Third-person POV
In one of the bullheads suspended above the sinkhole, a young woman brushed her blond hair one last time and checked her makeup in the mirror held by a quiet man in a suit in front of her. Then she adjust the cuffs of her suit . Of course, she finished off her look by swapping the cold expression on her beautiful face with a gentle smile , which would make knees of many men soft . And yet it was just as fake as the size of her breasts and the shape of her nose.
Adjusting her sitting position, she turned her head slightly to the side so that her entire face would be captured by the camera right next to her. Then, waiting a moment longer for the signal, she took a deep breath to calm her heart. At the same time, the quiet man sitting in front of her, and yet not captured in the camera's view, began counting down with his fingers.
'3…2…1'
When the last finger curled into a fist, the time had come. A red light next to the camera lit up along with the screen displaying text.
[ Good morning, Vale. This is your favorite reporter, Reed Greenfall, with the latest news from Vale News Report. We're starting the morning with a breaking news story. ]
The woman said, and espite a slight distortion caused by a damaged speaker, her voice still sounded calm and gentle. As she spoke, footage from the camera under the bullhead showed a huge hole in the ground surrounded by the military, police, and hunters fighting the beasts emerging from it. And as for the scene itself, despite the unsettling sight of the sinkhole and the grimm emerging from it, the situation seemed to be under control.
[ Around 3 a.m. tonight, a massive sinkhole opened up on a desolate street of the former nightclub neighborhood, unleashing a flood of Grimm from underground. However, there is no reason to panic. As you can see, law enforcement with the help of hunters and the military are handling the situation. ]
[ There is no direct threat to the city. Nevertheless, all citizens in the immediate vicinity are advised not to leave their homes, not to wander around, and to report any suspicious activity that may be related to the incident. As for the cause of the sinkhole, it is currently unknown.]
After those words, the camera cut back to a view of the vehicle's interior, with the reporter inside.
[We will, however, provide live updates as the situation develops. For now, we turn to an expert to hear his thoughts on this sudden situation and how it will affect the lives of citizens. From the scene of the incident...]
Without finishing the rest of the report, Kurumi closed the scroll and handed it to Neo. She didn't need to see the rest; everything she needed to know was already clear. This place is currently the focus of everyone's attention in Vale, and will likely remain so for some time. There is no way to leave without drawing the attention of the entire population of Vale.
" This is one bad day... "
Kurumi sighed and cast a weary glance at the tank.
" She mentioned that the cause of the sinkhole is unknown . She didn't say anything about the syndicate members, the shootout, or the fire at the club. All of this happened in the same area at almost the same time . The police have surely noticed this by now. However, it is possible that they haven't reported it yet due to the emergency situation caused by the wave of grimm . "
Kurumi said, turning to Neo, who merely shruged her shoulders under Kurumi's gaze. Her message made it abundantly clear what she thought about it. As long as it didn't affect them, she didn't care what the media said or what people thought.
Seeing that Neo wasn't too bothered by it, Kurumi decided to do the same. Instead, she looked to see how deep underground they really were. Looking around, it was obvious they were about twenty meters below the surface, and that information was enough for Kurumi. Glancing one last time at Neo, they nodded, put on their masks, and retreated into the tunnel.
As they resumed their journey, both remained silent, yet a conversation continued between them in that silence. Before Kurumi's eyes, floating letters kept appearing, describing the course of Neo's conversation with Emerald.
In short, Neo had quickly and briefly explained to Emerald how they had ended up here and what had happened to Emerald after she lost consciousness. Then Neo sent her a quickly modified photo of the sewer map, on which she had marked their planned route and the exit point with a red line and a circle.
At that very moment, she also sent a request to Emerald asking her to tell Ash or Cooper to check out the place and get ready to pick them up. Emerald, of course, accepted immediately and then ended the call. That was the entirety of Emerald's conversation with Neo. Nothing out of the ordinary or different from what they had previously agreed upon.
After that, they both remained " silent " as they made their way through this place forgotten by almost everyone. The long, repetitive tunnels made the journey monotonous for both of them; the minutes spent underground seemed to stretch into hours, and there was no end in sight. Despite this, neither of them complained or protested. They simply walked. Two young girls, trudging through the filth.
However, they were not the only living creatures there. Occasionally, they came across insects or rats the size of cats. The rats often lurked around them, completely fearless, seeing them rather as a good source of protein in this resource-scarce place. This problem, however, was solved by a single shot from Kurumi's pistol.
Speaking of her pistol. Shouldn't it have disappeared, since everything in her shadow met such a fate? The answer, however, is much more complicated. From the moment the Zafkiel awoke, her pistol ceased to be a mere physical weapon; rather, it became a part of the Zafkiel. It is its pointer, the physical manifestation of its power. .
Zefkiel , taking the physical form of a golden clock , cannot lose his pointer. So even though the gun is kept in Kurumi's shadow, the truth is that even if Kurumi were to throw it away or lose it someday, it would dissipate into energy and then return to Zefkiel, so that she could get it back. It is, in fact, a weapon with an automatic return function.
This also means that Kurumi truly cannot be disarmed. Add to that unlimited ammunition as long as she has energy, and Kurumi had no trouble turning those rats into bloody mist. However, the fact that her power had to be used on something so disgusting made her furrow her brow.
But then again, what else could she have done? Kill the rats with her clones' hands? Or worse, with her own hands? .... For some reason, when she thought about it, she felt even more repulsed. Thus ignoring the fact that it was precisely with her clones' hands that she had been tearing people in half and crushing their skulls .
Well, people are people, and a dirty fat rat is a dirty fat rat—let's have a little respect for ourselves. For the same reason, Kurumi wouldn't let Neo get involved. Wading knee-deep in shit was humiliating enough, but they had been forced to do it. And now Neo was supposed to jump in and roll around in that shit just because of some rats ?
Kurumi didn't want her sweet, cute, little, pink mouse to fight with the rats using her beloved blade. So the only option left was a ranged weapon . In the end they continued on like this, interrupted by occasional gunshots echoing through the tunnels, until they finally reached another fork in the tunnel.
This time, however, after Kurumi sent out more clones to investigate, Neo froze and didn't follow her. Kurumi noticed this and turned around.
"Neo?"
She asked, and her voice, muffled by the mask, snapped Neo out of her daze.
"What happened?"
Kurumi asked, and Neo, unable to keep the secret from Kurumi, quickly explained the letter she'd found in the box. It was something she hadn't mentioned earlier because Kurumi had been resting, and then she'd simply been too focused on getting out and didn't want to bother Kurumi with it.
"So there's more of this ??... Okay, let's check it out quickly. If we find anything, I'll just keep it in the shadows—size doesn't matter,"
Kurumi said, changing the corridor she was heading toward. Seeing this, Neo wanted to stop her, explaining that they should come back for it later and that Kurumi shouldn't overwork herself with things like carrying treasure right now, but Kurumi immediately cut her off.
"I have no intention of ever coming back here. Now that we're here, we'll take care of it quickly and leave. I doubt I'll be able to get rid of this smell twice in my life. Besides, that might be the only good thing to come out of this mess. I doubt Xiong will pay us a dime for walking through this shit for him. If he pays at all, given how badly everything went."
Kurumi said, clearly disgusted by her surroundings, then she pulled out the little box she'd been hiding in her shadow and took out the letter described earlier to check it herself.
"Do you know where this is?"
Kurumi asked, and Neo nodded.
"All right, lead the way. Let's take a look at this great treasure ."
Kurumi said, handing the box to the hand emerging from the shadows, once again hiding it in the shadows. Both of them set off immediately without hesitation; after all, neither of them wanted to stay here any longer than necessary. Besides, they had already agreed on roughly what time they would arrive. Being late would have worried others, and they didn't even have a way to get in touch to confirm the situation.
"Is this the place?"
Kurumi asked after an unknown amount of time had passed, looking at the dead-end alley, at the end of which there was only a small drainpipe from which sewage was flowing. Frowning beneath her mask, she looked around but found nothing but empty walls. Neo was no less disoriented, and the longer she stood there, the more uncertain she felt. Could she have been wrong and led them astray?
That possibility alarmed her, but recalling the map once more, Neo looked around. And that was when she noticed something suspicious. Shining her flashlight around, she finally focused it on a certain spot on the wall, and then, nudging Kurumi to get her attention, Neo pointed her finger at the wall next to them. Kurumi said nothing; she just looked at the wall, realizing that Neo had found something.