❁
"Miya. Something's off about that kid." Abel whispered, his elbow nudging on the woman's shoulder. She rolled her eyes, nodding. "There's only one kid in this nation with those eyes."
'Juno Fuschia Delford.'
"Why would she hide her identity? She's a literal teenage icon!"
"She has her reasons."
Miya abruptly sensed something strange on the floor above them, eyeing Abel then rushing to the lift.
"Being in the same bloodline as Delford is enough, but to be THE Juno Delford?" He rambled on while running. Miya interrupted him with a firm tone. "Upper ground is under attack."
Abel's eye flickered, the atmosphere shifting as he smashed the lift's buttons repeatedly, getting into position. As the elevator's 'ding' resounded, the dangerous aura had already dissipated and left the two rankers baffled. "Someone had taken the initiative before us, huh?" Miya's lips turned upwards slightly. All they saw were other hunters, and the distinct scent of corpses in the air.
"We've got our trump card."
Miya scoffed, "Trump card? How are we sure it was the little girl?"
Abel ran his hands through his wavy hair, and with a cheeky smile he proudly exclaimed, "My hair says so." Miya's faint smile turned into a frown right away, swallowing the unsaid words in her throat as she walked away.
-
"W, we're so sorry, sir. We have no idea where your daughter went." The employees shrugged, taking a few steps back.
The supernatural agents appeared out of nowhere and whispered to the infuriated man, "Her presence cannot be felt, sir."
He scoffed, sending another message through his phone. As soon as he noticed that he was left on 'seen', he was close to destroying the building himself. "Sir Delford. You can't just send your agents to roam the building, it's invasion of privacy."
"I can buy this building if my daughter wanted to be here that badly." He sputtered sarcastically, cracking his neck. Just when he was on the verge of activating his own power, a portal from above appeared as a particular girl dropped from the ceiling, facing up as she rubbed her eyes.
"Who.. Oh."
Silence had never been so loud between the two as Allistair raised a brow, waiting for a response from the other.
"..Hi, haha.. dad." The employees began scooting away, relieved that the man had stopped threatening them.
"..I know I forgot to inform you about this one, but as you can see, I'm doing fine." She stood up, still staring at her father.
"Mm."
What do you mean, 'Mm.'?! Although he had the right to be upset, he can't just respond to me with a single letter!
As Juno took a step, she felt her balance wobbling and awkwardly stood in place instead.
"..And I'm back now..?"
Allistair towered over Juno and lifted her up in an instant with a short reply, "Apologies for the intrusion." Ignorant of his daughter's sudden shouts in his ears, he gave a signal to his agents and left.
The employees stood there in silence– some resisting from letting out a laugh, while some sighed of relief.
Just like that, Juno was lifted up and taken back home.
-
"So, Juno.." Allistair paused, the suspense lingering in the air as Juno swallowed a lump in her throat. He then opened a hologram-like projector and with a click of his remote, a video began to play.
⌈As soon as the local rankers arrived in the scene, the entities were destroyed and disappeared in the unknown. Unfortunately, only one footage recorded of this scenario–showing nothing but the aura of a silhouette believed to be the 1st Ranker, publicly known as 'Star.'⌉
"..Ah."
⌈While investigators are yet to confirm of this phenomenon, onlookers said to have felt overwhelming mana during the attack. Could the 1st ranker really be behind this?⌉
Juno faced downwards. Her father had authority as well. It was only necessary that he had immediate access to the latest information about the rankers. Up to now, Juno had not the slightest idea of where the information comes from, although, it was very useful.|
Allistair continued his sentence. "Was this your doing?" Juno averted her gaze, avoiding her father's eyes as she grumbled to herself. It was quite obvious it was her, but he really just had to make her express it verbally.
"Yes."
'There, I said it.'
"Very well." Allistair smiled. Juno could not tell whether he was sarcastic or not. "What about your training schedule? One was supposed to be today, if I'm correct?" His face contradicted with his words. Juno finally understood her father. He had the same face he'd make whenever he tasked Juno with something she didn't like.
Juno nodded.
"I assume with that show you put on earlier, you're well prepared for your training."
There it was. Juno felt a little better now, but was not in a completely good state to fully train.
"I'll bring you to the training grounds myself." Allistair exclaimed, his smile never fading. He was doing this on purpose.
-
'Baam!'
Juno was suddenly faced with 3 programmed entities, her fingers openly facing them while activating her powers.
⌜◁System: Personal Attribute 'Watch Blades - Lvl. ???' has been activated!▷⌟
'Shiing!'
Wiped out. Juno felt quite proud at the moment, resisting the fatigue that slowly creeped to her senses. The observers held a stoic expression, writing Juno's stats.
"Sir Aidan. Juno has been exceptional in facing all 3 S+ tier entities." One of the observers muttered. Sir Aidan then responded with pride, "Program the [Tigress]." Their eyes widened and refuted in response, "Isn't it too early?"
"Just like the day we discovered she was an SSS+ ranker, give it a try."
Juno stood awkwardly on the field, waiting for a break for her to escape.
[Tigress . . . 100% programmed.]
In the meantime, she'd have to deal with this mess. "Try me." She blasted the entity with the flick of her hand. It felt like a video game.
⌜◁System: Personal Attribute '--- - Lvl. ???' has been activated!▷⌟
'Boom!'
Into ruins. pieces, no, ashes even. Sir Aidan stood as proud as ever, while the observer was frozen into place.
"That's... expected."
"Can I go home now? You see, I'm a growing kid. Growing kids need more sleep," Juno reasoned out with open arms and an exaggerated smile. "Anyway, I practice self-defense at home, so there's no need to practice that here, right?"
"Being self-taught is different from professional training, miss Beatrice." The observer adjusted their lenses.
Juno was caught off guard.
'Beatrice.'
It was her alias, but it still caught her off guard sometimes. There wasn't anything wrong with the name itself.
Her chosen alias just had to be the name of her mother. The same one whose face she hadn't seen after turning the age of 6. The same one whose face she could no longer remember vividly. Beatrice Quartz. But her leaving Juno wasn't her fault. No, not at all.
"Miss Beatrice.."
Juno had to be back to her senses.
"Miss Beatrice, are you listening?"
"..I understand."
The observer closed their tablet, still eyeing Juno's complexion. "You can take a break," They waved their hand. It didn't seem like anyone noticed the fatigue Juno was experiencing at the moment.
'Maybe I should tell them..'