The Chief and Vice-Chief of *ASTERISK* take on a terrifying job!

[Planet: Gaia]

"Ooooooh~! That dress looks absolutely fetching! Let's go to this store! C'mon, move it you two!"

Rushing around the sidewalk like a child hopped up on sugar was a cute 18 year old alien girl. Her features were quite "aquatic" as she possessed light blue skin, purple eyes, gills on the sides of her neck, and luscious flowing long black hair with purple highlights. She wore an expensive looking black dress with a stylish belt, black boots with red straps.

She was currently with her two assigned bodyguards during her stay on the planet Gaia. The planet was known for its highly diverse alien cultures without one ever being too dominant over the other. Cities filled a majority of 75% of the planet while the remaining 25% consisted of natural land. As of now, the young girl was excitedly rushing through one of Gaia's famous districts the Boutique District which held many fashion shops, and malls filled with various alien fashion that could be found around the North Galaxy.

Accompanying the young lady were a pair of well-dressed aliens carrying an assortment of bags and boxes.

One of them stood taller than the other at about seven feet and five inches, he possessed all of the physical features of your Namekian while sporting a rather distinguishing scar that jaggedly ran down from his right eye, a muscular build and a pair of semi-rimmed glasses. His attire consisted of a long-sleeved dress shirt with a black tie, a black vest, black slacks and brown dress shoes

"It appears that we're approaching Store number twelve this time around. I hope she won't overdo it and buy too many this time, I'm pretty sure balancing 25 boxes is my limit." The Namekian tiredly chuckled at the girl's exuberant behavior.

"…"

Walking alongside the Namekian with a quiet demeanor was a solemn Frost Demon, who appeared quite young, he had blue-purplish skin, crimson eyes, blue gem like plates on his head, arms, and legs while being donned in his race's white keratinous exoskeleton with the two black horns jutting from his head. Like the rest of his race, he has a prehensile long tail that he was currently using to carry a few shopping bags. Dressed in a similar attire as the Namekian, the frost demon wore a gray vest with a black long-sleeved dress shirt underneath, black pants and black combat boots. Strapped to his back was a loose strap carrying a long-curved blade with a single edge, a katana.

"Hey, slowpokes, can you move any slower? Especially you, short stuff, you better not be dragging my stuff because your to weak to carry them!" The alien girl shouted as she waved them over, "Now come on, I just saw this beautiful new Jucci purse and I NEED to have it so stay out here and prepare to carry more of my stuff! Got it!?"

"Yes, Princess Undine." The Namekian tiredly smiled while the Frost Demon remained quiet.

"Good! Geez, getting good help is so hard these days…" The girl groaned as she stormed into the store with a haughty expression.

Putting down the bags, both aliens took a break as they patiently waited outside of the store.

"Phew! Finally, we can catch our breath. How are you doing, Arctic?"

The Namekian looked to his fellow comrade, and though they may have known each other for years, he could definitely tell by the way that the Arctic Demon's eye was twitching that he didn't take the girl's last comment to him too lightly.

"I can honestly say that putting up with the rookies and their shenanigans would be a better alternative." Arctic groaned.

"Well, she is still just a kid, she'll grow to be much mature in the future. Trust me." The Namekian crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall.

"Will she mature during the progression of this mission?" Arctic asked.

"No."

"Then don't give me false hope." Arctic sighed and bitterly looked away.

Pulling out a deck of cards from his pocket, the Namekian offered, "You wanna play a quick game while we wait? Perhaps some Blackjack or Speed?"

Arctic remained silent as he kept his sight focused on the area, ignoring the Namekian's offer.

"Well, I guess Solitaire is today's lucky winner." The Namekian sat down and began shuffling his cards before commencing with his game.

After a brief moment of comfortable silence between the two amongst the various hubbub of the Boutique District, Arctic said, "Chief, you mind explaining why you chose me to help you babysit this kid?" Arctic asked.

"Isn't that obvious, I feel like it's been a while since we decided to do a mission together. As Vice-Chief, you've been a tad busy working on solo cases, I'm almost afraid that your trying to avoid making contact with everyone..." The Namekian joked.

"...That isn't untrue, I just prefer to handle the workload by myself. Makes things more efficient that way." Arctic crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, "Besides, if you or Zenya need backup for bigger cases, I'll be there to help."

"Oh, I'm certain you will, but what about Dive and Cabba?"

"Those two rookies will do fine under you and Zenya's watch. They're grown up to take care of themselves."

"Arctic…" Aurion gave him the look.

"I'm not going to be sink or swim with them in a mission if that's what your worried about." Arctic groaned.

"That's not what I mean, I just believe you'll have more experience handling those two after this mission." Aurion smiled, "You've already proven that you could handle being Zenya's teacher when she was still new."

"She was a different case. Thanks to her…background, I barely had much to show her besides protocol and going about the rounds. From there she impressively picked up the slack." Arctic explained.

"Still you were able to pass on something to her in the end, and I doubt that your relationship with each other didn't at least gain something from it."

"…Tch."

"See?" Aurion noticed a bit of a crack in the Frost Demon's stoic demeanor.

"Look, Chief, I understand your concern, but do you honestly believe that having me watch over a spoiled brat will make me instantly baby the rookies? Besides, this doesn't seem up my alley, you could have chosen Zenya to help you with this job, she's more natural with handling women especially those younger than her." Arctic sighed.

"That's because I assigned her with the duty to supervise Dive and Cabba. Those two truly need some "guidance". Dive's a bit too eccentric and tends to get carried away with his missions while Cabba is more reserved, he hesitates and overthinks his actions when things get too dire. Zenya has a way with not just younger women, but younger people in general, I trust that her firmness can at least dull out their flaws."

The Namekian smirked as he looked to Arctic, "Unless, you'd want to trade places with her and try your hand at watching over two saiyan rookies?"

Mulling it over, Arctic shook head, "Talk about being stuck in between a rock and a hard place."

Laughing for quite a bit, the Namekian said, "Excuse me for not answering your question, but I actually do require your assistance this time because this mission is rather urgent to be taken lightly."

Slowly dropping his brighter tone, the Namekian began playing his cards while saying, "Our objective is to protect Princess Undine of planet Neptunia from an assassin. The Galactic Federation has gotten word that there's been a small uprising against the Royal Neptunia Kingdom for signing into the Federation as an equal ally. They believe that by killing the King and princess that they stand a chance of taking control to rescind their alliance."

The Namekian continued, "So to steer away from the worst possible outcome, a plan was devised to lure out any attackers who plan to set their eyes on the princess. By her coming here under the supervision of two *ASTERISK* agents, they will see this as a chance to push blame on the Galactic Federation for the death of the princess which will directly cause an uproar and Planet Neptunia's place in the Federation as an ally will be terminated."

"I already knew that, what I want to know is why I can't just watch for any enemies from afar." Arctic groaned, "By having you guard her up close, I can warn you when I detect something

"Arctic, you know how assassins act, they attack without any warning and if you're too far away to cover my blindspots…" The Namekian narrowed his eyes seriously as he continued playing with his cards

"Feh, don't underestimate yourself, Chief. Aren't you, Aurion the Benevolent Warrior of North Galaxy?" Arctic clicked his tongue, "You've achieved so much that a little job like this is child's play for you."

"I certainly do possess that title, but that only the first half of it though. Besides, being powerful just isn't enough to solve every problem; Achievements may seem like grand accomplishments, but they don't really assure you of getting out of every possible situation. I'm only one person and I alone can only do so much before my time comes."

Aurion explained as he began to gather his cards upon sensing the incoming presence of Princess Undine coming outside.

"You sell yourself short, what you alone can do takes most people to do once half of their lifespan spent, and you're only 55 years old." Arctic groaned.

"I appreciate the praise, but sometimes there are outcomes that not even I can predict on my own." Aurion stood up and pocketed the cards and walked towards the door to the store, "Now let's steel ourselves because I'm sure that whatever comes through that door will make our muscles sore."

Arctic kept quiet but knew that Aurion already realized his order, but lightly chuckling, Aurion said,

"Also, Arctic there are times that I can leave anything that I just can't do to you to handle."

"…?" Visibly confused, Arctic curiously looked at the broad back of the Namekian before focusing his attention on the door of the shop slamming open to reveal the determined expression of Undine who came out empty-handed.

Looking surprised along with Arctic, Aurion asked, "Is something the matter, Princess?"

"Yes, I'm in need of something important stat, and its somewhere in the district. This store…didn't have what I wanted so let's start looking you two." Undine ordered, "Now why aren't you carrying my stuff? Are you trying to dirty my new jeans?"

"No ma'am, excuse us…" Aurion and Arctic bowed, apologetically as they went to do just that.

"Good! Now march on~! And Shorty don't fall behind anymore because I have my eyes on you!" Undine sneered and walked ahead.

"…" Arctic grew a tick mark on his head.

"Easy, easy, she's still young." Aurion cooled off his subordinate.

"It's because she's young that I can't handle this mission." Arctic growled.

"I can see that, but remember this mission isn't hard for just us and the Federation. She's also going through her own form of struggle as well." Aurion pointed out.

"…" Arctic looked ahead at the back of the huffy princess strutting forward. He wondered how someone that lackadaisical and upbeat could be suffering like they were right now.

And so, the three ventured through the crowd filled streets of the Boutique District to search for the item that Undine wanted. She wasn't very specific with what it was, but it sure was important since she had her two bodyguards search through the stores tirelessly while trying to stick with Undine's terms.

However, each attempt at appeasing her demands ended in failure. Her specifications were never met even though both agents brought exactly what she asked for. Aurion figured out a pattern when it came for what they were looking for and Undine's sudden change in behavior.

No longer were they looking for women-centric clothes or products but instead products and accessories for men. After keying on this, Aurion already figured out what Undine's intentions were.

Sadly, Arctic wasn't as keen to delve further into Undine's intentions due to being mildly annoyed with her spoiled brattish attitude, so he kept to himself and stayed quiet.

After the hours of searching the group decided to head for the Monorail to search through another section of the Boutique District. Head slumped down, Undine whimpered,

"I can't believe that we haven't found anything that caught my eye yet…"

"Don't worry, Princess, we'll be able to search for what you're looking for in due time right, Arctic?" Aurion looked to Arctic who was trying to stay indifferent to the conversation.

Noticing this Princess Undine slightly frowns.

"He means to say that he believes that you'll find what you need in no time, princess." Aurion smiled.

"Okay…" Princess Undine bowed her head before shaking her head to rile herself up, "Yeah, we'll do find it no time!"

"There you go." Aurion gave a thumbs up.

"Now let's march on to the monorail! Full steam ahead, boys!" Undine confidently strutted to the long line.

"Arctic, you must know that protecting the princess simply doesn't mean we do it physically." Aurion reprimanded Arctic for his cold disposition, "We have to secure her emotional health as well and that means we have to be supportive."

"…Then you handle her emotional support, I'll do physical support at a distance." Arctic shook his head.

"That's not what I mean, we have to do our fair share of the job or else the princess will feel uneasy." Dealing with Arctic was usually efficient when things didn't include social interaction, Aurion could trust the Frost Demon to pick up on things amid combat but not when matters involved the emotional well-being of others.

"Then I'll trade 45% of the emotional support and take your 35% of the physical support so things can be even." Arctic negotiated.

"When did our responsibilities get broken up into shares?" Aurion sweatdropped, "Arc, listen we both have to work 100% on this no matter what, understood? That means you have to try and get along with her, I'm not asking you to be best friends just tolerate and sympathize with her."

Arctic in irritation looked away before sighing, "Fi-!"

"…!"

Before Arctic could respond, both him and Aurion sensed something tense in the area. Pure malice and killing intent. There was no mistaking it, amongst the various alien races in the crowded monorail there was someone exuding it through their Aura. The assassin was closing in and they were making use of the crowd to conceal themselves.

"They're making their move." Arctic slowly reached for the hilt of his katana.

"Clever of them to use the civilians as cover, I wouldn't even be surprised if they decided to go the extra mile and disguise themselves." Aurion rubbed his chin and continued to look over the sea of aliens flooding through the monorail station, "But…we can pinpoint our target by identifying them from their race as a Neptunian like Princess Undine."

"Then we just have to pick them out from the crowd and the malicious intent in their ki, right?" Arctic asked as he followed Aurion who was approaching the princess who was nearly done getting their tickets.

"No…let's take a more cautious approach. We don't want to harm any bystanders by taking the direct approach, the enemy might get desperate and attack anyone close to him to escape or worse, cause collateral damage to the station building. We'll need to confront them in a lone car on the monorail to lessen damages and casualties."

Aurion explained, but there was something nagging him about the assassin suddenly revealing themselves now. He couldn't understand why they chose now of all times and just because they could sense him doesn't mean that they couldn't be sensed at all.

'They're still willing to attack with the two of us here?' Coming up with a countermeasure to his prediction, he decided to go with a very risky idea.

"Sorry to keep you two waiting, I finally got the tickets so lets get going!" Undine smiled as she cheerfully thrusted her fist into the air.

Taking one of the tickets that Undine purchased, Aurion gave it back to the ticket vendor for a refund, "Thank you."

"E-Eh!?"

"…?"

Both Undine and Arctic were confused at Aurion unexpected action.

Giving them an apologetic smile, Aurion laughed, "Princess, I believe that it would be best to save your money for what you wanted to buy instead of my ticket."

"B-But how are you going to meet up with us then?" Undine looked visibly distressed then she pieced two and two together once she realized that Arctic would be the only one with her on the train ride.

"I'll fly over to the next station and meet you two there. Arctic..."

The Namekian noticed the Frost Demon giving him the coldest of glares.

"Do your best to maintain the safety of Princess Undine, okay?" Aurion winked.

"Understood, sir."

' Yikes, he's really peeved now.' Aurion chuckled, bitterly.

"Well, I'll see you two when you get there!" Aurion briskly walked out of the station leaving the two on their own for what was the beginning of a looooooooong awkward wait to the next station.

Boarding the monorail, Arctic lead Undine to the last car of the monorail while he kept a close eye on his surroundings. Although Aurion left the task of the plan to him, he still herded the rest of the crowd on the last car of the monorail by exuding an unwelcome aura with his Ki toward the crowd to the cars forward.

This left both him, Undine in the car along with a hooded young man that sat farthest from them in complete silence. About 15 minutes have passed and the monorail was still on track to its destination with the last car being devoid of any sound just the awkward and tense sound of silence.

Catching a suspicious glance at the man, Arctic was prepared to apprehend him and get the job over with already, but by the time he reached for the hilt of katana…

"That's an interesting weapon you have there, I haven't seen anything like it before…" Undine nervously fidgeted in her seat as she tried to make small talk.

"…" Arctic kept silent as he stayed in position to attack the obvious threat in the car.

"It's a strange sword with only a single edge. Did it come from some foreign planet that you came from…perhaps you have a story on how you got it…anything?" Undine asked.

"…" Arctic remained quiet as he simply stared at the girl in question, he didn't understand her motive for suddenly speaking. No, he didn't plan on her to actually speak with him in the first place because now he has to invest half of his attention on her failed attempts at starting a conversation and the obvious assassin.

Still waiting for an answer, Undine decided to cut her loses and give up, "I understand, you don't want to talk…"

Arctic gave a sigh in relief as he went back to focus entirely on the potential enemy before Undine attempted to make small talk once again. By now he would have just ignored her words, but that was until he heard her say:

"Say Shor-I mean Mr. Arctic, do you perhaps hate me?"

"What?" Arctic blinked in surprise as he noticed the young gilled girl looking down sadly.

"It's just that, you know… I think I may have rubbed you the wrong way up until this point, so I'm curious to know if you hate me."

Arctic chose not to answer, he didn't hate her per say, he just found her to be quite irritating.

However, Undine didn't get that impression, "I mean, I don't mind if you hate me, in fact, I'm already used to getting hated by others."

"Your used to being hated?" Something about that irked Arctic to break his incessant silence.

Finally getting a real response, Undine nodded, "Of course, isn't that the only reason I'm here? To act as bait while you two capture the assassins after my life?"

"So, you were already aware of our mission from the start?" Arctic was both confused and surprised, he had no idea that she would be this knowledgeable about the situation.

"I know it may come off as a shocker for you, considering I acted like a complete slave driver to you and Mr. Aurion. It's just that ever since my father signed for our planet to be an official ally to the Galactic Federation, we've been dealing with those against the Royal Family's decision to join. They wanted us to stay as an independent planet, but that couldn't be possible anymore because of the recent spikes in Space Pirates taking over planets and usurping their leaderships."

Undine balled up some of her skirt into hands, "But despite the reasons, they still believed that we could handle any and all problems that would befall our planet. Such arrogant pride led them to stage many rebellions which always ended in failure thanks to the added forces that the Galactic Federation provided for us. Nevertheless, it never stopped them from trying to assassinate my father or kill me to make a statement to him."

Looking out of the window to see the buildings that they passed by, Undine continued, "You name it, from mailed death threats, protests, and even attempted poisoning by having one of them sneak in as one of royal chefs… I lost my grandmother that day…"

Arctic noticed Undine's eyes of heavy grief and started to realize how much that she had to go through because of her status and the position her planet had to put itself in just to secure its future.

"The reason why I decided to act this way was because I never had the chance to do so at home. I can't leave the castle grounds under the possibility of getting harmed by any civilians opposed to the planet's alliance. It sucks being trapped on your home planet being paranoid that you can die at any moment and the worst part, you'll never know if you'll die at the hands of friend or servant, who may suddenly see things differently than you do!"

Undine began to tremble as her emotions began to overwhelm her, "That's why I pushed my father to allow me to come here despite the danger. Even if my place here is to lure out the guys trying to kill me, I still want to make the most out of my time here before I have to go back to being scared on a daily basis in my stuffy old room!"

' So, there was more to her than I imagined, I guess that I really did lack the insight to understand her past what she was willing to display…' Arctic cursed to himself as he admitted that he was in the wrong and Aurion was clearly in the right, again.

"…I-."

"Since you're enjoying what little time you have left on this planet, why not just make this your resting place, princess?"

"…!"

Arctic hesitated to say anything after getting hit with such an emotional story but when he tried to voice an apology, he noticed a blue flash of light heading directly towards the princess from the corners of his eye.

*CLANG!*

At that exact moment, Arctic's hand instantly drew his blade to stop the advancement of a blue trident formed with pure Ki. Face to face with their attacker, Arctic glared at the hooded man whose features were now out in the open to examine thanks to his hood falling back.

It was a tall and muscular male Neptunian who possessed pitch black skin, red eyes, sharp teeth, gills on the sides of his neck and spiky black hair.

"Quick reflexes, I guess you Galactic Flunkies aren't as incompetent than I thought!" The Attacker smirked.

"Coming from the worst assassin ever, I'd rather not hear that from you." Arctic grunted as he slowly pushed back the Neptunian assassin.

"Worst Assassin ever? What are you talking about, punk!?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that you were sitting at the corner of the room watching us without making a single move to harm any of us. What, were you planning to attack us when our conversation was close to being done?" Arctic ridiculed the assassin's proficiency at their job.

"S-Shut up, I was just biding my time was all!" The assassin sweatdropped.

"For the past fifteen minutes?" Arctic groaned.

"Look, I don't have to explain myself to filthy lizard!"

In a fit of rage the assassin pushed back Arctic and thrusted his trident in an unforgiving tirade against the Frost Demon. Luckily, Arctic was able to parry each blow with little to no problem but there was something which held him back from properly attacking the Neptunian man.

Cowering in fear behind Arctic, Undine was at a loss for words as she was quite literally close to dying. Arctic pushed her out of the way to avoid getting hurt so now she was on the floor with her legs giving out on her which prevented her from standing.

"Hey, get up and move!" Arctic took another blunt attack using his katana to shield the attack. If he were to move, then Undine would receive fatal injuries from the attacks.

"What's wrong, you can't protect that pathetic princess of ours, Frost Demon!?" While Arctic was concerned with Undine's safety, the assassin thrusted the blunt end of his trident directly against Arctic's stomach.

"Guuuagh!" Arctic grunted in pain as he hardened his muscles and imbued Ki around the area at the last second.

"Now for you! Die!" the Assassin used the chance to go directly for the princess, he just needed to end it swiftly by stabbing her in the neck.

*Roooope~!*

"What the hell!?"

Just before the trident could make contact, Arctic used his long prehensile tail to wrap around Undine's waist and pull her back with him thanks to the force that the assassin's attack had on him.

Coughing up a little blood, Arctic said, "Are you okay?"

Breaking out of her catatonic stupor, Undine mumbled, "Y-Yes, I'm sorry."

"Don't be you're the one that needs to be guarded. Now stay back and try not get caught up in what's about to happen." Arctic stood up and walked towards the Neptunian man with his blade readied.

"Pfft! I thought that you'd back out after that hit I gave you, but I guess now is the time to show you how terrifying us Neptunians can b-!"

*Whoooooooosh!*

It was only in the span of a second, in the midst of the Assassin gloating, Arctic was already in close range with his blade at the ready to cleave the man in half.

' Fast!' The Assassin quickly used the shaft of his energy trident to guard the blow which shook him to his very core.

"Hmph!" Quickly changing grips, Arctic held the katana like a knife and tried to pierce through the assassin's head through his chin.

"Grgh!" Weaving his head out of the way, the assassin got his cheek deeply grazed as he pulled his body back only to get the distance close up by Arctic again with his sword in hand.

"Bastard! Don't toy with me."

"…" Arctic remained quiet as his crimson red eyes dilated to a pair of cold blood red eyes which read each and every move that the opponent was making. From thrusts to heavy swings, Arctic wasn't letting the assassin try to gain any distance to attack him.

His katana was better suited for close range combat while the enemy's trident was best suited for mid-range without any room to properly use that thing it would virtually be useless.

"Get back!" The Assassin made quick work and used the bottom shaft of his trident to send Arctic crashing into one of the side doors of the monorail's car. Yet it still amounted to nothing as Arctic simply used his Ki to propel himself back at the assassin stronger due to the potential energy used to shoot him back increasing the blow of his attacks.

"Tch!" The assassin grunted in exhaustion as they furiously tried to sock Arctic in the face.

"You're open." Maneuvering his katana just in time, Arctic made good use of the Neptunian man's punch to imbue his Ki into the hilt of his katana to powerfully jam it into larger man's exposed torso.

"Guuuarck!" The Assassin coughed up a moderate amount of blood as the force of the blow sent him crashing back at interlinked car doors of the monorail.

"Are you done yet?" Arctic belittled.

"Grch…!" The Assassin spat out some of his blue blood as he tried to use his trident as his support to stand up.

"Quit while your ahead, otherwise I'll be forced to use lethal force..."

"What are you trying to say? That I'm not worth being serious against?" The Assassin felt insulted at the non-implied insult to his own skill.

"No, simply because my assignment doesn't call for it. Abandon your mission of assassination, and I assure you that you won't have to die. Otherwise, you'll leave me no choice." In a show of how serious he was, Arctic began to imbue his Ki into the blade which sharpened its edge even further.

"W-Wait, you mean that you weren't using your energy to harden your blade this whole time?" The Assassin couldn't believe that up until this point Arctic was using his raw strength; Not to mention, the blade that he used throughout the battle was barely reinforced, usually steel weapons would shatter when used against weapons transmuted from pure ki.

"My mission is to subjugate any attackers to the princess, not kill them. That doesn't mean that I can't shave off a limb or two if the attacker is unwilling to cooperate." Slowly raising the blade, Arctic showed off the pure black metal of the katana as his bluish-purple aura wrapped around it,

"Final warning, stop resisting or I will be forced to put you down."

The Assassin struggled to get up on his feet as he quietly examined Arctic's posture and demeanor. There were no signs of an opening that he could take, he was going to attack with the intention to incapacitate him.

' This guy…he's no ordinary Galactic Federation soldier that I've seen. That technique, that calm mind and unbelievable strength it's as if I'm dealing with one of the old Veterans that took part in the 100-year Planetary Wars.'

The assassin gritted his teeth at the overwhelming ki that Arctic exuded off his person as he slowly stalks forward.

' He's just too powerful to fight, I can't beat him in a straight up fight but…' The assassin smirked, 'My only objective doesn't lie with him but rather-!'

Taking a big step back, the assassin held back the arm holding his trident and aimed it directly at Arctic.

"If you're so confident that you can put me down then try stopping one of my strongest attacks, punk!? Uoooooooh!" Charging up more Ki, the assassin increased the mass of the energy trident to bigger proportion as it became even larger than his body, in general.

" Blue Reaper Stance #1: Sure-Kill!"

"…!" Upon the creation of the ability, Arctic immediately reacted and lunged in with his katana at the ready to put down the Neptunian man. His technique may be ready to be thrown at him, but Arctic proved to be fast enough to do so before the assassin could even blink.

But that led to a mistake on Arctic's part.

"Die you, pathetic excuse of a princess!"

"…!"

Arctic gasped as he paused his attack to notice that the assassin had flung the massive trident over his shoulder to aim at the defenseless princess. She remained in place as the weapon was mere moments from striking her down.

Faced with incoming death, Undine held back her tears at imminent grief as she was quick close her eyes in acceptance.

Eyes widening, Arctic shouted, "MOVE!"

Without hesitation, Arctic released his hold on his katana and used every bit of his power to rush back to Undine. Unarmed and unprepared, he was completely driven by the sole living drive to protect the life of another.

Upon making it, he pushed Undine aside at the last second before the attack had made impact!

*KaBOOOOOOM!*

About half of the Monorail's car exploded as bits and pieces of metal flew off of the rails and scattered into the rushing winds. Watching the smoke cascade through the destroyed car, the Neptunian man wildly laughed to his heart's content.

"Hahahahaha! Yes, we've done it! The princess is finally dead! Woooooooooh! Finally, we can make this a grave statement to King Poseidon, he'll have to break ties with the Galactic federation for failing to protect his own daughter!"

[So, I take it that the mission was a success?] Chiming in a female voice could be heard through the Assassin's ear communicator.

"Yep, the attack made direct contact and everything. If the explosion wasn't enough then the force of getting blown out of the monorail might have killed them in the process." The assassin chuckled.

[Guess that means I don't have to keep charging this long-ranged shot from afar. Shame, it would have really caused enough devastation if I destroyed the princess and the other civilians on board that rail system.]

"Hehehe…why not go through with it? It will still make a pretty great message to the king and federation."

[True, but…you already stole the kill, so it seems a bit gratuitous at this point…]

"Come on, I know that you have an itchy trigger finger, so let it rip once I evacuate from the area, okay?" The Assassin smirked.

[Fine, but I'll try not to enjoy it as much as I ca-! Hey, wait a minute! Who the hell are y-!]

The voice on the communicator was in an obvious state of panic as the sign of a struggle was heard.

"Oi, what's going on!? Is everything okay over there!?" The Assassin gasped.

[I-I've been compromised! Some green man came up from out of nowhere and-and! Kyaaaaaa!]

[Queen Seal!]

Along with the pained screams of his comrade, there was an unfamiliar aggressive voice which shouted out an unknown technique. After that the connection between them broke off leaving the Neptunian man distressed.

"Shit! Now I have to go deal with whatever that crap was!"

Just as he was about to take off, the sound of splattering reached his ears.

"No fucking way…"

"Kaaugh!" Splattering out of the smoke cloud a large puddle of blood crept towards the Assassin.

"Huh? N-No, no way! You can't seriously be alive after taking a hit like that!" The Assassin gasped.

Emerging from the smoke a bloody mess, Arctic stood in front of a speechless Undine who managed to get unharmed by the attack but stained in the blood that her protector lost.

"Mr. Arctic…" Undine whimpered.

"This should serve as an applicable apology for my past behavior." Arctic grunted in pain as he looked at the fading trident that was stabbed into his right arm, "Princess Undine, forgive me for my ignorance. My assumptions had blinded me to your suffering and that's unforgiveable."

Arctic gritted his and grasped onto the shaft of the fading trident while drawing the blood the wound made. The pain meant nothing to the dishonor he showed to a strong-willed girl like Undine.

"Holding such a heavy burden for your planet, your race and family. To properly apologize for my insolence allow me to sacrifice my dominant arm."

*SCHLUCK!* *SPLATTEEER!* *DRIP-DRIP!*

Ripping the trident out of his arm, Arctic tossed the trident to the side before glaring at the Assassin, "This will serve as a proper handicap for you. Bring it on."

"Are you seriously intending to fight me like that?" The Assassin was visibly disturbed by how unfazed Arctic was of his gaping arm wound and his will to continue on fighting. Even with an established handicap, he still felt intimidated to face such a strong-willed opponent with no sense of hesitation whatsoever.

"When two people are interlocked in combat, we fight with everything we have. Wits, raw strength, Ki, or tactics. A battle won't be hindered by our body's pain ailing us. We fight until one of us unable to or we soon succumb to death."

Arctic's willful eyes pierced through the Assassins already vulnerable demeanor.

*Chnk!*

Using his race's inherit powers of telekinesis, Arctic raises his left hand and summons to it his katana.

"The fight has only just begun and if you want to take the life of Princess Undine, then you'd best prepare to cast any doubts of getting out of this fight in one piece aside."

Breaking his cold demeanor, Arctic lunged at the assassin with a terrifying roar as he forced the Neptunian man to defend himself by crafting another trident with his Ki. It was like facing a rabid monster that lost its sense of self, attacking without the slightest hint of resorting to defense.

"D-Damn it!" The Assassin tried to match Arctic's mettle by thrusting his trident at the Frost Demon.

"Hrgh!"

*STAB!* *Splatter!*

"A-Are you insane!?" The assassin screamed in fear.

Using his already skewered arm as a shield, Arctic made sure that his enemy was without a weapon to use while in close range. Any normal person would stagger back in pain, but not Arctic, he was literally glaring at the enemy with a raved, wide-eyed expression of tenacity and sheer willpower.

Arctic used the chance to try and thrust the tip of the katana through the Neptunian's torso, but lost the chance when the man backed off out of fear. That would've been an understandable move to make, but Arctic didn't let him get too comfortable.

*CLASH!*

"Why the are you backing away? You're her assassin, you should have been be prepared to lose your life just to get to your target?" Arctic angrily clashed weapons with the assassin.

"S-Shut the hell up!" Pushing Arctic back, the Assassin retaliated out fear than anger as he was now barely parrying each one of Arctic's blows as they zipped across the confines of the destroyed Monorail car.

"D-Diiiiiiiiie!" Slamming the trident into the ground, the Assassin missed Arctic almost intentionally to push him back, but that just made the Frost Demon angrier.

"Are you faltering!? Quit fucking around! Having such a weak resolve to put your life on the line in a simple fight like this is insulting! I couldn't give a damn about your planet, its laws or your stupid pride, but your hesitation is a complete and utter mockery to this young woman's bravery!"

Arctic roared as he leaned in and assaulted the Assassin with a flurry of thrusts and swings that slowly pushed him to the remaining door in the monorail car. Slowly breaking the shaft of the trident, Arctic continued to abuse it with the edge of his ki-enhanced blade and slamming upon it over and over again.

"She knew all too well about her ghastly fate at your hands and even prepared to die, and yet, you come face her lacking the same resolve to die yourself?"

Arctic held his sword lower than his body and builds up enough his strength to lift upwards.

"Gutless coward!"

*SHATTER!* *ZAAAAAAAN!*

"Guuuuuugh!"

Along with the shattered trident, the assassin was met with the sharp end of Arctic's blade which ripped the flesh beneath his hoodie asunder as blood oozed out of his fresh wound. The pain was intense and forced the large man to his knees to clutch at his gushing wounds.

"As a member of *ASTERISK* I have successfully carried out my mission." Arctic looked at the trembling remains of his opponent who was now cowering on the floor like a wimp.

"You bastard, who said that you won? I'm still alive, aren't I?" The assassin tried to save face and form an energy trident once more.

"No, like I said before, I never intended to kill you. I just needed to reprehend you whether it be by severing a limb or using another set of means that I never brought up." Arctic swiped the Neptunian Man's blood off of his katana and sheathed the black-bladed weapon.

"And what would that b-!"

*SHIIING!*

Upon the materialization of the Energy Trident, the assassin's entire arm was encased by solid ice.

"W-What?" The assassin gasped in fear before he noticed that his entire body was starting to get colder as frost grew on his limbs and face, "What the hell is going on? What did you do to m-aagh!"

"I simply used my ability on you. Sub-Zero Rakshasa, with it I can manipulate my Ki to transmute a form of Cryokinesis and its effectiveness is only amplified with my swordplay." Arctic stated.

"If you're just using ice abilities, then I should have no problem breaking out of it with my energy! Haaaaaaah!" Forcing himself out, the assassin released all of the Ki that he could spare to thaw himself out, but that only accelerated the process of ice encroaching all over his body.

"Eh?" The Neptunian blinked in confusion as more than half of his body was encased in ice.

"It's a shame that you faced someone like me because I tend to be quite complicated with how I fight my battles." Arctic explained, "By imbuing my aura into my blade, I could properly sow in some of the seeds of your defeat by innovating my ice powers to properly put down my opponents. Meaning, my Cryokinesis accelerates its process of freezing victims by feeding off of their Ki to confine them in a prison of ice."

"O-Oh, come on!" The Neptunian shivered as he now left with just his head unfrozen.

"Perhaps, if you didn't lose your resolve to fight back and indirectly let the aura surrounding you weaken, then you wouldn't have ended up like this." Arctic shook his head, "Now stay frozen until the authorities take you in, dumbass."

"D-DAMMIT ALL TO HE-!"

*CLACKLE-CLACKLE!*

Frozen from head to toe, the assassin was encased in a heavy block of ice.

"Mission completed." Sighing, Arctic took a needed break and leaned up against the block of ice without any regard of the opponent he defeated.

"M-Mr. Arctic, thank y-!" Undine bowed her head in gratitude but had her chin held up by Arctic's tail stretching outward to make her look him in the eye.

"Don't thank me, I just did my job to act as your bodyguard. That's all."

"B-But, you just saved my life. I can't just stay quiet about that!"

"Look…" Arctic raised a hand at that.

"Eh?" Undine blinked in confusion.

"If you really want to thank me then try to get stronger. Not strong in the sense of physical power, but mental fortitude. If your life is constantly going to be on the line, then try to steel yourself to keep on living. If the others after you and your father's lives were as gutless like this trash then there's no possible way that you should die to them. You're strong, and I refuse to fathom that fools like them should even claim your lives, understood?"

Arctic averted his eyes away from Undine, he still wasn't accustomed to having an emotional conversation. Although, he wasn't intentionally trying to be touching, Arctic's words were able to push the young princess to tears.

"Y-Yeah..." Pushing those tears aside to give Arctic a big smile, Undine gave him a toothy grin, "I'll do my best. Thank you, Mr. Arctic."

Looking at Undine's face, he noticed a similarity between her grin and an annoying rookie, "Urgh… I can't believe that I would start making similarities using that kid as an example."

"Huh?" Undine blinked in confusion.

"It's nothing…wait…" Arctic shook his head before remembering a certain call from these past days from his less annoying co-worker about something "incredible" happening later.

"You know, after we finish shopping for what you're looking for-."

"No, I don't think I want to continue shopping anymore after what happened." Undine gestured to the frozen man that Arctic was sitting against.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, and besides I think that my father would rather me come back alive than with a souvenir in hand." Undine joked.

"I suppose that's true, but if you're willing to stay on the planet for a bit longer, you can stick around with me and Aurion to catch glimpse of something amazing." Arctic smirked.

"Depends… Will it involve the embarrassment and suffering of others?" Undine asked.

"Definitely."

"Then I'm obviously in." Undine giggled, evilly.

"Good…" Taking a single glance at his katana, Arctic sighed, "And to try and answer the question that you asked before. This is a katana that was common to find on Earth."

"Oooh! Now we're getting into friendly conversation, eh?" Undine playfully rubbed her hands.

"I'm just killing the remaining 10 minutes until we arrive at the next station. Don't push it, kid." Arctic groaned.

"Either way, I'm starting to get to know you better. So is Earth your home planet, I thought that Frost Demons inhabited the Snow Planet, Korviska." Undine asked.

"No…I was actually born on Korviska. Earth is a dead planet without any life on it." Arctic said, solemnly.

"Oh…" Undine frowned noticing the shift in tone but tried to salvage things, "So what is that blade made of?"

"Well, this used to belong an earthling, my teacher. She told me a story about how the most infamous Blacksmith in the Universe crafted the blade out of the hardest metal in the world, Katchin."

Arctic unsheathed the sword only a little to reveal the black blade.

"Whoa, are you serious!? Katchin is literally the hardest and rarest ore to find in the universe! How was your master able to part with it to her student…? No offense." Undine lightly blushed because of her outburst.

"None taken, but…she never really passed it on to me per say…she… Nevermind…" Arctic averted his eyes, the memory was a bit too painful to remember.

"O-Oh my bad for hitting a touchy nerve, well how about your master? What was your relationship with her?" Undine asked, cursing to herself because she just made things worse.

"…At first, we had a complex relationship…" Arctic closed his eyes as he reminisced about a less painful memory.

(Planet: Korviska: Flashback- 18 years ago)

Near the remains of a burnt down home, a young Arctic was scarcely dressed in peasant clothing as he sat near a couple of dead bodies. Two of them belonging to a couple of rugged buff aliens and the other two being that of a deceased married couple of Frost Demons that those buff aliens stiffed.

*Munch!* *Munch!*

Eating the blood soaked rations that he scavenged from the dead bodies, he simply observed his surroundings as he was surrounded by a group of thuggish aliens varying from different races, they were enraged at the sight of two of their fellow space pirates being dead at the feet of a child and sought out revenge.

"Don't think that you'll get away with that, runt!"

"We, the Black Sun Pirates won't stand by and let you leave with your life!"

The aliens roared out in rage as they prepared their weapons while a calm-headed Arctic continued to observe his soon to be killers while reaching for the blood-soaked scimitar that he jacked from one of the space pirates that he killed.

"Get hi-!"

"STOOOOOOP!" Overpowering the command, a humanoid woman pushed through the crowd of space pirates to come into view of Arctic with a serious look on her face.

The woman looked to be fairly young for her age, but her tired and sharp purple eyes told another story about her true age. She had messy black hair, fair pale skin, and an athletic build as her state of attire consisted of a thick black duster, a yellow t-shirt underneath, roughed up blue pants and a pair of brown leather boots strapped up with an array of boots. Her most noticeable trait was the thick headband that was wrapped around her forehead.

Looking around at the crew of space pirates, she said,

"And here I was wondering why you lot weren't finished pillaging this village. Don't you know that Korviska's royal squadron will be on our asses if we don't return to base?"

"Yes, captain, but that brat over there killed two of our men." One of the pirates expressed his rage towards the Frost Demon boy.

"A child? How did we miss one when we attacked this place? Did he come right after?" The woman asked.

"No, captain, we found him along with the burning building and bodies just we arrived."

"So, what your telling me is that this kid just robbed and killed a married couple that was a part of his race, then slayed two of my men?" The woman sounded furious.

"We know captain, that's-!"

"FUCKING SICK!" The woman smiled.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?" The space pirates gasped in surprise as their captain walked towards Arctic without any caution.

"Hey, kid, why not join my crew? Ever since the Galactic Federation has been signing in for planets to join their alliance, I haven't been able to conquer as many planets as I want. So, I'm about to start my 30th Planet Raid here on Korviska, the most heavily fortified planet in the entirety of Universe, and I'm in need of a replacement for the two men that I lost? So, what do you say?"

*SHIING!* *THUD!*

Just when the woman was about to pet Arctic's head, her hand was met with the cool steel of the scimitar that Arctic cleverly hid in the snow.

"Hm? " Looking surprised rather than pained, the woman looked back to notice that her hand was lying in the snow in a bloody mess. Her entire crew was speechless as they were about to rush in on the Frost Demon until they heard their captain loudly cackle.

"Ohohohohoho! You didn't even hesitate! Now I really want you on my crew!" The woman cloaked her bleeding stump with ki to reduce her loss of blood.

"Die…" Arctic whispered as he intended to go for the woman's head.

"I admire your tenacity, but…"

*WOOOOOSH!*

"G-Gugh…!"

*Spraaaaaaaaay~!*

"Know your limits, kid…" The woman pulled out her cleverly hidden katana and instantaneously carved a deep enough cut through the boy's chest to knock him unconscious.

"Oi, get this kid back to the base and patch him up!" The woman called out to her crew before looked down at Arctic face down in the snow as his blood stained the snow around him. Her smile was that of pure and utter excitement that bordered on pure insanity, "I don't want my new cabin boy dying on me…"

(Present)

"A really…complex relationship…" Arctic shook his head as he placed his hand on the scar on his chest which remained to this day.

"Were you in love with her?" Undine asked.

"Quiet…" Arctic narrowed his eyes at Undine.

"OMG! You totally were in love with her!" Undine giggled.

"You know…I could beat you until you lose consciousness and blame it on the assassin. No one would ever know that I did it…" Arctic threatened.

"Geez…learn to take a joke, Mr. Sunshine."

"I don't do jokes." Arctic groaned.

"Could've fooled me…" Undine smirked.

On the rooftops, nearby the monorail track, Aurion sat next to an incapacitated body of an unconscious Neptunian woman with a heart crested glyph on her chest.

Sensing the malicious energy completely gone from the area and the incoming monorail, he smiled and said, "Looks like everything turned out fine."

Drawing a card from his deck, Aurion simply lays on near the unconscious Female assassin.

"It was quite a clever plan to split up and try to make a contingency plan to destroy the monorail if the straightforward assassination didn't work. Too bad you made it obvious that there would be more than one of you. If there's a next time, you should probably realize it's not safe to underestimate my *ASTERISK* Branch."

*Beep-Beep!*

"Now if you'll excuse me." Answering his cellphone, Aurion said, "Why hello there, Ambassador of Peace, Coral. Yes, we were able to safely protect the princess. Any defects? No, everything went without a hitch, but you may have to help call in for…"

Spotting the last damaged part of the monorail, Aurion sweatdropped, "Public Damage costs…no, it wasn't Dive this time. Give the young man a break, he's not always causing damage left and right, you know."

After all of the commotion the monorail stopped at the station and had already called the authorities to take in the criminals after Aurion explained the situation of the damages. With the damages paid for and Arctic's deep wounds being patched up by a handy dandy Stim pack, everything came full circle with a satisfying ending.

Well, not completely satisfying yet…

During the night at the front door to Rose's café, Zenya waited patiently as Aurion and Arctic arrive alongside Undine who was carried by Arctic for the quick ride.

"Took you guys long enough and…" Noticing Undine, Zenya asked, "Isn't she the Neptunian Princess? Wasn't she supposed to be sent back to her home planet ages ago?"

"She was, but Arctic told her about what you messaged us before and now she wants to see the big surprise behind those doors." Aurion patted Undine on the head, "Don't worry, we'll be sure to escort her to a secure space port the next morning."

"Well, before we enter it's an honor to meet you, Princess." Zenya bowed.

"No need for formalities, I only came here to ridicule those two rookies that Arctic told me about! He's very great at telling stories, y'know." Undine excitedly jumped about in place.

"Oh, really?" Zenya playfully prodded the Frost Demon.

"What?" Arctic groaned.

"I never took you for the type to get…social." Zenya teased with a surprise look on her face.

"I'm always talking to you, aren't I?" Arctic crossed his arms.

"Yeah, saying dismissive and sarcastic comments before you walk off to even let me say a word of response doesn't really count as being social." Zenya chided, but Arctic simply averted his gaze from the taller woman.

"Oh trust me, he's very social. He even told me a quick story about his pa-ow!" Undine rubbed her rear and pouted after getting whipped by the Frost Demon's tail.

"That was told to you in the confidence that you wouldn't spread it out." Arctic narrowed his eyes.

"Sheesh excuse me for trying to keep a conversation going…" Undine whimpered, "Is he always-?"

"Yes, but…" Zenya gave the Frost Demon a warm smile before giving a bitter one to Undine, "You learn to almost tolerate it."

"That does not fill me with confidence." Undine groaned, "S-So can we go in or what because I really am in need of a laugh, and some blueberry muffins."

"Sure, we've been keeping them waiting so I'll show you the way." Zenya guided Undine to the door.

"Shall w-hm?" Just before Aurion could take a step for the door, he heard Arctic say,

"Yet again, you were right…"

"Hm, what was that, Arctic?" Aurion leaned in with his ear stuck out, he was going to break the Frost Demon's ice-cold shell for sure, "I couldn't hear you…"

"Go to hell." Arctic walked past his superior as he closed his eyes in annoyance.

"Worth a shot…"

*GACHA!*

Aurion shrugged as he joined the others of *ASTERISK* and Undine see an unbelievable sight once they opened the door.

"Welcome, esteemed guests to Rose's Café~!"

"Welcome, esteemed guests to Rose's Café~!"

. . . .

In unison two beautiful maids bowed and sent a cute wink their way before they paused upon realization of who they were greeting. In maid outfits, wearing wigs and make up, both Dive and Cabba froze in place once they saw their comrades stand right in front of them with their different judging expressions.

"Hello, boys, I see that Miss Rose is putting you through the wringer, eh?" Aurion sheepishly rubbed his head.

"So, this is what you two during your time off, I'm honestly not surprised..." Arctic looked away in disgust.

*Flash!*

"This is so going on my SpaceBook page." Zenya snapped a photo with a smile on her face.

"OMG! I totally have to post this on my Zwitter account! Say cheese, buffoons! You're about to be famous to my 500,000 followers! Woohoo!" Undine didn't hesitate to snap as many photos as she can.

Met with a ton of embarrassment all the two young men could was cry silently…

"Not even a full year and we're already the laughingstock for our superiors. Oh, god! This means we really did peak after joining the Defense Force…!" Cabba wailed.

"…W-Well, at least things can't get any worse from rock bottom am I right, hehehe…ugh…" Dive sadly chuckled as he slumped down in defeat.

[Outer Space- Above Planet Gaia's atmosphere]

The blue vibrancy of the rotating planet illuminated through the windows of a long-tabled dining room where a belligerent gray skinned Neptunian angrily sat on one end of the beautifully crafted table with his teeth angrily bared. The news of his two top assassins failing to end the accursed bloodline of his pathetic kind was not the best of news to hear.

Especially in the company that he shared…

"Soooo, I take it that your professionals couldn't handle the job, correct?" Spoke a methodical voice from within the shadows of the

"T-True, but don't worry, we have plenty more insurrectionists ready and willing to sacrifice their lives to our cause. W-We'll definitely have the princess dead, I sw-!"

*Whiiiir~!*

*SNAP!*

"Hguk-wait, please, wait-!" In a matter of seconds, two tall individual appeared to either side of the Neptunian with one them violently lifting him up into the air. The Neptunian struggled in vain as they futilely clasped at his attacker's feminine yet powerfully pulsing forearm.

"Oh, Mr. Orson, I have nothing to worry about because I technically lost zilch from this agreement. The Red Abyss Syndicate was to supply you and your terrorists with ample supply of weapons and funds to expedite your revolution against your government. And once you lot finally usurped power and returned to independence, the Syndicate would receive the "fee" that was promised."

The methodical voice from the shadows giggled, "But seeing as to how all of these attempts have led to failure, I was sent by my leader to make sure and see that our investments weren't all for nothing by seeing if you could even execute just a single little princess. You've seen how that turned out, so I was given express permission to terminate our agreement with you should things turn out the way they did."

"But-gack-! Y-You can't-! M-My men will av-aveng-!"

"Avenge you? No, not quite, in fact, they'd only be more into the cause than ever. Especially after they realize that one of the Galactic Federation's special agents killed their leader in cold blood. And without a strong leader to guide them, they'll find the Syndicate to be a more stable substitute." The methodical voice's tone became deeper and threatening, "Otherwise, they're free to go home. Go home and be met with execution for all of the death that they brought upon the Neptunian Royal Family…"

"…Grck!" The Neptunian insurgent leader limply hanged up in the air, eyes dyed in despair.

"Don't you worry your little head, Mr. Orsen. The fate of your people's future are in our capable hands…" Emerging from the shadows, a bandaged arm mechanically moved into the light to snap its fingers, "Strea?"

*SNAP!*

*ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!*

One of the tall figures placed their hands on the back of the hanging Neptunian and released a violent bolt of lightning that engulfed Orsen's entire body.

"Gagagagagagagagagaga!"

"…Kale?"

*SNAP!*

*CRUSH!* *SN~AP!* *POP!*

The body of the Neptunian lifelessly crumpled onto the ground with a sickening thud.

"Good job, girls! Were it not for the fact that you two were my property, I would automatically gave you raises." The methodical voice clapped before imperiously pointing their bandaged hand towards the planet, "But I will allow the first person to gnab me that princess as extra assurance for this wasted trip about an hour of free time. Exciting isn't it?"

"…"

"…" Neither of the figures replied.

"Ah, right, hard to celebrate the chance to be given free will when you currently don't have it… Meh, the first one to do it will be happily surprised! Now go…go…"

The figures were shooed out of the room.

"And make sure to give bring me back some rare *ASTERISK* souvenirs while you're at it too. I've just been dying to get me a pair of green antennae…"

The methodical voice's giddy laughter echoed throughout the walls of their cloaked battleship that was more than half the size of the planet's moon.