At the same instant the mage rushed forward, but Rem was ready for the attack. Thanks to either sheer luck or his own training, he dodged a fist flying at him, forcing Dasnor to stumble over a coffee table. The Lackluster backed to the exit and grabbed a grenade from his belt to throw under the Amber’s feet. Niji and Dasnor coughed as the room was filled with acrid smoke. Rem swallowed the antidote and tightened the scarf around his neck. After a short moment, Dasnor took a hard blow to his stomach and bent reflexively. Masked by the fumes, Rem tore the amulet off the Battle Mage’s chest and ran out of the apartment.

Niji was about to faint, but Dasnor found the strength to drag her into another room and open the door to the balcony. Still barefooted, he followed the Lackluster outside, noticing that the elevator had gone far down. However, something rattled suspiciously five floors higher. Dasnor accelerated and jumped out, breaking the hall window. Dozens of glass fragments scratched his arms and chest. Overcoming gravity and strong gusts of wind, he raised himself to the roof of the apartment block—and his guess was correct. The mage landed a few feet away from Rem right in time to prevent his escape. He reacted immediately by aiming a revolver at his nemesis with the right hand, while the string from the amulet was visible in his left.

Surprisingly—even to himself—Dasnor laughed out loud. “Wow, you level up fast. Seems like you’re no longer a dead weight.”

Although Rem jerked at “dead weight,” the insult didn’t shake his resolution. “Yeah,” he replied, “the Unit folks taught me a few lessons.”

“Make them proud, brat! Just use the thingie and run for your life. Still, I don’t think you know how to handle it anyway.”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t break the laws of mages. And of humans as well.” Rem pulled back the hammer.

“You know that stealing is law-breaking, right?”

Dasnor began walking aside slowly, searching for an opening so he could attack. Rem moved in a mirrored way, not taking the muzzle off him, his grip firm and confident.

“All artifacts that violate the Immutable Laws must be apprehended by PRISM. How brave of you to wear a cursed relic as an accessory! Talk about hiding a leaf in a forest.”

“Oh Goddess, spare me your dismal lectures. What’s Aoi thinking, I wonder—to send a small fry on a mission to retrieve one of the most hazardous artifacts… maybe fading out affects her sanity?”

“The Commander has nothing to do with it, I didn’t even have a chance to tell her. I… I just wanted to warn Niji about how dangerous you are.”

“Wait a sec, I am in the crosshairs here, not you.”

“Safety precautions. Now let me go. Neither of us wants any trouble.”

“I’m not going to give you what belongs to my family. If you have no guts to shoot me, then your only chance to flee is to use the medallion.”

“I told you—I’m not going to break the laws of magic.”

“Should you care? You’re no mage.”

“Neither are you.”

“Wh—what?”

Dasnor clenched his fists—his face, being already as white as a sheet, became even more lifeless. Seeing his tension, Rem continued on the offensive: “I know who you really are, Dasnor Hunt. The imprint of your amplifier could be easily confused with an arcane trail, but I am too sensitive to that kind of thing to mistake one for another. I’ve no clue how Freyja managed to enhance a Lackluster in such a way, but all your abilities are to her credit. You have no more arcane blood than I do.”

They both got distracted with a noise coming from the storage room. The door to it swung open, and Niji darted out onto the roof, her long hair flapping in a restless wind and her body shaking from the biting cold.

“Rem? NO! Stop it!” she yelled, swallowing the night air with the greed of a drowning person.

The latter gazed at the girl and the expression on his face changed drastically. Something broke inside him, and his hand with the revolver twitched. Niji locked her eyes with his and read the distinct sorrowful question.

Why? Why him?

Dasnor seized the moment and dashed forward to knock Rem off his feet, but the PRISM officer’s instincts didn’t fail him. He could never have imagined that the first time he’d shoot a man he would do it right in the heart. For a while, Rem just stood there with his gun up, not believing what he had just done, and watching in horror as purple lines crawled across Niji’s face.