Night fell.
Following the system's guidance, Rod left the center of Kuoh Town and headed toward an abandoned factory on the outskirts. When he opened the map, he saw that the mission targets had been stationary there for quite some time. Several red markers glowed brightly, clustered together.
"Not bad. They should be here soon enough."
After Akeno and the others left earlier, Rod had come alone.
The abandoned factory served as a temporary base for the stray exorcists. Though only twenty kilometers from Kuoh's city center in a straight line, it lay beyond Rias's territorial boundary, which was why her familiars had failed to detect any suspicious activity.
Of course, Rod suspected that even if the base had been hidden in a basement downtown, Rias's lack of vigilance might still have allowed it to go unnoticed.
Shaking off the thought, he focused on the present.
With Aura Concealment EX activated and his newly acquired Ki perception, Rod had effectively become a walking stealth unit and detection radar combined. He could sense every stray exorcist inside the factory with startling clarity.
There were no outer sentries hidden in the darkness, perhaps they believed that working under a fallen angel executive's name was deterrent enough. Still, more than thirty heavily armed exorcists patrolled the grounds. The only entrance into the main building was tightly guarded, making infiltration far from simple.
Aura Concealment wasn't true invisibility, and this wasn't some video game where enemies ignored you as long as their alert meter stayed green. If someone looked directly at him, he would be seen.
Even if he managed to slip inside unnoticed, escaping with the Holy Swords would be another matter entirely.
If he wanted this to succeed, he would need a carefully crafted plan.
Three seconds later, a highly sophisticated strategy took shape in his mind.
Step one: enter the factory with his left foot.
Step two: adapt to the situation.
After all, no plan survives contact with reality.
Deciding that flexibility was key, Rod stepped out from the tree line and approached the entrance.
Two guards stood by the gate, chatting casually. Judging from their relaxed posture, they felt secure under the protection of a fallen angel executive.
As stray exorcists, their conversation was predictably crude, money, killing, women, bodies, vulgar jokes tumbling over one another without restraint.
Rod couldn't help but sigh internally.
Where was their faith?
Where was their so called sense of justice?
And more importantly, where exactly was that "massage parlor" they kept hinting at?
"Did you hear something?" one of the guards muttered suddenly, feeling a chill down his spine. He turned around but saw nothing.
"You did, brother. You definitely did."
"Where? And why does your voice sound differe- wait, who are- ?!"
The guard froze.
Standing before him was a black-haired young man smiling pleasantly. At his feet lay his partner, neck twisted a full one hundred eighty degrees, resting peacefully.
"Enem-"
Before he could finish the word, Rod sent him to join his friend.
Using the same method, Rod eliminated more than a dozen outer guards with clean efficiency before slipping into the building through the only entrance.
Inside, faint voices echoed from deeper within.
After advancing several dozen steps, he saw them.
A cluster of stray exorcists stood around a central altar-like space. At its center, a short, heavyset elderly man in bishop's robes was speaking to a lone exorcist.
The man facing him carried several swords strapped across his back.
A faint but unmistakable holy aura radiated outward.
In the dim lighting, Rod studied the swordsman's face. Something about him seemed familiar.
He opened the system panel.
[Name: Freed Sellzen II]
[Gender: Male]
[Status: Holy Sword factor enhancement in progress.]
Rod blinked.
An old acquaintance.
Hadn't he killed this guy in the Vatican?
Then he noticed the "II" at the end of the name.
Ah.
Freed wasn't born naturally; he was a Church-created warrior, developed from the genetic template of the Germanic hero Siegfried. If one version proved effective, it made sense they would attempt to replicate him.
Rod vaguely remembered even a female variant appearing later.
Understanding dawned.
By now, Rod had positioned himself at the only exit. Having deactivated Aura Concealment upon entering, his presence was quickly noticed.
The stray exorcists turned as one.
For a split second, they stared blankly at him.
Then start of chaos.
Weapons were drawn in a flurry, pistols, light blades, trembling hands aiming directly at him.
"Don't move! Get down!"
"On your knees!"
"Hands up!"
"Stay still!"
The orders overlapped and contradicted one another.
Rod spread his hands helplessly.
"So… do you want me to move, or not?"
The exorcists faltered, glancing at each other in confusion as if genuinely debating the logistics of his compliance.
At the altar, the old bishop snapped out of his stupor.
"What are you waiting for?! Kill him!"
Ah, right.
They were stray exorcists, murderers and zealots. Why were they behaving like incompetent police officers?
Gunfire erupted.
In the chaos, someone accidentally shot out several overhead lights. The room plunged into darkness.
Pitch black.
Except for Rod.
Between his night vision, the system's crimson markers hovering above enemy heads, and the flow of Ki mapping their positions, the darkness meant nothing to him.
The next second, muzzle flashes flickered.
Bullets spun through the air and detonated against foreheads with brutal precision. Skulls split open; blood and bone sprayed across concrete walls.
More experienced exorcists dove for cover the moment the lights went out.
It didn't matter.
No matter where they hid, Rod's shots found them.
On the system map, red dots vanished one after another.
"You damn mon-"
The speaker's head exploded mid-sentence.
In less than ten seconds, the factory floor fell silent.
Only two figures remained standing.
And one of them was Rod.
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