"Sorry, I seemed to have slipped up a bit." Helion sighed as Shiro shook her head.

  "Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault for giving you a rather dangerous task to begin with. We can talk later once I get rid of your chains." Shiro said while looking at the cuffs secured to his wrists and ankles.

  "They’re specially made to be resistant to mana so it’ll be hard to break them apart. They’ve also been reinforced to make them harder." Helion smiled weakly.

  "When have restraints ever been a problem for me? Did you forget how I got here despite all the defensive formation?" Shiro raised her eyebrow.

  Brushing her finger across the surface of the chains, nanobots started to flood the internal composition of the cuffs and began to consume everything it came into contact with. After a few short moments, Helion’s chains were destroyed and his body fell forward.

  Quickly catching him so that he didn’t slam his face against the ground, Shiro hauled him into her rift. As much as she wanted to go on a rampage to make the people who did this to him pay, she needed to get him out first.

  Dashing through the rift with Helion next to her, Shiro managed to escort him out of the compound without any problems. Any guards that managed to catch them were dealt with swiftly.

  While this was all happening, she was healing Helion’s body with her life fire. However, looking at his internal injuries, Shiro couldn’t help but feel as though her anger was reaching a new boiling point. Not only were his bones essentially shattered, but his organs were also poisoned.

  Using a few charges of her Grace skill, she managed to heal him back to full.

  "Thank you." Helion said as he could finally breathe properly after a long time.

  "Don’t sweat it. Let’s go get a room for now so that they won’t be finding us any time soon." Shiro nodded her head.

  Agreeing with Shiro, the two of them started to make their way to a nearby hotel.

  Renting out two rooms for the night, Shiro had Helion eat something before having him explaining what had happened.

  "You see, after we met up back in New York to analyse your sword, I made my way to each of the Blacksmithing associations along with a few factions in hopes of finding some information on the soul fragments. That way, I can remove that sword from you for good. However, during my search, the information I found was rather basic until I caught wind of a rumour saying that the Blacksmithing Faction in this city had dealt with Soul Fragments before.

  "After arriving in this city, I started to search around after temporarily joining this Faction. It was here that I discovered the source of these rumours. The higher ups of this place all have Soul Fragment weapons. I wouldn’t say that they’ve been possessed by the weapons yet but they’re not far off. Drunk by its power and understanding that I was researching this type of weapon, the Faction leader requested that I make more or enhance their current weapons." Helion sighed.

  "And I’m guessing you rejected them which landed you in that prison." Shiro narrowed her eyes.

  "Mn. There is some good news though."

  "Like what?"

  "I figured out how you can get rid of that God Slaying Sword for good." Helion smiled.

  "Oh? That is rather good news."

  "Unfortunately."

  "And here it is. It’s never easy now is it?" Shiro chuckled.

  "Nope. All of my research on the subject has been stolen and vaulted in the top floor of the faction. I’m thinking that the leader wants to use my research in order to upgrade his own weapons which would be bad since the amount of souls he needs would increase exponentially. To make matters worse, he needs human souls, not monsters." Helion frowned.

  "So all I need to do is to collect your research so that I can finally get rid of this sword?" Shiro asked again just to make sure.

  Pulling out Akram, she set it on the table.

  "Mn. I’ve got an idea of how to do it in my mind but it’ll be better to reference my research since there are parts that I might have missed."

  "Interesting. Are you able to give me a small run down on how you would get rid of this sword?" Shiro asked.

  "There are a few methods but one of them is to consume the soul before it could consume you, making it so that the sword is entirely dedicated to you but that would be pretty hard when you think about how much killing intent is radiated from that blade."

  "True…… Regardless, I suppose I’ll be making a second trip today." Shiro smiled as she stored Akram away.

  Standing up, she was about to leave when she received a text from her phone.

  [Nan Tian: We’ve just finished getting the artefact piece. Where are you? We’ll meet up with you.]

  [Shiro: I’m at a hotel with a friend of mine. Come over and I’ll introduce you two.]

  Sending them the address, Shiro told Helion that someone was coming over.

  Soon, both Yin and Nan Tian arrived at the hotel room.

  "Nan Tian meet Helion. Helion meet Nan Tian. Helion is a friend of mine who’s been a great help in making my current armour and upgrading my weapons." Shiro said with a smile.

  Seeing the man, Nan Tian walked up to him and shook his hand.

  "Nice to meet you." He said with a smile.

  "Likewise." Helion nodded his head.

  "So what’s happening?" Nan Tian asked curiously.

  "You see, Helion was doing something for me but got caught up in a dangerous situation. I’m about to go resolve all that right now." Shiro replied while opening the window.

  "Oh? You need any help?"

  "Nah, I should be alright unless they have someone above level 300, I won’t be harmed. Though, I suppose even if they did, I got Estrella to help me." Shiro smiled.

  "I see…… Alright. Don’t go too overboard with the murder spree ok?" Nan Tian smiled as Shiro rolled her eyes.

  "Please, when have I ever gone overboard with a murder spree? If I did, I would have a higher rank on my title." Shiro replied.

  "Anyways, I’ll be back soon. Lil’ Tian, don’t be rude to my friend just because he’s a guy ok? He’s been a great help to me and if I find you that you’ve done anything to offend him, I’ll be kicking your ass." She warned before flickering from her spot.

  "Lil Tian?" Helion raised his eyebrow in confusion.

  ". . .Don’t question it." Nan Tian sighed.

  "Well, I tend not to question a lot of things that are to do with Shiro. If I did, I’d be stressing myself out quite a bit." Helion chuckled.

  "That sounds about right."

  ###

  Jumping through the air, Shiro made her way past the clouds and summoned both Iziuel and Attie.

  "Iziuel, are you able to look after Attie for a bit? I don’t want him to see what I’m about to do to the leader." Shiro said with a smile.

  "Sure. Like Nan Tian said though, don’t go overboard." Iziuel smiled since she was used to it by now.

  "Don’t worry about it." Shiro chuckled. Before she could however, Attie reached out and tugged on her jacket.

  "Mn? What is it Attie?" She asked with a soft smile.

  Opening his mouth, Attie wanted to talk but when no sound came out, he could only furrow his brows in frustration.

  Seeing Attie gesture for her to pick him up, Shiro obliged as he patted her head and gave her a hug.

  Feeling a warm sensation sprout out in her heart, Shiro smiled softly.

  "I’ll be back soon ok? Be good and stay with Iziuel for now."

  Nodding his head, Attie gave Shiro a small wave.

  Waving back, Shiro disappeared from her spot.

  ###

  {You should spend more time with Attie you know? He’s still growing up.}

  ’You’re right. Though the circ.u.mstances aren’t exactly optimal right now. There are too many things to do and people to kill.’ Shiro shook her head.

  {Are you sure that isn’t just excuses? Perhaps you should take a day off so that you can play with Lisa, Yin and Attie. While Yin and Lisa are more mature, they still need motherly attention every now and again. Especially Lisa due to her background.}

  ’. . .Yeah I’ve been neglecting them a bit haven’t I?’


  {Uhuh.}

  ’I’ll make this up to them after we get the artefacts. But for now……’ Shiro trailed off as she landed on the top of the faction building.

  "I’ve got people to kill." She grinned as her eyes flickered with killing intent.