Twenty minutes later, Kane and Luna were sitting next to each other, with legs crossed, and eyes closed. Neither of them was currently armed, as their weapons were stored in the storage rings around their fingers. 

Kane had turned the light from CyberStrap off, so they were currently drowning in darkness. They were still in front of the closed blast door, waiting for the bandit leadership to arrive in a likely attempt to restore order. 

Suddenly, the pair was disturbed by a sound reverberating through their surroundings. 

creak 

Instantly, they both opened their eyes and smirked. It was the same sound they heard when Kane first inched the door of the ground. 

Unsurprisingly, they saw the door lifted ever so slightly in the air, causing some light to spill from the other side. 'I guess they brought light with them,' Kane grumbled inwardly. 'Not unexpected, but still a shame.' 

Immediately after the door was lifted of the ground, a thin tile of some sort was wedged in the gap, before the door sagged down, now resting on the tile. 

Voice leaked through from the other side.  

"Fuck these things are heavy!" one male, gruff voice cursed, panting slightly. "My arms are starting to hurt. How many does this make, anyway, and how many do we still have to go?!" 

"Hell if I know," another male voice grumbled. This one was higher, and grated the ears. "But I do know one thing: whoever's responsible for this crap is getting their spine torn out…" 

Then, a female voice interjected, her tone annoyed, "Please keep the macho idiot act to yourself. Why don't we discuss why this door already had its mechanism unlocked, huh?!" 

The first voice snarled back, "Oh, shut it Aelia! You're not the one who has to lift these things!" 

The second voice followed up with a perverted chuckle, "Exactly! How about you use your strengths as a woman to make this task easier for us, huh?" 

But Aelia wasn't deterred. "How about I shove your own dick up your arse, Ian?! That's the only action you'll get from me, you degenerate mistake!" she sneered back at him. 

"You bitch—" Ian began, but was interrupted by the first voice, roaring, "Shut it, both of you!" 

When the voices quickly quieted down following this voice's order, Kane immediately decided that this one was likely to be the leader of the group. 

After a moment of silence, the gruff first voice sounded satisfied, "Good. Aelia, I don't know why the door was already unlocked, but we'll find out soon enough. Ian, let's go again." 

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Without any more complaints, the door started creaking again. For the next few minutes, they continued increasing the stack under the door, slowly opening the door further. Meanwhile, Kane and Luna closed their eyes again, continuing with what they were doing as they waited for them to finish. 

Slowly, the light that came through the crack increased the illumination of Kane and Luna's corridor, until a pair of blue eyes peaked through the crack. Just above those eyes was something akin to a headlight, which shone a light on  the meditating duo. 

Immediately a fourth voice, a female one, made a confused sound, "Uuuuh…" 

"What is it?" the boss growled in an annoyed tone. 

"T— There's a human and beastling sitting there, boss…" the fourth voice muttered softly, a little meekly. "I can't see their faces too well yet, but I think they're the ones who escaped, based on the short video we saw." 

"What?!" multiple voices cried out from the other side. "Let me see!" 

Suddenly, the pair of blue eyes was joined by several more. 

"They're meditating…" Aelia muttered in surprise. Then she yelled, "Hey! What did you do to the others?!" 

Ian's approach on the other hand, was far less subtle. He screamed furiously, "Look at them! They're not even armed! Listen up you two, I suggest you two start running now, because I'll turn you into mince meat when I get to you!" 

"Are you really giving them suggestions?!" the fourth voice exclaimed with disbelief. 

But the pair kept their eyes closed as they continued training, completely ignoring the bandit leadership trying to reach them. 

Before anyone else could speak up, the boss snarled again, "They're clearly overconfident and ignoring us. Let's just keep opening this door, and show them how wrong they are to underestimate us. The rest of you, prepare to fight!" 

Inch by inch, the door was opened further. The bandits were surprisingly quiet, and the atmosphere grew tenser by the moment, but Kane and Luna seemed unaffected. 

Another few minutes later, the door was finally open far enough for someone to duck through easily, and the bandits wasted no time. One man in particular released an intimidating roar, and charged through the gap at the Master and Valkyrie, hoping to catch them off-guard. 

He was a wolfling with red hair. His body appeared a little scrawny, but his aggression was high. Behind him, nine more people came through more cautiously. The boss's voice yelled after him, "Dammit, Ian! You fucking idiot! Come back here!" 

But he was far too late. Ian had all his cores at the fifth rank, and by the time the boss had finished his sentence, Ian's fist was already inches away from Kane's face.  

But that proved to be a fatal mistake. 

Kane's eyes snapped open, and his lips curled into a sneer. His head lurched to the side. His hand shot up. A light flashed. A ripping sound echoed, and blood splattered. 

Calmly, Kane and Luna stood up. In Kane's right hand was the hilt of his sword, the sharp edge of which was now sticking out of Ian's back, piercing his heart. 

Ian's face was filled with shock. He didn't even have the capacity to feel any pain. His mouth moved up and down as if trying to say something, but only a soft groan came out. Under the shocked eyes of the bandit leadership, Ian's life quickly slipped away. 

A mere two seconds passed between Ian's charge, and his death. No one had the time to react. 

Now standing, Kane slowly pulled his sword from the man's chest, an expression of calm detachment on his face. Ian sank to the ground, face first, and didn't get up again. 

Finally, the bandit's minds caught up to the events, but they didn't immediately attack. Instead, they all looked ahead with solemn caution as murmurs of shock resounded.  

Meanwhile, the man up front scowled, his face twisted in rage, he was barely able to keep calm. "What the fuck just happened?" he seethed. 

Calmly, Kane looked at the man below him, before looking back up at the leader of these people, and shrugged, "You lost one."