Raksha Mansion, 12th Street.
Ribbon Raksha stood silent before the doors to her master bedroom, an unknown emotion flickering in her eyes as she recalled the reports from her close aide, Wendy Sunflower. As it seems, no one made it back from the underground sewers, the cause of death unknown.
Even that young boy's life or death remains a mystery. Her mind couldn't help but think of the most pessimistic scenario—that mysterious person—they must have killed everyone who went after the young man.
People of their status, rarely if ever, leave their home base. For one, they're disgusted with the status quo of things outside, and another reason is their secret competition among one another as they race to gain more individual power. As the latest to the bunch, Ribbon Raksha has a lot of work to do catching up.
She can't afford a mistake that would harm her foundations in these critical times.
Although the Scimitar Raksha and Magnum Raksha are suspicious of her movements as of late, their focus is yet to tilt from the butchery shop and the clean tools within.
It had been about half an hour, and yet, she didn't dare open this room and take one step inside. The more she thought about the false security this small house she so foolishly proclaimed a mansion offered, the harder she found it to settle and indulge in her pleasures once more.
The house was oddly silent at the moment, as she had dispatched her subordinates to the street war. It could be said that the latest search party conducted helped her greatly by shrinking the gap between herself and the other two when it comes to manpower.
At any other time, she would be at a great disadvantage, but the recent losses these bosses suffered allowed her some avenue for breathing. However, she wouldn't have expected her actions to roll the red carpet for Aza'zel who appeared right outside her gates, making his way into the house with light, cautious steps.
Each of his hands carried a standard handgun, the issued standard that lacked any semblance of source energy formations. A crude propelling mechanism, as crude as its firepower. However, no matter how crude things get, this was enough to incapacitate a few ordinary humans.
His ear twitched at the sound of a twig's snap. A colorless ripple swept his stagnant world of echoes, its source an elegant and tall woman, directly behind Aza'zel at a distance beyond the Soulguider's passive range of spiritual awareness.
The young boy stopped moving, and so did the woman's silhouette far behind.
"Sunflower," Aza'zel spoke the name off the end of his mind.
A chuckle, misplaced in the somber air, followed an irregular wind flow as Wendy Sunflower relaxed the tension in her muscles, allowing her footfalls to produce a tempo of confident footsteps as she inched closer toward Aza'zel.
"Here I thought you were dead," she spoke in a whisper-like voice. "No, all of us thought you were dead, little brother."
"What are you doing all the way here, Aza?" she flicked both her wrists while moving forward, thin, flat, yet sharp edges protruding from the sleeves of her dress, though silently. To tell the truth, she wasn't concerned one bit about why, but since she had the chance to avenge her silly big brother in passing, she might as well get things done.
However, when he was within range of her sphere of maneuverability, just as the muscles of her right arm twisted ever-so-slightly to pierce the nape of his neck with a brilliant smile on her face, something within his body exploded.
The tension in Aza'zel's body also relaxed, releasing a wave of compact source energy that he had earlier maintained for a critical moment, the momentum slamming into Wendy's front and tossing her rhythm off its course. She was so shocked by the development, her movements stagnated at the realization.
Since when did this guy wield the power of nature? These were her thoughts in this moment of lapsed concentration, and by the time she focused once again, a cold muzzle of a standard handgun rested on her smooth forehead.
However, she quickly gathered her senses and revised the situation in her mind, though her face didn't betray a thing as she smiled so naturally and brilliantly, her lips thinned out then stretched without a trace of fear.
"Haha," she laughed crisply, tossing both hands behind her back while pressing her forehead into the cold muzzle. "Little Aza, you won't really kill me, right? That was your only trump card, right? You can't risk being exposed now, right? This is such a rare opportunity, but you've never killed a person before, right?"
Her eyes glimmered the moment the muzzle pressed into her skin, as she could feel the cold metal shake and tremble, indicative of hesitation. This silly boy, she thought to herself. If he was hesitating now while facing someone who tried to kill him twice, how is he to fair against a Raksha?
However, the trembling suddenly stopped, and the handgun rested as steady as it could get. Aza'zel panted and breathed easy, his young voice sounding a bit husky, "I wasn't listening just a moment ago. There was too much noise in my head, I almost couldn't hold back from pulling the trigger. Trust me, you don't wish to tempt me, as you're only tempting them… Truly unwise."
Is this guy crazy? Sweat trickled down Wendy's face as it finally dawned upon her.
There seemed to be a hidden desire to wreak havoc hidden in his small body, and he was struggling to keep it under control. She could tell that he felt relief—genuine relief—as he didn't wish to kill, but he might do it without a grain of hesitation if push comes to shove.
She suddenly wondered if the day came when this young boy scored his first kill, fully conscious of his actions at that, what sort of consequences would follow?
"You must be joking, haha…" Her laughter had an odd tone to it now. No longer as confident—or rather—as suicidal, she withdrew the frivolity and spoke in a serious manner, "We might have the same objective, Aza."
She didn't have the heart to tease him by addressing him as 'little brother' or 'little Aza' since things have reached this far.
The muzzle had yet to barely flinch as Aza'zel spoke, "I might not want to kill you and alarm Ribbon Raksha, but if I were to press the muzzle hard enough in your flesh, it might work just fine to cancel out quite a loud bang."
"We don't have to go that far!" she hissed in a low voice, but she knew that words alone wouldn't save her from this predicament. It was apparent that she had quite a capricious personality, and unless someone had an overwhelming power to keep her under check, she is bound to lash out in retaliation sooner or later.
Just as it was the case now with Ribbon Raksha.
Merely by mentioning that she had a similar objective to his, she was admitting that she planned to stab her master in the back. Aza'zel didn't have the time and energy to be constantly on guard against a potential backlash after subduing this woman under his wing as a partner, much less a subordinate.
"Are you going to incapacitate yourself, or should I?" he asked in a low voice.
Wendy Sunflower gritted her teeth in response.