"Captain," Neko whispered in his ears.

Inu kept his eyes trained on the disappearing children but spared a glance toward his subordinate. She shook a transmitter in his face, he took it and read the message it displayed.

His hands trembled a moment later and he took off without a word.

[Unknown: Hey Inu we found Lion and Tanuki. They are at Angel Share waiting for you.]

"And there he goes," Neko smiled and lead the rest to follow Emmy.

The captain had something urgent to attend to now. It was their job to follow Emmy around, even if their protection was no longer warranted.

It was common knowledge within the Anbu that retired members would no longer be seen again. Madam ensured that after their duty was complete they would have a stable life without worry of being killed by previous enemies. If that happened, it would be a stain she wouldn't tolerate.

Thus Inu sped through the streets of Mondstadt to Angel Share. Many mysterious members within the Anbu held information that Inu wanted but they paled in comparison to-

"Shit, I have to change!" Inu whispered before he ducked into an empty alleyway as he activated [Rapid Transformation - False Appearance].

He was soon a man of blue hair and brown eyes with an impressive build. Though it was inferior to his original, that mattered little to him. His self-imposed mission, for now, was to meet with the two and gain answers.

After he changed he no longer wasted time, he jogged but didn't run as he wore a friendly smile. He opened the door of the bar and was immediately engulfed by the scent of alcohol.

The bartender and the occupants gave him a brief once-over before they resumed their earlier activity. Inu gave the bartender a nod, which he returned before he strolled up to the second floor. He fixed the collar of his white tunic and placed a hand in his black jeans before he took light strides toward the table near the corner.

"Yo," Tanuki raised his hand, eyes closed. He pushed an empty glass to Inu's area of the table and Lion swirled the wine bottle in his hand.

"What do you mean by 'Yo'? I waited for you to contact me for ages, what took so long?" Inu took a seat as he glanced around the area for the 3rd time. No one was here but them.

"Hah~ Take a break will yah? You just arrived and yet here you are, impatient for something," Lion said, a grin on his face but there was a blush on his cheeks.

"Slightly drunk? Fucking lightweight."

"Alright, I'll... Take a small break from the grilling," Inu said, cupping his hands.

"That's more like it! How's life going in the Anbu now?"

"Same as when you left," Inu said as he peered into the wine in his glass, the red mirror reflected his uncertainty but he smiled, "The young miss did upgrade our training, organization structure, and weaponry so that's a plus I guess."

"The young miss huh," Tanuki said solemnly, Lion stayed silent as he swirled the bottle again.

"Yep, I bet you're regretting you left the order now huh? Our young miss has revealed her genius to the world, no one can stop her rise now!"

The passion in Inu's words made Tanuki wince and Lion chuckled, he lightly banged his bottle and the glass together which caused them to make a charming sound.

"What's with you all? Did you forget about our young miss already?!"

"Your young miss pal, she's no longer ours. We retired and also..."

Inu raised a brow, "Also..."

Tanuki pursed his lips, he tapped his glass absentmindedly. He debated whether he should tell the man this or not, however; Lion wasn't as kind to withhold information from the man.

"She's going to die, pal, quite tragically too," Lion chuckled, looking at Inu through the clear, empty bottle. The smile he held seemed even more deranged when it was displayed through the glass.

At first, Inu didn't react. He looked down at his wine where he passed his thumb on the rim, it seemed inviting to his inner chaos and curiously he pressed down lightly. The glass cracked in one move, another would spell its doom while taking money from his pockets. A crack entered his ears before he noticed it, he grabbed Lion by his collar. The annoying smile was still on his face.

"So you look mad," Tanuki said, his voice measured.

"What do you mean by those words!"

"That's she's going to die a tragic death, what else would those words mean?" Tanuki sipped a bit of wine before pointing toward the two.

"That's impossible! The young miss is the definition of overpowered, how could there be any that can kill her? Who would do such a thing?"

"I have no idea," Tanuki shrugged.

"I-" Inu was speechless.

"I'm not the one who knows anything about this, Lion is the one who told me this. I have other information to give you but can you please release him and sit down."

"Then, then- Why is he smiling? Is there something funny about the young miss dying you fucking bastard?!"

"If you make too much noise, people might come up here and we might have to find another location. Maybe even cancel altogether," Tanuki said and Lion grinned.

Inu took deep breaths as he gazed into Lion's eyes before he viciously pushed him away and returned to his seat. He gulped down his alcohol ad slammed his head on the table.

He didn't look up and spat, "Spill!"

"Why you gotta be such a downer Inu-chan~ We can enjoy this alcohol together, hehe~" Lion raised a bottle he took from somewhere but Inu wasn't playing his games.

"Spill!"

"Okay," Lion said seriously, "I'll give you a rundown of what I got from all those years ago. It goes something like this: 'Bad monster comes, young miss falls, she loses in battle and dies'."

He banged the glass with his bottle again.

"And?"

"Nothing else really, though if you would like to-"

"So, I waited so long for this information? Is it set in stone? Who said the young miss can't kill who comes for her life?"

"Hmm," Lion hummed before he said, "Hey, you remember that dragon, Ursa the Drake, she killed before the Fatui?"

"Yes, wait! How do you know that?"

"If it ain't the highest rank of classified, I can find the information, you should know this," Tanuki spoke up this time.

He used to be from the Intelligence Division back in the day if Inu remembered correctly.

"So as I was saying, you know how everyone thinks she killed it?"

Inu nodded before he realized, "Wait, thinks? Didn't she kill it? I was right there."

"No, that bitch is alive and it's coming for the entity inside of Emmy right now."

"What entity?" Inu felt like he knew nothing today, he was a bit dizzy he realized. Whether it was because of the alcohol or the information overload he didn't know.

A 'ding' shook him out of his stupor, Lion banged the glass on the bottle again. He smiled.

"Before that, let me tell you about what happened 9 years ago."

"Are you serious," Inu whined as he placed his head on the table again.

Tanuki paid him no mind and began his story.

"So you see..." Inu didn't listen to him at first but when he arrived at a certain point his attention along with Lion's gradually became Tanuki's property before he finished his story.

"You serious?" Lion glanced at them both and laughed.

"Yep."

Inu shook his head, "So you mean to tell me that Dottore wanted to do one more experiment on Emmy before we came to his lab? He killed a labmate of Emmy in front of her and placed the child in Emmy's arms?"

"Uh-huh," Tanuki kept his eyes closed, a 'happy' smile on his face.

"So, then Emmy suddenly went into berserk, a four-year-old went into berserk and started to kill those who did this to her immediately after Dottore left the location. The high train soldiers and scientists just died to a four-year-old girl."

Lion laughed banging the two glass objects together multiple times, "And then she went on to fight Dottore of all people? That short stack that never fought in her life up to that point turned into such a monster, eyes glowing blue with cold hatred."

"Yep, and she nearly killed him too. I swear she was going to cut off his head and mine if she didn't pass out. I was just lucky whatever state she was in she recognized me as an ally," Tanuki didn't blink at all. He was saying the truth, he only blinked when he was lying.

"Unbelievable, you'll find that in a novel for sure but not here! Take it somewhere else," Lion found it too hard to believe. The monster he knew of was an external entity, not some power the young miss had.

If it was true then which one of these monsters were her true opposition?

"I can believe it."

"Huh! Inu you..."

"I saw all the dead scientists and Emmy was unconscious when I arrived. The young miss is also extremely talented, I have no doubt she could learn such a power in a desperate situation to turn the tables."

"..."

"The only issue is why didn't she use it after that period? It allowed her to fight a Harbinger at such a young age, surely it was a potent ability, no?" Inu said, puzzled.

"I mean, have you heard of forbidden techniques? They have such a name for a reason, most likely she suffered some drawbacks or something but it doesn't matter now. Let's talk about the real threat," Tanuki said seriously and Lion straightened up.

"What?"

"Let's talk about the [Seed of Malice] or its official name [Divine Malice of Heavens Ode] the curse Emmy has to endure due to her talent."

"Wait, one question before you continue."

"Hmm?"

"How do you know all this? I know you're an intelligence agent, a former intelligence agent but how can you know all this?"

"Oh, I didn't find this. Madam told me."

Inu sighed and motioned for Tanuki to continue.

"The [Dark Avatar] craves the [Seed of Malice] as it contains a power called [Remnant]. The [Remnant] contains the powers of people the [Seed of Malice] killed or wronged in the past. The seed had killed 4 and the other 5 were sealed away but non suffered a true death. Which is why Emmy is going to be the tenth, his death will most likely be true."

"My head is throbbing right now with the number of questions I have."

"I'll answer them all~"

"So..." Inu hesitated, "Who are these ten people, Emmy included."

"The [True Combat] users of course."

Inu sighed once more, it was shaping up to be a long day today.

*****

Up on a hill surveying Mondstadt a tall figure glanced at the gates where a few women and children were speaking to each other. Despite their varying strengths, none of them noticed the entity.

It had five horns and four dark-blue eyes. It had a human form and yet its nature was alien. It stood at 8ft and was silently floating in the air as it look at a young girl the age of 13-14.

She was currently talking to her parents, her two aunts, and her grandmother who came to visit her. Her friends lay behind her as they were all introduced to one another.

It licked its lips as its gaze went deeper and passed through the veil of Emmy's spiritual defenses silently to gaze upon its prize. There were three that were worthy to be claimed yet only one enthralled it so. One was gold, another purple, and the last was a sinister dark blue that threatened to devour the others.

They stood firm however' it wouldn't last.

"Aureliun. I have finally found you."