Amidst the rain and lightning, three figures ran through the streets, their footsteps hidden, as their movements sped to their destination.
The feeling of concern was palpable, they were dressed in their battle clothes, had covered their faces and moved away from the alleys to avoid delays.
The minutes passed, the wind refused to let them pass.
They stopped at some buildings, the brothel in the distance.
The three of them split up, scanned the area for enemies, then regrouped.
Being safe, they reached the doors of the premises.
Someone knocked on the door, the cars went by on the street making noise, the torrential water wet them.
The door opened, they gave the password and entered.
Inside, each of Sarah's companions positioned themselves in a surveillance zone, she would talk with the Chief.
Lightning strikes, Sarah walking towards her aunt's office having a lump in her throat.
Her suspicions were correct, something was going to happen in the brothel, there were fewer women and they had an alert look, out of the corner of her eye she noticed her hidden weapons.
She entered the office invaded by a cigarette smell, she fixed her sight on a short figure who was observing a portrait on the table, the woman let out the smoke in her mouth and put out the cigarette.
Sarah stood with many questions in her eyes, her aunt had a sad smile, she seemed to have accepted a terrible fate.
"You know what happened honey, sit down, I want to tell you some things" the soft voice of the older one had a touch of loneliness, the girl's heart clenched, she wanted to cry, scream, do something to release that fear that consumed her.
Her body felt awake and sick.
"Why?" She asked pretending to be okay, her hands trembled, the woman's gaze lowered in that direction, back to her eyes, then she closed them.
"You are my niece, and as such, I know what you will do before you try, honey, Misaki is not as soft as the reports may indicate, the underworld you know is only the surface, I wanted to keep you away" she spoke in a tone calm, Sarah refused to believe him.
She was different from how her aunt acted, always distant, smiling out of courtesy and hiding things from others, now she seemed different, as if reality had hit her hard.
"I don't believe your words! Doing something like this?! You got involved with the enemy! Now he's coming for your head! Answer me! Why?" her authoritative tone was lost, a tear ran down her cheek imagining the worst, the woman got up and walked towards her niece, the young woman moved away from her.
"Stop lying to me! Lying to you! Why did you do it?! Since when did you take the right to decide for me?! Damn it! Why?! I..." Sarah She had started to cry, her aunt hugged her, the young woman resisted, that rejection came from her fear, it was not something she would do if she was emotionally well.
"My poor Leyla, this fear you feel hurts you a lot, remember why you are here and you will see the light at the end of the tunnel" whispered the woman, remembering old moments.
Sarah felt like a child, trapped in her room with night terrors, being held by someone, whispering the same words to her.
Those words that she hadn't listened to for a long time and she thought she had overcome.
Sarah's fear was simple, she didn't want to lose her family, she had had that desire since she was little, it pushed her to be stronger, to fight for her dreams, but it also plunged her into constant stress, where at any moment, she everything would be taken from him.
Her dreams crumbled before reality.
Sarah's sobs were accompanied by the calm words of her aunt, she could sometimes hear her laugh lightly telling her some funny anecdote. Because of the crying she couldn't understand him, but her heart demanded more attention.
The rain had subsided, they didn't know how long it had been, Sarah was breathing heavily, the woman in front of her was stroking her hair. Not remembering when they had hit the floor, the older one had sat up and Sarah rested her head on her lap.
The woman's bright eyes filled with tears remembering what she had done.
The main enemies of the organization were the Republic of China, as a general rule no one could have dealings with that country or its relatives, such action meant death.
She had made deals with the enemies of the organization, she was going to die when they found out.
Her wish was to avoid that Sarah, the relic of the water and her niece, will end up turning to them to find clues about her relative kidnapped from her.
If for a member of the organization it meant death, for a relic it was no different, she would be persecuted, they would seek to eliminate her so that a new relic bearer would appear, that was her destiny.
For a long time the Headquarters in Misaki had lost power in the city, it was her fault, she obtained information from her relative, but eliminated any form of fighting from the organization, people died in the process.
Her actions were reprehensible, however, she did not regret it, there was someone who would have done worse things if she did not stop in time.
Few of the family knew Sarah's personality, among them were the young woman's mother, her grandmother and her aunt, they understood that she would do anything to meet her goals, that was the way of think of her.
"The rules do not serve to fulfill your objectives, use them, destroy them, that is the only option" she had said once, since that day her perspective changed from her.
She didn't want her lack of limits to lead to her death.
Now that one of her goals, that of keeping her family safe, was about to be eliminated, the heart that she had had begun to suffer, she would have loved that things didn't end this way.
She was a nightmare and she wanted to wake up.
Sarah regained consciousness after wandering in memories, her red and swollen eyes were barely visible thanks to her scarf, the woman helped her up, they sat in an armchair in the office, the young woman looked at the floor, the older one adjusted her hair humming a song.
Sarah's eyes sparkled, her sight sharpened raising her face, her aunt shook her head.
"Nothing you think will work, remember who taught you how to use that head of yours" the woman mocked ungraciously, Sarah bit her lips in frustration "Besides, I've already tried everything in my power to escape, my plans failed .
Back then, many people died for her sake, it hurt her to think that they were in vain.
Sarah regretted the words, but she regained her composure, there was a glimmer of hope.
"Maybe you can't do anything, but I can, I'm a relic" Sarah said confidently, her aunt grabbed her face hitting her forehead.
She closed her eyes sighing.
"Stop lying to yourself honey, if you had such power, you would have the organization helping you from the beginning, I'm sure you already thought of many ways to save me, however, you came to the same conclusion, I will die" finishing speaking, Sarah received a shock unpleasant, she hated that word, listening to it caused her repulsion, if she were not in her 5 senses, she would attack whoever said it.
The young woman pulled away from the touch with mixed emotions.
"Surrender? I know something can help us, we're not the only ones fighting, maybe we are…" Sarah trailed off as she realized what she was saying.
It was true that the organization were not the ROC's only enemies, but they were not its allies either.
"I want you to listen to everything I'm going to say now, it's important for what's to come, will you listen to me?" asked the woman walking towards her desk, she felt tired, a weight on her back oppressed her.
Sarah was silent for a moment, then she attended.
"On one condition, you will listen to me to get out of here" the woman closed her eyes, she meditated the answer smiling, that smile did not please Sarah, she was devoid of any hope.
"I accept" she said hiding her intentions, it was difficult for the young woman to know what her relative was thinking, but she had already accepted, that gave her hope.
The following conversation was loaded with important information, Sarah condensed it into three points to remember.
First, the Church of the Saints had been the promoter of the kidnapping of his relative, however, due to some connections, he had also discovered two more enemies to take into account, one was the Dangerous Gang in District D, the other enemy Sarah I guessed it, the businessmen of the Republic of China.
Second, Sarah had to prevent Misaki's employers from discovering her identity as a Relic, if she did, it would cause more problems for their rescue plans, she also explained that although the D district gang was dangerous, they would not mess with her while they were hiding. stay away from their interests.
It was a relic, one way to identify a possible bearer was if she could use attributes, it was something very well known nowadays. As long as she didn't show her attributes to those two enemies, no one would mess with her.
She didn't care if other enemies saw her using it, they distrusted each other so much that almost any enemy information would be dismissed, besides, if she found a good place to hide, their knowledge of her attributes would become trivial.
That also ruled out the option of working with the earth relic, her criminal gang was an enemy of District D.
Lastly, she had prepared a safe place in Misaki for her to stay, a friend of her aunt would come later, her aunt had thought that after meeting him, she would send him in Sarah's direction, but she had already gone ahead. It was a matter of waiting and going.
After the conversation they hugged, their hearts beat in sync feeling at peace.
The rain had finished falling, the lightning receded into the distance.
In the silence of the room, something disturbed the atmosphere.
Their consciences were strained and a vibration shook their bodies, their eyes connecting with bitter expressions.
They were trapped in a barrier.
Outside the brothel, in an empty field.
Two women were guarding the entrance with their weapons raised, in the distance a figure was approaching, by the clothes he was wearing he looked important.
Preparing his attacks with deadly intent, his concentration increased.
The steps of the figure were soft, the black boots crunched against the ground, he wore a long jacket to the feet in black with silver tones, it moved with each shake of his legs, although his face was covered by a black scarf, it was easy to deduce that he was a man, his dark hair moved slightly, some white gray could be seen in his hair.
His eyes gazed passively ahead, focused on something.
The sound of sharp metal was heard, a long weapon came out from the man's side, it was a single-edged longsword, a katana.
The blade glowed dimly, sparks flying from time to time.
When the women were ready, they launched their attacks.
Sea Lion Style: Stormy Hunt.
Style of the Water Serpent: Twin Dragons.
The surrounding air swirled, a liquid arose from the condensed energy and split into two masses of water, then shot out in a cyclical trajectory.
The first attack turned into several jets of water that rotated at a high speed, looking like missiles.
The second attack took the form of a giant water snake, its mouth opened menacingly with its fangs, then it split into two, who furiously snaked into the air.
An explosion was caused by the clash of both techniques, the man had been consumed by the combined attack.
Dust, rocks and water fell from various directions.
Those techniques could kill an enemy group with ease, although they would also fail if energy was used to block them, the man didn't seem to use it.
Under the silence of the place flames emerged from the smoke, the enemy body was partially covered by crimson flames, the women were not surprised, anyone who would create a barrier capable of forcing so many people in was not normal, however, they had doubts.
When he had created that fire around him? The energy had not changed to take that form.
His eyes gave off wariness starting the next attack.
The rest of the warriors were in the room, preparing an escape route to get out of the barrier.
The man concentrated the flames on his right arm, the fire spread and engulfed the blade of the sword, the light that radiated was terrifying, like that of a cursed weapon.
He stopped his footsteps, moved his left arm grasping the handle of the sword.
Master Martial Style: First pass.
He raised the katana, the women went defensive, then stepped forward, swinging his weapon slashing across his line of sight in the direction of the brothel.
The flames stirred forming the face of a subhuman creature, an explosion occurred at the man's place, furious flames charged forward.
A hellish path ran through the area, that attack contained suffocating killing intent, anyone who received the direct hit would lose their life in the blink of an eye.
The women used the surrounding energy as an attempt to block the attack, however, the technique passed through their defense.
They screamed in pain as they were scattered, the sides of their bodies had been slashed, blood oozing from several deep wounds.
The concrete did not resist the blow, like butter, the fire divided everything in its path causing chaos.
Sarah sensed the danger and readied her weapon, the office door changing color instantly disappearing.
Her aunt activated one of her defensive techniques.
From outside, a huge bang shook the earth, nearby people fell to the ground, pieces of the building flew into the air, debris rained down like volcanic meteors, painting the sky in red lines.
The wind was churning hard, anyone in the vicinity would be blown away if they had no resistance.
Taking such a precise hit, an ominous power surrounded the stage.
Gazing passively, the man waited until the rubble stopped falling.
The fire destroyed what it touched, his eyes glowing red from the reflection of the flames.
He looked like a demon.
Next Chapter: The Executor.