The sickening aura emanating from the blade gave Ravyn goosebumps.

…Just standing in front of me felt like I would be torn to pieces by his killing intent. This is Fowler the Rabid?...

The purple-haired girl didn’t think she’d encounter such a big threat this soon from searching for a hacker. She immediately touched her in-ear communicator two times for an emergency SOS signal. Then she turned around and ran away as fast as she could.

…I definitely can’t beat him right now…

*Schunk!*

A huge scythe cut through the building from upstairs, blocking the stairway that Ravyn was running down.

"How rude of you to ignore me like that."

That man with long unkempt hair followed behind the girl. Seeing that the confrontation could not be avoided, Ravyn stooped down to retrieve her weapon. But because of the terrifying aura that caused her body to react to that immense killing intent with non-stop shaking, Ravyn’s body movement is slower than it should have been. Fowler notices Ravyn’s resistance gesture and takes his action first.

*whoosh* *whoosh* *slice!*

Three short scythes were thrown at Ravyn’s right arm, which was about to grab her gun and both legs. There was only one blade that Ravyn could not dodge, and it slashed her outer thigh.

"Where do you think you’re going, hacker? Lock the vault in our boss’s affiliated bank and turn on your watchdog or whatever system that will drive those dirty gang rats back to their holes."

In this dimly lit abandoned building, Fowler, who approached Ravyn, didn’t know she wasn’t the troublemaker he was looking for. The purple-haired girl took the opportunity to pull the careless Fowler and throw him on the side of the blade that blocked her way down the stairs.

*crash!*

A large sickle's blade shattered across the floor.

"Hey, no one told me you could fight. You can still work with one of your arms cut off, right?!"

Fowler, whose head was covered in blood, turned to Ravyn, who couldn’t get away since he was holding onto the hem of her shirt.

…This is bad. If he recognized me, I might have been killed instantly…

Ravyn hurriedly thought as the upset Donkey executive held ten sickles in his other hand. But before he could take one step closer to the girl, a man fired an air projectile at Fowler and sent him backward. Putter, a lime-green-haired man in a brown AB trainee outfit, shows up.

######

Inside the mothership ‘Othello’, the location of the Airburst Headquarters, floating above the clouds…

A tall, slender, dark-brown-haired Jae in a leather jacket the same color as his hair walks past numerous sensors. At the same time, the blast doors of each sector slowly opened. He walked straight into a simple, modern-style office. A room with only white furniture and an exposed view of the surrounding sky.

"Hey old man, why did you cancel my in-depth background investigation order?"

Jae’s cobalt-colored eyes stare at the shadows of the only one facing backward. But that one kept sitting still on the chair and didn’t answer. Jae then asked further.

"There's a significant delay before information about Ravyn is sent to me, the one who invited her. What are you hiding from me?"

There is still no answer as if he was talking to a stone.

"Are you going to keep this up? Fine."

Jae turned his back and walked away impatiently. At once, the person, who had been silent until now, speaks.

"Where are you going?"

"Her deeper insights are in that room, aren’t they?"

Jae continued his footsteps until the other man shouted at him to stop.

"Fusen!! You are the leader of the protectors of 10 continents! Stop being silly about the trivial things and get out of here!"

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"I just want to know why First Kiss is with her."

The man in the jacket is still walking out.

"Pim told me that no one was allowed to delve into this matter.."

Until he heard a name that stopped him. The man in the shadow behind the chair then continued to speak.

"..Unless you sit here instead of me, I won’t be able to stop you."

"In your dreams."

Jae declined, then got back into the center of this white room.

"Hah"

That guy in the shadow proclaimed victory with a mocking laugh before smashing the armrest of the chair he was sitting on. Suddenly, a round-shaped shuttle containing both a parachute and a power source covers Jae and launches him down to his next mission area.

######

In an abandoned building…

"Aren't you that insect from Airburst? Tell me what you know about that hacker."

Fowler remembered Ravyn. She and Putter were transfixed by a large number of sickles around them.

…At this time, Idorund won’t be here to steal the limelight. But this guy is so strong that I can’t even show my coolness…

The green-haired Putter mused as Ravyn talked with Fowler.

"We too were lured here by her."

An unhelpful answer frustrates the unkempt-haired Donkey executive.

"You useless insects. If you insist on dying today,.."

Putter heard this and began to struggle. So Fowler stabbed him in the stomach with the sickle. Thankfully, Putter can smoothly avoid the lethal spot.

"Ah!"

Putter cried out loud and opened his mouth wide to maximize the angle of his jaw. Then he bit the rubber ball hidden in his mouth to bounce at the sickle that had locked Ravyn’s right hand off. That was swiftly followed by a headbutt at Fowler, but he was able to block that with the edge of his short scythe. Putter was also sensitive enough to stop himself at the sharp end. Only a tiny trickle of blood was flowing at the tip of his forehead.

"I really like it when my prey resists. It looks dumb.."

As Fowler didn't hear the stabbing sound, he then realized.

"Hmm, you could stop yourself in time… The Airburst’s trainees these days are really something. If it was a normal human reaction, half of my blade would have been in your brain. You have the talent to be an Airburst. But meet me here. You have no future."

"You’re the one who has to stop!"

Ravyn pointed her personal pistol at Fowler. Instead, he saw it as a very amusing endeavor.

"Haha..haha..hahahahaha.."

*bang!*

A blast of air shot into the Donkey’s executive’s face.

…How did it get past my defenses?! But the attack is light…

"Are you kidding me.."

Fowler was about to shout.

*bang!*

But another shot from Ravyn stopped him.

…No, I can’t block it in time…

*bang!**bang!* *bang!*

*bang!* *bang!*

*bang!*…

A hail of bullets was fired at Fowler, who was still confused by an attack he had never seen before.

…What in the hell is this gun? So, Drew didn’t lose because he’s just careless?...

"Ugh!"

Three huge scythes were conjured up as layered shields between Fowler and the raging wind attacks.

*bang!* *bang!*

Before Fowler could set himself up, both Ravyn and Putter had already fled.

######

At the AB Intel room in the Hand of Devotion building…

"…Impatient, hasty conclusion… Lacking just a little more close combat skills and luck than this, you would be dead by now. And maybe bring the one who helped you to death as well!"

Mol scolded Ravyn after she handed Putter to the doctor. The purple-haired girl listened to Mol long enough that she felt like there was another Intel senior who was not kind like Yu. However, Ravyn just felt like asking Mol for advice, but things just slipped out. But the strange thing is that she could give Ravyn helpful advice.

"... cuts the changing position with too short a duration because it’s inefficient for the target to move so often. Also, remove all the too stable points and focus on the most likely ones to get one step ahead of the Rabid. Then we will have.."

As Mol gives her guidance on this, there is only one target location on Ravyn’s screen.

…Awesome, is she really from the personnel department?...

"I may not be able to fight like you, but I won’t lose to a fluke kid like you."

Mol’s words made Ravyn even more confused. She only now knew that she was seen by Mol as a competitor.

######

At the location of the hacker hideout that Ravyn and Mol found…

["I’m Leila. You, benchwarmers, are so boring it makes me want to sleep."]

A computer screen displayed the message in the room where Ravyn and Putter, who had just received initial treatment, arrived.

*click* *clack* *click*

The purple-haired girl searched for Leila on a hologram projected from her ring.

…Leila is an outstanding employee of Ly Company. This profile really exists…

On the table, Putter had his hand sense the temperature of the coffee-filled cup. The cup had cooled down to the point that he almost felt no heat from it.

"She’s been gone for a while now."

Ravyn then heads back for another search, but

[You guys must be faster]

[The sound of gunfire outside—don’t you find it sounds like firecrackers?]

[What series should I watch today?]

[Pathetic This isn't fun at all.]

Ravyn teamed up with Mol and Putter to track down this hacker, but she was still ahead of them until this mission had less than four hours left.

"Hmph~ She’s amazing. Not only didn't she run away from the city, but she also left a lot of traces for us… You guys must be pretty tired."

Yu frowned in a small knot after trying to help Ravyn with this mission on her Intel board. She then continued.

"With the speed of creating such a complex decoy, I gave up too… But I know someone who might be able to help us."