I glided down the dirt path toward the massive iron gates of Lulu City, my right hand gripping the edge of the stolen cloak tightly, ensuring the heavy fabric completely sealed the silhouette of my retracted blood wings from view.
Clop-clop... stomp-stomp...
The rapid, heavy thud of combat boots echoed through the pre-dawn fog. A massive patrol of city policemen surged down the road right in my direction, lanterns swaying as they frantically searched the perimeter for the escaped convict, Keane Leon. They marched directly past my cloaked figure, their eyes scanning the treeline and the ditches. They had absolutely no idea that the broken, tanned, one-armed girl walking silently in the shadows was the very phantom who had just demolished their high-security Citadel. They were completely wasting their time, chasing a ghost that no longer existed.
I left the clueless patrol behind and approached the secondary archway of the city walls. Standing guard at the checkpoint under the flickering torchlight was the veteran gatekeeper of Lulu City, Keith Pat.
He leaned against his halberd, his eyes narrowing as my hooded figure stepped into the light. Recognizing my iconic facial scar, his tense posture relaxed, and a faint grin broke through his gruff demeanor.
"Oh, you returned, Eirene, loving the beaches in this city? Anyways, you know the drill… toll and status card."
A cold spike of realization hit my mind. My leather purse, which contained my entire supply of gold coins and my official adventurer registration card, was still sitting completely untouched inside my hidden stash at the Golden Shrimp Inn. I was completely empty-handed.
Remaining entirely stoic and mute, I kept my hood low and systematically slid my right hand into the pockets of the stolen merchant girl's traveler outfit, desperately scanning for any leftover assets. My fingers brushed against a cold, metallic disc hidden in the lining.
Clink.
I pulled it out. Luckily, it was a pristine city silver coin. I stepped forward and flipped the silver piece directly into Keith's palm as the standard entry toll. I then stood perfectly still, offering no status card from my empty pockets.
Keith looked down at his hand, then back up at my empty eye socket and my silent, unmoving expression.
"No status card? Lost it again, Eirene? Well, anyways, I'm no stranger to you. You're a registered bounty hunter, and you've brought in enough heads to prove it. You can go on through." Keith sighed, shaking his head with a wave of his hand.
I gave him a single, curt nod, the heavy fabric of the cloak shifting as I stepped past the iron portcullis and entered the cobblestone streets of Lulu City. The first line of defense had been bypassed without a single drop of blood. Now, all that stood between me and my ultimate arsenal was a quiet trek through the waking city streets to the Golden Shrimp Inn.
I glided silently through the awakening cobblestone streets of the merchant district, my boots making no sound against the pavement as I kept my single right hand buried in the folds of the stolen cloak.
As I approached the familiar wooden facade of the Golden Shrimp Inn, a fresh piece of parchment plastered onto the exterior wall caught my attention. It was a hastily printed bounty poster, and staring back from the ink was the sharp, handsome face of Keane Leon. The entire city was officially being flooded with his likeness, branding him a high-priority, wanted fugitive.
I pushed past the heavy oak doors, slipping into the dim, humid warmth of the inn's common room. Even at this early hour, the tavern was packed with nervous patrons huddled over tankards, their voices buzzing with chaotic energy. The rumors of the Citadel's destruction had already saturated the populace.
"Hey, why are the police conducting a widespread search in our homes? I was jolted out of bed by those annoying officers tearing through my cellar!" one trader grumbled loudly, slamming his fist onto a table.
A seasoned sailor sitting across from him leaned in, lowering his voice.
"There's a prisoner who escaped the Citadel. You know, the fortress island just off the coast of Lulu City? It's been a decade since anyone successfully breached those walls, and some petty pickpocket named Keane just pulled it off."
I paused for a brief fraction of a second in the shadows of the staircase, a dark, mocking grin playing beneath my hood.
The word had spread in an instant. The entire kingdom truly believed the Dodorant Citadel was an absolutely fortified, unbreakable fortress. To the public, it was completely impossible to believe that the ultimate prison designed by Captain Friedrich himself could ever be compromised… let alone dismantled by a lone, one-armed girl like me. Little did those gossiping fools know that the "legendary phantom" they were terrified of was standing right behind them, completely invisible in plain sight.
Leaving the clueless civilians to their rumors, I slipped up the wooden stairs and hurried down the dim hallway of the second floor. I arrived at the door marked Room 102… my private sanctuary. I slid the secret latch open and stepped inside, ready to reclaim my lethal arsenal and finalize the hunt for Don Anthony.
I closed the door of Room 102 behind me and moved swiftly to the mattress. Reaching deep beneath the frame into my hidden compartment, my fingers wrapped around the familiar cold steel of my Death Chant Shotgun and the heavy leather of my purse. Everything was perfectly intact. For a split second, a cold calculation had crossed my mind that some low-level thief like Keane might have ransacked the room while I was away, but my flawless preparation had neutralized that risk. The night before my infiltration, I had paid the barkeep to extend my reservation for two full days. He had accepted the coin without question, leaving my sanctuary and my lethal belongings completely untouched while I was busy dismantling Captain Friedrich's fortress.
I checked the contents of the purse. My gold coins and adventurer status card were right where I left them. With my baseline arsenal reclaimed, the chessboard was perfectly set. I had successfully acquired Luke Granhart's DNA, and the stolen map pinned the exact coordinates of the arms trafficking guild to the Western town of Carcaka. The Citadel chapter was officially closed.
I strode to the window, unlatching the wooden frame and slipping out onto the sloped shingles of the inn's rooftop. Standing beneath the starry expanse, my internal chronological clock calibrated the exact timeline: two hours had passed since midnight, making it precisely 2:00 AM.
My mastermind calculations immediately flagged a major geographical and biological hazard. Lulu City is situated on the eastern edge of the region. Reaching the arms trafficking guild in Carcaka required a massive journey due west. If I attempted to fly straight to Carcaka in one continuous aerial sprint, the sun would inevitably rise while I was mid-flight over open territory, incinerating my primordial vampiric body to ash.
I didn't have the luxury of time for a direct route. I needed to map out a tactical waypoint. The city of Caria lay perfectly positioned between the east and the west, offering the ideal subterranean shelter to hole up before the devastating ultraviolet rays of dawn hit the continent.
I adjusted the merchant girl's heavy cloak, ensuring my shotgun and purse were securely fastened beneath the fabric. Then, with a sudden, silent flex of my shoulder blades, I unfurled my massive Blood Wings. With a single, powerful downstroke that kicked up a vortex of wind across the rooftops, I launched myself into the midnight sky, soaring into the dark clouds.
My destination is Caria first, then onward to Carcaka to claim Don Anthony's head.