Chapter 1093: Chapter 1093

A barrage of light, threatening total annihilation, rained down from above.

Rinne, watching silently from the sky with an emotionless expression, looked almost like an angel of death.

Belga didn’t know that Rinne was a Sephiroth and that the white-winged beings served as members of her extermination unit. Still, even he had to admit that she looked both divine and terrifying once powered up.

He could instinctively tell that taking even a single hit from her would prove fatal. His body moved on reflex, twisting and dodging to avoid the spears of light that fell like rain.

Yet despite his persistent dodging efforts, Rinne showed no sign of tiring as she continued to unleash the spears relentlessly. A chill ran down his spine, making his entire body shiver.

Abruptly throwing himself all over the place to avoid the onslaught, Belga began to feel an increasing sense of urgency. He instinctively knew that he could not afford to draw things out. He needed to leave—fast. Despite not fully understanding where the desperation came from, the pressure nonetheless caused him to take more reckless actions. Of course, that inevitably created an opening for Rinne.

Amidst yet another barrage of light spears, a flaming spear suddenly flew in and pierced through his shoulder.

His face twisted as he experienced pain unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

Taking advantage of that split second while his mind was distracted by the spear stabbing through his shoulder, Rinne’s six wings flared as she shot toward him like a flash of lightning. She planted her small foot on his body and yanked out the half-embedded spear with one hand, brutally kicking his body away before she swung it to get the blood off.

He writhed in agony, trying to extinguish the flames constantly burning his shoulder. He couldn’t figure out why they weren’t going out, and why they hurt so much. Whatever was happening was clearly beyond his realm of understanding. Magic shouldn’t be able to harm him, yet her attacks were just too sharp and heavy.

“Damn it!!” Even as the inextinguishable fire seared him, Belga desperately stretched his hand toward Rinne. Following his gesture, invisible tendrils shot out and rapidly wrapped around her.

“Your power is now mine.” Just like that, he began to drain the vitality unique to all living beings. Or rather, that was the plan.

Shockingly, her vitality barely responded to his pull. Even accounting for resistance, the vitality he drew from her was negligible, far too little to make any sense.

Somewhat distracted by the shock once more plastered on Belga’s face, Rinne’s eyes flashed blue as she suddenly felt something latch onto her body. Spreading her arms wide, she began to ascend with her wings. The ring above her head spun rapidly, swiftly expanding in size.

Halos of light continuously gathered around her in an apocalyptic display.

Belga, staring blankly at the sight, finally understood why his power wouldn’t work on her. “You... You’re not a living being.”

A living being, and yet not.

Belga sank to his knees in disbelief. Though his body housed countless entities, it would seem the time had come when he could no longer protect them.

Soon, the massive streaks of light began to trace circular paths through the sky that resembled celestial orbits, leaving long tails behind. Following a final burst, a colossal bombardment of light rained down on Belga.

Amid the deafening roar and trembling earth, his body vanished without a trace. Rinne simply looked down at where he had been, then narrowed her eyes.

“Huff. Rinne states performance drop due to overload. Rinne evaluates this lowly.” She swayed slightly, then turned to look at the spot where Belga had just been.

There she saw a massive crater radiating intense heat. Effectively ignoring the scorching temperature, she walked barefoot into the center, only to find nothing there.

Turning her head, she saw traces suggesting that Belga had performed a death-defying stunt to escape just before the impact. Unfortunately for him, he had unconsciously scattered some particular energy as he fled, leaving a trail that snaked its way deeper into the forest.

Rinne launched herself forward, quickly moving into the woods to follow the trail. Finally coming to a stop, her eyes moved slowly across the scene, and though her expression stayed emotionless, there was a clear indication of surprise.

What appeared before her was a massive ruin. Oddly enough, it wasn’t abandoned, instead emanating an overwhelmingly eerie energy.

“New information registered. Structure resembles the facility once used to modify Rinne’s body. Rinne evaluates that she must report to Master—”

The ground beneath her exploded before she could finish, and a swarm of massive tentacles burst forth. Not giving her any time to react, they quickly wrapped around her and began pulling her underground. Tilting her head up toward the sky, she hurriedly used her power to generate the best tool to save both halves of her life—a large crowbar—and hurled it to the surface.

The item gave off her unique energy wavelength, something she knew Davey would recognize. Satisfied with her preparation, she relaxed as the slimy tentacles dragged her deeper below the earth.

It wasn’t long before a shockwave swept out as Rinne eventually sensed herself crossing some kind of boundary, similar to when passing through a mana gate. Though she understood that the idea of a mana gate being built underground was ludicrous, the sensation was unmistakable.

Below the earth were laid numerous test chambers—within them, the forms of what appeared to be human beings.

Clashes between assassins were all about who spotted the other first, enabling them to silently deliver a lethal strike from behind. By that metric, Donna’s skills were well-regarded even within the special extermination unit of the Vatan Kingdom. They were Vatan’s hidden power—modified humans enhanced through certain technologies.

A metallic clash rang out in the darkness. Donna observed the situation closely as she blended in with the night.

The secret weapons of the Vatan Kingdom, including herself, were facing off against the so-called Shadows assigned to guard the great Davey O’Rowane.

Their clash was neither loud nor chaotic. It was silent. Deadly.

‘You’re really showing an opening despite the circumstances? You rely too much on your subordinates.’

He was casually talking to Count Trink with his hands in his pockets, but Donna had no intention of letting him be.

They were members of Vatan’s special forces, after all. Anyone who joined their unit was trained to match the level of high-ranking assassins within just a few days. Therefore, those who had been in the unit for years were already beyond those kinds of average assassins.

It had been over seven years since Donna joined the special extermination unit of the Vatan Kingdom. In that time, she had served undercover as Tsuna’s maid and longtime friend, all the while supporting the kingdom from the Shadows.

Even among the members of her unit, she was exceptional beyond comparison. After all, she had even killed her best friend Tsuna with her own hands for the sake of her mission. There was no going back for her.

She stretched and bent unnaturally as she lunged forth, targeting the back of Davey’s neck with her dagger. She was confident that once she managed to touch him with her blade, it wouldn’t matter how important or mysterious he was—he’d be dead.

Suddenly, her dagger was abruptly stopped by a dark figure that emerged silently from the darkness. Despite the attempted ambush, Davey didn’t even spare her a glance, continuing with what he was doing completely unfazed. She couldn’t tell if it was trust, arrogance, or him just being fearless.

Shing! Shing shing!!!

The sounds of clashing metal filled the air repeatedly as an intense back-and-forth unfolded. Donna utilized her borderline supernatural reflexes and physical abilities to mount an unceasing assault on her foe.

The personal guard of Davey O’Rowane was bound to be impressive, sure, but to Donna, they were simply laughable. Still, she recognized that a drawn-out confrontation would only open up the possibility of more variables interfering.

“Move. That is, unless you want to die,” she said in a mocking tone.

“Step aside, and I’ll let you live,” the man with dark brown skin calmly responded as he continued swinging his dagger.

Clicking her tongue in irritation, Donna struck the blade aside and quickly reassessed the situation. True enough, dragging things out would only make things worse.

Count Trink, who had already been subdued, was nothing but a scapegoat—her unit was Vatan’s true secret weapon, far beyond such one-dimensional utility. Their existence had to remain hidden, no matter what. Not to mention, the mysterious variable that was Davey O’Rowane had yet to actively join the battlefield, adding extra uncertainty to the matter.

She deflected an incoming dagger as she quickly ran the numbers in her head. “What a damn hassle.”

“Not much left to hide now, is there?” Davey asked.

Donna let out a cold snort. “Indeed, nothing left to hide. We’ve come too far.”

With that, she pulled out a dagger and threw it straight at Count Trink.

It pierced his throat, the simple piece of metal ending his luxurious and indulgent life.

Davey questioned with surprise, “What the hell was that for?”

“He was just a disposable scapegoat. Now that he’s taken care of, once we disappear, the murder charge will land on you instead of us.”

“You sound like you think you can actually get away.”

Donna coldly scoffed. “Once we truly want to run, those guys won’t ever catch us.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You think we’d lose to rookies like them? The weight of the blood on our hands is in a whole different league,” she said in a rather bitter scolding tone, perhaps even somewhat directed at herself.

“We were made to be killer machines from the start. Unlike your people who masquerade and roleplay as assassins while being mere bodyguards or intelligence agents, we’ve lived it. The experience gap alone makes all the difference.”

“Our plan may have fallen apart, but I suppose there’s no use crying over spilled milk. Looks like it’s time to use our last resort,” she muttered to herself.

She then pulled out a magical device the size of a pen from her coat, solemnly activating it without hesitation.

A high-pitched whine briefly rang out from the device.

“Hey, Prince. Aren’t you curious about what I just did?”

He really didn’t know what to say.

“There’s a hidden card—something meant for the worst-case scenario—resting nearby. I just woke it up.”

Once she finished speaking, a massive shockwave of power had erupted from within the forest not far from the capital.

“Phew! Feel that tingling on your skin? That thing is beyond even our control. If you leave it alone to wreak havoc, the capital of Alberta will be reduced to ashes by tomorrow.”

Most of the Alberta Kingdom’s military forces were stationed along their border with the Vatan Kingdom. It’d take them considerable time to return—if a disaster truly began, it wouldn’t be strange for the capital to be wiped out before they were of any help at all.

Davey said nothing, silently gazing in the direction of the growing energy wave.

Seeing this, Donna made her move. “Extermination unit, the top priority is now erasing all traces and retreating.”

In response to her command, other modified humans like her emerged swiftly from the Shadows.

That was when Davey, who had been quietly observing the situation, finally spoke, “Trying to run?”

“Your people are too weak to continue bothering with. I’m getting tired of playing along, and it’s about time we pulled out.”

“You didn’t think I’d try to stop you?”

“Oh, I know you well enough to expect resistance. But do you really think you can catch us once we scatter in all directions with our anti-barriers?”

“If even one of you gets caught, that’s a win for us, isn’t it? After all, your identities need to stay hidden.” Davey countered.

“If that’s how you want to look at it, go ahead and try.”

Just as she prepared to scatter with her team, Davey gave the command, “Shadows, stand by.”

Figures with glowing eyes then silently stepped forth from the darkness and bowed their heads toward him.

“Take care of them. I don’t even care if you kill half of them, just make sure to disable their spirit-suppression artifacts.”

Donna let out a scoff.“Hah! What could those amateur copycats possibly do to us?”

Davey’s unit of Shadows seemed to have similar skill levels, but compared to modified humans who were built for that kind of combat, they were surely nothing special. Donna firmly believed there was no way they could ever kill someone like her.

“You have three minutes.”

At those words, the Shadows immediately began removing their miscellaneous earrings, bracelets, and rings.

It was then that a chilling energy surged around them. Dark Spirits—beings said to be the subordinates of dark elves exclusively—emerged and surrounded them with an eerie presence.

Donna muttered in disbelief at their sudden transformation, “What the hell?”

Before she could even react, her comrades were instantly overwhelmed and slammed into the ground all at once. The ones pinning them down were none other than Davey’s subordinates.

Moments ago, they had seemed like amateurs, lacking combat experience while still limited by their constraints as regular lifeforms. It wasn’t that they were weak, but that their strength should never have been enough to overpower a modified human like Donna.

The solemn atmosphere belied that cold fact.

“Dark Spirits have nasty tempers,” Davey muttered with a sneer.

Donna clenched her teeth. She could tell something was wrong. Seriously wrong. She, a modified human with reaction speed and vision far beyond normal human limits, couldn’t even keep up with their movements.

Instinctively sensing danger, she tried to escape by launching herself toward the roof of the embassy.

Along with a sharp, indescribable tearing sound, her enhanced body crumpled mid-flight and fell back to the floor. Lying on the ground with a stunned expression, she slowly lifted her head.

Standing above her was a slender dark elf with brown skin, staring down coldly. Mask ripped away, she just looked at the elf with a deathly pale face.

She’d been mistaken. The ones she thought she could laugh off—they weren’t the ones being ridiculous.

The living beings before her had caught up to her enhanced physical abilities as if it were nothing. They were practically monsters wearing human faces.

As Donna knelt, her tendons torn and her body unable to move, the Shadows closed in to surround her.

“What should we do with her?”

Having risen into the air, Davey looked out over the capital with his hands in his pockets.

“Restrain her,” he said casually, without a hint of urgency.

Even so, Donna was overwhelmed by a crushing sense of fear in his presence.

She had heard about his personal abilities, but she had no clue about all of the monsters that had instantly gathered around him. Each one of them had the kind of strength that would make them famous on their own.

Davey used them like it was nothing special. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novｅlfire.net