Under The Veil of Night

"What competition?" Kanae asked.

"OH, a woman?" the man looked towards Kanae in amazement. Because Kanae shouted, her pitch revealed the fact that she was a woman.

"Don’t act dumb, competition of the vial of course," the man smirked. "Get them, especially that woman."

As he said that, several of the men charged forward. In terms of number, it was clear that they were outnumbered. This group has a lot of people in their group, earning them more power overall.

CLANG!

Kanae blocked the attack. Frowning slightly, she noticed that another one already ready to thrust his knife towards her. They were human! However, right now, her body moved on their own, twisting it to evade the attack and pierced her own sword into one of the men’s neck.

Pulling it back, she turned around and made a slashing movement, reaching two men’s stomach instantly.

"Rei!" Jason was startled to see that most of them already headed towards the girl. Killing the one going towards him, he was about to help her when he saw that three of them already fell to the ground.

"..." was there any need for him to worry so much?

However, he saw that Kanae was looking towards him. Her eyes were filled with doubts and uncertainty. They were not monsters but human. They have their own lives and people who might be waiting for them, but right now, she was killing them. She cut the chance for them to meet with their family again.

Why this thought made her feel sad very much?

The leader’s face was stricken with fear when he saw that three of his men were killed by the young lady. Stomping on the ground, he moved towards the young girl, making a thrust with his sword.

Kanae saw him coming, she tilted her sword to the outside and blocked the attack.

"You dare!" the man roared.

Seeing the anger in his face, Kanae’s body shook a bit. This was the first time she faced someone who fought her because they wanted to have a revenge for their comrade. The complicated feeling rose within her heart.

SLASH!

The man didn’t wait and immediately attacked again. Kanae reacted too late and her arm was wounded with the sudden attack. Stepping back, she quickly readied her stance again.

’When I come here, I already make a vow to myself that I won’t let my feeling disturb the fight.’

She knew very well that she was still very weak in the terms of emotion. As a girl who has someone she cared very much, she knew the feeling of losing and the rage that followed from that. She didn’t want to lose anyone important to her anymore.

Her eyes landed on the man who pounced towards her again.

’If to achieve my goal and become stronger enough to protect them, I have to become a cold blooded killer without feeling, so be it.’

Twisting her body, she attacked the man from below. The man was startled when he saw her back slightly lower. In the next second, he felt pain on his arm as the girl’s arm already made a slashing movement, cutting his arm perfectly.

His eyes were filled with horror when he saw that the sword was now aimed to his neck. The next thing he knew was everything has turned dark.

*pant* *pant*

Kanae was looking towards the fallen man on the ground for a moment. Looking towards her hand, she noticed that it was already fully stained with blood. The smell of the blood no longer perturbed her anymore.

Her eyes turned to look towards the other member. Moving her feet, she reached their side in an instant. With a swift movement, they all fell to the ground.

"Amazing," Tommy whispered as he killed the man in front of him. Kanae practically finished off the men by her own. Her movement that she showed was perfect that he couldn’t say anything else.

Jason narrowed his eyes. He had just finished his fight when he wanted to help the young girl. Upon seeing how she managed to battle those all on her own, he felt complicated feeling rose within his heart.

’I want to protect her, but it seems, I don’t have the chance for that.’

He saw the girl as someone whom he had to protect because she is an important person for him. All these times, she was always someone who has fighting prowess below him, someone whom he needed to care about. But right now, she showed to him that she was no longer the same person as before.

She could stand on her own.

And her place has become unreachable for him.

*pant* *pant*

Kanae felt her blood flowed extremely quickly, pumping to every corner of her body. It was something incredible as she had basically moved at a speed that she could never imagine before.

Suddenly, her vision turned dark. Her body swayed before she fell to the side.

"Rei!" Jason practically ran to her side and captured her right before she fell to the ground. Seeing the unconscious girl in his arm, he felt panicked as he quickly checked her pulse.

"Shin, Rei fainted!" Tommy nearly yelled to the phone.

Shiro nearly toppled from his sitting position when he heard the loud voice of Tommy. "Check her pulse. Is she still breathing or not?"

"She’s breathing, but her pulse is a bit erratic," Jason answered. His medical expertise was only at the bottom level because he only learned enough for first aid.

"What about her face?"

"She looks slightly pale," Tommy answered.

"I think she’s tired. It’s nearly night time outside," Shiro replied. "Added with the mental stress she had today, she should be exhausted."

"It’s night?" Tommy looked towards the bright sky with bewilderment. There was no sign of it turning into night at all. He couldn’t believe Shiro’s words at all.

"This barrier also traps light inside the place," Jason answered calmly. He picked up Kanae in his arm carefully. "Let’s head back to the storage room and prepare bed from the mattress. We should sleep too."

"Okay," Tommy agreed. He did feel tired, but he was usually quite a nocturnal himself, so he didn’t really feel the difference.

"Can you guard first or do you need me to be the one to guard?"

"You take first, Oro. I don’t think I can do it with her still in deep slumber like this," Tommy replied. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was far weaker than them. Just the fight from before already proved to him that he couldn’t handle the men as much as them.

Jason nodded his head. Reaching the storage room, Tommy pulled two mattresses from the stack. Jason put Kanae on top of the mattresses.

"Is there no blanket around?"

"Do you think this is a hotel?"

"I’m just asking."

"Treat your wound first. There’s some first aid from the bag."

"What about Rei?"

"There’s no deep wound, she should be able to treat them by herself later."

Tommy nodded his head. He didn’t feel right treating her if it was not an emergency. The only wound she had was on her arm too, so they just stopped the bleeding and cleaned up slightly before taking care of their own wounds.