"Hmm? What's that...?

"

The darkness undulated incessantly, twisting and turning on its own.

"What? You see something?

" a voice softly asked.

While Alex was staring at the dark pit, one of his seniors walked overseeing him bending down over the hole like that.

Both of their faces were covered by hoods but from the voice and figure, it was obvious she was a girl, and quite an attractive one at that if the tight robe she had on was anything to go by.

She playfully smacked Alex's behind, startling him. He spun around and covered his bottom with his hands while taken a step back.

"S-Sister Rhea, please stop doing that! I-I will tell master on you!

"

Although he was trying to threaten her, his shaky voice and cowardly demeanor only made this sister Rhea more aggressive.

She pulled aside her robe and leaned forward, revealing the black skin-tight leather one-piece underneath with a heart-shaped hole in the middle of her chest.

"Why? Don't you want to play with senior sister for a bit? Why don't you keep me company in this cold weather tonight? Hm? Trust me, you won't regret it!

" she licked her lips while eyeing her junior brother.

Looking at her red lips, the hair on Alex's arms stood straight up.

'Damn demoness! Master warned me about your tricks, they won't work on me!' he told himself inwardly while taking a few more steps back, stopping at the very edge of the hole.

He was well aware of the tricks her 'kind' pulled to bring in new prey, and he wasn't going to fall for any of them.

Rhea smiled mischievously looking at her cute junior brother. He was just her type and she had been trying to 'get' him for a while, but he never let his guard down in front of her.

"How many times have I told you not to mess around on the job?

" a deep voice came from some distance away.

Rhea turned around and saw another hooded figure coming towards them. This one was much taller at around 7 feet, with wide shoulders and a greatsword on his back.

Every single step of his was as steady as a rock. Just the way he walked was enough to leave the spectators with wide eyes.

An invisible pressure was coming off his body. If observed carefully, people would see that even in this heavy rain he was completely dry.

Every raindrop that was coming in his direction was sliced apart by an invisible force and pushed away at the last second.

"Gertrude! This is none of your business!

" Rhea shouted back grumpily.

"As long as I am the squad leader, everything you do is my business. Don't test me, wench, I'm not as easy going as the others!

" he replied coldly.

As he said that, an invisible vertical slash shot forward from his body, without even him making a single move.

Rhea's eyes constricted. With her right foot, she pressed on the ground lightly and like a nimble cat, did a backflip, landing more than 10 meters away.

The vertical slash hit the exact spot she was standing at, leaving a meter-long gash on the ground.

She narrowed her eyes while opening her fists. Her fingers transformed into black claws with 5 inch long nails sharper than knives.

Alone they would look extremely menacing as if belonging to a beastly creature but on her, they only seemed to add to her charms.

In response, the guy named Gertrude casually pulled out the greatsword from its sheath.

Its blade was about 8 inches wide and 3 inches thick. Made from a blueish metal that was giving off a faint light, its sharp edge was cutting apart any raindrops unfortunate to come close to it.

There were several engravings on the shaft and one on the blade itself. It seemed like the weapon had several different types of inscriptions placed on it.

***

"Oi oi, they're going at it again.

"

"Who do you think will win this time?

"

"I'll bet a 100 gold on Gertrude!

"

"Ho, really? Alright, I'll take it. 100 on Rhea!

"

From the other side of the pit, 2 more hooded figures talked to each other while anticipating the result of the upcoming fight. This was a common occurrence in their squad, one that their master encouraged.

***

The corner of Rhea's lips arched up into a mesmerizing smile. She bent her legs and stretched out her arms, getting ready to attack when Alex shouted from afar.

"Senior sister, senior brother, please stop. Master will be mad if he finds out!

" he said worriedly.

Alex was the youngest of the group and their master's favorite. His innocence was a breath of fresh air in this squad of bloodthirsty killers, so a single sentence from him was enough to calm his two seniors down, placating their anger.

As Rhea was coming up with new ideas to tease Alex, her ears twitched. Both her and Gertrude looked towards the hole with scrunched brows.

The pitter-patter of the raindrops suddenly increased. Instead of hitting the muddy ground, it sounded like they were hitting a metallic structure, making much louder noises.

Her smile stiffened as she and Gertrude both realized what was happening at almost the same time. They shouted in unison.

"LOOK OUT!

" x2

"Eh?

"

Alex who had his back turned towards the hole felt the air move behind him. He turned his head halfway around and saw a ghastly maw of a beast coming out of the pit.

A pair of eyes gleaming in bright green light were glaring at him from somewhere above the hideous beast's head.

"Kill them all,

" the voice belonging to those eyes said.

"Wh-

"

Before Alex could finish the sentence, a giant black sword tore through the air and pierced its target. Skewering Alex to the ground.

"Wha...t..?

"

He still couldn't understand what had just happened. He lowered his head and looked at the several meter long black sword that had gone halfway through him with a confused expression.

"But....why?

" he murmured looking at the cold green eyes that had ordered the attack.

"Why not?

" was the answer he got. The light from his eyes slowly faded and his body went limp.

Rhea, Gertrude and the 2 others couldn't believe their eyes. How? Who? Why?