I crushed his head.
I stared coldly at the ground. Fragments of flesh and brain matter had splattered across the street.
A strange sensation swept through me, yet this time it was different... there was no nausea, no confusion, no trembling disgust.
"Familiar."
That was the only word that came to mind. It felt as though I had done this before, as if this was not my first time.
"But..."
No matter how much I thought about it, I had never killed anyone before—not in this life, nor in Jin's.
That feeling unsettled me more than the corpses ever could. It was as if there was something buried deep inside me... something I had forgotten.
"No point overthinking it."
My silver eyes gleamed with a cold light as I looked down at the bodies. I reloaded my pistol, then pulled the katana from the large man's corpse.
Swoosh.
I swung the blade once, sending blood scattering through the air before it stained the ground below.
"Hmm."
I looked at my reflection on the glossy black steel.
Those silver eyes appeared indifferent... cold... as if they belonged to someone detached from this world entirely.
That strange feeling lingered within me, but I pushed it aside. After one last glance, I began walking toward my home.
"I need a cold bath."
That was the only thought moving through my mind.
Slowly, I walked beneath the dim moonlight, through a night that embraced silence.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A short while after Raiven left the tavern, the same beautiful girl stood outside once more.
Crimson eyes. Pink hair.
It was Renee, and her familiar smile painted her face with warmth.
She slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside. With every footstep she took, the voices within the tavern began to fade.
From noise...
To silence.
"She's back..." someone whispered nervously.
"Shut up. Don't let her hear you," another hissed, quickly covering the man's mouth.
"Annoying."
Renee cast them a brief glance before turning away and walking toward the counter as if they did not exist.
"Marcus, the mission is complete," she said as she approached the old man with green eyes.
"Hmph. You troublesome girl... I hope you didn't cause any damage again," Marcus replied with a weary sigh.
"I don't know."
Renee answered with a wide smile.
"Is Marcella here?" Her expression shifted with curiosity as she looked toward one of the tavern doors.
"Yes, yes. You may go now. Hurry up—you're scaring the customers." Marcus waved his hand dismissively, trying to shoo her away.
"Annoying old man," Renee muttered as she walked toward Marcella's room.
"You ill-mannered girl, don't think—"
Marcus was unable to finish before Renee shut the door behind her.
"Marcella!"
Renee's bright voice rang out as her gaze landed on the beautiful woman with chestnut hair.
"Hmm?"
Renee suddenly paused when she noticed Marcella's distant expression.
"Did something happen?" she asked softly, walking forward before wrapping her arms around the older woman.
"No... it's nothing."
Marcella snapped out of her thoughts and returned the embrace.
"Okay..." Renee hummed contentedly, holding her tighter.
"Anyway, Renee, how was your mission? Were you hurt?" Marcella asked, concern clear in her eyes.
"Hehe, don't worry, Marcella. Who do you think I am?" Renee replied with a bright smile.
After that, the two shared a short conversation while Renee explained the details of her mission.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Renee's eyes shifted toward a distant direction.
"Did you notice something?" Marcella's expression turned serious at once.
"I need to go."
For the first time, a trace of calmness appeared on Renee's face. Her smile slowly faded.
"I see..." Marcella nodded, gently patting her head despite the faint displeasure in her eyes.
After slipping from Marcella's embrace, Renee headed for the door.
"Bye-bye, Marcella."
"Yes... goodbye," Marcella replied, her voice touched with an emotion even she did not understand.
Renee left the tavern slowly, ignoring Marcus on her way out. Her eyes seemed fixed on somewhere far away.
The moment she stepped outside, she vanished.
Then reappeared more than twenty meters away.
Again and again, for nearly half a minute, she blinked across the streets until she finally came to a stop atop a rooftop.
"Raiven?"
She spoke softly as she looked down at the young man surrounded by several people.
Her smile widened as she saw his silver eyes, and the crimson color within her own deepened once more.
But her gaze turned cold when the short man and the vulgar woman spoke to him.
"I hope he kills them."
Her eyes narrowed with irritation, though she could not reveal herself now.
Bang.
She watched Raiven slowly raise his pistol and fire straight through the woman's head—the very one Renee herself had wanted to crush.
"Hehe..."
Renee smiled like a flower blooming in spring, her scarlet eyes curving into crescents. Sadly, no one was there to appreciate such beauty.
"That is my Raiven."
She smiled as she watched him appear beside the short man in an instant, his sword flashing as the man's head fell.
Raiven then stood still for a moment, as if thinking about something.
That sight pained her heart.
"Annoying..."
Renee placed a hand over her chest as she watched the emotions in his eyes slowly change.
First shock.
Then confusion.
Then a settling calmness...
And finally, the cold indifference she had grown used to seeing within them.
She watched the last man scream and charge at Raiven with his sword raised.
Clang!
With a sharp metallic crash, the man was forced backward by the sheer force of the collision.
Renee observed it all with a faint smile.
Raiven's anger.
The thrown sword.
The pinned body of the large man.
She saw everything.
Until he slowly stepped forward...
And crushed the man's head.
She watched it all, from the first moment to the last.
Her expression turned sorrowful when she saw him shake the blood from his blade, then lift it to look at his own reflection.
Afterward, as though nothing had happened, Raiven walked away.
Only coldness remained in his eyes.
He seemed like a different person from the boy she had met in the elevator.
"Raiven~~"
Holding her umbrella, Renee stood atop the roof with a smile before her body suddenly vanished.
Thud.
With a soft sound upon landing, she appeared once more among the corpses.
"This was a mistake, Raiven. You should not have left them behind."
A cold smile spread across her face as she spoke to the dead bodies.
She slowly raised a finger and moved it gently.
A pink aura began to form in the surrounding space.
No... it was not aura.
Nor mana.
They were threads.
Pink threads emerged from the void itself, as though piercing through space.
Swoosh.
With a sharp whistle, the corpses were sliced apart until not a trace remained.
Some remnants scattered into the wind.
The rest sank into the earth.
"Hehe... don't worry, Raiven. This time, I am here for you."
Renee smiled brightly.
The earth seemed to tremble with joy.
The wind danced around her.
Even the world itself seemed to celebrate her happiness.
"Raiven."
As her voice faded...
She lowered her black umbrella.
And vanished.
Only the moon remained,
hanging in the sky,
the sole witness to everything