The blood red-haired girl ran straight to the soft blue-haired Minerva, who pointed her cutlass at the former. Pillars of ice immediately broke down to razor sharp blades of ice, flying at the girl with killing intent.
The target flicked her right hand that glowed green to the left, followed by said shards shifting to that direction.
Minerva stabbed her cutlass down to the ground, sending forth a puddle of ice that speeded and expanded towards Sanguinex.
The latter's feet glowed green, abruptly jumping that sent her higher than an average person. Mid-air, she sent piercing ripples of air to Minerva, who was quick to react by erecting a pillar from the puddle of ice.
The latter yawned, a testament to her growing boredom. Sanguinex didn't fail to notice, which riled her up even further.
Minerva braced herself and sprinted towards Sanguinex, whose speed would make a marathon runner look slow.
Sanguinex sprinted at similar speed. As they got closer, Minerva sliced up from the ground, sending not just dust up, but a smooth and thick dash of water that threatened to slice the former if she didn't dodge.
A splash of water conjured as she dashed to the right, landing on her eyes and forcing it shut.
The very second she wiped it off and opened her blurry and dry eyes, Minerva tackled her to the ground, the tip of her cutlass pointed right at her throat. A smile grew in her mouth. "I win, Sévircon."
A resigned sigh escaped Sanguinex's mouth, Minerva got off of her and they both sat on the ground, catching their breaths and wiping off their sweat. They drank water from Minerva's cutlass, the same way Zephyr did last time.
"You seem to have a huge mana pool if you can pull off spells like that." Minerva commented.
"You make it sound like they're complex spells."
"It's basic knowledge that with a push of mana, you can make even a weak and basic spell stronger than it usually is–that's what you did." She put her cutlass down. "Not everyone can react as fast and composed as you did, especially when charged down by an army of shards."
Sanguinex chuckled nervously. Well, I've faced worse.
Minerva stood up, arching her back forward as she stretched upwards. "Are you hungry?"
"A little." Sanguinex stood up, holding her stomach which weakly grumbled. She wore a sly smile then braced herself to sprint. "Last to arrive inside pays for lunch!"
With her body glowing green, she dashed and maintained speeds akin to a cheetah.
Minerva grabbed her cutlass and jumped, a huge spike of ice forming underneath, which trapped her feet and dashed forward, reaching Sanguinex within three seconds.
The red-haired land mammal glanced at the soft blue-haired bird, her eyes widened. "H–Hey!? That's unfair!!"
Minerva giggled. "Save your breath for sprinting!" She shrunk herself and zoomed away.
"—NOOOO——! I'M NOT PAYING——!"
.
Sévir entered the room where a man in his 30s sat across his desk table. "You called me, Old man?"
"It's Sir Demeter for you. Come closer."
Sévir did as he asked, Demeter extended a scroll to him, which he took and hastily unrolled.
A heavy sigh escaped Sévir's mouth as he finished reading by thirty seconds. "Why throw all the gang extermination missions at me? The other assassins are plenty capable."
"Do you not want the Zinari?"
Sévir cleared his throat. "If I get this mission done within the hour, you add extra."
"Deal."
.
Sévir leaned by a wall, his eyes shut. Do you see anything, Blue?
You can see what I see, right? asked another voice in his mind.
Before their vision supported by a floating blob of water were men hiding in the dark, their spiked and improvised weapons at the ready.
Enough of this. Let's go in.
Do you even have a plan, Sévir?
Yeah–charge in and mess them all up.
..I'm ashamed of sharing the same conscience as you.
Likewise.
Sévir however, did the opposite of what he planned and jumped high up, reaching the ledge with sets of open windows. He pulled himself up and kept at that position as he took a peek for confirmation.
Alright, I'm going down.
Do whatever you want, I suppose.
Sévir climbed over and jumped down. His landing was silent and caught the bandits facing the door off-guard.
Immediately, they sprung into action. Sévir stomped on the ground, his left foot glowing blue as ice charged through the ground and caught the bandits' feet. He followed it up by a swing with his right foot, glowing green as a powerful slice of wind sent the trapped lines of foes flying.
Is that all of them? Sévir attempted to ask Blue, but before the latter could answer, he tilted his head left, barely avoiding the ray of light that passed through his cloaked head. The indicator was an exclamation from the other side; "Radius Lucis!"
That was close.
A mysterious hooded figure appeared, his staff elegant enough to say the wielder was either rich or stole the weapon.
"Who are you?" asked Sévir in a deep and repressed voice, one he usually used to mask the true one.
"No–who are you?" the man asked in a similar manner.
"Reveal yourself, then I will." Sévir pledged.
"No–you first."
Feeling a no-compromise aura radiating from the mysterious man, Sévir knew they'd take a while if they insisted.
They both aimed their weapons at each other; Sévir's hand and the mysterious man's staff glowing yellow.
"Radius Lucis!" They exclaimed in unison, and dodged their rays of light by mere inches.
He swiped his left glowing hand to the left, releasing a contained yet powerful gust of wind towards the mysterious man, who planted himself and tanked it as he exclaimed: "Planum Lucis!", a yellow glowing plane emerging before him which blocked Sévir's attack.
He prepared his staff to attack as the plane reduced to nothing, only to reveal Sévir, his left fist right at his face.
Sévir snapped, forcing the man's eyes shut as light flashed from his fingers. Then, Sévir exclaimed: "Aprins Tura!", his right hand glowing orange as he thrusted his fist to the man's guts, forcing out a combustion that ejected the man far, his head hitting a bar that rendered him unconscious.
Is he dead? asked Sévir.
Maybe, maybe not. Blue replied. Sévir walked to the brown-cloaked man, curiosity lingering in his mind.
He grabbed the hood and pulled the entire cloak off, his brows raising in surprise on who it was.
Before he could even properly think about it, clanks of metal akin to metal boots rang far from behind. Hastily, he pulled the unconscious man to a corner less likely to be explored, then dashed to the window he entered from.
The door opened, revealing two knights wearing yellow cloth on top of their chestplate. They took off the kettle helmet they wore and tossed it to the floor, the contact sending echoes through the silent area.
"There's ice everywhere on the ground." said the knight on the left, he walked closer to one of the bandits, nodding to his partner after checking the pulse on his neck. "He's alive. This was definitely the work of the Little Gang Killer."
The mention of that name made the other knight click his tongue. "If it weren't for that criminal, we would've been promoted ages ago! He keeps neutralizing the bandits before we can even find them."
Sévir, who listened from the top, rolled his eyes. Do your jobs properly next time.
Fed up with their talk, he leaped out of the building.