Chapter 74
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"So, you and Jiang Wei, have been taking care of me these past three days?"
In the hospital, peahen section, within one of the luminous door, Naruto occupied a small chair beside the white bed where Ruoxi sat on its edge, dangled her legs.
"Un!" Ruoxi nodded, her complexion had turned for the better.
"Well, how did it go? Have you guys been talking?" Naruto chuckled, he never thought that his incident will be the first meeting of the two beautiful and charming young lady. He did ponder about this issue before, like, how he was going to connect both of them without making things awkward or cold.
After all, both people were his women, of course, he wanted for them to get along to each other.
"Neither good nor bad, but... we didn't talk aside from important matters..." Ruoxi sighed, remembering Jiang Wei indifferent voice, making her felt a bit annoyed and somehow helpless.
She also a cold woman but she tried her best to act sociable.
Naruto smiled, he laughed a bit, "Give it a time, the more you interact with each other, the more that tense thread between you will soften."
Ruoxi snorted, "It's your fault! If you not so kindly had accepted many women, this situation wouldn't occur between the two of us!" She bitterly glanced at her own thighs, "I prefer talking with Mingyu instead with her..."
His eyebrows jumped, with a shock on his face, Naruto said: "You already talk with Mingyu?!"
Ruoxi glimpsed at him before throwing her face to the other way, "Hump! Of course, I did!"
Naruto had fallen unconscious from the last three days, such an event if not squeaked any news will be scored as bad behavior in Yu Lei's record, Mo Qianni didn't know Naruto's involvement with Emerald Quaza's incident thus she would think that Naruto just skipping his works, Mingyu in the other hand, suffered from anxiety of waiting for Naruto's reply. Her previous relationship had caused her a trauma thus unable to remain calm after not receiving any information even only for a few hours.
Ruoxi, of course, didn't know about this, when she contacted Mingyu through Naruto's phone, her ear was brutalized by hundreds of question with concerned and worried tone, as if Naruto had been missing for a couple of weeks. She did find this cute and felt pity for the woman, it became more adorable when she spoke and told Mingyu that she's Naruto's wife, it turned quiet for a while before awkward apologize and unclear explanations flew from the other side of the line.
Ruoxi couldn't help but giggled with this but chose not to worry Mingyu by saying she's fine with Naruto having a relationship with her, she wasn't really clear what drives the foundation of their relationship but she knew it isn't just an attraction between the gender.
"Wait, why you did not directly contact Chief Mo, instead have to ask Mingyu?" Naruto wrinkled his eyebrows.
"What? You don't want me contacting your other girlfriend?" Ruoxi curled her lips.
"I don't have a problem with that, in fact, I quite anticipate that moment, after all, maybe... if you all get along, I might have reward myself a big pleasant surprise..." Naruto glanced upward, his face looked dreamy with a slight droopy light on his eyes.
Ruoxi wrinkled her forehead, "What reward you're talking about?"
"Not worth to mention now, just forget it, anyway, back to my question, why you did not directly call Chief Mo?" Naruto abruptly dispersed his imagination and restored his usual smile while facing her.
"That would be impossible since Qianni could know it was me through my voice unless I used a voice changer..." Ruoxi shook her head.
"You both are that close that she instantly knew it was you even though you used a different phone?"
"That... and she has synesthesia!" Ruoxi nodded.
"What?" Naruto startled, his voice unable to conceal the genuine surprise, "you mean she has the ability to perceive one sense with her another sense?"
People who have synesthesia, or as they called, synesthetes, capable to see a sound, taste a word, and smell a color. These unique ability applied to this people since they were born and strongly suggested it's hereditary. Each synesthete experienced the form in a different way, for example; A might see 4 as red, but B instead saw 4 as blue.
"Mhmm, Qianni could picture someone's figure through their voice, even when she never see the figure in person, of course, unless she already met the figure, her description doesn't really match but most of the time, she could perfectly guess one or two of their look."
Ruoxi let out a smile, "She had known me for years, my voice could easily generate my figure for her eyes to see."
"That's amazing..." Naruto sighed, it's not every day you could learn something like this, his eyes set back to Ruoxi, "what did you tell Mingyu about my condition?"
"Half the truth!" Ruoxi chuckled, "I say you had been involved with an accident thus need a bed rest for a few days..."
"Well, I guess that's the best plausible reason you could come up with as an excuse for me not coming into the office..." Naruto scratched his cheek.
"Are you saying my idea was stupid?" Ruoxi twitched her lips as she threw a pair of glaring eyes toward the blonde.
"Not stupid per se, you certainly can think something better such as I was kidnapped, or my adopted family was dying overseas, like my dog or something..." Naruto moved around his forefinger.
"Why the hell did you even think those as an excuse?!" Ruoxi's face masked with ridiculous expression.
Kidnapped? Your dog was dying?
Might as well say an alien abducted you or a giant serpent swallowed you whole!
"Well, if you told her I was kidnapped, that might create a sense of worry for her but she knew my capability to a certain extent thus she, perhaps, will think I was busy getting away from my kidnapper and didn't have a chance to text her back, in the meantime, they wouldn't have the thought to check on me in my home since I'm not there anyway.
As for my dying dog, it was a sad and heartbroken moment, but isn't comparable to the loss of human family member, thus while I have an urge to see my dog last moment, the people in Yu Lei wouldn't worry so much since they mostly, found it ridiculous and won't send me thousand of condolence card."
Naruto finished talking with nose turned a bit higher, "Ahem, how is it?"
Ruoxi stared at him with deadpanned expression, "Unbelievably stupid and entirely unreasonable."
"Hey, it filled with unique feature and comedic purpose!"
"Unique and comedic as it is but it's so dumb that only the dumbest person in the entire dumb population will believe such a dumb reason!"
"It still better than your generic excuse!"
"Yeah?! Mine is generic because it's the truth and no loophole whatsoever?! Great!"
"No loophole? Alright, humor me with this, what if they decided to visit me while I'm still not sober, hmm? What would you say to them?! Would you just reject their visit? Or you just going to shut down my phone and ignored their notification?!"
"I'm going to say you have biohazard situation, there, you satisfied?!"
"Bioha- Did you even hear yourself? I'm having an accident and suddenly in a biohazard situation?!"
"Yes! You got slipped by banana while crossing over a street and a truck full of a chemical container have to stop abruptly to avoid run you down, it accidentally broke loose all the chemical containers and flood you with its liquid!"
"OK, it sounds terrible now, I guess the generic and simple 'I have an accident is enough...'."
"Thank you!"
"Well, of course, it will much better if you could come up with a better excuse..."
"Oh for meatball sake, are you going to bugger me with this for an eternity?!"
"..."
The sounds of their words, fighting each other in the room, tackled the surrounding peaceful environment, even people who passed the hallway glanced at the room's wall with a confused look and frightening appearance.
What kind of psycho resting up in that room?
A beautiful woman with seductive appearance strolled from the elevator and wrinkled her eyebrows as soon as she heard the commotion hailed from that bit portion space of this entire section.
She leisurely twisted the knob and pushed the door open, witnessing two humans, male and female, heatedly argued each other, the female even had her face turned red from the excessive talk and her chest heaved in a strong rhythm.
At first, the woman thought they have some serious conflict, but after hearing it for a while longer, she just shook her head at the nonsense topic that became the theme of their rambling.
"My idea was clearly much better, it's detailed and undoubtedly no hole!"
"No hole?! Fine, explain to me how can I grab a hold of your phone if you were kidnapped or your dog is dying!"
"I could have been kidnapped in front of my doorsteps and you found my phone on the ground! As for my dying dog, I was so overwhelmed with sadness that I accidentally left it behind!"
"Well, that- Hey it actually makes sense..."
"See, no hole!"
"It's still dumb no matter how I see it!"
The woman stared at them with half-lidded eyes, they're so focused in their fierce exchanged words that they failed to recognize a third party had arrived. She closed the door and cleared her throat, "Ahem, I get it that you guys are missing each other, but please, this a hospital, not a marketplace, tone down a bit..."
Ruoxi startled after hearing another woman's voice, she glanced toward the door and caught a beautiful woman wearing a cream cotton sweater with a pair of jute leggings.
She put on a light makeup and her hair combed into a bun.
Her carefree appearance enough to make anyone felt comfortable to come up and said hello to her.
Ruoxi immediately jumped down from the bed and put on an alarmed face, "I am sorry Ms. Ruyan, I didn't mean to cause a commotion!"
On the other hand, Naruto just shrugged, he rose from his chair, walked beside Ruoxi before placed his hand atop her head and lightly rubbed it, "Yeah, Ms. Liu, sorry for her behavior, I already told her not to speak so loud..."
"Wha- How can you put all the blame into me?!" Ruoxi snapped her face toward him and clenched her teeth.
"Tsk, tsk, Ruoxi... just admit it, or we can go for another round of an unpleasant and ear-crushing confrontation..."
Ruoxi clenched her hands before she threw her face away from him with a snort, "Humph! Fine, you win this time!"
Naruto grinned brightly before ruffled her hair, "That's my girl!"
Liu Ruyan watched how Ruoxi's cheek turned red at his declaration, despite the hate behavior she displayed but Liu Ruyan knew Ruoxi actually felt joy of their interaction, pointless argument might prove to be a waste of time but sometimes it good for another purpose, in this case, it had shown how close the relationship between two parties.
Unknowingly to her, a small flame of jealousy ignited within her guts.
Liu Ruyan waved her hands, indicating she's fine, she focused her honey-colored iris toward Naruto, "I see that you already in healthy condition, how long have you been sober?"
"A few hours ago," Naruto nodded, in truth, he just awake a couple minutes prior to Ruoxi's recovery from her slumber, he told lies because he didn't want to freak out both woman since someone who incapacitated for days would normally have a weak body for hours before they could restore their previous condition.
Ruoxi wrinkled her eyebrows, she might fall asleep but not by an accident, she knew what time albeit not precise when she started feeling drowsy before decided to lay her head on the bed. It's an hour from the current time and yet Naruto said he has left the bed for many hours.
Ruoxi guessed he's not telling the truth for a reason thus she chose to remain silent.
"That's fortunate," Liu Ruyan nodded with a faint smile, "it's strange to see a vigorous man like you laid in bed for days without a proper explanation."
Naruto sighed, "Yeah, the last fight took quite a deal of me, my opponent was strong..."
It's not the wound that Greed inflicted on him that forced him to deep in the unconscious, it's the heavy burden on his mind to persist the existence of the four clones that suffered from maintaining the barrier formation.
Not to mention his diminishing chakra that kept plummeting toward its limit.
Liu Ruyan shivered a bit, "I heard what happen from Uncle Fu, he said it was indeed a fierce battle, he didn't even sure if he the one who fought, he'll still be alive now..."
Naruto curled his lips, "I am sure Mr. Liu is exaggerating, I bet he could fight better than me..."
"Oh, don't lowering yourself like that, Uncle Fu already praise your combat prowess entirely higher than him, accept the compliment!" Liu Ruyan chuckled.
Naruto let out a mouthful of air, "Fine." He glanced at Ruoxi and shook his hand that stayed atop her head, "You hear that? I am an awesome fighter."
"Humph, don't think yourself to high, I heard there is a more skillful martial artist out there ready to beat you black and blue!" Ruoxi sneered.
Naruto waved his head, "Ms. Liu do you see this? My own woman didn't even believe her own man's combat capability."
"I didn't say I am not trusting your prowess, I just refuse to lower the bar in case you easily raise your nose in the air," Ruoxi leered at him, she blinked her eyes innocently.
"Sure, whatever you say," Naruto shrugged and playfully messed her hair.
"Take your dirty claw away from me, I'm not a dog you could pat every day," Ruoxi brought up her hands and tore Naruto's hands from her head.
"I'll buy you meatballs once a week."
"OK, you allowed to pat me~"
Liu Ruyan looked at the weird couple's strange interaction and made her felt funny inside. But they seemed to enjoy it thus she tagged along with a smile and sincere gaze.
Naruto faced the auburn-haired woman across the room, he smiled temperately, "Ms. Liu, I thank you for the things you did for me, Ruoxi told me all about it."
"You are welcome, but it's my obligation to give you the best treatment available in cherish of the deed you had done."
Naruto shook his head, "I am just doing what I can..."
"And that saves a lot of life, for that you have my gratitude," Liu Ruyan lightly bowed her body.
Ruoxi widened her eyes at the unusual behavior she saw this time, a CEO of billions worth company actually lowered her head in front of a regular salary employee!
To Ruoxi, the images she held for these powerful people, more specifically the one that still young and prime, tended to place their heads high in front of the other. They walked with chest pushed out and pranced feet as if they were child blessed by heaven. One insult they received and by the next morning, the perpetrator went missing. Thousand help they gained, unless the one who helps was famous, no single appreciation they would convey as if it was a pain.
Regarding Naruto's unique blood, Senior Fu had made it clear that no one else should know about it except for the doctors, Jiang Wei, and herself. He even dared to keep this out from the young lady he swore to protect since forever.
Unless Liu Ruyan possessed an incredible humble character, or she knew something about Naruto that made her treating him as an important person.
The blonde man didn't know what the goddess-like beauty beside him currently thinking, he waved his hand and released Liu Ruyan from her over-polite gesture.
"Ms. Liu, if this didn't bother you, I wish to be discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home."
"Sure, I'll prepare everything, but..." hesitation marked her face, "can you give a spare time for me to discuss something?"
Both Naruto and Ruoxi's expression remained the same as if they already foresaw the things she ought to say.
"Alright, I give you both a privacy, I'll be waiting outside," Ruoxi raised her right hand and traced Naruto's left cheek while smiling lightly.
When she about to grab her purse, Liu Ruyan stopped her motion and stated her intention, "Actually, I need to talk with both of you..."
This action caught Ruoxi's attention, she faced the woman back with raised eyebrows while Naruto stayed in the same spot with an unchanging expression. He glanced at Ruoxi for a moment before facing Liu Ruyan again, he moved his shoulder briefly then said: "I guess it wouldn't be hurt to hear what she has to say, how about it?"
Ruoxi set her eyes upward to the ceiling for quite sometimes before she set them down and nodded her head.
Liu Ruyan lashed out her smile, inhaling a breath before started telling them the things she wanted to discuss.
(***)
The night chilled, where the lights might have been killed.
Restful hours tingled with an unprecedented rush.
Beyond the veil of space and place, tunnel struck guidance to the end.
Five people dashed within the narrow alley, leaving the dust for the path they rally. Hush and puff spoiled the air, dispersing the cold that yet to flare.
"Arcane Blast!"
A man threw his hand backward, conjuring a purple diagram before the tip of his fingers, a purple energy as large as a grown man's torso sprang out and headed toward the direction the man intended to.
*Bang!*
An average scale of an explosion blew the small confinement of the area, trashing the old and dirty dweller into the vortex of messiness.
The companion of the man failed to lag behind, they followed the man's action and summoned a lot of red, blue, and yellow diagram which spawned a corresponding energy to bombard the small path behind them.
They turned to their right, passing a glittering neon that blinked a mysterious ambiance.
Under the glare of a gigantic clock, stretching high towering above other construction, this people exited the alley and mingled in the public's pavement. Their suspicious garbs swept upon the concrete ground as they strolled toward a bar and entered altogether.
An ale was a trademark that became a soundtrack of this specific location's theme. A lousy voice from someone's big mouth unravels the bitterness of solitude inside the desolate wooden space. One two good dresses lady scampered in the labyrinth of tables, carrying the brownish palate with golden liquid's container on top of it.
The five people with their azure cloak approached the thick mustache bartender, swooping the ground as they placed their bottom on the greenish stool.
"What can I do for you lots?" The mustache bartender said while wiping the glass with a cloth.
"Five White Curtain!" The man on the leftmost spoke up, a tad whispers shoosh among the place.
"Five of ya?" The bartender oceanic iris swept the shady cloaked group.
"Aye," the man nodded.
The bartender paused a while before said out loud, "Cheryl, kindly fish me the papers, love?"
One of the women who chatted with four customers glanced toward the bar place, she faced them back with apologetic manner then left in a rush. She pushed open the door beside the bar and hopped in.
"What demon you lots pissed off?" the bartender raised his eyebrows, the wrinkled on his face foiled akin to a paper.
"Scary one hell of the gal..." One of them sighed, there was naked shiver shaking that tone.
"Fucking killed three of my men, one of them still a lass," the leftmost man said with a bitter tone, "didn't even see her coming, one second we joke like a madman in the next second their bloody head had fallen off!"
"Ah, that's terrible, don't worry, you lots come into the right place, we got your back..." the bartender nodded, then he glanced at the door that the woman previously entered, "Cheryl! What's holding you, love?!"
Five seconds of no response, the bartender twitched his lips, he left his position and strode away while mumbling curses.
The cloaked group exchanged stares. After for quite some time the bartender didn't show up, they started to feel nervous, in the brink of time prepared to leave, the lights in this place suddenly blacked out!
"What the fuck?!"
"Flippin' going on?!"
"The match is about to end!"
Dozens of yells and insults filled the dim atmosphere while the servers tried to calm them down, the dread of lacking one vision infected the group as they, with a swift motion, headed toward the exit in a line.
Rush steps stormed down the ground, high urgency struck their minds.
*Shuaa*
The person closest to the double leaf door abruptly halted his step, making the entire ducks behind him froze their sole and stabbed deep their position. One hand slowly raised, pointed finger shook like the day would meet the end.
"She... she's here..."
Amidst the loud roar of the crowd, in the middle of dusky brightness, a figure appeared, standing right before them with a pair of red iris resembling a blood staring them down.
It's full of power, and a thirst for the whatever its master craving for.
The group grew terror inside their little heart, and its escalate high and fast.
"Shock Wave!"
A brown diagram instantly conjured on the person closest to the figure and colorless power flew from inside.
*Shuaa*
*Bam!*
A huge sound crashed on the targeted area, leaving a crack on the surface of the wall as the cloak they wore flapped in a strong wave. The crowd inside the room turned quiet, they directed the vision toward the entrance and gazed upon the group with great curiosity.
Supposed the group became calmer in the result of the spell that being cast, but their face devoid from any redness instead.
In the spot, where they expected the figure received the impact and now in a bad condition, the hope doomed to extinguish since the target no longer stood there, no red eyes could be seen anywhere in their previous vicinity.
*Thud!*
The people including the four personnel of the group suddenly heard a dull sound peeped in the room as if something had fallen without restraint. Iron like smell quickly lingered in the air, drifted toward anyone nose and made them cringed in the second. The fourth person within the line felt a splat of warm liquid on his hand, he brought it up and touched it before the iron smell swarmed the gate. His expression became dulled for a while then turned his black boots around to inspect the occurrence that just happen behind him.
It's was vague, but he could see a body, laid on the ground, while unclearable water pooled underneath it.
Body and pool of water.
It didn't take a genius to realize what sequence just happen for the person to let out a horrendous scream like a chicken met its predator.
With a startled motion, another person in the group raised up his hand and aimed to the ceiling, "Lusterious Halo!"
A sparkle white diagram summoned and buzzed out a ring made of lights toward its destination. It hovered in the air and restored the visibility of everyone within the bar. But soon a series of gasps and screams surged one by one, beating down on the atmosphere.
Within their eyes, the last person in the line of the group had been found laying on the top of blood with lifeless face and powerless sign. The group unavoidably jumped back in fright even one of them stumbled as his hips started giving out their strength. They didn't know what just happen and how possibly the cause of their leader's death.
"No need to be confused..."
A voice rang out, melodiously wandered from one tunnel of ears into another, without any hint of fear and dividend. The people waved their head, trying to find the one who responsible for that relaxed tune.
"Where are you guys looking, I am here..."
They halted and glanced together in the same direction which was the table at the most right corner of the place, the one that positioned right beside the window.
A woman with jet black fringe hair sat upon one of the chairs, her bang closed to cover her left eyes that apparently now, shut tight while she's enjoying a sip of a drink from the oaken glass. She wore a turtleneck knit dress that illustrates the curvaceous surface she possessed. Her medium skin tone spored out a sexiness that flushed up a warm feeling inside someone's guts.
While the mood to walk closer and greeted upon such a feverish lady flamed on, the audience just stared at her in silence, what caged their intention and chained their ankle was probably a long black handle katana that leaned against her table, it's currently on its sheat but they couldn't help but felt something gripped tight their inner part as they laid their eyes on it.
"You killed him!" One of the group roared, he strode toward the front of the bar place, swaying out his cloak, revealing a man in his twenty with light stubble, black leather jacket yellow colored strip and blue denim pants.
"Stephen, no!" his comrade tried to stop him, but the man who named Stephen already raised his arm while his hand holding a wand as long as twice his own hand.
"Fire Bolt!"
"Bang!"
Half part of the dining place was ablaze with the combustion of fire, killing several customers who didn't even know what just happened. A mage could conjure a spell with their own tip of fingers but if they held up a wand in their hand, the technique they cast would increase several effectiveness in their potency. Of course, this was not just applied to a wand, but also magic swords, staff, talisman, ring, and etc.
Every wizards and fighter knew the dangers of using a magical item to power up one spell since they couldn't comprehend the magnitude of the one they cast, the magical item had their own range of boost up and neither a normal wizard nor fighter capable to estimate how high they would raise one magic power.
People who spared from the blasted range of Stephen's spell watched how the event unfolded with dropped jaw and sickening eyes, they couldn't believe this group of people willing to sacrifice bystander in order to kill one person.
They stood up from their chair and took out various handguns, from Colt M19 to Enfield MK, all aimed toward Stephen while their fingers readied on the trigger.
Seeing the situation made by her friend, one of the group pulled down the cloak on her head and revealed a blonde woman with short frizzy hair, she strode in front of Stephen and raised her both hands to the air, "Good sir, please be appease, we don't want this to be happening, my friend was in the fit of anger and in unpurpose unleashed it on your people, we would pay for the loss you experience!"
A middle-aged man separated from the crowd, his hand gripped a Colt M19 and his eyes dangerously stared at the fair skin lady, "Bugger off woman, this has nothing to do with our loss, when one of us is killed, it's our obligation to seek revenge to whoever did it, your friend here dare to put on such an act, sure he knows what will befall him!"
"Please good sir, is there any way to redeem my friend's blunder?"
"I am afraid not, an eye for an eye, that is our creed, now you fuck off before I blasted a hole in your fucking head too!"
The blonde hair lady sighed, she glanced on the rest of her group and Stephen who was in her back, then she faced the middle-aged man back, "Then so be it!"
In a swift movement, the blonde lady fished out her own wand from her sleeve and pointed it to the middle-aged man, "Miasma Blast!"
*Puff!*
A dark greenish diagram appeared and shoot out a corresponding light toward the middle-aged man chest, he got pushed back and hit a desk behind him, broke it in the processes. The rest of them except the group stunned by the sudden act of the blonde lady, without much further thought, they strengthened their intention and readied to pull the trigger.
"Aaarghh!"
Before they even managed to squeeze out one bullet, another ear-piercing sound pushed through their sense, eyes moved around and searched the suspect, they startled upon seeing one of them swarmed by a greenish ghastly smoke, it entered every hole they had and showed off a frightening effect.
The person who got struck by it, his face expressed a horror, with eyes glared in red and mouth wide opened to their limit, their skin became rotten as it turned green and had the epitome of decaying.
What's more terrifying was, the ghastly smoke didn't just attack one person at the time, it duplicates in the air and assaults all of them all at once, every men and women, guns or not, all swarmed by the smoke and killed in a disgusting way.
Scream and beg for mercy held no meaning for the group as they watched how people decimated by the strange force, the blonde woman sighed, she took back her wand and glanced at Stephen with a pair of indifferent eyes, "Are you out of your bloody mind?"
"It's the sacrifice that I am willing to take so long I get into that bint!" Stephen didn't back down again the blonde woman's deathly visage.
"And do you see her bloody corpse anywhere? She evades Roger's last attack, what stops her from doing the same?"
The fire already wound up, there were indeed several charred corpses laid down on the ground but that feverish woman's last position only yield ashes and dust.
"Claudia, that is enough," a man's voice called out to her from the side, "we need to escape now, before cops coming here."
"You pull that kind of action again, I bloody swear to feed you to my plant..." The woman called Claudia gritted her teeth before snapped her face away from Stephen. She walked toward the direction of the group with distress appearance.
Stephen let out a mouthful of breath, with a little tense eyebrow, he turned his body the side and followed Claudia footsteps.
*Puchi!*
As his feet stepped on the plank underneath, a long object passed through his left chest, its cold surface drenched with his warm blood and together mixed in a deathly requiem.
"A...ah..."
From his back, the feverish woman appeared with both hand raised, gripping a black handle that belongs to a considerable sharp katana, the woman red iris leered at Stephen without slightest empathy in them.
"Stephen!!!" Both person in the group facing the direction of Claudia and the recent stabbed man, thus they naturally noticed his predicament. Claudia jumped in surprise at her comrades' behavior and swiftly turned around while fished out her wand.
*Puchi!*
Not in a second she finished her movement, she saw a blurry figure flashed out before her eyes then... her sight wandered around, completely oblivious toward the event that happened to her, Claudia's head hovered in the air, witnessing without consciousness, that the woman already arrived and she slightly bent her body in front of Claudia's former body, the woman held her katana in her right hand.
"Nooo!!!"
"Bastard!!!"
The other two left brimming with anger and unwillingness, they took out their own wands and prepared to smite this hateful bitch into ruin along with this place, but...
*Puchi!*
*Puchi!*
The woman vanished from her spot and appeared between the men, swiping her blade over the man's neck on her right, completely detached the crown from the throne, then in a quick motion, she proceeded to stab the man on her left, deep strike into his torso.
The man stunned by the recent blow, he fell into his knees and stared at the blade with unbelievable expression, he glanced at the feverish woman while blood spews from his mouth, "W-why?"
She leered, while remained in her position, she said: "Because I have an order, and the price on your heads enough to feed me a whole month!"
"Bollocks!" He spat, darkness started looming his consciousness, he bitterly stared her down, "Could you... tell the name... of a person... that placed the bounty?"
The woman tilted her head and set her eyes upward, her beautiful feature blossomed in the guise of cruelness, "Oh, I suppose I could..."
"Hah... hah... thank you..."
The woman pulled out her katana, she turned it around and sheathed its edge. She walked toward the door with light steps, her brown shoes tiptoed, her graceful bearing swayed in the air, she halted right before the door and turned her face to look at the man beyond her right shoulder, his figure reflected on her red iris, "Mr. Pendragon says hello."
*Thud.*
The man finally touched the ground with his forehead before the rest of his body fell into the side.
The feverish woman pushed open the door and walked outside, her eyes enjoyed the nighty time of romance this area offered, the triplet lamp mimicking the old style lanterns from medieval age, the coldy mist that danced in the atmosphere, and surrounding building that depicted the imperial theme.
Her visible breath coughed out, despite the simple attire she put, her body remained steady under the freezy wind that brushed against her skin.
*Bzzzt Bzzzt*
Traversing down the pavement, her phone tickled her waist, she fished it out and glued it to her ear, "Yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just finish the task."
"Hmm, don't know if I am going straight home, probably hang out for a while, that new beef restaurant quite attractive."
She curled her lips, there was careless appearance painted on her face, but soon her relaxed tone change as she wrinkled her eyebrows, "Hawke team went missing?"
"Martial Artist Alliance involvement?"
She waved her head, shrugging her shoulder, "They probably already dead, not worth further attention. I prefer to stay clear from a nation special defense."
Arriving at the crossroad, the woman halted her steps, leaning her back on the traffic lamp, her face turned serious, "Really? A distress signal? From the rabbit girl?"
"Can someone else go instead? How about Jack?" The woman twitched her eyes, she finally let out a sigh, "alright, since there is no other option, I handle it, but I demand double in payment."
She rolled her eyes, "Don't you try talking me through this, you know how I feel about going there."
Her expression lagged for a while before she finally responded, "Good, you better keep your end." She took down the phone and put it inside her pocket. She inhaled a large mouthful air before sweeping her eyes toward the sky, there was complicated emotion reflected on that red eyes; renouncement, bitter, hatred, and a sliced piece of sorrow.
Cars droved on the road, one by one, passing through her figure without any chance of sped down.
First car, second car.
*Shuaa!*
And just like that, her figure disappeared from the pavement, leaving nothing but her memorable fiery aura, lingered in the air akin to a permanent ink on the blank clear whiteboard.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
"So, you and Jiang Wei, have been taking care of me these past three days?"
In the hospital, peahen section, within one of the luminous door, Naruto occupied a small chair beside the white bed where Ruoxi sat on its edge, dangled her legs.
"Un!" Ruoxi nodded, her complexion had turned for the better.
"Well, how did it go? Have you guys been talking?" Naruto chuckled, he never thought that his incident will be the first meeting of the two beautiful and charming young lady. He did ponder about this issue before, like, how he was going to connect both of them without making things awkward or cold.
After all, both people were his women, of course, he wanted for them to get along to each other.
"Neither good nor bad, but... we didn't talk aside from important matters..." Ruoxi sighed, remembering Jiang Wei indifferent voice, making her felt a bit annoyed and somehow helpless.
She also a cold woman but she tried her best to act sociable.
Naruto smiled, he laughed a bit, "Give it a time, the more you interact with each other, the more that tense thread between you will soften."
Ruoxi snorted, "It's your fault! If you not so kindly had accepted many women, this situation wouldn't occur between the two of us!" She bitterly glanced at her own thighs, "I prefer talking with Mingyu instead with her..."
His eyebrows jumped, with a shock on his face, Naruto said: "You already talk with Mingyu?!"
Ruoxi glimpsed at him before throwing her face to the other way, "Hump! Of course, I did!"
Naruto had fallen unconscious from the last three days, such an event if not squeaked any news will be scored as bad behavior in Yu Lei's record, Mo Qianni didn't know Naruto's involvement with Emerald Quaza's incident thus she would think that Naruto just skipping his works, Mingyu in the other hand, suffered from anxiety of waiting for Naruto's reply. Her previous relationship had caused her a trauma thus unable to remain calm after not receiving any information even only for a few hours.
Ruoxi, of course, didn't know about this, when she contacted Mingyu through Naruto's phone, her ear was brutalized by hundreds of question with concerned and worried tone, as if Naruto had been missing for a couple of weeks. She did find this cute and felt pity for the woman, it became more adorable when she spoke and told Mingyu that she's Naruto's wife, it turned quiet for a while before awkward apologize and unclear explanations flew from the other side of the line.
Ruoxi couldn't help but giggled with this but chose not to worry Mingyu by saying she's fine with Naruto having a relationship with her, she wasn't really clear what drives the foundation of their relationship but she knew it isn't just an attraction between the gender.
"Wait, why you did not directly contact Chief Mo, instead have to ask Mingyu?" Naruto wrinkled his eyebrows.
"What? You don't want me contacting your other girlfriend?" Ruoxi curled her lips.
"I don't have a problem with that, in fact, I quite anticipate that moment, after all, maybe... if you all get along, I might have reward myself a big pleasant surprise..." Naruto glanced upward, his face looked dreamy with a slight droopy light on his eyes.
Ruoxi wrinkled her forehead, "What reward you're talking about?"
"Not worth to mention now, just forget it, anyway, back to my question, why you did not directly call Chief Mo?" Naruto abruptly dispersed his imagination and restored his usual smile while facing her.
"That would be impossible since Qianni could know it was me through my voice unless I used a voice changer..." Ruoxi shook her head.
"You both are that close that she instantly knew it was you even though you used a different phone?"
"That... and she has synesthesia!" Ruoxi nodded.
"What?" Naruto startled, his voice unable to conceal the genuine surprise, "you mean she has the ability to perceive one sense with her another sense?"
People who have synesthesia, or as they called, synesthetes, capable to see a sound, taste a word, and smell a color. These unique ability applied to this people since they were born and strongly suggested it's hereditary. Each synesthete experienced the form in a different way, for example; A might see 4 as red, but B instead saw 4 as blue.
"Mhmm, Qianni could picture someone's figure through their voice, even when she never see the figure in person, of course, unless she already met the figure, her description doesn't really match but most of the time, she could perfectly guess one or two of their look."
Ruoxi let out a smile, "She had known me for years, my voice could easily generate my figure for her eyes to see."
"That's amazing..." Naruto sighed, it's not every day you could learn something like this, his eyes set back to Ruoxi, "what did you tell Mingyu about my condition?"
"Half the truth!" Ruoxi chuckled, "I say you had been involved with an accident thus need a bed rest for a few days..."
"Well, I guess that's the best plausible reason you could come up with as an excuse for me not coming into the office..." Naruto scratched his cheek.
"Are you saying my idea was stupid?" Ruoxi twitched her lips as she threw a pair of glaring eyes toward the blonde.
"Not stupid per se, you certainly can think something better such as I was kidnapped, or my adopted family was dying overseas, like my dog or something..." Naruto moved around his forefinger.
"Why the hell did you even think those as an excuse?!" Ruoxi's face masked with ridiculous expression.
Kidnapped? Your dog was dying?
Might as well say an alien abducted you or a giant serpent swallowed you whole!
"Well, if you told her I was kidnapped, that might create a sense of worry for her but she knew my capability to a certain extent thus she, perhaps, will think I was busy getting away from my kidnapper and didn't have a chance to text her back, in the meantime, they wouldn't have the thought to check on me in my home since I'm not there anyway.
As for my dying dog, it was a sad and heartbroken moment, but isn't comparable to the loss of human family member, thus while I have an urge to see my dog last moment, the people in Yu Lei wouldn't worry so much since they mostly, found it ridiculous and won't send me thousand of condolence card."
Naruto finished talking with nose turned a bit higher, "Ahem, how is it?"
Ruoxi stared at him with deadpanned expression, "Unbelievably stupid and entirely unreasonable."
"Hey, it filled with unique feature and comedic purpose!"
"Unique and comedic as it is but it's so dumb that only the dumbest person in the entire dumb population will believe such a dumb reason!"
"It still better than your generic excuse!"
"Yeah?! Mine is generic because it's the truth and no loophole whatsoever?! Great!"
"No loophole? Alright, humor me with this, what if they decided to visit me while I'm still not sober, hmm? What would you say to them?! Would you just reject their visit? Or you just going to shut down my phone and ignored their notification?!"
"I'm going to say you have biohazard situation, there, you satisfied?!"
"Bioha- Did you even hear yourself? I'm having an accident and suddenly in a biohazard situation?!"
"Yes! You got slipped by banana while crossing over a street and a truck full of a chemical container have to stop abruptly to avoid run you down, it accidentally broke loose all the chemical containers and flood you with its liquid!"
"OK, it sounds terrible now, I guess the generic and simple 'I have an accident is enough...'."
"Thank you!"
"Well, of course, it will much better if you could come up with a better excuse..."
"Oh for meatball sake, are you going to bugger me with this for an eternity?!"
"..."
The sounds of their words, fighting each other in the room, tackled the surrounding peaceful environment, even people who passed the hallway glanced at the room's wall with a confused look and frightening appearance.
What kind of psycho resting up in that room?
A beautiful woman with seductive appearance strolled from the elevator and wrinkled her eyebrows as soon as she heard the commotion hailed from that bit portion space of this entire section.
She leisurely twisted the knob and pushed the door open, witnessing two humans, male and female, heatedly argued each other, the female even had her face turned red from the excessive talk and her chest heaved in a strong rhythm.
At first, the woman thought they have some serious conflict, but after hearing it for a while longer, she just shook her head at the nonsense topic that became the theme of their rambling.
"My idea was clearly much better, it's detailed and undoubtedly no hole!"
"No hole?! Fine, explain to me how can I grab a hold of your phone if you were kidnapped or your dog is dying!"
"I could have been kidnapped in front of my doorsteps and you found my phone on the ground! As for my dying dog, I was so overwhelmed with sadness that I accidentally left it behind!"
"Well, that- Hey it actually makes sense..."
"See, no hole!"
"It's still dumb no matter how I see it!"
The woman stared at them with half-lidded eyes, they're so focused in their fierce exchanged words that they failed to recognize a third party had arrived. She closed the door and cleared her throat, "Ahem, I get it that you guys are missing each other, but please, this a hospital, not a marketplace, tone down a bit..."
Ruoxi startled after hearing another woman's voice, she glanced toward the door and caught a beautiful woman wearing a cream cotton sweater with a pair of jute leggings.
She put on a light makeup and her hair combed into a bun.
Her carefree appearance enough to make anyone felt comfortable to come up and said hello to her.
Ruoxi immediately jumped down from the bed and put on an alarmed face, "I am sorry Ms. Ruyan, I didn't mean to cause a commotion!"
On the other hand, Naruto just shrugged, he rose from his chair, walked beside Ruoxi before placed his hand atop her head and lightly rubbed it, "Yeah, Ms. Liu, sorry for her behavior, I already told her not to speak so loud..."
"Wha- How can you put all the blame into me?!" Ruoxi snapped her face toward him and clenched her teeth.
"Tsk, tsk, Ruoxi... just admit it, or we can go for another round of an unpleasant and ear-crushing confrontation..."
Ruoxi clenched her hands before she threw her face away from him with a snort, "Humph! Fine, you win this time!"
Naruto grinned brightly before ruffled her hair, "That's my girl!"
Liu Ruyan watched how Ruoxi's cheek turned red at his declaration, despite the hate behavior she displayed but Liu Ruyan knew Ruoxi actually felt joy of their interaction, pointless argument might prove to be a waste of time but sometimes it good for another purpose, in this case, it had shown how close the relationship between two parties.
Unknowingly to her, a small flame of jealousy ignited within her guts.
Liu Ruyan waved her hands, indicating she's fine, she focused her honey-colored iris toward Naruto, "I see that you already in healthy condition, how long have you been sober?"
"A few hours ago," Naruto nodded, in truth, he just awake a couple minutes prior to Ruoxi's recovery from her slumber, he told lies because he didn't want to freak out both woman since someone who incapacitated for days would normally have a weak body for hours before they could restore their previous condition.
Ruoxi wrinkled her eyebrows, she might fall asleep but not by an accident, she knew what time albeit not precise when she started feeling drowsy before decided to lay her head on the bed. It's an hour from the current time and yet Naruto said he has left the bed for many hours.
Ruoxi guessed he's not telling the truth for a reason thus she chose to remain silent.
"That's fortunate," Liu Ruyan nodded with a faint smile, "it's strange to see a vigorous man like you laid in bed for days without a proper explanation."
Naruto sighed, "Yeah, the last fight took quite a deal of me, my opponent was strong..."
It's not the wound that Greed inflicted on him that forced him to deep in the unconscious, it's the heavy burden on his mind to persist the existence of the four clones that suffered from maintaining the barrier formation.
Not to mention his diminishing chakra that kept plummeting toward its limit.
Liu Ruyan shivered a bit, "I heard what happen from Uncle Fu, he said it was indeed a fierce battle, he didn't even sure if he the one who fought, he'll still be alive now..."
Naruto curled his lips, "I am sure Mr. Liu is exaggerating, I bet he could fight better than me..."
"Oh, don't lowering yourself like that, Uncle Fu already praise your combat prowess entirely higher than him, accept the compliment!" Liu Ruyan chuckled.
Naruto let out a mouthful of air, "Fine." He glanced at Ruoxi and shook his hand that stayed atop her head, "You hear that? I am an awesome fighter."
"Humph, don't think yourself to high, I heard there is a more skillful martial artist out there ready to beat you black and blue!" Ruoxi sneered.
Naruto waved his head, "Ms. Liu do you see this? My own woman didn't even believe her own man's combat capability."
"I didn't say I am not trusting your prowess, I just refuse to lower the bar in case you easily raise your nose in the air," Ruoxi leered at him, she blinked her eyes innocently.
"Sure, whatever you say," Naruto shrugged and playfully messed her hair.
"Take your dirty claw away from me, I'm not a dog you could pat every day," Ruoxi brought up her hands and tore Naruto's hands from her head.
"I'll buy you meatballs once a week."
"OK, you allowed to pat me~"
Liu Ruyan looked at the weird couple's strange interaction and made her felt funny inside. But they seemed to enjoy it thus she tagged along with a smile and sincere gaze.
Naruto faced the auburn-haired woman across the room, he smiled temperately, "Ms. Liu, I thank you for the things you did for me, Ruoxi told me all about it."
"You are welcome, but it's my obligation to give you the best treatment available in cherish of the deed you had done."
Naruto shook his head, "I am just doing what I can..."
"And that saves a lot of life, for that you have my gratitude," Liu Ruyan lightly bowed her body.
Ruoxi widened her eyes at the unusual behavior she saw this time, a CEO of billions worth company actually lowered her head in front of a regular salary employee!
To Ruoxi, the images she held for these powerful people, more specifically the one that still young and prime, tended to place their heads high in front of the other. They walked with chest pushed out and pranced feet as if they were child blessed by heaven. One insult they received and by the next morning, the perpetrator went missing. Thousand help they gained, unless the one who helps was famous, no single appreciation they would convey as if it was a pain.
Regarding Naruto's unique blood, Senior Fu had made it clear that no one else should know about it except for the doctors, Jiang Wei, and herself. He even dared to keep this out from the young lady he swore to protect since forever.
Unless Liu Ruyan possessed an incredible humble character, or she knew something about Naruto that made her treating him as an important person.
The blonde man didn't know what the goddess-like beauty beside him currently thinking, he waved his hand and released Liu Ruyan from her over-polite gesture.
"Ms. Liu, if this didn't bother you, I wish to be discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home."
"Sure, I'll prepare everything, but..." hesitation marked her face, "can you give a spare time for me to discuss something?"
Both Naruto and Ruoxi's expression remained the same as if they already foresaw the things she ought to say.
"Alright, I give you both a privacy, I'll be waiting outside," Ruoxi raised her right hand and traced Naruto's left cheek while smiling lightly.
When she about to grab her purse, Liu Ruyan stopped her motion and stated her intention, "Actually, I need to talk with both of you..."
This action caught Ruoxi's attention, she faced the woman back with raised eyebrows while Naruto stayed in the same spot with an unchanging expression. He glanced at Ruoxi for a moment before facing Liu Ruyan again, he moved his shoulder briefly then said: "I guess it wouldn't be hurt to hear what she has to say, how about it?"
Ruoxi set her eyes upward to the ceiling for quite sometimes before she set them down and nodded her head.
Liu Ruyan lashed out her smile, inhaling a breath before started telling them the things she wanted to discuss.
(***)
The night chilled, where the lights might have been killed.
Restful hours tingled with an unprecedented rush.
Beyond the veil of space and place, tunnel struck guidance to the end.
Five people dashed within the narrow alley, leaving the dust for the path they rally. Hush and puff spoiled the air, dispersing the cold that yet to flare.
"Arcane Blast!"
A man threw his hand backward, conjuring a purple diagram before the tip of his fingers, a purple energy as large as a grown man's torso sprang out and headed toward the direction the man intended to.
*Bang!*
An average scale of an explosion blew the small confinement of the area, trashing the old and dirty dweller into the vortex of messiness.
The companion of the man failed to lag behind, they followed the man's action and summoned a lot of red, blue, and yellow diagram which spawned a corresponding energy to bombard the small path behind them.
They turned to their right, passing a glittering neon that blinked a mysterious ambiance.
Under the glare of a gigantic clock, stretching high towering above other construction, this people exited the alley and mingled in the public's pavement. Their suspicious garbs swept upon the concrete ground as they strolled toward a bar and entered altogether.
An ale was a trademark that became a soundtrack of this specific location's theme. A lousy voice from someone's big mouth unravels the bitterness of solitude inside the desolate wooden space. One two good dresses lady scampered in the labyrinth of tables, carrying the brownish palate with golden liquid's container on top of it.
The five people with their azure cloak approached the thick mustache bartender, swooping the ground as they placed their bottom on the greenish stool.
"What can I do for you lots?" The mustache bartender said while wiping the glass with a cloth.
"Five White Curtain!" The man on the leftmost spoke up, a tad whispers shoosh among the place.
"Five of ya?" The bartender oceanic iris swept the shady cloaked group.
"Aye," the man nodded.
The bartender paused a while before said out loud, "Cheryl, kindly fish me the papers, love?"
One of the women who chatted with four customers glanced toward the bar place, she faced them back with apologetic manner then left in a rush. She pushed open the door beside the bar and hopped in.
"What demon you lots pissed off?" the bartender raised his eyebrows, the wrinkled on his face foiled akin to a paper.
"Scary one hell of the gal..." One of them sighed, there was naked shiver shaking that tone.
"Fucking killed three of my men, one of them still a lass," the leftmost man said with a bitter tone, "didn't even see her coming, one second we joke like a madman in the next second their bloody head had fallen off!"
"Ah, that's terrible, don't worry, you lots come into the right place, we got your back..." the bartender nodded, then he glanced at the door that the woman previously entered, "Cheryl! What's holding you, love?!"
Five seconds of no response, the bartender twitched his lips, he left his position and strode away while mumbling curses.
The cloaked group exchanged stares. After for quite some time the bartender didn't show up, they started to feel nervous, in the brink of time prepared to leave, the lights in this place suddenly blacked out!
"What the fuck?!"
"Flippin' going on?!"
"The match is about to end!"
Dozens of yells and insults filled the dim atmosphere while the servers tried to calm them down, the dread of lacking one vision infected the group as they, with a swift motion, headed toward the exit in a line.
Rush steps stormed down the ground, high urgency struck their minds.
*Shuaa*
The person closest to the double leaf door abruptly halted his step, making the entire ducks behind him froze their sole and stabbed deep their position. One hand slowly raised, pointed finger shook like the day would meet the end.
"She... she's here..."
Amidst the loud roar of the crowd, in the middle of dusky brightness, a figure appeared, standing right before them with a pair of red iris resembling a blood staring them down.
It's full of power, and a thirst for the whatever its master craving for.
The group grew terror inside their little heart, and its escalate high and fast.
"Shock Wave!"
A brown diagram instantly conjured on the person closest to the figure and colorless power flew from inside.
*Shuaa*
*Bam!*
A huge sound crashed on the targeted area, leaving a crack on the surface of the wall as the cloak they wore flapped in a strong wave. The crowd inside the room turned quiet, they directed the vision toward the entrance and gazed upon the group with great curiosity.
Supposed the group became calmer in the result of the spell that being cast, but their face devoid from any redness instead.
In the spot, where they expected the figure received the impact and now in a bad condition, the hope doomed to extinguish since the target no longer stood there, no red eyes could be seen anywhere in their previous vicinity.
*Thud!*
The people including the four personnel of the group suddenly heard a dull sound peeped in the room as if something had fallen without restraint. Iron like smell quickly lingered in the air, drifted toward anyone nose and made them cringed in the second. The fourth person within the line felt a splat of warm liquid on his hand, he brought it up and touched it before the iron smell swarmed the gate. His expression became dulled for a while then turned his black boots around to inspect the occurrence that just happen behind him.
It's was vague, but he could see a body, laid on the ground, while unclearable water pooled underneath it.
Body and pool of water.
It didn't take a genius to realize what sequence just happen for the person to let out a horrendous scream like a chicken met its predator.
With a startled motion, another person in the group raised up his hand and aimed to the ceiling, "Lusterious Halo!"
A sparkle white diagram summoned and buzzed out a ring made of lights toward its destination. It hovered in the air and restored the visibility of everyone within the bar. But soon a series of gasps and screams surged one by one, beating down on the atmosphere.
Within their eyes, the last person in the line of the group had been found laying on the top of blood with lifeless face and powerless sign. The group unavoidably jumped back in fright even one of them stumbled as his hips started giving out their strength. They didn't know what just happen and how possibly the cause of their leader's death.
"No need to be confused..."
A voice rang out, melodiously wandered from one tunnel of ears into another, without any hint of fear and dividend. The people waved their head, trying to find the one who responsible for that relaxed tune.
"Where are you guys looking, I am here..."
They halted and glanced together in the same direction which was the table at the most right corner of the place, the one that positioned right beside the window.
A woman with jet black fringe hair sat upon one of the chairs, her bang closed to cover her left eyes that apparently now, shut tight while she's enjoying a sip of a drink from the oaken glass. She wore a turtleneck knit dress that illustrates the curvaceous surface she possessed. Her medium skin tone spored out a sexiness that flushed up a warm feeling inside someone's guts.
While the mood to walk closer and greeted upon such a feverish lady flamed on, the audience just stared at her in silence, what caged their intention and chained their ankle was probably a long black handle katana that leaned against her table, it's currently on its sheat but they couldn't help but felt something gripped tight their inner part as they laid their eyes on it.
"You killed him!" One of the group roared, he strode toward the front of the bar place, swaying out his cloak, revealing a man in his twenty with light stubble, black leather jacket yellow colored strip and blue denim pants.
"Stephen, no!" his comrade tried to stop him, but the man who named Stephen already raised his arm while his hand holding a wand as long as twice his own hand.
"Fire Bolt!"
"Bang!"
Half part of the dining place was ablaze with the combustion of fire, killing several customers who didn't even know what just happened. A mage could conjure a spell with their own tip of fingers but if they held up a wand in their hand, the technique they cast would increase several effectiveness in their potency. Of course, this was not just applied to a wand, but also magic swords, staff, talisman, ring, and etc.
Every wizards and fighter knew the dangers of using a magical item to power up one spell since they couldn't comprehend the magnitude of the one they cast, the magical item had their own range of boost up and neither a normal wizard nor fighter capable to estimate how high they would raise one magic power.
People who spared from the blasted range of Stephen's spell watched how the event unfolded with dropped jaw and sickening eyes, they couldn't believe this group of people willing to sacrifice bystander in order to kill one person.
They stood up from their chair and took out various handguns, from Colt M19 to Enfield MK, all aimed toward Stephen while their fingers readied on the trigger.
Seeing the situation made by her friend, one of the group pulled down the cloak on her head and revealed a blonde woman with short frizzy hair, she strode in front of Stephen and raised her both hands to the air, "Good sir, please be appease, we don't want this to be happening, my friend was in the fit of anger and in unpurpose unleashed it on your people, we would pay for the loss you experience!"
A middle-aged man separated from the crowd, his hand gripped a Colt M19 and his eyes dangerously stared at the fair skin lady, "Bugger off woman, this has nothing to do with our loss, when one of us is killed, it's our obligation to seek revenge to whoever did it, your friend here dare to put on such an act, sure he knows what will befall him!"
"Please good sir, is there any way to redeem my friend's blunder?"
"I am afraid not, an eye for an eye, that is our creed, now you fuck off before I blasted a hole in your fucking head too!"
The blonde hair lady sighed, she glanced on the rest of her group and Stephen who was in her back, then she faced the middle-aged man back, "Then so be it!"
In a swift movement, the blonde lady fished out her own wand from her sleeve and pointed it to the middle-aged man, "Miasma Blast!"
*Puff!*
A dark greenish diagram appeared and shoot out a corresponding light toward the middle-aged man chest, he got pushed back and hit a desk behind him, broke it in the processes. The rest of them except the group stunned by the sudden act of the blonde lady, without much further thought, they strengthened their intention and readied to pull the trigger.
"Aaarghh!"
Before they even managed to squeeze out one bullet, another ear-piercing sound pushed through their sense, eyes moved around and searched the suspect, they startled upon seeing one of them swarmed by a greenish ghastly smoke, it entered every hole they had and showed off a frightening effect.
The person who got struck by it, his face expressed a horror, with eyes glared in red and mouth wide opened to their limit, their skin became rotten as it turned green and had the epitome of decaying.
What's more terrifying was, the ghastly smoke didn't just attack one person at the time, it duplicates in the air and assaults all of them all at once, every men and women, guns or not, all swarmed by the smoke and killed in a disgusting way.
Scream and beg for mercy held no meaning for the group as they watched how people decimated by the strange force, the blonde woman sighed, she took back her wand and glanced at Stephen with a pair of indifferent eyes, "Are you out of your bloody mind?"
"It's the sacrifice that I am willing to take so long I get into that bint!" Stephen didn't back down again the blonde woman's deathly visage.
"And do you see her bloody corpse anywhere? She evades Roger's last attack, what stops her from doing the same?"
The fire already wound up, there were indeed several charred corpses laid down on the ground but that feverish woman's last position only yield ashes and dust.
"Claudia, that is enough," a man's voice called out to her from the side, "we need to escape now, before cops coming here."
"You pull that kind of action again, I bloody swear to feed you to my plant..." The woman called Claudia gritted her teeth before snapped her face away from Stephen. She walked toward the direction of the group with distress appearance.
Stephen let out a mouthful of breath, with a little tense eyebrow, he turned his body the side and followed Claudia footsteps.
*Puchi!*
As his feet stepped on the plank underneath, a long object passed through his left chest, its cold surface drenched with his warm blood and together mixed in a deathly requiem.
"A...ah..."
From his back, the feverish woman appeared with both hand raised, gripping a black handle that belongs to a considerable sharp katana, the woman red iris leered at Stephen without slightest empathy in them.
"Stephen!!!" Both person in the group facing the direction of Claudia and the recent stabbed man, thus they naturally noticed his predicament. Claudia jumped in surprise at her comrades' behavior and swiftly turned around while fished out her wand.
*Puchi!*
Not in a second she finished her movement, she saw a blurry figure flashed out before her eyes then... her sight wandered around, completely oblivious toward the event that happened to her, Claudia's head hovered in the air, witnessing without consciousness, that the woman already arrived and she slightly bent her body in front of Claudia's former body, the woman held her katana in her right hand.
"Nooo!!!"
"Bastard!!!"
The other two left brimming with anger and unwillingness, they took out their own wands and prepared to smite this hateful bitch into ruin along with this place, but...
*Puchi!*
*Puchi!*
The woman vanished from her spot and appeared between the men, swiping her blade over the man's neck on her right, completely detached the crown from the throne, then in a quick motion, she proceeded to stab the man on her left, deep strike into his torso.
The man stunned by the recent blow, he fell into his knees and stared at the blade with unbelievable expression, he glanced at the feverish woman while blood spews from his mouth, "W-why?"
She leered, while remained in her position, she said: "Because I have an order, and the price on your heads enough to feed me a whole month!"
"Bollocks!" He spat, darkness started looming his consciousness, he bitterly stared her down, "Could you... tell the name... of a person... that placed the bounty?"
The woman tilted her head and set her eyes upward, her beautiful feature blossomed in the guise of cruelness, "Oh, I suppose I could..."
"Hah... hah... thank you..."
The woman pulled out her katana, she turned it around and sheathed its edge. She walked toward the door with light steps, her brown shoes tiptoed, her graceful bearing swayed in the air, she halted right before the door and turned her face to look at the man beyond her right shoulder, his figure reflected on her red iris, "Mr. Pendragon says hello."
*Thud.*
The man finally touched the ground with his forehead before the rest of his body fell into the side.
The feverish woman pushed open the door and walked outside, her eyes enjoyed the nighty time of romance this area offered, the triplet lamp mimicking the old style lanterns from medieval age, the coldy mist that danced in the atmosphere, and surrounding building that depicted the imperial theme.
Her visible breath coughed out, despite the simple attire she put, her body remained steady under the freezy wind that brushed against her skin.
*Bzzzt Bzzzt*
Traversing down the pavement, her phone tickled her waist, she fished it out and glued it to her ear, "Yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just finish the task."
"Hmm, don't know if I am going straight home, probably hang out for a while, that new beef restaurant quite attractive."
She curled her lips, there was careless appearance painted on her face, but soon her relaxed tone change as she wrinkled her eyebrows, "Hawke team went missing?"
"Martial Artist Alliance involvement?"
She waved her head, shrugging her shoulder, "They probably already dead, not worth further attention. I prefer to stay clear from a nation special defense."
Arriving at the crossroad, the woman halted her steps, leaning her back on the traffic lamp, her face turned serious, "Really? A distress signal? From the rabbit girl?"
"Can someone else go instead? How about Jack?" The woman twitched her eyes, she finally let out a sigh, "alright, since there is no other option, I handle it, but I demand double in payment."
She rolled her eyes, "Don't you try talking me through this, you know how I feel about going there."
Her expression lagged for a while before she finally responded, "Good, you better keep your end." She took down the phone and put it inside her pocket. She inhaled a large mouthful air before sweeping her eyes toward the sky, there was complicated emotion reflected on that red eyes; renouncement, bitter, hatred, and a sliced piece of sorrow.
Cars droved on the road, one by one, passing through her figure without any chance of sped down.
First car, second car.
*Shuaa!*
And just like that, her figure disappeared from the pavement, leaving nothing but her memorable fiery aura, lingered in the air akin to a permanent ink on the blank clear whiteboard.
"So, you and Jiang Wei, have been taking care of me these past three days?"In the hospital, peahen section, within one of the luminous door, Naruto occupied a small chair beside the white bed where Ruoxi sat on its edge, dangled her legs."Un!" Ruoxi nodded, her complexion had turned for the better."Well, how did it go? Have you guys been talking?" Naruto chuckled, he never thought that his incident will be the first meeting of the two beautiful and charming young lady. He did ponder about this issue before, like, how he was going to connect both of them without making things awkward or cold.After all, both people were his women, of course, he wanted for them to get along to each other."Neither good nor bad, but... we didn't talk aside from important matters..." Ruoxi sighed, remembering Jiang Wei indifferent voice, making her felt a bit annoyed and somehow helpless.She also a cold woman but she tried her best to act sociable.Naruto smiled, he laughed a bit, "Give it a time, the more you interact with each other, the more that tense thread between you will soften."Ruoxi snorted, "It's your fault! If you not so kindly had accepted many women, this situation wouldn't occur between the two of us!" She bitterly glanced at her own thighs, "I prefer talking with Mingyu instead with her..."His eyebrows jumped, with a shock on his face, Naruto said: "You already talk with Mingyu?!"Ruoxi glimpsed at him before throwing her face to the other way, "Hump! Of course, I did!"Naruto had fallen unconscious from the last three days, such an event if not squeaked any news will be scored as bad behavior in Yu Lei's record, Mo Qianni didn't know Naruto's involvement with Emerald Quaza's incident thus she would think that Naruto just skipping his works, Mingyu in the other hand, suffered from anxiety of waiting for Naruto's reply. Her previous relationship had caused her a trauma thus unable to remain calm after not receiving any information even only for a few hours.Ruoxi, of course, didn't know about this, when she contacted Mingyu through Naruto's phone, her ear was brutalized by hundreds of question with concerned and worried tone, as if Naruto had been missing for a couple of weeks. She did find this cute and felt pity for the woman, it became more adorable when she spoke and told Mingyu that she's Naruto's wife, it turned quiet for a while before awkward apologize and unclear explanations flew from the other side of the line.Ruoxi couldn't help but giggled with this but chose not to worry Mingyu by saying she's fine with Naruto having a relationship with her, she wasn't really clear what drives the foundation of their relationship but she knew it isn't just an attraction between the gender."Wait, why you did not directly contact Chief Mo, instead have to ask Mingyu?" Naruto wrinkled his eyebrows."What? You don't want me contacting your other girlfriend?" Ruoxi curled her lips."I don't have a problem with that, in fact, I quite anticipate that moment, after all, maybe... if you all get along, I might have reward myself a big pleasant surprise..." Naruto glanced upward, his face looked dreamy with a slight droopy light on his eyes.Ruoxi wrinkled her forehead, "What reward you're talking about?""Not worth to mention now, just forget it, anyway, back to my question, why you did not directly call Chief Mo?" Naruto abruptly dispersed his imagination and restored his usual smile while facing her."That would be impossible since Qianni could know it was me through my voice unless I used a voice changer..." Ruoxi shook her head."You both are that close that she instantly knew it was you even though you used a different phone?""That... and she has synesthesia!" Ruoxi nodded."What?" Naruto startled, his voice unable to conceal the genuine surprise, "you mean she has the ability to perceive one sense with her another sense?"People who have synesthesia, or as they called, synesthetes, capable to see a sound, taste a word, and smell a color. These unique ability applied to this people since they were born and strongly suggested it's hereditary. Each synesthete experienced the form in a different way, for example; A might see 4 as red, but B instead saw 4 as blue."Mhmm, Qianni could picture someone's figure through their voice, even when she never see the figure in person, of course, unless she already met the figure, her description doesn't really match but most of the time, she could perfectly guess one or two of their look."Ruoxi let out a smile, "She had known me for years, my voice could easily generate my figure for her eyes to see.""That's amazing..." Naruto sighed, it's not every day you could learn something like this, his eyes set back to Ruoxi, "what did you tell Mingyu about my condition?""Half the truth!" Ruoxi chuckled, "I say you had been involved with an accident thus need a bed rest for a few days...""Well, I guess that's the best plausible reason you could come up with as an excuse for me not coming into the office..." Naruto scratched his cheek."Are you saying my idea was stupid?" Ruoxi twitched her lips as she threw a pair of glaring eyes toward the blonde."Not stupid per se, you certainly can think something better such as I was kidnapped, or my adopted family was dying overseas, like my dog or something..." Naruto moved around his forefinger."Why the hell did you even think those as an excuse?!" Ruoxi's face masked with ridiculous expression.Kidnapped? Your dog was dying?Might as well say an alien abducted you or a giant serpent swallowed you whole!"Well, if you told her I was kidnapped, that might create a sense of worry for her but she knew my capability to a certain extent thus she, perhaps, will think I was busy getting away from my kidnapper and didn't have a chance to text her back, in the meantime, they wouldn't have the thought to check on me in my home since I'm not there anyway.As for my dying dog, it was a sad and heartbroken moment, but isn't comparable to the loss of human family member, thus while I have an urge to see my dog last moment, the people in Yu Lei wouldn't worry so much since they mostly, found it ridiculous and won't send me thousand of condolence card."Naruto finished talking with nose turned a bit higher, "Ahem, how is it?"Ruoxi stared at him with deadpanned expression, "Unbelievably stupid and entirely unreasonable.""Hey, it filled with unique feature and comedic purpose!""Unique and comedic as it is but it's so dumb that only the dumbest person in the entire dumb population will believe such a dumb reason!""It still better than your generic excuse!""Yeah?! Mine is generic because it's the truth and no loophole whatsoever?! Great!""No loophole? Alright, humor me with this, what if they decided to visit me while I'm still not sober, hmm? What would you say to them?! Would you just reject their visit? Or you just going to shut down my phone and ignored their notification?!""I'm going to say you have biohazard situation, there, you satisfied?!""Bioha- Did you even hear yourself? I'm having an accident and suddenly in a biohazard situation?!""Yes! You got slipped by banana while crossing over a street and a truck full of a chemical container have to stop abruptly to avoid run you down, it accidentally broke loose all the chemical containers and flood you with its liquid!""OK, it sounds terrible now, I guess the generic and simple 'I have an accident is enough...'.""Thank you!""Well, of course, it will much better if you could come up with a better excuse...""Oh for meatball sake, are you going to bugger me with this for an eternity?!""..."The sounds of their words, fighting each other in the room, tackled the surrounding peaceful environment, even people who passed the hallway glanced at the room's wall with a confused look and frightening appearance.What kind of psycho resting up in that room?A beautiful woman with seductive appearance strolled from the elevator and wrinkled her eyebrows as soon as she heard the commotion hailed from that bit portion space of this entire section.She leisurely twisted the knob and pushed the door open, witnessing two humans, male and female, heatedly argued each other, the female even had her face turned red from the excessive talk and her chest heaved in a strong rhythm.At first, the woman thought they have some serious conflict, but after hearing it for a while longer, she just shook her head at the nonsense topic that became the theme of their rambling."My idea was clearly much better, it's detailed and undoubtedly no hole!""No hole?! Fine, explain to me how can I grab a hold of your phone if you were kidnapped or your dog is dying!""I could have been kidnapped in front of my doorsteps and you found my phone on the ground! As for my dying dog, I was so overwhelmed with sadness that I accidentally left it behind!""Well, that- Hey it actually makes sense...""See, no hole!""It's still dumb no matter how I see it!"The woman stared at them with half-lidded eyes, they're so focused in their fierce exchanged words that they failed to recognize a third party had arrived. She closed the door and cleared her throat, "Ahem, I get it that you guys are missing each other, but please, this a hospital, not a marketplace, tone down a bit..."Ruoxi startled after hearing another woman's voice, she glanced toward the door and caught a beautiful woman wearing a cream cotton sweater with a pair of jute leggings.She put on a light makeup and her hair combed into a bun.Her carefree appearance enough to make anyone felt comfortable to come up and said hello to her.Ruoxi immediately jumped down from the bed and put on an alarmed face, "I am sorry Ms. Ruyan, I didn't mean to cause a commotion!"On the other hand, Naruto just shrugged, he rose from his chair, walked beside Ruoxi before placed his hand atop her head and lightly rubbed it, "Yeah, Ms. Liu, sorry for her behavior, I already told her not to speak so loud...""Wha- How can you put all the blame into me?!" Ruoxi snapped her face toward him and clenched her teeth."Tsk, tsk, Ruoxi... just admit it, or we can go for another round of an unpleasant and ear-crushing confrontation..."Ruoxi clenched her hands before she threw her face away from him with a snort, "Humph! Fine, you win this time!"Naruto grinned brightly before ruffled her hair, "That's my girl!"Liu Ruyan watched how Ruoxi's cheek turned red at his declaration, despite the hate behavior she displayed but Liu Ruyan knew Ruoxi actually felt joy of their interaction, pointless argument might prove to be a waste of time but sometimes it good for another purpose, in this case, it had shown how close the relationship between two parties.Unknowingly to her, a small flame of jealousy ignited within her guts.Liu Ruyan waved her hands, indicating she's fine, she focused her honey-colored iris toward Naruto, "I see that you already in healthy condition, how long have you been sober?""A few hours ago," Naruto nodded, in truth, he just awake a couple minutes prior to Ruoxi's recovery from her slumber, he told lies because he didn't want to freak out both woman since someone who incapacitated for days would normally have a weak body for hours before they could restore their previous condition.Ruoxi wrinkled her eyebrows, she might fall asleep but not by an accident, she knew what time albeit not precise when she started feeling drowsy before decided to lay her head on the bed. It's an hour from the current time and yet Naruto said he has left the bed for many hours.Ruoxi guessed he's not telling the truth for a reason thus she chose to remain silent."That's fortunate," Liu Ruyan nodded with a faint smile, "it's strange to see a vigorous man like you laid in bed for days without a proper explanation."Naruto sighed, "Yeah, the last fight took quite a deal of me, my opponent was strong..."It's not the wound that Greed inflicted on him that forced him to deep in the unconscious, it's the heavy burden on his mind to persist the existence of the four clones that suffered from maintaining the barrier formation.Not to mention his diminishing chakra that kept plummeting toward its limit.Liu Ruyan shivered a bit, "I heard what happen from Uncle Fu, he said it was indeed a fierce battle, he didn't even sure if he the one who fought, he'll still be alive now..."Naruto curled his lips, "I am sure Mr. Liu is exaggerating, I bet he could fight better than me...""Oh, don't lowering yourself like that, Uncle Fu already praise your combat prowess entirely higher than him, accept the compliment!" Liu Ruyan chuckled.Naruto let out a mouthful of air, "Fine." He glanced at Ruoxi and shook his hand that stayed atop her head, "You hear that? I am an awesome fighter.""Humph, don't think yourself to high, I heard there is a more skillful martial artist out there ready to beat you black and blue!" Ruoxi sneered.Naruto waved his head, "Ms. Liu do you see this? My own woman didn't even believe her own man's combat capability.""I didn't say I am not trusting your prowess, I just refuse to lower the bar in case you easily raise your nose in the air," Ruoxi leered at him, she blinked her eyes innocently."Sure, whatever you say," Naruto shrugged and playfully messed her hair."Take your dirty claw away from me, I'm not a dog you could pat every day," Ruoxi brought up her hands and tore Naruto's hands from her head."I'll buy you meatballs once a week.""OK, you allowed to pat me~"Liu Ruyan looked at the weird couple's strange interaction and made her felt funny inside. But they seemed to enjoy it thus she tagged along with a smile and sincere gaze.Naruto faced the auburn-haired woman across the room, he smiled temperately, "Ms. Liu, I thank you for the things you did for me, Ruoxi told me all about it.""You are welcome, but it's my obligation to give you the best treatment available in cherish of the deed you had done."Naruto shook his head, "I am just doing what I can...""And that saves a lot of life, for that you have my gratitude," Liu Ruyan lightly bowed her body.Ruoxi widened her eyes at the unusual behavior she saw this time, a CEO of billions worth company actually lowered her head in front of a regular salary employee!To Ruoxi, the images she held for these powerful people, more specifically the one that still young and prime, tended to place their heads high in front of the other. They walked with chest pushed out and pranced feet as if they were child blessed by heaven. One insult they received and by the next morning, the perpetrator went missing. Thousand help they gained, unless the one who helps was famous, no single appreciation they would convey as if it was a pain.Regarding Naruto's unique blood, Senior Fu had made it clear that no one else should know about it except for the doctors, Jiang Wei, and herself. He even dared to keep this out from the young lady he swore to protect since forever.Unless Liu Ruyan possessed an incredible humble character, or she knew something about Naruto that made her treating him as an important person.The blonde man didn't know what the goddess-like beauty beside him currently thinking, he waved his hand and released Liu Ruyan from her over-polite gesture."Ms. Liu, if this didn't bother you, I wish to be discharged from the hospital and allowed to go home.""Sure, I'll prepare everything, but..." hesitation marked her face, "can you give a spare time for me to discuss something?"Both Naruto and Ruoxi's expression remained the same as if they already foresaw the things she ought to say."Alright, I give you both a privacy, I'll be waiting outside," Ruoxi raised her right hand and traced Naruto's left cheek while smiling lightly.When she about to grab her purse, Liu Ruyan stopped her motion and stated her intention, "Actually, I need to talk with both of you..."This action caught Ruoxi's attention, she faced the woman back with raised eyebrows while Naruto stayed in the same spot with an unchanging expression. He glanced at Ruoxi for a moment before facing Liu Ruyan again, he moved his shoulder briefly then said: "I guess it wouldn't be hurt to hear what she has to say, how about it?"Ruoxi set her eyes upward to the ceiling for quite sometimes before she set them down and nodded her head.Liu Ruyan lashed out her smile, inhaling a breath before started telling them the things she wanted to discuss.***The night chilled, where the lights might have been killed.Restful hours tingled with an unprecedented rush.Beyond the veil of space and place, tunnel struck guidance to the end.Five people dashed within the narrow alley, leaving the dust for the path they rally. Hush and puff spoiled the air, dispersing the cold that yet to flare."Arcane Blast!"A man threw his hand backward, conjuring a purple diagram before the tip of his fingers, a purple energy as large as a grown man's torso sprang out and headed toward the direction the man intended to.*Bang!*An average scale of an explosion blew the small confinement of the area, trashing the old and dirty dweller into the vortex of messiness.The companion of the man failed to lag behind, they followed the man's action and summoned a lot of red, blue, and yellow diagram which spawned a corresponding energy to bombard the small path behind them.They turned to their right, passing a glittering neon that blinked a mysterious ambiance.Under the glare of a gigantic clock, stretching high towering above other construction, this people exited the alley and mingled in the public's pavement. Their suspicious garbs swept upon the concrete ground as they strolled toward a bar and entered altogether.An ale was a trademark that became a soundtrack of this specific location's theme. A lousy voice from someone's big mouth unravels the bitterness of solitude inside the desolate wooden space. One two good dresses lady scampered in the labyrinth of tables, carrying the brownish palate with golden liquid's container on top of it.The five people with their azure cloak approached the thick mustache bartender, swooping the ground as they placed their bottom on the greenish stool."What can I do for you lots?" The mustache bartender said while wiping the glass with a cloth."Five White Curtain!" The man on the leftmost spoke up, a tad whispers shoosh among the place."Five of ya?" The bartender oceanic iris swept the shady cloaked group."Aye," the man nodded.The bartender paused a while before said out loud, "Cheryl, kindly fish me the papers, love?"One of the women who chatted with four customers glanced toward the bar place, she faced them back with apologetic manner then left in a rush. She pushed open the door beside the bar and hopped in."What demon you lots pissed off?" the bartender raised his eyebrows, the wrinkled on his face foiled akin to a paper."Scary one hell of the gal..." One of them sighed, there was naked shiver shaking that tone."Fucking killed three of my men, one of them still a lass," the leftmost man said with a bitter tone, "didn't even see her coming, one second we joke like a madman in the next second their bloody head had fallen off!""Ah, that's terrible, don't worry, you lots come into the right place, we got your back..." the bartender nodded, then he glanced at the door that the woman previously entered, "Cheryl! What's holding you, love?!"Five seconds of no response, the bartender twitched his lips, he left his position and strode away while mumbling curses.The cloaked group exchanged stares. After for quite some time the bartender didn't show up, they started to feel nervous, in the brink of time prepared to leave, the lights in this place suddenly blacked out!"What the fuck?!""Flippin' going on?!""The match is about to end!"Dozens of yells and insults filled the dim atmosphere while the servers tried to calm them down, the dread of lacking one vision infected the group as they, with a swift motion, headed toward the exit in a line.Rush steps stormed down the ground, high urgency struck their minds.*Shuaa*The person closest to the double leaf door abruptly halted his step, making the entire ducks behind him froze their sole and stabbed deep their position. One hand slowly raised, pointed finger shook like the day would meet the end."She... she's here..."Amidst the loud roar of the crowd, in the middle of dusky brightness, a figure appeared, standing right before them with a pair of red iris resembling a blood staring them down.It's full of power, and a thirst for the whatever its master craving for.The group grew terror inside their little heart, and its escalate high and fast."Shock Wave!"A brown diagram instantly conjured on the person closest to the figure and colorless power flew from inside.*Shuaa**Bam!*A huge sound crashed on the targeted area, leaving a crack on the surface of the wall as the cloak they wore flapped in a strong wave. The crowd inside the room turned quiet, they directed the vision toward the entrance and gazed upon the group with great curiosity.Supposed the group became calmer in the result of the spell that being cast, but their face devoid from any redness instead.In the spot, where they expected the figure received the impact and now in a bad condition, the hope doomed to extinguish since the target no longer stood there, no red eyes could be seen anywhere in their previous vicinity.*Thud!*The people including the four personnel of the group suddenly heard a dull sound peeped in the room as if something had fallen without restraint. Iron like smell quickly lingered in the air, drifted toward anyone nose and made them cringed in the second. The fourth person within the line felt a splat of warm liquid on his hand, he brought it up and touched it before the iron smell swarmed the gate. His expression became dulled for a while then turned his black boots around to inspect the occurrence that just happen behind him.It's was vague, but he could see a body, laid on the ground, while unclearable water pooled underneath it.Body and pool of water.It didn't take a genius to realize what sequence just happen for the person to let out a horrendous scream like a chicken met its predator.With a startled motion, another person in the group raised up his hand and aimed to the ceiling, "Lusterious Halo!"A sparkle white diagram summoned and buzzed out a ring made of lights toward its destination. It hovered in the air and restored the visibility of everyone within the bar. But soon a series of gasps and screams surged one by one, beating down on the atmosphere.Within their eyes, the last person in the line of the group had been found laying on the top of blood with lifeless face and powerless sign. The group unavoidably jumped back in fright even one of them stumbled as his hips started giving out their strength. They didn't know what just happen and how possibly the cause of their leader's death."No need to be confused..."A voice rang out, melodiously wandered from one tunnel of ears into another, without any hint of fear and dividend. The people waved their head, trying to find the one who responsible for that relaxed tune."Where are you guys looking, I am here..."They halted and glanced together in the same direction which was the table at the most right corner of the place, the one that positioned right beside the window.A woman with jet black fringe hair sat upon one of the chairs, her bang closed to cover her left eyes that apparently now, shut tight while she's enjoying a sip of a drink from the oaken glass. She wore a turtleneck knit dress that illustrates the curvaceous surface she possessed. Her medium skin tone spored out a sexiness that flushed up a warm feeling inside someone's guts.While the mood to walk closer and greeted upon such a feverish lady flamed on, the audience just stared at her in silence, what caged their intention and chained their ankle was probably a long black handle katana that leaned against her table, it's currently on its sheat but they couldn't help but felt something gripped tight their inner part as they laid their eyes on it."You killed him!" One of the group roared, he strode toward the front of the bar place, swaying out his cloak, revealing a man in his twenty with light stubble, black leather jacket yellow colored strip and blue denim pants."Stephen, no!" his comrade tried to stop him, but the man who named Stephen already raised his arm while his hand holding a wand as long as twice his own hand."Fire Bolt!""Bang!"Half part of the dining place was ablaze with the combustion of fire, killing several customers who didn't even know what just happened. A mage could conjure a spell with their own tip of fingers but if they held up a wand in their hand, the technique they cast would increase several effectiveness in their potency. Of course, this was not just applied to a wand, but also magic swords, staff, talisman, ring, and etc.Every wizards and fighter knew the dangers of using a magical item to power up one spell since they couldn't comprehend the magnitude of the one they cast, the magical item had their own range of boost up and neither a normal wizard nor fighter capable to estimate how high they would raise one magic power.People who spared from the blasted range of Stephen's spell watched how the event unfolded with dropped jaw and sickening eyes, they couldn't believe this group of people willing to sacrifice bystander in order to kill one person.They stood up from their chair and took out various handguns, from Colt M19 to Enfield MK, all aimed toward Stephen while their fingers readied on the trigger.Seeing the situation made by her friend, one of the group pulled down the cloak on her head and revealed a blonde woman with short frizzy hair, she strode in front of Stephen and raised her both hands to the air, "Good sir, please be appease, we don't want this to be happening, my friend was in the fit of anger and in unpurpose unleashed it on your people, we would pay for the loss you experience!"A middle-aged man separated from the crowd, his hand gripped a Colt M19 and his eyes dangerously stared at the fair skin lady, "Bugger off woman, this has nothing to do with our loss, when one of us is killed, it's our obligation to seek revenge to whoever did it, your friend here dare to put on such an act, sure he knows what will befall him!""Please good sir, is there any way to redeem my friend's blunder?""I am afraid not, an eye for an eye, that is our creed, now you fuck off before I blasted a hole in your fucking head too!"The blonde hair lady sighed, she glanced on the rest of her group and Stephen who was in her back, then she faced the middle-aged man back, "Then so be it!"In a swift movement, the blonde lady fished out her own wand from her sleeve and pointed it to the middle-aged man, "Miasma Blast!"*Puff!*A dark greenish diagram appeared and shoot out a corresponding light toward the middle-aged man chest, he got pushed back and hit a desk behind him, broke it in the processes. The rest of them except the group stunned by the sudden act of the blonde lady, without much further thought, they strengthened their intention and readied to pull the trigger."Aaarghh!"Before they even managed to squeeze out one bullet, another ear-piercing sound pushed through their sense, eyes moved around and searched the suspect, they startled upon seeing one of them swarmed by a greenish ghastly smoke, it entered every hole they had and showed off a frightening effect.The person who got struck by it, his face expressed a horror, with eyes glared in red and mouth wide opened to their limit, their skin became rotten as it turned green and had the epitome of decaying.What's more terrifying was, the ghastly smoke didn't just attack one person at the time, it duplicates in the air and assaults all of them all at once, every men and women, guns or not, all swarmed by the smoke and killed in a disgusting way.Scream and beg for mercy held no meaning for the group as they watched how people decimated by the strange force, the blonde woman sighed, she took back her wand and glanced at Stephen with a pair of indifferent eyes, "Are you out of your bloody mind?""It's the sacrifice that I am willing to take so long I get into that bint!" Stephen didn't back down again the blonde woman's deathly visage."And do you see her bloody corpse anywhere? She evades Roger's last attack, what stops her from doing the same?"The fire already wound up, there were indeed several charred corpses laid down on the ground but that feverish woman's last position only yield ashes and dust."Claudia, that is enough," a man's voice called out to her from the side, "we need to escape now, before cops coming here.""You pull that kind of action again, I bloody swear to feed you to my plant..." The woman called Claudia gritted her teeth before snapped her face away from Stephen. She walked toward the direction of the group with distress appearance.Stephen let out a mouthful of breath, with a little tense eyebrow, he turned his body the side and followed Claudia footsteps.*Puchi!*As his feet stepped on the plank underneath, a long object passed through his left chest, its cold surface drenched with his warm blood and together mixed in a deathly requiem."A...ah..."From his back, the feverish woman appeared with both hand raised, gripping a black handle that belongs to a considerable sharp katana, the woman red iris leered at Stephen without slightest empathy in them."Stephen!!!" Both person in the group facing the direction of Claudia and the recent stabbed man, thus they naturally noticed his predicament. Claudia jumped in surprise at her comrades' behavior and swiftly turned around while fished out her wand.*Puchi!*Not in a second she finished her movement, she saw a blurry figure flashed out before her eyes then... her sight wandered around, completely oblivious toward the event that happened to her, Claudia's head hovered in the air, witnessing without consciousness, that the woman already arrived and she slightly bent her body in front of Claudia's former body, the woman held her katana in her right hand."Nooo!!!""Bastard!!!"The other two left brimming with anger and unwillingness, they took out their own wands and prepared to smite this hateful bitch into ruin along with this place, but...*Puchi!**Puchi!*The woman vanished from her spot and appeared between the men, swiping her blade over the man's neck on her right, completely detached the crown from the throne, then in a quick motion, she proceeded to stab the man on her left, deep strike into his torso.The man stunned by the recent blow, he fell into his knees and stared at the blade with unbelievable expression, he glanced at the feverish woman while blood spews from his mouth, "W-why?"She leered, while remained in her position, she said: "Because I have an order, and the price on your heads enough to feed me a whole month!""Bollocks!" He spat, darkness started looming his consciousness, he bitterly stared her down, "Could you... tell the name... of a person... that placed the bounty?"The woman tilted her head and set her eyes upward, her beautiful feature blossomed in the guise of cruelness, "Oh, I suppose I could...""Hah... hah... thank you..."The woman pulled out her katana, she turned it around and sheathed its edge. She walked toward the door with light steps, her brown shoes tiptoed, her graceful bearing swayed in the air, she halted right before the door and turned her face to look at the man beyond her right shoulder, his figure reflected on her red iris, "Mr. Pendragon says hello."*Thud.*The man finally touched the ground with his forehead before the rest of his body fell into the side.The feverish woman pushed open the door and walked outside, her eyes enjoyed the nighty time of romance this area offered, the triplet lamp mimicking the old style lanterns from medieval age, the coldy mist that danced in the atmosphere, and surrounding building that depicted the imperial theme.Her visible breath coughed out, despite the simple attire she put, her body remained steady under the freezy wind that brushed against her skin.*Bzzzt Bzzzt*Traversing down the pavement, her phone tickled her waist, she fished it out and glued it to her ear, "Yeah?""Yeah, yeah, I just finish the task.""Hmm, don't know if I am going straight home, probably hang out for a while, that new beef restaurant quite attractive."She curled her lips, there was careless appearance painted on her face, but soon her relaxed tone change as she wrinkled her eyebrows, "Hawke team went missing?""Martial Artist Alliance involvement?"She waved her head, shrugging her shoulder, "They probably already dead, not worth further attention. I prefer to stay clear from a nation special defense."Arriving at the crossroad, the woman halted her steps, leaning her back on the traffic lamp, her face turned serious, "Really? A distress signal? From the rabbit girl?""Can someone else go instead? How about Jack?" The woman twitched her eyes, she finally let out a sigh, "alright, since there is no other option, I handle it, but I demand double in payment."She rolled her eyes, "Don't you try talking me through this, you know how I feel about going there."Her expression lagged for a while before she finally responded, "Good, you better keep your end." She took down the phone and put it inside her pocket. She inhaled a large mouthful air before sweeping her eyes toward the sky, there was complicated emotion reflected on that red eyes; renouncement, bitter, hatred, and a sliced piece of sorrow.Cars droved on the road, one by one, passing through her figure without any chance of sped down.First car, second car.*Shuaa!*And just like that, her figure disappeared from the pavement, leaving nothing but her memorable fiery aura, lingered in the air akin to a permanent ink on the blank clear whiteboard.
