The Creatures that We Are

There was no one in the elevator.

The group of five entered the elevator seemingly without thought. Then the door closed, and the elevator started descending.

About ten seconds later, a figure emerged outside, Can.

She pressed a hand to her chest and let out a long breath with a nervous expression, muttering to herself. “Whew, I almost knocked into them. Thankfully I react quickly enough…”

She looked around to make sure there was no one around before moving to Gregor’s door.

She was here to talk to Gregor on behalf of the Nine Scions discreetly, informing the man of another organization so that he would consider them too.

When she reached out to press the doorbell, though, she suddenly lowered her hand.

What was she going to do? Oh, she was going to press the doorbell.

She lifted her hand again but failed once more.

There was a slight gap in her memory, resulting in her thoughts stuttering.

A shudder ran down her spine, and she realized that her thought process was disturbed by some sort of psychic Talent. It was Correcting Sickle’s Memory Tailor!

With Gale, her mental strength had seen a great improvement. She quickly focused and composed herself, turning around quickly.

Indeed, a group of five were right behind her: Goldthread, Zhong He, Lying Wood, Correcting Sickle, and Succubus.

“You’re too reckless, Can.” Correcting Sickle spoke coolly as her former colleague. “The fact that the elevator had gone down didn’t mean that we had left.”

Can paled, having put together what happened.

The moment the elevator opened to no one, the five of them had guessed that something was amiss, but they maintained their poker face and didn’t let it show.

They entered the elevator as if they had rehearsed it to make it seem like they had left, but with Goldthread’s ability to manipulate gravity, he could bring the elevator back up quickly halfway down, allowing them to catch Can off guard.

In that moment of distraction, a shadow dove toward Can near the floor. It was Zhong He’s Phantom!

Can had to run.

“Gale Blades!”

She lifted a hand and shouted. The air around her quickly condensed into translucent blades and shot at the five awakeners.

Having anticipated the attack, they dodged to the corners for cover.

Some of the fierce blades hit the walls and scattered white ashes, while others flew another way and hit the far end of the corridor, leaving a few cuts on the fire extinguisher cabinet.

Can never considered facing them head-on. The attacks were only meant to buy her time. She turned to rush to the fire escape and jumped out of the window.

“Chase her!” Goldthread quickly gave chase, followed closely by Zhong He.

Correcting Sickle, Succubus, and Lying Wood stayed where they were and didn’t move.

The three of them weren’t suitable for the job, and there had to be someone keeping an eye on Gregor. They didn’t want to disturb Gregor again and lost even more goodwill, so they quietly stood guard outside.

Meanwhile, Can had jumped to the tall building across the road. Level 4 Gale didn’t allow for quick travel. She couldn’t reach the speed of Qing Ling’s blade riding or Heavenly Dog’s level 6 Fly.

Goldthread and Zhong He reached the fire escape. Without hesitation, Goldthread grabbed Zhong He and jumped out of the window, activating level 6 Gravity. In a state of weightlessness, like they were in space, the two hurtled toward Can with the inertia they had built.

Flying toward the building, Can turned around and realized that Goldthread and Zhong He were right behind her.

She made a forceful push with her hands. “Power Gale!”

An intangible gust blew at Goldthread and Zhong He, the force rivaling a category 8 typhoon, enough to uproot a small tree.

“Shadow Orb!” A black shadow extended from Zhong He’s body and turned into a black enclosed orb, covering him and Goldthread.

The gale pushed the black orb back to the previous building, and like a wrecking ball, they crashed through the wall. At the moment of collision, however, the shadow orb quickly exploded into a spiderweb, attaching itself to the walls and catching Goldthread and Zhong He safely.

Can was about to reach the rooftop of the building across the road.

“Zero Gravity!”

Goldthread grabbed Zhong He’s arm and hurled him. They had made the move many times and worked well together. Zhong He relaxed, allowing himself to be launched.

Two seconds later, he was already right above the rooftop of the building.

With Phantom, he attached a shadow rope to the railing of the rooftop and pulled, making a safe landing. When he looked up, he was surprised to see Can blocked by Heavenly Dog from the Twelve Zodiac Signs.

Heavenly Dog had a fierce-looking mask of a tengu on, his hair tied into a small ponytail. With his hands in his pockets, he hovered before Can, stopping her with the threat of Spatial Dissection.

Zhong He scoffed.

He knew the Twelve Zodiac Signs must have eyes on Gregor too. The three organizations all wanted to recruit the powerful new guy. After all, one more ally was one less enemy.

Can froze, looking at a loss.

While she had joined many fights, she was always with her teammates. She had almost never been on a mission on her own.

Now, there were enemies before and behind her. There was no way for her to run.

She couldn’t defeat Heavenly Dog and Zhong He.

Whoosh.

Zhong He activated Phantom.

The shadow under his feet snaked up to her and formed a black circle around her in case she went invisible again.

“Don’t kill me!”

“I…surrender!”

Can raised her hands decisively, dropping to one knee.

“Don’t kill me. I surrender. I’ll submit…”

Heavenly Dog stayed silent, hiding his relief. Thank God he didn’t have to make a move.

Zhong He controlled his shadow to climb up Can’s body, restraining her without strangling her.

Can hid a sigh of relief.

Good, it was all going according to plan. She just had to…

Her eyes widened, and a cold pain stabbed her.

She slowly looked down to find a Black Gold triangular blade protruding from her chest through her back, hitting her heart.

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