The back alleyway was swallowed by pitch-black darkness, choked with thick, oily coal soot and the suffocating hiss of overhead copper pipes leaking pressurized steam.
A man ran frantically, his boots slipping on the wet, greasy cobblestones, until he slammed violently into a dead-end brick wall.
He was weeping hysterically, his face twisted in absolute terror as his entire body shook uncontrollably.
He glanced back into the murky, gas-lit shadows from which he had just fled, sliding down the brickwork until he hit the ground, using the wall to support his trembling frame.
"P-p-please... l-let me go..." he stammered, clutching his chest.
A tall woman stepped out from the darkness, the rhythmic clinking of her brass-buckled boots echoing off the narrow walls.
She completely ignored his desperate pleas, turning her head slightly over her shoulder.
"Shawty, we talkin' 'bout this one right here?" Jade asked, her voice dripping with a lazy, unfiltered street cadence.
Ai walked forward from the shadows behind her, her footsteps light and precise.
She adjusted the dark lapels of her coat, her expression completely detached.
"He's a human, Miss Jade."
"Is that so?" Jade sighed, rolling her shoulders. "Aight, bet. You did solid for your first gig."
Ai gave a slight, formal nod, though her eyes cast downward, a subtle gloom settling over her features.
Jade caught the movement, looking down at her for a sharp second before shifting her weight onto one hip.
"Why the long face, though?" Jade asked, raising an eyebrow. "You lookin' mad stressed."
Ai shook her head, her fingers tightening slightly against her sleeves.
"It's nothing."
"Well, whatever, but now it's time for your final job," Jade spoke, her tone turning entirely casual as she pointed a careless finger at the man shaking in the dirt. "Smoke his ass."
Ai's eyes widened a fraction, her posture stiffening.
"Can't you just do it the way you did to the others?"
Jade clicked her tongue sharply in irritation, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What, you want me to help you wash from now on too? When the fuck you gonna grow up and handle your business?"
Ai frowned, stepping closer.
"Those are entirely different things."
"So what, you folding?" Jade smirked, leaning her head back against a hissing steam pipe. "You ain't gonna drop him?"
Ai closed her eyes for a brief second, inhaling the metallic scent of the alley.
"Okay."
She walked forward, raising her right hand as a brilliant, concentrated white energy began to ripple and crackle across her skin.
She gulped down her lingering hesitation, taking a heavy step toward the cornered target.
The man began to scream at the top of his lungs, thrashing against the brick wall.
"Please! Please, no—!"
Ai looked at him for a single, dark second, her eyes completely devoid of warmth.
Without a word, she drove a brutal, high-speed punch directly into his face.
The sheer kinetic force of her vana caused his skull to instantaneously blow up, blood, bone, and brain matter splattering violently across the brick wall and cobblestones like a crushed mosquito.
Jade immediately facepalmed, a loud slap echoing through the alleyway.
"Aw, fuck me. It's gonna be a straight-up pain in the ass to scrub all this marrow off the brickwork, welp good luck to the cleaning team."
She dropped her hand, staring intently at Ai.
"Damn, girl... didn't know you could adapt to this gory-ass shit so quick."
Ai gave a slow nod, looking thoroughly exhausted as the white energy faded from her knuckles.
"Anything can be adapted to."
She pulled a clean white handkerchief from her pocket, methodically wiping the crimson stains from her fingers before tossing the soiled cloth onto the corpse.
"Next time, I'll do the killing from the very start."
Jade let out a long, low whistle, a wicked grin spreading across her face.
"Damn, what, this shit turnin' you on or somethin'?"
Ai let out a heavy sigh, stowing her hands away.
"Why does your mind constantly stay in the gutter?"
Jade smirked, tapping her boot against the stones.
"You gotta slither into the gutter if you wanna handle the rats, feel me?"
Ai stared at her with a completely blank, unamused look.
"I hate how much sense that actually makes."
Jade burst into a loud, mocking laugh.
"Man, you still mad wet everywhere."
Ai raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't the phrase 'wet behind the ears'?"
Jade nodded smoothly.
"It is, but I had to insert my mind from the gutter first."
The two turned around, leaving the grisly scene behind as they began walking out of the dark, narrow passage.
The distant, heavy thrum of the steampunk city's clockwork towers vibrated through the ground beneath them.
After a few minutes of quiet walking, Ai spoke up, her voice steady but reflective.
"Miss Jade... I'm not going to say something entirely dumb like 'I don't want to kill.' I know killing is completely inevitable in our line of work. However... I'm deeply afraid I'll get too used to it. I've adapted to it already, so I don't really feel much of anything right now. I adapted just enough to feel slightly bad, but not enough to drown in guilt or remorse. I'm just scared I'll get too used to it in the future."
Jade stopped walking.
She pulled her hands out of her pockets and stepped into Ai's path, placing a heavy, grounding hand firmly on the younger girl's shoulder.
> "To tread this adversarial terrain is to witness the slow, deliberate erosion of one's pristine spirit," Jade said, her voice dropping into a startlingly profound, academic weight.
Ai blinked up at her, completely derailed by the sudden vocabulary shift.
"Please provide a summary of the above paragraph in simple terms."
Jade let out a dramatic sigh, rolling her eyes as her hood dialect snapped right back into place.
"Look, baseline is this: the war, the packing bodies, the leaking blood—all that shit is gonna warp a motherfucker over time. The main goal ain't about trying to stay pure and dodging the change; it's about holding onto exactly who you are at your core while you're drowning in the middle of it."
Ai processed the words, her posture relaxing slightly.
"So... as long as I don't stray and always remember my true purpose, what I fear won't actually happen?"
Jade gave a firm nod, patting her shoulder before turning back around.
"Yeah. Exactly."
They walked out of the mouth of the alleyway, arriving at a massive, rusted industrial sector.
Standing directly in front of them was a towering, riveted iron warehouse stained black with coal soot.
Jade halted and looked up at the foggy roofline.
"Oi, flamethrower!"
A dark silhouette detached itself from the upper scaffolding.
Kiyomasa jumped down from the roof of the adjacent building, his heavy brass-plated boots landing with a metallic clang on the iron grating.
He straightened up, adjusting his gloves.
"Yes, Miss Jade?"
Jade pointed a casual finger at the massive building ahead.
"Burn that entire structure straight to the ground."
Kiyomasa looked ahead at the ominous warehouse and paused, his hands hovering over his belt.
Jade smirked, her eyes glinting with amusement.
"What? Can't even burn the corpses?"
Kiyomasa clenched his fists tightly, a look of grim determination crossing his face.
"I'll do it."
He took a decisive step forward, planting his feet and raising both hands toward the entrance.
Within seconds, violent, white-hot elemental fire started erupting from the cracked earth beneath the foundation.
The blazing torrents surged upward, rapidly engulfing the entire iron warehouse in a massive, roaring inferno.
The intense orange and red flames danced and reflected perfectly inside the wide eyes of both Ai and Kiyomasa as they watched the structure burn to ashes, knowing several hundred enemy corpses were sealed inside the blaze.
Jade pulled a crumpled cigarette from her pocket and slid it between her lips.
"Oi, lighter."
Kiyomasa turned back toward her, lifting his index finger as a small, controlled flame sparked to life at the tip.
Jade leaned in, pressing her cigarette against the heat until it caught.
She took a deep, long puff, blowing a thick cloud of grey smoke into the night air.
"Kiyomasa, Ai... look carefully," Jade spoke, her eyes narrowing through the smoke as she pointed at the roaring fire. "What do you see?"
Kiyomasa stared at the collapsing roof, his face tense.
"A structure being brutally engulfed in flames with several hundred corpses inside."
Ai spoke immediately after him, her voice cold and hollow.
"A massacre."
"Correct," Jade nodded, taking another drag of her cigarette. "And who committed all of this?"
They both replied together in perfect, practiced unison.
"We did."
"Never forget that," Jade said, her voice dropping all traces of humor. "We aren't fucking angels. We are people dirtying our hands in the mud so the folks living peacefully back home don't have to. Don't you ever consider yourselves saints. You ain't a single bit better than the scums you just packed up."
Kiyomasa swallowed hard, nodding slowly.
"Yes."
Ai turned her back to the heat, her coat swirling around her ankles.
"Let's go."
Jade raised an eyebrow, gesturing toward the beautiful, destructive blaze.
"Why? It's such a gorgeous view, though."
"You're entirely free to enjoy it," Ai replied flatly.
She reached out, grabbing Kiyomasa's gloved hand firmly in her own.
"Let's leave."
She proceeded to drag Kiyomasa away from the warmth of the fire, her grip tight as they walked down the dark street.
She glanced sideways at his quiet profile.
"Is something wrong?"
Kiyomasa hesitated, his boots dragging slightly against the stones before he spoke.
"It's... it's just a little unsettling seeing you act like absolutely nothing happened back there."
Ai stopped walking, turning her body to face him fully.
A soft, reassuring smile appeared on her lips.
"You're calm yourself, Kiyomasa."
Kiyomasa nodded, letting out a breath he had been holding.
"I'm calm, yeah... but I'm not entirely free from the weight of what I've just done."
Ai placed both of her hands into her coat pockets, her smile turning steady.
"That's all we can really do. Just keep walking forward without losing sight of ourselves. And if you ever feel like the weight is too much... just remember that Zazm has been carrying this exact same burden for us for years."
Kiyomasa's eyes went slightly wide at the mention of the commander.
He felt a sudden surge of resolve and nodded firmly.
"Yeah... you're right. We can't just sit back and let him do everything for us."
The soft smile returned to Ai's lips.
"That's right."
Kiyomasa smiled back, his tension finally melting away.
"I wonder how everyone else is doing right now."
At that moment, a heavy, automated steam carriage clattered down the street, its mechanical horses hissing as it came to a halt right in front of them.
The iron doors swung open, and the two friends quickly climbed inside, settling into the leather seats as the carriage lurched forward.
Ai gave a nostalgic nod, resting her head against the window panel.
"I miss everyone as well."
Kiyomasa shifted in his seat, leaning forward with an interested expression.
"On that note, Ai, how is your actual training going? I've been so utterly consumed with my own elemental mastery that I haven't had much time to check in."
Ai nodded proudly.
"It's going great, actually."
She raised her right hand into the space between them, and that same dense, pristine white energy appeared, rippling flawlessly across her palm.
Kiyomasa leaned in, his eyes widening in pure surprise.
"Wow... you can use pure vana now?! That's incredible!"
"To a certain level," Ai noted, keeping her hand steady. "Nowhere near as powerful or close as Miss Jade, obviously, but she told me it's monstrous development for someone who has only been training for one year."
Kiyomasa smiled genuinely, leaning back.
"You're seriously talented, Ai. But... wait."
Ai looked at him, her hand still raised.
"What?"
"Is the color of the energy completely random?" Kiyomasa asked, pointing at the white glow.
Ai looked down at the swirling light, a smirk playing on her lips.
"Oh, no! Vana actually doesn't possess just one single color. It's a highly complicated, dense form of energy that contains nearly all elements and colors to begin with. You can say we just consciously choose to display one specific hue."
As she spoke, she manipulated her energy flow.
The pure white light instantly shifted into a deep, vibrant blue, then bled smoothly into a rich purple, before snapping into a bright green.
Finally, the energy expanded, swirling into a stunning, multi-colored palette of blending gradients right over her fingers.
Kiyomasa's eyes gleamed with childlike wonder as the colors danced in the dim carriage cabin.
"This is so amazing... I wish I could do something like that."
Ai smirked, closing her fist to let the energy dissipate.
"Keep dreaming."
Kiyomasa huffed, raising his own hand into the air.
"Hey, I can do something pretty similar, actually!"
A bright, cracking fire instantly manifested over his palm.
"See? Similar. Now, watch."
He concentrated, forcefully altering the elemental output.
The fire died out, replaced instantly by a swirling sphere of clear water that coated his fingers.
"Look, it's blue now. For wind, it'll get entirely transparent. For blood manipulation, it gets deep red. And for metal manipulation, it turns gray."
Ai burst into a loud, mocking laugh, leaning back against the carriage cushions.
"Wow, what a cheap, terrible imitation!"
Kiyomasa let out a dramatic sigh, dropping his hand as the water splashed away.
"Fine, fine... you're clearly superior."
Ai kept laughing, thoroughly enjoying the banter.
"By the way, how is your precision control training going?"
Kiyomasa gave a slow, miserable nod, his proud expression instantly deflating.
"Great, actually... I'm almost done sewing that custom sweater for Miss Jade."
Ai laughed even louder, pointing a finger at him.
"The exact same sweater you've been meticulously sewing for almost a whole year?!"
A tired, defeated look washed over Kiyomasa's face, and a single, comedic tear trickled down his cheek as he nodded slowly.
"Yes... that exact one."
"How much of it is actually done?" Ai asked, wiping a tear of laughter from her own eye.
Kiyomasa puffed his chest out, trying to look proud despite the tears still welling in his eyes.
"About thirty percent!"
Ai raised an eyebrow, her expression turning highly skeptical.
"It's still far from being finished, Kiyomasa. And doesn't Miss Jade's training rule state that if you mess up even a single stitch, the entire progress goes straight back to zero?"
Kiyomasa smiled through his tears, his shoulders slumping in sheer defeat.
"I know... just let me cope, please."
The steam carriage suddenly hissed to a violent halt, the mechanical pistons grinding to a stop.
The door clicked open, and the two friends climbed down onto the pavement, approaching a hidden, heavy iron hatch.
They entered the secret entrance, stepping onto a massive set of stone stairs that spiraled deep into the earth leading to the massive facility underground.
Kiyomasa stretched his arms over his head, looking over at her.
"You wanna have dinner together?"
Ai nodded without hesitation. "Are you treating?"
Kiyomasa shrugged his shoulders, a casual smile on his face. "Sure, why not?"
They turned down a wide corridor and walked over to the grand cafeteria.
Because this was a massive, fully operational underground headquarters, the cafeteria and various other automated services were kept running twenty-four hours a day.
They placed their orders at the brass counter and took a seat at a large table.
The huge dining hall was entirely empty.
Kiyomasa tapped his fingers rhythmically against the tabletop.
"Our first official mission went well. Miss Jade said we'll be going consecutively on high-risk missions for this entire month."
Ai nodded, resting her elbows on the table.
"Once you're done eating, you need to hit the bed immediately. We have a lot of serious stuff to deal with tomorrow as well. Rooting out these hidden Remnants is no easy task."
Kiyomasa nodded in agreement.
"Zazm originally sent us here explicitly for these missions, right? But it's crazy that we are only just now doing them after over a year of training."
Ai went entirely quiet for a second.
She placed her chin thoughtfully on her hand, staring blankly at the salt shaker. "I heavily underestimated Zazm."
"What do you mean by that?" Kiyomasa blinked, leaning forward.
"He did send us here for the missions, yes, but that's not the full reason," Ai replied, her eyes sharpening. "The real, primary reason he sent us here is Miss Jade herself."
Kiyomasa scratched his chin, processing the thought.
"You mean... he sent us to this specific base so we could explicitly learn and develop under her guidance, while dealing with and figuring out the Remnants was just a side quest he threw on us?"
Ai offered a firm nod.
"Exactly. Zazm precisely pinpointed exactly who needed to go where, what our core weaknesses were, and how to effectively work on them.
He knew Nova and Miwa are highly energetic people—personalities like theirs tend to naturally raise morale on a chaotic battlefield. And unlike you, Nova can flawlessly control his massive strength thanks to his cheat code, while I'm absolutely certain Zazm planned something equally specific for Miwa's growth
Sending Jennie to Sable Veil was an obvious choice, and Minos chose his path along with that. For the two of us... he chose this place."
Kiyomasa tapped his fingers against the table again, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"Sending you here makes perfect sense, since you're practically learning everything about vana from Miss Jade... but I still don't fully understand why he sent me here of all places."
Ai thought about it for a brief moment, her eyes tracking the energy lines shining on the walls.
"I think it's to prepare you... and for protection."
Kiyomasa looked up, thoroughly confused.
"Protect who?"
"This entire underground base, and Miss Jade herself," Ai spoke smoothly, leaning back as the kitchen hatches clattered.
"We already know she lives in absolute hiding here. Out of everyone in our group, you are without a doubt the absolute strongest after Zazm and Nova.
So, Zazm must have sent you here as a form of ultimate reassurance, and to help you rapidly develop your elemental abilities.
After all, who else in the world could be of better help to you than Miss Jade?"
Kiyomasa nodded slowly, the pieces of the puzzle finally falling into place.
"Well... yeah. That actually makes a lot of sense."
Their conversation was cut short as a tray slid down the counter, delivering two plates of steaming food.
The two friends immediately pulled their meals toward them and proceeded to eat in comfortable silence.
After finishing every last bite, they cleared their table, bid each other a brief goodnight, and headed straight back to their respective rooms to get some well-deserved sleep before the next hunt.
Ai walked back into her private quarters within the deep subterranean base. Unlike the smog-choked, coal-dusted gears of the surface world, this underground facility was an advanced technological hub. Sleek, seamless metallic walls paneled with humming blue circuitry lined the room, and the automated hydraulic door slid shut behind her with a airtight vacuum seal. Exhaustion weighed heavily on her eyelids, the lingering scent of soot from the warehouse fire clinging to her clothes.
She was just about to lie down on her bed, her back nearly touching the mattress, when her internal senses violently flared.
A sharp, intrusive presence entered the upper levels of the facility, breaking the perimeter.
She snapped her eyes open, instantly pushing herself upright and swinging her legs off the bed.
"Right," she murmured, her voice tight. "I forgot to ask Miss Jade."
Leaving her room at a brisk pace, she navigated the clean, brightly lit corridors of the technological hub, her boots tapping sharply against the polished composite floorboards. She made a direct line toward the main exit stairs, passing beneath flickering holographic terminal displays. She began climbing the sleek, reinforced stairs that led up toward the surface threshold.
She expected to see Jade's familiar hooded silhouette waiting by the security gate. Instead, as she rounded the metallic landing, three unfamiliar men stood silhouetted against the dim entry lights.
Ai froze in her tracks, her hand resting on the smooth handrail.
"Who are you?"
The response was immediate and lethal.
The largest man of the trio didn't hesitate for a single fraction of a second; he lunged down the steps directly at her, the polished blade of a trench knife flashing in his grip.
"Screw it, we'll start with her!" he roared.
Ai shifted her weight instantly, jumping back slightly onto a wider step to give herself room.
Who are they, Remnants?
As the blade sliced through the air toward her chest, her combat reflexes took over. She tracked the rapid trajectory, her hand shooting forward to catch the man's wrist in an iron grip, halting his forward momentum completely.
But the intruder was highly trained in close-quarters combat.
Without missing a beat, he opened his palm, dropping the knife and catching it seamlessly with his other hand beneath her defensive guard. He swung it in a vicious, horizontal arc straight toward her neck.
Ai threw her upper body backward, but the tight clearance of the staircase restricted her evasion. The tip of the blade grazed her skin, leaving a shallow, burning cut along her jawline.
She leaped backward to re-establish distance, placing her fingers against the warm trickle of blood on her neck.
How did they get here? Where is Miss Jade?
Behind the primary attacker, one of the other men shifted anxiously, checking a small digital tracking device on his wrist.
"Lunared, we can't use our powers here for some reason," he hissed, his voice echoing off the metallic walls of the stairwell. "The security dampeners are too strong. It's better to retreat."
Lunared looked back over his shoulder, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"That bitch isn't here! That's our only chance. If we escape right now, they'll change the base layout—"
He was midway through speaking when Ai charged at him.
Utilizing the brief distraction, she closed the distance with explosive speed, a punch aimed straight at his face. Lunared's combat instincts saved him; he ducked beneath the incoming strike, dropping his weight and aiming the knife straight at Ai's neck.
Ai pivoted to the side with razor-sharp precision, her hand instantly becoming covered in a dense coating of white vana. She struck straight downward in a swift, chopping motion, the concentrated energy cutting clean through the man's arm.
Lunared stumbled back onto the landing, holding his bloody arm and gritting his teeth in agony. He glared up at her, his eyes bloodshot.
"We need to kill her here, she is dangerous!"
At his command, the other two men lunged ahead simultaneously, their heavy boots clattering against the steps as they sought to overwhelm her.
Ai didn't yield an inch.
Covering her feet in a blinding layer of white vana, she stepped into their guard. As the first man closed in, she unleashed a devastating front kick directly into his stomach. The sheer kinetic density of the vana completely blew his guts out through his back, killing him instantly.
Seeing his comrade obliterated in a single move, the remaining man became incredibly cautious. His posture dropped, and he started dodging her attacks at all costs, refusing to commit to an open strike.
A high-speed dance of hand-to-hand choreography broke out on the landing.
Ai unleashed a rapid barrage of palm strikes and sweeps, but the man fluidly slipped past her trajectory, executing precise counters that Ai was forced to parry and dodge in return. She kept dodging his attacks and he kept dodging hers, neither gaining the upper hand.
Ai clicked her tongue in irritation, her eyes tracking his rapid footwork.
Why are all of them so skilled?
She stood firmly on the stairs, her mind drifting for a mere fraction of a second as she mentally drafted her next tactical sequence, thinking about what she could do to break his defense.
Before she could form the thought, she felt the murderous presence of Lunared rapidly approaching her blind spot.
She spun around on her heel, her heart dropping slightly.
I completely forgot about him!
Lunared held the blade firmly in his other hand. He was already inches away, his arm fully extended as he drove the knife straight toward Ai's chest.
With no options left to dodge or parry in time, Ai raised her right hand directly into the path of the oncoming steel.
Splat.
The knife went straight through her hand, the blade piercing clean through her palm as blood dripped everywhere onto the metallic steps.
Ai gritted her teeth in searing pain, but she didn't retreat.
With nowhere left to go, she aggressively rushed forward at Lunared, using the embedded blade to lock his movement.
The sudden, heavy force of her tackle caught Lunared off guard. He lost his balance on the steep stairs, stumbling backward. Ai instantly took her chance, raising her left hand as she got ready to destroy him entirely while he was exposed.
However, before her strike could land, the other cautious man closed in from behind, wrapping his arm violently around her neck and holding her in a suffocating chokehold.
I tried to resist... Ai thought as the immense pressure mounted against her throat. Her vision began to blur, the blue lights of the technological hub spinning as her consciousness started fading away rapidly.
I didn't want to use this mechanism yet, but...
Her eyes shot open, her pupils dilating into a cold, absolute focus.
The choking hold suddenly had absolutely no use on her, her biology instantaneously adapting to the lack of oxygen.
Using her legs to generate immense leverage against the stairs, she threw her entire body weight backward. The sudden momentum smashed the attacker into the steps, allowing her to successfully free herself from his grip.
In mid-motion, she reached down and pulled the knife straight out of her ruined hand with a wet squelch.
The man scrambled backward, quickly resetting his stance. He wiped a streak of sweat from his forehead, smiling confidently as he raised his hands.
"My skills are superior. Can you wi—"
He was midway through speaking when Ai rushed forward with the knife.
Her movement was faster than the human eye could process.
Before the man even realized she had crossed the distance, Ai cut him straight in half, splitting his body vertically from head to toe. The two halves collapsed onto the stairs in a spray of crimson.
Lunared stared at the gruesome sight, his face pale as he backed away against the wall.
"You... you were hiding your powers this entire time?!"
Ai calmly wiped a thick layer of blood off her face, her expression completely flat.
"I wanted to see how good I've gotten."
Lunared let out a guttural roar and jumped at her, launching a frantic flurry of kicks and slashes.
But it was entirely useless now.
Through the brief exchange, Ai had already completely adapted to their fighting styles. She closed her eyes, effortlessly slipping her head and torso to the side as she dodged his kicks and attacks with a faint smile.
"Try your best," she murmured.
Lunared gritted his teeth, throwing a wild right hook.
Ai swiftly raised the knife in her other hand. Lunared successfully ducked and dodged the slash, but as he looked down, his eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
Her other hand—the right one which he had just stabbed completely through moments ago—was buried deep into his chest, her fingers piercing straight through his sternum and locking around his heart.
"I'll be stealing your heart."
Ai pulled her hand out of his chest cavity, exposing his own heart which was held in her hand her fingers wrapped around it completely covered in blood.
"H-how?" Lunared spoke as his vision started getting blurry.
Ai used her fingers to crush his heart Infront of his closing eyes as blood and mucus splattered around her clothes and face.
His vacant body slumped down onto the floor, sliding into the growing pool of blood.
Without wasting a single second, Ai rushed down the stairs, her boots skidding across the polished floor as she reached the advanced main security counter. She slammed her hand down onto a recessed interface button.
Instantly, automated alarms went off everywhere, high-pitched sirens echoing through the technological hub as pulsing red warning lights bathed the metallic corridors.
A high-ranking soldier rushed out from the inner base facility, his hand on his sidearm.
"What's wrong?!"
Ai turned to face him, her voice brisk and authoritative as she rapidly explained the intrusion and the state of the stairwell. By the time she was done speaking, a large contingent of advanced soldiers had already arrived, surrounding the perimeter.
"Take care of the bodies," Ai continued, gesturing toward the stairs. "I'll go look for Miss Jade. And ask Kiyomasa to stand guard right here until I get back."
The soldier offered a crisp nod.
"Understood."
Ai turned around and rushed outside, passing through the heavy vault doors and exiting the advanced technological hub into the stark, contrasting world of the surface.
The steampunk metropolis loomed above her, a chaotic vertical labyrinth of towering brass skyscrapers, interconnected iron suspension bridges, and massive zeppelin docking bays that cut through the thick, smog-choked night sky. Massive mechanical clocks built into the brick facades ticked with a heavy, deafening rhythm, venting colossal plumes of white steam into the freezing air.
Ai started running, her eyes scanning the upper ledges and structural pathways where Miss Jade was last seen.
She sprinted down a cobblestone avenue before covering her feet in a dense layer of white vana. Utilizing the explosive energy, she slammed her feet down and used the force to jump straight up into the air, clearing a massive three-story gap in a single bound.
She landed lightly on a massive, overhead copper steam pipe that spanned across the district.
She continued jumping from ledge to ledge, scaling the vertical landscape with incredible speed.
Suddenly, the white vana disappeared from her legs entirely.
Yet, her trajectory didn't drop; her physical frame had already adapted to the intense kinetic strain, allowing her to jump exceptionally high and scale immense heights without the use of vana, leaping over seventy-foot gaps between rooftops purely through raw, unassisted physical strength.
After running across the sprawling iron roofs for a while, she finally dropped down into the industrial lot where Miss Jade had been waiting earlier.
The massive warehouse that they had burned with the corpses inside was now completely gone, turned entirely to a silent, smoldering pile of black ashes and warped iron beams.
Ai walked slowly through the perimeter, her boots kicking up small clouds of soot as she looked around the desolate site.
Finding nothing on the ground, she stopped and tilted her head upward, looking out into the foggy air. She slowly raised her right hand, palm facing skyward.
A faint, subtle swirl of white vana instantly surrounded her hand, and like a vacuum, it began to gently absorb microscopic traces of matching energy floating invisibly in the atmosphere.
Ai looked around the empty lot, her eyes narrowing as she analyzed the residue.
'Vana cannot exist naturally in the air... and this vana undoubtedly belongs to Miss Jade.'
She tracked the floating particles with her gaze, noting that they formed a faint, linear line leading away from the ruins and deeper into the dark alleys of the city.
She started following the trail of vana immediately, her boots clicking against the damp stones.
'This trail looks more like it was left on purpose,' she thought to herself, picking up her pace as she disappeared into the shadows.
______________