Bruno dragged the suitcase, which consisted of the two swords, and ran up to the mansion. "Lord Niklas!" he stepped in front of the tear-down wall and gazed inside. Niklas shared his view with him.
"Bruno. I better hear some good news. I've already experienced enough business to hate those foolish pirates." Bruno did not dare to question Niklas and preferred to stay serious. "I understand. Those pirates must be eliminated, but I have brought you the swords you've ordered."
Niklas seemed pleased with Bruno's answer and then stood up. He stepped in front of the broken table. "Place the suitcase on the table." Bruno did as told and placed the suitcase onto the table.
He reached for the suitcase and opened it. Two of the blades shone inside with a cushion beneath, but before Niklas would've touched them he paused and uncovered the cushion. He found a strange beeping device that's been on silent mode and became surprised.
He dropped the device on the ground and stomped it into fragments which astonished Bruno. "Lord Niklas!" Niklas' face remained calm as he squatted down and grabbed the device. "I'm assuming you received these blades from Leandre. Am I correct?"
Bruno happened to be surprised, but nodded in return. "These blades were brought to Leandre by Yules from the World Defendant Agency. Perhaps Yules placed that device inside beforehand."
Niklas observed the broken device repeateadly and then felt frustrated. "Impossible. Leandre is supposed to check every shipment I ordered, and up until now, everything has gone according to plan. Having stated that, there is just one solution to this mysterious trigger. Leandre must have put it there himself in an effort to get rid of me.
"He was wrong if he believed that such a simple-minded strategy would have affected me. Even if it did work, a minor explosion would not be sufficient. Who does he believe I to be?"
His mouth shivered after he locked his view onto Bruno. "I've made up my decision. You're going to return to the city hall and speak to Leandre. In case he tries something funny, I give you permission to annihilate him. However, if he doesn't speak, then I'll have a word with him myself."
Bruno bowed forward. "Of course, I'll do as asked. I ask of you to give me 10 minutes, and if that won't be enough for him to speak then I'll force him."
Niklas nodded and then grabbed the sword. "I'll store these swords in a secure location so we can send them to Leon. Bruno, I'm hoping you can give me some positive news."
Bruno finished with an agreement and then disappeared from the room while Niklas grabbed the suitcase and exited into the city's streets.
Tim and Ayuka kept climbing the hill as they moved on. Behind him, Ayuka spoke. "You're being careless again! You're not even sure what's coming." She called up. Tim didn't seem to care and just kept running. "I don't need to know. What matters is that I find Niklas before everyone else and that I beat them; whoever is in my way."
"That's not what I-" Ayuka paused in the middle of her statement and felt as if a spark had suddenly lit up inside her head. "Somebody's here..." She thought to herself and became serious. She continued running, but after a specific moment of her next step, she lowered her body then flickered on the spot.
She disappeared after the flickering and then blinked forward at incredible speed. She blitzed next to Tim, and pressed her shoulder at him, and used her weight to push him to the side.
Tim didn't expect her sudden move and because of it, lost balance. He then noticed a silhouette above him and became astonished
He spotted Kira punching. She tried to attack Tim and due to his recklessness, nearly ended up as a victim of a deadly strike. Luckily, Ayuka protected him.
What happened was too fast for him to see, and the first time that Tim felt doubt in his senses. Kira's whitened out eyes, and black hair weren't far from Ayuka's stance. Kira's pressure seemed off the chart. He even spotted how Kira had moved her right arm behind and had been steaming out black trails that were as dark as a shadow.
His ended up becoming forced to spin around on the ground and felt his back slam in the cement. The pressure from getting pushed caused his torso to wobble back, until he managed to stop and look back at them.
He noticed Kira finally sending that tightened punch and directed it at Ayuka's head and froze.
Ayuka's eyes changed to the brightest hue of silver. Kira's body reflected inside that silver. "That pressure. It's not normal." Ayuka thought to herself and felt as if the gravity around her tensed and overwhelmed her body. "I don't think... I don't think I can..." Ayuka felt a horrible stress inside her body and even found herself stuck in place.
"I can't deflect it! I'm bound to get hit!" she claimed. She saw Kira's face turned creepy; a wide-black smile, her face pale as the white snow. Her hair was touseled and was messy to look. Then her arm finally jabbed forward. Her fist was only an inch away from Ayuka's face and made her eyes to open wide with the sweat trickling down her forehead.
Then, like a meteor slamming into a human's body, her fist rammed directly into Ayuka's middle face and in that singular moment, Tim spotted a hard-to-see scene of something exploding. At the first look, it seemed as if Ayuka's body suffered a pressuring force that spread through her body and completely tore her body around, but in the moment, he saw blue fragments of ice raining down onto the ground, scattering.
"Ayuka!" he called, standing up instantly only to then see Kira standing in the middle of the ice fragments. There was nothing happening for a good minute, and Tim tried to see more clearly of what had happened. He hoped to see Ayuka someplace else, but there was nothing else than Kira and the ice.
He looked under him, seeing the scattered fragments of ice and even looked up at the roofs, but there was still no sign of Ayuka. Kira, too, seemed more than confused and smiled while turning to look at Tim. "Well, I guess that's over! I've been hunting you down for a bit, White-Haired pirate, and I've finally found you. I don't like what you did to me back then, so I'll repay the prize."
Tim's mouth shivered, but something felt odd. He didn't feel like something horrible had happened to Ayuka. Instead he felt a subtle breeze of her pressure being close. To his thoughts, that pressure seemed to have been spread all around him.
Then, he noticed the fragments of ice piecing back together right behind Kira, and it slowly started to shape a woman's body. Then, like a person reborn, Ayuka's body emerged from the cold mist that soon surrounded the whole area.
Kira and Tim both became surprised and were soon only able to see one another's shadow due to its thickness. Then, Ayuka's arms wraped around Kira's body and tightly pulled her onto her chest.
"I'll take care of you myself. I think I'll leave Tim on his own to deal with Niklas." Kira struggled to escape and was cold. She was irritated. She tried to pull free, but Ayuka's grip seemed to be stronger than she thought.
Ayuka's garments appeared to have disappeared entirely as a result of that incident, but fortunately, the majority of her exposing parts were concealed by either the mist or the ice on her skin.
"Tim! Go on ahead and track down Niklas! I'll keep her occupied!" she called. Tim seemed confused at first and lost. He couldn't see where the two of them were but then followed her voice. "Ayuka. Where are you?"
Ayuka continued to hold Kira back. "Don't worry about me. It's not important. Now, hurry up and go!" Tim lowered his gaze and agreed. "Got it." He looked left and right, then decided to speed right where he managed to find the exit to the mist and managed to go back on track.
Then Ayuka brought her chin closer to Kira's ears and let out a warm breath. "Try not to obstruct my or Tim's or anyone's path." Ayuka spoke up while observing Kira scream and get ready to smash her head into Ayuka's face. However, it didn't work, and Ayuka traveled into the mist where Kira could only see her shadow. Ayuka was like a leaf inside the domain she created.
To be continued...