Chapter 21: They Were Planning to Take My Wife

The hallway beyond the restaurant was narrow and dim, the sounds of the dining room fading behind him as he followed the three men deeper into the building.

His enhanced senses made tracking them easy, their footsteps audible several meters ahead even through the walls, their breathing, the faint movement of their clothes.

He could even tell when one of them slowed to look behind. He stopped whenever they did and continued once they moved again.

The three men eventually exited through another door into a narrow alley behind the restaurant, lit only by a few old lamps mounted against the walls. They stopped near the far end.

One of them finally spoke. "Did you confirm it?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"She can use mana again."

Reinhard’s eyes narrowed. They had seen Emily move the bread basket.

Another man glanced around the alley. "Then there’s no doubt. The treatment worked."

"We need to move quickly."

"How quickly?"

"Tonight."

Tonight?

The first man sighed. "We thought we’d destroyed everything Vane left online."

"We did."

"Apparently not." He pulled out his phone. "Most of his research was erased years ago. The remaining files were scattered across old databases, private servers, even archived medical records."

"And someone found them?"

"Fragments. Enough to reconstruct the trail." He frowned at his screen. "They followed it to Saint Aurelia."

"Which means someone else could find it too."

"Exactly." He put his phone away. "If someone managed to reconstruct the trail once, they could do it again. That’s why we take the woman tonight."

Reinhard’s eyes narrowed. The woman. They weren’t even saying Emily’s name. They were talking about her like she was an object they had already claimed.

One of the men lowered his voice. "Won’t the Big Boss be angry?"

Another sighed. "Not if we bring the woman." A grin appeared on his face. "Can you imagine how excited he’ll be when he finds out there was another success in Vane’s research?"

The other two fell silent.

"But how did she survive?"

"No idea."

"All the others failed."

"How many?"

"Over a hundred."

Reinhard’s expression changed. Over a hundred? More than a hundred people had undergone the treatment. All of them had failed. Yet Emily had survived.

Another man finally spoke. "Maybe it’s because she’s Emily."

Silence. All three men stopped talking.

Reinhard watched their expressions carefully.

Fear. Awe. Shock. And something else. Acceptance.

None of them looked surprised that Emily had survived. They looked as though they had expected her to do something impossible eventually.

Emily...

He’d known she was famous. He knew she’d been a champion. He knew people had once considered her one of the strongest young Awakeners in the country.

But that wasn’t the reaction people had when talking about an ordinary champion. These men were afraid of what she might become.

He looked back toward the restaurant. How much don’t I know about my wife?

One of the men broke the silence. "Since it’s Emily..." He hesitated. "Are you sure it’s safe to try and, you know..."

Another scoffed. "I sensed her mana when she summoned that spark." He waved dismissively. "She isn’t even above D-Rank right now."

"Probably not."

"She’d need years to return to S-Rank." The man shrugged. "If she can ever get back there."

Another nodded. "Besides, there are people who would prefer she never reappears." He smiled. "We can do them a favor and get something in return."

"Once she’s in our hands, we can take her to the facility."

"And if she refuses?"

"Then we make her cooperate."

"How?"

The man smiled. "Her husband. Her sisters. Whoever she cares about most."

Reinhard’s expression turned colder. So that’s how it is. They weren’t simply interested in the research. Someone wanted Emily to stay gone. And these people were willing to help make that happen.

Another man checked his phone. "Fine." He sighed. "But we need to move quickly."

"Why?"

"The Big Boss has been calling constantly." He turned the screen toward the others. Several missed calls were displayed. "Whatever he’s planning, he doesn’t want to wait."

Reinhard remained silent.

He’d followed them to find out what they wanted and now he knew.

That was enough.

A blue window appeared.

[Investment Objective Completed.]

[D-Grade Investment Successful.]

[Calculating Returns...]

He glanced at it.

[Legendary Reward Granted.]

[Mana Sovereignty — Six Months Experience.]

Warmth spread through his Gnosis, his understanding of mana sharpening almost immediately. He could feel its movement through his body more clearly than before, and more importantly, he could control exactly how much he used.

He reinforced his arm, and mana flowed through his muscles.

Reinhard paused.

The amount of mana he’d expected to use barely left a dent in his reserves. He tried again, pushing the same amount of power through his body. His reserves barely moved.

Same potency but less mana.

A faint smile appeared. "Useful." Every ability he possessed would be more efficient now.

Another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Assassin Experience — One Year.]

The change was different.

His understanding of combat suddenly became more instinctive. Distance, angles, blind spots, movement, approach, escape routes. He understood how to attack without being seen and how to end a fight before the opponent realized it had started.

He looked toward the three men. "That’s convenient."

He stepped forward. The nearest man suddenly turned. "What the—"

Reinhard raised one hand, mana gathering around his fingers, and a thin beam shot upward.

Crack!

The alley lights shattered. Darkness swallowed the entire area. The three men froze. "Who—?"

Reinhard smiled in the dark. Let’s see what this can do.

He nudged a loose stone with his foot, and it clattered across the pavement. The short man whipped toward the sound, but Reinhard was already moving, and he kicked the stone beneath a parked car on the other side of the alley.

Bang!

The man spun toward the new noise, and a trash can came flying at him from the opposite direction.

He threw his arms up to block it, and by the time the can crashed to the ground, Reinhard was standing behind him. One precise strike to the back of the neck, and the man folded to the pavement without a sound.

"He’s using the dark!" the tall man shouted.

The two remaining men flooded their bodies with mana, and their eyes lit up with a faint glow.

Reinhard’s smile widened. "Oh, thank you. You just turned on your headlights."

He picked up a loose scrap of metal and tossed it down the alley. It hit the wall with a loud clang, and the third man turned toward it. Reinhard slipped in from the opposite side and drove a strike into his ribs that sent him crashing into the brick.

Boom!

The man slid down the wall and stayed there.

The tall man spun in a circle, his glowing eyes sweeping the darkness. "Where are you?!"

"You breathe very loudly, you know that?" Reinhard’s voice came from directly behind him. "It’s a little distracting."

The man whirled around and found nothing.

A hand rested lightly on his shoulder. Reinhard appeared for half a second, just long enough to smile. "Looking for me?"

The man swung a short blade wildly behind him. Reinhard leaned aside before the swing had even finished forming, caught the man’s wrist, and poured mana into his grip. The blade shattered in the man’s hand.

The man stared at the broken hilt. "What...?"

"You should really be careful where you swing that." Reinhard’s fist sank into his stomach, and the man crumpled onto the pavement.

Silence returned to the alley, broken only by the buzzing of the short man’s phone. The Big Boss was calling again.

Reinhard checked his reserves.

He had expected the fight to cost him considerably more. Instead, barely anything had left his Gnosis. "Mana Sovereignty is pretty nice," he said to nobody in particular. "And the assassin thing isn’t bad either."

He summoned his Disintegration Spray and began spraying the first body. He watched as the first body began to break down before spraying the next one. Once the second was breaking down, something red caught his attention.

A small device had fallen from beneath the last man’s clothing, a digital timer flashing across its surface.

00:20

He frowned. "...What?"

The timer changed.

00:19

His eyes narrowed and then he remembered. In the restaurant, one of them had struck the underside of the table, six times. And then another man thoughts had said, he should have place it already.

His eyes widened. "Wait."

His gaze snapped toward the restaurant. The table. The bomb.

00:15

A blue window appeared.

[Investment Opportunity Available.]

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Current Value: B]

[Objective: Save your wife or she will be severely injured.]

[Difficulty Grade: A.]

[Success Probability: 10%.]

He stared at the window, then at the timer.

00:12

His expression finally became serious. "...You’re kidding me."

00:11

He turned toward the restaurant.

Emily was still inside. And he had eleven seconds left.