(City: Pryoras, Townhall )
Nari stood while watching from the distance, alongside Kenshin.
The two of them carefully scanned the area in an attempt to spot any enemies but there seemed to be none.
"I think we should make a move now." Kenshin suggested.
"You're right. We should. Stinger has been itching for some corrupted blood." said Nari as she glanced at the tip of her spear.
Her words made Kenshin unable to help but think 'Wow...she has issues.'
Quickly, his mind switched back to the current objective as he began towards the town hall building
"Let's begin moving in."
Nari twirled her spear as its sharp point glowed blue.
"Our enemies will soon experience Karma."
Standing in front of the door the two stopped before going in. Even though they didn't say anything, they both felt an intense urge to move aside.
Trusting their instinct, the both of them slid away from the doors.
Boom!
The doors were blasted outwards, flying through the air. Dry wall paint created a cloud, covering the area.
"I knew something was coming." Kenshin stated.
"Setting a trap for us? It's sad that it won't work." said Nari.
She lifted her spear into the air, and with a single swift movement she slashed it downwards, sending an incredible gust of wind forwards.
Swooshhhh. Swayyyy.
The cloud blinding their view was cleared, revealing the threats before them.
Three men stood side by side. The middle man stepped forward and placed his hand on his chest.
"Hello Legendary-rankers, Nari and Kenshin. My name is Fudo, a member of Origination X. I'm sure you already heard our goals for today. So, we came prepared to fight against Legendary-rankers such as yourselves. And let me say this, you will not win today."
Nari wore an evil grin on her face as she took a couple of steps forward.
"Well, you sure are proud of yourself, saying you came prepared. Unfortunately, it seems you're still a tad bit underprepared."
"Hah, just wait and see."
Roughly and tightly, Nari gripped her spear and slightly lifted before speaking some more. Her eyes were filled with pure intent to kill and they shone completely yellow.
"I'll ask you something before we start. By going on with your plans, you three will be no different from monsters in my eyes. Do you wish to carry on?"
"You're damn right I do." Fudo cockily replied.
Fwsh.
Without even seeing her move slightly, Nari was suddenly behind her enemies.
"Goodbye."
Before she could launch her spear forward, Fudo spoke a phrase.
"Sleep."
Nari felt her eyelids become heavy, as well as her entire body. Unable to fight the feeling, she dropped to her knees.
"You….will face...Karma.." Her last words before she lost consciousness.
Thump.
Fwsh.
Kenshin dashed forward while drawing his sword from his side.
'She moved to fats that I Wasn't able to help in time.'
He knew that if the enemies were powerful enough to put Nari down with hardly any effort, this would be a fight where he would need to go all out. So, he planned to end them in a single attack.
A phrase shouted from his mouth as he swung his sword across the air.
"Group Killer!"
Fwsh.
In front of his blade, a sharp limb-cutting burst of wind shot forward, expanding in front of all 3 enemies.
'That should get them.'
A smirk formed on Fudo's face.
"We know about each adventure's little movesets."
That was when an unfamiliar man's deep voice called out.
"Cancel."
The burst of wind meant to kill the three of them had just disappeared without a trace.
Kenshin observed in complete surprise. His entire attack had been stopped.
'It was canceled?!?!'
But what stopped it. The answer to that question was learned as a new foe had appeared. It was a man with black spiky hair who wore a long dark trench-coat. But, it wasn't just some stranger, he was a well known criminal who worked from the shadows, doing gruesome jobs. He was known as 'Thomas Hill'
"That's right. We came prepared. I'm sure you adventurers already know this man." said Fudo.
Kenshin's body overflowed with a sensation of danger, he knew this was something bad.
'Thomas Hill… this isn't good.'
Thomas wasn't on the power level of Silver-rank or Gold-rank, nor was it on the level of Platinum-rank. The answer was more terrifying. He was on the level of Legendary-rank as his power would give most adventures of the same rank a hard time. The man who was blamed for making several high-ranking adventures go missing.
___________________
(City: Merit, Townhall)
Using her unique skill, Arisa was able to travel in spirit form and watch the fight unfold at the Townhall in the city of Pyroras.
"Seems to be under control. Two Legendary-rankers aren't even close to enough to stop us. Enough watching, I should attend to my hostages."
[You have canceled 'Spirit Form']
With her spirit back in her body, Arisa stood from the floor of the town hall and looked at the tied up hostages.
She calmly walked over and kneeled down to one of them and lifted their chin.
"Oh, you poor things. All going to be killed."
The hostage aggressively turned his head away from her.
"No. You'll be stopped when the adventurers show up."
"Oh. Don't you know? They've been here for awhile. They just haven't made any moves because they know who I am. Any guilds would take caution when dealing with me."
She then stood up and turned the other way, continuing.
"You see, they value their own lives more than some random hostages."
Outside of the Merit Townhall…..
The Gold-ranker, John Tilllo, in charge of the team spoke.
"Damn. We've been ordered to only stand by. That Arisa girl has been known for hunting and killing specific adventures sometimes. Along with her friend Thomas Hill."
One of the other adventures stomped his foot, replying.
"We're adventurers! Our job is to protect civilians. The monster attacks took enough lives already. Now more people are going to be killed in cold blood there. We've taken long enough standing around, so I'm sure some of them have already been killed off!"
John knew that the other adventurers' words were true but it still went against the orders they were given.
"I know what you are saying. But our orders are to stand by. Remember, she is a criminal so there's a chance she'll kill the hostages the moment we see them. Our only option is to wait."
All the other adventures nearly snarled.
"Wait for what?! Until the hostages are all dead? If that happens then why are we here? Screw the orders, I'm going in to help. Even if I have to do it alone."
The adventures walked forward, towards the doors.
"Damn…" John said under his breath.
He shook his head before following behind and signaling th either to do so as well.
Back inside the Town Hall of Merit…
"The only way they would make a move is if they were some idiots. And I doubt any guild is that dumb. So, that's one reason why none of you will be saved."
Arisa turned suddenly and looked at the hostages' scared faces.
"It's been way more than five minutes. I forgot to kill one of you. Guess I'll have to do that now."
By the time she finished talking, she was already twirling a sharp knife around.
Lifting it, she gave the hostages a dark look.
"You guys better pray that you're not the one I'm going to pick."
Fling! Bmp!
The entrance doors flew open and many footsteps ran inside.
"Good. She hasn't killed any yet."
Arisa slowly turned to glare at each of the adventurers that had come to the rescue.
"Maybe some of you aren't as selfish as I thought. But one thing's for sure, all of you are definetally idiots."
"Save the talk. You're going down right now."
Arisa let out a sigh and tossed her knife over on the floor.
"She's surrendering?" One of the adventurers asked in surprise.
But, that wasn't the case. Arisa began walking in their direction.
"Surrendering? Not at all. I just don't need a weapon to kill all of you."
One of the silver-rank adventures in back pointed out a problem.
"M-My skills won't activate for some reason."
One by one, they each tried to activate their skills but nothing happened.
"I can't activate mine either!"
"I'm having the same issue."
"You guys better figure it out! She's coming!" John shouted loudly to each of the adventures.
But, he found that he had the same issue as the rest.
'Strength Boost' His skills were not activating either.
'What the hell?' He thought to himself as he focused once more on the opponent.
Fwsh.
Arisa's red eyes brightened in an evil red color as she dashed forward, faster than they could track…..
___________________
(City: Pryoras, Townhall)
"Stop hiding and let me finish you off already." Thomas Shouted.
All across the concrete floor were cracks and destroyed areas from Kenshin previously facing off against Thomas Hill.
Behind one of the many trees, Kenshin was hiding as he was losing the fight. He breathed heavily while heavy blood and sweat were running down his face.
'I only barely managed to escape with smoke. I don't think I could win this one. Retreating is the best option but I can't leave Nari behind.'
In his current situation, he didn't have very many options. He was forced to choose between saving his own life or fighting to save Nari and the hostages.
'No, even if I went back out there, I might be killed before I could save anyone. I'm sorry Nari, I have to leave you.'
One step from leaving, Kenshin felt a warm breath touch the back of his neck, followed by the voice of Thomas.
"I found you."
Kenshin quickly turned and slashed his sword forward.
Slash...Clink.
Thomas had caught the blade, using only two of his fingers.
"Not bad...for a beginner.."
Letting go of his sword, Kenshin prepared to throw a punch...
Bmp!!
But Thomas was already two steps ahead and struck Kenshin's chest, knocking him on the ground.
Shake...Shake...Quiver..
He was unable to stand right but still got up and tried escape,
"Come on, you don't think you could actually escape do you? You're slower than a damn sloth." Thomas stated, all while grinning.
One powerful kick bashed into Kenshin's leg.
Bash!!
"Gagghh!"
He found himself with a broken leg on impact.
Thump.
Tmp...Tmp..Tmp..Tmp…
Thomas purposely walked over slowly just to toy with his victim.
Once he came close enough, he looked down at Kenshin's face which was on the brink of losing consciousness.
"I've been playing too much. Don't worry, I'll kill you now."
Thomas lifted his fist….then swung it downwards.
Bmp.
But the strike did not hit Kenshin. In fact, it was stopped by someone who had arrived just on time.
A slim but muscular hand tightly held the fist of Thomas back, inches away from Kenshin's face.
Thomas looked at the interfering person.
"Wait, I know you."