Chapter 25 - Establishing a Reputation Within the New World [Rewrite]

This chap might feel as if it is filler, but from now on, each 'filler' will be more of a setting stone for the main plan. I hope you don't mind the slice-of-life part.

How's the new Synopsis? Is it better? 

Don't forget to give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!

Thank you!

-SR_2027.

=====

[Confirming. The Host is around 1 and a half months away from the events of Akame Ga Kill!.]

[Congratulations on the purchase of 100 gold coins for use in this world. The money is kept in your empty Inventory.]

-

It took Ryo and others took a few hours till they reached the nearest town, Campbell Town. The cartridge stopped at the gate where the Guards searched the carriage of something dangerous and finding nothing special, they let them go inside. However, before going inside, they gave Ryo a stinky eye.

This made Ryo narrow his eyes and think, 'Looks like I will have to change my looks as soon as possible. Sudou's stiff face had already made me realize this but I wasn't completely prepared otherwise I would have changed my looks before going according to the plan.'

'It won't matter for me to change my appearance but better be prepared for anything than ignoring some issues.'

-

Soon they boarded to their destination as the driver left for his destination with his carriage, leaving Sudou and Ryo in the city district.

Observing his surroundings, Ryo looked around with excitement and interest as the 10-meter-high wall surrounded the whole Town while the houses in the town looked as if they were from the mid-20th century.

The guards regularly checked and walked by through the street, maintaining order and capturing anyone who might be disrupting order.

On the other hand, the center of the town was a huge mansion that was visible from even the end of the town, making Ryo amazed. 

"Hey, Ryo, let's go. We should find an Inn before it's too late. Ya'know the prices of Inns doubles at night. And we will leave in three days, as I need to take care of some small stuff within the town."

Sudou called out to Ryo, making him nod and follow behind Sudou. As they walked through the district, Ryo noticed two posters posted in multiple places in the town. On the poster, there were two faces printed over with a 'Wanted Alive or Dead' sign printed just above their faces.

These posters were of none other than Najenda, Bulat, and Akame. Each of their posters had a bounty of 25,000 gold coins, except for Najenda who had a bounty of 50,000 gold coins.

With them joining the Revolutionary Army recently, they were not that much influential and the Night Raid was just newly formed and was not yet famous. Furthermore, their current primary goal was to gather more people for their cause and find other Teigu for their cause.

It didn't take them to find the Inn, where both Sudou and Ryo booked two rooms by their side, which cost them 10 coins each for three days straight, helping Ryo understand the value of the currency to some extent.

As soon as the rooms were booked, Ryo paid Sudou 25 gold coins, stating that he would pay the other 75 after they reached the Imperial City, making Sudou nod in acceptance.

Soon Sudou returned to his room, while Ryo walked into his room, locked the door laid the bed. 'System, tell me, if I instantly destroy the whole planet, will it affect the UPs I earn compared to the UPs I will gain by manipulating people and changing the plot slowly?'

[Host, the System was made to entertain the creator of the System, which meant that UPs that you will earn for destroying the world right now might not be even 10% of what you will earn from manipulating people.]

'*Sigh* Now you are trying to lie to me. How stupid~ I already know how the UP system works. If I instantly destroy the world, the World Will won't have enough time to 'spend' its Paradox Energy to change the outcome.'

'If the 'World Will' won't spend the Paradox Energy, how will you steal the spend Paradox for yourself and me?'

[System cannot lie.]

'Fair enough. Heh. I completely agree with you. Go ahead.'

[As stated before, if you manipulate them without any direct means, the UPs earned for the action will be reduced by 60% to even 90% depending on the situation. During this time, the World Will be spending the Paradox Energy, which is to be absorbed and to be used by the Host.]

With his inquiry completed, Ryo continued to look at the roof of the room as continued to think about his situation. 'I am fucked... I cannot control my own destiny... Well, this seems tiring and stressful... All this is getting boring now...'

He now only had one single goal, and if he really wanted his freedom back; at least for some time, he would need to do what the [RYO] had planned for him to do. He had no other way out.

'I don't like this feeling... Is this how it feels to people when I manipulate them, destroying their everything, and making them fall into despair? This makes me feel... bad...?', Ryo's brows furrowed as he thought about this feeling as he placed his hand over his heart.

It was a unique feeling for him.

For his whole life, which was built upon lies, he, for the first time felt 'sadness'. 

He never faced anything like this before... He was always someone who was always in control, always winning at the end with the best results...

'It's weird... So weird... For so long I have never felt any sort of feelings... And as soon as I started to feel them... Everything was already against me...', Ryo continued to think about his situation.

He never felt any regret. 

Not a single second. 

But when faced with a situation where he felt utter and true despair... for the second time in his life...

A sigh escaped his lips as Ryo stopped thinking and he decided to take a small nap.

"..."

.

.

.

.

.

It took him a whole day to balance out all his emotions again. He could have simply used his emotion management and biological manipulation to remove all these negative thoughts, but he decided against it.

Everything was boring for him. Everything always went according to his plans. And he always won at the end.

But when faced with an unmovable wall, he started to feel something that truly made him feel more 'humane'.

It was not his goal to become more 'human-like', his main goal was to be able to understand 'empathy'. He wanted to feel something, something different from his usual 'boring' feelings.

He wanted to feel different. He wanted to see how much he would grow for the second time he was facing despair.

-

After a night's rest, Ryo spent his daytime roaming the town, understanding its structures and looking and examining all the movement patterns of soldiers.

With that, as soon as the night approached, Ryo stood up and started to change his looks, and adoring himself with the brown hood, he jumped out of his Inn room and rushed toward the Town Wall. 

Hopping up from the wall snakingly, without warning any guards, Ryo reached deep into the forest, and after reaching a bit deeper into the forest, Ryo stopped and opened his inventory, and summoned an individual Klaxosaur.

*Boom*

The earth shook as a Mohorovičić-class or a medium-sized Klaxosaur, which Ryo instructed to divide into smaller of its kind, causing a few hundred Klaxosaurs to form which looked as if they were a pack of foxes.

Although this form cannot be kept for a very long time, Ryo had a different purpose for the smaller divided Klaxosaurs.

He instantly instructed these smaller Klaxosaurs, who were around the middle lowest of the food chain within this world to run deeper into the forest, making the Klaxosaurs instantly rush into the forest.

With this thing done, Ryo quickly rushed back to the Town, entered the town, sneaked past the guards, and reached a place that he could consider a proper place to acquire information.

As Ryo stood on the rooftop of a building, he observed the scenery that was in front of him, which was an area filled with a bustling population.

The area was like a red light, filled with various brothels, bars, shops, and various other buildings.

With a quick action of body manipulation, his white hair slowly started to and new black hair started to grow, replacing his previous hair. Furthermore, his purple eyes slowly turned into red color as his clothes shredded into smaller pieces and new clothes started to form.

In an instant, he was wearing a stylish black full-body silk suit, gloves, a domino mask, and boots along with a hooded trenchcoat; all black but having golden edges. Although his clothes might look flashy, it was but a small price to pay for a great cause.

He also had his horn absorbed back into his body to complete his cosplay.

Adoring his clothes, he used his abilities to call various small birds over his shoulder. As he extended his hands, a small blue formed over his hand, probably the size of rice grains, which the birds quickly devoured readily.

As they completed their meal, they soon started to twitch after a short time of a few minutes for a few seconds until their eyes started to glow a bit blue.

Unlike human beings who have complex body structures and take several hours to a few days to be completely in their control, these birds are smaller and easier to transform and they don't have as strong a will as a human does.

With him training his abilities during the time he was assimilating the knowledge from the Klaxo-Sapien civilization during his time in Star Entity, Ryo was sure that as long as he didn't run out of energy and didn't have most of his body destroyed, he will never die.

Along with partial immortality, he had also completed his training in biological manipulation.

With all that combined, it was an easy work of transformation into any sort of form, albeit with a longer time, the more he was trying to transform.

With the birds infected with his blood and turned into semi-Klaxosaurs, he brought them toward his face for closer examination to check out the changes. 

Each of these 'infected' birds now had blue eyes which were literally glowing in the dark, while the white birds now had light blue feathers. Other than that, they were just a bit stronger than what they used to be.

Satisfied with his observation, Ryo ordered them to keep a watch out over the area.

"The time of origin has arrived. It is now time for the shadows to cover the world in darkness."

Bringing out his 'edginess', Ryo extended his hands as he then opened his inventory and slowly summoned a huge egg, twice the size of an average human. He then slowly held the egg in his two hands and slowly lowered it down to the rooftop.

*Crack*

Slowly the egg started to crack until a person from within slowly woke up from the disturbance and broke out of the egg.

Zero Two, who was awakened from her sleep, yawned cutely and looked at her surroundings, and as soon as she watched Ryo, she blinked a few times, and then suddenly jumped at his with a wide smile.

"Darlingggg~"

Ryo caught her and showed a rare smile as he hugged her back and caressed her back. During their battle with VIRM, Zero Two wanted to stay awake with Ryo, but since he was going into hibernation; she also went into some sort of hibernation at Ryo's request.

As she hugged Ryo's chest, Zero Two took a deep sniff and then looked up at Ryo's face and tilted her face. "Darling, why are you in such a weird get-up?"

Ryo coughed at her sudden question and rubbed her back while continuing to hug her and replied, "Well, that's because I have some sort of plan right now. And I also wanted for you to understand how people behave so that you can adapt and learn from any situation properly."

As he said that, Zero Two pounded wryly, she was never interested in understanding how humans acted. At that moment, all she wanted was to spend some time with her love. Because of Ryo's involvement, for her, humans never meant anything more than some random inferior beings.

"Hmuf~", Pouting, Zero Two looked away, making Ryo's face turn a bit comical as he turned a bit serious and continued, "Darling, you need to understand how humans think. You need to understand how they interact, and for that, I have decided to let you roam free with me here."

Rubbing his hair, Ryo sighed as he took Zero Two's hand and looked at her. "I am doing this for your good. You need to work it out.," Rubbing her hand, Ryo softly asked, "Darling, do you remember the Multiverse theory?"

Tilting her head, Zero Two replied, "The multiverse theory suggests that there is more than one universe outside our own that has their own different laws of physics and reality..."

With a smile, Ryo danced on the rooftop hands in hands with Zero Two as he continued, "Yes, that is correct, Darling~", With a spin he continued, "That is a correct definition, and since I am asking you about this, what do you think, where are we right now?" 

With widened eyes, Zero Two looked back at Ryo's soft eyes and continued, "Are we... Are you in a completely different universe? And since darling is saying this, does that mean that, unlike our universe where humans were weak, here, in this universe, many of the humans are many times stronger than us?"

Ryo smiled with satisfaction as he leaned in, making Zero Two lean backward as he whispered, "Correct~ There with my research, according to the data, many of them might be stronger than us, and mainly that is because of the special weapons and abilities that they might have."

Taking this chance, Ryo leaned to her ears and whispered, "So we might need to be cautious of our actions.", and with that, he kissed her on her lips as their dance on the rooftop stopped.

On the other hand, Zero Two's eyes almost had stars as she continued to kiss Ryo back aggressively. Unknown for what reason, either because of the excitement of being kissed by Ryo or from learning that they were in a completely different universe.

Straightening themselves up, Zero Two jumped back out of his embrace and with an excited expression asked, "Darling! How were we able to do that? Does it require any equipment or machines? How did we get here? Can I do that as well?"

Chuckling at her reaction, Ryo hit her head with his finger softly and replied, "Well you can say that it is one of the abilities that I discovered when I was experiencing during the fights with those VIRM beings. It was honestly a lucky coincidence that I discovered."

Rubbing her head, Zero Two acted a bit down, for her, who had been confined for most of her life, gaining so much freedom had sent her into a chaotic state where she didn't know what to do.

Looking at her puffed cheeks, Ryo pocked at them from both sides, making her lips make a weird noise, making her laugh as she asked, "So we can travel to other universes for eternity!? And we can go wherever we want!?"

Nodding his head, Ryo replied, "Yes, we can, but we have to be strong enough to face the dangers of that life.", Taking a strand of her hair, he continued, "For that, we need to learn, adapt and grow."

His face turned serious again, as Ryo looked at her in her eyes, "Remember, Darling, in any world, power is the only thing that can make you free. The second is the intelligence. Without these two, no one can ever be truly free."

Zero Two nodded and made a 'Uhhu.' sound. Looking at Ryo's serious face and knowing full well that what her darling was saying was true, she also nodded with a serious expression.

With that, Ryo looked at the slum area thriving with briskness, making Zero Two look at the area in amazement as well. Unlike the dead feeling of the Inner City, this place was thriving with life.

'I won't take any rest from now on. I must try... No. I need to make it work.'

Ryo watched the whole area, and as his eyes narrowed on his target. Turning to his side, he smirked as he bent forward and put his palm out, "Darling, would you like to give this poor Omega a chance to date the great Zero Two?"

"But darling, I want to spend time with you!"

"Pff-!", With a small chuckle, Zero Two excitedly placed her palm on his hand and haughtily looked a bit upward and replied, "You should feel honored~"

'Yes! Finally, we are going on a date!', In her mind, Zero Two played out how their date might play out as she almost laughed out loud.

Looking at her Ryo smiled, as he replied, "Yes. Throughout the heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one!", he chuckled as he continued, "Lady, you will have to adore a new dress for that. Let's go, I will help you, my Lady."

"Yes, yes~ my knight in shiny armor."

With that, Ryo helped Zero Two to change her clothing. With a hood coat over her tight black suit, she looked stunning. Along with the black tight suit, there were various golden trims over various places.

Her curvy body and tight suit showcased her beautiful body, making Ryo raise an eyebrow at how stunning Zero Two looked. While Zero Two giggled feeling the emotions of her darling, making Ryo narrow his eyes.

'Whoops, my emotions getting out of control~ Control yourself Ryo! You can't just do anything to her. At least not until you find a way to remove these disgusting feelings...'

With a quick kiss on her cheeks, Ryo jumped off the rooftop as he felt his mind clouded with emotions. It was surreal for him. He didn't know what emotions he was feeling at that moment.

It was love. But a 'transcendent' love. Not physical, but a love of higher dimensional.

But at the same time... It was full of disgust... 

A truly weird feeling. Making him want to end the existence of the one whom he was feeling those kind of feelings with. But he knew that he would have to control himself...

'All for my greater plan. I won't lose to you, [RYO]... At least I won't let you take control over my body for a bit longer...'

With a quick leap, hands in hand, he leaped off the building smiling, along with a smiling Zero Two, who followed him by his side. 

-

On landing on the street and revealing themselves, both Ryo and Zero Two were met with eyes observing their each and every single move. It was surreal. It looked normal, and the people looked at them for a second, and instantly went back to what they were doing previously.

Although most of them tried to act cool and resume their daily acts, it was just too obvious from how they stared at them. 

Although most of them were surprised as it was not every day that they saw a man clad in black along with a beautiful woman roaming the street at night. This caused many to murmur in low voices as Ryo and Zero Two passed by any of them.

Ryo just dismissed them while on the other hand, Zero Two frowned. This was the first time she was feeling these stares. With her ability to feel the emotions, she felt goosebumps rise up her body as she walked through the streets.

Quickening her steps, she quickly grabbed Ryo's arm and comforted herself. Feeling his body heat, all her agitation went away as she slowly let her guard down as she knew that Ryo would always be there for her. Her mind calmed her down.

Thinking that she started to appreciate the marketplace filled with various stuff, from food to toys to even some weapons. Looking around the street and appreciating what good there was, Zero Two slowly started to feel the excitement in the atmosphere.

It was the first time she wandered outside, in such a lively place, full of energy and 'life'. Not only that, she was feeling a bit more relaxed as she scrolled through the street, after what her darling had said to her, that there were people much stronger than them in this new 'world'.

As they walked through the place, Ryo noticed a food stall selling high-quality meat, probably the meat of some Danger Beast, making Ryo who had not eaten something for a few years feel a bit hungry, making him look at Zero Two who was also looking at him with a smile.

This made Ryo smile awkwardly as they went to the store. The shop was a big building decorated with very high-quality materials. Although the room was big, there were very few people in there who were having their dinner there, probably some rich people, mostly businessmen.

It's not like he selected this store specifically knowing full well that they might cause trouble for them.

As soon as they arrived, they were greeted by an enthusiastic waiter who smiled professionally at them and asked, "Welcome to the Grand Meat-orite Store! Please follow me.", With that, soon they were given a place to sit.

Although some of the waiters were a bit distracted by the clothes they adored, they still continued to act as if nothing happened.

They knew that it didn't matter how their customers looked, as long as they adored some good clothing, and both Ryo and Zero Two were wearing some high-quality black fabric, with great luster, making them think that they might be some sort of 'big shots'.

They were seated in a remote place within the restaurant, knowing that their clothes might cause some customers to feel uncomfortable. 

With that, they were provided with a menu, and looking at the price of the food on the menu, Ryo looked at the waiter and ordered, "Give me everything on the menu.". As each dish costs around a few coins, Ryo didn't compromise.

Knowing that they might be skeptical, Ryo threw a small pouch of gold coins on the table, instantly paying the waiter the very next second to not cause any problem later. 

This made the waiter smile professionally. Taking the small pouch from the table, he smiled, bowed a bit at them, and returned to the kitchen, and conveyed the order.

The main reason Ryo was so prodigal was that the total cost of food was 50 coins in total. Furthermore, he would be taking a shower in money within a few days, so he didn't see any point in saving the money that he had currently.

After a few minutes, they were served with a table full of food, which they instantly started to eat. They started to devore all the food at a visible rate, making the other people look at them with disdain at how 'savagely' they acted, which Ryo ignored.

It depends on him how he acts. He was not bound by the rules. If he was bound by the rules of this lesser world, how would he become the 'free' person he wanted to be?

It was not like he wanted to attract the attention of people to them for no reason.

-

"And she continued to cry, heh, like that was going to stop me!"

"Hahaha!" "Haha!" "Hahaha! I agree with captain."

As both Ryo and Zero Two were devouring the food, a person, with buffed body, clad in almost full body armor entered the restaurant, followed by a few soldiers accompanying him.

The person was 6'1 in height and had brown hair and emerald eyes. He had a scar over his checks and one over his neck, giving him an intimidating look.

As soon as he entered, Ryo smiled a little. The birds proved their abilities, letting Ryo 'look' everything through their eyes. It was more like he was getting the mental signal on what the birds were looking at, helping him form a kind of 'image' of what they were seeing.

And, everything has been going according to the flow, everything like he had predicted and seen throughout the day.

As the man clad in silver armor entered the restaurant, he looked around the place, until his eyes fell on their, or more specifically Zero Two, making him stunned.

Looking at the white flowy hair and deep blue glowing eyes, he felt his heartbeat quicken as a blush covered his face, a smirk instantly formed over his face as he licked his lips and started to walk toward them. 

Zero Two, feeling the gaze, frowned and looked at the person coming toward them. Feeling his eyes all over her, she scowled at him, but looking at Ryo not minding him, Zero Two squinted her eyes at him and after a huff, she returned to eating.

She had understood what was going on.

After becoming a Klaxo-Sapien, her mind and intelligence had increased to a terrific level where even without any sort of knowledge, she had understood what was going on and was able to pinpoint why they were there.

At least according to her. 

Ryo, on the other hand, was a bit surprised by the situation. Instead of anger, Ryo sensed that Zero Two was more dissatisfied with him than the man who was looking at her. This made him realize that Zero Two was no longer the little girl she used to be.

'She really grew up, huh?'

This made him smirk while he ate as he thought, 'Looks like she might have gotten the general idea of what is happening and my plan. This makes me feel a bit happy. Is this how a parent feels when their child achieves something great? *Sigh* If only we were destined to be...'

While they were eating, the guy reached their table, took a chair from the nearby table, and sat over it while facing them. With a smirk, he stared at Zero Two completely ignoring Ryo, and said, "Lovely night? Isn't it? Please don't mind me sitting over here. I am just admiring something really beautiful~"

"Nice one!!" "Woohoo!" "Woah, that was a good one, Captain!"

Ignoring his subordinates, he smirked, trying to get an aggressive resort. For him, the more aggressive the response, the more fun he gets listening to the squeals after torturing 'them'. He wanted to see 'her' crying in pain and despair.

He didn't even hide his intentions as he thought, 'They don't look like people from around here. Just a few minutes ago, one of our informants informed me about some suspicious people entering the marketplace.'

'Thankfully, I, Nick, the 'Boulder'! Was enjoying nearby... I was just going to watch them from afar and inform the mayor but *Huff* Damn, I did hit a huge jackpot!'

Nick's breathing became a bit chaotic he he looked at Zero Two.

'*Huff* But they didn't inform me about the girl. Damn, she looks soo hot. The guy by her side might look intimidating but I don't think he is any strong with his size. He looks like someone with a good body but I am someone who no one wants to mess right.'

With an arrogant smile, the person looked at them, only to freeze when he saw Zero Two look up from the food and glance at him for a second and then continue to eat their food, completely ignoring him.

Veins pop up on his head as he grits his teeth. Lifting his hand, he hit the table and shouted, "How dare you ignore me!? I am Nick! The unkillable! You will pay for the disrespect!"

As he hit the table, the table broke, making everything fall onto the ground, making Zero Two grumble in anger but she calmed herself down. On the other hand, Ryo grabbed a napkin and began to wipe his mouth.

This made Nick try to grab Zero Two, for he was already disrespected already. He decided that he wouldn't let her keep ignoring him.

"Huh?"

The very next second, he froze as he was not able to feel his hand until his hand started to slowly slide down, making blood gush out as Nick looked at his hand in horror.

"A-Ahhhhhh!"

It took him a short while, as his brain registered what happened, making his body tremble in scare as he screamed out loud, causing all the guests to run out of the place while the waiters started to distance themselves to not get into any trouble.

"You-You-!"

Nick instantly squeezed his wounded hand to stop his bleeding looked angry and looked up at Ryo, who stood up from his seat and walked toward Nick.

Looking at the trembling body of Nick, Ryo scoffed, "Vision is not what your eyes can see, it is what it can comprehend. But your eyes are covered with Shadow, making it hard for you to see the truth in front of you. Let me help you relive from the pain of light."

"You Bastard! Who the fuck are you!?"

"Me...? I am Shadow... He who lurks in shadows to hunt the shadows... And your doom."

As he said that, Ryo flicked his sword, severing Nick's neck from his body, causing blood to spray out from the body, covering the whole room as even the waiters screamed in fright and ran away to save themselves.

As soon as Ryo killed Nick, the soldiers accompanying him suddenly panicked and blew their whistles, calling for reinforcement. With that, they instantly attacked Ryo, making him walk behind Zero Two, who understood his intentions and looked at the soldiers aiming their weapons at her.

"Pests."

*Slice*

In an instant, Zero Two murmured in annoyance as she covered the distance and killed every single one of their enemy. Their whole bodies were sliced into small pieces, causing the whole place to become bloody.

On the other hand, Ryo had already walked up to the entrance where he looked back from over his shoulders, "Darling, let's go.", making Zero Two pouted his attitude and started to walk up to Ryo as they left the restaurant.

Leaving behind, waiters and chefs, scared, knowing full well what kind of situation they had got them in.

With the commotion, the whole area was evacuated, making the whole place turn into chaos. People ran away from Ryo, or now, Shadow, trying to run away from any possible trouble or dangerous situation.

As both Ryo and Zero Two walked out of the room, Zero Two grabbed Ryo's arm and pouted, "Darlingggg~ You are an idiot! Why did you use me? Don't you want to spend time with me? Huh?"

This made Ryo smirk and ask, "Oh, do tell me how did I use you? I never intended anything like this to happen.", although he knew that she might have understood the situation, he wanted to see how much Zero Two had grown after the evolution, and her step into the True Klaxos-Sapien species.

"Hmup, do you really think I don't know? Because of these weird clothes, we attracted the attention of that guy. And you used me to make him make a move and kill him as soon as he tried to do some funny stuff. It's as if you wanted to become someone 'chased' by the governing body of this place."

"Ho? Wow. You actually figured out my actions. Now tell me what do you think I will be doing next? If you analyze correctly, I will complete any one of your wishes which I can."

This made Zero Two's eyes light up as she replied, "Great! I can sense the Klaxosaurs in the area outside this place, which means the next step of the plan will be..."

As he listened to Zero Two analyze his plan, Ryo's eyes widened up little by little. For the first time in his life, he was astonished by something.

Zero Two was able to almost analyze every single step and plan of the first phase of his plan with the information she was given.

Her observation, logical analysis, deduction, and event-planning skills made him feel overwhelmed.

This made him sigh. He had clearly underestimated her. This in turn made him smile as he replied, "You... are almost correct for the starting part, but since you didn't even know the information of this world, I think you win. You have amazed me! So what do you want as a reward?"

Zero Two grinned and replied, "Hehe. I only want to cuddle with you.", showing her tooth grin to Ryo.

Ryo's eyes softened as he looked at her. Even though he had changed and had something big planned for her, he had been suppressing his emotions for her, whether it was love or hate itself. 

He knew very well that it was necessary to be done, he felt that what he had planned to do to her, was really important for their... his future...

What he was most amazed at was that she never really asked him why he did most of the things he was doing, she never questioned or pried into his actions, always following any of his actions or requests.

Zero Two was the best pawn he could have wished for.

"Sure. I promise to cuddle a lot.", Ryo smirked as he ruffed her hair, as they talked, making Zero Two almost 'purr' in bliss.

As they continued their walk, they entered the dark alley by the street, and suddenly a huge group of soldiers rushed into the area, trying to understand what had transpired.

"Quickly! Secure the area and search for those bastards! How dare they cause crime in the town!"

The whole area was secured, but no matter what they did, they were not able to find the culprits in the area, causing them to feel anger. They have lost a strong and important person in the town.

If the mayor found out about this, they would be punished heavily.

Nick had a high position within the Main Imperial Army and was one of the influential figures within the Capital, almost akin to a low to mid-level Noble within the Empire.

As the night passed, the information regarding the incident quickly spread across the whole town. Wanted posters with two posters were posted alongside the rebels of the empire, causing chaos in the town.

People started to stay in safer places when night came while many left for a safer place, leaving behind the town for their own safety.

The name of Shadow and his Aid, a girl, both clad in black clothes with white hair was spread across the whole town.

=====

[5950]

What is the situation, tell me your thoughts! How was today's chapter? Don't forget to leave me a good review, it motivates me a lot.

Don't forget to join my now-dead discord, and give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!

Thank you!

-SR_2027.