Killer's Intent

《 Chapter 14 》

Kieran looked out the window and immediately recognized their attacker as the hooded person he saw back at the restaurant.

The person donned a long black cloak, its hood casting shadows over the top part of their face, leaving only a pair of pale blue eyes, glowing as they maintained their Skill. The bottom part of their face was covered by a mask, making the figure completely unrecognizable.

"What do you want?" Kieran interrogated, his hands flexing on the steering wheel.

He lowered one of his hands to his hip, placing it on the hilt of his dagger. A rustle was heard behind him as the others readied their stances in preparation of a fight.

Eyes glowing purple, Valerie raised her hand up as another gust of wind enveloped the car, bring it back down to the ground. She stared at the cloaked figure, ready for a confrontation, but the other person only held their hands up, signaling their peace.

"Don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight," the person assured them. Their voice sounded rather young, perhaps around their age.

"Then tell us what you want," Kieran repeated warningly. "Don't make me ask a third time."

The figure spread their arms wide, cocking their head in invitation. "I want you to join us."

"Us?" Valerie repeated. "What do you mean?"

"You see," the cloaked figure announced with grandiose. "You're not the only ones who want to see the Sun Organization fall."

The air stilled as the cloaked figure's words slowly began to sink in. Silence hung over them like an executioner's blade, the meaning of person's words threatening to deal a fatal blow.

They had once speculated about the idea in the past, believing that the Sun Organization must have had enemies other than them. But the notion was soon discarded when years after years went by with no help from any external forces.

They had thought they were the only ones.

But as it turned out, they were not.

Kieran knew he should have been happy to hear that. He should have been glad to know that they weren't alone, that there were other people who shared the same purpose as him and his friends.

It was what they had hoped for, once upon a time.

But instead, he was furious.

Furious about the fact that no one came to help them when they needed it most, furious about how instead of working together, they chose to sit back and watch like fucking cowards while he and his friends spent every day risking their fucking lives.

And now they wanted to ask for help?

Fury mixed with the twisted sense of betrayal wrapped its wretched fingers around his throat, depriving him of oxygen as he failed to organize his thoughts into a coherent sentence. He wanted nothing more than to grab the bastard's shoulders and shake them, demanding to know what kind of fucked up logic lied in that head of theirs.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Apparently, he wasn't the only one. Violent gusts of wind brewed to life as Valerie used her Skill to make the air around her transform into a sweeping frenzy. Trees shook as branches were torn from their trunks, turning into jagged weapons as they flew across the sky, surrounding the figure in a ring-like formation. 

"How dare you have the nerve to show up after all this time?"

"Whoa there, calm down," the figure started, disregarding the danger as they held up their hands with a chuckle. "Y'know, there's a valid reason for not contacting you until now."