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“Owww, ow, ow,” Dori mumbled, fingers twitching. He pressed an icepack to his eye, making sure the towel still protected him from a portion of its biting cold.

The two of us were in an apartment owned by Jonathan Harris, a person who lived roughly two blocks away from last night’s victim. The only other candidates resided outside of the city, so our best chance remained here. Lavish furniture decorated the room, with antique shelves covering every open area on the wall, along with a large TV set upon a gold painted stand, a leather black love seat, and a table in the shape of a globe with a map of Maia carved into it. Dusk bled through the window, but the brightness of the ceiling light offered enough reprieve.

The kitchen and bathroom were also immaculate, with the kitchen counter showing off various glass figurines of dead gods, along with one of the shelves showing off a display of figurines dedicated to Xaviais. A few other shelves were filled with books upon books, journals regarding the study of various magic branches, though most focused on elemental, soul, shadow, and light magic.

Peculiar types, though I gathered the theme of it all. They were considered among the easiest kinds of magic to harness, so perhaps he wished to study the commonalities. Not that it mattered now. As the moon rose, we prepared for our main target to arrive.

“I suppose accosting strangers to take on major life changes with long, grandiose speeches is naturally going to attract their ire,” I said. Dori mumbled something I couldn’t hear and removed the ice pack. The bruise spread across his cheek, purple staining it in hues of spilled plum juice.

“In retrospect, yeah,” he said, “but it must’ve gotten someone’s attention, so win.”

“I’m glad you have a good attitude about it.”

“I’ve gotten nothing if not good vibes going…usually, mostly. Maybe…”

I clapped my hands together. “Excellent. Well, “Dylan Harris”, I’ll leave you be for the evening. I apologize for the rowdy behavior, and on behalf of all the people of Saturni, I wish for nothing but the greatest success in your endeavors to archive the knowledge of the dead god Xaviais!”

I spoke loudly, knowing my voice would surely travel to any malevolent angels out the open window. If any happened to be listening…Ha. Hahaha.

“True, she fucking rocks,” he said and picked up the ice pack again. “I love light so much. It’s great. Crystalitis? Even better.”

“Crystilare.”

“Hell yes.” He made his fingers into the shape of a gun and pointed them at me. This odd gesture of his…was it some sort of unspoken challenge for battle? Surely, something like that would have to wait until after—

His eyes widened, and he immediately put his hands up. “Joking, joking. Chill…you don’t need to look at me like that...”

What look? If only I had a mirror on hand.

I allowed myself to relax from the “non-threat” which still very much looked like a threat, thank you, pulling the collar of my sweater back up. “Right. Of course I realized. Regardless, I’ll be seeing you. It’s getting quite late. Stay safe, and beware of any STRANGERS that might try to come steal your VAST COLLECTION OF LIGHT RESEARCH, HERE IN THIS APARTMENT!”

“(you really don’t need to yell i think they get it).”

“(stop whispering im leaving go go go get into position).”

“(k).”

Neither of us had the luxury to relax and keep talking, lest we gave something away and revealed our true intentions. Dori gave me a nod and a wave as I turned to leave. I walked down the stairs, and out into the street.

As soon as I moved a fair distance away, I took a turn into an alley. Luckily, the residential areas were crawling with tall apartment buildings, so it was all too easy to slip out of sight. I went around to the south side of the building, scaled the side, and traversed the rooftop. I then crawled down and positioned myself on top of the windowsill of someone on the fourth floor, holding onto the building corner so I could spy on the doors below.

I also had cameras positioned that Serena stayed behind to monitor in case our killer came through the window, but none of the other crime scenes showed signs of forced entry. The rest of my team stood on standby a bit farther away—I trusted myself and myself alone to climb a building with no supports.

Nothing could kill Erna Dee Belmonte. Even with broken legs, I’d drag myself across the floor to ensure my allies were safe.

The only factor of the plan that unnerved me was Dori, and whether I’d be able to act fast enough, but I had a decent idea of this killer’s mentality. They would want him to suffer first, giving me plenty of time to intervene before the first injury. Before—

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…The sun rose?

I gasped. The area flashed with light, an intense brightness made it seem as though a bomb had gone off, but the flash lasted a bit too long for that. The heat seared my flesh for a moment, facing the scalding rays of light.

It died as quickly as it came—I could even hear concerned chatter from the street over. Then, several more minutes passed with no answer. I leaned against the window a bit more for support—waiting, watching…

A knock. Had I zoned out, or had someone merely appeared out of thin air?

Out of sight of the stranger, I put a hand to my soul stone, bringing out my sword. An awful feeling infected me, one that whispered warnings—urged me to act quick.

The figure that appeared at Johnathan’s door was a young woman (or so I believed). She wore a long, one piece white dress which trailed down to her ankles and sparkled with copious amounts of glitter. It exposed her tanned shoulders with nothing but thin straps to adorn them. Her skin glowed with pure light energy—any blemish or mark obscured, and her long white hair reached her waist. She also wore white sandals and a mask made of pure crystals that covered everything on her face except her mouth, with two thin slits for sight.

The door opened, and Dori stuck his head out. “Hello…?”

“Hi!” The voice was deeper than I expected, but it became clear she obscured her identity by pitching her voice up to a higher inclination. All part of the disguise, I imagined. “I’m a messenger from the dead god Xaviais, meant to bring comfort and companionship to all of her loyal followers.”

“…Nice,” he said, looking away from her. “So. Is that get-up a part of a research thing? Or is this some kinda LARP…not good at figuring everything out…”

“Aha, no silly!” She batted his shoulder like an old friend might. “I’m here to provide a reward for all your hard work. A kind god gives out boons to all her loyal followers.”

He blinked several times, and of course I noticed because he did it in the most slow and deliberate way possible. “Uh…sorry, I’m not into women. I’m actually the brother of the guy who lives here. We still work in the same study-society, but I have like…”

He looked up and shook his head. I flashed a thumbs up, and he sighed. “Uh…several husbands. Every…every night, we have a healthy—“

“Okay!” She shouted. She threw her hands up, and she twitched as if she were resisting the urge to attack him. “That’s great, but as a messenger of our great Xaviais, my mind must remain pure to your usual human activities.”

“Like sex talk. ’K,” he said. She did not deign to acknowledge his carefully laid trap I’d concocted earlier. Damn it all. Dori should’ve said the lines with more enthusiasm like I said, but no matter—our killer’s mask meant we wouldn’t pick up many cues to analyze either way. “…dunno why Erna wanted me to emphasize the several husbands, but…”

“So may I come in?” she said, though by the way she leaned in, she wasn’t ready to take no for an answer. My grip on my sword tensed.

“Nah, uh, doesn’t seem like you heard me when I talked about the husbands th—”

“You don’t need to tell me again,” she said, waving her hands. “In fact, I really don’t want to know.”

“But we’re best friends now,” he said and yawned. “We…uh, tell each other secrets? Why don’t you talk. Are you dating anyone? Do you do the…young love? Guess I’m still young…you’re way shorter, though.”

“We are not discussing this!” Her voice pitched into a growl almost, and she stepped back. I needed to make sure…

“You brought it up when you started getting angel-flirty with me,” Dori said. “Like I said, I have—“

“Oh my gods, this isn’t fucking worth it!” She dropped her voice completely and put a hand to her chest. “I’m not gonna even bother dragging this miserable shit out for your desperate ass, you die now!”

Dori put a hand to his pocket, but the false angel acted faster. From her chest, a light shone, and she pulled out a thin, pure white sword that glowed amidst the darkness of night. Some of the neighbors added a low cacophony with their concerned shouts, but she paid them no mind. Rather, she turned and pointed it to his throat, teeth bared to reveal oddly pointed canines.

“You deserve so much worse,” she said with a low, animalistic growl underpinning her voice, “but this is just the beginning. First you, then whoever the fuck lives here, then the next…I’ll make you society freaks pay for what you did to us.”

Despite the rising danger, Dori’s expression remained cool and neutral. He frowned, not moving a muscle with a dangerous blade foisted upon him.

“Who…who did what to you?” he said. “Are you okay?”

Even if his words were meaningless in the face of such malevolence.

I didn’t bother to show courtesy by allowing the angel a reply. Every instinct in me kicked in, and I pushed myself off the windowsill, free-falling until I turned my body and rolled onto the second floor walkway. The sound of my landing caught the killer off guard enough for me to get back on my feet—I roundhouse kicked her wrist and put myself in front of Dori, a cry scraping my ears along with a small crack.

The air coalesced into a freezing mist, but the cold made this all the better. I achieved true focus when enduring extreme environments.

She backed away and snarled. Oddly enough, she held onto the sword despite her wrist sticking at an odd angle, and in a moment, she reached over and snapped it back into place. Now that I approached, a pungent odor pierced my nostrils—

The smell of rotting meat. Coming from none other than our resident “angel”.

“Before you act again,” I said, “My companion here is not a member of the society you apparently despise so.”

“So what!” she snapped. pushing a foot back as she pointed her weapon at me. “You’re helping them, and that’s just as fucked up. I don’t care, I don’t care, either fuck off or I’ll kill you!”

“Chill, man,” Dori said from behind me, gun poised in his arms and pointed at her head.

I continued to stare her down. Neither of us made a move.

“Do you know who I am?” I challenged her.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” she said. I could see the way her eyes darted behind the mask’s slits, trying to find a weak point. I wouldn’t allow that to happen.

“I,” I said, taking a step forward, “am Erna Dee Belmonte!”

I put my hands on my hips. “Creator of magic! Founder of the Lestaria Empire! Hero to people everywhere, soldier for all that is right and good, genius of the millenniums before us and for those to follow! Guide for all—”

“Erna she’s running away,” Dori hissed behind me.

“—who are lost and forgotten, and cultivator of all but the—Oh, hm.”

I snapped back to attention, and the suspect was no longer in front of me. In the distance, someone screamed.