"This your first time in Roanapur?" Shenhua asked Vritra. She held a lighter out to him as he put the cigar in his mouth. Vritra leaned out, leaving the cigar in his mouth, then took a couple of puffs. Leaning back, Vritra let the smoke slowly leak from his mouth.

"Yup, it is. I guess anywhere outside of Japan would be a first time since I've lived there for quite a while. Why? Is there something different about this town?" Vritra responded.

"You should know difference, especially if you live in Japan for most of life."

"I guess you could say I've been living in a cave for most of my life."

"Well, uh…"

"Name's Vritra, though a title I was given back in Japan was Vritra the Viper. Some find it easier to just call me Viper," Vritra answered.

"Well Viper, seems you been using blade for long time now." Shenhua said, gazing at the katana that Vritra was keeping next to him.

"You'd think so wouldn't you? No, I've in fact just started to use it. After leaving Japan I spent a while making the blade myself-"

"You make sword yourself?"

"Yup, with help of course since I had no clue how to make a katana when I left Japan. Luckily, I was able to find a teacher quickly. Anyways I finished this guy," Vritra began, picking up the katana to show Shenhua, "about two weeks ago."

Shenhua reached out to grab the katana then unsheathed it so she could have a look at the blade. "Very nice. It doesn't look like amateur work."

"I had a good teacher."

Shenhua smiled then handed Vritra his katana.

"Hmmm, something funny?"

"No funny. Just… you first person no asking about bad English."

"Should I? I just figured that you had your reasons, and it was none of my business asking."

"You not belong here, yes? Not right mind for it."

"Really? I think I could get used to living here."

"Where you staying?"

"No clue, I just got in town. Is it difficult to find a place in Roan?"

"Roan?"

"Roanapur."

"Hmmm, there is Church of Violence."

"There's a place that worships violence. Man, organized religion really has fallen quite a ways hasn't it? But I like the sound of it."

Shenhua laughed a little. "No, it not like that. You can stay there, but…"

"But?"

"It will most likely cost. Money grubby bastards."

"Oh, so it's just a matter of money. That's fine. I grabbed some from where I lived in Japan."

"You not understand, they very greedy."

"So was I. Now," Vritra said, putting out his finished cigar, "where can I find this Church of Violence?"

***

"You called Kapitan?" Boris asked with two men behind him, one on his right and the other on his left.

Balalaika breathed out the smoke from her cigar slowly then looked up at Boris.

"It seems trouble has come to Roanapur again. And like the twins, this one seems to be out for my blood."

Boris remembered the twins and the trouble they caused for the city, and then shuddered at the thought of someone like them being in the city again. The twins had caused panic throughout Roanapur and had even taken out some of their comrades in order to draw Balalaika out into the open. It was not hard to get rid of them once they showed themselves but they had shaken the stability in the city, at least any stability Roanapur already had.

"Do you know who is after you?" Boris inquired.

"Yes. A teenage boy who is known as Vritra the Viper."

"What do you want us to do about him?"

Balalaika paused for a second then smiled. "Usually I do not play the honorable role, however I would like to test out his skills for myself. A big deal was made about this kid and I want to see if it was worth it."

"Kapitan?"

"Find out where he is. Ask in a way that it seems more as if we have friendly business with him. I don't want anyone trying to get involved with this. Then, when you find him, I want you to bring him to me. Or I suppose I should more of say lead him to me."

"I don't understand."

"In other words I will have "a word" with him, alone."

"What?"

"As I said, I wish to experience his skills for myself."

"But Kapitan-"

"No arguments Boris. This is the way I want it."

Boris began to argue when he saw the sternness in her eyes. She wasn't going to back down. Boris straightened out.

"Kapitan!"

***

Vritra began to walk up the hill towards what looked like an ordinary church. For the name being the Church of Violence, it looked peaceful. It had the usual look of a church. But soon it lost its peaceful nature from a thunder sounding from one of its windows.

Vritra launched himself to the side then began swerving as he noticed the thunder was continuous. Someone was shooting at him with a machine gun. Vritra slithered side to side like a snake, making his way towards the source of the shooting.

"Rico what are you doing?" Eda said, plugging her ears as she got closer to him.

"Oh, big sis! Just having some target practice."

Now close to him, Eda punched Rico in the back of the head. Rico stopped shooting to rub the back of his head.

"How many times have I told you to call me sister!? And on top of that why are shooting at a potential customer?"

"It was just a snake probably. No one comes here this late at night without meaning to cause trouble for us."

Eda, about to respond, suddenly became more serious and pointed her gun at the window. Quickly Rico noticed a coldness In the air and slowly looked to the side to see a blade pointed at his neck. Vritra had not only lived without being hit once, but was now in the perfect position to thrust his blade through Rico's neck. Looking into Vritra's eyes, Rico began to shiver with fear. It felt as though he was being pulled into a cold abyss, and though he felt he could easily escape it merely by looking away, he also felt that his eyes were locked into Vritra's pupils.

"That," Eda began, seemingly also being pierced by his gaze, "is one big snake."

***

"Well, Viper is it?" Yolanda asked.

"One of the names I'm called by, yes." Vritra answered.

"You do realize that we are going to add more to the cost since you've come so late at night."

"Understandable I suppose."

Vritra reached into his leather coat and pulled out a checkbook. Setting the book on the table, he reached into the other side of his coat and pulled out a paper with numbers written on it.

"Do you have a pen?

Yolanda looked to Eda and as if she already knew that he was going to ask for one, she had one out and held it towards Yolanda. Yolanda grabbed the pen from Eda and handed it to Vritra. Vritra wrote down some things on the check then occasionally looked at the piece of paper. Vritra then ripped out the check then handed it to Yolanda.

"This much should do I'd guess. Just make sure to cash it as soon as you can. It's not exactly my account, but they owe me this much, if not more." Vritra said.

Yolanda looked at the check then showed Eda the check. Eda straightened out her pink sunglasses to look at it.

"One million yen! Who exactly did you get this bank account number from?" Eda said in surprise.

"Doesn't much of matter, does it?" Vritra asked.

"Does it belong to anyone we should be worried about?" Yolanda asked before Eda could talk again.

"Just a researcher named Hibiki. He works with the Russian Mafia but they wouldn't bother with anyone who steals from his bank account. Especially when it seems to be his own fault for letting his bank account number slip."

Yolanda took a sip of tea then sighed. "Very well. How long will you be staying here?"

"Just for a day. I just wanted to rest before finishing business in Roan."

"Roan?"

"Roanapur."

"Okay, but this much for just one day?"

"Let's just say I have something against Hibiki, and this will just help with my revenge even more."

"Well, even so, you will be required to wear priest robes during your stay here."

"Fine with me, it's your church after all."

"Eda, go show him to where he will be staying and get him some robes to wear."

Eda sighed then walked towards the door.

"Well hurry up kid, I'm getting tired and you wouldn't want to deal with me while I'm tired."