Chapter 8 The Fall of Princess Valenti

"Don't let that bitch get away! Into the alley on the left, now!" a hoarse voice filled with murderous intent shouted from behind her.

Every step Bianca Valenti took across the rain-soaked pavement of the filthy alley felt like tons of weight crushing her legs.

Bianca turned sharply, knocking into a pile of cans that clattered across the ground.

"Don't give up. You're not allowed to die here yet, Bianca," she whispered to herself, even as her lungs screamed for oxygen. She glanced briefly at her wrist, where a damaged energy-tracking device continued blinking red.

"Valenti! You're only prolonging your own suffering!" another mercenary shouted. "Hand over your family's vault code, and we'll give you a quick death!"

Bianca didn't answer. She kept running, splashing through foul-smelling pools of wastewater. She knew this territory. The Ash District was a labyrinth to outsiders, but to the professional mercenaries of the Black-Steel Gang, it was their playground.

Suddenly, she reached a dead end. A towering concrete wall rose before her, covered in barbed wire crackling with static electricity. Bianca spun around quickly, her back pressing against the cold surface. Her heart pounded violently, as if it wanted to leap from her chest.

Three men emerged from the darkness of the alley.

They wore black tactical armor with sensory face shields. Energy bows and plasma swords gleamed ominously in their hands. At the center stood their leader, a man wearing an eyepatch.

"Dead end, Princess?" the man chuckled, his voice sounding like rough stone grinding against stone. "Very dramatic. Just like the fall of the Valenti family. From a golden throne to a filthy gutter."

"Valtor sent you, didn't he?" Bianca asked, trying to steady her voice even though her hands trembled violently at her sides.

"Who sent us doesn't matter," the man replied as he slowly stepped forward. "What matters is what's inside your head. That code. Now."

"I'd rather die than hand my family's wealth over to pigs like you," Bianca hissed, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Oh, you'll die," the man said, raising his right hand to signal his subordinates. "But first, we'll make sure you beg to talk. Iron-Fang Bat, come out!"

One of the mercenaries released a capsule. From within emerged a giant bat with metallic fangs and glowing red eyes. The creature circled overhead, emitting ultrasonic screeches that made Bianca's ears ring with pain.

"Attack her. Don't kill her yet, just break her legs," the leader ordered.

The bat dove sharply.

Bianca shut her eyes and reached into her robe pocket for the small dagger she had hidden there, the only remaining means of defense she had left.

But just before the creature reached her, a black shadow shot out from the darkness above the wall.

Screeeech!

A violet flash split the air.

Without any explosion, the iron bat suddenly split into two halves and crashed onto the ground in a spray of oil and monster blood.

"What?" the mercenary froze, staring as his Pet was destroyed in an instant.

"Far too noisy for such a quiet night."

A cold voice echoed from atop a stack of cargo containers beside the alley.

Bianca looked up.

There stood Killian Moretti.

The pale moonlight illuminated his face, giving his golden eyes an almost mystical appearance. On his shoulder stood Giz, its tiny claws still radiating traces of void energy.

"You... the young man from the bar?" Bianca murmured, unable to believe this man had actually followed her.

Killian jumped down, landing directly between Bianca and the mercenaries.

He didn't even look at Bianca.

His eyes remained fixed on the three men before him, as though they were nothing more than a minor inconvenience on the road.

"Moretti?" the mercenary leader growled, his hand gripping the hilt of the plasma sword at his waist. "You just made the biggest mistake of your pathetic life. You think you can take on professionals with that little bug of yours?"

"Mistake?" Killian tilted his head slightly. "I think the real mistake was bothering my future business partner."

"Business partner?" the man laughed mockingly. "She's a walking corpse! And you'll be decoration right beside her! Attack!"

The two mercenaries moved simultaneously.

One fired an energy arrow from his bow while the other charged forward with a blazing plasma sword.

Killian remained motionless.

"Giz, Void Veil."

Giz let out a low hiss.

Instantly, a thin layer of dark violet energy enveloped both Killian and Bianca. The energy arrow flying toward them didn't explode. Instead, it was absorbed into the veil and vanished without a trace.

"What the hell is that?" the bow-wielding mercenary panicked.

He fired three more arrows, but the result was the same. His energy attacks were swallowed whole by the void.

"Now it's our turn," Killian said flatly. "Giz, Spatial Severance."

Giz leaped from Killian's shoulder.

Its speed surpassed the limits of human vision.

It didn't run across the ground. It moved from one point in space to another.

Slash!

Slash!

Slash!

The two mercenaries didn't even have time to scream.

Their tactical armor, supposedly capable of withstanding tank fire, was ripped apart instantly. They collapsed to their knees, clutching their chests as fresh blood poured from the wounds. Their swords and bows shattered into countless fragments.

"Impossible... Diamond-Carbon armor destroyed by an insect?" The leader stepped back. The arrogance on his face had vanished, replaced by fury.

Killian walked forward, passing the two dying men.

"You called us trash, didn't you? But look closely. Who's the one crawling in the gutter now?"

"You... you have no idea who you're fighting!" the man shouted, trying to gather what courage he had left.

He pulled a signal transmitter from his pocket.

"The entire Black-Steel unit is in this district! You'll never leave here alive!"

"Let them come," Killian replied calmly. "The more of you there are, the more nutrients Giz will have for its next evolution."

Bianca watched the scene with held breath.

She had seen many elite Tamers during her family's golden age, but none of them possessed an aura like Killian's. There was something deeply wrong about the way he fought. And at the same time, something strangely captivating. He didn't fight with passion or courage. He fought with the cold efficiency of a god.

"Why are you helping me?" Bianca finally asked, her voice slightly hoarse. "You could've let them kill me and taken whatever I had left."

Killian paused briefly but didn't turn around.

"Because I saw you running."

"What do you mean?"

"Most people in your position would've given up and begged for mercy."

Killian glanced back slightly, one golden eye gleaming as it met hers.

"But you kept running. You searched for openings, observed your surroundings, and held onto that dagger even though you knew it was useless. You have a will to survive that goes beyond logic. And that's exactly what I need in my strategy."

Bianca was stunned.

When everyone else wanted only her family's vault code or her beauty, this man saw her determination as a strategic asset.

The helplessness that had weighed on her for so long slowly began to erode, replaced by a profound sense of curiosity.

"I'm not the wealthy Valenti princess anymore, Killian," Bianca said softly. "I'm just a fugitive with no home."

"Good."

Killian turned fully toward her.

"Because the home we're going to build will be far greater than anything your family ever owned." Suddenly, the deafening roar of combat helicopter engines thundered overhead, shaking the air of District Nine.

The beam of a massive high-powered searchlight swept across the narrow alley, rotating briefly before locking onto their position. A military loudspeaker boomed through the night, shattering the silence and carrying with it a new fate ready to descend upon them.

"Target identified! Surround the entire area! Do not let Killian Moretti escape alive! Shoot on sight if he resists!"

Above them, dozens of red targeting lasers locked onto Killian's position, while the helicopter's machine gun barrels began spinning rapidly, ready to unleash a storm of bullets within seconds.