Jake, John, and I found ourselves in the distant parts of the town. A giant cold-storage was set up alongside most of the other industrious buildings in this part of the place.
The moon shined from above, we peered into the building from the top. The slanted roof piled with bricks had just a couple windows spruced around like this, probably to let some sunlight into the place.
Inside the dark place, a giant group had gathered. All of them looked like mafiosos who had returned just after tonight's share of bothering people and extorting money from everyone.
"You two like, really stand out. Do you mind staying down?" I asked the two living armors with me. They disappointedly slid down the building and stopped down there, waiting for me to fall.
Excuse you, motherfuckers. I was the greatest thief in the damned world, I had even stolen a pendant from the girl I had just been in the house of. You think I would fall from something like a roof?
Well, anyway, my plan was simple. I didn't want to fight these people upfront, I wasn't very good at that. Instead, a surprise attack suited my expertise far more.
I planned to launch a fireball from up here at the ground, and then let the two of my brothers handle the rest. They would smash into the building, beat the shit out of every last mafioso, we'll steal all their money, and then the next time we come out spend it on the very brothel that started all this! Perfect!
I stood upright on top of the building. The Grimoire was on my shoulders, like a pet cat or something, and the two of us looked down.
Did I just say 'us' to a book? I was losing my mind.
With a deep breath, the swirling bits of mana inside my body made themselves clear to me. The mana I had absorbed by kissing Nea was flowing through my veins, into my blood. Even though I had no mana-circuits or core like people, it was still nested deep within me.
Right below my chest and above my stomach, I could feel it all coalesce.
My eyes closed, I summoned it up. All the days of practicing with the mana I had extracted from Weiss came in handy. At long last, the mana was to be used. Slowly, surely, it seeped out of my skin and into a tangible circle in front of my palm.
All the instructions, all the training, all of it came to a crescendo at once to match the need of the hour.
A simple, small fire ball.
My life of no-magic would be flipped on its head. I would shift from being the single weakest lifeform on this planet.
I opened my eyes.
A tiny, tiny spark was floating in front of my hands.
"Huh?"
It seemed as big as a fingernail, a toddler's fingernail, that is. The super small ball of flames was so misshapen by the wind that I wasn't sure it would even retain its shape, and that was considering it managed to stay alit for the whole time.
"Well, that's a disappointment."
Pouting, I lightly rolled my wrist. The ball of fire touched the top of the roof of the building.
That's when it happened.
The fireball melted through the metal plates. It created a hole almost instantaneously and seeped inside.
My instincts of a thief rang all at once. It was almost a primal feeling, one of great dread.
"W-what…?"
The worst kind of thief was not the one that got caught, it was the one that never trusted instincts. Being the best, I was already running away before even realizing it. I jumped down the roof.
"Jake! John!"
The two living armors looked up at me. One of them even tried to hush me down, but instead of entertaining them, I simply fell. I landed straight into John's hands. Like a princess.
"Alright, my horse. Run!"
""...""
The two living armors looked at me as if my top level wasn't all there, but they heeded my words and ran anyway. As expected of them. We had made just two or three steps when a wave of heat reached our backs.
Goosebumps spread over my entire skin.
Still in John's arms, I looked back.
A flash.
A magenta light flashed.
Bright, for a second, everything was colored Magenta.
A silence.
And then.
—BOOOOOM!!!
An enormous explosion tore through the entirety of the building. Stone and dust flew out from all sides as the flames spread through the skies. A mushroom cloud rose to the skies.
"WHAAAAT!?" I screamed.
The two living armors were so shocked their heads turned a complete 180 degree as they kept running, much faster this time. Fast enough to hit speeds only living armors could touch.
"Fuck fuck fuck!"
I yelled.
"We are so fucked! Run straight to the Grim Palace! No stopping!!"
If anyone saw us.
We would be caught and dragged to the duke.
What the fuck did I just do?
***
A carriage rolled to a slow stop and a beautiful lady stepped down from the back. She was in civilian clothes, but the sword hanging on her waist made it clear that she was a knight.
The Vice Captain of the Reinvelt Knight Order, Lady Nea Alba had stepped into the scene that was slowly starting to shake the entire city.
A few other knights rushed over to her alongside the guard patrol and the night watch of the city. Many of them were still at work, holding in the debris and making barricades around the entire scene. A large group investigated the warehouse and others inspected the traces of magic in the place.
"Give me a report," said Nea. "What in the world happened here? What are the casualties?"
"7 people are dead, 23 more injured," her adjutant answered. He was a bespectacled tall man.
Nea winced.
"There is something else, Lady Nea. All of these people who have died were members of the Mafia. We are identifying them as the Malfone gang for now."
"Malfone gang!?" Nea straightened up with the mention of the single name. How long had it been that they were looking for this very gang? The same people who had been evading the order for a long time now.
"Their boss… is a part of the injured too. He will probably not make it."
"Overnight… all of them have been… wiped out?" Nea couldn't believe her own words. She walked up to the scene and the rest followed. "Keith. Do we have any leads? Maybe a rival gang?"
Keith, the adjutant, shook his head.
"I am afraid there are no signs of anyone at all having passed through. If there were traces, it is also likely they have been burnt away or buried under the rubble."
"That's crazy. This kind of explosion, it can't be anything but a long period of work." Nea scoffed. "Do you think a great magician came here to kill a mafia gang?"
Keith had nothing to say.
"I honestly think the same as you… It can't be."
The two of them looked around the debris a little more, when a sound caught Nea's ears. She turned to see some of the Night Patrol keeping a few civilians away. An old man was trying to come closer.
"I saw it! I saw it!" he said out loud. "I saw it all!"
"Alright, uncle. We get it, so just go and sleep now, ok—"
"Wait." Nea interrupted the guard who was sending the old man away. She stepped closer and raised her chin. "Sir, I'll hear you out. What did you see?"
"I saw it!" the man said. "My grandmother! My grandmother used to tell us stories."
Nea frowned.
"That fire, that light!"
The old man's words were laced with a sense of craziness that couldn't be carried over into anything else.
"Lilith! The Queen of Witches! She is here to rule the world! It's over! OVER!! HAHAHAH!"