Under the Veil of Night

"Take one of them to the lobby," the first man instructed.

"Roger that," the third man nodded his head nonchalantly. He picked up a woman near him, who immediately screamed loudly.

"Be good. Do you want the bullet to go straight to your head?"

The woman shook her head frantically. She was afraid that something would happen to her. When he noticed that she had calmed down slightly, he dragged her to the lobby.

"We have this place surrounded!"

"You move and this girl dies," the third man placed the girl in front of him.

The police were assembling a formation outside the building, but when they saw the girl, they stopped their movement. With that girl's body blocking their way, they could not shoot recklessly.

"Inspector, what should we do?"

The leader of the police, Kano, frowned. "Is there a back door to this bank?"

"This is just a small bank. There's no other way to get inside."

Behind the building was a big street and there was no way they could get inside from that place. There were buildings on the side, but there was no window on the second floor. It was designated that way because that was where the safe was.

"Find some other way. We have to get in."

"Yes, Sir!"

Inside the building, the manager seemed to gain a boost to his confidence as he smiled widely. "They're here. You're going to be dead!"

BAM!

The first man hit the manager. "Show me the way."

The pain made the manager wailed once again. The staff were looking at each other in fear, but none of them dared to move forward. They were too afraid to face these four guys.

"Tom, can you handle the one outside?" Kanae suddenly whispered.

"Are you kidding? I'm not as fast as you, I can't possibly reach him before he fires the gun," Tommy nearly yelled. If it was Kanae, as long as there was no obstacle, she could definitely reach the girl.

"Tom, if I shoot the man, can you make sure he faints?" Shin's voice suddenly sounded.

Tommy frowned. "Are you sure you can hit him before he shoots the woman? Even the best sniper might not necessarily be able to do that."

"Of course I can."

"Oro, they're going to the second floor. I won't be able to reach them in time if they get out of this closed room."

"Wait, I almost have it! Remember, it's just temporary darkness; you have 30 seconds at most."

While they were speaking, the man who held the hostage walked closer to the door. The door was opened, and the police could see the woman very clearly with the man behind her. From the side of the bank, Tommy appeared and he nearly cursed when he saw the big formation of police cars.

"How in the world should I get closer?"

"There are bushes, right? You can crawl there."

"Oro, when I return, I shall challenge you to a fight!" Tommy gritted his teeth. This young master was truly testing his patience.

On the other hand, Kanae watched the location of the three men inside the room carefully. The first man was the furthest from her while the second man was directly in front of her, only several meters away. The third man was outside, while the fourth man was guarding the door not far from her.

At this time, there were not many people in the bank, but Kanae made sure that she remembered their positions clearly. When the light turned off, everyone would have trouble adjusting themselves to the darkness. There would be very little light, as the fourth man nearly covered all of the glass door.

It was noon, so there would be almost no light at all inside this room. During those 30 seconds, she had to make sure that she managed to finish all of the men inside before they shot their guns.

"Rei, are you ready?" Jason asked. "30 seconds start from NOW."

Because he didn't manage to infiltrate the bank, he had to settle for the other option, which was, total blackout for the area. The moment the light turned off, Kanae pushed her body up from the floor as her hand held the small sword she always brought.

It was always hidden in her sleeves as it looked like an ordinary small block. The block was secured as a plain bracelet, which gave her convenient access. When the button was clicked, a sharp and thin blade appeared.

She moved towards the second man in front of her. He didn't manage to react when he felt that his stomach was hit by something followed by sharp pain from the back of his neck. At that moment, he lost his consciousness.

2 seconds

Kanae moved her feet towards the first man. She nimbly stepped where there were no people. Even in the darkness, she carefully calculated their positions and reached the first man in mere seconds.

Her hand swung forward and met with metal. The first man was a former soldier. In that second, he sensed danger and immediately raised his gun. Hearing the sound of metal clashing, his heart turned cold. There was truly someone near him.

His hand reached for his pocket knife and aimed towards Kanae's position, but she bent down on her knee and avoided the attack. In the darkness, he could not see anything as his eyes were not used to it yet, but Kanae saw the attack very clearly. Her feet moved to the side and her sword made a deep wound on the man's hand.

The knife fell down from his hand, as Kanae proceeded to swipe his feet and made a thrust towards his stomach. Her feet kicked the gun far away as she left the man on the floor and made her way towards the last man.

13 seconds

"Who's that?" the fourth man heard the loud thud and immediately shot his gun towards the darkness before him.

BANG!

The next second, he felt pain on his face, and his gun was thrown aside by a heavy kick. He tried to block anything from his face, but suddenly felt his foot pierced deeply. He fell to the floor and felt the blade rub on his clothes before a kick landed on his head, making him faint immediately.

21 seconds

Kanae clicked the button again to retract the blade and headed towards where she was crouching previously. She didn't really want to interfere in the police's work. But if she was involved, she didn't want to stay silent.

25 seconds

She lay down in place again, and the blade was hidden deeply. Her hands were placed in their original positions as she stayed calm.

Inside the darkness, it was her territory. No one could beat her when it came to fighting in the darkness.

30 seconds

The lights turned on again.