Under the Veil of Night

BANG!

Tommy managed to escape in the nick of time. He felt grateful that Shiro trained them not long ago to evade his deadly shooting. If not for that demonic doctor, he wouldn't be able to escape unscathed right now.

"What competition?" Kanae asked.

"OH, a woman?" the man looked at Kanae in amazement. Because Kanae shouted, her pitch revealed the fact that she was a woman.

"Don't act dumb, competition of the vial of course," the man smirked. "Get them, especially that woman."

As he said that, several of the men charged forward. In terms of people, it was clear that the three of them were outnumbered. This group had a lot of people in their group, giving them the overall advantage.

CLANG!

Kanae blocked the attack. Frowning slightly, she noticed that someone else was already thrusting his knife towards her. They were human! However, right now, her body moved on its own, twisting it to evade the attack and piercing her own sword into that man's neck.

Pulling it back, she turned around and slashed horizontally, reaching two men's stomachs instantly.

"Rei!" Jason was startled to see that most of them were headed towards the sole girl. Killing the one heading towards him, he was about to help her when he saw that three men had already fallen to the ground.

"…" was there any need for him to worry so much?

However, he saw that Kanae was looking towards him. Her eyes were filled with doubt and uncertainty. They were not monsters but human. They had their own lives and people who might be waiting for them, but right now, she was killing them. She cut the chance for them to meet with their families again.

Why did this thought sadden her so much?

The leader's face was stricken with fear when he saw that three of his men were killed by the young lady. Stomping off the ground, he moved towards the young girl, thrusting with his sword.

Kanae saw him coming, she tilted her sword outwards and blocked the attack.

"You dare!" the man roared.

Seeing the anger on his face, Kanae's body shook a bit. This was the first time she faced someone who fought her to avenge a comrade. A complicated feeling rose within her heart.

SLASH!

The man didn't wait and immediately attacked again. Kanae reacted too late and her arm was wounded from the sudden attack. Stepping back, she quickly readied her stance again.

'When I came here, I already made a vow to myself that I won't let my feelings interfere with the fight.'

She knew very well that she was still very weak in terms of her emotional state. As a girl who had lost people close to her in the past, she knew the rage that follows that sense of loss. She didn't want to lose anyone important to her anymore.

Her eyes landed on the man who pounced towards her again.

'If I have to become a cold-blooded killer to achieve my goals and become strong enough to protect them, so be it.'

Twisting her body, she attacked the man from below. The man was startled when he saw her bend slightly to the side. The next second, he felt pain in his arm as the girl's arm already slashed it perfectly.

His eyes were filled with horror when he saw that the sword was now aimed at his neck. The next thing he knew, everything had turned dark.

*pant* *pant*

Kanae gazed at the fallen man on the ground for a moment. Looking at her hand, she noticed that it was already dripping with blood. The smell of the blood on her body no longer perturbed her anymore.

Her eyes turned to look towards the other members of the group that attacked them. Moving her feet, she reached their sides in an instant. With swift movements, they all fell to the ground.

"Amazing," Tommy whispered as he killed the man in front of him. Kanae practically finished off all the men on her own. Her movements were so efficient that he couldn't say anything else.

Jason narrowed his eyes. He had just finished his fight with another person when he wanted to help the young girl. Upon seeing how she managed to battle so many people all on her own, he felt a complicated feeling rising within his heart.

'I want to protect her, but it seems like I don't have the chance for that.'

He saw the girl as someone important whom he had to protect. All this time, she was always someone with weaker fighting prowess than him, someone whom he needed to take care of. But right now, she showed to him that she was no longer the same person as before.

She could stand on her own.

And her level has become unreachable for him.

*pant* *pant*

Kanae felt her blood flowing extremely quickly, pumping to every corner of her body. It was something incredible as she had moved at a speed that she could never imagine before.

Suddenly, her vision turned dark. Her body swayed before she fell to her side.

"Rei!" Jason ran to her side and captured her right before she fell to the ground. Seeing the unconscious girl in his arms, he panicked as he quickly checked her pulse.

"Shin, Rei fainted!" Tommy nearly yelled on the phone.

Shiro almost toppled from his sitting position when he heard Tommy's loud voice. "Check her pulse. Is she still breathing or not?"

"She's breathing, but her pulse is a bit erratic," Jason answered. His medical expertise was only at the lowest level because he only learned enough for first aid.

"What about her face?"

"She looks slightly pale," Tommy answered.

"I think she's tired. It's nearly nighttime outside," Shiro replied. "Added with the mental stress from today, she should be exhausted."

"It's night?" Tommy looked towards the bright sky with bewilderment. There was no sign of day turning into night at all. He couldn't believe Shiro's words at all.

"This barrier also traps light inside the area," Jason answered calmly. He carefully picked up Kanae in his arms. "Let's head back to the storage room and prepare a bed on the mattress. We should sleep too."

"Okay," Tommy agreed. He did feel tired, but he was usually quite the nocturnal owl himself, so he didn't really feel the difference.

"Can you guard first or do you need me to do it?"

"You take the first shift, Oro. I don't think I can guard with Rei still in deep slumber like this," Tommy replied. He didn't want to admit it, but he was far weaker than them. Just the fight from before already proved to him that he couldn't handle the men from the groups as well as they could.

Jason nodded his head. Upon reaching the storage room, Tommy pulled two mattresses from the stack. Jason put Kanae on top of the mattresses.

"Is there no blanket around?"

"Do you think this is a hotel?"

"I'm just asking."

"Treat your wound first. There's some first-aid supplies in the bag."

"What about Rei?"

"She doesn't have any deep wounds, so she should be able to treat the light ones by herself later."

Tommy nodded. He didn't feel right treating her if it was not an emergency.. The only visible wound she had was on her arm, so they just stopped the bleeding and cleaned it slightly before taking care of their own wounds.