"Holy shit!" Jack exclaimed in the carriage. "You were fucking awesome!"
"By Leo...we're so screwed..." Kara slumped in the carriage.
"Relax, we were screwed anyway." Phina said matter-of-factly.
"How do you want me to relax?!" Kara exploded. "We're all fucked! Fucked, I tell you!! We don't even know your rank! What if you were an Enforcer's relative and you just borrowed the uniform!?"
Phina was full of satisfaction. She protected her friend, and humiliated her enemy. What a successful play.
"As much as I like what you did, we are pretty fucked." Jack said with a smile. "I'll tell Fardo to gather the crew, we're probably going to move out of the city."
"I did the right thing, so why are we in trouble?" Phina asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Who gives a shit if it was the right thing to do?!" Kara exploded. "They want to kill us!! They have knights, guards and, in case you don't realize, ASSASSINS!!"
Kara gave the scared Phina a stern glare.
"..." Phina looked at her with her jaw dropped.
"Daaaamn." Jack said in surprise.
"I...I'm sorry." Kara took a few deep breathes. "Don't worry, we'll deal with this."
"Sorry..." Phina said while looking to the side.
"..."
No one said a word for a while, until Jack turned to Phina, "Soooo...what the hell was that?"
"What?" Phina gave Jack a glare. "Anyone who tries to harm you guys is harming me, and anyone who tries to harm me will regret it."
"Not that! The thing!" Jack said with passion. "That aura you were radiating!"
"What?" Phina raised an eyebrow as she turned to Kara.
"You were radiating a powerful aura." Kara said with a sigh. "At least we know that you have the power to be an Enforcer."
"I don't know, I was just angry." Phina said after pondering for a while.
"Aw, man." Jack said as he turned to face the window.
As he looked through the window, he was shocked to the point of doubting his own eyes. He saw a shadow barely following them. Although the 2 griffins were Royal Lineage Beasts, they were still Early stage Intermediate-rank Beasts. Their max speeds were still fast, though they were not going at max speeds for the comfort of the passengers. All this into account, not even Fardo could keep up with the griffins' comfortable speed.
"Phina." Jack turned to her seriously. "Equip your weapon. Someone's following us."
"I didn't bring it." Phina became worried.
"You didn-...here." a sigh escaped his mouth as he handed Phina a dagger. It was one of his hidden weapons he kept on him.
"Thanks." Phina nodded slightly.
Jack put his sword on his back. He didn't have it before due to the party's rules.
"Let's wait until we get to Master Igur's shack." Kara said lightly.
Jack opened the window to the driver's seat. "We have a tail. Lose them."
Jessica cracked her knuckles. Not only did the griffins come with a great carriage, they also come with a top-tier driver.
Jack changed his seat to face forwards. It was little less comfortable for Kara with Jack and Phina on either side of her, but comfort isn't really an option right now.
The carriage zoomed through the streets causing many people to doubt what they were seeing. After 10 minutes of stressed silence, the trio arrived at Igur's shack.
Ringo came out to receive them. He looked towards Jack and Phina and scoffed. "Take your crap and leave."
"Take your shitty overpriced carriage!" Kara said loudly.
Ringo was momentarily shocked. Kara was always nice to him despite Jack's behavior, so why did she suddenly lash out at him?
"What are you doing?" Phina asked.
Kara grabbed Phina's wrist and pulled her along. "Let's go! We'll never come back here again."
"If we're still being tailed, we can't implicate Ringo." Jack whispered as he looked around him with his eyes as he put both hands on the back of his head. He wanted to make whoever was following them that they were vulnerable. After all, a surprise attack was a better weapon than any sword or spear.
"Let's go!" Kara said with a frown as she looked at Ringo.
They all started walking in the clinic's direction. The Kinus household was currently the safest place to be.
Jack turned to Kara, "Do we take the alleyway to get there faster or do we go with the main street?"
"I'd prefer if we went to the main st-" Kara turned around to talk to Jack. "Where's Phina?"
Meanwhile, in a random alleyway.
"Where the hell is that crying coming from?" Phina looked around as she found herself entering a street. She then scratched her head as she whispered to herself, "I could've sworn I hear-"
Boom!
Phina crashed into a store's wall. Even though she broke through the wall with her chest, what hurt her the most was her back. She felt a sharp pain throughout her entire body.
"Looks like she's a Beginner-rank." the figure of a woman said from behind her. The woman's figure was hidden with a black cloak.
"She would've noticed us long ago if she was an Intermediate-rank. Still, approach with caution." a man's figure said from behind her. The man was similarly hidden underneath his black cloak.
"W-Who are you?!" Phina said as she struggled to rise from the rubble.
"Finish her quickly. Remember, you are not allowed to use a weapon." the man said coldly.
"Yes, sir." the woman rushed Phina while keeping her body low.
Phina immediately reached for the dagger hidden in her clothes. She slashed the dagger downwards.
Swish!
"Your accuracy needs work." the woman smiled. She then got up from her lowered posture. "I didn't know that the Enforcers hired such weaklings."
"Take her seriously. She is still an Enforcer." the man said coldly.
"Calm down, there's such a thing as overexertion." the woman said calmly. Even though she was taking Phina less seriously, her eyes never left her opponent.
"If she beats you, I will not help you." the man hoped to push the woman to take her opponent as seriously as possible. Enforcers were unbelievable creatures that would exploded with power when they're at their lowest. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal." the woman immediately started her assault on Phina. She threw 2 jabs to test Phina's guard, which was almost nonexistent, followed by a cross to her face, disorienting her opponent. Finally, she hit Phina square in the jaw with a quick right hook, sending her flying for more than 3 meters.
"Ugh..." Phina groaned as she tried to reach her dagger. Her opponent clearly outclassed her in terms of technique. Phina only witnessed a single moment when someone exhibited such technique, and that was herself. Specifically, her when she held her weapon in her left hand. 'Shit. It's now or never.'
She lifted herself off the ground with a ton of effort. Meanwhile, her opponent approached with the hood of her cloak covering half her face. Though her face was covered, her confident smirk was very visible. As she came closer, Phina switched the dagger from her right hand to her left. Immediately, she felt her mind become clear. She couldn't feel the pain in her back, nor the blood dripping from her busted lip. An aura, barely noticeable, was starting to leak from Phina.
'One with the world!' the cloaked man's eyes widened in shock. "Rema, dodge!!"
"Huh?" the woman named Rema could barely react before the dagger slashed her right eye.
She groaned in pain as she clutched her eye. Marek, the man in the cloak, rushed to her aid. No matter what he said, Rema was a talented spy in the association, he couldn't just let her die.
'I don't know the girl's rank...shit. I guess it's time to retreat.' Marek thought after evaluating the situation. Their orders were to only engage if she was a Beginner-rank, but currently the technique Phina displayed was obviously higher than Beginner, maybe even reaching Advanced-rank!
Phina managed to slash the assassin multiple times, though all were shallow cuts. Rema tried her best to dodge without her depth perception. Marek finally reached her as Phina stabbed her in the shoulder. It would've been in the neck had the young assassin not throw herself to the ground in an attempt to dodge.
Swish!
Marek's sword slashed towards Phina who dodged by slightly moving her head back. Even though the dagger was not in her hand, she was still not released from her state of perfect combat. Marek grabbed Rema by the waist thinking, 'She's definitely over Intermediate-rank!'
Phina grabbed her dagger from Rema's shoulder causing her to bled profusely.
Boom!
The ground exploded as Marek sent World Energy through his legs, jumping away, and escaping from the battle.
Phina fell to the ground with a blank expression. She looked at the bloodied dagger. 'I could've killed her if I wanted. She couldn't dodge properly, but I didn't kill her.'