The chamber lights were still cold.
Still.
Silent.
The two figures hadn't moved since appearing.
Like statues carved from darkness itself.
He stood facing them.
Expression unreadable.
But the atmosphere—
had changed.
The room no longer felt controlled.
It felt hunted.
Then—
one of the assassins stepped forward.
Slowly.
Katana resting loosely at his side.
Not threatening.
Not rushed.
Confident.
The second moved toward Seraphina instead.
Silent.
Measured.
Immediately—
his eyes sharpened.
"…Stop."
The assassin ignored him completely.
That—
was intentional.
The masked figure reached Seraphina first.
She tried to rise—
but her body still felt heavy from the mental strain.
Unstable.
Slower than normal.
The assassin crouched slightly.
Then effortlessly lifted her onto his back.
Controlled.
Careful.
Like he had done this before.
Seraphina's vision blurred slightly.
But through the haze—
she noticed something strange.
The assassin carrying her—
smelled faintly of smoke and rain.
Not blood.
Not death.
"…Who are you…" she murmured weakly.
No response.
Not even acknowledgment.
The second assassin finally raised his katana.
Not toward her.
Toward him.
Silence tightened.
Then—
movement exploded.
The chamber door burst open.
Guards flooded in.
Weapons raised instantly.
Too many.
Too fast.
"DON'T LET THEM LEAVE!"
Gunfire erupted.
Violent.
Sudden.
But the assassins moved like flowing shadows.
No wasted motion.
No panic.
Only precision.
The second assassin vanished forward—
ot literally—
just impossibly fast.
Steel flashed once.
A guard froze mid-step.
Then collapsed.
Another turned—
too late.
A slash across the throat.
Clean.
Efficient.
No scream.
The assassin carrying Seraphina didn't stop moving either.
Even with her weight against him—
his movements remained terrifyingly smooth.
He dodged gunfire by inches.
Shifted through blind spots.
Advanced without hesitation.
"…Seal the exits!" someone shouted.
Too late.
The second assassin spun low beneath incoming fire—
katana slicing upward.
A weapon split apart.
Then the man holding it fell a second later.
Blood sprayed across the stone walls.
Dark.
Heavy.
The branch facility descended into chaos instantly.
Alarms screamed.
Red emergency lights flooded the corridors.
Doors slammed shut throughout the compound.
But somehow—
the assassins already knew the layout.
The escape route wasn't random.
That became obvious quickly.
Every turn—
preselected.
Every hallway—
timed.
They moved through the compound like they had walked it a hundred times before.
More guards appeared ahead.
Six this time.
Armed heavily.
Prepared.
The second assassin stopped walking.
Just once.
One guard fired immediately.
Then another.
Then all at once.
Gunfire tore through the corridor violently.
Concrete shattered.
Smoke burst outward.
But when visibility cleared—
the assassin was gone.
A shadow appeared behind them.
Then—
slaughter.
Fast.
Terrifyingly fast.
One slash—
another—
a spin—
blood across the walls.
A guard lunged desperately with a knife—
the assassin caught his wrist barehanded—
snapped it sideways—
then drove the katana through his chest.
No emotion.
No hesitation.
Just execution.
Seraphina watched through half-conscious eyes.
Breathing uneven.
Mind struggling to stay awake.
But even now—
something felt familiar.
Not the fighting style.
Not the movement.
The presence.
Like she had stood near it before.
The assassin carrying her suddenly shifted direction.
Abruptly.
A second later—
bullets tore through the hallway they would've entered.
Ambush.
More guards.
Hidden above.
The second assassin reacted instantly.
Throwing a blade upward—
one guard dropped from the rafters.
Then he leapt upward himself—
using the wall for momentum—
katana flashing brutally in the red emergency light.
Bodies hit the ground hard.
One after another.
The compound wasn't defending anymore.
It was collapsing.
Some guards started retreating.
Others froze completely.
Because these weren't normal infiltrators.
They were monsters trained for one thing—
Extraction.
Meanwhile—
inside the lower command room—
panic spread rapidly.
"They breached Sector C!"
"How many are there?!"
No answer came.
Because nobody truly knew.
Every camera feed they checked—
either cut to static—
or showed bodies.
One officer swallowed hard.
"…Who the hell sent them?"
Silence.
Then—
a voice from the back of the room.
Quiet.
Uneasy.
"…Not sent."
A pause.
"…Summoned."
Back in the corridors—
the assassins finally reached the outer exit.
Massive reinforced doors.
Already beginning to close.
The second assassin looked at the narrowing gap.
Then at the one carrying Seraphina.
A silent exchange.
Understood instantly.
He turned back toward the approaching guards alone.
Katana lowering slightly.
And for the first time—
he spoke.
"…Go."
The other assassin moved immediately.
No hesitation.
Carrying Seraphina through the closing exit.
Vanishing into the rain outside.
The remaining assassin stayed behind.
Facing over twenty armed men alone.
No fear.
No urgency.
Only stillness.
One guard whispered shakily—
"…What are you?"
The masked assassin tilted his blade slightly.
Rainwater dripping from the steel.
Then—
he moved.
The doors slammed shut.
Cutting off the screams that followed.
Outside—
the rain poured heavily across the isolated branch estate.
Black vehicles waited silently in the forest beyond.
Engines already running.
The assassin carrying Seraphina approached without slowing.
One of the car doors opened automatically.
As he carefully lowered her inside—
Seraphina forced her heavy eyes upward one last time.
Trying to see his face beneath the mask.
But before darkness fully claimed her—
she saw only one thing clearly.
A faint symbol near his collar.
The vine branch of a peach tree.
Then—
everything went black.