Len POV:

I stood in front of Marina and faced the two Vices. The masked man folded his arms as I heard a faint sigh escape his mouth.

“If only shouting and screaming actually made you stronger. What a waste of energy.”

His mocking reply caused laughter to erupt around us. My eyebrows twitched while Orga stepped forward, causing the laughter to die down instantly. I watched Sindel glance at her, but he remained quiet.

“Remember your promise, and don’t interfere.”

“Of course. Just don’t take too long.”

The masked man and Sindel retreated backwards, leaving Orga alone as she casually walked toward me. Her presence made the surrounding members back away slightly—her feet only coming to a stop once the gap between us reached a few meters.

“Nobody touch Len or Marina. Understood?”

“Yes, Vice Orga!”

The members withdrew, giving me more breathing room to work with. Orga's lips curved upwards while she released her Ki. Cold sweat ran down the nape of my neck, but I didn’t let the pressure get to me anymore. I pulled out two daggers from my back pocket and held them in each hand.

“L-Len...”

“Marina. Do not move, okay?”

“O-okay... B-be... C-careful...”

I didn’t look back. My focus solely locked onto Orga, who peered down at me. Her smile gradually faded when her piercing blue eyes rested on the two knives I held firmly. She shook her head and laughed lightly.

“Are you serious?”

I ignored her question and bolted forward. The blade of the knife flashed, signalling the start of my onslaught. I manipulated the currents of air around me, heightening my speed while streamlining my movements.

Orga didn’t bat an eye as she kept up with my enhanced pace. She opted to parry the majority of my strikes, breaking my posture with sharp counters that made me wince in pain.

‘!’

Her fist collided with my jaw, snapping my head back as I skidded across the ground. My eyes swivelled down to my leaking nose before belatedly noticing Orga’s high-heeled boot almost reaching my face.

I threw my body to the side, dodging her powerful front kick as I rolled forward and swung my dagger towards her abdomen. The blade tore through the air, forcing her to move backwards.

I kicked off the ground and continued applying heavy pressure as we exchanged blows in the middle of the street.

“You still have the same habits, Len.”

She parried my incoming strike with the back of her fist, knocking the dagger upwards while she simultaneously flipped in the air. My eyes widened as I watched the base of her heel smash against the dagger handle, shooting it towards me like a beam of light.

‘!’

I twisted my neck but failed to avoid the sheer speed of the dagger properly. It sliced through the side of my cheek while blood spewed out from the large gash.

‘Tch.’

She abruptly disappeared from my view and picked up the dagger. I spun around in a hurry, but she had already pushed me away from behind.

“Dammit!”

I roared while swinging my remaining dagger in a 360-degree arc. Wind erupted outwards from the strike, but Orga simply splayed her hand and summoned a torrent of wind that tore through my attack. It smashed into my stomach as I felt the air leave my lungs.

“Keuk!”

She clenched her outstretched hand and flung it to the side—my body followed the same motion as I crashed into a nearby building estate.

“Ugh...”

A pained moan left my mouth while I felt my collarbone completely dislocate from my arm. An intense throbbing pain temporarily assaulted my mind as I smashed my fist into the joint, locking it back in place.

I got up slowly and glared at Orga. I may have been called the number one assassin, but that wasn’t because I was stronger than Orga. It was only because I had taken out more targets than her.

I observed the surrounding buildings that had been badly damaged due to our fight. Marina had retreated further back while she clasped her hands together in front of her chest—her worried eyes never left me once.

I let out a deep breath and focused. I changed my stance and manipulated the air to wrap tighter around my body. Orga sighed disappointingly while she got into the same stance.

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“Did you forget? I taught you, Len.”

I sprinted forward as the sharp, metal sound of blades colliding together was exemplified by bright flashing sparks. Every time I thought there was an opening, Orga's hand would flash, and a new wound would appear on my body.

‘I’ll lose if this continues... Plus, there’s still Sindel and that weird masked man to deal with...Tch.’

I clicked my tongue as I gazed at the others who seemed to be enjoying the show. Orga's hand flickered forward, continually adding to the wounds that piled up on my body; she was deliberately avoiding my vitals in order to show off how skilfully she wielded the knife.

‘Damn...’

I suddenly felt the strength leave my body as I dropped to one knee. I didn’t expect the gap to still be this big between us. It was only now that I realized just how much she had held back when we used to spar together.

“It's over.”

I wrapped the wind around the blade, sharpening it as much as I could and waited for her to get closer. Once she was within range, my hand flashed forward. An arc of wind slammed into her shoulder, cutting through her Ki Armour and slicing the side of her arm.

‘!’

Orga's eyes slowly moved down to the large gash. Drops of blood splashed against the ground as I got to my feet. Her eyebrows dropped down to the top of her eyelids, and the pressure in the street suddenly increased.

“Okay, Len. I’ll fight you seriously.”

She lowered the knife in her hand slowly and then...

‘?’

Blood spurted out across my chest. I looked down in confusion as a large diagonal slash carved itself into my body. I looked back at her, and her hand flashed again.

My arms moved by themselves as I increased my Ki armour to the limit. The wind slashed through my arms, creating two more large wounds that I failed to block.

“Keuk!”

I dropped to the ground again, but this time I couldn't get back up. Blood poured out from a plethora of wounds all over my body as I felt lightheaded.

“L-Len...!”

I slowly turned my head back and saw Marina running towards me when Orga spoke.

“Hold her down.”

A few low-ranking members immediately jumped out and slammed Marina's head into the ground. Blood gushed out of her nose while the skin around her chin was scraped off. My pupils dilated to the extreme as I heard her pained scream enter my ears while they lifted her up slightly by the hair.

“STOP!!”

“Enough.”

The members held her in place without hurting her further as I glared at them. I barely managed to peel my eyes away from Marina in order to focus on Orga standing in front of me. She bent down, grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up while her eyes shifted back to Marina.

“Watch carefully. This will be the last time you see your older sister alive.”

I struggled to break free, unable to imagine what kind of face Marina was making. I didn’t want her to see this, but Orga's grip only tightened further.

“N-no... P-please... S-stop...”

Orga glared at Marina and tightened her grip once more. I felt my limbs begin to spasm as the oxygen supply started to slow down. I gasped for breath desperately, but Orga didn’t bat an eyelid.

“S-stop... HURTING MY SISTER!”

‘!’

Marina roared, and an explosion instantly occurred. When was the last time she called me sister? It had been so many years... It had been so long that I couldn’t remember it clearly.

However, the explosion didn’t come from Marina...

It was the masked man. He had blown off one of Lyon's arms.

My heart hit the ground as I watched Lyon squirm in pain. His voice didn’t reach me, but judging from the agony he was in, maybe that was for the best. It was breaking... My heart was breaking apart.

Orga's lips curved upwards, and she tightened her grip for the last time. I felt my vision go blurry as my consciousness began to fade.

“I’m... Sorry...M-Marina...”

“S-sis...!”

I looked up at the sky and saw a flash of light.

‘Am I going to die?’

The light gradually grew closer, and then a loud thunderous explosion sounded. An eruption of air spread out in a circle, pushing everyone back. Orga was forced to release her grip as another explosion of wind occurred, knocking me off balance while I coughed profusely.

Marina caught me in her arms and held me close to her chest. My vision stabilized somewhat, and as the dust began to clear, I saw the back of a hoodie floating in the wind. My eyes moved up as my heartbeat quickened.

The person had a lollipop in their mouth, and they adjusted their cap as they looked back at us out of the corner of their eye.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

“J-Jasmine...!”

It was Jasmine. I felt relieved knowing that she hadn’t been captured, but guilty knowing that I had failed to help Lyon.

“Lyon...”

I stretched out my wounded hand towards Lyon squirming in pain as I called out his name.

“That’s not him. We’ve been running all over District 4 trying to find you. You should know Len, these scrubs can’t touch Leo~”

My lips curved upwards slightly. I was confused, but I didn’t have the energy to try and make sense of it now. The person squirming on the floor with their arm blown off wasn’t Lyon—that was all I needed to know.

“T-thank...G-God...”

Marina gripped my hand tightly as I heard the relief in her voice. The fake Lyon had his arms covered too, so I couldn’t confirm whether it was him or not based on his unique tattoo. I could only judge it by his overall build. Regardless, I was happy both Lyon and Jasmine were safe.

“Jasmine? What are you even doing here? Do you want to end up like your dead mother?”

Orga stepped forward and taunted Jasmine, but...

“Aha.. Ahahahaha~”

Jasmine held her stomach, shoulders heaving up and down as she laughed loudly at her. The masked man and Sindel had moved to back up Orga, kicking aside the fake Lyon as her laughter abruptly stopped as she glared at Orga.

“Let me tell you something. If you knew my mother personally, you’d already be dead. So, if you open that dirty mouth of yours again to mention my mother, I’ll rip your tongue out and feed it to your dead dog~”

Orga’s eyes shook slightly as she clenched her teeth. She was about to make a move when the masked man stopped her.

“Jasmine is different. We will need to fight together.”

“...Fine.”

“Understood.”

The three of them spread out slightly as they faced off in front of Jasmine. There was still a large distance between the two sides due to her initial arrival.

“Ah~ It makes sense now. Copycat, you’ve really done it this time.”

“I wonder about that.”

‘So he’s the infamous Copycat?’

It was my first time seeing him. It also explained how he took care of two Watchers so easily.

The masked man smirked as he opened the palm of his hand. A small tornado of fire formed within it before he flicked his hand down, shooting it forward in the process.

The miniature fire tornado rapidly expanded into a large one, taking up most of the width of the street as it headed toward us.

“Marina, take care of Len and don’t move from that spot.”

“O-okay...!”

I watched her take the lollipop out of her mouth and point it at the incoming fire tornado. She rotated her wrist ever so slightly as a torrent of wind shot out from the tip of the lollipop. It pierced through the fire tornado, dispelling it in the blink of an eye, causing everyone apart from the Vices to look at her in shock.

Jasmine released the full extent of her Ki. The air shook in response as she let the pressure she exerted knock out any low-ranking Organization members who couldn’t use Ki.

She crunched down on the lollipop that she had stuck back in her mouth and hit her fist against the palm of her hand.

“You’re all screwed.”