Royal Night

Asher's eye narrowed.

The modified umbrella completely veiled the woman's expression.

Disappointing. Still, he wasn't shameless enough to lift the veil for a better look.

Besides, he hadn't gotten a good read on her strength yet.

The strange woman had frozen in place, waiting for him to take her hand. Soft breaths came from inside the veil, otherwise she showed no signs of life.

'Asher' might have been more cautious, assessing the situation before shaking the unknown hand in front of him.

But right now, he was Little Red.

Unbeknownst to him, Asher had become quite a proficient actor. He instinctively knew that, in order to synchronize with Little Red quicker, he needed to change many of his subconscious habits.

In an instant, Asher compiled a list of character traits to replace his own. It wasn't perfect, but he had enough experience with Little Red to make a rough caricature of the Abnormality.

He let out a coarse bark of laughter, mixed with a little contempt, and seized the woman's outstretched hand.

The grip that replied to his was soft and delicate, yet painfully frigid.

As the woman pulled back her hand, she spoke for the first time.

"At night... you are outside?" The voice was soft and regal. It carried an indescribable accent that gave her words a strange sense of authority.

"So are you."

Two seconds of silence passed.

"I saw your fight down below. Congratulations." The woman continued, giving no sign that she heard him.

Asher's mouth twitched in confusion. The stranger's words had a floaty, almost dreamlike quality to them.

"...Who are you?"

Asher snarled as the figure leaned closer, placing her hand on his cheek. He could feel her icy fingers through the teeth of his mask.

Now that she was up close, Asher could see just how tall the ghostly figure was.

Even with the angle at which she leaned forward, she was about a head taller than Little Red. That meant she was over two meters tall.

"I have not seen this mask before." Again, the woman completely ignored his question.

"Obviously." Asher bared his teeth underneath his mask, 'losing' his patience with each second.

At least, from an outward perspective. His curiosity further grew as she withdrew her hand back into her umbrella. The mystery was oddly enticing.

"So, what brings you here?"

Before he could think of an answer, Little Red opened her mouth.

"Mercenary work."

Asher mentally shrugged. He had no complaints with Red's undiscussed plan.

Finally, the woman acknowledged his response with a nod.

"Mercenary work..."

Her voice trailed away into nothingness.

More than half a minute passed as they stared at each other in uncomfortable silence.

Asher tried his hardest not to break the silence. What, did she want him to explain further?

Suddenly, the woman's posture straightened with shock.

"Mercenary work-!"

The figure visibly trembled.

"What the...?"

This was the strangest conversation he ever had in this life. Even Little Red's soul was at a complete loss of words.

Asher waited for the woman to calm down. Despite the trembling, her expression was just as unreadable as before, courtesy of the layers of fabric covering it.

Suddenly, an arm shot out from her veil.

Asher tensed his legs, preparing to fight-

'Eh? A business card?'

In the woman's hand was a small, rectangular card.

What.

Asher snatched it from her hand, reading it with a squinted eye.

"6th Street... Some kind of organization?"

The woman nodded. Or maybe just twitched her umbrella.

Asher squinted, locating her name on the card.

"Royal Night..." He looked up.

She had disappeared.

Oh well. He had a feeling he would see her later.

And-

[Status 'Mark' has been applied! In a confrontation with a marked target, your stats will be multiplied by up to x1.5.]

Nice. He didn't know if he would need it, but it would be a handy backup plan if they clashed.

For now, he looked closer at the card.

(6th Street: Any service, for the right price.)

So a mercenary group? No wonder she had such an intense response to his words.

Perhaps they would be in the same field of work.

The logo on the front of the card appeared to be a black ceremonial mask, with red accents lining the eyeholes and edges.

An address was given in plain font below.

Near the bottom of the card was a description of the woman in white who had disappeared into the night.

(Royal Night: A deadly and cunning Urban Legend who roams the night. Veiled by white cloth, she is a mystery to her comrades, and a nightmare to her enemies.)

(Pricing starts at 1000 Ahn.)

"What an edgy description. She's an Urban Legend?"

Asher mused to himself. Similar to the Stray Dogs...

"What's an Urban Legend?" Little Red interjected, her voice demanding an explanation.

Right, Little Red was still naïve about this world. Asher closed his eyes, projecting his conversation with Finn into his mind.

Little Red made a noise of understanding.

The card was blank on the other side.

Since there was nothing important to do, Asher used his phone to confirm the card's validity.

He opened the Hana app.

As the card stated, there really was an Urban Legend threat named 'Royal Night' in the Hana's threat catalogue. The description of her on the app was painfully sparse, yet Asher was more interested in what her supposed crimes were.

They were placed below the description, in a list that spanned more than one page.

As expected, the price one had to pay for the woman's services mostly bound her to extreme clients.

Assassination, arson, and torture were all included in the list of her crimes.

"...(Part of 6th Street Mercenaries, an Urban Plague group.)"

Asher's eye widened at the note near the bottom.

"Urban Plague-!" Asher whispered beneath his breath.

Before Little Red could ask why he was whispering so softly, he gave her all the memories he had pertaining to the Urban Plague.

Memories of Asher's arm being torn off by the Carnival flooded Red's senses.

"So these people are strong!" Little Red growled in excitement.

Asher nodded with some difficulty. Upgrading his weapons sounded like a good idea now.

He was planning to check out the address on the card, yet now he wasn't too sure.

Asher peered down into the street below. Already, over two dozen Sweepers were roaming the ground, puppets made of flesh.

Even with his new strength, Asher didn't want to waste his effort to kill so many of them.

Is what he would have said if he was still 'Asher'.

Instead, he let out a vicious howl toward the moon, leaping off the roof with reckless abandon.

First impressions were important.

The street's attention was solely focused on them.

...

"Hah... Hah-!" Asher grinned, panting with exertion. Even though each Sweeper only took a few seconds to kill, the sheer number of the creatures added up quickly.

However, not including his throbbing hand, Asher was uninjured. The fight only served to show just how strong he had become from his latest punishment mission.

After he caught his breath, Asher gave his attention to the tanks of 'experience' on the ground. This time, his upgraded scythe blade was enough to hack through the glass. Despite only having one upgrade, the weapon was sharper than any blade he had used before.

Soon, his gun had finished absorbing its share of blood.

[Upgrade complete! 'An Old Flintlock' has transformed into 'Thief's Persuasion'!]

Gah, what a terrible name.

[Thief's Persuasion: A heavy, antique pistol, oiled with blood. It serves its purpose well. The gun will automatically reload if withdrawn into the cloak. This weapon may change after being soaked in blood. Progress: 0% until next upgrade.]

Hm.

Asher wasn't too familiar with guns.

He pointed at a corpse below him.

With a pull of the trigger, the Sweeper's chest beside him exploded into a fine mist of blood. Asher subconsciously cringed as the deafening gunshot echoed through the street.

"So loud..." It was powerful, but so damned loud! In his peripherals, Asher could see many more boards being nudged from their windows, as the residents inside focused on him. The uncanny glint of numerous eyes and more than one phone camera analyzed him.

Asher surreptitiously concealed the gun back in his cloak. With a light click, it reloaded itself.

Next for his cloak, 'Living Red'.

How would he make this work, pour blood on himself?

He didn't want to smell like blood, so he decided on a different strategy.

Using his hand as a cup, he splashed a bit of blood on the tip of his cloak.

Instantly, the liquid sizzled and popped, evaporating into thin air.

[Blood quality insufficient! Living Red refuses to absorb it.]

"Hm??"

Asher turned his attention to his other gear.

But alas-

[Blood quality insufficient! Blood Function refuses to absorb it.]

[Blood quality insufficient! Thief's Persuasion refuses to absorb it.]

Asher was left with an empty tank of blood, yet no progress toward his upgrades.

More Sweepers shuffled into the street as Asher digested the prompts in front of him.

"Well, now its really time to leave." Little Red growled in agreement. They had wasted too much time here.

Now that the first impressions have been made, there was no reason to stay. An unknown being killing over thirty Sweepers in the middle of the night would definitely create attention. For what Asher's goal was, gaining that attention was imperative.

"What's with the City, anyway? Why are there so many of these monsters at night?"

Asher shrugged. He hadn't really thought about that before.

With a flicker, he disappeared into the alley beside him.

Left in his trail was a line of corpses, of Sweepers that crossed his path.