Dawn City
Night settles quietly over the suburbs of Dawn City. Every house is dark, its residents already deep in sleep. Only the distant barks of dogs, the yowling of cats, the clatter of hooves—
—and the very loud, very illegal roar of engines tearing through the streets.
TACATAC—TACATAC—TACATAC—
"YAH! YAH! YAH!"
Alan Ridgewood yells as he snaps the reins, urging his horse-drawn chariot forward with the frantic energy equivalent of a man shifting gears in a high-speed car chase.
VROOOOM—
A golf cart rockets up a steep road behind him.
"KYA! KYA! KYA!"
A poor Ravendawn guard clings to Megan's golf cart, screaming for his life—it's his first time in anything with wheels and an engine.
"CALM DOWN, WILL YOU!?"
"Y-YES, MA'AM! I'LL TRY!"
Megan's cart skids around corners, stubbornly tailing the runaway chariot. Both vehicles drift wildly through the empty streets. At a blistering 50 km/h, the medium-speed chase barrels out of the suburbs and into downtown.
Megan was gaining. The gap between them shrinks.
Realizing danger was closing in, Alan snatches several magic scrolls from his pocket. He chants under his breath—short, sharp, efficient—and hurls them behind him.
The parchments ignite midair. They burst into two mounted skeleton knights.
One skeleton raises its sword toward the golf cart.
Megan jerks the steering wheel aside, narrowly dodging the slash, then swings it back and slams into the skeletal horse, knocking it off balance before it begins its pursuit again.
"Uh, ma'am," the guard shouts over the chaos, "can't you tell them not to attack us? Since, uhh... they're demons?"
"Well, can you tell pirates not to rob you? Since they're human?"
"…Fair point."
The guard steadies himself on the cart's edge, drawing his sword to clash with the undead knight now beside him.
CLANK—CLANK—CLANK.
As he fights on the left, another skeleton approaches from Megan's side, sword poised to take her head. She draws her P30L in one smooth motion.
BANG BANG BANG BANG—BANG BANG BANG.
Four shots straight to the knight's core, three into the horse's. Both collapse instantly into a pile of lifeless bone.
On the other side, the guard deflects a downward strike and uses the opening to sever the undead horse's neck. Knight and steed crash to the cobblestones.
"Hey," Megan says, impressed. "You're not bad."
"Thank you, ma'am!"
With her mighty '14-horsepower engine', Megan pushes the golf cart to its absolute limit, slowly reeling the fleeing chariot back in.
The shadowy assassin riding with Alan turns, raising a wrist-mounted crossbow. He fires.
CLINK—
The guard skillfully deflects it.
The assassin realizes the Ravendawn is a decent-level swordsman, another bolt would be useless—and decides to leap from the chariot onto the golf cart, sacrificing himself to delay pursuit.
The sudden extra weight throws the cart off balance.
Megan loses control.
The golf cart slams into a peddler's stall, splintering wood and scattering goods across the street.
The chariot disappears around a corner.
On the ground, steel clashes.
CLANK CLANK CLANK.
"Ma'am!" the guard shouts, locked in combat. "Go! I'll hold him off!"
Megan reverses the battered golf cart and speeds off on her own.
"Control, I lost visual. Please advise," she says into her comm.
---
Langley, BICH Headquarters
On the main monitor, a drone feed shows Alan Ridgewood's chariot stopping in front of Red Circle. Alan jumps off and runs inside.
"He's entering Red Circle," Janet reports.
"Copy," Megan responds.
"Alert our agents and Ravendawn forces," Mo' orders. "Block every exit."
"Yes, sir."
---
Red Circle
The Red Circle began as an upscale restaurant during the Vandorian occupation. But with Murican influence, it transformed into something bigger—and louder.
Now it boasted a first-floor fine dining hall and a second-floor Murican-style nightclub that drew both Ravendawns and Muricans in droves.
After weeks of surveillance, BICH had uncovered its secret:
By day, Alan Ridgewood was a polished restaurateur.
By night, he was the head of a powerful assassin guild.
Most of his staff were killers in disguise. Tonight, they were preparing for war—strapping on wrist crossbows, loading rented Murican shotguns, taking positions.
Inside his office, Alan frantically pulled documents from a hidden safe, tossing them one by one into the fireplace. Whatever happened, his clients would not be exposed. That was the last honor he held on to.
Knock. Knock.
Megan stood at his open doorway.
"Planning a trip?" she asked.
Alan paused but didn't turn. He already knew.
"…You're fast."
"Not as fast as you. Looks like you're already wrapping up."
"Well, I'm a professional."
He brushed soot from his hands, walked to his desk, and poured vodka into two glasses.
"It's Murican. Want some?"
"No. I'm still on the clock."
He downed his shot.
"So. What now? You won't get anything from me. No evidence. Nothing that would lead to my clients."
"But I still have you."
"Only if you can take me—alive."
He bent—not for a drink, but for an M97 shotgun hidden beneath the desk.
BANG—
Megan dove for cover. Alan fired through the office wall, predicting her position.
BANG BANG BANG—
Each blast punched a hole through. But all too high. Megan was crouching low.
"Nice gun you've got," she called out.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Alan reloaded. "Yes. It's a good thing you Muricans were so lenient with gun control."
"I know. Our amendment believes every person should be born with a gun."
Megan leaned out, ready to fire—
—but Alan was gone.
Alan had slipped through the other exit.
---
Red Circle, Second Floor Club
Murican electro music pounds through the speakers. Lasers sweep over the ceiling, dancers writhe on pedestals, and drinks spill as the crowd sways.
Alan pushes through the chaos while signaling instructions to guards.
Megan enters the club with weapons drawn, scanning for threats among the sea of dancing bodies.
A blade suddenly swings from her right—
Megan dodges.
BANG BANG—
Two shots to the attacker's gut.
BANG—
A final one to the head.
"KYAAAAAA!"
Screams erupt. Panic spreads. Clubbers scatter in every direction.
A bolt whistles by—
—and strikes a civilian.
Megan fires back.
BANG BANG.
Another guard charges with a short sword. Megan grabs his arm, pivots, and flips him with a clean judo throw.
BANG.
Execution shot to the head.
She pushes forward. Amid the chaos, she spots Alan pointing her out to two shotgun-wielding guards before slipping away.
They open fire.
BANG—ch-ch—BANG—ch-ch—BANG—
Megan returns fire while diving behind the bar.
BANG BANG BANG BANG.
The guards advance with trained precision—clearly no amateurs.
Their shells shatter bottles, spraying glass over her.
"Graah! Janet, why are we letting our guns leave Murica again?" Megan shouts into her comm.
"Because it's good money. Renting outdated guns at high prices. What, having trouble with some museum pieces?" Janet teases.
"Oh, shut up."
Megan pops up and fires again.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG—click.
One guard falls. The other hides to reload.
Megan slips from behind the bar to a nearby pillar.
"KYAA!"
A shriek from above startles her. A Lamia pole stripper clings to the pillar.
"Oh! You're a demon. Sorry, you startled me," the Lamia whispers.
"What the—get out of here!"
"I want to! But it's too scary!"
Before Megan can argue—
BANG—ch-ch—BANG—ch-ch—
More shotgun blasts rain in.
The surviving guard grows impatient and advances, firing nonstop.
The pillar splinters.
The barrel swings up—right at Megan's head.
She knocks it aside.
BANG—
The shot misses her—
—but the guard grabs her wrist before she can retaliate. He slams her arm repeatedly into the pillar.
THUD THUD THUD—
"AARGH!"
Her pistol falls.
He punches her, then drives his shotgun horizontally into her throat, using both hands to choke her against the pillar.
Megan strains, muscles trembling—losing.
The guard grins. Then—
—a serpentine tail loops around his neck.
GRAB—
He is yanked into the air.
"KUH!"
It's the Lamia.
He claws at the Lamia's coil, choking on his own weight.
SNAP.
His body drops, limp.
"Oh my, I killed him," she whispers, surprised at herself.
"Thanks, girl," Megan pants.
"M-Miss, is it legal that I killed him? I just wanted to help!"
"You won't get fined."
"Oh thank god. I ran out of money while hollidaying, so I took this job—oh! Um, could you please take a picture?"
She hands Megan her phone.
"My girlfriends will be SO JEALOUS when I show them I really killed a human in Dawn!"
The Lamia poses—V-sign raised—coiling the dead guard's neck dramatically.
"…Sure. I owe you anyway."
Click.
Megan hands back the phone and sprints after Alan.
"THANK YOUUU! I'LL ADD YOU IF I CAN FIND YOUR PAINSTA!" the Lamia calls after her.
---
Outside Red Circle
Alan bursts through the entrance, where a guard waits with a horse.
CRAAAAASH—
Glass explodes from above.
Megan dives from the second floor, slamming into both men and sending them sprawling across the street.
The guard scrambles for his revolver—
BANG BANG—
—but Megan is faster.
Alan kicks her gun away and swings his shotgun toward her face.
She knocks the barrel aside.
BANG—
The stray shot kills the horse.
Megan drives her elbow into Alan's wrist, knocking the shotgun free, then backfists his jaw.
Another guard charges from the doorway, tackling her to the ground.
Alan takes the chance to flee.
Pinned, Megan flips her legs upward, locking them around the guard's neck. She twists, choking him while reaching for her fallen pistol.
BANG—
The guard drops.
She pushes up and sprints after Alan.
Alan turns the corner—
—and something massive hits him.
THUD—
"GAAH—!"
He gets knocked backward violently.
Heavy footsteps approach.
A towering armored figure steps from the shadows, longsword in hand.
King Luxius of Ravendawn.
Alan staggers up, draws a knife, and activates his assassin skills before lunging.
SLAAAAASH—
Luxius severs Alan's attacking hand in a single clean motion, then slams the pommel of his sword into Alan's skull. The assassin drops, unconscious.
In Talvaris, everyone knows:
An assassin never wins against a swordsman in open combat.
Megan arrives, breathless.
"Oh, thank goodness."
Behind Luxius, dozens of Ravendawn soldiers march in.
"You guys came at the perfect time," Megan sighs with a smile. "I thought I'd lose him again."
Luxius's face turns bright red.
"M-M-M-Mother—?!"
"Eh?"
Heyya
Thank you for reading my works.
If you want to read more chapters, my Royal Road have 50+ chapters
If you want to bribe me for even more chapters, check my patreon at:
Patreon.com/Bimbanana