With a single gunshot,
the man who had been speaking moments ago fell silent.
Crimson blood splattered across the floor, a few drops even landing on Lisa's fair cheek.
Looking at the man on the ground, who had been alive one second and was now a corpse the next,
Lisa's pupils contracted violently in extreme fright. Her eyes widened, and muffled sounds of protest escaped from the gag in her mouth.
She was, after all, just a child of twelve or thirteen.
Such a horrifying scene would scare even a mentally sound adult senseless, let alone a child.
Lisa was smarter and more sensible than others her age.
Having seen so many TV shows,
how could she not understand that she had been kidnapped!!
Her heart pounded relentlessly in her chest.
And behind her, her nine fluffy tails lay limp on the ground in fear.
She didn't understand.
Why had she been kidnapped?
In her memory,
she was just an ordinary child. Her father held a common clerical position at a shrine in Higashi, and her mother was just an 'ordinary employee' at a local company in Siracusa. Other than that, she was just a student at the local school. Why would something like a kidnapping happen to her out of the blue? And it seemed the other party had come prepared, otherwise they wouldn't have specifically come to her home.
Lisa couldn't figure it out.
She tried her best to calm down.
With difficulty, she lifted her head.
As her gaze traveled up from the man's large feet, Lisa saw an incredibly cold face.
That wasn't what shocked Lisa the most.
What frightened her the most was the tattoo on this man's face. Even though she was just a twelve-year-old child, Lisa knew it well. It was the exclusive tattoo of the largest gang in her residential area.
Siracusa was ruled by gangs.
In other countries, gangs might have to hide in the shadows, unknown to the common people. But Siracusa was different. There was a saying among the people of Siracusa:
It's better not to know the mayor than not to know the local gang.
This showed just how much power the gangs held in Siracusa. In fact... in most cities, the mayor was also a member of the largest local gang.
However.
According to Lisa's memory,
although there were many gangs,
the large, established ones generally wouldn't harass ordinary citizens. As long as the common people or merchants paid a certain percentage of protection money each month, these major gangs would basically leave them alone.
However.
Only the major gangs followed such rules.
The smaller gangs did not.
"Yoho, I didn't expect this little girl to be so brave. Seeing a scene like this and not peeing her pants in fear like other timid brats."
The burly man leading them crouched down, his large, rough hand patting Lisa's head forcefully.
"I never thought that woman had a daughter out here... hiding it from us for so long. It's hard to imagine how a cold, ruthless killer like her could do *that* with a man. Did she just kill the man right after? Hahaha!"
"If we had known earlier, would we have had to worry about how to deal with that woman?"
The burly man grumbled contemptuously, and the others beside him chimed in.
Lying on the floor, Lisa's eyes widened as she tried to process the information they were spouting.
A woman...
A daughter?
Could the woman this person was talking about be her mother?
But isn't Mom an ordinary company employee?
Why would she be involved with this gang?
Lisa knew the gang's tattoo; it was the exclusive emblem of the largest ruling mafia in the area, the [Famiglia Venezia] mafia.
Mom is a member of the [Famiglia Venezia] mafia?!
No!!
Absolutely not!!
In Lisa's memory,
her mother was incredibly gentle, with a smile as bright as the sun. She would tell her stories before bed, and she never lied. She said she was an ordinary company employee, so she must be.
How could a mother like that be a [Famiglia Venezia] mafioso?
"Yohoho~
The burly man chuckled when he saw Lisa's disbelieving expression.
"Little girl, it seems you don't know what your mother does?"
"Let me put it this way for you. Your mother is the strongest assassin in our [Famiglia Venezia] mafia, and the only woman to become a high-ranking member as an assassin. Heh... a mere tool wanting to meddle in high-level affairs?"
"Little girl, you have only yourself to blame. You shouldn't exist in this world. Otherwise, you wouldn't have become your mother's only weakness. Although our [Famiglia Venezia] does have a rule against harming civilians, because of your mother, I'm sorry to say, you don't fall into the civilian category. If you want to hate someone, hate your mother for becoming the 'dagger' of another candidate for leadership."
The burly man grabbed Lisa by the head and slammed her onto the ground.
Lisa had no way to resist, rolling several times on the floor before crashing heavily into the wall.
"Little girl, I already filmed a video of you while you were unconscious and sent it to your mommy. I think she'll be here very soon, and when she arrives...."
After saying that, the burly man made a throat-slitting gesture.
"Throw her in the back room. Let her have a good look at how her mother dies."
This secret room was dim, with only a single lamp on the ceiling providing a meager amount of light.
Besides the burly man, there were many other mafia members in the room, at least a dozen by a rough estimate. Each of them was armed with a crossbow or a long knife, and the burly man even had a precious pistol tucked into his belt.
Out of fear,
Lisa's eyes filled with tears. This pitiful sight, however, only made the surrounding gang members smile more cruelly. They roughly dragged Lisa into another secret room behind them. As soon as the metal door opened, a thick smell of blood assaulted her nostrils, nearly making her vomit.
By the dim light,
Lisa could see a metal chair in the center of the secret room. On either side of the chair were various torture instruments. These tools hadn't even been cleaned; the bloodstains and rotting pieces of flesh on them indicated they had just been 'at work' not long ago. Furthermore, the floor of the secret room was covered in thick, sticky patches of blood.
"No! No!!"
Lisa struggled desperately, but it was no use.
She was violently thrown onto the metal chair.
Clever as she was, how could Lisa not figure it out.
If her mother was a mafioso, then these mafiosi who kidnapped her must be from another faction!! And from their words, Lisa vaguely understood that her mother's position in the [Famiglia Venezia] mafia was very high, which was why they had to find a way to get rid of her.
No!
I can't let Mom come here!
If Mom comes, she will definitely die in this ambush!!
But...
Lisa knew.
Based on her understanding of her mother, upon learning that she had been kidnapped, her mother would walk into the trap without hesitation, even knowing it was one.
These mafiosi even 'thoughtfully' brought in a television, connected to a camera, so that Lisa could witness her mother's death with her own eyes.
After being thrown into the secret room, these mafiosi didn't seem worried that Lisa could escape. After all, it was a completely sealed room, with no vents or drains. Escape was impossible. They all walked out, but they didn't close the door.
Lisa tried her best to calm down, struggling desperately to break the ropes that bound her.
After continuous struggling,
Lisa fell from the chair with a thud. The people outside heard the noise and glanced over but didn't bother with her, letting her lie on the floor as they continued to chat and laugh among themselves.
Her fair cheek was pressed tightly against the floor, which was covered in sticky blood.
Lisa wanted to vomit.
She wanted to prevent her mother from getting hurt.
There was only one way now.
She had to find a way to fight her way out!!
But...
With over a dozen mafiosi, and who knows how many more outside, it was completely impossible for a twelve-year-old girl like Lisa to fight her way out.
Suddenly!
Lisa thought of a way.
A technique her father had once taught her. Although she had practiced it since she was young, she had never succeeded. So, Lisa thought she didn't have the talent for it and gradually forgot about it after moving to Siracusa with her mother.
Her bloodline was very special.
The nine-tailed Vulpo bloodline. Such a lineage was unique to Higashi, and even there it was extremely rare, its preciousness no less than that of the royal family. Her father had told her since she was a child that the nine-tailed fox bloodline originated from a former god of Higashi, the very god enshrined in the shrine their family served for generations.
And within the pure Higashi bloodline flowed a mysterious art.
Shikigami.
Summoning special spiritual bodies through a special spell. These spiritual bodies wander in every corner of the world, but they are invisible to ordinary people and cannot interact with them. However, Onmyōji with the purest Higashi bloodline can summon these spiritual bodies, connect them with their own power, and grant them a special physical body that can interact with the material world, thus fighting for them.
However.
In the past, there were many Shikigami, but as time went on, they became fewer and fewer. Her father seemed to have said that it might be due to the decreasing amount of spiritual energy over time. Now, summoning Shikigami was just an empty spell, and few people could actually summon one, although her father did have one...
Lisa knew this was her only chance now!
Only by summoning a powerful Shikigami could she possibly succeed in fighting her way out!
Lisa controlled her tails to stand up, then, with her hands tied behind her back, she desperately pinched her tails. Although it hurt a lot, Lisa gritted her teeth and endured it. Finally, when her tail started bleeding, Lisa quickly used it to clumsily draw the Shikigami summoning circle on the ground.
Time passed, minute by minute.
Because the summoning circle was extremely complex and couldn't have the slightest mistake, otherwise it would be invalid, Lisa was very careful. When the wound scabbed over, she would pinch a new one open.
Finally.
Just as the circle was about to be completed,
a familiar figure appeared on the television screen in front of Lisa.
"Mom!!!"
Lisa's cry of alarm only made the mafiosi outside more excited.
"Keep your eyes wide open, little girl. Watch how your mother dies. After your mother is dead, we will be very considerate and send you down to be reunited with her."
On the screen, a slender woman dressed in a tight black dress, holding a sharp longsword, her hair tied up neatly. As she reached the ambush point, mafia members emerged from all directions, a dense crowd of over a hundred people.
"Hmph! I don't believe she can take on more than two hundred people, no matter how skilled she is?!"
At this moment.
Lisa became even more anxious. She tried her best to control her tail to complete the final part of the circle, then pushed her body hard, rolling onto the circle.
Phew!
Lisa took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
In Higashi,
there are three ways to summon a Shikigami. First, a spiritual body actively seeks you out, and the two of you form a contract. Second, through this kind of circle, you randomly summon a spiritual body that is close to your bloodline and soul. And the third way is to use a special item for the summoning.
And Lisa was using the third method.
The 'Omamori' she always carried with her was given to her by her father. This 'Omamori' was also the medium for summoning Shikigami. However, Lisa had tried to summon one many times before, and even when she had exhausted her magical power, she had never succeeded. This time...
Lisa knew this was her only chance.
She had to succeed.
Looking at her mother, who was caught in a bitter fight, Lisa closed her eyes and silently recited the summoning incantation in her heart.
As the incantation was chanted, the magical power within Lisa was continuously drawn out and poured into the circle. The simple circle, drawn with blood, now began to glow faintly. However, just like before, when the ritual was halfway through, Lisa's magical power was depleted. A strong sense of weakness almost made her faint, but at this moment, she had to hold on!
She bit her tongue hard. The pain on the tip of her tongue cleared her head a little, and she continued to push her potential.
During this time, she hadn't looked at the screen at all, unaware that her mother, under 'duress,' had already killed more than half of the two hundred-plus gang members.
In the room outside,
the group of gang members was dead silent.
Their hearts were pounding. The louder they had cheered before, the more silent they were now. The entire secret room seemed to have turned into a library.
"Is this woman!! even human?!!"
Finally!
The burly man couldn't take it anymore, because he saw through the camera that the woman was fighting her way towards them!!
Damn it!!
Over two hundred people!
Over two hundred people couldn't stop this woman!!
Although they had managed to injure her quite badly, for some reason, the woman just wouldn't fall. She was like a demon returned from hell, her eyes red with killing intent.
What to do!
What to do!!
The burly man, who had been so smug a moment ago, was now cowering.
He suddenly remembered that her daughter was still in his hands. He quickly rushed into the back room, wanting to use Lisa as a hostage. However, as soon as he and his group rushed in, their eyes widened.
Because...
At this moment, Lisa was lying in a circle they had never seen before, and the faint glow from the circle seemed to herald that something bad was about to happen.
The burly man was enraged.
"Stop her!!"
However, just as the group was about to charge forward,
Suddenly!
The circle shone with a blinding light, and then, with a howling wind, just before Lisa was about to lose consciousness,
a tall figure slowly emerged from the circle in front of her.
"I never thought such a miraculous Originium Art existed in this world."
"Are you the one who summoned me, little girl? How would you like me to help you?"
"Defeat... these people..."
Before she lost consciousness, Lisa gave her final command.
"Got it. Allow me to introduce myself, little girl. My name is Lucas Reeve. You are the first person to awaken me of their own volition."
"Lucas... Reeve...."
As Lisa completely lost consciousness, she repeated the name in her mind.
Seeing Lisa faint, Lucas Reeve had originally planned to show off a bit longer, but he suddenly felt that this special state of his was rapidly fading. He probably wouldn't be able to return to his original spiritual state for long.
Lucas Reeve didn't waste any time either.
With a single gesture, he summoned the small crimson hammer he used for forging metal.
Under the stunned gazes of these mafia members,
Lucas Reeve slowly smiled.
"More gangsters? I just killed several hundred of you."
In the next second,
Lucas Reeve's figure vanished like a gust of wind.
Before these mafia members could even react, their heads exploded like watermelons. And after Lucas Reeve smashed the last gang member's head, this special state disappeared, and his body returned to its spiritual form.
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Translator's Note: Name Changes
This fanfic was likely written before some Arknights canon details were finalized. I've adjusted a few names to better fit current lore, though some may still differ from the official version.
Original (Chinese) → Adjusted (Canon-aligned):
查尔斯 (Charles) → Antonio (Venezia family, antagonist)
[科莫尼亚](Komoniya) → Famiglia Venezia (Siracusan mafia family)
夜铃兰 (Night Bell Orchid/Nightbell) → Vulpisfoglia (Suzuran/Lisa's mother, legendary assassin)
These updates were made with reference to I Portatori dei Velluti and Il Siracusano.
I might not have gotten every detail right — if you think a name should've stayed closer to the original or notice a mismatch, I'd really appreciate the heads-up. I'm still figuring out which names should stay as-is or stick closer to canon.