It was her railgun. But condensing the mana, she could make the bullets smaller.
Bang!
Commotion arose from outside the alleyway. But Brandon was counting on that.
Looking at where Alia was positioned, their gazes t for a brief second and Brandon flashed a wink.
Due to the distance, he could barely see the expressions Alia was making.
But as Brandon pointed at his shoulder, Alia leaned close towards the sight.
Bang!
"Ukh!"
Pretending to find cover, a bullet pierced right through his shoulder and he let out a sharp groan.
"Fuck."
"Does anyone know who the assailant is?"
Link and the rest of the n began to panic.
Letting out a cough and hiding behind cover, Brandon dropped a bombshell.
"The Imperial Army."
"What?!"
Imdiately, they all turned to look at him with wide eyes.
"How did one end up here?"
"Link… this is bad!"
"At least we're wearing masks."
Unlike the rest of his lackeys, Link remained calm.
"Let's get out of here. The sniper seems to be wary of us."
"Yeah, before reinforcents arrive."
With such thoughts, Link waved his hand towards Alia's direction.
Brandon found himself curious of what Link was about to do. Evelyn seed to know all of the guards' abilities. However, she had never told him of it yet.
All of a sudden, mana began to gather around Link's hand, and a magic circle materialized.
Cr… Crack!
Simultaneously, the light of the bullets pierced through as an ice wall materialized. The wall shook for a brief mont as glacial shards spread on the ground.
One of the n left his cover and lifted his hand up.
"Aqua!"
He called out and another man lifted his hand. A magic circle materialized in front of Aqua's palms.
"Infernis!"
"Got it."
At that, the two rippled out their magic at the sa ti. Flas escaped the magic circle in front of Infernis, and water rushed out of Aqua's.
The two elents coalesced together, canceling each other out, creating smoke.
Smoke filled the entire alleyway.
It was a smoke screen.
Bang! Bang!
Bullets pierced through the ice wall. But due to the vision being obscured, it landed on no one.
"Let's go!"
At his call, the group imdiately rushed towards Brandon.
"Moriarty, can you move?"
".....Yeah."
Brandon gradually stood up with a pained expression. The group turned towards the dead end.
"Stand back."
At Link's call, they stood behind him as he lifted his hand forward.
Mana once again gathered around his palms and an ice spike lunged forward, completely shattering the wall.
Boom—!
The vicinity shook for a few seconds. Rock dust mixed with the smoke, obscuring the entire vicinity.
As the smoke cleared, a gaping hole on the wall revealed itself.
Nodding to each other, they escaped the alleyway through the gaping hole.
Turning his head slightly, Brandon smirked and thought to himself.
'Good job.'
Running through the alleyway, they made it to the other side of the streets.
Lamp posts filled the vicinity, and the pedestrians looked at them with shocked and confused expressions.
But since they were all wearing masks, it didn't bother them.
At that, they continued running, paying no heed to everyone around them.
Ti passed.
By then, it was around 1:00 PM.
After escaping the peering eyes of everyone, they gathered at a secluded part of the city.
The slums.
Though it was possible to stay in the blackmarket, they decided not to do so.
"Haa…. H-haaa…."
"Haa…. That…. Haaa…. Was a disaster."
"Fuck, who's idea was this again?"
Aqua and Infernis turned their heads to look at Link and frowned.
Motioning his hand, Link assured.
"Calm down, calm down. This was out of our expectations."
"Yeah, whatever."
Aqua spat out and stood straight, leaning on the wall.
"That commotion would cause panic. It wouldn't be surprising if it gets on the news. Good going, Link."
"Fuck off."
Link waved him off.
"Whatever, so…?"
He looked at Brandon.
"We're all in this together now. There's no reason for you to refuse."
"Sure."
"This wouldn't have happened had you accepted it on the spot."
"Can you bla ?"
"Guess not."
Link shook his head.
"Since we're probably in the clear, guess we should separate here. Be sure to leave one–by–one so we aren't too suspicious."
Shortly after, the group did just that. Leaving one–by–one in different directions.
***
Returning to the apartnt, Alia imdiately walked towards the couch and slumped down.
She was exhausted.
It seed like she hadn't done much, but the control it took to make the bullets smaller, and to lower the sound of the railgun had taken a toll on her.
Regardless, it was still loud.
"Haaa…. I should work on my mana control more."
After all, despite her abilities, she was still a duelist.
Mana control was harder for them.
Realizing she hadn't turned on the living room's cooler, she unbuttoned her vest.
It was hot.
Sweat trickled down her forehead and Alia sighed.
It was 12:38 AM currently, though she had to wake up early to prepare for tomorrow, she decided to wait for Brandon.
He had so explaining to do.
And after waiting for a while, the man she was expecting arrived. The door–knob twisted for a bit, the sound of keys rattling echoed.
Creaaaak….
The door opened gradually and a man wearing a long sleeved white collared shirt erged, wearing his usual black frad sunglasses.
It was Brandon.
Realizing she was still awake, Brandon's brows raised. But he fixed his expressions and approached her.
Standing tall and looking down at her, he opened his mouth.
"Thanks for the help."
"You're welco."
Sitting next to her, Brandon scruffed his collar.
"It's hot."
Without responding, Alia inched close and grabbed his black tie.
"What are you—"
Pulling his tie, Brandon's face neared her.
"Now explain."
Brandon seed startled for a bit. But then, he went on to explain.
Alia listened attentively, and took in his explanations appropriately.
"I see. It couldn't be helped then."
"You were pretty cool."
"Wasn't I?"
Alia smirked.
Then, she looked at the hole on his shoulder where blood had stained his clothes.
Noticing her gaze, Brandon covered his shoulder.
"It's nothing. I asked you to do it for anyway. It served as a good alibi. Now, they won't be suspicious of anymore."
After all, he was the only one injured out of the group.
All of a sudden, Alia pushed him down the couch and got on top of him.
"Hey—Uh?"
"You're crazy for that….."
"Yet you're on top of ."
"I guess I'm crazy too."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Neither do you."
"Ha."
Brandon scoffed and pulled her close. On top of him, he embraced her as she laid on his chest.
Alia pursed her lips and relaxed her muscles.
"You're tired, aren't you?"
"For two hundred sothing years, yes."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"You don't make any sense."
Wrapping his arm around her, and covering his eyes with his other arm, Brandon stayed silent.
The two stayed like that for a few minutes as silence filled the room.
The first one to have broken the silence as Alia as she went on to say,
"How are you feeling?"
"I could stay like this forever."
"Let turn on the cooler first."
Alia tried to move, but Brandon's arm around her tightened.
"No."
"But it's hot…?"
"It is."
"...."
Several thoughts flooded Alia's mind.
"You know what? It is kind of hot."
Brandon removed his arm around her for a mont. Alia got up slightly and allowed him to unbutton his shirt.
His chest was laid bare for her to see. Light reflected and glistened his chest.
Feeling bashful at the sight, Alia stamred.
"I… I should turn on the cooler."
However, as she tried to get up, Brandon grabbed her arm.
"Don't."
"You're being weird."
"The heat is nice."
Brandon laughed to himself and covered his eyes.
Although Alia really was feeling quite bold, she looked away and felt the heat rush to her face.
Brandon's eye peered open, glancing below his arm while Alia was still looking away.
"We should sleep."
"We should—Ah."
All of a sudden, Brandon pulled her close and Alia laid on his chest.
Once again, wrapping his arm around her, Alia relaxed her tense muscles.
Feeling his bare skin touch hers, Alia sohow felt at peace.
But shortly after….
"Huuu…."
Brandon started snoring.
"...."
'Again?'
Seriously?
She was feeling bashful as she bit her lip.
However, she didn't pull away and closed her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt his hand go lower down her waist.
"Ah."
He was awake.
"You're such a tease."
However, she allowed him.
She was aware of her feelings for him, and she could surmise that he felt the sa way about her.
No certain vows were exchanged between the two. With his hand on her waist, Alia closed her eyes.
She knew he was exhausted, and so she didn't press him further.
Shortly after, the two slept.
Actually sleeping.
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