Nocturnio (20.10.9978 AS)
“As always, please don’t call me while I’m away. If I feel like hearing your voice I’ll be the one calling you after school is over.” Laura, who was tying her wavy brown hair to a pony looked towards her mother. “Got it! I know it might be problematic to call you during your mission.”
Dolores sighed. “How many times have I told you not to call them missions, it’s just a business trip.” Laura rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, when will I have my debut?”
“You are still too young to be thinking about it. This business is not something a kid like you could bear.” Laura puffed her cheeks. “But I already started with the military training at school. This week we already have our first patrol! And you taught me well enough so I can handle a mission like that.”
Dolores grabbed Laura by her shoulders and started shaking her. “Are you in the right mind? Where is my smart daughter gone? How can you say such things? You know just too well what I do on such missions! You know just too well these eyes of mine have seen things; no one wants his worst enemy to see! Words can’t describe the gore I have seen on those missions and you still say a kid like you could bear it?!”
“Mooom! Mom, I’m sorry” The trembling Laura apologized. “You know how I can be sometimes, I just say things I don’t mean, just because I’m exited!” Dolores did let go of her daughter and smiled. “As long as you get it. Have you packed everything you need for your stay in Nana’s house?” Laura nodded.
Malitia (20.10.9978 AS)
As Dolores walked out of Malitia’s Portal Main Station she was greeted by grey and black old gothic styled buildings of the city. She walked through the dim streets only lighted by the streetlights. Although, it was in the middle of the day, the sun did not shine upon the streets of the city hidden in the Mortis Mountains.
She walked the main street towards the city hall. She entered a pub close by. The owner of the pub recognized her and led her to the basement. From there she took a secret path that lead into the mayor’s office.
Dolores sighed as she entered the room. “Darling, long time no see.” Laidir greeted his former lover with a warm genuine smile. Dolores just glared at him and ignored his friendly words. “How can I help, Master?” She said as she bowed.
Laidir looked disappointed. “Why so cold?” –“I don’t know what you expected from me? Would you have preferred me running into your arms and told you how much I missed you the past five years? Telling you how lonely I felt, when you broke your promise of leaving your wife?! I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m just here to take care of the job.”
Although, she had gone on numerous missions since she had moved to Nocturnio, she hadn’t met Laidir a single time during all that time.
Laidir looked troubled. “Well, you know about my position and I already apologized, didn’t you get the message?” Dolores rolled her eyes. “So, what about the job, I’m sure Master knows that a single mother doesn’t have time to waste.”
Laidir sighed and finally dropped the topic. “Well then, to the job it is… You know those crazy bards, that would cause chaos every once in a while? We have found their main hideout. And I want you to eliminate their bosses. It shouldn’t be much of a problem for you. They are weak and unorganized, the only problem is they numbers, but someone of your caliber shouldn’t have trouble doing so.”
“My secretary will give you the details.” He said as he walked out of the office. A beautiful young woman entered. ‘His new conquest? What a pig, always going for the young ones.’ Dolores thought as she heard the information of the young woman.
***
Dolores walked out of the pub. Her new goal was her family house. As if she didn’t already have enough unpleasant encounters today, she probably would have to talk to her parents.
Since she had gotten pregnant, she had almost no contact with her parents. They would only see each other, when there was a job only she could take care off. Her parents were the heads of the Verheerung clan, a clan of cold blooded assassins that worked directly under the Zerstörung’s clan head.
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Besides her parents there was no one in their clan that could compete with Dolores in skill. Although, her MR ranking was just high conqueror, she could still take out targets with the MR of King. Thus, she was regularly summoned to take care of the more difficult jobs.
Ater Mountains (21.10.9978 AS)
‘I shouldn’t have taken this job.’ Dolores thought as she walked through the endless maze of tunnels under the Ater Mountains. Yesterday morning she had received, the information that the leaders of the ‘cult of bards’ were hiding here. But until now she hadn’t found a single bard.
The ‘cult of bards’ was a group of bards, preaching against Fors, the god that stopped the Great War and brought peace and happiness to the world. As Fors’ representatives on Umbra it was the job of the three clan heads to delete such groups.
Thus Dolores was sent to kill every single bard in this maze. She was alone, but that wouldn’t hinder her of killing them all. Dolores had the confidence of being able to kill everyone here, that’s why she didn’t ask for assistance from her clan. Even if the enemy was stronger than her, she had the confidence to be able to escape of any crazy situation.
She followed the instructions of the map in her hands. Said map was an item that worked like a GPS. It was guiding her through the maze. She had been walking since yesterday, but still had quite a distance ahead of herself.
***
In the evening she finally reached her destination. There were about one hundred bards gathered outside of a building that looked like a temple. The statue of Fors in front of the temple had been torn down.
‘What a waste.’ Dolores thought as she saw how the bards had treated Fors temple. Dolores eyes wandered through the bards, but she couldn’t find anyone that looked like a leader. ‘Aren’t the leaders supposed to be here?’
Dolores took out a pill out of her backpack and swallowed it. The fatigue, she felt after walking for so long was gone. And her feelings went numb. ‘Much, better’ She thought as she snuck into the temple.
There she found four bards, two women and two men discussing things.
“We will have to move soon.” A black haired man said. “He is right, we can’t stay here forever.” A blonde woman agreed. “What about you Gabe, do you also think we should really leave Umbra soon?” The blonde man, who was talked to, nodded towards the black haired woman. “Mephis, we don’t have an option. We have been overdoing it lately. The portal to Lunae should open in a week, and then we can escape.”
‘They can open portals? Weren’t they just some bards, singing about the greatness of the false gods?’
“Hey guys, we have someone listening to our conversation.” The black haired man looked around and asked “Are you sure?” The blonde woman nodded.
Dolores took a deep breath and sent her mana through the piece of paper she had in her hands. A stiletto appeared in her hands. She smiled at her favorite weapon. She poured her mana in the stiletto and the magic circle on its hilt started glowing. Even just a scratch with this weapon could poison people with the MR of Super Devil or lower to death.
‘Since they know I’m here, let’s say hi.’ She activated her active and time seemed to stop for her. She had accelerated her body to a point that she saw everything around her in slow motion. She smiled as she jumped out of her hideout and started to run with top speed towards the black haired man.
There was just a handful of people who could react to such an attack in this world; only people who had reached the MR of Emperor could do so.
These bards had no chance of survival facing Dolores. They would die before even noticing they were hit by her. A merciful death, with no pain involved. Dolores had killed hundreds in the same way.
But-
Just one millimeter before her stiletto hit the flesh of the black haired man he disappeared.
Dolores felt something hit her stomach. Before she could react the black haired man had already sunk his fist into her stomach and sent her flying.
Dolores body was slammed on one of the temple’s walls. Fortunately the pill she had taken earlier had numbed her feelings such as pain. She stood up as if nothing had happened to her.
“Nice try girl.” The black haired man said as his green eyes began to glow in red and shadows started to cover his body.
Dolores eyes widened as she saw the grotesque werewolf like shadow-monster standing in front of her. His red eyes gave her chills. Although, she wasn’t supposed to feel fear thanks to the pill she had taken, she had started trembling.
‘Is this the end? Is my worthless life finally over? – No, I can’t die here! I have to live for her! I have to be there for her!’
She once again accelerated thanks to her active. She moved at top speed past the group of four. She felt how the glowing red eyes followed her every movement as she ran past them. In a split of a second Dolores had left the temple. She had planned to go back to Ater and ask for help to finish this job.
But-
As she was chasing past the bards outside the temple, she saw a bright light appear in front of her. “Too slow.” The blonde woman said as she pounded her fist into Dolores’ face, not only sending her flying back to the temple, but also knocking her out.
“By Aetas!” The black haired man said, as his eyes turned back to normal. “You didn’t need to kill her, you know! We could have still used her.” The blonde woman rolled her eyes. “Shut up. As if I can’t control my strength!”
“So we won’t go back to Lunae yet?” The blonde man asked. “No, no, we will go back, just right after the encore.” The black haired man said smiling and then he started humming as he walked towards Dolores body.