The Harvest Festival parade wound through the streets, giant costumed figures rode atop the floats, and several masked individuals threw cheap candy into the crowd.
The tourists' cheers and screams soared toward the sky, as passionate music drowned out all other noise.
Under the cover of night, Sephirot led Patty through the dense crowd, looking like a pair of young, thrill-seeking lovers eager for some intimacy, as they turned into a dimly lit alleyway.
"Are we doing that... enforcement thing of yours again?"
Patty kicked an empty wine bottle on the roadside, curling her lip with a helpless sigh. "Oh right, entrapment. Honestly, Sephirot. You've overused this trick."
"If it works, it works."
Sephirot leaned lazily against the wall, unwrapped a piece of the candy he had just caught, and tossed it into his mouth. "Besides, the fish have already bitten."
As soon as he finished speaking, seven or eight burly men dressed in black emerged from the shadows on both sides of the alley.
They all wore identical black hats and gripped buzzing stun guns along with various tools used for binding and restraining prey, closing in step by step.
"Make it quick, this batch is worth a lot. Don't damage them..."
The man in black leading them coolly issued his orders, but before he could finish, he found himself surrounded by a concentrated burst of violet light.
That violet light coalesced in mid-air into a giant skeletal hand.
"What the–"
The giant hand clenched instantly; the leader didn't even have time to scream before his body went limp and slid through its fingers.
The remaining men in black were paralyzed with confusion by this sudden turn of events, their eyes filled with horror as they watched the eerie violet light rising from Sephirot.
"Mon... Monster!"
"Shoot! Shoot now!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
A barrage of gunfire shattered the silence of the alleyway. Muzzles spat flame as bullets wove an impenetrable web of death within the narrow corridor.
Facing this inescapable hail of lead, Sephirot reached back and pulled Patty behind him, standing calmly where he was.
"Sephirot! Get out of the way!"
Patty cried out, terrified that this arrogant bastard would be riddled with holes the next second.
Sephirot didn't respond. A red light flared in his eyes; bolstered by the Sparda bloodline, these bullets that should have been lightning-fast were as slow as snails in his sight.
He could have dodged; a single double jump would have cleared the area.
But he wanted to conduct an experiment.
At the exact moment the dense cluster of bullets was about to hit his body.
Sephirot's hands moved into position, one high and one low, suddenly striking a peculiar defensive stance in front of himself.
[Royal Guard]: Uses magic to reinforce the body, allowing for a massive reduction in damage taken while under attack.
Hum–
A layer of purple magic shield instantly formed around his body. Bullets poured down like a torrential rain against the shield, causing ripples to spread across its surface as it emitted a low humming sound.
Then, a scene unfolded that made the men in black feel their scalps go numb.
The bullet heads intercepted by the magic shield were suddenly enveloped in a violet-red demonic energy.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
As if guided by unseen eyes, the magic-infused bullets ricocheted back along their original trajectories!
Simultaneously, streams of information flashed through his mind.
[Ding!]
[Unlocked Royal Guard Advanced Technique!]
[Royal Guard - Royal Block]: Release precisely at the moment of impact to reflect all damage back at the source.
Note: If the intensity of the attack exceeds the current defense limit, the block will be shattered, and the user will sustain the overflowing damage.
"It really works."
Sephirot slowly eased his stance and nodded with satisfaction as he watched the bullets being deflected back.
"Reality is better after all. As long as you master the basic principles, you can do whatever you want without being tied down by rigid mechanics."
"This saves me another batch of points I would've spent on skill exchanges in the mall."
While Sephirot was in high spirits, the men in black at both ends of the alley were not so fortunate.
Their eyes widened as they saw the countless bullets they had just fired transform into streaks of purple light flying back toward them.
"No!"
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Before they could react, the sound of bullets piercing flesh rang out in rapid succession. The once-aggressive cleaners now fell like wheat before a scythe.
In just a few breaths, the group had been riddled with holes by their own bullets, their blood staining the ground red.
The gunfire abruptly stopped, and the alley returned to its initial silence.
The sole survivor on the scene was a lucky soul who happened to be ducking behind a companion.
His mind went blank as his legs buckled, leaving him kneeling amidst the corpses of his comrades.
Survival instinct told him to flee and seek backup, but the terror coursing through his body left his legs weak and paralyzed.
Sephirot stepped through the blood and walked up to him. He pointed at the black van parked at the alley's entrance and said indifferently, "Drive. Take me to your turf."
"As a self-aware piece of merchandise, I think delivering myself to the door shows more sincerity."
—--
On the outskirts of town.
Barbed wire fences surrounded an abandoned factory, with searchlight beams sweeping back and forth through the dark night.
On the surface, this was a derelict industrial zone, but in the shadows, it served as a killing amusement park for deviants who spent money like water.
Several heavily armed cleaners patrolled the grounds with hounds, while snipers lay in ambush at high vantage points beyond the reach of normal sight.
Static–
A voice came through the walkie-talkie on a gate guard's chest: "Checkpoint Two, be advised. A van is approaching at high speed. There is no reservation code for this vehicle in the system."
"Copy that. I'm moving to intercept." The guard shouldered his rifle and stepped into the middle of the road, raising a hand to signal the oncoming van to stop for inspection.
However, the van showed no intention of slowing down, hurtling straight toward the gate at full speed.
"Dammit! What idiot is driving that thing?!"
CRASH!!!
The barrier arm was obliterated instantly. Like a wild beast, the van lunged into the factory grounds, side-skidding and flipping onto its side.
"Everyone out! Hands in the air!"
The entire factory's security system was activated in a heartbeat. Countless armed guards converged from every direction, while red laser dots from the high ground centered on the vehicle's body.
The boss in charge of this underground amusement park heard the commotion outside and walked out with a group of men, his face twisted in a murderous scowl.
His mood tonight had already been irritable in the extreme.
This batch of cargo was of exceptionally high quality; he had expected to squeeze a fortune out of the political and business elites.
But for some reason, the big shots of America, who usually never missed an event, seemed to have made a pact today. They were absent en masse, not even participating in the bidding.
Their evasive attitude was as if there were some kind of monster hidden within this shipment.
Instead, the only people who showed up today were white-collar workers and even some paupers who had mortgaged their property just to find an outlet for their frustrations.
What a bunch of cowards, wasting such good cargo.
At the thought of this, his rage intensified. Not only had he lost out on a massive payout, but he had also missed the chance to acquire invaluable leverage over those powerful figures.
He was simmering with a belly full of fire and nowhere to vent it; he hadn't expected some suicidal fool would actually dare to run wild on his turf.
Over the years, there had been no shortage of self-righteous hotheads trying to storm this place and play the hero, but in the end, without exception, they all became extra rations for the hyenas kept in the factory.
As for the authorities?
Don't make him laugh. It was an act of mercy whenever those big shots didn't actively send people here themselves, let alone crack down on the place.
Dealing with the moronic public and the media all day, didn't they also need a lawless sanctuary to indulge their inner darkness?
"Go check it out."
A bold guard raised his handgun and slowly approached, kicking open the mangled door of the van's rear compartment.
(Translated by yourtl.app)