Despite being in such a sorry-state, Sector 23’s urban zone was a sight to behold. 

The Glowgrass seemed to have no bounds, spreading its reach along the stained walls of bricks and stone, growing through the cracked-up infrastructures of gothic architecture, decorating the cobblestone roads and illuminating the area with a viridescent light. Flowers of different colors bloomed from the Glowgrass, differentiating themselves from the constant greenery.

If it weren’t for the war going on around here, I wouldn’t mind taking a break to gaze at its beauty.

“I didn’t think the Under Sectors could have a place as beautiful as this,” I said.

“You really look down on the Under Sectors too much!” Scarlet frowned. “You shouldn’t judge based on what you’ve seen in Sector 24!”

She punched me lightly on the shoulder.

“You mean there are other places as pretty as this?” I asked.

“Of course!”

Scarlet answered my question while she was moving her head around. She wandered around peeking across every street, like she was searching for something.

“What are you looking for, Scarlet?”

“There’s no one here….and it’s strangely quiet. What’s up with that?” Scarlet massaged her chin.

Looking around, I noticed that there wasn’t a single person in sight. The only noises I heard seemed to be coming from the distant echoes of the outskirts, which meant there was little to no action here.

“This is a warzone, don’t you remember?” Hephy spoke on the comms. “As if there’s gonna be any civilians around here chilling by the streets. They’re all probably hiding somewhere.”

“Your drones haven’t picked up anyone yet?”

“No. Most of the gangs are probably busy fighting on the outskirts. I assume it’s because most of the food supply lies there. That’s what I’ve observed at least.”

“That makes sense.”

A gust of wind blew by my face, hitting the floor behind me.

“What the-”

“There’s a sniper!” Scarlet yelled.

Another gust of wind shot from afar. This time, it zoomed past Scarlet’s cheek. 

“Where is it coming from?” I summoned White and put on my guard.

Upon listening carefully, I picked up the echoing sound of a heavy gunshot right before the third gust of wind landed on the floor in front of us. 

Wait a minute, there’s no bullet on the floor?

“What are you waiting for?! Go hide already!” Hephy yelled on the comms.

Scarlet grabbed my hand and dragged me towards an abandoned building just right next to us. We burst through the entrance doors, then quickly slammed them behind us before running up to the stairs and hiding in one of the bedrooms. I locked the door to the room and made sure that it couldn’t be opened from the other side.

“Phew, that was a close call, hahaha! We would have been dead for sure!” Scarlet wiped her brow.

“This doesn’t make any sense. Why didn’t I notice that sniper?!” Hephy complained.

“That wasn’t just any sniper. His bullets weren’t made of metal,” I said. “It’s a wind user.”

I’ve heard of magic users who combined their powers with weapons, so this wasn’t a new concept to me.

“That sniper was just too sneaky! Too sneaky for me! Damn it! I’m such an idiot!” 

“Don’t mind it, Hephy!” Scarlet said. “We’re fine, and that’s all that matters.”

“But you guys almost died because of my ignorance!”

“No use in getting mad about it now,” I said.

“Stay there and give me a few seconds,” Hephy said. “I’m going to hunt that sniper down!”

I took a deep breath and laid my back on the wall. Scarlet jumped on the bed nearby and started making creaking noises.

“Wow! This bed is pretty bouncy! Is this why lovers make those weird bed noises when they sleep?”

“Huh? What are you even talking about? Can you please knock it off and sit here with me instead?”

“Hmm?” Scarlet gave me a smug look. “Gladly.”

The cinnamon-haired lady stuck her body next to me and laid on my shoulder.

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m sitting here with you, like you asked!”

I furrowed my eyebrows and stared into her eyes. She looked back with a cheeky smile and tilted her head slightly. My body grew tense at the sight of her face. The sudden pressure on my chest made my lips form a wince. I gritted my teeth and scratched my nails against the floor. 

"What's wrong?" Scarlet poked my shoulder. "Did a woman's touch really fluster you up so much?"

"What's wrong?! I'll tell you what's wrong!" I snapped back at her. "How can you be having so much fun after what happened? We let that slave die! He was literally running alongside us, yet we still failed to protect him! How can you have the audacity to brush it off like it was nothing?! Don’t you feel any guilt?!”

Scarlet leaned her head back, flabbergasted from my sudden outburst. She slowly let go of my arm and went completely silent. A stinging feeling of guilt struck the depths of my heart. I realized what I had done and decided to take a deep sigh. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…..”

“It’s fine. I understand what you mean,” Scarlet held my shoulder. “You’re not from the Under Sectors, so you don’t get it yet.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Death…..is everywhere,” Scarlet said. “It’s something we’re used to at this point. We watch people die everyday, whether it be from murder, accidents, sickness, or simply old age. Everyone knows that it is inevitable, therefore it is not something that will ever be prevented. It just can’t be helped. There are many lives that can be saved, but there are also lives that cannot be saved. But at the end of the day, we’ll all die someday. It’s just a matter of when.”

“But, that’s just too sad of reality to think about….” I looked down on the floor.

“Exactly!” Scarlet flicked my forehead.

“Ouch,” I massaged my forehead.

“Why bother thinking about something in the past? It’s not something we can change any longer. It’s a waste of time to cry about it all the time. The only thing we can do now is live our best life in the present moment and try to make a difference in this world.”

I looked into Scarlet’s eye. Her lone ruby red eye. The other, covered with an eyepatch. She gave me a wink with the open eye and let out another smile.

“Now that I think about it, what happened to your e-”

“AHA! I found that bastard!” Hephy rejoiced on the comms. “He’s on the northern side of town! Hurry up and don’t lose him!”

“Time to go!” Scarlet lifted my arm up and we burst through a window outside the house.

We started running through the streets up north like Hephy had suggested. However, the path we were taking was never linear. She directed us to go through a bunch of turns, some quick detours, a couple of shortcuts and other alternate routes. I’m guessing this was because she was trying to get us closer to the sniper without getting us exposed. If so, then the plan wasn’t working too well.

“Watch out, Lars!” Scarlet extended her hand.

Gusts of wind zoomed right through us, piercing through the air like an actual bullet. We weaved our bodies around and changed our footsteps, hoping to evade all of the wind sniper’s shots.

“Grrrrr! That rascal’s pretty quick on their feet. They’re giving my drones a hard time!”

“Did you just growl?” Scarlet snickered.

“Now’s not a good time to joke around, Scarlet!”

“How far is the sniper now?” I said as I climbed over a fence into a lone alleyway.

“D-Damn it! I lost him again!”  

I’ve just realized something.

What is it, Gray?

That sniper never made a single hit on any of you. Don’t you find that strange?

Maybe we were just lucky enough to escape their shots. 

That doesn’t make sense. A trained sniper wouldn’t miss that badly…In fact, I found it even more strange that they didn’t just simply shoot the drones down to get them off their tail. It’s almost as if they wanted to be chased.

Hmm….

“He’s right above you!”

My body tensed up as soon as she informed us. I summoned White and glanced towards one of the roofs above. There stood a masked figure holding a sniper on their arms. His mask resembled the face of a dog, with pointy ears, ferocious fangs and glowing eyes of verdant. The mysterious hunter wore a long green hooded coat with a metal chestplate underneath and black armored pants down below. Scarlet tried to shoot the figure down with her revolvers, but the masked figure evaded the bullets with the speed of the wind. 

The masked figure aimed his sniper towards me. I blew some excess air from my lungs and concentrated on the muzzle of his gun. If I can predict the speed trajectory of his wind bullet, I should be able to cut it down. 

No, I shouldn’t risk it.

The best thing to do would be to use the [Protect] skill to cover myself and stand in front of Scarlet.

They have the high ground, you won’t be able to reach them from here. It’s best to retreat for now. 

“Watch out!” Hephy warned us. “There’s more soldiers coming your way!”

“I found ya, hahahahaha!” A voice echoed from a distance.

Tsk, that voice….

“Uh oh,” Scarlet stepped back.

And it had to be in the middle of a tight alleyway of all places….

Chihua and the Cer Gang made their entrance into the alleyway. His group of soldiers somehow didn’t change in number since the last time I saw them. It was as if there weren’t any casualties from the last time we saw them. We tried to run in the opposite direction, but more of Chihua’s men had blocked the path entirely. They had us completely trapped. Scarlet and I had our backs against each other, readying our weapons for another fight. Looking back up to the rooftop, I noticed that the masked figure had disappeared.

“Wait, where did he go?” I asked.

“No idea…..” Scarlet replied.

“You’ve got some nerve throwing those stupid smoke bombs on us!” Chihua screamed out, with spit flying out of his mouth. “You’ve made a big mistake messing with the Cer Gang!”

At the front were ten men, including Chihua. There were also ten men behind us, giving a total of twenty men that we had to fight. Around one-third of them had magic surging through their fingers and the rest held onto their rifles. The odds were against us and we had no room to escape. However, we still had some cards up our sleeves. Scarlet’s smoke bombs and my [Illuminate] skill. Using either of the two options would give us a fighting chance.

Scarlet leaned closer to me and gave off a stern look.

“I guess it's time for me to use one of my secret techniques,” she whispered.

“Secret techniques?” 

“You’re going to do ‘that’ thing aren’t you?” Hephy said. “Don’t do it, it’s too risky!”

“Sorry Hephy, but I’m going to have to do ‘that’. I’m going to bet on it.”

“You haven’t even mastered ‘that’ yet, you dummy!”

What is ‘that’?

The red-hooded gunslinger moved in front of me and started spinning her pistols. Chihua’s thugs instinctively flinched and pointed their guns towards her. Tensions began to rise as they watched her play around with her hands and fingers. She looked at me with a cocky smirk and gave me another wink.

“Just follow after me.”

I took a deep cold breath and brandished my sword to follow suit. What was she planning on doing?

Scarlet placed her guns back on their holsters and prostrated herself on the floor.

“We’re sorry! We didn’t mean to do any harm! Please forgive us, O great Cer Gang!”

My disappointment is immeasurable.