The four of them safely made their way to the very back of the castle, walking for whole hours before finally reaching it without getting any major attention, discounting the few children sneaking a peek at what they thought to be Yohiro walking alone through the district, exchanging smiles with them. The sewage tunnel was closed off, locked behind a metal door so thick even Rosa’s fire couldn’t melt it, annoying Clous. ‘’I’m gonna be needed this early on? We’ve not even started the goddamn mission,’’ Hiona low-key scolded them between her words, causing them to blush in embarrassment as she walked up to the door. Hiona began stroking her hair with her one hand, placing her other on the cold steel, nodding happily. ‘’...’kay, seems pretty easy to cut, don’t it…!’’ She whispered to herself as she pulled her right leg back along with her right arm. ‘’But it’s better to be punch!’’ Hiona shouted, landing her fist in the door, taking a second for the other three to catch up with her speed until the door completely became undone from all sides, coming off like wallpaper attached to a wall, shocking Clous and Rosa. “Amazing, master! How did that happen, I couldn’t even see it!!’’ Yohiro ran over, flapping his arms like a little bird at her display.

‘’Uh, well… AH! See, when enough pressure is applied to something It inevitably moves, no exceptions! So I just spread the wind from the blow without hitting the floor until the screws came off nice and easy! Yeah, that’s what I did!’’ Hiona began laughing proudly as she bathed in Yohiro’s praises, even blushing for a moment. ‘’She totally doesn’t know what she did!!!’’ Clous and Rosa thought together as Hiona layd the metal door carefully on the ground. ‘’Before we all go in, there’s something I ignored mentioning last time, since it was the end of the mission anyway,’’ she looked at them sternly, destroying Yohiro’s bright smile and turning it into a confused look, ‘’My magic isn’t even close to infinite; in fact, it might be easily diminishable. I’m not some deity after all. You’ll have to fight too, if knife comes to throat. That’s all, my minions!’’ She gave them a thorough explanation, ending it off with a quick raise of her hand, clenched into a fist, staring them down with fire in her already powerful eyes, slightly taking them aback. Clous looked at the smiling Rosa and the overjoyed Yohiro, sighing, raising his head. ‘’Yes, master Hiona!’’ The three of them said in unison, standing straight in front of her, causing her to give a genuine smile, turning her back to them. ‘’Even the ugly duck’s(Clous) being obedient… I didn’t see i’d see the day come so soon…’’ She muttered under her breath, hiding her ‘’I’m totally the coolers master in the world right now’’ expression from them as best as she could.

‘’Okay, let’s go in, you three!’’ She ordered them, jumping into the sewer and jumping out before the others could even make their way to it. ‘’I forgot that sewers smell awful…’’ Hiona shook her head, annoying them. With a bit of push for Rosa, Hiona succumbed, entering along with the rest of them, starting to walk through the sewer, lighting their way only with the light coming out of Rosa’s tome, since they shine even when not being used. ‘’So, which way are we going now?’’ Hiona asked, beginning to look for her map, not finding it in her pockets, beginning to blink repeatedly, as if trying to to take a few steps back mentally and remember where she left it, ending up at a dead end. ‘’Who the fuck took it, you useless pieces of trash?!’’ She accidentally raised her voice, stopping as she witnessed Rosa pulling it out of her pocket, frozen from Hiona’s sudden outburst. She handed the map over, getting met with an annoyed scoff. ‘’Ah, so master could also get scared…!’’ Yohiro thought in excitement, feeling the tips of his fingers sore and cold, unable to identify the reason.

‘’Hmph… It would appear they have come, wouldn’t it?’’ The king sat in his throne, watching Hiona and co.’s every step through the sewers through the open tome of one of his followers who was kneeling behind him. ‘’It would appear Daron’s intel was correct, sir,’’ the man stated with respect for his king, leaving him to chuckle as he leaned back into his throne. ‘’That young lad is quite a genius; checking through the list for every district, to see who came and went, specifically pinpointing the beastmen and dropping the number to less than twenty on that exact day. But there is something more concerning here,’’ the king took his attention off Clous who was walking alongside Rosa and Yohiro, with Hiona in front, ‘’That woman leading them… Even through your tome’s projections, Hebeth, her extraordinary presence is reaching me all the way here…’’ He began worrying. ‘’Hmm, hmm… Hebeth, contact the Saijeku and send them on the first floor, if you would? I believe I want to see that woman show what she can do.’’ He requested calmly and collectively. Hebeth immediately stood up, beginning to exit the room. ‘’Ah-ah, Hebeth, please leave your tome with me; mine doesn’t project imagery through the entire castle, after all,’’ he smiled kindly. ‘’Yes, of course! Here, sir!’’ Hebeth obliged, handing his still open tome to the king and leaving the room as per his orders, leaving him to observe the group of thieves.

‘’It is quite fascinating, is it not. Three of them, counting the fox appear to be magic users on first glance, but that young boy… Why is he here, helping them raid me…? I cannot appear to be able to see the logic in that!’’ He began laughing, feeling like he was watching a show and not participating in the whole situation, when he was basically the main attraction. In a sudden flinch, the king averted his eyes to the ceiling. ‘’The Saijeku are so loud, are they not…? I wish they would act more respectfully towards the people who reside here, I really wish they would~~... However, this is it, show me why you came here, thieves, and I will watch it all, not missing a single, petty moment of it…’’ He whispered into the tome, pretending they could hear him, his eyes glinting brightly.

Not even two minutes later, Hiona and the other reached the stairway leading to the upper floor, with her placing her arm to the side, blocking their path. ‘’Step back…’’ She told them menacingly, confusing them as they heard loud footsteps along with even louder metal banging on the walls coming from the upper floor, increasing in volume with each half a second. ‘’Get back, I said!!’’ Hiona yelled vilgarly, kicking Rosa into Clous and ending up pushing all three if them down as the hatch leading to the upper floor got busted through, destroying it and disattaching it completely. Hiona stared down in anger as they witnessed two men jump down the now open hole, stomping down on the ground with floor, then followed by a third, presumably the one who broke the door to aid in their flashy entrance.

‘’Ah, dammit, they found us out that quickly…?’’ Hiona asked nonchalantly. ‘’She’s not commenting on our appearance!! She ain’t impressed, Hakuhi!!’’ One of them yelled in a childish tone. ‘’Careful, Sakuhi!! They’ll see we ain’t that composed if ya scream that loudly!!’’ The second added, and the third quickly found himself sitting in the disgusting water behind the other two, placing his hands together. All three of them wore masks, covering their faces with an inscription which read ‘’Saijeki’’ on each one, the letters bold across the three of them.

‘’Aren’t they both yelling, though…?’’ Clous asked rhetorically as he stood up, along with the other two. ‘’Oi, triplets,’’ Hiona poked at them with her finger, appearing in the middle of the two of them without them realising, ‘’Did the king send you boys here? Such strong-looking boys like you?’’ She asked, smiling like a snake as they swung their palms down ins sync in an attempt to hit her, ending up hitting nothing but air. ‘’Were you sent by the king to murder or capture us, eh? EH?’’ Hiona continued talking in a provoking voice as she whispered to the one called Hakuhi. The men, however, didn’t move that time. ‘’Yes, young harlot, we were sent here by the king ‘imself to capture your four! Although, we didn’ really ask him if we should capture you or kill you before coming!’’ Hakuhi replied to her easy question. ‘’Seems like you know when to not cross someone you can’t even smell. Good!’’ Hiona patted they head as she turned her foot, appearing before her own group, getting the attention of the third one sitting in the muddy water.

‘’We’ve been found out. Go kill them. Now.’’ She ordered them, waving in a motion which looked like she was treating them like a dog that wouldn’t listen. ‘’You literally fuckin’ had both of them, master!! Why didn’t YOU kill them?!’’ Clous pointed out her stupid actions. ‘’I told you didn’t I; i’ll be saving myself for when the time calls for it, retarded fox,’’ she told him gleefully. ‘’Fuck off! You told us no such thing! Harlot, that’s what the bastard called you, and it fits perfectly!!’’ Clous completely exploded in front of her, unable to hold back his distrust towards her plans at that point. ‘’Careful now, these guys have senses that I can barely blind to get behind them like that… I don’t wanna waste all my magic and exhaust myself here, do I…?’’ She lowered her voice, staring him down with a familiar snake, the aura being felt even by the masked men who were waiting patiently due to their pride; the thing they treasured most.

Clous stepped down to her stare, nodding. ‘’Boys, by the way you look, I’m guessing you’re proud of those good builds, no?’’ Hiona asked cunningly. ‘’But o’ course, Ms. harlot, quite a lot, to be ‘rank!’’ Sakuhi confirmed. ‘’Would you mind making the fights one-on-one? I have a fighter for each one of you, and we can make it two outta three if you wish.’’ She proposed, intentionally treating the situation like it was a simple word game, which was what she usually needed. ‘’One-on-one and two outta ‘hree! Hmm…! Hakuhi, I vote yes!’’ Sakuhi raised his arm, followed by Hakuhi respectively, with the third one coming into it as well, raising a more scrawny looking arm compared to the other two.

‘’Ohh… The Seijeki were always so competitive. Maybe I was a little hasty with my decision, but this could play out either way,’’ the king continued to watch in fascination, like his eyes were glued to the tome. ‘’Okay then! Let me list my members over here: My strongest fighter, Rosa, second strongest goes to Clous here, and a bit of an inexperienced one we got here tonight, Yohiro.’’ She began walking across, pointing at each of them, unsurprisingly not pointing out that Yohiro was the weakest, which to her had its own ulterior motive. ‘’Ehm, the harlot ain’t playin’?’’ Hakuhi asked them, tilting his head in sink with Sakuhi. ‘’Hah, nahm i’m more of a strategyst. Don’t mind my sorry ass, please!’’ She excused herself, walking behind the group of them in a fake and forced way. ‘’I wanna die… I just wanna die so much right now, you know.’’ Rosa spoke in an annoyed tone as she walked up front first, surprising the three of them. ‘’You first, Ms. Rosa?’’ Yohiro asked. ‘’Don’t say it like I could decline! I wanna finish this first and step down before having to see what they can do and stress over it…,’’ she told them all the truth, beginning to flip through her tome with purpose. The stage was more or less said. Clous was reluctant, but determined and Yohiro as staring at the man in the back with curiosity, with them exchanging a long stare, neither of them blinking through it. Yohiro closed his eyes first, smiling at the man sitting behind, still getting stared at even then. ‘’You sending your strongest, eh? We’re gonna send our second strongest, Hakuhi!’’ Sakuhi said proudly. Hakuhi stepped forward, smiling under his oh so yokai-like mask, preparing his palms. ‘’They don’t see to have tomes, meaning i’ll be at a disadvantage due to my incantations, but my fire should kill him without too much trouble…!’’ Rosa thought as she prepared for action, parting her lips slowly, taking careful breaths, breaking out a grin.