"Hahaha, finally recognised me? Took you a while." The manager grinned.

  "No sh*t. I was under the impression that I’d be going undercover alone for a few weeks. I’ve only done a brief check you know? So, what brings you to this place old man?" The older Shiro laughed as she took off the fox ears.

  "I got a bone to pick with the Kirin. You see, he took something important of mine and let’s just say that I’m not pleased about it. I’ll be fighting it out with him once he’s slumbering. I haven’t found a good opening yet. What about you?"

  "Me? I’m here for another reason but if you’re able to deal with the Kirin, it’ll make my job a lot easier. You up for some good old teamwork?" The older Shiro asked with a smile.

  "Not so much teamwork but mutual benefit I suppose. I will deal with the Kirin and you do your thing. However, you want to give me a hand since it’ll increase my chances of victory? Your healing is quite powerful after all."

  "Hmm…… Depends on what happens. If I can make sure that Tia stays out of danger then sure." The older Shiro nodded her head.

  "Great. I’ll notify you on your shift when I’m ready to fight the Kirin then. But before that, it seems like I have a visitor coming towards the store with killing intent. Mind giving me a helping hand? I don’t want the shop to be affected by the fight after all." The manager asked with a grin.

  "Sure. I need to make sure they don’t know of my identity though."

  Waving her hand, she activated her celestial raiment with the fire element. Her white hair turned into a fiery red as armour wrapped around her body.

  Grabbing a mask from her inventory, she placed it over her face.

  "Do you want a disguise as well old man?"

  "I’ll be fine. I’ll kill them before my face is seen." The manager laughed.

  "Tia, watch from the side ok? It’ll give my identity away if you’re with me." The older Shiro said as Shiro nodded her head.

  It was fine since she wasn’t too eager to be close to the fight especially in her current state. A single piece of debris could kill her should it hit her by accident.

  "Shall we go then? Seems like Batros really wants to bed you huh?" The manager smiled as he opened the door.

  "Urg, don’t remind me of that a**hole. Since you’re going to be dealing with that Kirin, I wouldn’t mind killing him now." The older Shiro clicked her tongue.

  "Haha, I suppose that is very like you huh? In the meantime, let’s deal with this little assassin." The manager grinned.

  ###

  ’This should be the place.’ The assassin thought to herself as she checked the details of the mission. So far, they’d removed the guards from the premises so she could go a little crazy if she wanted to.

  Since the target was just the manager of a small restaurant, the fight should be over quite quickly. Even if he was able to demonstrate the power befitting of a person close to the peak of tier 6, she should be able to deal with him.

  "Oh my, a young woman out in the night so late. What if someone decides to do something a little naughty with you." A charming voice rang out from behind her as a pair of hands wrapped around her neck.

  Widening her eyes, the assassin quickly summoned her dagger and pierced behind her.

  What should have hit her body phased through some sort of mist, causing the culprit to laugh behind her.

  "How rude, I was just giving you a hug you see~"

  Glancing back, she could see a masked woman with blazing red hair. Despite not seeing her face, she could sense that she was completely at ease.

  "Ah, I’ve been spotted. Say, do you know how hard it was to hold back? I hope that you can help me vent out my stress tonight." She chuckled.

  "Don’t say it like that, the young lass might get the wrong idea." A masculine voice chuckled.

  Sensing the appearance of a second person, the assassin knew that she needed to escape. However, before she could run, black chains exploded out from the ground around her.

  "Since you’re a little strong, it’ll be quite hard to grab your soul ok~"

  Hearing this, the assassin didn’t hesitate to activate all of her berserk skills and break apart her grip.

  "Ara~ Not appreciative of my hug I see." The older Shiro laughed as the manager only shook his head.

  "Let’s deal with this girl quickly and be done with."

  Cracking his neck, the manager flickered behind the assassin and grabbed her by the back of her neck.

  Raising her up, he was about to slam her down when blades started to erupt from her body.

  Snapping her fingers, portals appeared around the assassin as the blades disappeared into the void. Snapping her fingers a second time, new portals appeared as the blades were redirected towards the woman.

  Widening her eyes, the assassin gritted her teeth and stabbed her finger towards her heart. Suddenly, mana erupted out from her body as the blades halted in mid air.

  Realising that they couldn’t move their body, both the manager and Shiro looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

  "Oh my, this is a pretty nifty trick you have here." Shiro laughed.

  Without saying anything, the assassin flipped her body over the manager’s arm and prepared to cut his head off when spines protruded from his back, stabbing her in the shoulders. Dragon-like wings unfurled themselves as the manager grinned.

  "You know, spacial lock has a certain threshold before it’s broken. Unfortunately for you, that threshold is much lower than my strength."

  *BANG! PING~!

  Tensing his body, it sounded like the space around them suddenly collapsed as the lock was forcefully broken in an instant.

  Seeing this, the older Shiro only sighed.

  "No finesse as usual. Man, you muscle heads are something else."

  Without any prior action, three tier 6 magic circles appeared around her as the lock was dissolved into mana.

  Shocked at this outcome the assassin quickly made some space between them. One was able to brute force his way out of her lock while the other was able to cancel out the spell. Both were dangerous as she figured that the mission was definitely ending up as failure. However, she was going to make sure that she takes at least one of them out.

  Summoning two daggers, her figure disappeared from her spot.

  "Hou~ True Stealth huh? Interesting. Now, that would be fine and all but there is one problem. My eyes can see everything." The older Shiro chuckled softly.

  Stomping down, she flickered behind the woman as she removed her mask. Using her spare hand to grab the assassin on the chin, she forced her to make eye contact with her.

  Despite not knowing what was happening, the assassin knew that it was going to be bad so she wanted to swipe at her but once again, her attack seemed to phase through her body.

  "Sorry, your life ends here." The older Shiro smiled as a flicker of light could be seen in her eyes.

  Feeling her body freeze up, the assassin watched as her limbs started to petrify.

  Gritting her teeth, she wanted to muster up the strength to retaliate but it seemed like her mana was blocked.

  Taking a better look at her links, she noticed that they were petrified as well.

  "You’re kidding me……" She muttered in disbelief as her entire body was then turned to stone.

  "Fu……" Breathing out softly, she placed her mask back on.

  "I had forgotten how powerful your Gorgon’s Gaze was when paired with your skill to see everything. The poor woman didn’t even have a chance." The manager smiled as his dragon like features disappeared.

  "Well it would have been annoying without you helping me keep her focused on you for a while. Anyways, we should get out of here since the guards are bound to come soon."

  Looking at the stone statue of the woman, Shiro shook her head and placed her palm against her chest.

  Sending out a wave of mana, the statue was reduced to dust as the ash was carried away by the wind.

  With the evidence cleared, the two of them made their way back to the restaurant.