The tip of the dagger was aimed at her head, but Vaycul, relying on gravity, dodged it by dropping her body to the ground.

(This guy, he’s trying to kill me!?)

Even though she thought that in her mind, not just in the arena, in any situation where life or death was at stake, action came first.

Pushing her hand out to support her weight, she kicked out towards her opponent’s feet.

However, her opponent seemed to have expected such a move. He dodged it with a light jump……before launching a counter kick towards Vaycul’s head from that position.

「Hey-!」

Despite letting out a short cry, Vaycul was able to block the kick with the hilt of her daggers. Although she was knocked back some distance, it also meant she could put some space between her and her opponent.

「You, what the hell are you thinking!?」

Finally able to take a breath, Vaycul shouted out. However, the man only responded with a faint smile.

Seeing that, Vaycul was sure that his first attack had been intentionally aimed at her head.

That wasn’t all. Although she had been able to block the man’s kick with her daggers, the kick had been aimed at her neck. If the kick had connected, her neck would certainly have been broken.

「If you kill your opponent, you’ll be disqualified and charged as a criminal……don’t you know that?」

Contrary to Vaycul’s bitter words, the man just played with the dagger in his hand with a sneer on his face.

The look on his face was like a cat toying with a mouse.

What made things more troublesome for Vaycul was that the audience hadn’t seemed to notice their series of actions as abnormal.

Most of the crowd was still just cheering at them.

Of course, there were also those who felt that something was wrong, or could clearly sense the man’s murderous intent.

However, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to give off that feeling during a fight and if they claimed that their first attack had been a feint or meant to be avoided, it was also hard to punish him.

(But, why does he want to kill me?)

Thinking to herself, she recalled the scene where Rei and Rhodes had been attacked on the outskirts of the Imperial Capital a few days ago.

She had immediately stepped in to help at the time, was that the reason she was now being targeted? She thought about that for a moment before reaching a conclusion.

That was probably the reason.

In other words, before dealing with their target, they probably wanted to deal with any obstacles first, Wind Dragon’s Fang in this case.

「Seriously……acting like a fool. But, now that I know, there’s no way I’ll fall for it that easily.」

Glaring at the other man, Vaycul readied her daggers again.

Seeing that, the man spoke with a mocking smile on his lips.

「Hmph, do you really think someone like you can compete with me? If you had just stayed quiet, I would have made your death quick.」

「……In the first place, killing someone here is a crime. Don’t you know that?」

「Of course. But just because it’s a crime doesn’t mean I will be charged.」

He seemed quite convinced as he said those words. Vaycul immediately thought of something as she spat her words out with a bitter expression.

「A noble, huh.」

「Well, who knows. ……Anyway, that’s the end of our chat. It’s time for you to leave for the afterlife, don’t you think?」

「Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to die yet. I also have dreams of finding a good man to get married to……hah!」

As she was still speaking, Vaycul suddenly leapt forwards.

Holding a dagger in her right hand, her left hand meaningfully reached into her chest……forcefully pulling something out.

At that moment, even if only for a moment, the man’s eyes were drawn to her left hand.

However, it didn’t seem like Vaycul had been holding anything with that hand, so he thought it was a feint.

He hurried put her whole body back into his vision……and at that moment, he felt a severe pain shoot through his right eye.

「That hurts-! Damn it, what did that woman do!」

It was dangerous to stay where he was. Making that decision while clutching his right eye, the man jumped backwards.

His right eye was completely destroyed, leaving him with half his vision in the dark.

The man touched his right eye without hesitation.

There was a small piece of metal stuck in it……just a few millimeters in size.

「Damn it! What have you done to my right eye!」

In his anger, he threw the dagger he was holding at Vaycul. But, having lost vision in his right eye, his sense of perspective was off, so the dagger flew in a completely different direction to where Vaycul was.

「Idiot, your arrogance in taking me lightly is the cause of your defeat.」

Vaycul shouted as she moved around to the man’s right side……that is, to his blind side, before throwing out another piece of metal.

More severe pain.

Touching his right cheek, the main found another piece of metal stuck there, just like his right eye.

After being hit twice, the man finally realised what Vaycul was doing as he shouted in frustration.

「You, you’re just playing small tricks!」

「Hmph, what’s wrong with playing tricks as a thief?」

Responding briefly, Vaycul closed in from the man’s blind side before swinging her dagger.

However, she didn’t use the blade and just struck him at the back of the head with the hilt.

The man, who had been hurling abuses at Vaycul, lost consciousness from the impact and collapsed to the ground.

「Seriously, I never thought I would have to use my trump card so early.」

Vaycul grumbled as she watched the referee take the stage to check on the unconscious man.

The pieces of metal stuck in the man’s right eye and cheek. Those were one of her secret moves and, if possible, she hadn’t wanted to reveal it in her first match.

If Rei had seen it, he would have thought of the Chinese martial art that used fingers to shoot projectiles.

It was a technique that allowed you to shoot small rocks with just your finger tips and was counted as a form of hidden weapon.

It was one of Vaycul’s special skills.

(Well, it was doubtful whether I would have won without using it. In fact, there’s no doubt that my skills were on par at best, or even slightly inferior.)

As she thought of that, the referee seemed to reach the conclusion that her opponent was unconscious. He shouted out loudly while turning to Vaycul.

「The winner is, Vaycul!」

『WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-!』

Cheers echoed out all around.

Since both fighters had fighting styles based on speed, it seemed to have been a match worth watching for the audience.

(I don’t know what to do about that guy……if he’s connected to a noble, it would be pointless to tell the management committee. Well, the reason he’s targeting me is probably due to Rei’s situation. I guess I have no choice but to let Rei or Rhodes know.)

Thinking about that, she suddenly recalled something.

They had recently been attacked by assassins. And, those assassins had been fromm Requiem’s Toll.

(Wait, wait, wait. Maybe this guy is also from Requiem’s Toll? In that case, have I just dragged myself further down?)

At those thoughts, her earlier sense of victory quickly faded as she began to feel like ice had been placed down her spine.

「Vaycul, anything wrong? The match is over. There’s another match to come, so if you don’t have anything you need to do, it’s time to get off the arena.」

「……Eh? Oh, yes, right. I’m sorry. I’m just happy that I won.」

Vaycul came back to her senses after hearing the referee’s suspicious voice. However, contrary to her words, her expression didn’t seem like she was very happy.

However, the referee didn’t have the right to push further, so he just took the unconscious man off the stage along with other members of the management committee.

Vaycul decided that she might get dragged into a mess with the man if she stayed any longer, so she also quickly left the stage.

Firstly, she had to let Rei and Rhodes know about the man.

 

 

「Damn it, he screwed up……they really have picked a good organisation, haven’t they!」

A noble, who had been watching Vaycul’s match from a small VIP room, spat those words out.

If their had been others watching nearby, they probably would have told him to keep his voice down. But, luckily, only he and a maid were present, so he didn’t have to hold back.

The maid, who was waiting behind the man, spoke without any change in her expression.

「Yes. However, with Requiem’s Toll making a move, the other organisations have become a lot more cautious.」

「I guess that’s why they hired mad dogs who were willing to work as long as they got paid.」

The moment the man said those words, the maid, who had been standing behind him, took a silent step forwards as she swung a chain that she took out from under her skirt.

Kiin-, a metallic sound rang out and a dagger pierced the floor.

It was obvious what had happened.

The noble, realising that he had been targeted, turned towards the direction the dagger had come from with anger in his eyes.

Standing there was a man. However, he entire face was painted a pure white with tattoos all over it. His hair stood up on end, as if reaching for the sky, and it was hard to tell how old he was just from his looks.

「You, what do you think you’re doing!?」

The noble shouted out at the man who had showed up from nowhere.

However, the man who had thrown the dagger had a strange smile on his face as he ignored the impatient noble and turned to the maid holding a chain.

A chain. Yes, it was the chain that had blocked the dagger the man had thrown earlier.

A maid and a chain were an odd combination. However, the man smiled as if he thought that was the best thing about it.

「Not bad, girl. What do you think? Want to have some fun with me?」

「……Unfortunately, I am just a maid.」

「Hah? Just a maid? Blocking my dagger? Let’s just fight instead. Let’s do a dance to get our blood pumping and flesh dancing.」

The maid lowered her head slightly to the person inviting her with the smile of a bloodthirsty and rabid dog, completely different from the expression he had just a moment ago.

The noble couldn’t stand it anymore. The man had tried to kill him without any context and just after his maid had stopped it, the man was now trying to take his maid away.

Until now, he had never been ignored as such. Because of that, the noble screamed in anger.

「I am asking you what you are doing! Answer me!」

The noble’s angry voice would definitely have made any ordinary citizen who lived in the Empire cower.

However, the man didn’t seem to care at all as he spoke up with his strange smile again.

「Well, you were just calling us mad dogs, or something stupid, right? So, I was just trying to act like a mad dog.」

「……Why can’t you realise that this kind of behaviour is why you’re being called mad dogs? In the first place, it was you and your Moonlight Archers that put yourselves in such a position.」

「Hmm, it’s true that he failed……but, do you think there are any other organisations that would accept requests targeting people that Requeim’s Toll is after?」

「Argh-!」

「Well, as a noble, you probably have your own private forces……but you can’t use them publicly, can you?」

The man’s words were true.

At first, there had been many organisations targeting Crimson, but once word got out that one of those organisations was Requiem’s Toll……and that they were targeting Crimson with considerable force, most of the other organisations had backed off.

There were only a few left still actively targeting Rei and among those, many were small organisations that hadn’t even heard of Requiem’s Toll.

In such a situation, the only organisation with capable people left were the Moonlight Archers.

Moonlight Archers were an organisation made of former members of Requiem’s Toll.

They were made up of combat and murder maniacs who had been expelled from Requiem’s Toll.

Normally, it would be very hard to leave an organisation such a Requeim’s Toll, but as combat and murder maniacs, most of them were highly skilled.

Of course, it wouldn’t be hard for Requiem’s Toll to anhilate them if they used all their strength, but the damage they would receive in return would be just as great.

Additionally, there were many people who were skilled but were unable to get along with others in their illegal activities. With the aim of accepting such people or using them as throwaway pawns, Moonlight Archers was formed as a compromise and external organisation of Requiem’s Toll.

Due to the circumstances of their organisation’s creation, Moonlight Archers had no problems with accepting requests targeting people that Requiem’s Toll was already targeting. which made them useful in various ways.

Normally, most sub organisations wouldn’t do anything that would offend their parent organisations, but as a group of lunatics, Moonlight Archers didn’t care.

No, in fact, if given the chancce to fight against Requiem’s Toll, the would be more than happy to do so.

The noble clicked his tongue in disgust at having to rely on such people.

(I hear that Count Schwindel is also on the move. ……But I won’t give Crimson’s head to such a man!)

They knew each other. But……it was still something he was unwilling to give up on.

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