The sharp, vertical shadows of the tall stone apartments in the 3rd District's residential sector did little to ease the intense structural suffocations of my own mind. We walked down the cobblestone road, a bizarre, contrasting trio of biological anomalies that drew the passing glances of local citizens and off-duty low-ranking guards alike. Even without my heavy vanguard hood obscuring my face, the psychological weight of standing between my two sisters felt like an physical press against my ribs.
I was quite literally the odd one out in every single conceivable metric.
Two months ago, Evelyn had been a relatively manageable 5'3", her half-slime physiology still stabilizing after her rescue from the depths of the mining complexes.
But now, as we navigated the crowded thoroughfare, I had to look up at her. Her unstable, highly adaptive hybrid cellular structure had undergone yet another rapid, evolutionary growth spurt, pushing her frame to a commanding 5'6". She had officially surpassed her older sister in height, her voluptuous form filling out the white-and-scarlet Luminous Knight uniform with an intimidating, S-rank structural presence.
And to her left stood Elicia, a 5'8" silver-haired giant whose regal posture and commanding build made her look like an ancient, mythological paladin brought to life.
Then, there was me. Static at 5'5". My standard, compact C-cup chest sat in the literal shadow of Evelyn's fluctuating F-cup and Elicia's staggering, seam-ripping G-cup. Even our genetics seemed to have chosen me as the canvas for an identity crisis.
My hair was a dark brown that frayed into sharp silver tips at the edges; Evelyn's hair was a deep, earthy brown that bled into vibrant, bioluminescent blue-green tips that faintly pulsed with her emotional shifts; Elicia's hair was a waterfall of pure, pristine silver. My eyes were a mismatched, volatile pairing of vampiric crimson and human jade-green; Evelyn's were a deep, innocent forest green; Elicia's were a pair of piercing, ancient crimson spheres that possessed none of the bloodlust but all of the intensity. No matter how I calculated the lineage, I was the volatile middle ground… the bridge between the human, the monster, and the divine.
As we crossed an intersection where the buildings cleared, exposing a wide, unobstructed plaza baking under the harsh morning sun, I instinctively tensed, my boots scraping against the stone as I looked for the nearest awning. My vampire core pulsed a warning through my nervous system, recalling the violent, agonizing sting of solar radiation.
Elicia noticed my hesitation instantly. She slowed her long, graceful stride, the heavy healing staff in her right hand clicking softly against the pavement. She reached out, her fingers gently brushing against the fabric of my sleeve, her crimson eyes softening with an immense, protective warmth.
"Little Ren, don't hide in the sunlight, I've got you. Remember?" Elicia murmured, her voice carrying the soothing, resonant weight of a high-tier high priestess.
I took a slow, deliberate breath, forcing my shoulders to drop. Beneath my skin, the continuous-nullification loop of her Divine Regeneration magic was already hummed in tandem with my own mana pool. The moment the golden rays struck my pale cheeks, the microscopic, blinding flashes of white light went to work at a cellular level. The solar radiation was actively trying to tear my half-vampire DNA apart, but Elicia's advanced spell was faster, erasing the necrotic damage at the exact microsecond of contact. It was a flawless, invisible heat shield that allowed me to walk through the light as if I were nothing more than an ordinary human girl.
To my right, Evelyn skipped slightly to keep pace, her heavy armor clinking rhythmically. Despite her intimidating, fully matured 5'6" warrior physique, she held her half-empty jar of strawberry jam close to her chest like a toddler guarding a favorite toy. Her blue-green hair tips flickered with a warm, comforting glow as she looked down at me, completely oblivious to the complex, multi-layered tactical calculations running through my head.
She was a biological weapon capable of tearing an elite vanguard squad limb from limb, yet mentally, she was still the traumatized six-year-old child who had known nothing but the dark, suffocating horrors of the subterranean mines. She didn't see the politics of the Bureau, nor did she care about the 18 gold bounty resting on my head; she was just incredibly happy to be walking in the open air, flanked by her older sisters.
"The Bureau headquarters is just past the central plaza, Chief Roman is usually in his office by now. He likes to have his tea before the morning casualty reports come in from the outer sectors." Evelyn said, her voice carrying that distinct, youthful innocence that contrasted so sharply with her S-rank stats. She took another small spoonful of the pure jam, licking her lips contentedly
"Then we shouldn't keep the Chief waiting, If the capital truly believes Branch 1 was entirely wiped out without a single survivor, our collective arrival is going to trigger a administrative heart attack." I replied, my voice smooth, cold, and entirely restored, though I kept my tone low enough to avoid drawing the attention of a passing patrol of Luminous Knights.
Elicia gripped her staff a bit tighter, her eyes narrowing slightly as she scanned the grand, white-stone architecture of the approaching Knights Bureau complex.
"Let them panic, Ren. They left my soldiers to rot in the northern snow based on incomplete intelligence and political cowardice. If Roman wants a word with us, he is going to get a reality check instead."
We moved forward as a unified front, stepping out of the residential alleys and into the grand, sunlit avenues of the capital's main administrative district. I kept my massive crimson wings pinned flat and hidden beneath my clothes, the leather buckles straining slightly against my spine, keeping the secret of the "Blood-Sucking Winged Demon" safely buried beneath layers of stolen vanguard fabric. We were three sisters born of tragedy, modified by monsters, and bound by blood… and the Bureau was about to realize that the ghosts of the Rynd family had finally come home to collect their debts.
As we approached the imposing iron gates of the Knights Bureau, I spotted Renny, the regular morning gatekeeper, standing at his post. He adjusted his helmet, his eyes widening slightly as he recognized Evelyn's white-and-scarlet uniform, but before he could even open his mouth to greet us, Evelyn shifted her attention to Elicia.
"Elicia, Why do you call big sister 'little Ren' anyway?"
Elicia let out a soft, nostalgic chuckle, the heavy silver staff in her hand clicking rhythmically against the stone ground.
"Oh, that's easy. To me, she is the true youngest of our family that I grew up with. I just took 'Eirene,' shortened it to 'Ren,' and added a 'little' because she'll always be my tiny baby sister. Back then, we all had nicknames for each other."
I rolled my mismatched eyes under the warm sunlight, my crimson and green gaze staring straight ahead as we walked past a stunned Renny. I kept my lips pressed into a thin line, already knowing where this trip down memory lane was going.
"Our eldest brother, for instance, He used to call Eirene 'Weird Eyes.' Because, well, obviously... she has always had those unique, completely mismatched eyes. And our other older brother? He used to call me 'Grandma' just because my hair has been entirely, vibrantly silver since the day I was born."
Elicia's expression softened into something a bit more tender and inquiring as she turned her gaze toward our 5'6" hybrid sister, who was still holding her jar of strawberry jam.
"What about you, Evelyn? What did Elias call you back then? Or... perhaps you didn't get the chance to meet him before everything happened?"
"Oh, I actually met my big brother a few months back,"
Evelyn piped up, her youthful six-year-old voice dripping with a mix of leftover annoyance and dramatic flair. She tightly clutched her jar of strawberry jam against her white-and-scarlet breastplate.
"He was with his party members, Catherine and Patricia. And you know what that jerk called me? Slime girl!"
She let out a sharp pout, her bioluminescent blue-green hair tips flashing a slight, irritable shade of static yellow.
"He kept crossing his arms, looking all serious under his stupid visor, and cross-examined me like I was a criminal suspect! He completely refused to believe I was his biological sister. He literally told me I was just some distant cousin from an offshoot branch, and then he said my hair looked exactly like the toxic, glowing slimes he spent weeks purging in the lower caverns. So he just walked off calling me Slime Girl!"
Elicia stopped dead in her tracks on the dirt road, her majestic 5'8" frame freezing as her piercing crimson eyes blinked in absolute, utter bewilderment. A heavy, incredulous silence fell over the residential sector.
"He... he called you what?"
Elicia asked, her jaw dropping slightly as her silver hair caught the morning light.
She looked over at me, then back at Evelyn's voluptuous, S-rank hybrid build, and then let out a massive, exhausted sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her free hand.
"By the gods... Elias is a brilliant tactical operative, but his emotional intelligence is permanently stuck in a ditch. He looked at a girl who shares our exact facial structure, possesses a monstrous power level that leaped him on the leaderboard, and his grand conclusion was 'must be a distant cousin, let's call her Slime Girl'?"
I couldn't help but let out a cold, cynical snort from beneath my crimson cloak, my mismatched green-and-crimson eyes glinting with immense, vindictive amusement.
"Classic Elias, the man can track a high-tier syndicate shadow-assassin across three provinces, but give him a basic familial math equation and his elite black-ops brain completely short-circuits. He probably panicked because a 'new recruit' took the number three spot on the leaderboards while he's sitting down at fifth."
"Exactly! He was being so smug! But just wait until he sees all three of us walking into Chief Roman's office together. His visor is going to fly right off his face!" Evelyn cheered, taking an aggressive spoonful of jam to soothe her petty grievance.
We finally arrived at the massive iron gates separating the residential sector of the 3rd District from the main administrative wing. Renny, the veteran gatekeeper, was leaning casually against his halberd. The moment his eyes drifted over our approaching trio, his jaw practically unhinged.
"Well, good morning, ladies, It's a rare sight to see the Rynd sisters having a casual morning stroll. Back then, I only ever saw Eirene and Evelyn walking through here. Now, the Offspring Goddess herself has decided to join the party."
Evelyn immediately puffed out her chest, proudly gesturing with her half-empty jar of strawberry jam.
"That's right, Renny! The whole squad is back together. You better show some respect to the top-tier powerhouses of the capital!"
Elicia let out a soft, elegant laugh, shaking her head as she leaned lightly on her high-tier healing staff.
"Don't flatter us too much, Renny. We're just trying to get some fresh air before the bureaucratic storm hits us."
Renny squinted, his eyes darting from Elicia's towering 5'8" silver-haired figure down to Evelyn's newly evolved 5'6" frame, before finally settling right on me, stuck in the middle at 5'5".
"Oh, look what we have here, Guess we have a clear odd one out. Eirene, you're really suffering from that middle-child syndrome, aren't you? Your baby sister over here completely surpassed your height in just two months, and both of their bust sizes beat the absolute hell out of yours. Standing next to Evelyn and the Offspring Goddess... man, what a genetic disgrace, Eirene. You look like a stepping stone." Renny grinned, a deeply amused, mocking glint in his eyes.
A dangerous, icy vein throbbed on my forehead. My left eye flashed a violent, predatory green beneath the bright sunlight, and my right hand instinctively twitched near my inventory ring, briefly considering pulling out five kilograms of Death Chant Shotgun to blast his smug face off. Elicia quickly patted my shoulder, her continuous-nullification spell pulsing a soothing wave of mana to keep me from incinerating myself or the gatekeeper.
"Anyway, jokes aside, Both of you, toll time. Standard procedure for crossing into the elite sector." Renny laughed, completely oblivious to how close he just came to meeting a vampire's wrath.
"I've got it, I've got it," Evelyn chimed in with her usual childish cheer.
True to her routine, she dug into the pouches of her pristine white-and-scarlet Luminous Knight uniform, pulling out the exact coin amount for our group. She tossed the silver pieces to Renny, who caught them cleanly with a grin, waving us through the massive iron thresholds as the path to Chief Roman's office finally lay wide open.