"MASTER BOOM BOOM AND LADY–uhh..."
Alice stood proudly, arm raised in an exaggerated pose as she tried to find a title fitting enough for Shion. "Team Investigators" was their current name, but she clearly felt it lacked flair. She was going down a list of titles out loud, mumbling and giggling between each one.
Lucid, now sitting on a stool with one leg lazily hanging off, watched it all with a blank expression, blinking slowly. He didn't interrupt. He didn't even look surprised since it was like a Monday morning to him. He had grown used to Alice's personality.
"LAD—"
Before she could finish, a hand came down over her mouth.
It was sudden, fast and deliberate.
Alice froze. Her breath hitched, her arms flailing slightly before going still.
Behind her, looming like a shadow, stood Shion—face unreadable, presence heavy with something dark. A slow, controlled menace rippled off her. Her voice was low and dangerously calm, lips brushing close to Alice's ear.
"We can't have any guards figuring out our location now, can we?"
Her tone was laced with a wicked blend of seduction and threat.
Alice's eyes widened in sheer horror. Even though Shion's grip wasn't painful, something in her aura screamed danger. Cold sweat dotted her brow. She nodded quickly, too afraid to do anything else.
Lucid didn't move. He just shook his head slowly, exhaling through his nose as if this was just another Tuesday. Maybe he was scared too, but he hid it well. Almost too well.
Shion released Alice, who stumbled back and covered her mouth herself this time, wide-eyed and pale.
"Thank you," Shion added simply, as if she had just reminded Alice to tie her shoes.
Alice nodded again, still speechless.
Lucid finally spoke, his voice dry as ever.
"Maybe skip the team name brainstorming until we're somewhere less... haunted."
Alice turned to him slowly, still pale, still rattled.
"I thought she was going to kill me."
Shion blinked once, then offered a soft, almost delicate smile.
"Oh, I don't target children. I'm not that cruel."
Alice didn't look convinced.
In fact, she took a careful step away.
Lucid raised a brow.
"Reassuring."
Shion glanced at him.
"You're still on the list though."
Lucid didn't flinch. He just gave her a small, exhausted shrug, like being on an assassin's hit list was less troublesome than finding breakfast in the morning. Alice looked between them both, unsure if they were joking or serious—or if either of them knew the difference.
"You two are scary," she muttered, pulling her cloak tighter.
Shion turned back toward the alleyway they were hiding in.
" Alright, I suggest we head out now. He couldn't have gone too far"
—
Sometime later, the trio wandered down a desolate street—eerily quiet save for the distant noise of a city in turmoil. It was some kind of shortcut, Lucid guessed. Just a block or two away, they could hear the bustling chaos of the main road. Shouts from distressed residents. Boots stomping against stone. The occasional bark of a guard as they apprehended another unfortunate soul.
Alice had been watching Shion closely for a while now, her gaze flickering to the older girl's sharp profile every few steps. She looked like she had a question—actually, she looked like she had five—but none of them seemed ready to come out.
Shion noticed.
"Speak up. What is it?" she said, not even bothering to glance back. Her tone was blunt, her presence always sharp enough to jolt Alice like a cold breeze.
Alice flinched, nearly stumbling on a loose cobblestone. "U-Um… it's just—" she hesitated, biting down gently on her bottom lip. "Why don't you wear your long scarf or that head wrap anymore? To, you know, hide yourself?"
Shion blinked, clearly caught off guard by the question. Of all the things Alice could have asked…
She looked up at the darkened sky—daytime, technically, but the thick smoke and stormy clouds from Sector Twelve's fall had blanketed everything in a false twilight.
"…As much as the scarf and mask hid me," she finally replied, voice distant, "it didn't do the job as well as you'd think."
Her eyes narrowed as if remembering something.
"Oddly enough," she added, with a strange curve of her lips, "what's underneath the mask makes a better disguise than the mask itself."
Alice tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"
Shion glanced down at her, smirking.
"I don't look like the person in the wanted posters, do I?"
Alice gasped, her eyes lighting up with sudden realization. "Ooooohhhh! Gotcha! That's so smart!"
Shion just shook her head. "Hardly. It's luck. Or misfortune. Depends on the day."
The conversation drifted into silence as they kept moving through the broken alleyways. Their boots brushed against soot, puddles, and ash that hadn't quite settled from the last explosion.
Suddenly, from further down the street, came the sounds of shouting—raised voices, clashing metal, a panicked scream.
Shion turned her head slightly toward the noise.
"Wow," she muttered, her voice airy but laced with curiosity. "Sounds like total chaos in there."
Even for her, someone who had walked through cities mid-rebellion and crawled out of execution pits, this level of unrest felt different. She looked over her shoulder, just once, then picked up her pace.
"We need to move faster."
Alice nodded and hurried to keep up.
Lucid followed a few paces behind her, hand-in-hand with Alice—his grip firm, reassuring. The girl's fingers trembled slightly, but she didn't complain. She simply walked, eyes wide and alert.
They continued like that for a while—quiet but not in peace. Every corner, every creak of wood or flutter of birds sent Alice flinching. Lucid remained steady, eyes scanning, calculating.
Then, Shion suddenly slowed.
Her eyes locked on a worn-down home—roof half-broken, but the height was perfect. At least for her.
Without a word, she stepped forward.
And then—a blur. One smooth, practiced motion. Her boots barely scuffed the wall before she propelled herself upward, her silhouette vanishing for a second behind a ridge of crumbling stone. A light thump followed.
When Lucid and Alice looked up, they found her crouched on the rooftop, knee bent, posture feline-like as she stared into the distance.
From her vantage point, she could see the town center—where all the commotion was brewing.
A low whistle escaped her lips.
"They're pushing everyone back. Whole section's locked down… looks like they're forming a perimeter."
Lucid narrowed his eyes.
"How many guards?"
"Enough to make it interesting," Shion replied with a smile, her tone casual—too casual.
Alice whispered, eyes still fixed on her,
"How did she even do that...? She's like a ghost..."
Lucid didn't answer. He already knew.
'Well... she is an assassin,' Lucid thought, watching her.
Shion squinted sharply. She saw something, No–someone. It wasn't Yannick, the man they were here to find.
It was him. The other Archmage. The one who had accompanied Themenos during the fall of Sector 12—the one who had helped destroy her entire syndicate.
Her fists clenched on instinct.
"…What is this bastard doing here," she whispered under her breath, every syllable laced with quiet venom.
Lucid caught the change in her posture. He looked up from the ground. "Did you spot him?" he asked carefully.
Shion didn't answer.
Her eyes were locked in, tracking the Archmage like a predator studying prey—her mind dissecting his stance, the way he moved, his blind spots, where his strength lay. Her breathing slowed. For a second, it felt like she was imagining it—visualizing herself in a one-on-one duel.
But reality hit just as quickly.
She wasn't ready. Not yet.
As things stood, she was a physical wielder—hovering somewhere between a guard and a guardian. Taking on an Archmage in this state would be suicide.
Lucid noticed her silence. He summoned a single poker card—the one marked with seven black hearts. It materialized from his palm, the surface gleaming faintly.
Then came a startled yelp from Alice.
A grappling shot cracked through the silence as Lucid launched himself upwards, pulling Alice along with him. Shion snapped her head back, instinctively drawing a dagger—but relaxed when she saw it was just them.
Lucid hoisted Alice onto the rooftop, the girl collapsing to her knees in a daze.
"I have… other means of transportation," he muttered, brushing dust off his coat.
Alice groaned, clearly dizzy. "Everything is spinning…"
Shion chuckled under her breath. "Well, no complaints here."
Then she gestured ahead.
"More importantly, look down there. I found something—both good and bad."
Lucid narrowed his eyes as he peered past the chaos of the town center. Shion had crouched low, her sharp gaze fixed with deadly precision, but it was Lucid's breath that caught first.
There—rising above the frantic crowd—was a wooden plateau hastily constructed in the square. Its structure was crude, made of splintered planks nailed together, as if built in panic or as a show of power. Torches flanked it, their flames flickering in the humid air, casting long, distorted shadows across the cobbled street.
Lucid could feel his heartbeat in his throat.
On the platform stood four figures, each forced to their knees, wrists bound behind their backs. Guards surrounded them in a tight circle, their spears drawn and still. One officer, Perhaps an Archmage—was speaking to the growing crowd, but Lucid couldn't hear the words over the distant roar of panic and the sharp cries of scattered civilians.
His eyes moved from face to face, searching—desperately.
Then he froze.
The third figure from the left. Slumped slightly. Brown hair tousled by the wind, dirty and matted. A green glint caught the light beneath his bruised eyelids.
"Yannick…"
Lucid whispered the name without thinking. It felt heavy in his throat, as if saying it would somehow make it less real.
Yannick had been found.
But not in the way they'd hoped.
Lucid clenched his fists. The cords in his arms tightened, and the poker card hovering above his hand shimmered faintly with black energy before vanishing. Rage and disbelief warred behind his eyes, but outwardly, he remained composed—barely.
Alice, sensing the shift, looked up at him from where she still knelt, catching her breath.
"Lucid?" she asked softly.
He didn't answer.
Shion, still crouched beside him, noticed the change in his gaze and followed it down to the execution stage.
"Tch," she hissed under her breath. "So that's where they took him."
Her tone was flat, but there was tension in her jaw—a flicker of anger, perhaps sympathy, but mostly calculation. She tilted her head slightly.
"Looks like we're out of time."
Lucid didn't respond right away. His mind was racing. Questions swirled–why was Yannick up there? Was he mistaken for a rebel? Or was this punishment for something he'd done?
It didn't matter.
He stood slowly, staring down at the scene as if etching it into memory.
"They're going to execute him," Lucid finally said, his voice calm, but colder than before. "And soon."
Alice's expression shifted from confusion to horror. Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
"How are we going to save him…?" she finally asked, trembling.
Lucid looked at Shion.
"You've been watching longer than I have. Any idea how many guards?"
Shion didn't hesitate. "Two dozen visible. At least a dozen more in the surrounding buildings. They've set up a perimeter—whoever's behind this wants to make an example of someone."
Lucid exhaled slowly.
"God have mercy..."