The entire Great Azure Falls was deathly silent. Two barefoot Amazons walked the road steeped in that stillness.
"Weird. Why is it so quiet today?" Tione frowned at the empty surroundings. The hush made her skin crawl. "I can't even hear monsters. Even on Amphisbaena's refresh day, there should be some noise."
"Maybe we came down too many times looking for Amphisbaena and someone's set their eyes on us?" Tiona said suddenly.
Tione shot her a surprised look. "Tiona, did you… grow a brain?"
The contempt was obvious. Tiona squared her shoulders and glared. "So you've always thought I'm a brainless idiot?"
"What do you think? Normally you just charge in without thinking. Even if your brain isn't bad, you don't use it. What's the difference from not having one?"
"You— you're infuriating." Tiona's eyes widened. Her mouth opened to retort, but nothing came out—because she knew it was true. Her usual MO was headfirst, no plan. Tione was her external brain; she dumped the trouble on Tione to think through.
Tione ignored her reaction and kept scanning the area. Her face only grew more solemn. This atmosphere was stranger—and more dangerous—than she had expected. Their voices hadn't been quiet. Even if nothing had been nearby before, something should have come by now.
"Tiona, something's wrong!"
The moment she said it, a claw slid out from a shadowed corner of the passage and thrust forward.
Squelch.
The talon nearly skewered Tione. Only a split-second dodge saved her; the strike ripped across her abdomen instead of killing her outright.
"Tch. A pity."
Tione clutched her stomach and leapt back fast.
"Tione!" Tiona raised Urga and planted herself in front of her sister.
"I'm fine. Not a lethal wound." Blood still streamed down Tione's belly; her face was pale. "Not lethal" only meant "not yet." Once she lost enough blood, death would not take long.
"Bwahaha!" A wild laugh rolled over them. "Not lethal? When you can't close the wound, in under three minutes it will be."
"Or do you think you can escape me?"
That arrogance sank the sisters' hearts. They knew the pink-haired, feral woman before them.
"'Slaughter Empress'—Valetta Grede," Tione said, enunciating the title and name, eyes locked on the newcomer.
An adventurer at Level 5—and she'd opened with a despicable ambush. Getting away would be hard.
"Heh, good, good—you remember my name," Valetta said, gaze brimming with mockery. "Tell me, did Finn foresee this? Three years ago he left quite the impression—every move I made, that man blocked it. But this time? Looks like he can't protect you brats."
The more she spoke, the more the hatred leaked out—hatred from the "special attention" she got during the war three years ago, and the thrill of catching two protégés without Finn's umbrella.
"Catching you two wasn't easy," she went on. "If you hadn't come down here alone, chasing Amphisbaena, I wouldn't have gotten you so easily."
Her pride was bubbling; her grin grew more twisted. "So, little brats, will you resist… or surrender? Don't worry, I won't kill you if you resist. Alive, you're more useful than dead."
She didn't bother hiding her intent. Two Level 4s, both bleeding—there was no way they could flee from her. She was confident.
"Heh." Tione chuckled through gritted teeth, pure scorn on her face.
The laugh pricked a bad premonition in Valetta's chest.
Tione removed her hand. The torn flesh on her abdomen knit itself, the wound closing bit by bit—as if the gash had been a joke.
"!?"
The eerie sight flipped Valetta's mood. The smugness was gone; her face darkened. Her body spun without hesitation—
Clang!
Her head cracked against an invisible wall.
"Space!?" Valetta's expression changed. In the next instant, the world lurched—space itself shifted.
Damn it!
When things steadied, Tiona and Tione stood perfectly unharmed across from her. Beside them was a figure with a hidden face.
The mysterious rookie from the Loki Familia?
Trouble.
Valetta had collected rumors on the new recruit like everyone else. The information was public fluff—so common even Orario's civilians knew it. She had doubted the hype. Not anymore.
It was true. She had just learned it too late.
"'Slaughter Empress' Valetta Grede—Level 5 of the dark faction, decorated on the rolls of the Great Strife three years ago," the faceless figure said evenly.
Valetta tried to turn her neck, but her body was fixed in a locked pocket of space; she couldn't move at all. Even as a fish on a chopping block, her mouth stayed sharp. "Heh… not bad. Even a 'newbie' from Loki Familia knows my name. I guess the damage I did to Orario still stings."
The reply hit like a hammer. "We know you. You're the one Finn ran in circles."
"You what—!?"
(End of Chapter)
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