Chief Roman gestured toward a row of high-backed leather chairs arranged neatly in front of his massive mahogany desk.
"Three of you, sit," Roman said, his deep, authoritative voice slicing through the quiet tension of the office.
We moved in unison, taking our seats. I pulled the heavy fabric of my traveling cloak tightly around my knees, keeping my head lowered as the bright midday sun streamed through the massive, arched windows behind the Chief's desk.
Roman leaned back in his leather chair, crossing his arms as his sharp, analytical eyes scanned the three of us. A faint, puzzled frown creased his weathered forehead.
"Well, why are all of you here? Elias, I thought you were having a break with the prize I just gave you after the desert campaign. Eirene, I thought you were safely on maternity leave after your service. And you, Elicia… the divine goddess… aren't you supposed to be serving at the Sisiphon Magic Academy as the principal? You know your official work for the Bureau is done."
Elias leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as his face hardened into a serious, unyielding expression. The edgy, casual demeanor he usually carried was completely gone.
"No, Chief, this is different, And this is entirely for my little sister."
Elias turned his head slightly, his dark eyes locking onto my hooded figure.
"Eirene, please remove your cloak."
My breath caught in my throat. The raw, unfiltered sunlight pouring into the room was already making my vampiric skin prickle with allergic discomfort, and the thought of exposing my altered biology and my hidden pregnancy in the heart of the High Bureau made my heart hammer against my ribs. I couldn't just take it off. Not like this.
I adjusted my grip on the collar of my cloak, my voice returning to its mechanical, chillingly calm deadpan as I looked toward the former secretary standing near the entrance.
"Nautilus, close the curtains." I whispered softly from the shadows of my hood,
Nautilus didn't hesitate. Recognizing the absolute gravity in my deadpan voice, he gave a firm, quiet nod.
"Sure, Eirene," Nautilus said. He walked swiftly across the marble floor, grabbing the long velvet cords and pulling them down. The massive, heavy blackout curtains slid across the arched windows with a deep, sweeping rush, plunging the grand office of the Chief into a cool, heavily shaded twilight. The harsh, burning glare of the midday sun vanished, and my vampiric skin instantly stopped prickling.
The sudden darkness was exactly what my biology needed.
Slowly, deliberately, I stood up from the leather chair. My hands reached for the polished iron clasp at my throat, unbuttoning it with a soft click. I let the heavy, tattered dark traveling cloak slide off my shoulders, pooling onto the floorboards behind me.
With the restriction gone, the compressed muscles along my spine violently expanded. My massive, translucent crimson blood wings unfurled to their full, majestic span, the delicate, crystalline veins pulsing with a fierce, jade-green and blood-red mana that cast a haunting, ethereal glow across the darkened room. My mismatched eyes shimmered in the dark, the sharp, predatory fangs of my evolution completely visible.
Chief Roman instantly slammed his hands onto his mahogany desk, his chair skidding backward as his face went completely pale. Beside the door, Nautilus froze mid-stride, his jaw dropping in absolute, paralyzing disbelief.
"Eirene… You're... you're a demon." Roman breathed, his voice cracking as his high-tier aura instinctively flared in a defensive panic.
"She is not a demon, Chief, She's having a baby. And she is the very same hero who single-handedly slained four of the most dangerous S-rank bounties this kingdom has ever seen." Elias interrupted violently, stepping forward and standing squarely between me and the desk, his own shadow magic sparking around his boots like a protective shield.
The room went dead silent as Elias laid out my bloody ledger with absolute, unwavering pride.
"She took down Oksana, the untouchable drug lord of the lower sectors, She executed Don Anthony, the mastermind behind the realm's black-market arms trafficking. She hunted down the infamous Cameron Gal… the heretic who was feared by the entire high council. And she completely eradicated the Laulif Flower slave trafficking ring from the roots up. She did the filthiest, most impossible work this Bureau couldn't handle in the light. Chief... my little sister is the Crimson Phantom."
The dark twilight of the office turned entirely suffocating as Chief Roman's face twisted from shock into a mask of cold, bureaucratic zealotry. He stared at my pulsing, translucent crimson wings, completely blind to the fact that I was the little sister who had kept his kingdom's economy from shattering.
"You dare bring a demon into this room, Elias?! Us humans were at war with the demons! I don't care if she's a hero or if she took down four S-rank targets… she carries a corrupted, non-human biology. By the laws of the High Bureau and the Crown, she needs to be executed!"
CLICK.
The sound of the chamber locking into place was instantaneous. Before Chief Roman could even draw a breath to call the guards, Elias crossed the space between them like a flash of lightning. He violently shoved his heavy, metallic Death Chant Revolver directly against the center of Chief Roman's forehead, pressing the cold steel hard enough to indent the man's skin. The pitch-black static of Elias's shadow mana flared wildly around the desk, his eyes completely dark with an absolute, murderous rage.
"Say that again, Give the order to execute my little sister. I dare you." Elias whispered, his voice dropping into a terrifying, guttural register that shook the loose paperwork on the desk.
Despite the gun pressed to his skull, Chief Roman's jaw remained rigid, his lifetime of military stubbornness refusing to back down.
"You think killing me changes the reality of this kingdom, Captain?! This country does not welcome demons! If she is raising a demonic baby, and she walks the roads of Caria in the daylight, she will be spotted as a monster, not a human! Ledgers won't work here, Elias! A cleared file won't change what the public sees with their own eyes! Her child will live in the shadows forever, hunted by the very guilds she saved!" Roman hissed, glaring past the barrel into Elias's eyes.
BANG!
The deafening roar of the Death Chant Revolver exploded inside the enclosed office. The sheer muzzle flash illuminated the room for a fraction of a second. Elias didn't pull the trigger on Roman's forehead… instead, he sharply whipped the barrel an inch to the side at the exact millisecond of the discharge. The high-caliber round ripped directly through Roman's right ear, tearing the cartilage apart and embedding itself into the mahogany wall behind him.
Chief Roman clutched the side of his head, dropping to his knees behind his desk as a hoarse, agonizing scream of pain escaped his throat, bright red blood spilling through his fingers.
Near the doorway, Nautilus Cotton's eyes widened. As the former Secretary and a high-ranking official, his physical instincts kicked in; his hand immediately moved toward the hidden magic-amplifier at his waist to restrain Elias.
But before he could step forward, a sharp, crystalline wall of condensed crimson fluid violently snapped up right in front of his boots. I didn't even look at him. My mismatched jade-green and crimson eyes remained completely flat, my newly regenerated left hand extended toward the floor as my Phase 5 blood manipulation hummed with a quiet, lethal warning.
"Don't move, Nautilus, My brother is handling the administrative dispute." I said, my voice dropping into that chilling, mechanical deadpan.
Nautilus froze, his boots inches from my blood barrier, his sweat dripping onto the polished marble tiles as he realized that the two youngest Rynd siblings were completely prepared to slaughter the high command if a single hand touched me.
Elias didn't lower the smoking revolver. He stepped around the desk, his heavy combat boots clicking sharply right next to the kneeling, groaning Chief. He grabbed Roman by the collar of his white uniform, dragging him up until their faces were inches apart.
"I am going to ask you one last time, Roman, How do I fix this? How do I make sure my sister and her child walk through the capital without your hounds hunting them?" Elias snarled, the barrel of the Death Chant pressing hard into the Chief's uninjured temple.
Chief Roman wheezed, his chest heaving as he stared at the absolute, terrifying resolve in Elias's face. He knew the Shadow Walker wasn't bluffing; Elias would burn the entire Bureau down before he let his family be destroyed.
"The Bureau... the Bureau answers to the throne, If you want a permanent exemption... if you want her bloodline sanctioned and protected from the anti-demon edicts... ledgers won't save her. You need a royal decree. You have to talk directly to the King and Queen of Caria." Roman choked out, his voice trembling with pain as blood continued to track down his neck.
Elias slowly lowered the heavy iron barrel of the Death Chant Revolver, the dark, crackling static of his shadow mana gradually receding into his silhouette like a tide pulling back from the shore. The deadly, suffocating silence that filled the grand office of the Chief was broken only by the ragged, uneven breathing of Roman, who was still kneeling behind his mahogany desk, clutching the bloody, mangled ruin of his right ear. Elias didn't spare him a shred of pity; he merely clicked the safety back onto his firearm with a cold, mechanical snap and slid the weapon smoothly into his leather holster.
He turned his head slightly, his dark eyes locking onto our eldest sister.
"Heal him, Elicia,"
Elias commanded, his tone dropping into a flat, business-like register that signaled the end of the immediate violence.
Elicia stood up from her leather chair, the fabric of her cute dress rustling softly against the quiet room. Her expression was devoid of her usual bright, warm demeanor; instead, her face was set in a mask of pristine, aristocratic detachment. She walked around the desk, her pristine white boots stepping cleanly over the fresh drops of crimson blood staining the marble tiles. She extended her hands over Roman's head, and a sudden, blinding torrent of pure, golden divine mana erupted from her fingertips.
Because she possessed god-tier healing magic, the effects of her divine regeneration were immediate, violent, and absolute. The torn, charred cartilage of Roman's right ear began to knit itself back together at a visible, terrifying speed. The shredded skin smoothed over, the severed blood vessels reconnected with microscopic precision, and within a matter of seconds, the ear was completely regenerated, leaving behind flawless, unblemished skin as if the high-caliber bullet had never even grazed him. The only remaining proof of Elias's fury was the deep, smoking crater embedded in the mahogany paneling behind the chair.
Chief Roman staggered to his feet, gasping for air as the residual warmth of the divine magic faded from his skull. He rubbed his perfectly restored ear in utter bewilderment, his eyes darting from Elicia to Elias, realizing with absolute clarity that the Rynd siblings were a terrifyingly cohesive unit of destruction.
Elias stepped forward, leaning his large frame over the desk until he was directly in Roman's line of sight.
"Now, you are going to lead us straight to the King and Queen, The Royal Palace is located in the 9th District of Caria. Only the highest-ranking military officials and ministers have the clearance to bypass those barrier gates. You are going to be our key to get through the security perimeter."
Chief Roman swallowed hard, looking at the dried blood on his uniform and then at the smoking hole in his wall. He knew that if he refused, Elias wouldn't hesitate to take his head and use his status token anyway. He gave a slow, defeated nod of acceptance.
"Fine. If you wish to bring a anomaly before the throne, it is your own head on the executioner's block, Captain. I will grant you access."
I stood in the center of the twilight room, the pulsing, translucent crimson membranes of my massive blood wings slowly folding inward, compressing tightly against my spine beneath my white dress until they were completely hidden from view. I reached down with my newly restored, unblemished left hand and scooped my tattered dark traveling cloak off the floorboards. Shaking out the dust, I draped it back over my shoulders, pulling the heavy, deep hood low over my face to shield my mismatched jade-green and crimson eyes from any wandering light.
Before we moved toward the exit, my eyes shifted through the shadows of my hood, locking directly onto the tense form of Nautilus Cotton, who was still standing near the mahogany double doors, his hands resting near his waist.
"Come with us, Nautilus, I know you will snitch to the High Council the second our backs are turned. If we are walking into the 9th District, you are going to walk right alongside us where I can keep an eye on your variables." I said, my voice dropping into that chilling, mechanical deadpan that echoed with the weight of my time in the Tata cellars.
Nautilus gave a subtle, ironic smile, recognizing the clinical, adaptive paranoia that made me the most efficient hunter in the Andromeda territory. He raised his hands in a passive gesture.
"Fair enough, Eirene. I suppose the principal of the academy should witness history in the making."
With our objectives set and our keys secured, we left the Chief's office in a tight, formidable formation. Chief Roman walked in the front, his posture stiff as he tried to hide the bloodstains on his collar, followed immediately by Elias and Nautilus, while Elicia and I walked side-by-side in the center of the shadows. We marched out of the grand administrative wing of the Capital Knights Bureau Association, stepping past the unsuspecting paladins and entering the elite corridors that led directly to the ultimate seat of power in Caria.