Rin blew on the small cup of tea she was holding. It was surprising that, despite the harsh weather, the drink took a long enough time to cool off. Not that she disliked the warmth, of course. She took a sip, her brows receding in delight at the taste, before glancing at her right side.

Her brother was silent, probably brooding over something as his gaze was glued to the ground.

Rin opened her mouth but closed them just as quickly. The words just didn't come. What exactly was she supposed to say in this kind of situation? She wished she had known. Even though she had expressly managed to suppress her fear to visit her brother. ‘Socialization...’ She thought. Years she had told herself to learn it yet here she was. Truthfully speaking, though, since it was a matter she couldn't learn by herself, it was probably impossible for her.

Rin swallowed another mouthful before, for lack of a better option, moving closer to her brother. She wished to at least convey that she was there for him.

Rei let out a breath before finally looking at her. The worst about it was that he was smiling. It was a forced ugly smile that didn't even reach his eyes. The sight pained Rin's heart.

“...See, Rin.” He said, placing his hand atop her head. “Being a Noble isn't all that great.”

Rin opened her mouth but she couldn't say anything. Not with how... sad and guilty her brother's face looked. ‘...What happened?’ She wanted to ask. She really, really wanted to ask, yet, she knew that would be just rubbing salt into his wounds— and that was the last thing she wanted.

“We aren't heroes.” He said, clenching his hands. “We're just... killers.”

The man was kneeling on a cold wooden floor, trembling like a leaf as rivers of sweat fell down his brows. He did not dare to look up, instead deciding to 'admire' the beautiful pair of dark boots tainted with snowflakes laid in front of him. He was seriously considering whether he should lick them to plead for forgiveness.

Law's lips quirked up, finding the sight extremely pleasant.

“Don't think too badly of me, okay?” He said. “I strongly believe that my little Rouge warned you, even if briefly, that we were scary.”

A small knife fell on the ground with a thud. The kneeling man—the manager of the restaurant, apparently— let out a squeak of terror. Law lifted his sunglasses to have a better look. Law knew this was a bad habit but, hey, it wasn't his fault he was so sadistic. He would gladly change if he could.

“P-please...!” The manager pleaded, finally daring to look up.

“You only have yourself to blame for this.” Law eyed the knife, trying really hard to not let his smile widen. “Cut Your Throat.” He ordered, mercilessly.

The manager could hardly disobey.

With the restaurant's money in his new wallet, Law turned around and decided to leave. As much as he wanted to stay and observe the man a little more, Rouge was waiting for him.

‘...As if.’

He let out a self derisive laugh. Regardless, since the girl so vehemently condemned his act, stretching it out was unnecessary. He accomplished what he wanted, anyway.

Law gave a last brief look at the manager as his hand reached the doorknob of the exit.

Obviously, his Singularity wasn't quite as strong to be able to force a man to his death, but, it would be enough to scare the shit out of him. Enough that he'd think twice before speaking so out of place again. At any rate, it wasn't like Law was so crazy he'd order the death of anyone that slighted his family.

That the city was still alive was proof of that.

Law stepped on the insanely cold snow-covered street and let out a yawn.

“Time to go home, then.” He murmured to himself.

A crack sound reverberated.

“...hm?” Law squinted at a certain point in space before widening his eyes. “Oh for God's sake.”

«WARNING! A RIFT HAS BEEN DETECTED. PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. REPEAT—»

“I barely used my power, you know?”

◇

Mind Control: the worst kind of power that has ever graced this world— Her grandfather had once complained. Now, Rin couldn't help but agree.

Following the man's order felt so natural it was sickening. She didn't even remember wanting to put up a resistance. It was like nothing was wrong. She followed his will believing it was her own. It was terrifying, knowing that the man could possibly order her anything he wanted and she'd obey him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Manipulating other people's will like that should not be allowed.

Whether retracing her steps was a good idea or not, however, Rin didn't know. At least, she was happy she had brought a sword, a katana to be precise (that Aiden gave her), and a faceless mask (that Aiden gave her, too.)

Hiding her identity shouldn't be her top priority but, for now, it did not hurt anyone.

“A-are you alright...?” She asked the man she had just saved from the wreckage of a destroyed restaurant.

Her instinct flared up before the man could answer her, and she ducked, barely avoiding the merciless claws of a demon. She jumped to get out of range, only cursing herself when her feet left the ground. Her eyes instantly shifted towards the man but, too late, she couldn't reach him anymore. To make it worse, her landing point had been much too far from what she had intended.

Thankfully— ‘Really, thank god.’— the monster chased after her, instead of the man, with an ominous scream.

That she'd find a monster here was... unexpected, to say the least. Though, maybe she should have anticipated it, what with how an Elite just used a Singularity on her. There was a good reason why the use of powers was restricted— if not entirely banned except in Demon cases.

Rin let out a breath and brought her hand up in a cross to block the monster's flying blow. It lifted her off ground, pushed her a few feet away, yet, surprisingly hadn't hurt as much as she expected— or as much as her first encounter with a Demon. Nonetheless, she trembled. Unconsciously or not.

The demon wasn't much different than the first one, if not a little... fatter. ‘Can demon even gain weight?’ The thing certainly had more meat on its skin, which, undoubtedly, were not muscle. It also appeared to be a little shorter, though that hardly mattered since it still towered over Rin. Otherwise, it had the same long horns atop the same shaved head, the dark maw filled with pointy fangs, the red skin covered with scales, and above all, the eerie humanoid appearance.

Thankfully, it didn't have wings.

The same suffocating terror was still so vividly imprinted inside her mind. The image of being strangled to death, the feeling of having a hand moving around in her stomach to gouge out her inside— Rin felt her breakfast moving up her throat. Now, however, really was not the time to let her fear control her.

The monster leaped.

She swallowed and finally put her hand on the handle of the katana she had brought.

‘Stay calm...’ She breathed in and out, focusing her eyes on the approaching Demon. Time seemed to slow down. ‘I... can do this.’

Things were different from last time. She had predicted the monster, avoided it, and even withstood one of its attacks. The Demon had nothing on her anymore. If anything, compared to the brainless monster who had only one predictable attack pattern, she largely had the advantages.

The inhuman hand finally came, clawing at her head in a large horizontal swing. Rin put her right foot forward and bent her head down, simultaneously dodging the attack and putting herself in a good position. ‘This is it.’ She thought, clenching her hand on her weapon. She just needed to draw her sword and both her strength and the Demon's own speed would bisect it in two.

A simple movement.

Her hands moved... and stopped midway.

‘Bisect...’

A flash of pain at the side of her face was the reward for her hesitation. She was blown away like a ragdoll before rolling on the ground with blood dripping down from her face. Her mask was inevitably damaged, showing the third of her face where her left eye was. Worse, though, was her regulator.

Cold almost immediately seeped into her skin and she began to feel dizzy. Despite the little sweat she had managed to build up, she could painfully feel her temperature lowering at a fast rate. To add oil to the fire, a quick touch to the seeping pain at the side of her face drenched her hand in vivid red color.

Rin's vision blurred, her breathing hastened and her heart thumped loudly.

‘Was this it?’

The monster let out another screech, the weight of its feet as it approached her seeming to shake her entire world.

‘...Again?’

Rin bit her lips and began to fumble for the sword she had let go of at some point. Her lips quirked up when she saw it was pretty close and she began to run—crawl towards it as fast as she could. With her hand on its handle, she could feel her heart calming down a little— before going wild again when a demonic foot fell on her hand.

A scream escaped her lips.

By the time she could hear her bones breaking, the Demon lifted her up by her neck and smashed her on the ground like a broken doll. The street gave out under her, crack spreading the most around her head. Her skull should've been shattered by that, but, with how much pain had flooded her sense, Rin couldn't tell. Even her scream was snuffed out by the increasing hold on her neck. She let out a short, ugly gasp while her destroyed regulator was squashed painfully on her neck. Her vision grew dim and she could feel her eyelid growing heavier. Her consciousness was slipping away— Her life was slipping away, just waiting for a hand to gouge it out from her stomach.

‘...a...gain...?’ She thought with the remains of her consciousness.

‘Nothing changed, did it?’ Not more than a month had passed, yet here she was, once again at the mercy of a Demon. ‘Absolutely nothing.’ But, Rin already knew that. Of course, she knew. Aiden's power was just that: Aiden's. Stripped of it, she was nothing more than the weak, powerless girl that she had always been.

And, no matter how objectively stronger she had become, a borrowed power had made her no less worthy of being called Trash. It had not brought her even an inch closer to her dream.

‘But... was that so wrong?’ Rin looked at the monster, her eyes on the verge of closing.

Now, she could reach three meters high with just a single jump. She could punch through wall and receive naught but an itch. She could run faster than cars, hear even the sound of ants walking. She could see miles away from herself and describe everything with perfect accuracy.

Years of training hadn't brought her anywhere close to that kind of level.

Rin just wanted to feel strong. Even if it was just a... fake feeling.

‘Was that.... Too selfish?’

Deep red scarlet eyes stared back at her as darkness finally filled her vision.

“Yeah...” She said and the Demon screamed in pain. “It... probably is.”

The sound of bone breaking entered her ears as she slowly lifted the Demon's hand off her neck. Her lips quirked upward and her brow receded. The sight of the crying monster felt so human in her eyes. Rin lifted her broken hand. She could hardly form a fist with it but she didn't need to. She swung it at the monster's face and it was enough to send it flying.

“..So...what ?” She said, struggling to get up.

Ultimately, nothing changed. She had a dream, and whether or not she had Aiden's power didn't change that. Right now, it just so happens that she has it. Even if it was a borrowed power, it just so happen that she could use it. And that was what she was going to do. To change things. To find real power. To... fulfill her dream.

And this—

The monster hissed and screamed before leaping at her like the savage animal that it was. Rin avoided a vertical blow by stepping back, and the one going for her head by rotating on herself. She used the same momentum to deliver a kick straight at the Demon's jaw, instantly bringing it down on all four.

—this was but the first step of many more to come.

The monster tried to move and was answered by another kick in its stomach, effectively sending him a few feet away. With a fluid movement using her feet, Rin brought her sword into her good hand before looking back at the monster. Unsurprisingly, it was wary now, eyeing her with its bared pointy teeth.

‘...’ Rin thought, narrowing her eyes. ‘...is it scared?’

She really, really hoped it wasn't. Her brother had once told her that being ready to kill was not only one of the most difficult state to be in but also the worst. Yet... it was necessary for a Noble. She tightened her trembling hand around the handle of her katana and bit her lips.

Rin didn't know what kind of path lay ahead of her, nor even what kind of destination was waiting for her. Was it a glorious one? Or perhaps, a horrid and miserable future? She could only do one thing: give it her all. At the very least, now, she had...

Hope.

The monster screeched and Rin moved.

She couldn't and didn't hesitate this time.

◇

Law finally stopped running after making sure the Demon wasn't anywhere near him. His breath was haggard but his stamina was far from being depleted. At least, if the monster reappeared out of nowhere, he still had the capacity to flee from it. Of course, that wasn't to say he was afraid of Demon. If it came down to it, there was no way he could actually lose. It was just that, well, ‘those things’ were a bad matchup for him.

Since Ark's pawn intervened quickly anyway, there was no need to play with fire.

“That's what you get for playing villain,” A female voice drew his attention. “Idiot.”

Law turned to his left to see a Ruby seated on a wooden bench since who knows when. She was looking at her phone and never deigned to glance at him.

“You should be home,” Law replied with a stern gaze. “And, we are villains. Morally speaking.”

Ruby rolled her eyes before standing up.

“I've found the information you wanted,” She said, casually tossing her phone at him.

Law received it with relative ease. “That was quick.” He said with no ounce of surprise. “As expected.”

The girl just shrugged. “It was pretty hard and there's still some veiled mystery on her childhood.” She turned around and began to walk. “Give up on those. I doubt I could find anything more on her even if I tried.”

The man didn't even bother looking at the content of the phone, talking was what he preferred. “And? Was there anything of note in what you found?” He asked, catching up to his sister.

The girl stayed silent. She was probably considering things. She liked doing that, didn't she? Not that he disliked it, though. In fact, it was one of the aspects he loved most about the girl. It meant she was thinking seriously, and, that was usually a good thing for him.

“...It won't work.” She said after finally giving him a look.

Law raised his eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Ruby stayed silent again before heaving a big sigh.

“She's a Noble, idiot,” She finally admitted. “A peculiar one.”