After testing out his new swords, Miko and the girls went back to the capital. More specifically, they went to where Ace, Sora, and Hina were staying.

“Huh? Swords? These girls?”

When Miko arrived, he introduced Ishma and Regis to the trio.

“Oh, they’re cute.”

Hina said while circling around them.

“Cute? Who are you calling cute?!”

Ishma immediately became offended.

“I am the bringer of destruction, hell’s butcher, the mass murderer-!”

“Want a cookie?”

Hina interrupted her rant and offered her something to eat.

“I don’t want your goddamn….Hm? It smells sweet.”

Ishma took the cookie and ate it.

“Mhmm!”

Her face instantly lit up and her cheeks redden with delight.

“What is this thing? It’s so delicious!”

“It’s a snack. Do you want more?”

Ishma nodded her head vigorously.

“Here.”

Hina gave her a bag of cookies she was saving. Ishma grabbed it and started to eat like a savage.

“Mhm! I can’t believe they made something this delicious while I was sealed. This is just revolutionary.”

“There are a lot sweets that are more delicious than cookies, you know.”

“What?!”

Ishma was visibly shock to hear this.

“You, I demand you to bring those things to me!”

She demanded.

“The names’s Hina, and that’s not how you ask for something from others. Be more polite.”

“Me not killing you is polite enough.”

“I see. Then no sweets for you.”

Hina then stopped paying attention to her.

“Wha?!”

Ishma started grinding her teeth and looked at Miko, who shrugged in return.

“F-Fine.”

An anguished look appeared on Ishma’s face.

“Bring those things to me…..Please.”

“Now was that too hard?”

Hina looked and said.

“I felt like I was about to cough up blood….”

Ishma grumbled.

“Alright. I take you to the kitchen. There I’ll give you some more sweets.”

“Really?!”

Hina went towards the kitchen, with Ishma following behind her.

“….She tamed an ancient demon with sweets.”

“So much for hell’s butcher.”

Regis said with a laugh. She eventually followed after them and went to the kitchen as well.

“Miko, are those two really swords? They seem so human.”

Sora asked.

“I was surprised myself. But their power is top notch. Although, their strength is dependent on my own.”

Miko explained.

“So it’s like there’s three of you when you use them. That’s pretty powerful.”

“By the way, has there been any movements from Nebulous?”

“Not that I’m aware of, but I doubt he’ll back off just from you intervening.”

“Really? I thought commanded an overwhelming presence. Looks like I’m not as frightening as I thought I was.”

Ace laughed when he heard that.

“No offense, Miko. But I doubt nebulous fears you. We’re talking about the guy who conquered the crime world of an empire this large. He even went against the emperor’s authority multiple times. You need to have balls to do stuff like that.”

“Well, it works out better if he’s ballsy. That way he’ll make a great opponent. My first opponent in my path to reach the top. A great stepping stone.”

After spending some time messing around with the trio, Miko left with girls. Since they were his swords, Regis and Ishma were going to live with him. Like this the long day finally came to an end.

The next morning.

The trio woke up in their apartment, and was currently doing their own thing, when suddenly they heard a lot of talking coming from outside.

“What’s that?”

Ace looked at Sora and asked. Sora’s ears twitched and a frown immediately appeared on his face.

“There’s a lot of people outside. A couple hundred, a couple thousand? I can’t tell. It’s too many for me to discern with hearing alone.”

He explained.

“An enemy attack?”

“I don’t know, but the chances are quite high.”

At this moment, Hina went in her room and came back out with a few duffle bags. She pulled them and dozens of weapons ranging from guns to blades to even weird tools were seen inside them.

“You two go check what it is, I’ll be here getting ready.”

While saying that, she started to equip herself with all kinds of weapons.

“I’ll go check.”

Sora said and carefully went towards a window. He peeped outside, while shielding most of himself to prevent being sniped.

“?!”

What he saw shocked him.

“Women? Kids too….”

“What?”

Hearing that, Ace went to take a look. He saw countless women and children. There were lots of men too, but because they were expecting thugs, the women and children stood out more for them.

“They have signs with our names on it.”

“Could they be fans?”

Hina walked over and asked.

“How did they find us? And so many at that.”

She started looking around, and soon spotted someone typing on their phone. Her eyes instantly turned gold, and she zoomed and looked at what the person was typing.

“Dude, the post was real. I can totally see Hinami Akume. I’m not mistaken. It’s the Hinami I saw at the comic book signing.”

She read out what the person texted.

“Post? Someone post our location on the internet?”

Ace said.

“How did they get this location?”

Sora opened the window and peeped out to get a better look.

“It’s Sora!”

“Sora! I’m your biggest fan!”

When he did, a lot of girls started screaming his name. He showed a smile a waved back at them.

“Move. Maybe I have fans out there!”

Ace moved him out of the way and peeked out.

“Ace!”

He received cheers, but it was from mostly men and children. Seeing that, his mood immediately soured.

“Why are you so popular, when I’m more handsome than you!”

He started to choke Sora and complained.

“Stop, idiot! Don’t you realized that something’s wrong here?!”

“Yeah, your popularity!”

“Stop it, Ace. Sora’s right….Hm?”

That’s when her phone started ringing.

“?!”

When she saw the caller ID her face paled.

“Nebulous.”

She had never stored this number in her phone, yet whenever she got a call from it, the name Nebulous would always pop up without displaying the phone number itself. And she could never call it back it neither.

Seeing this call with the sudden sea of fans outside, her heart started to race. She slowly answered the phone and put it at her ear.

“Hello, Hina.”

A familiar computerized voice reached her ears.

“Nebulous, are you responsible for those people outside?”

“All I did was just to tell them where their idols were. Did you know? You guys are really famous and loved. There’s a lot of people who wants to meet. I just granted them the opportunity to do so.”

“What are you planning to do to them?”

“That depends on you three. Put me on speaker.”

Hina put the phone on speaker, so that Ace and Sora could hear.

“You three are so cold. How could you just leave the company after everything they’ve done for you.”

“Don’t call us cold, when you’re the one who blew it up.”

Said Sora.

“I only did that to help you three out. When I heard that you left the company, I thought that you wanted to rid yourself of the entertainment industry. So I made it easier. I destroyed your roots in the industry.”

The three were shocked when they heard his reasoning. They all thought that he was insane.

“It’s the same reason why I brought all our fans together.”

“?!”

They all flinched when they heard that.

“Wait, Nebulous! Don’t hurt them!”

Hina shouted.

“Why? You don’t need them anymore, right? You left the entertainment industry right?”

“Even if we did, these are people lives we’re talking about. There’s no need for them to die just so you can harass us.”

Sora spoke with an angry tone.

“I assure you. I’m not harassing you. I’m just trying to help you start fresh, by destroying all everything you left behind.”

Said Nebulous.

“But they must all be so happy. They get to meet the people that they idolize. This must be the highest point of their lives. If that’s the case, they don’t need to live past today, do they?”

“You crazy bastard!”

Sora grind his teeth in anger.

“What do you want?”

Hina said after a while.

“What was that?”

“I asked what do you want in exchange for their lives?!”

She shouted.

“What do I want? Hmm, let’s see.”

Nebulous became quit for a bit, before speaking again.

“There’s not much that I want really. I was honestly doing this by the kindness in my heart.”

“Stop messing around, you sick sadistic fuck!”

Ace shouted.

“My, I wonder how Klick would react if he heard you curse like that?”

The trio immediately became furious when they heard him mention their benefactor’s name. They all wished that the real nebulous was standing in front of them, so that they could rip him apart with their bear hands.

“Do it.”

Ace suddenly said.

“If you want to blow them up, just do it.”

“Ace!”

“What are you saying?!”

The other two shouted in shock.

“Shut up! I refuse to become his plaything just because of the lives of total strangers!”

He grabbed the phone out of Hina’s hands.

“Listen here, Nebulous! I’m not as kindhearted as these two! I don’t give a fuck about any of those people out there! Blow them all to hell if you want! But remember this….”

He gripped the phone tightly.

“I’ll send you to hell to them as consolation!”

“I see. So don’t care about them. Well, this is troubling.”

Nebulous said.

“Then what if the one who would be blamed for their deaths was someone you know? For example, Miko?”

“?!”

The trio was shocked again.

“What did you say? How would Miko be blamed?”

Sora asked.

“Because he’s the one who post your location, or rather it will be spread around that he was the one who did. Given his reputation, I think many people will believe it.”

“You son of a bitch!”

Ace roared again.

“Oh? Looks like I’ve found your weakness.”

Nebulous laughed with it computerized voice.

“Do you know what would happen if thousands of people were to die because of Miko? The empire would be enraged and demand for his death. Their fear for him would grew even more unreasonable, and it would reach the point that everyone would see him as not only a monsterbut a target of their hate. What about the Saevus and Flameheart clans? Do you think they’ll allow such an unpredictable and dangerous entity to exist, much less remain Tiamat’s proxy?”

“………”

The trio couldn’t answer his question. They were too busy imagining countless people aiming for Miko’s life.

“Miko would eventually be killed, or the emperor would be forced to exile him to appease the people. Either way, his life would become a living hell. Especially since, with the entire empire at his throat, his family can’t protect even if they wanted.”

Nebulous remained quiet for a while as if he wanted the trio to imagine what Miko’s life would be like.

“I honestly don’t mind destroying him. He’s the one who picked a fight with me after all.”

He suddenly said.

“However, I’ll spare him for the trio of you.”

“Just tell us what you want.”

“I see. Then, I want you three to willing let yourself get captured and be brought to me. There will be some men knocking at your door if you agree. Let them in and follow their instructions. Oh, if you run every dies, just so you know.”

“…..Fine.”

Hina said. The three of them clenched their fists and grind their teeth in frustration.

“You win, Nebulous.”

“Of course. I always win in the end.”