[Tau Rail Rifle] - The Rail Rifle is a devastating Sniper rifle used by Tau Pathfinders as well as Sniper Drones. Using linear accelerators to launch a hypervelocity, trilium-tipped solid dart, the Rail Rifle is capable of mortally wounding even the larger Tyranid bio-organisms. In short, this weapon can penetrate just about anything and has fantastic range to boot. Costs 3000 War Points

Very expensive, but if the price alone was indicative of its superiority to the Las Pistol, then I definitely wanted it. The Las Pistol simply did not possess enough fire power to get through Helia's magic shield spell thing. It did plenty of damage when it did hit, which was nice, but I'd be dealing with a whole host of creatures that could probably summon the same sort of shield – or even stronger. So, I did not hesitate in purchasing it, which left me with 500 War Points, which I figured I'd just save up since none of the things I could afford with 500 War Points were particularly useful or interesting.

The [Stasis Cube] was kind of tempting, but also kind of superfluous – a lot of the items were like that, actually, kind of useful, but ultimately superfluous. The list of items that were available to me, I figured, included every single thing that existed in this Warhammer 40k Galaxy, including the stuff that'd be useless there. For instance, I already had an [Inventory] to put my things in, perishable or otherwise; I had no need for something like the [Stasis Cube].

With nothing else to do, I summoned the [Tau Rail Rifle] onto my grasp. My first thought was that it definitely hadn't been made by humans; the aesthetic was just different. So, my only conclusion was that it must've belonged to an alien race, which was freaking cool to think about, honestly. It was a lot lighter than I expected a weapon of its size would be. It wasn't unwieldy or awkward, either. In fact, it felt very natural in my hands. It didn't have a scope, however, or even an iron sight, which meant I'd have to manually aim the bloody thing. The fortunate part was that my [Tempestus Scions Training] very heavily compensated for what would've otherwise been a very difficult time. So, I could aim it without much trouble, but I had a feeling that this weapon was supposed to be used with some other device, probably some kind of built-in aiming tool that a lot of sci-fi races tend to use on their helmets.

About half an hour later, Crentist arrived, having performed the duty I appointed him. Briefly, I considered asking him just what exactly he'd done with the body, before deciding against it. I think I'd rather not know. With that, I sent Crentist back into my [Inventory], just to make sure that no trace of him existed. Besides, if necessary, I could just pull him back out with a thought.

Someone, I knew, was going to retaliate for the death of Helia. That was practically a guarantee at this point. Oh, I knew Crentist did a terrific job of getting rid of any evidence. No human being, without the aid of magic, would ever know of what occurred in that warehouse, but that was just it. Magic. Magic was the one thing I could not predict. And, because of that, it was entirely possible that, through some magical means, some devil wizard somewhere would figure out about Helia's death and, somehow, that devil wizard would also be related to her and swear revenge. That sort of thing happens enough times in real life, even without magic involved, that I was pretty sure, sooner or later, someone was going to give me shit for killing Helia in self defense.

Helena Stolas stared at the remnants of her aunt, Helia Stolas, and frowned. The Strays were all captured and sent back. The Sacred Gear user caught her attention, but they were common enough that Helena didn't care too much about capturing him immediately; all she wanted to do was monitor the human and see if he was worth taking. And now, her fucking aunt was dead. Very dead. Her whole head had been burned off – well, most of it had been burned off and all that remained were portions of her scalp. "What the fuck happened here?"

Her aunt was... not the strongest of Devils, but she was far from weak. Helia was, in fact, a High-Class Devil in terms of raw power and that sort of power wasn't anything to scoff at. Sure, Helia, like most members of the Stolas family, did not partake in the rating games or politics in general, but her power was undeniable. There should've been nobody in this entire city capable of defeating her aunt – at least, not without significant collateral damage. The odd part was that her aunt's death hadn't been through magic, because the only traces of the arcane Helena could sense in the air belonged to her aunt and that meant whoever killed her used purely physical measures, which was unthinkable.

The reason why purely-physical attacks did not work on most supernatural creatures is because of the existence of the kinetic shield, which was incredibly simple in function and would almost always fail at the simplest and weakest fireball, but could survive almost any physical force thrown at it, especially pure physical force, lacking even the tiniest hint of magic behind it.

And yet, as far as Helena understood, Helia's death had been through lasers.

Fucking lasers.

The Human Technocracy had no presence in Oregon and so she ruled them out, despite them being the only real suspects behind this crime. Humanity, in general, had not reached the point of being able to use the weapons they wielded in films. Oh, certainly, factions like the Technocracy possessed such technological wonders, but there also was a good reason why they did not share their creations with the rest of their race. Humanity simply was not ready to wield such power. Officially, the Technocracy was a neutral faction; they stayed out of anything supernatural and, in turn, the supernatural factions stayed away from them and their operatives, despite the occasional skirmish here and there.

The Devils most definitely had no quarrel with the Technocrats.

So, they were out – for now.

And that left her... absolutely clueless. Who could've done this? How could they have done this? The part that perplexed her the most was the absence of magic.

Beyond that, the attempt at hiding the body was... professional. Helena had worked with plenty of assassins before and this was clearly the work of one.

Helena's brow furrowed as she crouched down to examine what little remained of her aunt's body. The faint smell of scorched flesh still hung in the air, but it wasn't the typical residue of a fire spell. It was the smell of technology - cold, calculated, efficient. She reached out a hand and touched the blackened remains of Helia's cloak, the material crumbling beneath her fingers. Her aunt had been powerful, and a death like this... something so clean, so clinical—it didn't sit right with her.

She stood, the hem of her long, black coat brushing against the warehouse's dusty floor as she paced. Someone was capable of this, someone hiding beneath the radar of both the supernatural and technological communities. And what bothered her most? The precision. A High-Class Devil didn't just die like this. Helia wasn't invincible, but it would've taken something - or someone - special to kill her.

Helena could feel the rage bubbling beneath the surface. Her family wasn't particularly close, but family was still family. And more than that, this was a blow to the Stolas name. She couldn't let this go unanswered.

"Physical attacks," she muttered to herself. The possibility gnawed at her mind like a rat with a bone. How could someone break through a kinetic shield with purely physical force? Her aunt's barrier should have shrugged off anything that wasn't supernatural or heavily imbued with magical energy.

She stood still for a moment, tapping her foot lightly as she stared into the empty space where her aunt had drawn her last breath. The realization hit her hard, a bitter taste filling her mouth. It wasn't just the absence of magic - it was suppression. Magical Suppression was almost unheard of, but it did exist and it was feared by those who knew of it. But its sources were few – very few. Throughout the heavens, hell, and all the other realms, there were only five things capable of nullifying magic to such a degree as to render spells useless.

And only one of them was abundant enough to have been brought to fucking Oregon without anyone noticing.

She clicked her tongue in irritation, pulling her phone from her coat pocket and dialing a number she hadn't used in months. The line rang twice before a voice on the other end answered.

"Helena," came the gruff voice of Raven Dantalion, a long-time associate and fellow Ultimate-Class Devil. "Always a pleasure to speak with you, but I take it you're not calling to chat?"

"No," she said, her voice cold. "I need you to find out if someone – anyone – had the fucking balls to bring Dimeridium to America."

She paused, watching the last embers of her aunt's life flicker out in the debris. "And I want you to do it discreetly."

Dantalion chuckled darkly. "You know me, I live for discretion. Any specifics?"

"Assassins."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Dantalion wasn't easily fazed, but even he had to take a moment when hearing that word. "Assassins? Ones with Dimeridium? You're talking about the kind of people you don't want to cross, Helena."

"I know. Just get me information."

"Alright, alright. I'll ask around, but you know the kind of heat this'll bring. If anyone catches wind-"

"They won't." Helena cut him off sharply. "Just do it."

"Fine. I'll have something for you in a few days. You be careful, old friend. Even Maou-level beings are afraid of Dimeridium for a very good reason; I'd rather not see you dead for getting a little too curious."

"Someone used Dimeridium to kill my aunt. Helia was a useless little bitch, but she's family all the same." She hung up and pocketed the phone, staring down at the scorch marks on the floor where Helia had fallen.

Her heart raced, anger and frustration boiling under her calm exterior. She didn't like feeling powerless - didn't like that someone, somewhere, thought they could get away with this. An attack on Helia was an attack on the House of Stolas, a Noble Bloodline of Pure-Blooded Devils. This was an attack on the entire family.

Helena wasn't the strongest devil in the Underworld. She wasn't even the most ruthless. But she had something her aunt never did: patience.

She smiled thinly. Whoever was responsible would pay. Slowly. Painfully.

But first, she needed to find them.

With a final glance at the remains, she turned on her heel and left the warehouse, her mind already running through the next steps. There was only one other thing that bothered her—the absence of any supernatural residue. Whatever had done this had been precise, yes, but the professional cover-up was what set her on edge.

"An assassin. But not just any assassin," she whispered to herself.

Dimeridium was, perhaps, one of the rarest naturally-occurring materials in all of existence. It was so rare that it technically had no market value. Helia wasn't special enough to warrant the use of Dimeridium against her. Helia wasn't fucking special at all – not even among devils, not even within her own family, actually.

And then her thoughts shifted, narrowed in on the one oddity - the Sacred Gear user. Could they have had something to do with it? The timing was too perfect. She clenched her fists as she walked into the night. The gears were already turning, and she wasn't going to stop until she had answers.

Helena would make sure of that.

With a flicker of thought, Helena summoned her crows, the demonic beasts appearing in a murderous cloud of black feathers and dark magic.