A short while before the laboratory collapsed.

“Mister Lorson, we’ve already begun the preparations. The operation shouldn’t take more than an hour, please wait here.”

As Olivia and Anthony needed to keep this agreement under tight wraps, William made use of his vast wealth to build a laboratory in the basement of a recently-renovated house South of the Sunken Metropolis. The neighborhood was peaceful and relatively empty, thus making it the best spot to conduct such an illegal matter.

William and Jacob were both presents, along with a few of their subordinates. As for the married scientists, they came alone and didn’t seem worried that someone might interrupt their work or barge in.

After exchanging a few words with the ever-solemn William Lorson, they swiftly returned to the laboratory.

Meanwhile, the head of the Lorson household stood on the small lawn of the house.

He was like a robot, motionless and silent as he patiently waited. As for his eldest son, Jacob, he kept pacing around, half-restless and half-impatient.

“Shouldn’t we keep an eye on them, father?”

“No need. They are professionals and wouldn’t try anything against me. After all, they seemed pretty desperate to receive my funding.”

“...”

Unlike his father, Jacob was very mistrustful and not even William’s reassurance was enough to quell his doubts and suspicions.

Unbeknownst to the father-son duo, an invisible agent of the Department of Defense was eyeing them from a safe distance.

Katrina wanted to follow Zeke into the laboratory, however, the house was enveloped in a highly-advanced detection array, sustained by a sizeable quantity of Aether. Although she was confident in sneaking in undetected, there was a low probability of getting discovered later on.

Her objective was secure Zeke and get him out safely, which wouldn’t be possible if she remained invisible the whole time. Even if she were to succeed, William and Jacob would be outside to intercept her escapade.

For that reason, Agent Katrina put her focus on the duo outside of the house, specifically Jacob.

William was someone out of her league, a distinguished powerhouse that not even Edward could face right now. Jacob, on the other hand, was on the same ‘level’ as her, and since he wasn’t alerted of her presence, an attempt to assassinate him had a big chance of succeeding.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

By eliminating Jacob Lorson, William would fly into a rage and pursue her relentlessly, which was to be expected. She would lead him away from this place while her colleagues, or ex-colleagues, would take care of Zeke. She had already sent an emergency signal, and she was certain that Edward could respond immediately. Whether he would come alone or with his subordinates was unknown, nevertheless, he was strong enough to manage the armed and weak bodyguard guarding the interior of the house.

After she went through the plan more than five times, Katrina began preparing herself and stabilizing her breathing. Two glistening silver blades appeared in her invisible hands as she leaned forward and bent her knees ever-so-slightly, her body facing Jacob and William.

‘I need to finish it with one strike. William won’t let me attack a second time.’

An astronomical amount of Aether was channeled from her magical blades to the rest of her body and vice-versa, strengthening her senses and boosting her agility.

She waited as time crept by, and when an opportunity had finally presented itself, she shot forward like a lightning bolt.

In the blink of an eye, she crossed the relatively big distance separating her from the target; Her blades were crisscrossed and extended forward as her invisibility was canceled when she was close enough.

Everything was perfect and as she had predicted. Jacob’s back was in front of her and her blades were about to pierce him and end his life. However, out of the blue, William grabbed his son from the side and activated his ability, causing ominous and ink-like black flames to erupt, clashing with Katrina.

While William’s flames slowed her down for half a breath, it wasn’t completely successful as Katrina half-turned his body, avoiding the flames and then slashing with the crisscrossed blades.

Jacob, who haven’t noticed a thing and was surprised by his father’s sudden movement, only realized the danger when it was too late. When he snapped out of the shock, his body was blown a couple of meters to the back, blood gushing out of his severed left arm, which had fallen right next to him.

“Aaahhhh!”

The agonizing pain made him cry out loud, his face turning as white as a sheet of paper. He was in no condition to retaliate or do anything, his back leaning to the side as he fell to the ground and continued shouting.

As for William, he let out an angry grunt and moved both hands, trying to get hold of the elusive Katrina. Alas, her body turned blurry and only her after-image was left, moreover, she left more things in her wake.

Three spinning grenades landed near William, who wasn’t able to dodge or react in time as they exploded right into his face.

Of course, standard grenades of such a caliber weren’t able to injure William, but they did destroy the nearby walls of the house and blow Jacob even further away.

Instead of continuing her assault, Katrina immediately sprung into a dash, running away from the scene. As expected, the disheveled William was right on her tail, unleashing one gigantic ball of black flames after the other.

On the burning yawn of the house, Jacob groaned and tried to stand up using his remaining arm only to hear a ticking sound. He instinctively turned his head and saw another bomb, one stuck to the crumbling wall with a red timer on it.

“Shi-”

This explosion was bigger than all the rest, so much so that his body was sent flying till it crashed to the concrete ground of the street. A dangerous amount of blood was profusely gushing out of his left shoulder, making him dizzy and incapable of amassing Aether, much less using his ability.