Guild War (2)
Late at night, somewhere in the back alleys.
Two men walked down a dim, narrow street. They wore leather armor beneath black robes, twin daggers at their hips. On each man’s arm was tattooed the grinning face of a ghost.
“It’s awfully quiet, isn’t it?”
“Yeah… I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”
Even in the slums, enough people lived there that the alleys were usually noisy. Tonight, though, the only signs of life were the faint lights glowing behind shuttered windows. It was as if someone had simply erased every sound.
Sensing something wrong, the two men carefully drew the daggers from their belts.
And in that instant—
“Gah!?”
A dagger flew out of nowhere. There was no time to dodge. It buried itself in the left-hand man’s chest; he let out a single choked scream and crumpled.
“What the—!?”
The remaining man yelped in shock and dove behind a heap of garbage.
“Damn it…! Damn it!!”
Cursing under his breath, he fumbled for a signal flare at his waist—only for a shadow to fall over him.
“Ghk… ghk…”
A blue blade flashed in the darkness. Warmth flooded from his throat. His eyes slid shut.
His body hit the ground with a dull thud. Dark blood spread across the puddles in the alley.
At the same moment, shadows began to stir—one, then two—from every corner of the street.
“Ruthless as ever.”
“They started it,” Rebecca answered calmly, wiping the blood from her dagger.
Behind her, several guild members brought large sacks, stuffed the two corpses inside without hesitation, and dumped them into the sewer. The bags hit the water with a splash, white foam blooming as they sank.
“Pay them back in kind. I like the sound of that.”
“You and I seem to speak the same language, Lady Milia.”
Rebecca offered a faint smile as Milia nodded at the scene. It was a thoroughly merciless sight.
“Boss. Everyone’s here.”
Devin stepped up behind Rebecca and bowed.
“Good.”
Rebecca turned. Dozens of people stood before her, every face set hard as they watched her.
“I’ll keep this short.”
She spun a dagger once in her palm, then slid it into its sheath with a flourish.
“Tonight the war ends. And the ones left standing will be us.”
The guild members held their silence, eyes fixed on her. Rebecca looked at each of them in turn, as if committing their faces to memory.
“So don’t any of you die.”
They nodded at her low voice. In the next breath the members of Black Fox scattered, vanishing so completely that only Milia, Schwarz, Rebecca, and Devin remained in the alley.
“Then we’ll move as well. Come back safe.”
“Worry about yourselves, not us.”
Milia gave a short laugh as Rebecca bowed lightly. With a faint smile of her own, Rebecca slipped into the darkness with Devin.
“All right. Shall we get going?”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Milia rolled her shoulders as if stretching. Schwarz nodded and poured mana into his bracelet. Light flared; the bracelet reshaped itself. When the glow faded, a black gauntlet etched with golden runes covered his hand.
Together they started down the dark alley at a measured pace.
Signal flares began to streak up from every quiet corner of the back alleys, bursting with sharp cracks. Civilians who had nothing to do with the night’s business locked their doors and windows tight and simply waited for dawn.
“Think they’ll hold out?”
“We can only hope so.”
At the fifth flare, Milia and Schwarz broke into a run along the route Rebecca had given them, trading words as they went.
The plan was simple: Rebecca and the Black Fox members would draw the Specters’ attention. Once the Specters’ fighters left their headquarters empty to chase them, Milia and Schwarz would strike. A classic diversion.
Now that they knew the Order was involved, there was no time to hesitate. If the Specters learned that Black Fox and the Valentine family were working together, one of their trump cards would be gone. So they had moved fast.
“Who goes there!!”
Men who looked like Specters members appeared around the corner at the end of the alley. The moment they saw the pair they drew weapons.
“Stay sharp!”
“Yes, My Lady!”
Milia shouted and charged alongside Schwarz.
“Gah!?”
“Ghk!?”
Against two people who had already stepped into the realm of the superhuman, the thugs stood no chance. In less than ten seconds they lay unconscious in the street. Milia and Schwarz left them where they fell and kept running.
They met several more groups of Specters after that, and each time they put them down without trouble.
How long they ran, they could not have said.
“H-hey, stop right there!!”
“As if!”
A large building loomed ahead. The guards at the entrance shouted at the sight of them, but Milia only snorted and drove the butt of her suddenly drawn halberd into one man’s gut. Schwarz lunged at the other, planted a knee in his stomach, and swept his legs out from under him.
The entrance was clear in seconds. With no time to waste, the two of them sprinted for the doors and kicked them in. Wood exploded with a crash. Inside, the corridor was packed wall to wall with Specters members.
“Wait… did we get here too early?”
“It rather looks that way.”
Milia’s face said oops. Schwarz answered with an awkward little laugh. Apparently the Specters guild had been slower to react than expected.
Both sides stared at each other in mutual surprise—until a voice roared from among the Specters.
“What are you idiots standing around for?! Kill them!!”
Weapons came out. The guild members charged.
“Schwarz. Want to make a bet? Who drops more?”
“That sounds fun. I won’t lose, you know.”
Milia’s faint smile was matched by Schwarz’s competitive reply. Together they hurled themselves into the oncoming wave.
Gyaaaaaah—!!
The last Specters member, twisted into some inhuman shape, staggered and collapsed. Milia and Schwarz wiped the sweat from their brows and surveyed the corridor.
“Ugh…”
“S-someone help me…”
Nothing moved except the groaning bodies of Specters sprawled across the floor.
“Looks like that’s all of them.”
“Seems so.”
Schwarz released the collar of a man who had already gone limp. The body hit the boards with a soft thud.
“I got fifty-one. You?”
“Forty-nine, My Lady. You win.”
“Yesss—!!”
Milia whooped and flashed a V-sign with her fingers.
“By the way… that man who was screaming his head off earlier…”
“The boss of the Specters, right?”
Schwarz chuckled at her victory pose and finished the thought. Milia nodded.
Mikhail Cherkov.
The key figure of the entire operation—the man they had to secure.
“Probably. Did you see which way he went?”
“Yeah. That way.”
Milia pointed down one of the branching halls.
“We should hurry. Losing him would be a problem.”
“Got it.”
Tracking the Order’s trail made capturing Mikhail essential. They set off at a quick pace.
A short while later—
“This is…”
At the end of the corridor they rounded a corner and found themselves facing a massive iron door that looked heavy enough to stop a battering ram.
“Locked, by the look of it.”
Milia tugged the handle. The door only rattled and refused to budge.
“Would you mind stepping back for a moment?”
Schwarz moved toward the door. Reading his intent, Milia retreated a good distance and covered her ears.
“Haaah…”
Schwarz drew a deep breath, pulling in the surrounding mana. In the next instant he compressed it to the limit and unleashed a jet of dark-blue flame.
—KRAAAAANG!!
The breath, focused to a single point like a beam, struck the iron door dead-on. The metal exploded into fragments amid a thunderous roar, thick smoke billowing outward.
“Cough! Cough! Couldn’t you have been a little gentler?”
“Ah… my apologies.”
Milia scowled as she waved the smoke away. Schwarz scratched his head with an awkward smile.
“Anyway… an underground passage? No one mentioned this.”
“No. There was definitely no mention of any underground passage.”
When the smoke cleared, a tunnel leading deep underground yawned before them.
“Looks like we have to go down.”
“I suppose we do…”
Milia let out a short sigh. Schwarz nodded. From here on they were walking into the unknown—no information, no map. Something unpleasant almost certainly waited below, but they had no other choice.
“Let’s go. We can’t afford to waste time here.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Milia started forward. Schwarz inclined his head and followed her into the passage that plunged into the depths.