On this particular day, Duran was the only one watching the shop.
Teresa and Clare had gone to attend a tea party—a gathering of noble ladies chatting about gossip.
Duran didn't mind their hobbies.
After all, once they left this world, who knew what kind of dangerous worlds awaited them?
Ding.
The shop bell rang.
A figure wrapped entirely in a cloak walked in.
A woman.
Duran instantly sensed a familiar presence.
"So this place will do anything… as long as the client pays?" the woman asked.
"What do you want?" Duran replied.
"As long as the price is right, we can handle it."
The woman paused.
"What if I want my name written on the moon?"
Duran froze.
Only his family—and three Claymores—knew about that incident.
And this woman clearly wasn't one of them.
"Possible," Duran said slowly.
"But the price would be… your name."
The woman laughed softly.
Then she lowered her hood.
Long black hair.
Pale skin.
"Long time no see, Duran."
"Irene… it's you."
Duran was about to ask why she looked so different, but he quickly remembered something.
The Organization possessed a drug that suppressed Yoki, allowing Claymores to temporarily appear fully human.
"So the Organization already knows we're in the Holy City?"
"Of course," Irene replied.
"For hundreds of years, the Organization has controlled this continent."
"So what?"
"You came to eliminate Teresa and me?"
Irene shook her head bitterly.
Then she raised her arm—
Or rather, what remained of it.
Her arm ended abruptly at the elbow.
"What happened?" Duran asked.
He remembered the battle with Priscilla.
Irene hadn't seemed seriously injured then.
"After the failed mission to kill Teresa," Irene explained,
"The Organization considered us traitors."
"They tried to eliminate us."
"I was lucky."
"I only lost an arm."
"Noel is dead."
"And Sophia… is outside the city."
"I came to ask for your help."
Normally Irene would never ask anyone for assistance.
But with only one arm left, her combat strength had dropped dramatically.
And she still had to protect Sophia.
Duran followed Irene into the forest outside the city.
There, Sophia lay quietly on the ground—
Like a sleeping beauty.
"What happened to her?" Duran asked.
He could sense something strange.
Sophia's Yoki was extremely unstable.
Normally Claymore Yoki felt like a raging beast.
But hers felt weak and fading.
"It's the Organization's poison," Irene said quietly.
"She took it… to cover my escape."
Duran didn't know how to comfort her.
Instead, he took out a cryogenic capsule.
A cloud of smoke appeared as the device expanded.
Irene stared in surprise.
She had heard rumors about Duran's magic-like technology, but this was her first time seeing it.
"Put her inside," Duran said.
"It'll make it easier to bring her into the city."
They placed Sophia into the chamber.
Moments later—
The device shrank back into a capsule and disappeared into Duran's pocket.
"Let's go."
Back at the Yorozuya, Duran ran a complete examination on Sophia.
The results were troubling.
A virus-like toxin was attacking her Yoki.
Claymores depended on Yoki to survive.
But the virus was slowly devouring her Yoki, tearing it apart while consuming her body's cells.
In other words—
Sophia was slowly dying.
And now, the storm between the Organization and Teresa was about to begin again.
Bloodshed was inevitable.
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