Powering through her lack of any sleep, Tatyana stood up and redid her ponytail, ready for the day’s preparations. And of course, facing Klo again after last night carried more awkwardness than either of them wanted.

  The remaining time they had apart during showers was a blessing, but they still had to endure breakfast, an elevator descent, and their car trip to the Knight facility. It was roughly as far from the apartment building as the police station was, but when removing the whole ‘conversation’ factor, it felt like they were going to a whole different city.

  “This is so stupid.”

  Tatyana begrudgingly accepted defeat, being the one to break their interaction hiatus as they stepped out of the car, traveling the remaining part of the way on foot. She got no reply from Klo, however, and her cheeks began to warm up uncomfortably as she flexed one hand’s fingers in an almost painful way.

  She wanted to punch her so bad.

  “I’m not going to beg.”

  “No matter. This is just as good.” The elven beauty replied without looking at her, a satisfied, sadistic smile visible on her sculpture-like side profile.

  Tatyana felt like she might explode for a moment, far more in fury than any embarrassment she felt earlier. However, she knew that showing that would only delight her more.

  She lost this round, but would not let her have the next.

  Telling herself that, Tatyana ran through the most possibilities she could think off the top of her head to outdo her next time. On some occasions, people had brought this behavior up as something unnecessary, immature… and they were nothing but imbeciles.

  “Huh… no kidding. Concert’s waiter boy is a cadet too. Did you see, Tanya?”

  “Mm?”

  Still planning ‘revenge’ by the time they stepped into the monument area, it took Tatyana a solid couple of seconds to fully register what her friend said. Noticing where Klo’s gaze was directed and following with her eyes, she noticed them.

  It was him indeed, unmistakably. Without the bandanna on his head, head of mostly gray hair on display, he looked far closer to the times he had waited on her and Klo’s table. Seemingly unaware of their attention, he casually talked to someone he was likely close to, a fellow teenage boy with brown hair of a lighter shade than her own, dressed in the same, mostly unmodified cadet uniform and… with a height that stood out for reasons most would find unflattering.

  Not that she really cared, instead replying to Klo’s actual words.

  “Yeah. I mean, it was very likely, considering that hair he’s got.”

  “I guess so, but that friend of his… if he was taller, then they would be a seriously yummy duo.”

  She really should have expected the conversation to lead into this. Tatyana was a healthy girl, and her own tastes were not all too different from Klo’s, but her friend was still a few levels higher in terms of sheer awareness and interest. Nonetheless, this topic was definitely better than the awkward airs from before.

  Embracing what little time they had to not think about the conflict keeping them at odds, Tatyana replied casually.

  “Did you forget the last time you brought two people home?”

  “That was a guy and a girl, and a couple at that. I haven’t really tried with two friends, so this time it could turn out great.”

  “… Alright?”

  Tatyana almost regretted following up on the topic. Knowing she was so outclassed, regardless of the subject, felt so very bothersome.

  By the time Anastacia Marinca began her introductory speech, Tatyana could have jumped and thanked her out loud, and her feelings did not change despite her intense demonstration. One that even as people panicked, gasped and trembled against their will, including the usually very calm Klo, still brought Tatyana a strange and uncomfortable sense of nostalgia.

  The most difficult part about approaching the armory afterward was somehow getting rid of Klo for the moment, while also keeping her unaware of where she wanted to go.

  In that sense, the gathering of the cadets at the monument area was quite a blessing. After being dismissed, a sense of panic and heavy discomfort remained in most of them, causing the mass of people to mostly rush away to whatever their business was in a very disorganized manner.

  One that easily allowed Tatyana to slip away from her friend’s perception and head toward the armory. Lacking the relevant information, Klo would not be able to reach the same conclusion Tatyana did, and with how unnerved the cadets were, it was very unlikely any of them would notice her enough to answer confidently if Klo asked around. At least provided no instructors had seen her.

  Chuckling from her unexpectedly easy success, Tatyana finally arrived within the armory’s vicinity. Only the vicinity, however, as she came across a sight that made her stop all of a sudden.

  Quite far away, much farther away from the armory than she was, but certainly heading in its direction, she saw two youths. Gray and brown-haired, one taller than the other, lovely eyes and a resting bitch face.

  Of course, they were Concert’s waiter boy and his friend. Still, rather than this coincidence, the surprising part was the light gray case carried by the former.

  More specifically, the dimensions of that case. While fully rectangular in shape, the size itself was what one would expect…

  … is he…?

  … for a shortsword.

  The chain of thoughts suddenly flooding Tatyana’s mind caused her to dangerously delay her retreat. Unusually panicked, she rushed her walk back and away, hoping yet maybe not fully succeeding in looking natural. Trying to somewhat hide across the trees, benches and decorations around the green areas close by, she could not even know for sure whether her hiding spot was the best.

  Tatyana recalled the masked stranger, Nemesis’ Gamma-class weapon. His body silhouette, height, the single eye with a gray iris visible out of that broken mask.

  His voice, the panicked attempts at an explanation… and then, the youth’s own voice, which she had heard several times over the last month, yesterday at Le Petit Concert, and even today right before the General’s display.

  Worried if by now her mind was just fabricating connections, Tatyana somehow remembered a few grayish bangs under that hood…

  … No, I didn’t see that. I don’t think I did. But still…

  She saw him enter the armory, leaving the shorter youth to wait outside some distance away. But while her previous thought was likely some sort of confirmation bias, now she witnessed something hardly mistakable.

  Tatyana was sure that from the young man’s walk, the slight tells in his expression and almost hidden stiffness at one side, the presence of a recent, significant injury was being conveyed.

  The girl could have shrieked, clutching her head once she noticed that. The effort required to at least not punch away the tree right next to her felt downright agonizing.

  It’s him, it’s him, it’s him. Damn it, shit, it fucking has to be him!

  Eyes wide open, lips trembling, she brought a hand to her forehead in a futile attempt to recover her cool. Of course, no such conclusions could ever be one hundred percent reliable, but there were barely any alternate hypotheses. Even worse, the more she thought about them, the less sense they made, and the more the waiter boy fit as the man behind the mask.

  The one she had almost murdered, and the one she had deprived of much ability to protect himself against the Violet Thorn. The guy who had casually gifted her a wonderful slice of cheesecake, now in such a mess.

  Tatyana again had to suppress a scream of pure frustration.

  She passed several seconds like that, but whining would not allow her to rest easy, only making up for her mistakes would. With a clear goal in her mind once more, she focused on the armory’s door.

  No other people approached the building for several minutes, and only a single person, one of the instructors from the General’s demonstration, had come out. Sparing him a brief glance, she may have recognized him from a few news articles, checked either by her or Klo. Waal-Svelten or something? She did not care much, frankly.

  The uneventful, boring wait was fortunately not long at all. Around fifteen minutes, though it could have easily been a little less. The young man exited the armory with a unique expression, as if worn out mentally rather than physically. And now that she could focus on it properly, there were few things more obvious than the tells of his hidden injury.

  Just… whatever. It won’t help to dwell on that.

  Letting out a small, quiet sigh, Tatyana focused on something else, yet just as important. The youth approached his waiting friend, the content of their conversation just barely eluding her ears. He lifted up the weapon case soon after, approaching the lock area with a hand that likely held its key.

  Tatyana reacted quickly, scuttling over to the side, rather than closer. All she needed was a different angle to finally confirm that the weapon in the case was indeed a shortsword. One of comparable dimensions and shape to that she had seen last night in Nemesis’ hand.

  The girl’s eyes unconsciously drooped, slightly but noticeably. A complicated expression reaching all the way to her lips, tightening to one side, she continued looking at the chatting young men with a more troubled focus.

  So it really is him…?

  Still, even her damaged concentration was enough for the moment. One in which she noticed those expressive gray eyes of his widening as they stumbled across her location.

  Shit!

  Tatyana stepped back and to the side, scuttling across any structures that could mask even small parts of her body. It should have been enough, as she had not delayed her use of sorcery in the slightest.

  A different pattern drawn by each hand, one gathering large amounts of prana to muddle the detail visible beyond a certain distance, the other steadily dispersing that prana in a transparent ‘haze’ to shroud the silhouettes that remained. With the assistance of just some benches, plant life and the nearby buildings, an effective concealing ‘curtain’ was quickly formed.

  The composite spell required constant upkeep, which would have been rather annoying to maintain if the youth’s attention was not grabbed again by his friend. Apparently making excuses to him with a troubled expression, he seemed unable to relocate Tatyana even as he tried again, in a more conscious, surreptitious manner.

  Tatyana breathed out with her eyes briefly closed. Her action was certainly reflexive and rough, but it was effective enough. Having dealt with the volatile issue, she looked back at the two teenagers as they began walking away. Naturally, she moved in the same direction, all the while maintaining a safe, slightly longer distance and only modestly relaxing her concealment spell.

  She had not taken over three steps when she stopped, stiff as soon as she started on the fourth. Or rather, she was made to stop, and instead of just stiff, it would have been more fitting to describe her as ‘frozen’.

  For a simplistic explanation on the art of sorcery, it consisted of using one’s trained regulators, microscopic organelles responsible for safely filtering the prana that was omnipresent in the environment, to manipulate and transform that same substance in order to produce various effects. Generally, this meant that if several sorcerers were in the same area, they would be drawing on the same resource pool.

  Different places in the world tended to have varying amounts of prana density, with some specific ones tending toward troublesome extremes. But as a general rule, prana was thoroughly abundant, which was why humans evolved regulators in the first place. It also made the ‘drying out’ of ambient prana the least relevant concern to any sorcerer, if they even thought of it at all in the first place.

  All this to say that with the resource being ‘shared’, it was possible to become aware of another person manipulating nearby prana at the same time.

  This was quite difficult before prana was transformed, owing to its mostly indistinct basic qualities and sheer quantity, and a skilled sorcerer could further obscure their use of it. But despite that, although Tatyana did not specialize as a sensor and her focus was entirely elsewhere, she still felt it.

  Almost like a blade pressed to her neck, causing her to not only stop on her tracks, but even hold in her breath for several seconds.

  … what… what is he…?

  It was sharp, dense, and almost cold. Slight but undeniable nervousness running down her body, she focused her attention beyond the spell she maintained, pinpointing the source of such an ominous influence. Her spell’s fluidity faltered, forced to restart its harmonious pattern as she noticed the almost jagged, razor-like prana converging around the small and lithe youth with brown hair. The partner of the boy she had been focusing on.

  If there was something Tatyana was surprised by, it was not that he had noticed her presence. Neither that he remained aware of such even after she made an effort to further conceal herself, or even that the amassed prana was aimed at such a precise estimate of her location.

  Instead, by only noticing once the metaphysical blade’s point was thrust before her, she figured that all of the aforementioned had happened without her being aware in the slightest.

  When did he even…!?

  Maybe when the other youth saw her briefly? The reaction tipped him off? … No. If that had been the case, then he would not have been able to target her so precisely. He had to have noticed her before, without a single tell, and Tatyana none the wiser.

  And considering that to be the case, it would not have been a wild guess to say that he could make his use of prana much less obvious, shaping a threatening spell that she could only react to post-launch.

  So he’s warning me…?

  Tatyana frowned, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the steadily departing backs. However, she did not resume her approach.

  I’m on your side, dick! Or at least I think so. Covering for your pal? I’m trying to do the same here!

  It would have been a lie to say she did not feel insulted. So much concern and effort devoted to helping out, to atone for her mistake, only for this random guy to assume she was the threat!?

  … I guess with what he knows, though, that’d be the most reasonable idea.

  Still, she also felt slightly relaxed knowing that someone else was also watching out for the youth, even if she was not around. It lifted some weight off her chest, almost enough to consider thanking him in some way, communicating through the prana they both shared.

  ‘Consider’ being the key word.

  Nonetheless, she received some comfort. Some much-needed tranquility to continue on with the next stage.

  I swear if you make me regret this…

  Sparing a final glance back at the bantering young men as she began to turn, Tatyana promptly reinvigorated her concealment spell as she retreated. Making use of the time she had left before Klo found her, she traveled back home slightly tense, yet more committed than ever.

  Klo had the advantage of a car, but booking a cab via her phone neutralized that with only a few minutes delay and a price that may have been a little too high for one trip. Then again, running and leaping across the city in broad daylight would bring more problems than it was worth, considering her concealment spell was much weaker when hiding something in motion. Thus, the taxi was still the best option.

  Tatyana whispered a satisfied ‘yes!’ upon noticing she had arrived first at the apartment, despite the few setbacks. Entering her room, door closed right behind as she began to undress, she laid out clothes to change into without paying much attention.

  Maybe the smartest choice would be to go to Concert next? I don’t really know when his shift begins, but it shouldn’t be too far from now. Worst case I can just wait there until evening.

  A light purple sleeveless top under a navy-blue turtleneck, coupled with similarly dark jeans. She changed out of her uniform with her mind elsewhere, barely remembering to put on something warmer than what she had chosen yesterday.

  Rather, her focus was on what she would even say after arriving, trying to discuss a very important, yet definitely strange topic out of the blue. Let alone the fact that she barely knew the guy, would have to explain how she even figured this much out, and also prepare for his reaction to being approached by the girl who had just pierced his gut...

  …

  …….

  Suddenly, just taking the first steps out of her bedroom, let alone when she had to exit the building itself, and then travel all the way to the bistro felt so intensely weird.

  Why didn’t I think of this before? It’s going to be sooo awkward, ugh…

  An erratic expression on her face, it took Tatyana a solid breath and flexing of her interlocked fingers to feel ready. Even then, she could not exit the room.

  Only this time, her embarrassment over the whole issue had nothing to do with it.

  Her hand simply could not turn the knob. Far from it being stuck or broken, it was like some invisible, yet almost solid ‘barrier’ just barely prevented her from even touching it. It was as if space itself had been removed and replaced with a coating of ‘void’ she could not interact with, let alone reach through. Even when she tried to push the door itself open, the same phenomenon stopped her a millimeter or so away from touching it.

  To say Tatyana was confused would have been an understatement, though her eyes only widened in surprise for a split second, before being completely overcome by an anger expressed by not just her face, but her whole body.

  “Klo, you bitch!”

  “Whine all you want. You still have access to your bathroom and plenty of snacks I prepared, so you’ll be staying there until Alyssa and Alexander get here, even if it takes a couple of days.”

  Why was she even surprised that she was already there, right outside the locked door? She should have known that Klo could cast a concealment spell as well, probably even better than her own.

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  “You know what? Fuck this. You should know better than anyone else that you’ll need more than a sturdy barrier to set me back!”

  The surrounding prana rustled and spiraled like embers in the wind, causing her ponytail and loose edges on her clothes to flutter. The room’s temperature increased dangerously from one moment to another, though no harm came to Tatyana or her surroundings.

  For the moment.

  “That quickly? Aren’t you at least going to try to convince me to let you out?” Klo’s voice sounded oddly unimpressed.

  “We argued enough about this last night! If you’re just going to stick to your bullshit, I’ll give you the time it takes me to blast this damn thing away!” Tatyana shouted as she stood with her feet at shoulder width from each other, right hand extended before her and left tightened into a fist.

  It would be fine. Plenty of force would be offset by the barrier itself, so Klo should be able to easily dispel the remainder. Even knowing that, Tatyana waited for a moment after her attack was ready, giving her friend enough time to undo the spell.

  One second, two seconds…

  What is she even thinking?

  … Five seconds in which she saw no signs of the barrier weakening at all, or even heard an attempt in words to deescalate the situation.

  Nothing happened, but she knew Klo was still standing right outside. As if goading her, silently saying she would not go ahead with it.

  … you stubborn fucking… Fine then!

  She thought too little of her in that case.

  Quickly enough to be almost anti-climactic, the condensed prana burst in a searing flash of silver, aimed right at the door.

  It had been strong and bright enough to momentarily blind Tatyana herself, but she knew something was wrong even before she could see its actual result. With this sort of spell and its intended effect, it was so very strange to not feel even some trembling in the room, but that was exactly the case. No extra effort was needed to maintain her balance, and she did not hear her thermos, desk lamp or anything else of the sort falling over due to the shockwave.

  When normal lighting returned to the room, nothing looked different, except for Tatyana’s now astonished face. An expression she would have likely maintained for a couple more seconds, if not for Klo’s words.

  “I really wish I could see your face right now.”

  The perfect fit of her taunts, this time, elicited enough rage to drown out any possible embarrassment.

  “Just when did you construct something like this!?”

  “Last night, of course. You were gone and done with my input after I said I would contact A&A, sparing no attention to anything but your research, so it wasn’t difficult to lay it down right outside your door. Annoyingly long, sure, but still pretty easy. Just needed a few final touches today, which was no issue with you ditching me and all~.”

  This was not the first time Tatyana cursed her negligence, but it was certainly one to remember.

  It sounded stupid even to her, but she had taken her own statement of Klo’s inability to hold her off for granted, and overly focused on the people she could ask for help. Thought Klo would just leave it all to them.

  Sure, it would have been extremely difficult for the elf to keep Tatyana away from something, provided the latter tried her utmost. However, that was only in the moment, for a conflict that developed and concluded quickly.

  But what if she had several hours to act? To prepare and add layer upon layer to a complex, set spell? In that case, things were far different, and nothing was certain.

  Tatyana had not gone all out in her attempt to break the barrier, of course. But if the amount of power previously used had failed to even crack it, there was little doubt it would firmly endure an unrestrained shot, even if it was brought to its limits.

  There was no way around it. Klo had outmatched her.

  “For fuck’s sake, this is important! A good person could get crippled or worse, and I can stop it!”

  “You think you can stop it. And if I have to choose between a stranger or my friend getting hurt, then I’ll feel bad for them, but I’m choosing you every time. Still, as you said, we have argued enough about this.”

  No give at all. It did not matter if she spent a minute or a whole day trying to convince her; Klo’s decision was set in stone.

  “Let me go already!”

  A second spell impacted the barrier at the door. Then a third, a fourth… a ninth. The only noticeable effects were blurry afterimages as she blinked, and the growing ache of casting sorcery without breaks.

  Tatyana let out a heavy breath, a severe frown on her face worsening even more as she stomped off toward her bed, kicking at the barrier in frustration. Needless to say, no progress was made with that either.

  She buried her face in her hands, riddled with frustration she could not even properly vent out. Time was running out, each minute that passed being one minute closer to the Violet Thorn’s possible move. One that could very well make hell of this youth’s life, if not end it outright. Last time she had seen him, he was in the company of a friend who seemed to care quite much, but just how much could he do? That friend had not managed to help him with dangerous accidents over the last few months, with criminals such as Scar-Tail… nor with Tatyana herself.

  She knew she was very capable. No excitement was felt from the faculty’s praise during that test, the possibility that Klo could actually hold her off did not even cross her mind, and even a completely unexpected threat had merely angered her through its intention, rather than scaring her off as it was probably meant to do. Hell, without even being part of some law enforcement group, how many people would just jump in and attack an apparent powered criminal, without knowing anything about them?

  Tatyana did not feel a sliver of doubt in any of those moments, as she knew better than anyone just what she was capable of. And despite that, she could never avoid tripping up on the most elementary of things, using the talent she was undeniably proud of in the clumsiest, most laughable of ways.

  Now, an awkward, yet virtuous person was in danger of paying that toll on her behalf.

  It was infuriating. Irrational. Unfair. Just what was the use of talent in such irresponsible hands? When it led to little more than empty honors on her end, and undeserved problems for others? If things like this kept happening, was she even cut out for…

  … what am I even thinking? I’m smarter than this.

  Indeed, just wallowing like that, a trap that so many people often fell into, lent itself to ultimately stupid thoughts. Tatyana could do better than that, and it was honestly embarrassing that she almost got caught up in such nonsense.

  Her ability, coupled with her recklessness and impatience, did cause quite a bit of trouble, but that was in the past. What mattered now was only if she could fix things and take responsibility for her blunder. Nothing else.

  What was the problem with that? It was nothing beyond her means. After all, she knew just how capable she was.

  Klo constructed the bulk of this barrier last night, and quite painstakingly so to make sure I wouldn’t notice, even as distracted as I was. But if she built it up right outside the door, as she said, isn’t it possible the side by the window could be just a tad weaker?

  Tatyana’s hands had long since left her face, revealing a pair of turquoise eyes so focused they may have looked scary to some. Standing back up from the bed, she walked across the room and examined every nook and cranny of the barrier. Piece by piece, layer by layer.

  The spell was powerful, sturdy and complex. Truly, it was an exceptional obstacle to confront, but a mere obstacle nonetheless.

  Water would break past stone, and a lion would bite through its chains. So what if Klo had planned this all out, and dedicated entire hours of spell work to make something that could truly lock Tatyana up? She would still shatter it to bits.

  After all, she had important responsibilities to attend to.

  But how does it endure so many spells, one after the other? No matter how strong it is, it should have at least peeled away somewhat. Even if not enough to fall apart, enough for me to notice.

  Once again, Tatyana formed an attack spell and shot it toward the barrier. She may have overheard Klo sighing in part sympathy and part frustration, but did not pay her any further mind. In fact, she was not even looking at the time on her cellphone anymore, being completely engrossed in the task at hand instead.

  For a second time, Tatyana held back the amount of strength in her spell, though for a different reason now. Without exerting herself in a futile attempt to tear the barrier down through brute force, she instead focused her senses on the surrounding prana, searching for hints on the barrier’s workings.

  Hints which she found rather quickly, and managed to confirm soon after.

  Huh… so it absorbs prana from the outside in response to force applied from the inside, both to strengthen itself and to repair any damage, no matter how minuscule. I’ve also been able to keep casting without any signs of running out, so it must still be permeable to prana, at least somewhat.

  Tatyana looked outside the window. The sky steadily becoming darker, she suppressed any thoughts on the matter. Klo had done an extraordinary job by all means, so she could not spare any attention on distractions until the magic prison she had found herself in was dealt with.

  It would take stamina, attention to detail, patience, and most of all: time. Even more than the already considerable amount she had spent on tests and planning. But as many inconveniences as she had to wade through, she now had a ‘lockpick’ to work with.

  Tatyana breathed in and out, taking a proper position as she ignited the prana in her surroundings yet again. Right hand extended before her, a steady and dense stream of silver flames flew toward the barrier on the window’s side of the room.

  The spell hit the barrier, dissipating soon after contact without causing any real damage to it. However, Tatyana’s expression did not change as she continued casting, the silver fire continuously rushing forth like a heavy, yet focused flamethrower.

  A minute, five minutes, twenty minutes, even more hours had passed without Tatyana letting up on the assault, only occasionally switching the hand being extended to help guide the spell. And even after that much time, not a single crack, no matter how small, remained in the barrier.

  Still, Tatyana could not have cared less. Not out of arrogant dismissal, nor even out of stubbornness. Rather, virtually all her focus laid on the minuscule, pore-like gaps in the barrier. Openings that allowed fittingly sized fragments of her spell to pass through, before seeping past the small gaps around the window as well.

  Tiny and insignificant as these dregs were on their own, Tatyana retained full control of them and sent them farther away, even as the barrier tried to pull them back, toward a rooftop well beyond one hundred meters away. Far from the barrier’s reach, in more than just distance.

  Weak, scattered and small as they are, it’s completely different to try and absorb formed spells rather than raw prana, isn’t it~?

  Tatyana smirked, almost as if to forget the strain she was going through.

  Ache, exhaustion, and more. Having to maintain the integrity of what could be called countless individual spells, let alone control them all from such a distance, was overwhelming. All of the same type and only needing a very basic, rough structure, but despite that, the experience was akin to consciously handling individual raindrops.

  Still, it was probably thanks to that uniformity that such a move could be pulled off. That, and the fact that since a good while ago, the overall number of spell fragments became static, with negligible increases unable to trouble her focus. After some more time, the overall number was instead decreasing.

  Tatyana’s anticipation was so much that if the circumstances were different, she might have made a small pattern mistake at some crucial point in the process. But this time, the nearly worthless dregs of prana converged smoothly, spiraling alongside each other as they melded and formed something greater, stronger and more stable.

  A spell of equal, if not greater quality to any she had cast within her prison, but shaped well outside of it.

  A barrier made to, above anything else, contain me. It can stop almost anything I throw at it, but only from the inside. The outside, made to absorb prana and increase the inside’s strength, shouldn’t be nearly as sturdy. Even if the window side is not any lesser in its construction…

  Spell fragments continued to seep through the barrier, the stream of flames showing no signs of stopping. Even so, Tatyana relaxed greatly. Those she was controlling, the ones relevant to the construction of her extra spell, had run out.

  … I have more than enough to pierce right through!

  Visible even inside her room, far away as the silvery-white comet was, only a simple beckoning gesture from her left hand was needed. As if it had been waiting for that, the spear-like blaze streaked right toward her, violently illuminating the nighttime landscape.

  Around the same time that Klo made her presence known again…

  “…! No! Wait jus—!”

  … with quite a satisfactorily panicked voice. She was too late.

  Tatyana increased the strength of her flamethrower spell even more, as the impact drew nearer. As a result, the barrier’s absorption efforts would grow proportionately stronger. Attempting to draw in and assimilate as much prana as was needed to withstand the current opposition, while incidentally drawing in that which it could not assimilate.

  Propelled not only by its own strength and Tatyana’s control, but also the barrier’s absorption, the spell made a marvelously destructive landing.

  Blinding lights raged, shattering sounds echoed, and tremors powerful enough to likely reach the whole building and a little more were felt. The effects had yet to completely vanish, when Tatyana noticed the prana composing the whole window side of the barrier dissipating like dust in the air, as well as her completely broken away window, with many cracks running through her wall all the way to the corners.

  All in all, it was an amount of damage she could deal with later. But for now, she had a ‘superhero’ to save.

  Slipping into her calf-length boots to complete the outfit she had picked out so many hours ago, Tatyana rushed past any possible last-ditch efforts on Klo’s part. With a strong step on her room’s floor turned into a minefield of glass, the next step was on her window’s base.

  Not a second later, she had leapt out and into the night.

  “Hey, Noelle!”

  “Hm? Well, someone’s frantic. To what do we owe two days in a row~?”

  Le Petit Concert’s red-headed manager answered casually, looking away from a different waitress from the one Tatyana had briefly spoken to last night. The frustration in the employee’s face elicited sympathy, but she could spare no words on the matter in the current circumstances.

  Tatyana hurried in, utterly unconcerned with the nearby diners or employees as she spoke up.

  “I need to talk to that waiter guy.”

  “… You’ll have to be a little more specific, girl.”

  The ponytailed brunette almost bit back by reflex, but she restrained herself with her hands at her waist and nothing more than a tongue click.

  “Look, he’s like… a waiter and a cook too, right? Big gray eyes… Oh! He’s a knight cadet too.”

  Despite Noelle seemingly not paying much attention, her eyes did show her understanding as Tatyana continued speaking.

  “You mean Edmond?”

  “I guess? He gave me that cheesecake you left for me.”

  But on her next words, the exact opposite of understanding had taken hold of Noelle’s expression in an almost comical manner.

  “Cheesecake I left for you? You’re cool, but that doesn’t sound like something I’d do. My desserts are mine.”

  “… Huh?”

  Such confusion reached Tatyana herself, who still remembered the moment she got that cheesecake clearly. Glancing aside toward the serving area near the kitchen, she caught a glimpse of the cook with the scarred lip, who had apparently been watching the exchange between Noelle and her with an amused grin since some time ago, before walking back to whatever business he had pending.

  That was also quite weird, but she had no time to ponder about it.

  “Okay, whatever. Knight cadet guy, waiter and cook. Can I talk to him?”

  “Edmond’s not here. He’s feeling sick enough that he ditched a house party with the others.”

  “… Ah… I see…”

  She should have expected something of the sort, but hearing it directly still felt like a tried-and-true kick to the stomach. After all, Tatyana knew very well just what, or who, had kept Edmond away from not only work, but a fun get-together as well.

  As if the shame was not enough, her worries somehow managed to intensify. If he had been working, it meant he was in a very public place that could possibly deter the Violet Thorn’s offensive, at least for some time. But if he was resting over at his place, depending on where it was, it could very well be an area they would not care about messing up.

  This is bad, I’m near the end of my leads. If this is how things are, then there’s little else I can do other than…

  Realization came to Tatyana’s mind without much turmoil.

  … beat the Violet Thorn myself.

  If they had not attacked yet, there was the option to strike first and hard, delivering a clear message to make them stop, or at least forcing the Thorns to regroup and reconsider their plans.

  She did not have many resources to play with, but the gang’s higher ups were well-known Unmasked, which meant she knew who to target and only needed to find them. A task much easier said than done, but quite doable.

  Maybe I should start from the bottom? Between the police’s website and that forum, I can probably find some places they tend to do their business at. So long as I can find at least one of their grunts, I’ll get leads to someone of higher standing, and if I keep at it…

  “So, what do you even need him for?”

  Tatyana knew what her next step should be, but Noelle’s interruption of her thoughts was still slightly bothersome.

  “… Forget it. I’ll just come here tomorrow or some other day.” She replied, already turning around and on her way out.

  “Look, this seems important. I’m not asking as his boss, but as a friend. What’s going on?” Noelle insisted with a tone not often heard from her.

  In fact, it was unusual enough for Tatyana to stop her walk and turn back to her with a sharp look. Serious eyes, brows furrowed, but with a confident half-grin.

  “I’ll be fully honest, you can’t help much with this, but I’ll take care of it all. Don’t worry about anything, and Edmond will be back before you know it.”

  Noelle frowned, her eyes uniquely troubled as she put both hands in her pockets. Uncomfortable enough to be obvious not only to Tatyana, but seemingly the nearby employees as well, her lips parted again.

  “He’s a great cook, so he better be.”

  As Tatyana’s motivation roused even more, her half-grin became a full-blown smile. The best she could currently pull off to comfort a worried person.

  Turning back around, she exited the bistro and picked up an incomparably faster pace right after. Her muscles relaxed, allowing the prana in the air to flow through them as she jumped onto the roof of a neighboring building. Then another, and one more, following onto increasingly taller rooftops from which she could scout the city better.

  There were no distractions, nor any whims to satisfy base curiosity. Tatyana’s search the past night had been deliberate and thought out, but this was on another level. Striding across buildings in the dark, she coated the vicinity of her phone in a protective air sorcery as she took it out.

  She recalled quite a bit from her research, but getting a reminder so she would not miss out on any possibly useful details was vital. She had marked all websites and sources that seemed of any value, then reviewed them one by one. There was hardly any delay between the information being acknowledged and action being taken in response, and with each landmark covered and spot or event she was made aware of, logical reasoning and common sense derived extra leads to be used.

  Overall, it was still a very long and tedious process. Not only was there no guarantee that any of the places would still be frequented, or even that they were particularly important to the Violet Thorn in the first place. But for the spots she thought of on her own, they were conclusions based on surface-level information with little chance of being fully accurate.

  Ultimately, it was not Tatyana’s research that allowed her to take the final step she needed, at least not entirely. Rather, it was an arguable mistake on part of the Violet Thorn themselves, more specifically their methodology and habits.

  From what little Klo had told her, gangs lived lives of constant competition. Not with law enforcement officials, whom they would generally avoid whenever possible, but with each other and, most of all, the common people. The former presented problems through differing ways of thinking and limiting business potential, while the latter were the business potential when buying, paying tribute and so on.

  This meant that usually, most gangs were not precisely itching to get on their next violent spree. Such frequent fighting led to heavy loss of resources, ranging from people and capital to merchandise and operating materials. Deficits of that sort would be crippling to any organization, especially a business and doubly so for one running illegally. Not to consider the potential harm to their reputation should conflicts go in a less than stellar manner.

  However, it was that same aspect of reputation that the core of the competition was built on. Rather than fight directly whenever they could, gangs would instead fight through intimidation in the news, popular knowledge and rumors. The Unmasked were a product of that sort of culture, one that worked extremely well not only to keep rivals cautious or even drive them away, but also to make the people, buyers who supported the business, obey and provide.

  Nevertheless, mere horror tales could only go so far. Without a solid root to their intimidation efforts, a gang would not only fail to support itself, but it likely would not even form. Naturally, two things were needed: a number, even if relatively small, of actually frightening deeds, and people to have witnessed or experienced them to serve as verification.

  Successful gangs chose places to ‘show off’ with proper attention and care, making sure they would not be heavily patrolled by the police and that there was some vulnerability to exploit, either in a rival’s control or the people living there. Only then would they get to work, with a strict grasp on their available time as they would not make any real effort to hide their activities.

  Tatyana was not particularly concerned with gangs even in a city so attractive to them as Seyfelt, but she at least knew this much from talking to Klo. Therefore, while she had no insight into the current status of criminal power struggles, she was aware of places that were or had been patrolled less frequently by law enforcement.

  All in all, even if it had taken her well over an hour, the search field she had to be mainly concerned with had shrunk tremendously. And with so many other factors converging, working in unison and layering upon one another, she finally noticed something abnormal, worthy of enough attention to stop her run in a manner that was anything but smooth.

  Even the purely physical effects of whatever was taking place reached Tatyana, far as she was. Echoes of crumbling concrete, rising smoke, visible debris alongside dust and rising heat, all clearly noticed from hundreds of meters away. It was largely unnecessary to feel for the ripples in neighboring prana, as doing so merely made Tatyana’s stress grow beyond what could be calmly thought through.

  Whatever was going on, just from the powers involved, exceeded her expectations by a wide margin. She doubted even the very unusual direct conflicts grew to this extent often, and considering the nearby area’s lacking police attention, the most likely sources were either a battle between different gangs, or something worse.

  This is beyond nasty.

  Tatyana condensed power in her body and leapt, approaching the epicenter of the destruction with a frantic pace as she landed and ran from roof to wall and another roof. It took barely any time for her to freeze in shock once more, in mind as much as body.

  She saw the body, flung across the air like a torn doll on a rope.

  She saw the head of disheveled gray hair covered in soot, the hooded sweatshirt that had previously kept it hidden now turned to sparse rags.

  She saw the other man, large and ferocious like a beast, rushing the youth who had just barely broken free of the line holding him.

  Tatyana reacted as fast as she could with an attempt to protect him. A basic barrier, a simple shockwave or some other deterrent to the strike about to take place. Anything. But even she was not fast enough, barely able to gather the needed prana when the monstrous man’s fist-like claw made contact.

  The sound was dry, unassuming and without extravagance, and yet its echo was almost painful to simply be in the range of. Window-cracking waves spread quickly and were felt even by Tatyana on the rooftop, but they were trivial compared to the boy who had just been struck, now flying through the long street in the blink of an eye.

  He hit a building without being able to do anything. Glass shattered and the wall was breached, followed by any other obstacles inside and then the wall on the other side, smashed to pieces in much the same way after which he fell and rolled on the pavement, all the way to the end of the next street.

  Tatyana panicked, running in the same direction atop the buildings after failing to shield him. She witnessed it clearly, in such detail as to be unable to deny the reality of events that would not be out of place in some messed up movie.

  The boy was not moving anymore.

  Inert, without even twitching, Tatyana could not help but wonder if he might already be gone, a possibility that struck her body in way she would have taken a lightning bolt over.

  The beastly man, alongside his three fellows, approached through the recent hole in the building. Even after this much, they were still unsatisfied. No matter how lifeless their enemy looked, they would confirm his death beyond any doubt.

  That, or something even worse. If he happened to still be alive, or just by having his body, there was so much they could still do and had done to make an example. To make others fear and respect them.

  Disgusting.

  The night was freezing, but Tatyana’s body was boiling. She let loose, her influence reaching prana beyond a kilometer away, even if tenuously. Her spell capacity reaching beyond anything she had needed since moving to Seyfelt, she still reached for something other than sorcery.

  A different circuit, channeled in a unique way. Tatyana extended her hand to the side, ready to take hold of something that had yet to appear.

  Her thoughts had lost any complexity, but it did not matter in the slightest. Furious as she was, she still knew what she had to do. And for the first of those things, such anger would not impede her in any way.