Having fun was certainly entertaining.
But right now, Ling Ke found himself enjoying this fleeting moment of peace even more.
Besides, he was powerful enough to be greedy now.
He could easily choose all of the above.
Pardo had no idea what was happening outside Sundown Alley.
And Ling Ke had no intention of running his mouth and telling her.
In short, as long as this girl, who only wanted an ordinary life, stayed in Sundown Alley, no outside faction would be allowed to disturb its less than peaceful natural order.
Not even The Moths Who Chase the Flames.
Everything would remain business as usual.
Tonight...
"Alright, it's getting late. I'm heading out."
Near the edge of the rooftop, Ling Ke pushed off his knees and stood up.
With a casual wave of his left hand, a spatial portal leading directly to the Theater of Domination tore open beside him.
He stepped inside, then turned around on the other side of the Door to look back at the girl he was leaving behind.
His gaze drifted upward.
A small, withered leaf was clinging to her hair.
The Lord of the Theater reached out and plucked it away.
"Get some rest soon too. Don't stay up too late."
"Okay~"
Pardo answered obediently.
Ling Ke smiled.
"Alright... see you next time, then."
"See ya, Boss."
The little cat grinned and waved at him.
Ling Ke nodded.
The Door sealed shut behind him.
Inside the Theater of Domination...
Heh.
Standing alone in the center of the vast, empty Throne Room, Ling Ke still had a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips, even though he had already left Sundown Alley behind.
Over the past few days, he had noticed that Pardo was making a deliberate effort to look a little cleaner whenever they met.
At first, the girl would show up covered in dirt, with dark smudges of grime across her face, hands, and knees.
She had also picked up a bad habit of wiping her nose with the back of her hand.
A literal little mud-cat.
Later, as Ling Ke's visits to Sundown Alley grew more frequent, he had casually tossed her a handkerchief a few times, letting her wipe her face and hands before their little foodie gatherings began.
Ever since then, Pardo had become increasingly mindful of the issue.
In truth, Ling Ke did not really mind the dirt.
He simply equated hygiene with health.
Normal people needed to pay attention to things like that.
Beyond that...
He knew very well that Pardo had survived for years in a lawless slum like Sundown Alley because she had her own methods.
It did not take a genius to figure out how dangerous it would be for a pretty young girl to walk around a place like that with a clean face, openly showing off her looks.
The grime covering her was a layer of camouflage.
But since she was willing to drop that disguise in front of him...
"Not a bad feeling at all."
Ling Ke muttered, his smile lingering.
Suddenly, he froze.
The gentle warmth on his face vanished without a trace.
In its place came a cold, sharp smirk.
"So it's already time, huh."
Ling Ke narrowed his eyes.
"The third one besides me... No, strictly speaking, it should be the Fourth Time-Reversing Descender..."
"They're here."
Europe.
Berlin.
A light drizzle had been falling over the city for the past few days.
Deep inside a secluded alleyway...
Hum.
A blinding flash of white light.
Thud!
A petite figure materialized out of thin air.
Carried by her own momentum, she crashed onto the wet pavement, her left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact.
The sudden noise drew the attention of several men lingering near the mouth of the alley.
They wore cheap suits and carried briefcases.
They also reeked of alcohol.
Footsteps approached.
The group stepped closer and leaned in for a better look.
"Oho?"
Lying unconscious on the ground before them was a gray-haired girl, her legs encased in a mechanical exoskeleton.
Their gazes lingered on her delicate features.
"Which family's little girl likes taking midnight strolls like this?"
"Well, well..."
One of the men stepped forward, reaching a hand toward the unconscious girl.
Suddenly...
Whack!
One unlucky bastard at the back took a heavy blow to the nape of his neck.
Before the rest could even turn around...
Thump!
Crack!
"Aargh!"
After a few clean, brutal cracks from a blunt weapon, every unlucky bastard except their leader was laid out flat on the concrete.
Comical swirls seemed to spin in their eyes as they groaned in a senseless daze.
Footsteps approached.
Along with them came a voice.
"So you're the scum who've been snatching kids around here."
The cold feminine voice cut straight through the air, aimed at the only conscious thug.
"Where is the girl you took the day before yesterday?"
He shivered violently.
Looming over him was a short-haired girl wielding a heavy metal pipe.
She wore a hooded trench coat, the lower half of her face completely hidden.
From beneath the rim of her hood, strands of shifting deep and pale purple hair fluttered in the breeze.
Her eyes narrowed into an icy glare as she took one slow, menacing step forward.
Finally...
"I-I-I..."
Scrambling backward on the ground, wearing an expression of pure, unadulterated stay the hell away from me terror, the thug shrieked.
"What the hell are you talking about?! What child trafficking?! You've got the wrong guys!"
"Do people get beaten up now just for being good samaritans and taking someone to the police station?!"
"..."
The short-haired girl stopped dead in her tracks.
She blanked.
For a long moment...
"???"
Even with her face covered, you could practically feel the intense, crippling awkwardness radiating from her hidden expression.
She looked down and scanned the men groaning on the pavement.
Briefcases.
Suit jackets.
Dress pants.
All dirt cheap.
One of them had even flashed a glimpse of his gaudy floral boxers when he fell.
Clearly, his pants button and belt were garbage quality. The former was poorly made, and the latter had seen far too many years of use. The impact of hitting the ground had popped them right off.
Looking at it this way, it seemed...
Maybe.
Possibly.
Highly likely.
These guys were just ordinary local salarymen heading home from an after-work dinner party?
"Uh..."
The masked girl's brow twitched.
Finally, she managed to force out a single sentence.
"Sorry. My bad. Wrong guys."
"..."
You could tell she was trying very hard to apologize.
Unfortunately, she clearly lacked experience in that department.
The moment those words left her mouth, she was ready to bolt.
She had no choice.
She had beaten up the wrong people.
If she did not run now, she would have to pay damages.
And she...
Was broke.
Or rather, she and everyone she knew were completely strapped for cash.
In this kind of situation, making a run for it was naturally the best policy.
But of course, right at that moment...
"Ugh..."
The gray-haired girl collapsed on the ground twitched her brow.
She was slowly coming to.
The short-haired girl in the hooded coat froze in her tracks.
Even the only conscious unlucky bastard instinctively glanced toward the source of the sound.
The gray-haired girl, Bronya Zaychik, opened her eyes.
Moving on autopilot, she pushed herself off the ground and stumbled to her feet.
"Where is...?"
Her face was pure confusion.
She clearly had not gathered her bearings yet, still struggling to piece together what had happened before she blacked out.
Even so, years of ingrained training as an assassin and child soldier took over.
Bronya instinctively scanned her surroundings.
And then she saw her.
"!!!"
Bronya's eyes went wide.
"Seele!"
Her body moved entirely on instinct.
The moment she spotted that familiar silhouette, even with the lower half of the girl's face masked, even with only those eyes visible, Bronya's mind completely ignored the heavy metal pipe clutched in the stranger's hand.
Tears pricked at her eyes.
Bronya threw her arms open and rushed toward the short-haired girl.
She was almost drowning in a wave of pure, desperate relief.
Thank god.
Thank god Seele is safe.
Everything before was just a hallucina...
Whoosh!
The sharp whistle of something cutting through the air shattered the moment.
Bronya skidded to a dead halt.
If she had not slammed on the brakes and thrown herself backward just now, that sweeping metal pipe would have smashed straight into her face.
No.
Objectively speaking, even if Bronya had failed to dodge in time, the masked girl's swing probably would not have actually hit her.
It was only a scare tactic.
A warning strike to force her back and keep her at a distance.
The stranger was clearly on high alert.
She also knew how to pull her punches.
Somewhat.
Though the unconscious bodies of those poor bastards scattered across the floor suggested otherwise.
But right now...
"What is your problem?!"
The short-haired girl, who had been seconds away from a clean getaway, finally snapped.
"Why the hell did you just scream my name? Huh?"
"And... who even are you?"
Seele aggressively ruffled her hair in frustration, then jabbed an accusing finger at Bronya.
"Lunging at me out of nowhere like that. Do we know each other?"