Reaper led him to the alley nearby. There, they encountered more masked people surrounding their direction.
"It looks like we have to face them head on..." Reaper mumbled to herself, her grip on Loki's wrist loosening. Loki, still confused by their situation, glanced at their enemies.
"What even is happening...?" He sighed deeply. Reaper took out her weapon, while Loki remained unarmed. This annoyed her, causing to yell at him over her shoulder.
"Why are you taking out your weapon!" She said to him. However, Loki didn't say anything and raised both his fist.
As for the reason why he wasn't taking out his sword, he knew that Reaper would immediately recognize his real identity if he do so, and it wasn't like he couldn't handle their pursuers.
I should have stretched my body before coming here, he thought to himself. He smiled inside his mask and rushed to the nearby masked man, Reaper was surprised but she quickly regained her composure and did the same tactic as him.
"It's been a while since I've fought someone." Loki dodged the incoming attack from above by sidestepping, prepared for a palm strike.
The masked man tried to avoid it, however, the distance between him and Loki was only few centimeters away. And thus, he flew and collided with one of his companion from behind.
"Two down, what's your situation there?" (Loki)
"Three for me." (Reaper)
"Yikes..." (Loki)
Talk about violent, Loki thought with a light head shake. His attention quickly went back to the other five in front of him; Reaper too focused on her own fight. They were fighting back-to-back with each other.
Loki's eyes wandered around him until he noticed a small rock beneath his foot, smirking and kicking it forward.
Foosh!
The man from the front easily avoided this, however—
[Telekinesis]
Loki used his new ability that he got after defeating the Boss from the 7th floor. The rock flew back from behind and hit the other woman from the head.
Taking advantage of this, Loki decided to take them by surprise by crouching down and leaping up, propelling himself in the air using Wind Magic.
By the time they noticed him, they suddenly felt their body turning paralyzed in fear.
[Induced Fear]
Loki grabbed the man's face, his grip causing the mask to crack, and slammed him to the ground. Before the woman behind him could recover from her stupor, he removed the upper part of his mask as his eyes met her.
[Evil Eye]
This ability was from the Boss on the 6th floor. It's first effect was momentarily putting it's target into daze, while the second was causing the target to lose control of their body for approximately 2 second.
Unlike the [Induced Fear], this ability could only target one person. However, it could also evolved into another ability after reaching Lvl 20.
"Huuu..."
And so, Loki used [Replace] and switched place with the rock that he used earlier.
He appeared behind the other three, grabbing the side of their head and smacking them with each other unconscious.
"I'm done here!" He axe-kicked the chin of the woman from earlier, rendering her unconscious with her companions.
Loki was about to call out to Reaper when he noticed a claw appearing from the shadow behind her. She didn't seem to have noticed this as she continued blocking the relentless strikes of the three using her scythe in front of her.
I won't be able to get there on time, he thought to himself as he made a decision in his mind.
"...!!"
By the time she noticed the enemy behind her, she knew that it was already too late.
She prepared herself for the inevitable, but...
Clang!
Loki used [Replace] once again, exchanging his location with her to grab the head of the man from the shadow.
"Loki!"
Loki used the masked man's head, flipped and aimed his other hand on the incoming three before him.
"Inferno." He chanted through his mask.
With that said, the man in the shadow had his face engulfed in flame; while the three had been blown back and hit the wall, their clothes and mask catches fire.
"Loki! Are you okay?" Reaper quickly rushed to his side in panic. She bit her lower lips, feeling slightly guilty, then checking Loki's whole body out.
"I'm fine..." Loki patted the fire off his wrist. He returned his attention to her and pointed to his back using his thumb.
"Let's go!"
...
..
.
While Reaper was on the lookout, she glanced at Loki over her shoulder. She noticed him thinking deeply to himself, while his face directed towards the other direction in case of another sneak attacks.
She remained quiet for a moment before she finally spoke with a voice low as a whisper, "Why did you intentionally held back on killing them?"
"...I didn't held back."
Her eyes narrowed upon hearing his answer.
"That's a lie." (Reaper)
"....." (Loki)
Due to the awkward atmosphere between them, Loki thought of another topic to change the subject.
"Who are those guys anyway?" (Loki)
"They're part of organization running this place." (Reaper)
"This place...? You mean the black market?" Loki acted momentarily shocked, but quickly regained his composure. He already knew about their identity. "Why are they even attacking you?" He asked her as they began running further away.
"I should be the one asking that question. It seems to me that their main target is you... Is this why you're hiding your face? Did you do something in the past that pissed their leader?"
Reaper gestured her hands and came to an abrupt stop as soon as she noticed another masked individual walking towards their direction.
They took care of the two quick; Reaper snapped the neck of the man, while Loki held back on the lady by hand chopping her neck.
She's merciless, he thought to himself as his eyes landed to the dead man. He sighed and responded to her earlier question, "No. I don't even remember doing something that could potentially harm their group in the first place, or had any idea why am I getting attacked..."
Reaper stopped her track for a brief second and turned her head towards him.
"You're telling the truth, huh..."
And thus, they continued their way until they eventually encountered a group of dozens of masked people in the empty streets. Some of them have staffs and wand, others had swords, whips and claws.
"It looks like we can't continue without facing them head-on..." Reaper mumbled to herself in annoyance of the five mages in the group. Unlike a certain someone, she was not a magic user. She wasn't versatile enough to deal with mages either, considering that she wasn't fast enough to appear in front of them and attack, unlike their Leader.
Her grip on her scythe tightened, preparing to rush forward.
"Ha—ack!"
However, she was stopped by him before she could even do anything.
"What the hell?"
Like her, Loki took a few second pause before finally making a decision.
"We have no time for this..."
He raised his hand forward.
"Reaper, move away from me quick."
Though confused, Reaper pulled away and took a couple of steps back. She looked at him with a questionable look, "What are you trying to do?" She asked, still prepared to fight.
"Just watch..."
Loki's lips began to curl upward inside his mask, his attention returning to the ten masked individuals rushing towards them.
"All of you, di—!!"
BAAAAAM...!
***
Few minutes earlier.
Solis had just finished taking missions and was relaxing when she heard a loud explosion from the distance.
The explosion stirred her awake, accidentally letting her precious staff that she was holding go as it fell to the ground.
"....."
The exterior on her face suddenly changed from calm to something akin to a real devil. However, she quickly composed herself upon noticing the people moving away from her out of fear.
She stood up and crouched down to pick up her staff.
Originally, there were only few things that could make her angry:
Reaper buying unnecessary things.
Occiditis always getting lost.
Forgetting things.
However,
Booooom....!!
The next explosion that came up caused the staff to roll around the ground until it stopped by the mud.
"....."
The one thing that she hated the most...
Was when her staff gets dirty.
...
..
.
"I just noticed you being chased by these people... I figured they were trying to hurt you, so I destroyed them."
When Solis said this with a wide bright smile, Reaper just remained quiet and narrowed her eyes. She noticed the conditions of Solis' staff and quickly came to a conclusion. She didn't even need to use her ability.
It was a lie.
She just came because her precious weapon got dirty.
"And you are...?" The man behind Reaper immediately caught her attention. She squinted her eyes, feeling a strange sense of familiarity towards the man.
Soon, Solis' eyes widened in realization. "What is—" her sentence were abruptly cut short as a big blast of magic was sent to their direction.
Fortunately, however, Solis was a powerful mage. She didn't even need to chant out a spell to instantly conjure a magical barrier that shielded the three of them from the surprise attack.
"I have no idea what's going on, but go!" She remained on her spot, the end of her staff plunged on the ground. She glanced towards their direction, her eyes meeting Loki... on Saber's from his cracked mask.
'You better give me an explanation later,' she mouthed in silence.
Reaper took his hands and ran away towards the direction of the fallen chasers. They ran and ran until they eventually reached the end of their path.
"Where should we go?" (Reaper)
"....." (Loki)
Before them, two paths leading in two different directions that could possibly lead them to a group of enemies.
They had to quickly make a decision.
"Let's go right." (Reaper)
"Are you sure?" (Loki)
"Maybe..." (Reaper)
Although uncertain by the choice, they had no other options left but to move.
And so, they began to ran towards the right direction.
They ran as far as they could for about five minutes, not encountering a single enemy in their path. But, they knew that deep down that they should always remain vigilant.
Loki had activated his [Vibrational Sensing] and ran closer to Reaper from behind in case of something unexpected.
The odd silence in the atmosphere stirred his anxiety within his heart.
Something was definitely going to go wrong, and just like what he thought would happen, something did indeed go wrong.
"Wait..."
Reaper gestured her hands as they came to an abrupt stop.
A familiar figure stepped out from the crossing. Her white hair was white as snow, glistening from the artificial moonlight from the moon in the sky, dark circles slightly visible under her piercing crimson eyes. There were signs of redness on the side, indicating that she had just finished crying.
She had a long katana on her waist, wearing an unusual kimono-like outfit. She was pale, quite delicate like a flower.
Slowly, the beautiful lady turned her head to their direction. Her expression was emotionless, describable to real life doll.
"Reaper, let's—" (Loki)
"Leader!" (Reaper)
His words was cut short immediately before he could say anything. Reaper's expression softened for a moment, but she remained firm on her ground. She stood in front of Loki, it was as if she was prepared to use even her own body as shield for any incoming attack.
As soon as Loki saw Occiditis standing quietly with her hand on the handle of the sword, he couldn't help but curse out loud.
"Shit..."
It seems like we picked the wrong path to go, he swallowed his saliva. Cold sweats began forming from his forehead and back, his eyes squinting through his mask as he took a step back.
"Leader... What are you doing here?"
Reaper questioned with a cold glare at her direction. Occiditis didn't replied, her eyes narrowing slightly to the side before she refocused her attention towards Loki, who remained in a defensive position.
"Sir Loki, let me handle—!!?"
Foosh!
By the time she turned her head to look at him, Reaper saw Occiditis in her peripheral vision, her hands gripping on his neck as she lifted him up.
"Wait, don't...!"
She forced herself to turn around quickly and tried her best to reach out to grab Occiditis' wrist, but it was already too late.
Snap—!
A snapping sound echoed in the silent atmosphere. It wasn't loud. It was quick, sounding a bit faint. But the moment Reaper heard this, her ear drums started ringing.
Blood began to come out from Loki's ears and lips, in his eyes followed with a tear mixed of his warm blood.
There was no doubt about it,
Loki has died.