"..Ugh," Rubbing his face, Lin Ye sighed in his hand, "Why am I not surprised?"
Lin Ye felt he was having a headache, but he was used to it by now.
Skadi was on a mission to get some extra cash for herself, leaving him and Exusiai alone...
Twenty minutes ago, their small group arrived in the lonely town of Sokk. After telling Old man Max his thanks, the group was about to go to the branch. However, in not even an hour of searching, they bumped into the leader of said branch, Chris.
The man's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets when they landed on them. When the man saw Skadi, he looked like he was about to give her a hug. However, knowing who she was, he stopped himself from doing that.
Lin Ye then noticed that some of the man's fingers were gone. With how bandages around his hand were still bloody, he must have lost them quite recently.
Lin Ye knew what was coming.
The man tried to act professional around them but he was not able to contain his excitement. He looked like God had given him the best gift possible for him.
When Skadi told the reason why they were here, the man's eyes widened.
"… Maybe this is fate." He muttered to himself.
Lin Ye did not understand what he was trying to imply but he had the right to pry into this man's life, so he let that be.
Christ also did not even have the decency to acknowledge him and Exusiai. His focus was all on Skadi.
"You should have received a message from the Coastal Division? Your mission goal is in the bar just a few blocks near us. The man's name is BronzeHammer. Bring his head to me, and you can get your regards, 200,000 L.M.D."
With that, Skadi excused herself and went to where her target was.
She was about to kill someone.
This made Lin Ye a bit worried.
He was not worried for her. With how strong she was, no normal person could possibly beat her.
The one that he was worried about was the person that was on her hit list
It was not that he was any different. He killed before. In his defense, all of his kills were in self-defense but it did not excuse him. He still took their life. Did he regret killing them? Not one bit. If someone was about to kill him, he would kill them. It was as simple as that.
This world was not like his old one. He still would not blame the world for making his kill though.
It was all on him. He was okay with that,
However, the idea of killing people for money bothers him.
Would Skadi really kill this person for money?
What if the person was just a normal person? Would she still do it?
Was she really that type of person?
…No, Skadi is not like that.
He reminded himself. Then he realized something, she was also the type of person who did not bother asking who a person was.
… Let's follow her… Just to be on the safe side, no?
With that, telling Exusiai to follow his lead, they trail Skadi to their destination, the bar. Skadi was not slow running, so they needed to pick up the pace.
At the main entrance of the bar, he could see two sides fighting it off with each other.
As he and Exusiai were nearing the bar, something made them stop just not far from it.
On one side there was a group that wore everyday clothes with some armour around them and the group was wearing an eerily familiar outfit. He knew where he saw those outfits from. He saw it worn by the people that were with Mephisto when he attacked Kjerag.
… Reunion.
Both side slides were a match for each. While the Reunion had strength and coordination on their side, their opponent had numbers on theirs.
While the white robes people had better weapons on them, the other group could easily gang on them with their weapons.
The first was pushed around back and forth but they still held strong against the crowd and they did not let any single one of them get through them.
Needless to say, it was quite a chaotic scene to look at from afar.
Then he remembered why he was there, he started to look around to find Skadi. It looked like he lost her.
Just when he was about to give up on finding her, he heard a crash. Looking up, he saw there was a massive hole on the roof of the bar.
It must have been Skadi.
Going into a bar did sound like something that she would do.
The question now was how was he going to follow her now? He couldn't just do what she did. Seeing that nothing came into his mind, he glanced at the Exusiai to see if she had any good idea,
Chewing on the gum that she brought, she was enjoying the chaos in front of her. Feeling his gaze on her, she glanced at him.
"Do you have any idea about getting into the bar?" Lin Ye asked her.
Hearing this, Exusiai slowly pulled out her vector from her jacket.
"... Oh no you don't," Placing his hand on her vector, he stopped her, "It's not worth killing them."
"... Don't worry too much," Pulling her vector away, she rolled her eyes at him, "Why do you even care? If you are worried about it, I can just shoot them on their head or feet to stop them."
Hearing this, Lin Ye's eyes widened, "... Are all angels as cruel as you?"
"... What are you even saying? You sound like my boss. I am not, like going out of my way to kill any of them. " The angel sounded offended, "I didn't mean shooting their head and feet using live ammunition."
Hearing this, Lin Ye was now confused. He stayed silent to let her explain herself.
Seeing that he was willing to hear her out, Exusia pulled something out of her pocket and showed it to him. His eyes widened at the sight.
"... Rubber bullets," Smiling at the sight of it, he nodded at her, "Have some more for me?"
"Depends," A smirk appeared on the angel's face, "What's in it for me?"
"... Me not being dead?" He smirked back, "Don't want you to get fired that fast, do we?"
"... Damn, you're right," She giggled at his smart reply.
Realizing something, he pulled out his vector and held it to her.
"I have an even better idea. Here." He placed his vector into her hand, "You can use mine."
"... Wait, really?!" Her eyes moved from him to the white vector in her hand. She then glanced back at him again, her eyes practically were shining "Are sure?!"
"Just give it back when you are done." He chuckled at how she was acting. Pulling Maple out and making sure his pendants were still on his waist, he readied himself. His eyes landed on Exusiai and he smiled at her, "You are much better than me at using guns, so why not? I'll cover you."
"... You know, you're not that bad after all," She said. She loaded his vector with bullets. When she was set, she dashed straight into the fray. Smirking, she shouted at him, "Doesn't mean I like you though!"
Shaking his head he followed her.
With them being the only people on their side, they really needed to trust in each other to get out of this unharmed.
Exusiai let loose and spayed both of Vectors into the crowd, knocking some people out cold.
After a while of her shooting, she heard both guns clicking, "I'm out!"
Seeing their chances, the casters shot some Arts blast at her while she was reloading. Before their attack could hit her, a figure appeared in front of her. The blasts hit something, picking up dust.
As the dust settled down, the casters' eyes widened when they saw a white barrier surrounding the two of them.
"Exusiai, try to control yourself," Holding a bright white sword, Lin Ye muttered to her, "You're a bit reckless."
Turning, his eyes widened when he saw a muzzle staring straight at him. He quickly moved his head to the side and let the bullet fly past his cheek. The sound of a person's scream followed after.
He glanced around to see a man out cold on the ground behind him. Turning his head back to Exusiai, he sighed and looked at her annoyingly.
"... If I was a second late, that bullet would hit me."
"But it didn't, so all is good," She smirked at him, "On your nine, by the way."
Lin Ye immediately swung Maple to his left and blocked an incoming attack. He then immediately raised his fist and slammed it straight into his attacker's face, knocking the man out.
He will have a long chat with her after all of this. For now, he needs to focus.
As for the two sides, they started to attack them.
A barrage of bullets rained upon them. As for the people that overcame this they were knocked down by Lin Ye. They tried to overwhelm him with their numbers but Maple easily cut through their weapon making them weaponless. Shocked seeing their weapon easily cut through, Lin Ye abused this chance to slam his fist into their faces. With him using Wave Leaping Strike, with every hit they were immediately out cold.
Exusiai dealt people from afar while covering Lin Ye's back while Lin Ye dealt people from close range and used Sanctuary to block the casters from afar.
Needless to say, they were quite a team.
They slowly made their way to the bar's entrance. However, the group was slowly becoming too much for them to handle. They were now stuck in the middle of both sides.
"Reloading!" Exusiai shouted behind him. Following this were both sides throwing breaks and Arts blasts at them.
Acting fast, Lin Ye stabbed Maple into the ground making a two layers dome around them to protect them from the projectiles.
"This won't hold long! " Seeing cracks forming on the barriers, he glanced at Exusiai beside him, "Any good ideas?!"
"Nope!" Popping the p at the end, she said to him, "I am all ears if you have any!"
Hearing this, Lin Ye racked his head to come up with any ideas for their situation.
Then he remembered he still had something up his sleeve.
"How fast can you knock all of them?!" He immediately asked her.
"What are you saying?! Are you crazy?!"
"Just answer the question, woman!"
"... Two seconds!" After much consideration, she answered, "Give me two seconds and an opening, they will all be on the ground!"
"Two seconds? Done," Hearing this, he nodded, "Get ready then!"
She nodded back at him and closed her eyes. A circle slowly appeared on her back, and he could see both Vectors letting out a slight glow.
Lin Ye immediately grabbed Maple's blade. Blood sipped out from the wound but it did not bother Lin Ye. Then a faint orange glow lit up near his hand.
Suddenly, the sound of the barriers around them breaking rang in his ears.
When their shield finally gave up, Maple started to shine brightly. From the sword, a rectangular field started to plush out it. The field hit them around him, trapping them in time. No one was able to move.
Except for Exusiai.
"Now!" Lin Ye shouted.
Hearing this, Exusiai opened her eyes, they were glowing in gold, and she took aim.
"Rock and roll!" Shouting this, she started to fire bullets around her.
With how every bullet that she fired hitting headshots, it was like she had auto-aim assist in real life. She was firing with such an amazing rate that he thought that even the fastest gun was pale in comparison to what she was doing with the vectors in her hands. She must be using Arts to accelerate the rate of fire for both of them.
As two seconds passed, the field of effect slowly simmered out of existence. When it was completely gone, all of the people around them fell onto the ground.
Seeing all of this, Lin Ye sighed in relief, "Good job."
Showing a grin, she gave him a thumbs-up, "You're not bad either."
With now clear, they made their way towards the entrance. When they were about to go into the bar, Exusiai spoke up, "I'll be behind to guard."
"Are you sure?"
Lifting both vectors in her hands, she smirked at him, "With these beauties, no one can get past me."
Nodding to this, he kicked the door open and let himself in.
The fist that greeted him was the cold air hitting him in the face.
Then his eyes widened when he saw what the bar became. From the floor below to the ceiling above, the bar was covered with black frosts.
Seeing this, he knew that the way for the bar to look like this was from someone's Arts and with how cold it was they must be a strong caster.
As he stared at the black frost and a person's image flashed into his mind.
"... No way," He muttered, "It can't be her, right?"
Looking around the bar, his eyes landed on two figures in the middle of the bar.
One was laying on the ground while the other was holding a black sword above their head. It looked like they were about to strike the person on the ground.
Lin Ye's eyes widened when he saw who they were.
"Skadi! Stop!"
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft; Jaq
Proofread: Jaq
Edit: Jaq