Marina POV:

I reached the bottom of the stairs and looked back, but Lyon wasn’t there. I cocked my head to the side, unsure of where he went.

‘M-maybe... He went to speak with Ness?’

I decided not to wait for him, instead choosing to walk through the open entrance. I saw Jasmine sitting down, meditating in the middle of the large room. The air around her felt heavy as she breathed out of her mouth.

My gaze quickly fell on the wound that spread out around the left side of her ribs. I gasped inwardly at the severity of the injury that took on a strange dark purple colour.

It contained a mixture of other dark hues; that slightly elongated as Jasmine slowly breathed out again.

‘I-I...’

I thought about asking if she was in any pain, but it looked like she was doing something important. I sat down beside the entrance on my knees and watched her intensely.

I was glad Lyon wanted to train me. It hurt whenever I saw Len come back home injured. She would try to hide it by grinning and hugging me tightly, but truthfully, I always knew she was doing something wrong, and now... I had been forced to see it with my own eyes.

I shook my head as I tried to repress that disturbing memory from resurfacing. Len was different now—she didn’t k-kill... Anymore. She had changed, and it was my turn now.

Len was my older sister, and I loved her a little more than Mum... because she was always t-there. She taught me, fed me and helped me to grow up well... I j-just... burdened her...

I bit my quivering lip as tears rolled down my cheeks. I sobbed quietly while I desperately wiped the tears away. I couldn’t keep dragging everyone down. I-I... may be different, but I can still do it too!

***

??? POV:

I stood on the ledge of the rooftop and examined the streets below. They had already moved the Amplifier to the corresponding location that Cirris had informed me about. All that was left to do now was break in and rescue him.

I observed the dozens of Vices posted outside the large, incomplete building complex. They didn’t hide their Ki as they walked up and down the street, essentially blocking off the main entrance to the road. Anyone who came too close was instantly beaten half to death and flung around the street corner or into some nearby alley.

They were confident that no matter who came, they had the capabilities to stop anyone from getting a hold of the Amplifier.

I narrowed my eyes as I contemplated on what the best way to handle this was. If I opted for stealth and secured the Amplifier without being detected, the District Leader wouldn’t be able to report to the Ruler immediately.

He’d probably try and do everything in his power to get the Amplifier back. However, if I use force to create a scene, it’s more likely that the Ruler will catch wind of the situation and move his hidden cards earlier than I’d like him to.

My hood draped over my forehead as the gentle night breeze brushed past my face. I slipped my hands into my cloak pockets when I felt a presence appear nearby.

“I’m here, Sir.”

I turned my head to face Gia as she pulled a mask over the lower half of her face. Her heterochromatic eyes glowed faintly in the dark while she met my gaze head-on.

“Gia, there’s been a slight change of plan. We’re going with stealth, so control your urges.”

“...Yes, Sir.”

I heard the disappointment in her voice as she clicked her tongue quietly. Leaving a bloodbath was the complete opposite of what I wanted to do now, regardless of whether they deserved it or not.

‘I’ll adjust my approach further depending on what the situation is like on the inside.’

“Chameleon: Cloak.”

Gia's Ki wrapped around the two of us as we became invisible. The useful thing about Gia was that her ability allowed for both options to be viable.

She stood on the ledge beside me as I placed my hand on her shoulder while flicking two fingers up at the night sky.

The scenery around us changed into the location we had been observing from above. The dozens of guards walked past us cluelessly.

We approached the main entrance, which was sealed tightly shut. Two Vices stood in front of it with their Ki fully released as their eyes continued to dart across the dark street. Gia's eyes flared—her body arching forward when I immediately stretched out my hand to stop her from decapitating them.

Stolen story; please report.

“Displace.”

I pointed two fingers towards them as they became alert by the sudden sound of my voice, but it was too late—they had already vanished. It was one of the conditions I needed to meet in order to use this specific part of my ability, so I had no choice but to speak out.

We quickly reached the sealed metal door, and I placed my hand on it while Gia grabbed hold of my shoulder.

“Inverse.”

It pushed us inside as our positions switched with the other side of the door. A sharp pain ran down the side of my left arm, and I felt the blood flow backwards.

“Chameleon: Regulation.”

Gia's hand moved to the top of my left arm. The heat from her hand ignored my clothes, moved past the skin and stimulated the blood flow, forcing the reversed flow to return back to normal. The spasms in my fingers abruptly stopped, and I regained the proper function of my arm.

I nodded at Gia whose eyes turned slightly soft as we proceeded to move down the dimly lit hallway. The deeper we went inside, the more apparent the true size of the building complex became. Several corridors interconnected with the main hallway, creating a type of maze that seemed to spiral out far beyond what I had anticipated.

“...”

We didn’t know where the Amplifier was being held, so there was no choice but to search manually. It also didn’t help that the map Cirris had shown me was slightly outdated—the internal infrastructure had been modified by a significant amount.

Ten minutes flew by quickly, and we had started to encounter more and more members, which inevitably slowed our speed down, but there was still no sign of the Amplifier.

‘?’

Gia signalled to me with her hands, reminding me that she could only use Cloak for thirty minutes. The more people under Cloak, the lower the time limit fell. I nodded my head at her as we resumed our careful movements once more.

We passed by another room when something caught my attention. I could hear the faint sound of someone shouting not too far from where we were positioned.

We moved swiftly, arriving at the source of where the yelling was coming from without any obstacles. We approached the closed room carefully, and I peeked my head above the wall to observe the insides through the large panel windows.

There was a tall, bald man, well over 6ft, standing in the middle of the room. He was pointing his finger at someone, and judging by his facial expression, he was very upset.

“Like I said, she got in the way when I was on guard duty!”

He slammed the table, but the person, who I couldn't see from my position, didn’t seem to react much.

“I don’t quite get it. Andre, if you’re on guard duty, why did you leave just because she told you to?”

The unseen person spoke with an alluring, honeyed voice that exuded an extreme amount of femininity. I saw them place a hand on the desk, revealing their slender beige fingers.

“Argh! I'm telling you she wanted to start a fight with me!”

Andre appeared to not be telling the full story as he kept reverting back to his original point.

“Okay, Andre. Bring her to me and if her story is different from yours... Well, you and I will have a nice, long talk.”

The person chuckled slightly with a laugh that would make most men lose their minds. Andre flinched, and his face went pale as he refused to say anything further.

‘Just a bit more. Say something else.’

I egged Andre on in my mind, hoping to get some more information out of the two of them conversing.

“I...was bored... So... I looked at... Amplifier...”

‘!’

Andre's face became ghastly white, and his lips seemed to move against his will. I knew instantly that the woman with the seductive voice was using her ability.

I didn’t hear their full conversation from the start, so I could only ascertain that one of the activation conditions required asking a question and receiving an answer.

“Amplifier... Was so pretty... I wanted to check... If he really was... A he... I stepped inside... Tore his top... And...”

Though he was being controlled, remembering the moment he was describing seemed to fill him with euphoria as his pale lips curved upwards.

“It was a... Woman... I knew already... Roleplaying... Is necessary... And I was on... Guard duty... I was going to have... Some fun... Take my time... Enjo—”

His words abruptly stopped.

“Heuk!”

A pained moan escaped his mouth, followed by a loud bang. He had crashed into a wall close to where we were hiding, and my hand had instinctively pushed Gia back slightly at that same moment.

The woman, who had now stepped forward into the light, stood in front of Andre. She had long, well-defined legs that connected to her phenomenal figure, accompanied with a large bust.

Her hand had moved so fast, it ruptured Andre's jaw at the point of impact. My eyes narrowed as I replayed the moment leading up to that outcome.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to touch the King's merchandise?”

Her sweet voice didn’t match her imposing demeanour. She crouched down, disappearing out of view as she whispered something inaudible to him.

“Oh? Esmeralda did that too? Bring her to me now.”

“...Yewsh... Mwa’am...”

Andre got to his feet. One side of his cheek was heavily swollen as he opened the door and quickly left. Once he was far away enough from this room, the hallway shook, followed by echoes of him screaming in a fit of rage and pain.

I turned my attention back to the beautiful woman standing underneath the light. She wore purple lipstick and had long, luscious eyelashes that matched her waist-length black cherry hair.

‘!!’

She was Solina: A Royal Guard directly under the Ruler of the South's command. My eyes widened at this unforeseen variable that threatened to break every plan I had meticulously calculated over the many months of being here.

‘!’

Gia's hand instantly shot forward towards Solina. I grabbed her arm, stopping it from shattering the glass and immediately dashed off in the direction Andre had thrown a tantrum in.

“...”

I glanced back just in time to see Solina’s deep violet eyes look in my direction while her lips curved into a thin smile. My heart skipped a beat, but I quickly calmed down—it was fine. Solina definitely could not see or sense us, and I was confident I had moved quietly enough to evade her hearing.

‘This battle-loving fool!’

I took a quick breath and glared at Gia. Her idiocy had almost ruined everything, yet she took no accountability for it. She simply shrugged her shoulders as I held my head in frustration while we chased after Andre.

It was easy to find him since he had left a trail of large holes all along the wall. I glanced at Gia, my frustration still not completely gone, when she suddenly lunged at me.

‘?!’

We rolled into a dark open room, and Cloak abruptly wore off. She put her finger to my lips while I saw beads of sweat form on her forehead as her different-coloured eyes wobbled slightly.

’Overheat...’

Thirty minutes had passed by sooner than I thought, but it seemed like Gia had forcefully kept Cloak active. I suddenly understood why she was about to charge at Solina—Cloak had reached its time limit.

It was because I had wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with Solina that she was forced to make adjustments.

Gia’s ability allowed for brief time extensions, but each extension would lead to her Overheating. Once she enters that state, she’s pretty much helpless for however long the extension was. So, in this case, she had used the max time extension of ten minutes.

Her body fell forward on top of me as she passed out, and I clicked my tongue in response.

‘Great.’