The tunnels were quite the dreadful experience. Besides all the soot-stained stone walls, the flickering Orange Magium lights and the railroad tracks, there isn’t much to see around here. Everything felt quiet, with nothing but the sound of our very own footsteps. That’s what made this place so eerie, because it always felt like there might have been something creeping in the shadows, silently watching our every move. If I were alone, I’d probably tense up and be on my guard for most of the time.

Luckily for me, I have a chatterbox of a companion known as the Scarlet Hood.

“Hahahahahaha! I still can’t forget that look on her face!” The girl next to me held my shoulder and broke down in laughter.

I slapped my hand on my face and shook my head.

“How are we supposed to defeat the Zodiac Circle if you two won’t kill anybody?!” Scarlet sneered with a high-pitched voice. “Are you guys sick in the head?!”

“You shouldn’t be mocking the poor girl like that…..”

“But the best part was when she found out that your only weapon of choice was a magical sword! Hahahahahahaha!”

Personally, I took offense to that. 

I sighed. “You know this is the reason why she still hasn’t answered our comms?”

Before we left, or rather, before she kicked us out, she provided us with communication devices. The device was locked in perfectly around the shape of my ear, so I didn’t understand how Scarlet ended up losing such a thing.

“The shorty may have a short temper, but she calms down fairly quickly. Don’t worry about it! She’ll understand what we’re trying to accomplish!”

“I don’t know, Scarlet. The idea of not killing anyone in this quest sounds delusional, so it makes perfect sense for her not to agree with us.”

“We’ll just have to prove to her that we can do it by defeating Cerberus!” Scarlet grasped her fist with a smile.

I guess that’s the only way…..

Hmm?

“Lars? What is it?” 

“Something’s changed,” I said, sniffing the air in front of me.

The sensation on my nostrils felt fresh. It didn’t have any strong flavor or aroma, but it was something like a subtle pleasance.

“Ah! I know!” Scarlet said and ran ahead of me.

“Wait! What is it?!”

As I chased after Scarlet, I realized that we were reaching the end of the tunnel. Traces of green started to grow prominent on stony walls and railroad tracks, giving color to the once monotonous hue of the tunnel. The scent only grew stronger, and eventually I understood what it was. 

I knelt down and touched the floor.

Glowgrass.

A glowing sea of green revealed itself before me, spreading all the way towards the houses and buildings from a distance. Looking back at my time in Sector 24, where the district was pretty much in shambles, I wasn’t expecting to see a sight as beautiful as this in the Under Sectors.

“So pretty!” Scarlet brushed her fingers along the Glowgrass.

This place didn’t seem as bad as Hephy made it out to be….

BANG!

Spoke too soon.

The echoes of screams and gunshots could be heard from a distance, reminding me of how terrible the Under Sectors are.

“What a turn off!” 

I looked at Scarlet, who was already laying down on the grass.

How carefree can this girl be….?

“We’re not here to play around,” I pulled her up. “Let’s go.”

“Have you made it to Sector 23 yet?” Hephy’s voice sounded in my ears.

“Hephyyy! We made it! The Glowgrass is pretty here! You should come!” Scarlet said.

“You know I have to stay and guard the Wagon House, right?”

“Uhuh…but I wanna see you! I already miss you!”

“Oh, shut up you vixen! Quit joking around and get to work!”

“Um, Hephy…about earlier…” 

“Yeah, fine! Go use your sword and go schwing-schwing, Lars! Just make sure you don’t die like an idiot!”

“Thanks, Hephy.”

“Whatever. Jeez, how did you manage to defeat the Midas Hogs with just a sword anyway….?”

“Just you wait and see, Hephy,” Scarlet gave me a wink. “You’ll understand what the Iron Cat is capable of soon enough!”

“Alright. My drones are currently scouting the area as we speak. All you have to do is follow my directions if you want to ensure your survival, got it?”

“Gotcha.”

“Best to stay away from the east side, there is too much action going on over there. Head west.”

We followed Hephy’s instructions and turned left.

“Move a little bit to the right, there’s a heavy patrol up ahead.”

Some figures could be spotted from a distance, so we quickly turned away before we could get caught.

“Hide in the bushes for around 15 seconds.”

“Move back a few steps, then move northeast.”

“Adjust your path back towards the west.”

The instructions only seemed to keep coming at a rapid pace, which started to make me feel uneasy. Gunshots started to echo all around me and the war cries of men felt all too close for comfort. My body started to tense up a little, stirring up butterflies in my stomach. My breath began to shiver as I let out an exhale. I inhaled through my nose and blew out some fresh air from my mouth to calm my nerves. 

Deep breaths, Lars. You can do this!

“You’re getting closer to the urban areas. Just a few more strides and you’ll make it. Watch out for some thugs on the house to your right though.”

“H-Help!”

A scream could be heard just a few meters away from us. Scarlet and I decided to hide behind some rocks and take a peek.

“Get him! That man has rations!”

A group of thugs could be seen running after a man with a basket. They were all trying to shoot him down, and the helpless man had nothing to fight with but his bare hands.

“Do not engage. It’s far too risky. There’s too many people in the area.”

“He looks like he needs help,” I said.

I noticed that the man had a slave collar on his neck, which meant one thing.

Are you really going to do it, Lars?

“It’s not worth it, Lars. The risk is too great. It’s just one man.”

I clenched my teeth.

“Sorry, but I can’t watch an innocent man get killed.”

Here we go again.

“Don’t!”

“Pfft. Don’t worry, Hephy!” Scarlet chuckled. “Lars and I are way too badass to die anyway!”

“You crazy bastards!”

Scarlet and I jumped out of the rocks and rushed straight ahead to ambush the hunters. They didn’t see us coming, leaving them stunned for a few seconds before pointing their guns towards us. 

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Scarlet yelled as she shot down the hunters with ease. “Go finish them off Lars!”

She only aimed at non-vital areas to fulfill her promise, so it was up to me to finish the job.

“Close your eyes!” I said. “Illuminate!”

With the flashing light of my sword, I blinded everyone in the vicinity and began my attack. There were around seven of them in total. I started off with the person closest to me, striking the back of his head with a heavy swing. Immediately right after, I swerved my body over to the next person and slammed my sword on the top of his head. There wasn’t much time for me before the effects started to cooldown, so I couldn’t stay with one person for too long. The attacks needed to be short and concise. I set off a chain of strikes, striking the third person towards his nose, the fourth on his liver and the fifth on the side of his neck, making sure that each attack would leave them completely stunned.

However, it wasn’t enough to reach the last two people. The sixth person casted a bolt of lighting directly towards me, forcing me to leap away to avoid its current. A gust of wind struck against my chest, its impact enough to make me cough off dribble from my mouth. I flew a few paces back and fell into the Glowgrass. 

Tsk, of course there would be magic users here. I should have used the [Protect] Skill sooner.

Nah, that was fine. Did you forget? You can only use skills 8 times at maximum. Best to save it for later.

Scarlet shot the lighting user on the knee and the wind user on his elbow, making both of them scream in excruciating pain. They fought back with their magic, keeping her away from using her kicks.

The other men slowly recovered from the ground, indicating that my strikes weren’t powerful enough to finish them off. I took a deep sigh and charged at them once more.

“Protect!”

I casted the shield just in time to protect myself from the incoming bullets.

This would be a whole lot easier if you and Scarlet resorted to killing. You two are clearly handicapped. Do you really think you can survive like this?

I’ll believe in it, no matter how stupid it sounds. I don’t want it to happen again!

You know you’re only delaying the inevitable. It will come along eventually.

I bit my lip and placed all my strength into my slashes. I have to make sure they don’t get up again. Head shots, body blows, pain pressure points, I’ll do whatever it takes if it means I don’t have to kill anybody!

One strike after another. I slashed through the thugs, over and over again. Even after my shield shattered into pieces, they still continued to persist. Every time they tried to pick up their gun, I would strike them down before they could shoot. Yet no matter how hard I strike, it just doesn’t seem to end. When one falls down, another gets back up. Eventually, I found myself in an endless cycle of mindless hacking and slashing. 

It felt frustrating…….yet…exciting?

“Lars!” Scarlet grabbed my hand. “That slave got away! Let’s chase after him!”

“R-Right.”

The slave wasn’t hard to catch up with, seeing as he was limping across the grass with a rather heavy looking basket. Once he noticed we were coming, he screamed.

“No! Stay away from me!”

“Wait up! We’re not here to hurt you!” Scarlet yelled.

“You want to steal my rations, don’t you?!” 

“We’re not interested in your rations! We just want to protect you!” I said.

“R-Really?” 

We finally caught up to him.

“If we were, we would have taken you down by now!” Scarlet chuckled.

“I-I see. Thank-”

BANG!

Before I knew it, the man next to us was already dead. His body fell to the ground, staining the Glowgrass in a puddle of red.

“N-No….” I muttered.

“Don’t move!”

A group of soldiers gathered in front of us, all with their guns pointed on our heads. Cold sweat trickled on my brow, and my chest started to feel a bit of weight. I let out another deep breath and looked them in the eyes.

“Psst, Hephy! What do we do?!” Scarlet said.

“Go hear what they have to say first,” Hephy instructed us on the comms. “Don’t do anything rash yet."

One of the soldiers, a rather skinny-looking young man with scruffy clothes and a metal chestplate, approached us with a crooked smile. His sharp slanted eyes gave us a long narrowing leer,

“We haven’t seen you two around before.”

“Say that you came from Sector 24,” Hephy said.

I glared at the group of thugs. "Killing that man wasn't necessary-"

“Ahahaha! Halo-Halo, friends!" Scarlet covered my mouth. "We're from Sector 24!"

“Oh, Sector 24, I see! So you must be tourists! Welcome to Sector 23!” the man extended his arms. “I’m Chihua and we’re the Cer Gang, and we’d like you to hand those rations to us please! You don’t want to die, do you?”

The Cer Gang. The first gang of Cerberus.

“Didn’t think we’d get such a friendly greeting around here,” Scarlet said.

I grabbed the basket of rations, with my arms quivering as I carried it over to their side. After dropping the goods, I quickly stepped back and exhaled.

“Thank you, friends!” the man said. “Now we’re going to be taking you to Dober for further questioning! You might be spies from the Be Gang, so we can’t let you off that easily!”

“Hey! That’s Chihua’s gang over there! Get him!” someone screamed from a distance.

Another group of soldiers charged after Chihua’s group and launched an ambush.

“Stop getting in our way, you damned Be bastards!” Chihua yelled as he blasted his rifle.

The Cer and Be soldiers were evenly matched, trading both bullets and magic in a battle for dominance. Since they were too focused on each other, no one paid any attention towards us.

This place truly is a warzone….

“Scarlet, do your thing,” I said.

“I’m one step ahead of ya!”

Scarlet threw out a couple of smoke bombs on the quarreling gangs and escaped towards the opposite.

“What the hell is this smoke?!” Chihua screamed.

“See ya, losers!”