The Rooftop of a Building Near the Dragon’s Hall Restaurant

Lauren was not happy when she heard of her most recent assignment. Not happy at all.

But now that she is standing on the rooftop of a nearby building looking down at the window of the restaurant her target is at with her… family? Pseudo family? With her loved ones, her interest raises ever so slightly. Not enough for her to consider this job anything but a waste of time, but at least she might get to have a little bit of fun.

More fun than simply disintegrating a pathetic little girl who’s only at Class I and her Class III or IV bodyguard.

At least, that was what she was warned there would be by her employer. That all the previous Rogues vanished without a trace, along with any other organization that put out a bounty on her head, leading her current employer and the most recent in the string of people placing bounties on her head to believe her to have a Class III, or most likely Class IV bodyguard. Nothing she couldn’t do herself with ease, considering her status as a Class V Rogue. One of the most powerful ones to boot.

Which is exactly why Lauren can’t help but feel that this job is a waste of time. But none of the other Class V Rogues even bothered considering the job, and she owed the origin of the bounty a favor.

Looks like it was actually two Class IV bodyguards. This could be a bit more fun than I thought at least. Not much though.

Lauren raises her terminal to her mouth and speaks into it, “Destroyer here. Target is in sight with two Class IV Guardians. Cipher and Frost. Preparing to engage.”

A few seconds pass as the woman stares at the wolf girl through the window before she gets a response.

[Terminate the target. Try to leave the Class IV Guardians alive but terminate if you must.]

Lauren grins at that.

If that’s the case, this could be fun.

Scarlet

No. You will stay in the in between.

“But Scar!” Tar complains, clearly wanting to come out and sit on my lap as we eat.

No.

I said you will not be using me as a pillow or a bed in any way for the next few days and I meant it. That training was rough as hell, and it was all your fault.

“Well, actually…” Tar begins, only for me to raise a brow at the air in front of me. “Shutting up now.”

Good.

My brows furrow as I feel that annoying itchy feeling at the back of my neck, making me once again look out the window.

“Scarlet, how do you feel about your match tomorrow?” Cynthia asks from next to me at our table.

I answer without taking my eyes off of the window, “It’ll be a tougher battle than the rest of them, but I think I should be fine.”

“That’s good! Especially with our training earlier,” she says, adding a bit of a scary note to her words in the second half of that. But I actually ignore it as I narrow my eyes at the window. And by now, both she and Allen seem to have noticed as I find them both tensing up out of the corner of my eye.

“Allen,” Cynthia asks, and he nods his head while reaching into his coat at the same time as she does. Then they both stand up from their chairs while activating their magi-tech armor. So I do the same, the three of us startling the other diners.

All of them clearly recognize at least one of us each, so they begin getting up and heading for the door, likely suspecting a battle. And they’re not wrong to do so. Because just seconds later, the massive window of the high class dining area is shattered inwards and a woman who I recognize from the news lands in the room, one of her fists slamming into the ground and making a crater there in the process.

The woman is wearing a full set of black and red armor, with the armor itself being similar to the magi-tech armor Cynthia wears in terms of material, but very different in style, with the woman’s armor simply being form fitting armor with no cloak. And when she rises to her full height, she actually appears to be a little shorter than I expected. But that doesn’t change how intimidating she is with her pitch black eyes each with a single ring of crimson in them, both lacking any sclera.

“Destroyer,” Cynthia says, her voice sounding incredibly tense as she and Allen slowly move around to stand in between me and the woman. “What are you doing here?”

Destroyer. A Class V Rogue. Someone who is far stronger than any of the other Rogues that I’ve seen come after me, all of which having been killed somehow. A Rogue who uses one of the most dangerous magics.

Destruction magic.

“Shouldn’t that be obvious?” the woman asks while putting one hand in the pocket of her magi-tech armor’s pants. “I’m here to fulfill a job.”

“And what job would that be?” Allen asks despite his voice and glance towards me giving away that he already knows.

Destroyer tilts her head and raises a brow before shaking her head and muttering, “This isn’t turning out to be as much fun as I’d thought…” with a sigh. She then looks directly at me and declares, “I’m here for the brat. Give her to me, and you’ll be spared. Otherwise, don’t blame me for any harm that befalls you.”

I narrow my eyes at that.

“This isn’t good,” Tar mutters, and I can’t help but agree.

There’s no way Allen and Cynthia can take on a Class V Rogue who is said to be over level 1200. That’s at least several hundred levels above them.

“That isn’t happening,” Allen says while spreading his arms out and making a swarm of silver liquid cover them before forming some sort of gauntlets. And Cynthia quickly voices her agreement with him while emitting a large amount of cold mist, freezing the ground around her in the process.

Meanwhile all of the civilians and a couple of Class II and III Guardians in the room have already evacuated, leaving us all alone. I don’t blame the Guardians for leaving us though, seeing as it would be a death wish to face Destroyer unless you’re a Class V Guardian yourself – a stronger one at that – or a Knight.

Destroyer smirks slightly and puts her free hand on her hip and cocks it slightly to the side as the young looking woman says, “You really think you can take me? That’s kind of adorable.” She then laughs, only to shake her head again a few seconds later. “No, I’ll leave the two of you alive. But the girl won’t be living to see another day.”

She then blurs from her position, only for Cynthia and Allen to blur from their spots as well, the three moving too fast for my eyes to even see. And not even three seconds later, I hear two crashes, following which I see Allen and Cynthia both having been slammed into the walls of the restaurant with their magi-tech armor in tatters, the armors both being half destroyed and still covered in a lingering red and black energy that’s continuing to eat away at the armor.

They both try to get up from the wall, only for the black and red energy to suddenly dig into their legs, making them fall back down again.

Destroyer reappears where she was at before, still with her hand in her pocket as she waves at them and says, “Don’t bother trying to get up. I’ve temporarily destroyed the nerves in your legs. They’ll heal in about a day, so enjoy the rest of the show!”

She then focuses on me, and I immediately feel a chill run down my spine.

“Now it’s your turn,” she says while taking a step towards me, only to pause when a woman suddenly appears between me and her. Destroyer’s eyes widen in shock as she clearly recognizes her before taking a step backwards, her hand leaving her pocket as she shouts, “No… what are you doing here?!”

The new woman’s voice slowly rings in my ears, a memory I will never forget.

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her.”

I feel both of my hearts almost stop.

It’s White.

My birth mother.