Twelve days later.
The Assassin Federation sat in silence. No reports. No updates. One mission had gone completely dark. When they checked, they realized the mistake. It was a B-rank mission… somehow assigned to new recruits. Recruits who hadn't even mastered Metro. Someone had messed up badly.
They looked deeper. Shiro had completed a D-rank mission. Tian Yu had handled two C-rank missions and a few F-ranks. Neo was a son of a legendary hunter, the greatest of them all. And Hlanya… the useless one. But even with all that, this mission wasn't normal. It wasn't just a B-rank. It was possibly a high A-rank, maybe even a low S-rank.
Why?
Because of who was there. Noct, a B-rank threat. Spindle, a strong C-rank. Cadenza, an A-rank Concept Wraith in a human body—smart, deadly, ancient. And worse… Sairen Ashvolt, a former assassin. One of them.
So they moved. Fast. They sent out a squad of eight assassins.
When those assassins arrived, they found the aftermath. Ten sorcerers, broken and bleeding. Some dead. And these weren't ordinary sorcerers. Sorcerers have the most mastery over Metro. They're the best in the world at using it. Still, they had fallen. Alongside them were fourteen hunters, strong and trained. They too were down.
This wasn't just a mistake.
It was a disaster.
And the new recruits were already inside.