For Ling Ke, having fun was always enjoyable, but the feeling of peace—even if momentary—also carried great weight.
After all, now that he possessed the power to be greedy, he could afford to "take it all."
Pardot had no idea what was happening outside Twilight Street.
Ling Ke didn't say much either.
In short, as long as this girl who only wanted to live a normal life remained in this Dusk Street for even one more day, then all outside forces—including "Fire Moth"—would be unable to disturb the so-called order of this "not-so-peaceful-to-begin-with" street.
That's all.
That night.
"All right, it's getting late. I'll take my leave now."
On the rooftop edge, Ling Ke stood up from his squatting position, raised his left hand, and opened a spatial door beside him directly connected to the theater.
He stepped inside, then turned around from the other side of the "door" to look at the girl still sitting there.
His eyes lifted unconsciously, and seeing a small dead leaf stuck to her head, he reached out and brushed it off. "Go rest early too—don't stay up too late."
"Oh~"
Pardot nodded obediently.
Ling Ke smiled. "Okay. See you next time."
"See you next time, Boss."
Pardot smiled and waved at him in that way.
Ling Ke nodded, and the spatial door closed.
Inside the theater throne room.
"Humm~"
Standing alone in the middle of the empty hall, even though he had temporarily left Dusk Street, the faint smile on Ling Ke's lips still hadn't faded.
In recent days, he had noticed how teenage girls tended to try and appear cleaner the more familiar they became with him.
At first, Pardot had been covered in grime, with dark smudges all over her face, hands, and knees.
She'd often habitually wipe her nose with her hand, becoming a true little "paint-faced kitty."
Later, as Ling Ke visited Dusk Street more often—several times before "gourmet dinner time" began—he had handed her a handkerchief and asked her to wipe her face and hands. The girl had gradually begun to care more and more about these things.
In truth, Ling Ke didn't really care.
He simply equated "hygiene" with "health."
Ordinary people needed to pay attention to that.
And on that basis...
He knew well that if Pardot could survive for so many years in the lawless zone of Twilight Street, she surely had her own means of doing so.
Just think about it—a girl who liked to be clean and show off her pretty looks living in that kind of place for a long time... how dangerous would that be?
The filth on Pardot's body was, in fact, a protective color.
However, now that she was willing to take the initiative to remove that layer of "disguise" in front of him—
"This feeling isn't bad."
The smile on Ling Ke's face remained unchanged as he murmured to himself.
Suddenly, he was a little stunned.
Immediately, the gentle expression on his face disappeared completely.
What followed was a sneer.
"It's time."
Ling Ke narrowed his eyes slightly. "Besides me, the third one... no, strictly speaking, it should be 'the fourth one going against time'..."
"...has arrived!"
Europe – City of Berlin
It had been lightly raining for days in this city.
Location: a certain obscure alleyway.
Buzz~
A sharp white light flickered.
Plop!
A small figure appeared out of nowhere.
Followed by momentum, landing on her left shoulder as she hit the ground sideways.
The movement drew the attention of several people at the alley's entrance.
Each holding a briefcase, wearing suits.
Somewhat drunk.
Footsteps approached.
Those who came leaned forward and looked down.
"Huh?"
Within their field of vision lay a gray-haired young girl, unconscious on the ground, her legs encased in mechanized armor.
Looking at her pretty face—
"What kind of girl likes wandering around at night?"
"Seriously."
One of them, stepping closer, extended his right hand toward the girl.
Suddenly—
Duang~
The unfortunate guy behind him took a blow to the back of the head.
The rest hadn't even turned around before—
Boom~
Bang~
Ahhh!
...
With a few clean swings of a blunt weapon, all the unfortunate souls, save for one, collapsed on the ground like stunned flies, groaning incoherently.
New footsteps.
Someone appeared nearby.
"So it's you bastards who've been secretly abducting children around here lately!"
A cold female voice entered the ears of the only man still conscious. "Where's the girl you took the day before yesterday?"
Hearing this, the man trembled in fear.
What he saw was a short-haired girl in a hooded trench coat, her face masked, holding a metal pipe as a weapon.
From the edge of her hood, strands of deep violet-lavender hair fluttered faintly.
Her eyes narrowed as she approached step by step with a threatening aura.
Finally—
"M-m-m-me..."
The man sitting on the ground, a picture of utter collapse, screamed in panic: "What are you talking about?! Child kidnappings?! You've got the wrong guy!"
"Sending someone to the police out of good will... and you think you should hit me?!"
...
The short-haired girl paused.
For a moment—
"???"
Even masked, she clearly gave off a deeply embarrassed vibe.
She lowered her head and looked at the people lying on the ground.
Briefcases + suits and trousers.
One of them had even lost his pants button and belt due to poor quality and wear.
Just looking at it now, it really did seem, perhaps, and most likely...
These people were just white-collar workers from the nearby area who had just finished dinner?
"Uhh~"
The short-haired girl frowned.
And finally muttered:
"Sorry, wrong target."
...
It was clear she genuinely tried to apologize.
But unfortunately, she didn't seem very experienced with such things.
After saying that, she tried to leave quickly.
After all, hitting the wrong person meant trouble—and she didn't have the money to deal with trouble.
Actually, neither she nor her people had money to begin with.
Given the current situation, the best course of action was clear.
But at that moment—
Hmm~
The gray-haired maiden on the ground twitched her eyebrows slightly.
She was slowly regaining consciousness.
The masked short-haired girl in the trench coat paused.
So did the only conscious man nearby, who looked toward the sound.
The gray-haired girl... Bronya Zaychik, opened her eyes.
Instinctively, she pushed herself off the ground with both hands and stood up.
"Where... am I?"
At that moment, confusion filled her face.
Apparently, her head hadn't cleared yet, and she couldn't recall everything before passing out.
But her past—especially her assassin and child-soldier training—kicked in quickly. She immediately began to assess her surroundings.
And then she saw—
!!!
Bronya's eyes widened.
"Seele!"
It was an instinct imprinted into her very body.
The moment she saw that familiar figure—even masked—even seeing only those eyes—she completely ignored the discordant presence of the metal pipe still held in the other girl's hand.
Bronya, arms open, ran toward the girl with short hair and misty eyes.
In that moment, she felt immense joy.
And immense gratitude.
Thank goodness—Seele was safe.
What she once believed to be just a fantasy...
WHAM!
The sound sliced through the air.
Bronya was forced to stop.
If she hadn't made a sudden stop and leaned back quickly, she might've taken that metal pipe straight to the face.
No—thinking clearly, even if Bronya hadn't dodged, the masked short-haired girl wouldn't have hit her directly.
She was mainly trying to intimidate.
The other girl clearly exercised restraint.
After all, there were several unfortunate souls on the ground already, grievously injured.
And now—
"What's wrong with you?!"
The short-haired girl—Seele—couldn't help shouting, "Why'd you call my name, huh?!"
"Shi... Who even are you?!"
She scratched her hair irritably and pointed at Bronya, "Jumping at me all of a sudden—are we close or something?!"