Miko was smiling as he took on Zetsu and Reiji's assault.

The reason for his smiling face was simple.

“Hahaha!”

He was having fun fighting strong opponents with unique powers.

Even though he's limiting himself, he can tell that it's the same for his opponents.

He finds the experience of fighting several Infecteds at once to be somewhat amusing.

*Bam!*

Miko took a punch in the stomach from Reiji. He responded by kneeing him under the chin.

He continued smiling as he and Zetsu exchanged blows. And, that's when it happened.

*Rumble!*

“Hm? An earthquake?….or not”

Miko and the others stopped fighting, when they felt the roof suddenly start shaking.

“Oi, Reiji….this feeling…”

“Yeah….Bloom is up to something…”

Zetsu and Reiji immediately figured out the cause of the vigorous shaking.

"I have a really bad feeling about this…”

As if to agree with Zetsu, the shaking got extremely violent.

“I knew it!”

It was as if they were on top of a toy, that was being vigorously shaken by an infant.

“Wh-wh-what the hell is Bloom doing, Zetsu?!”

“Ho-ho-how am I suppose to know?!”

Reiji desperately grabbed on to a piece of pipe, to prevent himself getting thrown off from the building. He forgot that he could use powers to temporarily fly.

Zetsu on the other hand, grabbed his unconscious brother and used his magnetic power to stick to the roof. But, he later found out that, that was a huge mistake. He more than anyone else, felt the effects of the shaking.

“It feels like I'm gonna barf!”

And lastly, Miko was…

“Hmm, is she using her power to lift the entire hotel? If that's the case, she's crazier than I am.”

He was casually trying to analyze the situation, while casually jumping around to match the building’s unnatural movements.

"But I gotta admit, she's pretty powerful.”

He had a smile on his face.

“Huh? It stopped…”

The building stopped shaking. And, Miko softly landed on the roof.

He looked around and saw zetsu, Nico and Reiji laying on the ground.

“I’m, I'm alive….”

“I, I ask myself every time something like this happens. Why did I joined this crazy faction!? I swear, when Nico wakes up I'm leaving this group!”

They both looked exhausted, and were breathing heavily.

Miko looked up in the sky and noticed something.

(The artificial moon….it looks closer than before…)

He walked past the trio on the ground, and looked through the hole he created. It was then he realized what had happened. He jumped and said-

“….Hey, if I were you two I would jump.”

Before they could asked what he meant, their entire world was flipped upside down.

“Eh?”

Zetsu and Reiji, suddenly found themselves falling from the sky.

“What the hell?!”

They screamed.

They looked down, and saw Bloom and Chrome waving at them in the room. That was when they realized.

What Bloom was trying to lift, wasn't the hotel itself. But, just the roof.

She had used her powers to violently rip off the roof, and then suspended it in the air, before flipping it.

Reiji looked up, and saw that they were a couple hundred feet in the air. He also saw that roof was falling with them. No, it was falling at a faster rate then them.

They were going to be hit by the roof, in a few seconds.

“Zetsu, I've decided! I'm quitting this group too!”

“And, they say that you're idiot!”

“Not, they! You!”

*Boom!*

The falling roof slammed into their backs, and they crashed into the room.

Bloom activated her powers at the last second, and gently fixed the roof the way it originally was. She also caught the unconscious Nico, and rested him beside her.

“How's that Monsieur? Just like how it was before.”

She said.

“I don't care anymore. Just do whatever you like…”

Blanche sat in a corner drinking a bottle of wine, muttering all by himself. It was a depressing scene.

Bloom looked around the room, and then at hole in the ceiling.

She saw Miko jumped down through the hole, and land in the room.

“You call?”

He said, as he walked towards her. She greeted him with a smile.

“Oh, you knew that I was calling you?”

“If there's anything I've learned from all my years of living with crazy women, it's that they tend to communicate using elaborate methods.”

“My, you must've have it rough.”

Miko shrugged at Bloom’s words.

“I want you to spare Blanche's life.”

She got straight to the point.

Everyone in the room stared at Miko; except Nico, including the two ,who were groaning on the floor because of the impact from the fall.

Miko sighed, and looked over at Blanche.

" Oi,Blanche.”

"Yes, what is it?!"

Hearing Miko suddenly call his name, visibly startled Blanche

"I've been wondering this for a while...."

Miko took something from his burnt pocket. It was D'Arc pendant.

"This pendant, this is a burning cross with a star, right?"

"Yes."

"And you're gangs name is D'Arc for Joan D'Arc, right?"

"Yes."

Blanche was wondering what any of that have to do with the situation.

“I want you to listen to my theory on the true meaning of this pendant; then I want you tell me if I'm right or wrong. That will decide your fate."

"Huh?"

Miko ignored the confused Blanche, and continued.

"The burning cross looks like it symbolizes Joan D'Arc's execution, but in reality it goes deeper than that."

"What do you mean?"

Bloom asked.

"The burning cross doesn't symbolizes Joan's death, but the burning of her religious faith. More specifically the destruction of her faith in God."

"Huh?"

Everyone but Blanche was confused, which meant that Miko was on the right track.

"Joan D'Arc was famous for being a die hard Christian. It also known that she doesn't tolerate sinful acts, even if it's from her own soldiers. She puts God above all. I heard that this is the same for her proxy.”

Bloom paused and looked at the pendant.

"So, why did God abandon her when she was captured by her enemy?"

"....That's"

Bloom didn't know how to answer.

"Not only God, but even her home country were too afraid to try and rescue someone who brought them numerous victories. Yeah, they fought for a retrial, and Joan D'Arc was dubbed a saint."

Miko looked at everyone in the room with cold eyes.

"But, so what. Giving a dead person a fancy title doesn't change the fact that she was abandoned by her God and her country."

Miko cold eyes sent chills down everyone's spines.

"Joan D'Arc was human. So, it wouldn't be strange for her to curse the world for its betrayal in her last hour. And, that's what the burn cross represents. Grudge and resentment, right?"

Miko looked at Blanche, and he confirmed Miko's hypothesis with a nod.

"But.."

"But that's not all. I've still haven't said what the star represents."

Blanche was about to add something, but Miko surprisingly cut him off.

"The star?"

Asked Chrome.

"Does it have a different meaning?"

"Oh, it does. And it's meaning is even crueler than the cross."

"Crueler? How so?"

Miko showed a malevolent smile.

"The star represents God and the archangel, Michael."

"God and Michael?"

Asked Bloom.

Miko looked at Blanche's surprised expression.

"The star is the heavens watching Joan D'Arc burn from a far. In other words, the star represent abandonment and isolation."

"!"

Blanche was visibly surprised.

"From your expression, I take it that I'm right."

Said Miko.

"How did you know? I never told anyone the true meaning of the pendant. Not even, my closest allies."

Asked, the baffled Blanche.

"That's because I can understand how Joan D'Arc felt, and probably how you felt when designing this pendant."

Everyone in the room was speechless at what Miko just said.

"....You're saying that you can relate to being abandon by God and the world?”

Asked Blanche.

"Something like that."

Miko answered nonchalantly.

"I see."

"That's why I won't kill you."

"Huh?"

Everyone in the room was surprised by Miko's sudden change of heart.

"I find the way you look at the world pretty interesting, and I don't kill those I find interesting."

(Hold up!)

Ishma roared in Miko's mind.

(I still haven't massacred everyone!)

‘Shut it, brat.’

Miko answered in his mind.

‘Don't forget why I came to this place.’

(Wasn't it to burn everything to the ground?)

She asked with a confused tone.

‘That was just if it's necessary. I came to this city to claim everything it has to offer. This includes people who I can use to strengthen the kingdom’s military force. Did you forget I wanted to create a squad of Infecteds?’

(So what does that have to do with everything?)

Ishma sounded confused.

(You really are an idiot you know that?)

Regis insulted her in Miko's head.

(What was that?!)

‘Be quiet for now, Ishma. I'll explain when we leave.’

Miko didn't pay Ishma anymore attention and looked at Blanche.

Blanche had a big smile on his face. He was clearly happy that his life was spared.

But then-

"But, you will have to dissolve your gang and leave the city."

"What?!"

Miko gave Blanche conditions for his life, which Blanche didn't like.

"There's a possibility that your group will become a pain in the ass in the future. But if the leader leaves, then the rest of the organization will turn into headless chickens with no goal, and just wonder around."

"But if that happens, they might start attacking innocent people, and cause problems for the city!"

Bloom retorted Miko's reckless condition.

"Don't care. What happens to other people is not my concern. If you don't like it, then just kill all the guys in D'Arc."

Miko had an "its not my problem" expression on his face, which made Bloom’s blood boil a little. But, she knew that if she attacked him it won't end well.

"So, what will it be? Leave the city and live or stay and die? It's up to you. I'm sure a man with your influence can arrange to leave the city if he wants.”

Miko ignored Bloom, who was fuming.

".....I'll leave. I really don't want to, but I can't afford to die here."

"Blanche, what are you saying?!"

Bloom called out to Blanche, but he ignored her.

"I see. Well, that works for me. Just be out by the end of the night. And, don't think about hiding in the city; because I'll know."

"Yes."

Miko started to walk towards the exit. It looked like he was going to leave, now that his business was done.

"Ah, that's right."

He seemingly remembered something, and stopped his feet. He turned around, and looked at Silver Crow.

"I won't kill you guys either. It seems that I've developed a quite an interest for Infecteds.”

Miko showed Silver Crow a gentle smile, that fit his faces perfectly. It was hard to believe that it was the face of a boy, who was just casually talking about murder.

The members of Silver Crow didn't know how to react, and just silently watched as Miko leaves.

After he left the hotel, his gloves turned into green light and took the shape of Ishma.

She was frowning.

“Okay, explain to me why did we just let them off.”

At this moment, Regis also took her human shape.

“There's really nothing in your head except food and slaughter isn't there?”

She said with an annoyed tone.

“Miko wants to recruit those five Infecteds to join the Dragna kingdom in the future. Because of that he couldn't kill them or Blanche. If he had kill Blanche they would've had a reason to consider him their enemy, which will make recruiting them even harder. That's the reason he came up with a crappy reason to let Blanche off."

“Oh!”

Ishma seemed to have gotten it.

“Well, if I find a more suitable group of Infecteds than I might kill those five in the future. But for now it's fine keeping a neutral relationship with them.”

Miko added.

“But aren't they a bit too weak? You didn't even need to use magic to fend them off.”

Ishma said.

“They're not weak, they were just restricted from using their abilities to the fullest. They couldn't afford to accidental kill me (lol), because they feared the city would receive the wrath of the Dragna clan. They also couldn't afford to allow innocent people die from the aftershock of their powers. There was also the fact that they might accidental kill Blanche while fighting me. All of this caused them to fight with minimum strength."

Miko explained.

"This is also why I only used basic Qigong when fighting them because there was no need to use magic or my draconic abilities. I also didn't want show off my abilities in case we were being monitored."

“Ohh…well you all looked weak to me so I didn't notice.”

Ishma said with an arrogant tone.

Miko silently chopped her on her head and walked away.

“Cone on, I'm hungry. I used up too much Qi tonight.”

“Oh! I'm hungry too!”

Ishma and Regis walked behind Miko with smiles on their faces.

This was Miko's first meeting with the group called Silver Crow and it wasn't his last.