“Kah!” Carol Summers uttered a word, dense magical energy was projected to the space in front of her and crystalized into a restraining construct like a block of ice with the assassin in it, locking the assassin inside and even completely freezing her movement.

 

The next moment, Carol Summers took out a small custom-made pistol from her purse and opened fire on the assassin. At this close distance, even a terrible shot would not miss - the block of energy construct instantly shattered and the assassin was sent flying back.

 

But the bullet from the mini pistol was not enough to kill the assassin - it only made a deep dent on the plate of armor on the assassin’s chest. And the restraining magical block did not seem to have any lingering effects on her, since she was already ready to attack again when she fell on the ground and tumbled into a safe corner.

 

Emilia Corin immediately rushed to a safe corner and tried to hide herself while holding her gun - she did not run out of the restaurant because her experience told her that this kind of assassination usually involves at least a small team. If she ran out of the hospital she would likely be just running into a trap or just be ambushed by the parties responsible for cleaning up. Right now, her best choice is to stay in this restaurant and wait, if Carol Summers won, she would be safe; if she lost, then she would still have a chance to sneak away unnoticed since Carol Summers seemed to be the primary target.

 

The assassin concentrated her grey energy onto the two golden daggers in her hands, then she swung her daggers and unleashed two crescent-shaped energy blades at Carol Summers from her corner, then she leaped over a couple of chopped up bodies lying on the ground and prepared for her next attack.

 

Carol Summers raised her hands and created a luminescent energy wall in front of her and in the way of the two energy blades. When the energy blades crashed into the energy wall, they just melted and turned into harmless energy droplets and splashed onto the ground.

 

When the assassin lunged at Carol Summers, Carol Summers already prepared a series of hand seals and tossed out a spindle-shaped energy projectile right at the assassin.

 

The assassin swung the dagger on her left hand at the energy projectile and tried to parry it aside. Yet the energy projectile instantly exploded and shot out thousands of energy threads. The threads curled in the air and started closing in on the assassin like thousands of tentacles. The assassin swung her daggers repeatedly, trying to cut her way out of the encirclement. Yet the energy threads kept regenerating, no matter how many the assassin cut off, more would take their places.

 

After a short while, the assassin was eventually completely restrained and contained by the energy threads.

 

This spell was powerful, and Carol Summers’s face full of sweat was a testament to that.

 

“Is it… is it safe now?” Emilia Corin walked out from her hiding corner, with her gun pointing at the assassin.

 

“Not really. Back off, but don’t leave just yet.” Carol Summers opened her purse and took out a small medallion made of platinum with a hexagon shaped sapphire in the middle. Then she started silently chanting some kind of arcane spell, and as she continued chanting, the piece of sapphire started to glimmer in blue light.

 

The assassin did not stop struggling while entangled by the energy threads. And while she was struggling, the two golden daggers seemed to be continuously emitting cold, grim and chaotic waves of energy. The energy threads that kept the assassin in bind were thus being gradually corrupted and weakened.

 

“She’s breaking out.” Emilia Corin said to Carol Summers: “She’s gonna get out soon. Why not just kill her now?”

 

“First lesson on dealing with things like this in our world.” Carol Summers finished chanting her spell, and had already started with the final steps as she let the medallion float in midair: “Information is always more important than the fleeting safety of having your assassin killed. I trust that you would appreciate the reason behind it.”

 

“Yes. But… she’s almost out.”

 

“It’s the daggers.” Carol Summers lifted her hands up and sent the medallion to the place in front of the assassin. The sapphire started shining and projected a beam of cold blue light onto the forehead of the assassin: “Remember what you’re about to see - let this be your second lesson: don’t EVER touch an enchanted artifact, be it a simple daily items like jewelry or tools, or weapons like daggers and swords, unless you’re absolutely sure what it does and what kind of magic it was enchanted with.”

 

“Understood.” Emilia Corin glanced over the assassin’s face and locked her eyes on the assassin’s twitching and rolling eyes: “What.... what’s happening with her?”

 

“I am trying to salvage what’s left of her mind and soul.” Carol Summers said: “This will very likely kill her, but she’s gonna die a gruesome death anyway.” Then, she conjured up a transparent energy wall shielding her and Emilia Corin from whatever that might come out from the assassin.

 

“La… lady...” the assassin started speaking with a hoarse voice: “Car… Carter… brother...”

 

“Who sent you?” Carol Summers whispered in a calm and slightly magnetic voice.

 

“Car...carter.... brother… sor… sorry….”

 

“Who, sent, you?” Carol Summers asked once again.

 

“La… lady...” the assassin’s eyes rolled wide and away from the center, her left pupil turning left and her right pupil turning right, and her dropped jaw and frowning forehead indicated she was in immense pain. Then, before Carol Summers could ask again, her entire head exploded, and her body started cracking up like a fragile glass bottle.

 

“Boom! Boom!” the two golden daggers exploded and basically flattened the entire restaurant. Carol Summers and Emilia Corin were unharmed, due to the energy wall protecting them from the explosion.

 

“So there it is.” Carol Summers sighed and sat down in the air, and she lit up a cigarette from her purse: “Lady… that’s not a good lead. There are at least hundreds of self-important hags that call themselves ‘lady’.”

 

“But it’s a start, yeah?” Emilia Corin had to pull a chair that happened to be behind the energy wall and therefore not mostly intact: “I’d assume, you have more men to make up for the losses?”

 

“Hmm, yeah.” Carol Summers looked at Emilia Corin in the eyes, blowing smoke from her nostrils: “Interesting gift you got there. Is that why you’ve survived this far?”

 

“... yes.”

 

“It’s a rare gift. You’re wise to keep it a secret.” Carol Summers chuckled: “And it’s not easily controllable, right?”

 

“Only when I concentrate really hard, or when I’m about to be in danger.” Emilia Corin squirmed in unease, it was also rare that someone actually talked to her about her gift.

 

“Hmm. Makes sense. Even highly trained mages would have trouble peeking into the future, even a very very close future, for too long. You’ll need more training if you want more control over it. And you'll need a lot more training in your body and magic, so you won’t break yourself apart when paying the cost.”

 

“I understand...” Emilia Corin sighed: “Would… would you train me?”

 

“Hmm...” Carol Summers did not answer, instead she just slowly sucked on her cigarette.