The sounds of someone knocking on the door echoed throughout Sundown as Gaius walked downstairs. His bedroom was on the second floor, like everyone else, but it seemed that Isabelle was doing something on the first floor.

“Good evening. I’m Paragon Sasori.”

“Paragon Sasori?!” Isabelle asked, clearly shocked. “Why have you come to our humble abode?”

“I’m here to seek out the war hero of the Eastern front, the Nine-nine-nine Knight,” replied Sasori. “I was told that the person in question resides in this residence, but I’m not sure if he’s returned yet. Could you shed light on this situation?”

“Um.” Isabelle rubbed her nose, clearly unsure of what she should say next. Gaius could literally hear her weighing between the prospects of saying a lie or telling the truth. Before she could do anything else, however, the boy walked towards the door.

“I’ll handle this,” said Gaius. “Go look after her.”

Isabelle nodded. Her face, through strictly controlled, betrayed a hint of relief when Gaius appeared, and she left a second later. Gaius waited until she was out of sight, and then turned to Paragon Sasori.

The man in question had an odd look on his face. It was an expression Gaius would probably use if he didn’t know what his next words were, and the boy could guess the reason why. Eventually, the Paragon shook his head.

“It’s you.”

“Yes. It’s me.” Gaius replied, a small smile. “I told you I didn’t need to go to school, didn’t I? Your concern is very much appreciated, however.”

The Paragon shook his head. “I must have seemed rather ridiculous to you then. Me, funding the Demon Sniper’s education…if the other members of the Plenum found out, they’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

“Indeed.” Gaius allowed himself a little grin, and then said, “So, what brings you here to this little Sundown at night? I don’t think you’re asking for supper, are you?”

“I think my cook does a wonderful job, thank you very much,” Sasori replied. “No, I wanted to seek out the Nine-nine-nine Knight for a deal.”

“A deal?” Gaius leaned forward slightly. “I’m all ears.”

“You returned to Mi-Zu with two artefacts on the level of national treasures,” said the Paragon. “And from what I know, you can’t really use them either, since you already have an Engine. I’ll like to buy one of them from you. Money and resources are no issue to me whatsoever.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes slightly. He had long prepared for someone of great importance to come up and suggest such a trade, although he didn’t really expect that person to be Paragon Sasori.

“Unfortunately,” said the boy, “I cannot fulfil the request.”

“May I ask why?”

“It’s not about the renumeration,” replied Gaius. “Rather, I no longer have these Engines.”

The Paragon froze up for a moment, and energy began to leak from his lithe frame. It took him a few seconds before he took note of his current actions, and the qi flowing around him receded back into his body. “My apologies. But may I…?”

“On the way back to Mi-Zu, I was attacked by an unknown assailant,” Gaius replied smoothly. “Long hair, dressed in purple and black. The attacker was wielding a blade of…light, I guess, and caught me off-guard when I arrived. I was forced to give up both Engines to the attacker.”

“Long hair, dressed in purple and black, and a blade of light.” The Paragon narrowed his eyes. “It’s that person again.”

Gaius blinked. He’d meant to push his current and future troubles over to someone imaginary, out of petty revenge, but it seemed that his words had more purchase than he thought they would have. Intrigued, the boy asked, “Do you know who that person is?”

“The Phantom Blade,” Paragon Sasori replied. “A famous killer who appeared in the Five Lands around a month or so ago. Killed a whole bunch of Lords and stole their items. He’s probably the most wanted criminal after the Butcher of Gods, the person who destroyed the Altar of Gods in the Southern Continent some time ago.”

Gaius prevented himself from twitching involuntarily when he heard the latter half of Sasori’s words, by focusing on the first half. “Killed a whole bunch of Lords?”

“Correct,” said the Paragon. “But it’s quite likely that the Phantom Blade’s a Paragon, given the ease in which those Lords were killed. The outlaw has incredible spatial abilities, as well as martial might — and reportedly, the Phantom Blade killed Constellation Pisces half a month ago.”

“The Phantom Blade killed one of the Constellation Heroes?” Gaius asked, shocked.

“Apparently so. Of course, now that the South is in a mess, and the Holy Temple’s gone kaput, no one really knows the truth about what happened, beyond the fact that the Phantom Blade “donated” Pisces’ head to Mi-Zu two weeks ago,” replied Paragon Sasori, a slightly bitter expression on his face. Gaius could somewhat understand the feeling — no one would feel safe after hearing about a Constellation’s murder.

“Well,” said Gaius, “that really isn’t going to help me much, however. If the Phantom Blade is that formidable, I don’t really fancy my chances of getting those Engines back.”

“Indeed.” Paragon Sasori nodded his head, an action that blended his black hair with the darkness outside. “No one’s been able to track the Phantom Blade down — every time we think he’s been cornered, he teleports away. Truly an annoying foe.”

Gaius wanted to correct the Phantom Blade’s gender, but that probably probably raise a whole host of doubts within the Paragon’s mind, so the boy desisted. Instead, he settled by telling the Paragon about the encounter the two of them had, albeit being modified. After telling a small story about how he lost his favourite weapons, the boy shook his head and sighed.

“Now, now.” The Paragon had a look of sympathy on his face. “It can’t be helped. You were up against a Paragon-killer — you made a wise choice to give the robber what he wanted. Although it does mean that I’m going home empty-handed today.”

Paragon Sasori shrugged. “I’ll keep the loss a secret, though.”

“Thank you.”

“You were honest with me, so that’s the least I could do.” The young man shook his head. “Well then, I’ll be heading off. See you around, boy.”

Gaius closed the door after the Paragon’s figure had vanished entirely, and then exhaled slowly. The Paragon’s arrival had brought along an oppressive might, a coercion of sorts. It was fortunate that he’d come up with a story beforehand…but he didn’t expect that his tale would be that effective. After apologising to the long-haired girl in his mind, Gaius yawned and ambled back upstairs.