a larger criminal empire. At best.

  However, that also meant…

  “Whatever. You asked for it.”

  … that there was one person who could present a real issue to her.

  Valentina turned to Javier for the first time, and her expression was completely different from before. Not out of wariness, but aggression instead.

  “Look, it’s not like I’m going to raise every alarm on the way and take on the whole Knight Corps. I’m going after one guy here, while he and a bunch of others already have one foot in the grave. We’ve done shit like this a bunch of times and—”

  “I don’t care about the danger. If I had to say, I think you have a good chance all things considered. It’s just the guy you’re after that’s an issue.”

  “What?”

  Irina was the first to react with confusion to Javier’s explanation, but she was far from the only one to be surprised. Jae-sung and Valentina herself seemed completely baffled by Javier’s answer, the latter in particular…

  “You fucking think I’ll lose to this guy again, even at my best!?”

  … being completely enraged by the implications of their disagreement.

  “No, but that doesn’t matter. I have a pending debt to Nemesis, so I won’t let you attack him this one time.”

  However, Javier’s reasoning could not have been more different from what they had imagined. As for whether that was less or more infuriating for Valentina…

  “… Is this what it’s all about? You feel indebted to an enemy!?”

  … Javier had only achieved the latter. And yet, he seemed largely indifferent to a reaction that had caused both Jae-sung and Irina to step back instinctively. His gaze showed no concern for what was in front of him, for all of it lay somewhere else.

  “Even if he’s an enemy, Nemesis is the reason I’m still here. As long as he’s still injured, he’s off-limits.”

  “Fucking loser acting all high and mighty… You know what? I don’t give a shit. I’ll go put this ‘Nemesis’ under, and you can just fuck right off if you w—”

  It did not take even a second for the scene before Alain and the others to change completely.

  One moment, Valentina had turned around to head out of the warehouse, intent on revenge against her hated enemy. By the next, her feet had left the ground, flailing about violently as Javier held her high off the floor by the neck.

  “I’ll say it one last time. A debt is always repaid, no matter the person. Interfere and you’re dead.”

  “G-Grrhkh…!”

  A dry, yet strident noise was heard next, vaguely resembling an eggshell cracking. An enormous mass impacted Javier’s arm as he tried to block it, forcing him to step back and release Valentina from his grip.

  Her tail now at its proper size again, the residual strength alone of its swing cracked the concrete floor in every direction upon hitting it, sending shards flying with enough strength to scrape the walls.

  More purple crystals soon grew on the most damaged areas, gradually forming his usual grotesque claw while Valentina’s stinger dripped more and more venom.

  No more words were needed. Years after the first time, the demon that could adapt to everything would clash with the venom that would eat through anything. A battle of assured disaster, regardless of the eventual outcome.

  If left to their own devices, Javier would continue to adapt to Valentina’s ever-evolving venom, until they both grew too powerful to remain unnoticed in this small city. Then, it would be the end for all of them.

  But indeed, this was not the first time they had fought. And it was due to that time, an incident not too long before the name ‘Violet Thorn’ was first spoken, that Alain knew precisely what to do.

  Once again, the moment a single opening was shown, it would be up to him to decide a victor and the fate of five.