“To think I did something like that. I must be insane.”

Trisha gazed upon the statistic.

{Karma: +21}

The value dropped from +33 to +21. It was a harsh blow.

“But worth it.”

“Are you alright Trisha?” Rieen asked.

“I’m fine. Sorry I got you involved. Did your karma drop too?”

“By a few points, don’t worry too much about it.”

“Sorry.”

“I joined on my own volition. We had to purge the cancer in the angel’s society anyways.”

Rieen was the only one left with Trisha on the train. Areais and Priale had already went their own way.

“Where are you going after this?”

“I’m actually going back home. You?”

“I need to buy some replacements for this,” Rieen pointed to the side of her glasses– the plastic accessory device to help hold the glasses in place. It always falls loose for Rieen.

“Hope you find a good one.”

“I’m going to get a black one this time. Blue is too inconspicuous.”

“Really? It makes it easy to identify you, you know?”

“Ah? So it’s that obvious? No way. I’m changing it black.”

“Right..”

Two stops later, Reein got off the train and waved goodbye. Trisha had a few more to go.

Sighing, Trisha reviewed in her mind what had transpired.

The demon’s scheme. She fell for it. She killed her own kind.

More like, she had always wanted to do it– yearned for it. All it took was a few words from the demon himself.

What did Avner think of it?

He looked spooked. Looking somewhat out of it after the whole ordeal.

Wherever it is, hopefully it got him to think. Shattering the notion of how an angel should behave.

Though..

“Not everyone is like me.”

An angel with a unique perspective which would’ve only come to be because of their past. Trisha was different from most angels out there.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that she’s tittering between the edge of good and bad.

One more push and she might just be reborn on the other side.

And, having fallen once in the past. It could happen again.

[Trisha. You have 100 notifications. Do you want to ignore them again?]

“Ugh.. yes. Shove them away. I don’t want to hear it.”

Today was supposed to be a break, a Sunday, and yet the people in her department were going nuts with the messages as usual.

“I want to quit my job ugh..”

She could earn enough as an angel operator. So what’s the point of continuing to work for that hell of a place?

Trisha took in deep breaths. Calm down. Don’t lose your temper.

Killing the angels to avenge her ex must have roused her emotions somewhat.

The train reached yet another stop. More people poured in from the outside than those that got out. The coach soon became cramped.

She noticed a small red crown. A demon craft. And a larger crown. A demon craft carrier.

The guy, and the elf, his wife.

Both of them..

“W-what..”

A tooth for a tooth, and eye for an eye.

Trisha felt all the pain of her past flood up to the surface.

The perfect coincidence to tell him that she had done it?

The moment his face registered in her mind, the gears in her mind went into disaray. She wanted to get off the train. She wanted to run.

But it was too late.

The door had shut.

He nonchalantly turned to the side and noticed Trisha.

Blood drained from her face.

His wife also turned to her.

Hurriedly, Trisha escaped to the other coaches, pushing forcefully past the other passengers. Trisha gripped her right arm, shivering.

Why now, of all times?

[“It’s been a while.”]

“No.. no..”

He still kept her chat. He still remembered her.

[“How have you been?”]

Why?

Why was he texting her?

They should be strangers by this point, right?

Trisha had bloodied her hands just to avenge him.

Was this karma?

[“Trisha. I’m sorry about what happened last time. I didn’t understand why you acted the way you did. Now I do.”]

No. Don’t accept it.

He already hir an elf for a wife..

Trisha wanted to deny it. The fact that he had returned to being a demon. The possibility that.. he remembered her.

===

[“Trisha, the demons will initiate their attack on Zone 21 tomorrow. The Seraph will be released. Notify your fleet of the mission. We can’t allow them to take over.”]

[“Thanks for the info.”]

Replying to Corus, Trisha flopped down on her bed.

So many things happened today.

Killing an entire fleet of angels for revenge and attempting to win over Avner’s good will.

Unending solicits she’ll have to deal with as a marketing agent tomorrow.

Preparing the necessary collateral and battle plan to be distributed to her fleet members by midnight.

And now this.

[Trisha, he’s still trying to reach you. Do you want to block him?]

If Trisha's memories were correct, he had introduced hir to her a few times before as they were part of the same fleet. No wonder she felt as if the elf was familiar. She just couldn’t remember hirs name.

“Stop worrying and just start working,” Trisha muttered, forcing herself to look through the data sheets and information sent by Corus. It had the estimated number of demons involved, their battle options, and power level assessment.

Tough.

More so because they’re going to call a Red Mortician Rakshasa into battle this time around.

It was going to turn into yet another full scale war.

[“All ALPINE members. Please get ready for next week, the war in Zone 21 can happen at any time soon.”]

Trisha prayed that she wouldn’t lose any team members this time too.

===

Trisha was typing away at a cafe. A drink sitting next to her, she stretched her arms into the air thinking what a bummer it was to have to put through all this– having to fix the website code for these amateur people.

They come to her every time to ask for advice, and it wasn’t like she could give advice because it’s code. You have to solve the problem through trial and error.

Because of their solicits, she wasted an hour on nonessential work. It was vexing she couldn’t just let these people make a mess of the website. It’s going to affect their chances of hitting their sales quota if they don't get it right. Why couldn’t her boss find more competent IT people?

“Now then.. to schedule it..”

Trisha had just finished piecing the contents to promote the product. All she needs now is to tell her assistant to send it out to the product subscribers.

{WARNING: YOU ARE BEING WATCHED}

“Very soon huh..”

She noticed a couple demons nearby. Most didn’t notice her as she was a submarine.

None of her mines were active so no one would trip on it any time soon. There’s no chance of her getting interrupted either. So with that in mind, she pumped herself up once more to get the remainder or today’s work done.

In preparation for the battle ahead.