A few days had passed since the winter solstice.
Step. Step. Step.
Inside the government building, an odor of blood trailed behind Jet, yet her uniform remained completely clean. The scent filled the corridor, forcing the nearby office workers to quickly pull away as she walked past.
Jet completely ignored them. She knew this entire facility was already compromised, with almost every employee acting as a spy for the great clans and tracking every move the government made.
Step. Step.
'These people are so open about their corruption. It almost feels like they want this place to be unbearable just to force me into joining one of the clans.'
In reality, the great clans had already corrupted most government sectors across the world.
But Jet had a counter-strategy. She had started making moves weeks ago, aiming to secretly pull the majority of these compromised facilities under her own control.
Step.
She was only here because the facility manager had called for her. He was a simple Awakened who somehow gave orders to an Ascended, serving as another pawn for the clans.
'He is decent enough for an Awakened, just smart enough to follow orders without asking questions.'
Jet could effortlessly end ten people like him in seconds if she chose to, but she had to play along with the rules for now.
She arrived at a soundproof door leading into his private office, but instead of walking inside, she leaned back against the wall, folded her arms, and stared directly at the handle.
Some times passed.
Clang.
The bottom of the door scraped loudly against the floor, and a young woman stepped out into the quiet hallway.
The girl paused the moment she noticed Jet, locking her bright red eyes onto Jet's face. She wore a tailored black business suit, had pale skin, dark wavy hair, and wore metal gloves.
'Morgan of Valor.'
Jet met her gaze without flinching, her completely blank expression contrasting with Morgan's immaculate, high-class appearance.
"Guess you are finally here."
Morgan did not bother waiting for a response and stepped closer.
"They call you the Soul Reaper, quite a dramatic title. I reviewed your recent reports, they were interesting, and I also learned you turned down our offer to join the clan. I believe you understand the consequences."
'Wow, no greeting at all, we are diving straight into it.'
A faint smile crossed Jet's lips as she analyzed the girl, noting how the polite tone did not match the underlying threat.
'Either serve the clan or be eliminated, that is her message.'
Jet reached up to massage her neck, stretching the muscles as she stepped away from the wall to face Morgan directly, completely unbothered by how close they were standing.
'She is remarkably tall, the elite lifestyle certainly paid off.'
Growing up malnourished on the streets of the outskirts had permanently stunted Jet's growth, leaving her shorter than most awakened women her age.
"Oh, Princess, I am sure you have heard other titles too. One of them is that I am a blood-thirsty maniac, and a maniac does not simply put down her weapon, does she?"
Morgan looked down at her, silently acknowledging the height difference while processing the hidden meaning behind the words.
"A volatile executioner is a dangerous asset, you are right. A weapon with madness in its edge should never turn against the hand that lets it swing."
Morgan lowered her gaze to her metal glove, slowly flexing her fingers.
"But out here in the wilderness, a sheath is not the only way a master controls a maniac. If a tool becomes too unstable for the yard, it turns into a liability. It would be a tragedy if a weapon became so blind with rage that it had to be broken before it could even strike the enemy."
She looked back down at Jet, using her stature to try and break Jet's confidence.
"After all, a broken blade cannot protect a house, no matter how sharp it was before it snapped."
Jet's expression remained completely unchanged, as she remained calm and refused to let herself look like the weaker opponent.
"Princess, you are far too philosophical for me. A master who spends all day worrying about who owns the weapon usually misses the blade right in front of them. If Clan Valor wants to see my work, look at the casualty counts. But if you traveled all this way, I doubt it was just to lecture me."
Jet checked her watch, entirely indifferent to the warning.
"I only have ten minutes of free time left, and the dead do not care about politics. If the King's daughter has a target for me to cut, tell me now. Otherwise, I have actual work to do."
Morgan's smile grew wider.
"You are very direct. Since time is short, I will drop the pleasantries. I have two specific questions for you."
She continued.
"Kiyotaka's body has vanished from the Academy, and the rest of the awakened assigned to your temporary team is dead, leaving you as the sole survivor. Do you know where his body is in the waking world, and did you kill those Awakened?"
'So the rumors about his aspect finally reached the great clans.'
A genuine smile appeared on Jet's face. She could have hidden it, but she actively wanted to irritate Morgan.
"Why the sudden interest in a few dead soldiers and a missing body, Princess? And why should I even give you an answer? According to my contract, I work for the government, not your clan. But if you want my guess, someone simply beat Clan Valor to the prize. It must be exhausting to always be a step too slow."
Jet watched Morgan closely for any reaction, but the girl kept her composure despite the clear provocation.
Jet knew Morgan was stronger than her, which was exactly why she kept challenging her with that unblinking stare.
"You work for the government, yes. But Jet, the government belongs to us. Every stone of this building, the budget for your gear, and the official who signs your paperwork only exists because the clans allow it. Serving them is just a polite alternative to serving Valor."
Jet fell silent for a moment and sighed, her completely relaxed posture making the watching spies look even more terrified.
"Wow, you are not even trying to hide the truth anymore. The great clans truly own everything. Well, since you put it that way, I guess a regular official like me has no choice but to give you an answer, Princess."
'It looks like our dear princess suspects that I am trying to wipe out their corruption.'
***
In the dead of the night, the entire forest was almost colorless. Shadows swallowed the trees, and a cold wind blew through the branches.
Jet sat alone on a rotting log, listening to the crunch of dry leaves in the distance.
A group of five men stumbled out from the brush, sweating under their load.
They carried a massive glass container that stood eight feet tall, holding the unconscious body of Kiyotaka. Tubes and emergency oxygen supplies ran into his mouth, keeping his heart beating.
Jet had spent weeks disabling every security camera in the sector for this exact moment.
As the men set the glass box down,
Thud.
She let out an ugly, mocking laugh. It was a harsh sound that echoed through the woods, meant to humiliate them.
Almost three weeks ago, the very day she met with Kiyotaka for the second time, these government workers had tried to sell information about their meeting to the clans.
Jet had tracked them down, beaten them until they could barely stand, and forced them into a binding vow thanks to Kiyotaka.
The five double agents stared at her with wide eyes, their breath coming in short gasps. One of them stepped forward, trying to find his courage, and stammered out a warning.
"You can't kill us, if you do-"
Before the man could finish his sentence, Jet disappeared and struck him across the face. The force of the blow lifted him off his feet and threw him against a nearby tree. He slumped into the dirt, coughing up a dark splash of blood.
Jet looked down at him with an entirely deadpan expression.
"If I kill you, they will suspect that I had something to do with this Kiyotaka shit and y'all and blah blah blah. Shut the fuck up, I am not gonna kill y'all."
The other four men flinched violently, none of them daring to speak or look her in the eyes. Jet ignored their fear and slid open the glass door of the container, stepping inside.
"Y'all are really trying to tell me consequences when you were the ones who tried to be double agents."
Inside the capsule, Kiyotaka lay perfectly still on the white hospital mattress, surrounded by wires. He looked fragile, but Jet felt no pity as she pulled the blanket away from his chest. She reached into his hospital clothes and pulled out a sealed paper.
The paper was tightly bound with a thick black thread. She did not open it yet, choosing instead to toss the blanket back over his face. She casually flicked his forehead, stepped out of the box, and locked the door shut.
She tossed the sealed paper toward the trembling men and gave her final command.
"Y'all can no longer ally yourselves to the clans, so just grit those teeth. Follow the binding vow, and put this guy wherever that page says, then seal it back and give the page back to me."
The man she had struck dragged himself back to the group, his legs shaking as he stood upright.
"The tides are changing and you all better ally yourselves with us."
After saying that, Jet smiled and looked up at the dark sky with a satisfied expression.
"Totally coincidentally, the entire city has a power outage today, so you better get to work while I go and complete the mission. Your time starts now. Once three hours pass, every extra minute you take will result in one of your fingers being cut off."
With trembling hands, one of the men lit a small lighter to read the coordinates on the page. He memorized the text, tied the black thread back into a tight knot, and handed it to Jet.
She shoved the paper deep into her coat pocket without looking at it.
The five workers lifted the glass cage, disappearing into the dark jungle at a run. Jet watched them vanish into the night.
A wild smile spread across her face as she turned around and walked back toward the silent city.
'During the mission, I was seriously injured and my five teammates tragically died to monsters. I miss them.'
***
"Wow, you are not even trying to hide the truth anymore. The great clans truly own everything. Well, since you put it that way, I guess a regular official like me has no choice but to give you an answer, Princess."
'It looks like our dear princess suspects that I am trying to wipe out their corruption.'
Jet playfully brought her hand up to her chin, making a mocked thinking gesture.
"I don't know where Kiyotaka is, and I certainly did not kill my teammates. Now, if you will excuse me, Princess, I have actual duties to attend to."
Jet stepped forward to walk past Morgan. She intentionally gave the girl a wide berth, ensuring their clothes did not even brush against each other as she reached for the office door handle. Before she could turn it, a genuinely impressed voice spoke from behind her.
"You are surprisingly good at this, Jet. You are quite the opposite of the so-called mindless maniac from the files. I suppose we really cannot judge a person based on simple rumors."
The handle turned and the door pushed open. Stepping into the room, a final look went back over the shoulder to deliver the parting words.
"And you are exactly who the rumors say you are."
The door swung shut between them and clicked locked. Outside in the corridor, Morgan stared at the blank wood for a moment before turning on her heel to walk away.
"I guess the only way to find him now is to either wait for him to wake up, or hunt down his soul in the dream realm."
***
Jet entered the office, which was classically decorated with certificates, degrees, a sword, and a shield all over the black and white room.
Towards the left wall was a chair and table where the one who had called Jet sat. His eyes were focused, wearing a government uniform and neat hair. He looked like a perfect government person to anyone, but Jet knew the reality.
He was Mike, and he was thirty years old.
Jet stopped walking and made sure that Morgan had gone away.
Mike kept staring at Jet without saying anything. He could smell the reek of blood from her, which meant she had killed so many monsters that even a wash could not get rid of the smell any longer.
He saw Jet's head slowly, almost carelessly turn towards him, and his heart stopped beating for a second before pounding continuously.
Jet looked him dead in the eyes, and a wide smile spread across her face, sending goosebumps up his entire body.
Then Jet disappeared from right in front of him. He stood up and looked to his left.
Jet was not there.
To his right.
Jet was not there.
He gulped and equipped his armor as he slowly looked back.
Jet was not there.
He looked up.
Nothing.
He looked left and right and back again, but there was no Jet to be seen.
Suddenly his vision began to fall towards the ground.
Thud.
His face bounced off the floor. He had been thrown down by a simple slap from Jet.
He began to shake as he looked up at his table, only to see Jet sitting on it, looking down on him. Her eyes carried no emotions.
Slowly, a chain began to appear out of thin air connecting their throats. Mike was also under a binding vow.
"Why the fuck do you have armor on."
Slowly, Mike's armor began to disappear into the air as he bit his lips.
Jet stepped down from the table. She put her hand on his neat hair and pulled him up.
"You really told Morgan that I was the one who discovered the brat, and you even let her see the reports where those five died."
Her other hand rose up and slammed across his cheek.
SLAP.
"Bark what you want to say already."
The reason she had not killed the spies in the first place was so the clans would not get word about them. Having their own spies spying on the owners was much better.
"T-There was no other wa-"
SLAP.
His head snapped to the left as he was struck again.
"Yeah, I know there wasn't any other way for them not to get suspicious, but do I give a fuck if what you did was right or not."
SLAP.
"Do you think I care about your circumstances."
SLAP.
"Because of you, many Awakened have died, and their families committed suicide because of the harassment."
SLAP.
These slaps were not really hurting him physically because he was an Awakened, but they were way more humiliating than killing him ever would be.
"Look at the karma. You are probably so humiliated that you want to kill yourself, but don't forget, if you do that, the next one I will go to is not other government workers."
Finally, a smile came once again to her monotonous face and dead eyes.
"I will go and bleed your family."
SLAP.
Mike had no way to escape this situation. There had been only six binding vows done within the government, five with those Awakened and one with Mike.
"I have always wanted to puke whenever I saw kids saying good will defeat bad always, and that they just had to wait until their hero comes."
SLAP.
"The likes of you have manipulated the textbooks so much that others don't even try to fight for themselves, they just wait for their so-called hero to come."
SLAP.
"There are no heroes in this world, Mike. Look at me. Do I look like a savior to you?"
SLAP.
"In this world, there are only demons and monsters."
SLAP.
"And then, there are even worse monsters."
She leaned in closer, her breath hitting against his ear as she let out a low, quiet chuckle that grew into a loud laugh.
"Monsters like me, who enjoy watching you break."
SLAP.
"Did you think someone would burst through that door and save you? Did you think your loyalty to the great clans would buy you mercy? They don't care about a piece of trash like you."
SLAP.
"To them, you are just a tool to be used and thrown away."
SLAP.
"Good can never defeat evil, but you know what can? A greater evil."
She continued to slap him for minutes straight, laughing in the process, the sound of her palms hitting his skin filling the quiet room. Mike could only tear up.
"That guy, the brat... I know for sure that he himself has many plans to make his own connections and network. He is too smart to not utilize his Aspect that way. The waking world will just be going from the hands of the clans to his."
SLAP.
"I can easily kill him and stop it, but am I gonna? No. I could care less what he does with his power as long as humanity is not under any risk."
SLAP.
"In fact, I think I will actually help him. I will clear the path for him just to watch him tear down everything you stand for."
SLAP.
"Let him build his empire, let him crush everything you and your masters love, I will gladly sit back and watch the flames while holding your leash."
SLAP.
"Mike, did I say that you could close your eyes? I want them open. I want them open for you to see that everything the clans have worked for is coming to an end."
She left his hair and grabbed his face from both sides, squeezing his cheeks until his jaws pressed painfully against his teeth.
"Did you think that you would rule all the time? That karma would never come? Once the brat comes back, I will make sure to throw the great clans out from the roots of the government."
She grabbed his neck and began to choke him, lifting his heavy body slightly off the ground as the chain between them hit the floor.
"It's just a matter of time."
*****
Alright, after this, only one side story is left... one that will maybe... reveal everything about the all the side stories?
Man, why do I always write this fic in such a way that only the last few chapter ties all the plot points together? Oof.
Guess this is it for this chapter.
Four days for exam, one or two side stories, and then we begin Volume 2. Which will also have quite a few "everything comes together" moments.
I hate my plot style. Cus sooner or later it will become too gimmicky.
Peace.