The inner city of Santa Monica shined bright in the night time.
Flashing lights.
Daring billboards.
Civilians Chatting.
People came to Santa Monica to do one thing and one thing only.
Party their life away and donate their soul to a life of adventure.
People lived out of the casinos, pillaged the streets for resources, danced the night away as if their soul was immortal.
As the daughter of a God where she was raised with principles that humans were inferior, Satsujin absolutely believed this notion.
From her birth she saw how humans destroyed their life, and in her early days she lived in the streets of santa monica, being raised by criminals, gangs, leaders, characters of all kinds that played a role in society.
She had seen everything up until she was a young adult. She had walked the path of santa monica many times before, and this time felt no different. Her shoes cracked on the side walk, with every step she felt as if she could only hear hers despite all the commotion.
She looked on at the constant cars passing by, the streets filled with people ready to get their hands on a fortune tonight.
Atsui looked around at the alive city in awe, he had never experienced this before in the spirit world. A bustling city, warm weather, and freedom for people to do as they wished. He thought it had to be a rouse… there was just no way there were beings living this lavish life of constant commotion.
"Wow… this is amazing…."
"Unfortunately we're not here to mingle with the common man. We're here for business, I have a new recruit who said they'd meet us. It's time to get out here and work."
"O-Of course my lady…"
Atsui looked around and watched the commotion with close eyes, he himself had known the mission was the priority but couldn't help keeps his eyes off the world, a place he could soon call their own.
Satsujin ended up crossing the street, straight toward the casino. She took a small card out of her pocket and showed it to tne valet, the woman immediately nodding as she let Atsui and Satsujin through the door. The Casino was hot tonight. Bottle girls rushed around the area, bringing food and liquor of all kinds.
People gambled their life away, waiting for the next jackpot, desperately clinging on to the cash in their pocket as they continued to slide it forward in exchange for tips. Satsujin put her hands on her hips, scanning the casino for a certain someone.
Atsui watched all the women with the food and liquor, he raised an eyebrow as he watched the people gamble their lives away. He knew they would be easy to use if push came to shove.
"Hey..if you spot a skinny man with long dark hair point him out…It's our contact."
"Yes ma'am…"
Atsui looked around and checked his surroundings for the man, he watched the casino intently.
"Tch..wait Atsui.."
She grabbed his hand.
"Someone is watching us here…I have a feeling. We need to blend in with the crowd.."
Atsui was dragged by Satsujin into the crowd, he was caught off guard by her sudden movement but understood the process.
Satsujin sat the two at a dealers table. An obese man, who was clearly wealthy sat beside them. He was currently flirting with one of the waitresses. Way too busy to get anything out of this casino, at least profit wise. He was unable to see she stole some of his chips straight from his pockets, and slid them to the dealer, acting as if she was actually playing.
"Play along Atsui. I have an idea."
Atsui looked on disgusted at the obese man, he watched his fat, slimy fingers. He knew how easy it would be to slice the gluttons throat if he wanted to.
"Of course…"
He turned back to the table watching the game unfold.
"Yeah. Let's go three hundred on red."
Satsujin played it safe since she knew she only had a limited amount of chips. She watched the dealer deal cards as she slowly watches her observations, meeting eyes with a few lookers from beyond their table.
"Yeah..definitely that fucking church.."
Atsui also peered around the room attempting to search for the possible enemy.
"If I can scan the room… I'll be able to point out where this person watching might be at…"
Atsui whispered to Satsujin.
"Scan it and find this fucker. They're onto us since we killed Jiga.."
Atsui dispersed a flaming snake from his arm, it crawled across the floor stealthily, moving between people seeking the one with a holy aura.
A small mysterious woman stepped on the snake, it's flames immediately extinguished upon contact. She stared Atsui and Satsu in the eyes but didn't approach. She watched on silently as people passed by her one at a time. She eventually disappeared into the crowd hiding her presence.
Atsui immediately detected the snake being caught. He turned to Satsujin and whispered to her.
"The snake was extinguished… I only caught a glimpse but it's a smaller dark skinned woman. One of the twelve angels..they're probably here and ready to snap on us…Be careful and keep your cool. Do not attack until I give the green light."
Atsui nodded and continued watching the game, his guard was up the whole time, his mana force though not visible to the naked eye, was preparing for battle any second.
A few minutes passed before the small woman took a seat, right next to Atsui and Satsujin. She looked at the two. Peculiarly.
"I Hope you don't mind me hopping in. I'm feeling…lucky tonight."
Atsui ignored the woman and remained silent, he continued watching the game closely.
Jophiel slid her chips across the table getting in the game at the last minute. She received her cards, before she slid a card to the side face up.
It was a picture of Jiga.
She turned to the two.
"Explain to me what happened."
Atsui remained silent, he looked at the card then looked back at the game before finally speaking.
"Huh? Who are you?"
Jophiel waved her hands in front of him. A moment later the dealer switched spots with her. She now had on the casino uniform, and he had on average clothes. She stared at the two.
"This casino is my domain. I control this area. You will answer my questions or I will kill you both right here, right now."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He stood firm and stared at Jophiel, his will not weakening.
"Who even are you woman? I was trying to get in on the game."
"I'm Jophiel. One of the twelve angels of the world's church. One of our lower confidants went on a job to search for you. There is zero coincidence that he was found dead in that park two hours later. Your fingerprints were not only on the scene, but so was your mana."
"Don't try and feed me any bullshit. I see through your lies."
"My snakes get curious and leave behind a trail when they wander. I have no idea what you're talking about. Jophiel, was it?"
"Okay. Maybe you're right. My apologies. I assume then it wouldn't matter if you stayed here for a bit and played? The night is young."
Jophiel smiled at Atsui. He kept his composure but he understood his position. There was no room for mistakes with her.