Forum Thread

Ellie was correct and even though he anticipated the answer, Yutoshi was still a bit bitter, but there wasn’t any room for complaints as he attempted to chase after the little girl speeding off.

Yutoshi did not have the strength to dash into the distance like the little girl did, he called a summon and rode it to Ophelia’s office.

As much as he wished, he did not and could not charge in on the back of a tiger and scream ‘Pay us for overtime!’

"Eve focus. You should know the target in front of you is no easy foe."

Jing Yu furrows his eyebrows and orders sternly, his hand steadily hold the gun. With the backside of his freehand, he tossed out a golden talisman onto the ground.

"Seal."

The moment the yellow piece of paper touches the ground, it immediately merges in with the concrete ground and an mysterious golden flow soon flow from the floors to the walls, sealing the entirety of the floor.

While he isn't confident in defeating the infamous executive of the Mafia, he is confident in his ability to stall.

Jing Yu smiles brightly.

"Well now I suppose it's just you and me and Eve now Lady Luck. Now not even the universe can help you."

He chuckles.

---

"How unfortunate, I suppose I do prefer the company of the dear universe."

Ldeya's expression remained in that unreadable smirk, almost like she was amused at the attempts of the ESA members to delay her.

"Now now, what would be the point of wasting your time and energy? I don't have anywhere to be."

---

Coming to an abrupt halt before the floor-to-ceiling window looking into Ophelia’s office, Ellie waved excitedly, pointing to a slower, and much more tired looking Yutoshi.

Waving her hands, the thunderclouds came together to form “HI BOSS!” in somewhat ominous caps.

Ellie would have very much liked to scoop Yutoshi up on a cloud. She wasn’t sure how he’d take that though

And so she settled for a giant cloud finger pointing to Yutoshi

“WE’RE HERE”

Ostium, Asper, and Cassius were recovered at the base, having regained all their stamina after slaughtering the ESA task forces. Almost lazily, Ostium went over to check the comms. "Hey you two wanna pick up with Monopo- Oh... Scrap that, there's more fun at the square!" With a sadistic glint in his eyes, Ostium told the other two what was going down. "Phony ambulances got merc'd, looks like ESA reinforcements are here. Let's meet up with Ms Ldeya at the Tower, the more the merrier!" Ostium's excitement was mirrored by Asper, "Alright..." she said as a smile cracked across her face like lightning "lets make them scream" Cassius got up with his usual indifference and steeled himself for battle. Once the other two were ready, Ostium created the portal and all three jumped through. Jackal, Reaper, and Hangman returned to the battlefield once more, appearing in from of Ldeya. "Why hello there bos-" Ostium started before noticing the other two people on the floor. "Oh, where are my manners?" He now addressed Jing-Yu and Eve. Asper and Cassius then fully stepped out of the portal "Allow us to give you a warm welcome!"

“Wha-“

Yutoshi looked at the cloud finger and to Ellie, perplexed by her confusing actions but entered the office without saying more. Today was one of those days where he wished he could go to sleep.

Seriously though, how on earth did that problem child have so much energy?

"oh my. Now this isn't so fair."

Jing Yu tsked as 3 fellas suddenly appeared within his sealed space abruptly. What was this battle now? Two from ESA verses four folks from the Mafia? How come they have backups and he doesn't?

"...man I don't get paid enough for this"

Jing Yu swept a hand over his hair as he sighed. He gazed at the new arrivers with exhaustion before straightening his back.

"Well Ldeya, you say you're going no where yet your people says otherwise. You're making it quite hard for us you know?"

---

"Oh, I didn't invite them here."

Ldeya nods at the Mafia's infamous harbingers of chaos.

"I don't suppose Huixin wants me back already?"

Turning back to Jing Yu, she tilts her head.

"If you could just kindly let us go, there's no need for unnecessary violence."

---

"Unnecessary violence? Looks whose talking."

Jing Yu frowned and scoff in disdain. While doing so, he pulled out a few more talisman. While Ldeye may look like an beauty to others, in his eyes, she was nothing more than a crude criminal that excused violence for fun.

"Was the innocent folks you hurt with your team necessary then? Tell me your reason for harming them Lady Luck." Jing Yu took a firm step forward, his voice filled with disgust.

"Tell me. Was there any reasons on why you and your people merciless fired at the civilian that had no parts in this."

---

Ldeya's smirk faded into a more serious expression, her eyes glittering darkly.

"Your boss killed the most innocent units in the Mafia when she stormed our hideouts. Those who you don't even know the names of. Who were nothing more than pawns in this game."

She didn't speak it in a chastising or accusing tone. She simply stated the fact, with all the emotional indifference in the world.

"And she would do it again. If it achieved her objectives."

She didn't react to Jing Yu's talismans or his step forward.

"The Mafia has objectives they want to achieve. Those bleeding civilians were the cost for our members' safety."

An ever-so-slight pause, then in an almost teasing tone.

"The cost for your dear little sister's safety."

---

Ophelia looked up after a moment's pause.

She made her way over to the window(careful not to knock over any piles of papers), and opened it.

"Hello, Ellie. Yutoshi.Give me one second."

She sighed, as she pulled on a jcket, then proceeded to step casually out of the window, onto the ledge, closing it shut fro the outside.

---

Ellie’s cloud hand, which had previously been pointed at Yutoshi, immediately swooped over and scooped Ophelia up like some docile magic carpet.

“Where to, boss?”

Ellie asks cheerily, looking windswept.

“Hey wait- Yutoshi’s still inside the building!”

"...Pick him up."

She sighed tiredly.

"What a hassle."

---

“You got it!”

Another cloud hand phased through the window to scoop Yutoshi up.

It waits patiently for said child to climb aboard the magic cloud express.

Ellie looked like the opposite of Ophelia and Yutoshi, cheery and energetic and ready to go.

In fact, if it wasn’t for her job, she’d have zipped across the lands to another country.

Eve was silently watching the more experienced fighters converse. She was in too deep, and she knew it. A mafia executive. On her first mission. Frick. Oh, and there’s four of them. And they probably all have combat powers. Honestly, she thought her ability was unique. And, well, it was, but it was probably as useless as it was unique.


Her partner had some sort of barrier power, which would definitely help. But wouldn’t it mean she was trapped too? Was Lydia trapped with them or were they trapped with Lydia?


Backup. They needed backup. In a desperate attempt to call for help, she texted silently to all the ESA members she knew—encrypted, of course—with a location pin. Not that it would do much for them right now.


Right— the four mafia members. They wouldn’t go down without a fight, obviously. Could she slit their throats? Would that reveal her hand too fast? If she stepped through Jing Yu’s barrier, would they assume it was his magic or hers? Finally, she decided what to do. Eve disappeared into the wall behind her.


The thing about becoming phasing was, if you materialized inside of a wall solid, you would shoot outward; there would be simply no space in the atomic structure of the solid—you would have to be dispelled. That’s how physics worked. Probably. So, using this to her advantage, Eve popped out of the ground in front of the new trio, honestly waiting to be attacked.


“Pleased to meet you three, I’m Evangeline. You might be?”

---