I step out of my room. Then walk out of the hotel.
"The park nearby closes at ten. It’s passed ten right now, aning there aren’t any people there so it should do well as a playground."
I don’t take my car, and instead go to it on foot. It takes a little over fifteen minutes.
I then jump the park gates upon arrival, and make my way to a small soccer field nearby.
"Alright, you can stop lurking now."
My statent is responded to with a shadow in the form of a person erging from the ground a few ters in front of . The blackness surrounding their body disperses as they reveal themselves.
It’s a man. He’s wearing the sa clothes as the one from before, Adder. He’s a tad taller than Adder and has a slightly broader build though. But’s it’s no secret, he’s one of the Twelve Guardian Shadows.
"I can tell from one look how much stronger he is than Adder. A high level A-Rank Shadow is standing in front of right now."
"When did you notic-"
"From the very beginning, the mont you arrived at the hotel." I answer his obvious question.
"You’ve got keen senses." He says.
"Yeah I only got ’em recently. Seems like they’re on so sort of power-trip. I didn’t even need to activate any of my Skills. Well, it’s either that or...you just suck at hiding your presence."
"Hm...do you know who I am?" He asks, surprisingly unfazed by my taunt.
"How boring."
"I’m sure you’re expecting not to, but I do. You’re one of the Twelve Guardian Shadows, correct?" I ask rhetorically.
"So you really were able to make him talk. There’s no way you’re really F-Rank then if that’s the case. Then, could it be Rank Falsification? And here on I was sure it was impossible with today’s Rank asures." He says.
"Trust , you wouldn’t believe it even if I told you, but it’s not at all what you think."
"Of course, I don’t bla you for thinking that way."
"Hm... That uniform." He says noticing my suit. "I see. So you were working for the Warriors Association this entire ti. Is that how you were able to do it? Then...is the Association deliberately investigating us? How much do you know about our operations?"
"Operations?"
"Uhm, no actually, I was only hired recently. Speaking of which, what’s your codena?" I ask.
"Codena?" He says with a confused look.
"Hm? Ah, I had forgotten. They don’t know that the Warriors Association knows about them so they obviously wouldn’t know of their codenas either."
"Never mind. Let’s just get straight to the point. I’m assuming you’re here to kill , correct?"
"Unfortunately, we’ve been given strict orders to catch you alive." He answers.
"Oh right. Andrew’s the one that wants to kill ."
"Right now. We only want one thing, you see." He says as he looks to the side.
"And what’s that?"
"Redemption."
"Redemption?"
"We’ve failed once before, and a comrade of ours died in the process. We can’t afford to fail again. So we decided to send in soone a lot stronger this ti. Soone who could easily get the job done." He says.
"And what makes you think that soone is you?"
"Well...the fact that I’ve already caught you of course."
"Hm..." I say in observation. "Yeah. It really does seem that you’ve already caught ."
"I’m glad we can agree on that much at least." He says. "Now, co willingly. Unless you want to lose a limb or two. The Great Lord said he wanted you alive, not intact."
A scar imdiately appears on my neck, cheek and hand. Small amounts of blood start appearing from the marks. The reason? Wires. Steel wires. Or more like threads really. As thin as yarn. Only far stronger. They can probably easily cut any tal clean. A Hyper Grade weapon. The entire field is surrounded by them. There’s even one around my neck. My opponent is obviously the one controlling them. I’m in a position where he can easily cut off a leg or on arm of mine with a simple wave of his finger.
"The old would’ve been scared, truly..."
"Heh." I chuckle. "How about... No."
"But this isn’t the old ."
"Heed your Master’s call, First Dawn." I say as I conjure out my blade from the Item Space. The blade then materializes, pixelating from my hand.
Seemingly instinctively, my opponent takes a step back.
"The one thing one must never do in a fight."
It goes without saying. He just made a big mistake.
The park is already incredibly quiet, what with us being the only people here. But sohow, that silence only increases the mont I open my mouth. And whisper.
"Sunset Slash."
The blade slides against the wind, glimring with elegance. With a single slash, one that doesn’t even have a specific target, all the steel wires are turned to shreds.
"Impossible." The Shadow says. "With a single slash? That Special attack of yours, I’ll have keep my guard up around it. It’s clear to now how you were able to kill my comrade."
"But I’m not the one who did it though."
"Get ready then Raid. This is where the real battle begins." He then takes a battle stance. "I won’t hold back."
"I wouldn’t want you to." I reply as I dash towards him.
*******
In an Isolated Space called the Shadow Space, of the Twelve Guardian Shadows of the Reinhardt Family, the eleven Shadows that remain discuss among themselves.
"Everyone felt it, right?" The forth strongest Shadow asks, codenad by the Warriors Association as Pygmy. "Our Shadow Link with number twelve has been severed... I doubt I need to explain what this ans."
"Of course not." Says the sixth strongest Shadow, codenad Rattler. "It ans he’s dead, obviously."
"It also ans we’ll be joining him soon when the Great Lord finds out we failed our mission." Adds the seventh strongest Shadow, codenad Boa.
She then continues. "Young Master Zeke has died. If we had been quick on our individual missions, we could’ve ca back early to guard him, preventing all of this from happening in the first place. In that regard, we’ve not only failed the Great Lord once but twice."
The rest of the Shadows nod in agreent. They are in a dark and spacious room. In its center, there is a large table with exactly twelve sides, and a seat for each of these sides. One of these seats is vacant. It belonged to Adder.
They all lant at the loss of their comrade and simultaneously cower at the thought of what their Lord will do to them if he catches wind of their incompetence.
"The Great Lord proudly rids himself of failures. He doesn’t take kindly to those who aren’t of any use to him. We need to find a way to rectify this mistake." Says the second strongest Shadow, codenad Sidewinder.
"I second that." Says the fifth strongest Shadow, codenad Asp. "We must redeem ourselves."
"Then does that an...?"
"Yes." Asp answers Boa. "We will not inform the Great Lord of all that’s happened. If we co back running to him with failure rather than results, there’s no telling how he’ll react. Until we successfully capture the F-Rank, we can’t return to the Reinhardt Family household with our heads held high."
"Indeed." Says the ninth strongest Shadow, codenad Krait. "Number twelve might have been the least skilled one among us, but he was still quite considerably strong. This ans that there’s more than ets the eye with this Raid fellow. We must not underestimate him."
"Agreed." Says the eleventh strongest Shadow, codenad Viper. "We must send soone stronger this ti. Soone who can get the job done quickly and with expertise."
"I agree." Says the tenth strongest Shadow, codenad Mamba. "So I nominate myself. Unless of course, any of you wish to volunteer in my stead."
"No offence number ten but I think sobody much more skilled should take this one. Maybe one of the five strongest." Says the eighth strongest Shadow, codenad Cobra.
"Then I’ll go." Says the third strongest Shadow, codenad Sonoran.
No one disagrees. They all know how capable he is.
Then one asks.
"Can you do it?" The strongest out of all the Twelve Guardian Shadows, who hasn’t uttered a single word since this eting started, finally opens his mouth to ask this question. His codena, Taipan.
The mont he speaks, the entire room falls silent.
The Twelve Guardian Shadows have no leader among them. Only the mbers of the Reinhardt Family that know of their existence can give them orders.
It’s not because they recognize him as a leader of any kind that they all react this way when Taipan speaks. It’s rely because of his sheer presence.
"Incredible." Praises Sonoran internally. "Number one. The fifth strongest mber of the Reinhardt Family. What an overwhelming aura." He then quickly reorganizes himself.
"Yes." He answers. "I’ll deal with it accordingly."
"Alright then." Taipan replies.
"Then I’ll take my leave." Says Sonoran as he leaves the Shadow Space. His body rging with the darkness as he disappears.
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