Shhhh—
The smoke bomb showed no sign of stopping. It continued to billow endlessly.
Thick gray smoke covered the entire street around the station—buildings, cars, even the bodies of the hitmen.
Outside the grasp of the smoke stood a man with a messy black suit and dark blue hair.
He was Winter Ghost.
Ghost wiped his knife with a handkerchief before starting to complain.
"Why are all of you so stupid? There are still 7 days left. You could have just followed one of the cars and found Claudius's hideout."
"Kekeke."
A chuckling sound came from inside the smoke.
A man in a neat white suit walked out calmly. His hair was white, and a mocking smile was clearly visible on his face.
"They might have set up barriers, you know? Wouldn't it be better to attack when there's no barrier?"
The man was the hitman Lyxander had once met on the train—White Suit Hector.
Ghost's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You say that, yet you just stood there watching?"
Ghost continued.
"The Ten Basic Rules of Double A. Rule Number 1: Assassinations must not be carried out openly."
"Hector, you were the one who spread the news about O'clock's absence in this mission, weren't you?"
The Ashan Cult did not establish the Assassin Association without reason. It was created to organize the chaotic world of assassins.
Because of that, the Ten Basic Rules of Double A were created. This was where the O'clocks played their role in enforcing the rules.
As a professional hitman, Hector clearly knew this, yet he shrugged and denied it.
"It's not my fault if they were fooled and ignored the rules."
His face was filled with a sneer, clearly trying to provoke Ghost.
"If you have a problem with it, we can fight right here."
Hector spread his arms as if welcoming him.
But Ghost didn't take the bait. Instead, he returned the sneer.
"Don't be stupid. It's obvious you're creating chaos to maximize your Identity's power."
In the blink of an eye, Ghost disappeared.
Hector stared for a moment before laughing.
"Hahaha, what a shame I can't kill an O'clock."
His body slowly retreated back into the smoke and vanished.
—
Meanwhile, inside the car.
Six men sat together in an awkward silence.
Claudius stared out the window.
His eyes looked slightly pitiful.
"There's no need to worry. The assistants we brought are all 2-Stars. They can take care of themselves," said an old man with white hair and a muscular body.
A sword rested against his chest. His clothes couldn't hide his powerful muscles, and his golden eyes were sharp.
Colossus Newton.
He came from the Newton Family, one of the honorable knight families during the era of the Nine Eternal Emperors. According to Lyxander's memories, this man had achieved remarkable feats in stopping the revolutionary forces.
'I really didn't expect this man to be the escort of the second prince.'
Lyxander stared at him deeply.
Right now, Lyxander, Zircon, Simon, and Garnet were tasked with escorting and delivering the second prince.
Lyxander and Zircon sat in the back, while Garnet drove the car with Simon beside him.
"Haa…" Claudius sighed.
"Still, I'm worried. After all, my head is worth 1 million volar."
"That's exactly why I told them not to come. With just uncle here, it should be enough to protect me, right?"
Colossus smiled while raising one eyebrow.
"You don't mind sacrificing me, but you don't want to sacrifice the servants? My heart is truly wounded."
Claudius could only reply with a helpless smile.
"Come on, uncle. We both know 1 million volar can't compare to facing a 5-Star like you."
"Only low-level hitmen would take a mission like this. Even a 5-Star hitman wouldn't be interested in that kind of payment."
"At the very least it should be 10 million volar, right?"
"Five-Star!" Lyxander was slightly shaken.
After his date with Amethyst, Lyxander had gained some knowledge about 5-Stars, including their power.
5-Stars were called the peak of mortality for a reason. That was because they could access the Record of Akasha and borrow the power of the world.
The fact that Colossus was a 5-Star was quite shocking, considering the suitable condition for becoming a 5-Star was to become a hero or villain recorded in the Record of Akasha.
'What exactly did this old man do? Even in Lyxander's memories, his achievements weren't impressive enough to become a hero,' Lyxander muttered inwardly. Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud.
Bang!
"What!?"
A gunshot rang out.
Lyxander and the others immediately realized what was happening.
"A hitman has already found Claudius!"
Garnet quickly shifted gears, and the car shot forward.
Bang!
A second shot was fired. At the same moment, a row of blue arrows appeared beneath the car.
VROOOOM!
The car accelerated even faster, easily leaving the previous shot behind.
Lyxander's stomach started to feel nauseous until he saw a turn ahead.
"There's a turn!"
But Garnet seemed completely indifferent. Instead of slowing down, he accelerated even more.
Once again, a row of blue arrows appeared, boosting the car's speed dramatically.
"Damn it." Lyxander gritted his teeth. His accelerated thinking activated.
In time that seemed to slow down, Garnet pulled the handbrake.
SKREEECH!
The tires smoked as the car slid sharply through the turn.
They made it.
"Hah… hah…" Lyxander breathed in relief. Even though he wasn't the one driving, it felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
"Aren't you panicking a bit too much?" Zircon said.
"Shouldn't you be panicking?"
"Kekeke. Just so you know, Garnet's suitable 3-Star Identity is Driver."
But their brief conversation ended when the car radio crackled.
"Report! You must change your route immediately."
"What happened?" Simon asked firmly.
"The previous route has been blocked and can no longer be used. Please change routes immediately."
Hearing this, Garnet immediately turned the wheel and drove onto an overpass.
VROOOOM!
The car accelerated again.
BOOM!
An explosion.
The road ahead collapsed from the blast, but instead of stopping, the row of blue arrows appeared once more.
The car sped up even as it approached the broken road.
Pyarrr!
Blue light appeared from nowhere and began forming a bright blue road.
The car raced across it as if there was no problem at all.
Moments later, they arrived safely.
Claudius and the others quickly got out of the car.
Lyxander collapsed onto the ground, trying to hold back his nausea.
"Are you okay?"
A gentle voice was heard.
A girl with an eyepatch crouched beside Lyxander.
It was Vivi Amo.
"Senior!" Lyxander's pitiful expression immediately turned bright.
"By the way… where are we?"
He quickly regained awareness and looked around. A large parking lot and four interconnected skyscrapers.
"This is… Graham Hotel!" Lyxander remembered his first patrol with Vivi. They had also parked at Graham Hotel back then.
"Wait a second, isn't this the outdoor parking lot of Graham Hotel?"
"So what's the problem?" Vivi asked.
"Wouldn't it be dangerous if the second prince just comes out here like this? Why didn't we go into the indoor parking lot?" Confusion appeared on Lyxander's face.
"Don't worry," Simon said. "We've set up a barrier here. No attack or hitman can penetrate this barrier."
As he said that, high above the building stood two men.
One had blue hair and wore a messy black suit.
The other had black hair, with his upper body bare and red flame-patterned clothing hanging around his waist.
His clothing looked like a kimono, but upon closer inspection, the differences could be seen.
The man held a large red bow shaped like a phoenix with a golden string.
He pulled the bowstring.
Red aura began to gather.
The further he pulled, the larger the aura became.
"Record of Akasha."
"Red Sign—"
The arrow was released.
It shot forward like a blazing red comet—
and without hesitation it slammed directly into the barrier of Graham Hotel.
PYAR!
The barrier shattered like broken glass, fragments scattering before disappearing into nothing.
The crows were stunned, especially Simon, who had just boasted about their barrier.