A thousand bad luck was upon the Kagatse traveller on his current voyage. He was flung into the side of the train! Alicia sat limp; the shadow spell that bound her earlier was finally cancelled. The agents marched towards the shinobi, who was still leaning back on the train wall.

“Easterners are sure annoying! I didn’t expect the news to spread there as swift as Thunderkeeper's lightning, man!”

Mass panic occurred because of the loud thump. The passengers on the train burst out of the carriage with curiosity. However, the shinobi could not care less about those voyagers running around with their raucous mutters. This was an advantage. He could buy some time to prepare another surprise attack while human traffic was agitating those Roman agents. While leaning back in serene, he took off his gloves and cut his thumb with the fang of his mask. With his blood, he painted Kagatsean calligraphy on the ground, then performed a series of Ninshu hand gestures.

“Ninpo: Kuchiyose!”

He tapped his hand on the calligraphy floor. The blood red inscription turned pitch black, strange symbols appeared and scattered around the calligraphy.

“Ikuzo, Toragaro!”

A huge magic smoke puff burst out of the characters on the floor. A sudden roar of a beast alarmed the whole station, causing everyone to be rowdy and the second wave of panic was set in place. Bringing monsters into the public depot was not best for business. They should have just displayed it at the circus!

As for now, the station had become spacious with only leaving Roman agents, the astounded Alicia, and the shinobi himself.

A foot came out first from the plume of smoke. A yokai, in the form of a white tiger named Toragaro appears from nothingness.

The agents did not want to lose either, so they spread their hands. A blue magic circle with a neat pattern was created from each of their magical hands!

Alicia was about to witness the handicap match between the practicing the arts of Ninshu shinobi alongside Toragaro, versus four agents of Roma, practitioners of western rite Sorcery. With all being said, she had already secured her VIP seat. What a time to be alive!

The swedge begins! Toragaro, without more ado, pounced on one of the agents straightaway. The other two agents overran the yokai tiger, but they had to deal with the only part of the tiger’s body that did not look organic at all—its segmented tail, with each segment that could separate itself to extend the attack range. Each grotesque tail part had double-sided razor blades that could grab and slice the magi without a sweat. Toragaro made the attempts to bite the agent’s mien it had pounced on, but often failed due to the protective circle created the moment before the monster grabbed him!

Right on the other side, the furious head agent confronted the shinobi! The shinobi took a small scroll under his jacket and opened the scroll that displayed some sort of encryption in Kagatsean characters. He did the same instruction to summon his yokai but without biting his finger with fangs. Behold, a short blade—a ninjatō—came to the world surface from an abstract painting manuscript!

“A sword? Poor choice, man,” said the arrogant agent chief.

Having the impression that the Roman agent might be on the good side, Alicia dared to speak up.

“Be careful, good sir! It’s not just an ordinary knife, It’s a ninjatō! A Hana-no-bunretsu ninjatō!”

“Hannah—what?” replied the head agent in bewilderment. “Lady, what are you talking about? Stop interrupting us already!”

“But that ninjato....”

The agent fired several magic shots from his both magic circles, which the shinobi’s sword easily slashed as he ran.

“... Can cleave spells.…”

The chief agent gawked! That short blade splitting magic? He was either senile or ignorant. He had no idea that crafting weapons by implanting amulets to prevent supernatural powers had become part of eastern magic custom. But wasn’t that common in the west, too? The sorcerer should have known better, but that Crimsonmane girl was smarter than him.

But back to the match. The shinobi approached the sorcerer, then cut him several times while the agent was activating his shield magic. However, the shinobi was more agile. He managed to slash the unit leader in blind spots that caught the sorcerer off guard, then kicked him in the jaw until he collapsed to the ground! The Kagatsean Ninja seemed superior in this round.

While the head sorcerer sank into a deep stupor, and the other agents were occupied taming the loose tiger, he laid his eyes on the audience. The only audience who wasn’t wise enough to run away while there was a chance, and instead watched what she called the world-class ‘mixed mystic arts’ fight. Who else if it wasn’t Alicia Crimsonmane? The shinobi rushed towards the girl and Alicia became stuttered. As a reflex, she immediately took out Orb and tried to control the shinobi’s movements with her power. His motions then temporarily faltered due to the Orb’s telekinesis. But for Alicia, controlling the movements of sentient beings was a hundred times more arduous than putting together the rubble of graves back in the good old day! Before long, the shinobi managed to escape from the pure Arcane influence and went back to chasing the girl. His hand almost touched Alicia’s strands of hair when his motions halted again, this time due to his front heel being fused on the porcelain tiles! He turned his head. The prone chief agent turned out to be the culprit of his leg incident. No time to waste, Alicia erupted Orb’s plasma at the shinobi, which caused him to fall back against the pillar as the force dislodged his legs from the porcelain tiles.

The agent rose then sank the shinobi’s hand in the cement pillar he leaned upon with a spell to restrain him for the time being.

He approached the shinobi, uttering, “Abducting underage girls in the western lands, man? Real daredevil you are, you pervert ninja—“

The Kagatsean’s strength was a prosperous hinnigami, it appeared. He still managed to demolish the concrete pillar and freed his hands, making a circular slash in front of the finical sorcerer. The head agent still found his head intact thanks to Alicia’s force field, which not only prevented him from being split in two but also broke the Kagatsean’s magic-splitting blade. O, how disbelief was his mien when his trustful ninjatō was as worthless as split metal pieces compared to the Divine Grace!

The shinobi jumped back in retreat. On the other hand, the other three agents managed to confine the tiger with multiple chains emerging from magic circles in all directions. Toragaro was quite overwhelmed, but the beast itself had been sealed with a worse spell. Toragaro roared; it was so ferocious that the magical aura in its voice sending the three magi into disarray. With the sharp blades of its tail splittings, it cut all the chains and jumped to the side of its master. A roar of shock waves was emitted to prevent those sorcerers from moving an inch closer. The shinobi sheathed his broken sword and tucked it under his brown noragi jacket.

“I guess someone else will be looking for you, brat! But I can’t guarantee they will be more generous as I am.” The shinobi uttered to Alicia as he made a single Ninshu gesture and the two sentients vanished inside the wisp of white smoke.

The sorcerers regrouped. The head agent saw Alicia quickly stuffed Orb into her bag. She did not try to flee, however. She knew there was no point in running away from the Eternal Empire personnel.

“‘I guess someone else will be looking for you?’ Wow, a sweet lady like you sure likes to find enemies, huh?” said the head of the agent to Alicia with a grin.

Alicia gasped. “I-I don’t know what to say about it, Mister—”

“Just call me Kirillios.” said the agent. “And your name is…?”

“Alicia. Alicia Crimsonmane, Mister Kirillios.”

“Ooh… Crimsonmane,” Kirillios responded in a tone of pretentious admiration as he turned to his colleagues. “I thought so, by your hair. A Crimsonmane, huh? A famous wizarding family from Caledonia. I heard that the one living in Trinketshore is the Crimsonmane who can’t do magic.”

Alicia was triggered by those words. “A-all the member of the House of Crimsonmane can do magic!”

“Hey, that’s what is the rumour flying around, okay? And it seems…,” Kirillios pointed to her knapsack. “All the Crimsonmanes do have magic. By the way, is it yours? Its essentials are the pretty much the same as what we have in Eternal Roma.”

The girl stuttered when Kirillios asked such a thing. “Ah, you mean Orb? I-I found it. Or… it chose me, to be precise. B-b-but I can explain everything to you if you’re kind enough to g-give me a moment.”

“Lady, I really wish we could do that over a nice evening tea. But how The Divine has cursed us, our time here is very short. How about this?” Kirillios grasped Alicia’s hand, then another agent put the magical handcuffs on her hands, emitting a magic signal that cut her connection with Orb instantly.

“What the—”

“Alicia Crimsonmane! By the blessing of the Emperor of Eternal Roma, and on behalf of the Magisterium of Arcane Plane, you have been arrested for illegally possessing and abusing the source of pure Arcane, without reporting or receiving the good wishes from the Eternal Empire! You have the right to present your defence against the Magisterium through magic court proceedings at Eidyn’s District Court Office! And you are going to Eidyn, right now!”

Alicia could only gape.

“HUH?” []