"Okay, now that the reunion is finished we can start."

  All eyes were on Sévon, it was time for the explanation for what was to come next. Sévon still had his eyes on his book as he did not say a thing for a moment until he reached the last chapter and closed it before looking directly at the others.

  "So I'm still not that certain about my information but there are always risks in our investigations so we should be fine. Anyway, I managed to find where Esyn's current location is and we are going to surprise her and that's why I choose to do this tonight. So that we can be done with this job and go back to Kurayamiya."

  Kiichi, Esme and Tasia simply listened to Sévon's statement and did not respond or ask a question at all. Sévon studied their expressions and it looked like they completely understood the premise of the job.

  "Silence conveys consent." he said coolly.

  Kiichi smiled slightly,Tasia put down her book and Esme stood up straight.

  Sévon stood up from his chair, straightened himself and started walking towards the door. The others looked at each other and they all followed Sévon behind ready for what was to come.

  The house was an old, traditional building with a sloped tile roof, wooden sliding doors, and paper-paneled windows that were dimly lit from the inside. It stood silently. There seemed nothing noteworthy about it.

  They came to a halt a few meters away.Nobody said anything; they just watched. Sévon's eyes methodically scanned the building's windows, roofline, perimeter shadows, and potential exits.He raised a hand.

  Two fingers extended.Esme's job was to protect the perimeter in case Esyn managed to get out of the house. She scowled right away, and he pointed to the edge. She was already irritated because she had come for action, but now she was being positioned outside as support.

  Sévon stared at her.No disagreement, just silent guidance. It was obvious who was in charge. After a moment, she let out a soft breath and retreated in the direction of the property's outer wall.

  "All right, however, I will be very annoyed if you pass away there."she whispered to herself.

  Kiichi nearly chuckled. Tasia remained silent. Sévon faced the doorway.

  "Keep your distance and send out a signal as soon as there is any movement." he whispered to Esme.

  She gave one nod. Discipline persisted along with the annoyance. Then he gave Kiichi and Tasia another signal to accompany him inside the compound. Sévon said nothing more and moved forward, making the wooden walkway creak slightly under his weight. Tasia and Kiichi followed. In front of them was the sliding door.

  The air inside the house was warm and unaltered.

  Steam continued to linger slightly against wooden beams in the house's farthest room. With water still clinging to her hair, Esyn emerged from behind a thin partition. Reaching for a robe that was neatly hung nearby, she draped it over her shoulders and tied it slowly.

  The room was silent. She moved to the far wall, where a painting depicting Yserolda in delicate brushstrokes was hanging above a low wooden stand. The image was serene, far away, and almost divine.

  Esyn dropped to her knees.

  "I'm grateful," she whispered.

  For defense? For a chance?For silence? She alone was aware.

  She got up and grabbed a glass that was sitting next to a red wine bottle that was only halfway full. She lifted it and took a slow, tiny sip of the liquid that caught the lamplight.Then, with the smallest rhythmic shift, her hand stopped in mid-air.

  Something was slowly making its way toward her.There was only one door left when they arrived at the end of the hallway. Sévon held up two fingers. They were going to perform an easy and straightforward containment. Kiichi gave one nod. Tasia silently repositioned herself. With deliberate precision, Sévon slid the door open by pressing his hand against the wooden panel.

  Tasia and Kiichi entered after him. Esyn was sleeping like a baby on the bed.Sévon's gaze grew strained. He looked out the window. It wasn't midnight yet. He gently motioned for Tasia to look at the moon.The strange request made her scowl a little, but she went to the window and opened the screen just enough to let in some sky.

  The slightest shift beneath the blanket.Esyn's eyes opened.Directly at Sévon. She smiled faintly.

  "Pleasure."

  The word was barely a whisper, the air compressed. A violent force erupted outward.Sévon's body was launched across the room, slamming him into the far wall with a heavy crack of splintering wood.

  Kiichi's expression sharpened instantly. Tasia shifted into stance. The blanket fell aside. Esyn rose from the futon with slow composure, her robe loosely tied, her hair falling over her shoulder.

  She stepped onto the wooden floor.

  "Tell me, why would two men and a girl sneak into a woman's bedroom at night?"she said softly, tilting her head.

  Her gaze lingered on Sévon, who was already pushing himself up from the fractured wall.

  "Unless, you were hoping for something else." she continued, voice cool.

  And out of the broken wall, Sevon laughed.

  "Who asked?"

  Esyn's eyes returned to him, and the air seemed to writhe under the gaze. A small, tight spiral of wind coalesced before Sevon's outstretched hand, then shot across the room like a coiled snake unleashed.

  Esyn moved.The small tornado skimmed the hem of her robe as she sidestepped, sending splinters flying out of the wall behind her.

  Kiichi didn't hesitate.

  "Secret Fang."

  Blue Qi built along the backs of his forearms, coalescing into two sharp, translucent fangs that extended from the tips of his hands like curved blades. He struck.The fangs sliced through the air, leaving nothing behind them.

  Esyn stepped back far enough for the attack to narrowly miss, the air between them rippling with the force of the blow.

  Kiichi clicked his tongue, releasing the technique as quickly as he'd initiated it.

  "Dapper Kick."

  Qi built along the ground, coalescing into a dense, tight mass around the right leg, compressing like coiled muscle along the shin. He spun, launching the kick aimed for her ribs. Esyn was gone from the range of the attack an instant before impact.

  His kick made contact with the wooden floor instead. The explosion of force created a crater in the floor as the planks flew out in all directions. The house creaked and groaned under the pressure.

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  Esyn landed softly several steps away, perfectly balanced.

  "You break into my home and then redecorate it?" She said this calmly, moving to push a strand of hair back from her face.

  Dust drifted down in thin sheets from the fractured ceiling.

  Sévon emerged from the broken wall, calm as ever. He dusted the splinters and powdered wood from his shoulders with slow, methodical movements.

  He took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Then covered his mouth with one hand.

  The room froze.

  His other arm went back in a throwing motion, precise and balanced like a hunter preparing to cast a spear. The air was compressed.A thin lance of wind formed along his arm, compressed and sharpened to a killing point.The spirals on the surface of the wind spear danced with suppressed fury. He threw the wind spear. It shot towards Esyn's chest, splitting the floorboards in the process.

  Esyn turned.

  The wind spear went past her ribs but instead of avoiding the spear, she reached out and caught it with ease. The compressed wind trembled violently in her hand, shrieking against her fingers. For a moment, the entire room trembled with the strain.

  She twisted her wrist and threw it back. The spear howled towards Sévon, moving faster than ever before. Kiichi's eyes grew wide in shock. Tasia moved, but Sévon merely brought his hands together.

  Clap.

  The wind spear fell from the air, disintegrating into harmless currents that spread through the room like the last gasp of life.Silence fell over the scene, and Sévon offered a faint smile.

  "So you've put yourself in the open, Esyn."

  Her face never changed.

  "But I had told myself that you might be affiliated with the Puppeteers."he went on.

  His eyes locked intently on his target.

  "But I was wrong."

  He never got the chance to finish his sentence.

  A shrill whistle cut through the space between them.Athing shot out from the direction of Esyn, not wind, not Qi, but something else. A crimson-colored spear, liquid and solid at the same time, shot across the space in less than the beat of a heart.

  The blood spear halted mere millimeters from Sévon's eye, one more inch and it would have plunged into his brain. A single drop of liquid fell down the sharp end of the spear. Sévon never blinked. Esyn tilted her head slightly.

  "Oh? You were saying?"she said in a soft voice.

  The blood-spear quivered mere inches from the eye of Sévon, which promptly disintegrated.

  "Man… I almost died there."

  His grin grew.

  "Lucky me."

  Tasia, meanwhile, had already taken her position. Her fingers arranged into a specific configuration, with four of the digits extended and the thumb tucked inward.

  Her gaze fell upon Esyn.

  "Shining Ice Blitz."

  A cloud of miniature, whirling ice drills materialized around her, each one a focus of tightly wound ice points. They launched, the screeching whine of their passage through the air like a knife to the ears as Esyn let out a light breath.

  "Pleasure."

  A handful of the ice drills exploded in mid-air, deflected by an invisible wave of force. Yet, there was one that managed to slip past, slicing across her cheek as a thin line of red appeared.

  Her hand went up to touch the wound.

  Her gaze fell upon the blood on her fingertips, annoyance flashing across her face before her eyes landed upon Tasia.

  The floor creaked as Esyn's foot hit the ground as she charged forward, but Sévon was already moving.

  "Twin Sun Rush."

  Two wind-formed duplicates had emerged from his body in opposite directions, transparent but dense, and their edges shimmered like the distortions of heat waves. They had homed in on Esyn in mid-charge.

  Impact.

  The duplicates struck simultaneously and with perfect synchronicity, colliding with her from both sides and sending her straight through the paper-paneled wall. The window disintegrated in flying pieces. Esyn was propelled out into the open air. Her hands came together as she was falling.

  "Beauty."

  The interior of the bedroom erupted. The floor, the walls, the ceiling beams—all split apart as torrents of blood spears shot out in all directions, flooding the interior with a wild crimson hue.

  Kiichi did not even think to pause.

  "Out!"

  They leapt out through the blown-out window just as the bedroom erupted. Outside, Esme had already sensed this.

  She looked up to see Esyn falling through the night air.

  "...That must be the target."

  A stray cherry blossom petal floated in the air, blown about by the agitated wind. Esme caught it between two fingers. On its surface, she drew a small, precise infinity symbol. It glowed faintly and she flicked it off.

  The petal shot through the air at an unnatural speed straight at Esyn.

  As mid-fall approached, a gentle breeze blew through Esyn's hair. She turned her head ever so slightly and felt something delicately thin and something that had a perfect shape to it. It was the cherry blossoms.

  As the petal reached her, it fractured into a million pieces in an instant, turning into a storm of identical cherry blossom petals that created multiple copies of itself and will continue to duplicate until there are over a thousand razor-thin cherry blossoms surrounding her in all directions, creating an illusion of being encased in a bright, pale pink revolving ball of light. Esyn looked down and saw they looked beautiful.

  "I can hardly believe I caught her in one second, but they took five minutes," she said with quiet pride.

  Putting her hand on her hip, she declared, "I win, baby!"

  The ball of blossoms started closing in around her. Then began drifting back towards the earth as the petals spiraled towards the center of the blossom. Esyn extended her hand to receive the blossoms. As they came into contact with her hand, the petals of the blossoms collapsed to nothing.

  Esyn's smile was gone.

  The spot where Esyn had been was empty.

  Esme's fingers twitched.

  "What?"

  Esme looked at the sky, then back to where Esyn vanished, then looked behind her. For the briefest of seconds, she had a jolt of panic in her stomach. Then, Sévon appeared beside her softly and dust arose around his shoes.

  "Did you get her?" he asked.

  Esme remained silent.

  She stared at the emptiness in the air where Esyn was supposed to be. Sévon saw that on her face, an understanding occurred between them immediately. He released a quiet exhale.

  "It's okay," he said.