Watching the space around him distort, Batros didn’t know what was happening.

  "You didn’t expect this did you? A weak timid fox woman to be able to distort space." The older Shiro said as she removed the fox ears and the fox tail.

  Brushing her hair back, her timid aura faded away as it was replaced with pure rage.

  "So you’re the one who killed Haulia." Batros narrowed his eyes with a frown. With how much mana that was radiating off of her, his guards should have sensed this by now and are on their way here.

  "The assassin girl who tried to kill my manager? Yes, yes I did kill her. She had an interesting skill you know? True Stealth or whatever it was called." The older Shiro nodded as she snapped her finger.

  Swords appeared around her as they pointed towards him.

  "Heh, then did you know about how her sister is on life support? We’re the ones keeping her alive and you just killed her older sister. How do you feel?" Batros asked with a grin.

  "Ha? How do I feel? Not much. I only know that you’re trash who wanted to r*pe me and my daughter when she gets older."

  "Should you really think about fighting with your daughter in your hands? Plus, with this much mana being released, the guards are bound to arrive. I did some research, you came here seeking a place to live. The moment they realise that your links aren’t broken you’ll be detained."

  "And? Does it look like I give a f*ck?" The older Shiro flipped him off before flickering towards him.

  However, before she entered his range, she quickly jumped back.

  "You noticed? Damn, what a shame. I wanted to see the look on your face if I stab your daughter through the head." Batros smiled.

  Suddenly, claws appeared in front of him as the illusionary figure of a tiger could be seen behind him.

  Should she have continued forward, the claws would have stabbed Tia through the eye.

  Activating a few berserk skills, he charged towards her.

  Quickly flicking her wrist, Shiro parried his claws with her sword.

  Twisting her body, she kicked him in the ribs but noticed that it didn’t cause him to flinch.

  Without hesitation, she opened a portal under her and jumped through the rift.

  Appearing behind him, she stabbed towards the back of his neck with Athera.

  Unfortunately for her, with Tia in her arms, she couldn’t fight properly.

  *PING~

  Surprisingly, her sword seemed to bound off his fur as Batros looked at her with a grin.

  "Seems like you’re nothing special after all. I had thought that you killed Haulia alone but it seems like you had help."

  Taking a deep breath, Batros pulled his arm back before punching towards her.

  Side stepping the punch, Shiro waved her hand and activated Celestial Garden.

  Dragging him into her personal realm, she decided to use Ice as the base element.

  Finding himself in a frozen world with no end in sight, Batros quickly raised his guard.

  *BANG!!!

  Blocking a giant spear of ice that tried to pierce his body, Batros had a confident grin on his face.

  "Nothing you do can harm me! I have attained the pinnacle of the physical body for a beast man!" He shouted out with a grin.

  "Is that so? However, to me, it seems like your mental game is pretty weak." The older Shiro grinned.

  Snapping her fingers, their surroundings faded away to mist.

  "Huh?" Confused as to what was happening, Batros looked around and noticed that they were back in the apartment where he was sitting down. However, what creeped him out was that he could see his own body underneath him.

  "The moment the space distorted, you were already in an illusion set up by me while I extracted your soul. Now that you’re in a vulnerable state, why don’t I give you the best treatment I can?" The older Shiro said with a cold glint in her eyes.

  Panic filled Batros’ mind as he realised that he was in danger. His physical body was nothing if he was in soul form.

  Before he could even shout for help, black chains erupted out of the corners of the room and wrapped around his body. As if someone had just covered his mouth, Batros couldn’t hear his own voice.

  "Shh~ No shouting." The older Shiro placed a finger on her lips.

  "I’ve already set up a few formations around this place so no one will detect a change in mana. They won’t hear anything that happens either but I’d rather you not scream just yet. You can scream when I dismember your soul ok?" She smiled sweetly as her crimson eyes seemed to glow with insanity.

  Looking at her with fear, the only thing Batros could do was move his eyes around as she reached out towards his body.

  ###

  After a few hours of torturing, the older Shiro reached out towards the soul of Batros and grabbed his head.

  Red marks appeared on her hand as they started to invade his soul.

  "Hm, he has quite a few people being held hostage. A shame but it’s not my problem. My main goal is the anchor and it seems like I’ll need to notify Rakurth about the change in plans." The older Shiro muttered.

  Summoning a void black blade, she pierced Batros’ soul. Slowly, the illusionary body was absorbed by the blade.

  "Right then, what shall we do with the body?" The older Shiro asked with a smile.

  "Up to you. Just make sure that our main goal is reached." Shiro replied as she wasn’t too pleased with what her older self had just said.

  Even if the hostages weren’t their problem, it wouldn’t harm her to free them if she could and knowing her, Shiro knew that it was definitely a possibility.

  "Aw…… look at you pouting like that. How cute." The older Shiro smiled and poked Shiro’s cheek.

  "Listen, it’s not that I don’t want to help them. But most of the hostages are basically dead. They’re in a state where not even healing would work since their soul is damaged beyond repair. An example is the assassin girl’s sister. Through Batros’ memories, her sister’s been on life support for a while. Even if her HP and MP is full, there’s no sign of waking up. From what I can tell, it’s because her soul is essentially gone. It is now a question of whether you should put her out of her misery or let her live. If you let her live, she won’t be able to pass on and get reincarnated." The older Shiro shrugged.

  "Plus, you know that we don’t mean what we say half the time." She chuckled and reduced Batros’ body to ash. There was something about seeing her younger self that made her want to care a bit more.

  Perhaps the biggest change that this new age caused in her was her lack of empathy towards anyone who she doesn’t know or care about. If it was before the new age, she would have definitely tried to save the hostages but right now? Not so much.

  "I guess…… What do we do with those that can survive then? Are we going to leave them alone?" Shiro asked.

  "Don’t worry, I’ll make a few drones to help them out. In the meantime, let me deal with the guards around the house then I can talk to Rakurth about starting the operation a bit earlier than planned." The older Shiro replied with a smile.

  "Do you want to carry me again or should I wait in the flat?"

  "You want to come with mommy? Fine, I’ll let you watch me brutally kill some guards and reduce them to ash hahaha!" The older Shiro laughed as she scooped her younger self up into her arms.

  "Oi."

  Ignoring Shiro, she leapt out of the window with her sword ready. Activating one of her berserk skills, her body disappeared from her spot.

  ###

  Assassinating the guards with relative ease, she sat down on a roof and pulled out her phone.

  "Yo Rakurth" She called out.

  "What is it?"

  "We might have to begin the operation soon since I just killed Batros and a bunch of his guards."

  ". . . Oh for f*ck sake. To be fair, I’m genuinely surprised that you had managed to behave for this long. Fine, I’m pretty much sorted anyways."

  "I’m always well behaved though."

  "Whatever. Come to the store and we can talk there."

  Hanging up the phone, the older Shiro narrowed her eyes at the dark clouds before disappearing from her spot.