Chapter : 51

  He fired three tiny, weak little sparks of blue mana from his fingertips. They were so small they looked like fireflies.

  The three gang members ughed out loud. They didn't even try to block. They just kept running.

  But Ken intentionally missed every single shot. The tiny sparks flew totally wide, flying right past the gang members. However, the first spark hit a rusty chain hanging from a crane above them. The second spark hit a loose metal pipe resting on top of a shipping container. The third spark hit the tch of the container door.

  Ping! Cng! Snap!

  The chain broke. The metal pipe rolled off the edge, and the heavy shipping container door swung wide open. A massive pile of heavy wooden crates that had been stacked poorly inside the container suddenly tumbled out, crashing down directly onto the heads of the three ughing gang members.

  CRASH!

  The three thugs were instantly buried under a mountain of wooden boxes, completely knocked out.

  Ken blew smoke off his finger guns and gave Naomi a massive, goofy smile. "Boom! Headshot! See? I am a master sniper. You guys are lucky to have me."

  Naomi just stared at the pile of boxes in total, absolute disbelief. Her brain could not comprehend what was happening. She refused to believe that he pnned that. She refused to believe that this messy, loud, shoece-tripping idiot had any real skill.

  "I hate you so much," Naomi muttered to herself, turning her attention back to the fight.

  Despite the sheer size of Akij’s ambush, the gang members were simply no match for the raw power and perfect teamwork of the 13th Unit. Sayma’s barriers controlled the entire flow of the battlefield, blocking every single sneak attack. Laxmi and Zinia worked together fwlessly, trapping thugs between walls of solid rock and bsting them with waves of intense heat. Luna and Ira cleaned up the stragglers with lightning-fast strikes.

  Within ten minutes, the massive ambush was completely crushed. Dozens of gang members were groaning on the ground, their weapons broken and their spirits shattered.

  Akij, the mid-level boss who had been acting so arrogant just a few minutes ago, realized he was the only one left standing. His smug smile had completely vanished. He gripped his metal baseball bat tightly, sweating nervously. He looked at the six elite girls walking slowly toward him.

  "You think you can take me?!" Akij yelled, trying to sound tough, though his voice was shaking. He swung his metal bat wildly, wrapping it in dark purple magic. "I am a boss of the Curse Organization! You don't know who you are dealing with!"

  Naomi didn't even slow down. She dashed forward, moving faster than the wind itself. Akij swung his bat at her head, but she easily ducked under the clumsy attack. With a swift, brutal kick, she smmed her combat boot directly into Akij’s knee.

  Crack.

  Akij screamed in pain as his knee buckled. He dropped the metal bat and fell to the ground. Before he could even try to crawl away, Laxmi stepped forward and pced her boot heavily on his chest, pinning him to the gravel. She ignited a small, intensely hot fme right next to his face, making him sweat profusely.

  "The fight is over, Akij," Sayma said calmly, walking up to the beaten boss and adjusting her gsses. "Your men are done. Now, you are going to tell us exactly where Vane is hiding."

  Ken finally stopped his fake panic routine. He slowly jogged over to the group, completely out of breath, dramatically wiping fake sweat from his forehead. "Phew! Great job, team. I definitely carried us through that one. Does anybody have a water bottle? Screaming makes my throat very dry."

  Naomi gred at him. "I am going to pretend you do not exist right now, Ken."

  Akij was beaten, bruised, and pinned to the dirt. But surprisingly, he didn't look terrified like the drug dealer in the basement had. Instead, Akij looked up at the girls and started to ugh. It was a dark, wet, crazy ugh that echoed in the quiet train yard.

  "You think you won?" Akij spat, coughing up a little bit of blood onto the gravel. "You beat a bunch of street grunts. Congratutions, little girls. But you are too te. The operation is already complete. Our leader has everything he needs."

  Sayma frowned, her polite tone vanishing. "Where is Vane?"

  Akij grinned, showing his blood-stained teeth. He pointed a shaking finger toward the center of the Imperial Capital, toward an area known as the dead zone.

  "He is waiting for you," Akij ughed darkly. "He resides at the very top of the Doom Tower. The old abandoned skyscraper in the dead zone. Go ahead. Go find him. But let me warn you, Royal trash. Going up that tower is pure suicide."

  Akij’s eyes went wide with a crazed, fanatical loyalty. "Vane’s Curse magic is completely fwless now. He has gathered enough power to become a god. He is invincible. If you step foot in the Doom Tower, none of you are ever coming back out alive."

  The elite girls of the 13th Unit fell silent. The name "Doom Tower" carried a heavy, terrifying weight in the capital. It was a massive, rotting building that even the Imperial Police refused to enter. If Vane was waiting at the very top of that skyscraper, surrounded by his dark magic, it wasn't just going to be a battle. It was going to be a nightmare.

  Ken stood at the back of the group, looking in the direction Akij was pointing. He shoved his hands back into his pockets. His goofy smile was completely gone, repced by his usual zy, bored expression.

  Internally, however, the Sovereign simply sighed.

  "Invincible, huh?" Ken thought to himself, completely unfazed by the dramatic threat. "Every bad guy thinks they are invincible right up until reality punches them in the face. If he really is hiding in a giant tower, that means a lot of stairs. I absolutely hate stairs."

  The B-rank mission had finally revealed its true shape, and the path ahead promised nothing but absolute danger for the girls.

  ----

  The sun was finally starting to set, casting long, bright orange rays through the giant gss windows of the pace’s guest wing. The grand corridors were completely empty, except for the eight members of the 13th Unit making their way back to their temporary quarters.

  After the intense ambush at the train yard, the team was covered in a thin yer of dust, sweat, and gravel. They looked exactly like a group of people who had spent their entire afternoon fighting for their lives. Princess Iris walked at the front of the group, her dark cloak dusted with dirt. She stopped walking for a moment and turned to face her team. Her violet eyes were heavy with exhaustion, but they also carried a deep sense of determination.