Under The Veil of Night

Deep at night, Kanae walked out from her room without any sound. She didn’t even make the slightest sound as she walked out of the apartment. Years of practice caused her to become an expert in sneaking without any sound.

Evading the cameras, she ran outside towards the clinic. In that place, Shiro was busy reading a medical book when he heard the knock on his door.

"Oh, Kanae, what are you doing here?" Shiro was startled.

"The government places some listening devices in the apartment. I don’t have any other choice but sneak out," Kanae answered helplessly. It was never her intention to disturb her friends, but she didn’t have any other choice.

Shiro’s eyes narrowed when he heard about that. "You’re quite reckless. You shouldn’t participate in our group matter for the time being. They might find out about you being in a group."

"They won’t," Kanae stuck out her tongue. "I will never let them know something so important like this."

"If that’s what you say, I won’t comment anything."

Kanae sat down on the nearby chair. "How’s the progress of the other missions that Tommy do lately?"

Although they were quite busy in their real-life matter, they still took care of the group. In fact, they have been accepting a lot of mission lately. Most of them were only simple missions that didn’t require the four of them to move. In a way, this was also a practice for Tommy since that young boy was the one who finished the missions.

"He’s getting better. Doing mission makes his movement better than the usual random fight he did," Shiro answered.

"That’s good."

Shiro pondered for a moment. "You seem to be in a hurry to have us getting stronger and have more power. Is there going to be something big happen?"

"Kevin Kalin is going to be the official Clan Head of the Ryukalin Clan. I’m sure a lot of ripples are going to happen during that time. The streets are going to be more dangerous, and I don’t want to place you all in danger during those times."

Shiro nodded his head. "There are a lot of conflicts about him being the clan head."

"What kind of conflict?"

"I’m not entirely sure. It’s an internal conflict, so only those from inside or those who have vast network of information can know."

"I see."

Shiro took out a piece of glasses. "This is for you. Jason says that he’s going to be busy because the family is holding the gathering this month, so he wants to prepare things in advance. He already placed the list of missions for Tommy, though."

"Thank you," Kanae checked the glasses and to her surprise, it seemed that the battery could last longer. She wondered what that man modified to make it this way.

Shiro returned back to his book. "If there’s nothing else, you can return. I have to finish reading this."

"You’re very studious, Doctor Shiro."

"The door is over there."

"Alright, I won’t bother you again," Kanae slipped out from the room using her new glasses. She made her way to Master Rudy’s place. Her leave was quite sudden, so she could only ask the others to relay the message to this master of hers.

When she arrived, an arrow was heading towards her. She quickly evaded to the side as she saw the young man, who usually stayed by Master Rudy’s side, was aiming another arrow towards her.

DZING!

Another arrow made its way towards Kanae, and she evaded once again. Hearing the loud crash behind her, she knew that the power behind each shoot was more than ordinary people. Inside her heart, she was rather surprised. Even though she had stayed here for quite some time, this was the first time she saw this young man real prowess.

"Why are you shooting me?" Kanae asked when she saw the young man already prepared another arrow.

"Master Rudy’s instruction, defeat you with my real skill in archery."

DZING!

Kanae rolled to the side and ran towards the young man. Before she got close, the young man already reloaded and aimed towards Kanae once again. In the next second, Kanae evaded the arrow once again as it was planted deep on the ground not far from where she stood before.

She took out her sword as she suddenly sprinted. In a matter of seconds, she crossed several meters and reached the young man’s side. The small sword was rested on his neck as the young man’s bow and arrow was not ready yet.

"Is this sufficient?" Kanae asked.

The young man’s eyes darted to the small sword as he lowered his bow and arrow. "Your movement is faster than before."

Kanae nodded her head. She already realized it herself when she moved because she reached further distance than before. For this change, she believed it was the result of Master Rudy torturing her for the past two to three months.

"Are you sure you’re wounded?"

"I’m already mostly healed. It’s not hurt anymore," Kanae lowered her sword and put it under her sleeves again. "Where’s Master Rudy?"

"Can’t you sense him?" The young man smiled.

Kanae frowned and focused her sense harder. However, no matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t perceive where the master was. This made her rather perplexed. She was pretty sure that her sense was already very sharp because of her honing them. But why couldn’t see sense him?

PAK!

A stone hit her head from behind and Kanae immediately turned around. She was stunned to see Master Rudy stood there. He didn’t seem to emit any presence as he played with a stone in his hand.

"Are you surprised, little girl?" he asked with a teasing tone

"Very much," Kanae caressed the back of her head. Her eyes were locked on the stone as she wondered about what had exactly happened.

"You might be known in the outside world as one of the best fighters in the group, but you’re just a little youngster not ready to face the real world," Master Rudy smiled. "The real and hidden masters like me can defeat youngster like you very much."

Kanae nodded her head solemnly. This was something she had realized from a long time ago. Against those real veterans on the deeper part of the Black Street, she was still nothing. Only against those on the outer layer of the Black Street could she walk around without fear.

"Do you know how you sense other people?" the young man asked.

Kanae looked back at him. "It’s from their intent that they show."

"What if they don’t have any intention at all?"

Ah, she understood. She was relying on her instinct whenever it came to detecting people around her. Human always has intent in their action and the clearest one was the intent to attack. It was what she always relied during her time when she fought against numerous people.

But if they purposely hid it, she might not be able to detect them.

"Do you remember the other fighter from the previous three powerful groups? Do you think you can defeat them if they’re not wounded or tired? Besides, you only earn the title because one of them step down because of nearly total annihilation."

Kanae lowered her gaze as she shook her head lightly. It was only a coincidence that she was named as a better fighter in that hellish building. Her ability was still far from those top tier fighters. Should they fight in their normal condition, she wouldn’t be able to win.

Besides, she was not that idiot to challenge them in normal times.

"This will be something you have to master," Master Rudy smiled. "After you master them, I’ll bring you out to challenge the other masters in the deepest part of the Black Street."

Kanae’s body shook lightly. It was an outrageous move, yet she felt rather excited. It was hard to go inside the deeper part of Black Street and returned back unscathed. Such a chance was simply too rare. Nodding her head, she stared at Master Rudy. "Please."

"Now, let’s practice."

"Yes!"