‘Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!’ Edward inwardly cursed.

Death was staring at him with disgustingly lifeless eyes. The more he stared back the more terrified he'd become. It wasn't an irrational fear of course, since his life was in danger. Nevertheless, there was a part in it that was definitely not rational.

For starter, the enemy he was facing was just a kid, and a girl at that. And although he knew better than to judge a book by its cover, feeling so much aberration from such a petite figure was not something he'd felt often.

This girl is not normal— was a conclusion he adopted for a while now, however, it slowly shifted toward ‘this girl is not human’. Moreover, he wasn't thinking that out of his fear nor was it because of the abnormal power the girl had displayed, no, he was thinking that because he knew it was genuinely true.

A demi-monster or a demi-human or whatever else. At the very least, the girl in front of him possessed something that was not human. Something dangerous.

People tend to be more afraid of the unknown, and Ed wasn't any exception.

“—Ack!” His mouth let out, despite himself.

His vision began to blur little by little, and his breath escaped from him. He was losing his consciousness, which by extension, meant his life in this situation. In a more descriptive way, he was being choked to death.

Helpless against the difference in strength, he couldn't do anything except wriggling around on the ground he was forced onto. The sight was ridiculous. Where else could you find a thirteen-years-old girl dominating an adult so overwhelmingly? What's more, when that adult had the same strength as an Elite.

Were the situation not what it was, Ed would be embarrassed for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, the current predicament was serious enough to threaten the very rest of his life if he wasn't careful. Getting a grip on his own consciousness, he forced his eye to look at his assailant.

‘Like... hell...I'm going to... die here!’ His mind composed with great difficulty.

The lifeless girl was pinning him down on the hard floor with an unbelievable power. However, it seemed like all her strength were concentrated on strangling him, which left her balance a little off.

Focusing the remaining of his own forces on his dominant hand, he gambled everything on a single attack. Moving his arms, he punched the girl's left side and managed to tip her off in that direction.

The gap wasn't enormous but it was just enough to give him a breathing room. A second ahead was what he got and, although he wasn't as good as Rin in taking advantage of it, he wasted none of it.

First and foremost, he flicked away the hand that was strangling him, which was easy thanks to the girl having lost her balance. And then, with a never before seen (weird) motion, he stood up quickly.

Two option now offered to him, he could take this chance and attack the girl or he could simply flee. He shamelessly chooses the latter without hesitation. This time, he imperatively needed to suppress his pride.

A decision that appeared wise once he heard a voice from behind him.

“Battle pattern analysis complete. Beginning readjustment.”

A chill ran down his spine almost instantly. The last time he had heard those words, the lifeless girl had obtained a tremendous increase in strength. And, like the current situation proved, that didn't end well for him.

Unfortunately, he had too little information to be able to stop the girl, which left him no other choice than continuing his endeavor on fleeing. Either way, though, he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to escape.

Confirming those thoughts was the blinding light coming from the girl's body. Similar to the previous time, her blood vein made out the light while the liquid flowing out of her facial orifices colored it in red.

Too late— once again popped in Ed's mind.

He gritted his teeth in anticipation of the girl approaching. With things as it stands, turning his back against his opponent was not an option anymore. Fighting and winning was his only way out, as hopeless as it may seem.

Taking one last deep breath, he stood his own, and faced his enemy.

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◇

At the same time, with a deep frown on her face, Igris was running through the city. Partially because of the damage and mayhem she had caused, which was bound to catch the attention of the many.... ‘peacekeeper’ of the city, but mostly because she now needed to act fast.

The order given to her was to kill Ursa. And although, no one expected her to succeed, she knew the failure penalty wouldn't change. It was death. Well, at least for the other, it would be that.

However, for Igris, it was slightly different. Due to the high importance she had, there was no way they would ever get rid of her. And that was the scary part. Most likely, the second she would return, they would enter into her free will.

‘There's no way I'm becoming a lifeless puppet.’ She thought with determination.

To that effect, she had two option offered to her.

1) Bring back a satisfactory result.

She may have failed to kill Ursa but if she succeeds in redeeming herself... For example, if she were to capture Aiden Bailey, this operation's primary objective, then she could perhaps escape the worst situation.

Though, with her current capability, it wasn't likely she would be able to pull that off. Not only would she need to make an enemy out of her own colleague, she would need to fight Aiden himself. And that was not counting the possible allies he had at his side and the gigantic orc they had brought on this occasion.

Thanks to Ursa, Igris thought it better to not overestimate her own ability, so she didn't need long to shift to another target. She chooses to bet on the secondary objective of this mission. Wiping out unchained's member.

Of course, she couldn't accomplish that, too. Ursa was already on the loose so it was impossible to completely succeed, however, if it was only partially, then she might have a better chance.

To put it simply, she had decided to kill at least one member of unchained outside of Aiden and Ursa. Hopefully, that would be enough to lessen her penalty. Either way, even if it wouldn't be easy, she needed to do something.

Unchained only had 6 members, so she didn't have time to be picky. Plus, from the location she had been given at the beginning of the mission, she had only 2 possible target left.

Edward Warray and Rin Kagane.

The latter was the nearest one, so logically, she was heading there. She didn't know how strong the girl was, but at this point, it didn't matter anymore.

‘No.1 should be weakening her right now, so I have a chance to win.’ Igris thought, not slowing down at all. ‘Assuming she isn't already dead, of course.’

A strange thought pattern appeared on her mind as she advanced. For her to succeed this improvisation, she needed her own colleague to fail their assigned mission. And if they didn't, she would have to make them.

Igris needed to claim the credit of their task if she wanted to escape being a puppet. Of course, she wasn't happy to resort to this kind of method. Still—

‘—From what I've seen, No.1 and the other girl don't have any sense of self anymore.’ The white haired girl continued. ‘That doesn't mean this is okay, obviously. However, at least, they wouldn't hold this against me.’

Puppet don't have any emotion after all. And even if they did, I'm sure they wouldn't want someone else to end up like them.

With a bunch of excuse in her head, Igris finally arrived.

“...” And what she saw rendered her speechless.

Bright red liquid was splattered on the ground, reminding her of a horror movie. Bit and chunk of the road itself were destroyed, which made her imagine what had happened.

“Right,” She expressed, regaining her calm. “This was also a possibility.”

She resumed her march, in a slow pace this time, and stopped in front of Achille's cold body. No pulse, no breathing, the man was undoubtedly dead. The rain poured down, as if to intensify that fact.

In a way this was an ideal situation for Igris. With her colleague dead, she could calmly claim and resume his work. Nevertheless, the girl wasn't so shrewd as to feel happy right now.

Taking her eyes off the corpse, she finally landed them on the culprit. Normally, this display should have made her wary of her next opponent. She hadn't personally known No.1 but, she knew that anyone who could survive this long inside that organization couldn't be weak.

With a leap of logic, Rin Kagane was therefore dangerously strong. However, Igris couldn't feel any of that power from the girl in question. In the contrary, all she could see in front of her was a helpless little girl.

The black haired teenager was hidden by the darkness just a few feet away from her. She was crouched on the ground, leaning against a wall. Her own hand hugging her knees to hide her face.

At first glance, she had seemed to be asleep. Though, Igris's eyes didn't see that. The beastwoman was certain the girl was awake.

“...” Maintaining the silence, the white girl decided to approach.

Unsurprisingly, no reaction could be felt from the other girl even as the distance was completely reduced. Still, Igris knew that Rin was aware of her presence.

‘I can kill her, now.’ The former thought with a slight frown. Yet, she didn't go through with her statement.

Weak, pathetic, pitiful... Such words could describe Rin's state at this moment. However, what Igris felt wasn't any of those. She felt.... compassion, of all things.

‘Goddamnit, this'll get me killed for sure.’ She cursed internally.

But what could she do? Igris wasn't strong enough to kill the girl in front of her right now. She didn't have the courage to. Rin just reminded her so much of.... herself, when she was put in that damn cold cell.

Igris had little information, however, it didn't take that much cleverness to guess what had transpired in this place. And if she was to put it in word it would be— survival of the fittest.

People tend to forget so easily that that law still had a place in this world. In fact, it was because they forgot about it, that few people could actually relate to this situation.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the white haired girl was among the few who remembered. She knew how much courage was necessary to go through that kill or be killed situation and she also knew how much one can actually be broken by it.

That's why, she couldn't bring herself to take Rin's life.

“Hey....” She opened her mouth and crouched at the other girl's eye level. “You can't stay like this.”

Igris was never that good at talking to people, mostly because she didn't have anyone to interact with, so her words may have sounded a little cold. Still, she couldn't stop there.

“I know how you feel, but staying holed up in your thoughts is the worst thing you can do right now.” She continued while extending her hand to pat Rin's head.

‘It must feel weird doesn't it.’ Igris thought with a wry smile. ‘Suddenly getting someone you don't know to try to comfort you.’

However, you have to believe me. I've been there before.

Retracting her hand after a minute, she stood up again. The rain was amplifying, and resounded heavily in the two girl's ears. Nevertheless, Igris stayed still and used her own body to shield the other's as best as she could. Her eyes, glued on the person and waiting for a response.

Then, after another minute, she finally felt a twitch from Rin. In relief, she let out the sigh she had been holding.

“Edward Warray should be the closest one from here. Just head North- east and you'll find him.” Igris said, hoping the quiet girl would understand her. “I'm not saying this is the best way. However, you need to move. You need to... fight.”

After saying so, she finally turned around and parted way with Rin. That was all she could do for her, and although it wasn't really apparent, it was already enormous. After all, she had just signed her own demise.

She didn't kill Rin and worst she had decided to leave Edward Warray alone. Anyone else in her shoes wouldn't probably do something so foolish. But, then again, what else could she do?

Thinking about it, if she decided to stick to the first option to escape from being a puppet, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse. If she suppressed her feeling now, and kill Rin, wouldn't that already deem her as a puppet?

And so, with gritted teeth and a resigned face, Igris's lonely battle began from this moment on.

She had decided to shift to her second, hopeless option.

2) Fight and escape from the organization.