Emily steps out of the stairwell into the bck market again, this time using her maa to hide her mana signature from the start. She heads straight for The Crystal Skull’s tent, moving through the streets unnoticed. Arriving at the tent alone, she moves around to the bad slips into the hidden partment in the wall.

  I don’t o waste any potions to hide until someone else es back here.

  She moves sideways, creating distaween herself and the entrances in and out of the space, curving around the tent for a couple of steps before sitting down on the floor at the point where the internal aernal walls meet. After settling down, Emily starts summoning her scouts into her hands.

  She releases two spiders, rolling them both towards the tent’s entrance as they unfurl themselves. They scuttle over to the exit fp, holding the bottom open and waiting for their bird brethren to leave. The birds waddle past, moving slowly on their meical feet before spreading their wings outside and s into the air.

  Emily directs each of the four birds to find a high perch overlooking each of the sides of the tent, watg for anyone approag. One of the spiders leaves the fp afterwards, scurrying over to the closest building and up the wall, positioning itself in a shadow watg the tent’s hidderahe other spider releases the fp and turns around instead, pushing further into the tent aling out of Fox’s line of sight to watch her.

  Emily remains still, with her eyes shut, watg the feeds from her scouts calmly, a vial of her potioing in her palm at the ready. She stays like this for over half an hour, never spotting anything out of the ordinary. A few of the market’s visitors ehe tent in that time, and Fox greets them with a smile, to sell crests to them. No one shows muterest, leaving ohey realise they have no i in what she’s selling, but Fox’s gentle smile never leaves her face.

  Eventually, one of Emily’s birds spots something that draws her attention. Weaving through the market, with a familiar level of skill, is a scruffy-looking man in torn clothes. He has grey hair, and his face is marked by time, appearing to be in his te fifties.

  Vagrant?

  He slips between a tent and a building, heading in a straight liowards The Crystal Skull tent. Emily’s bird takes off from its perch, following him from above as he approaches. She drinks the potion in her hand as he steps into the view of the spider watg the hidderance, and, by the time he slips into the hidden partment, Emily is invisible once again.

  He repeats the same process as Barbarian, listening for a while before whistling to alert Fox to his presence.

  “Enter,” Fox calls, and he obliges. “Report.”

  “My informants spotted someone who may be a target leaving the nearby station about an ho and heading towards the market. But they were moving fast and c their face, so we have no firmation,” Vagrant croaks, receiving a nod from Fox to tinue. “I’ve almost finished spreading my influeo the trading district, but most possible informants are already in the pockets of the merts, so it’s proving difficult. I think I’ve pushed as much as I without drawing unwatention.”

  “How much trol do you have?” Fox asks with a gre.

  “About twenty per t of the homeless popution, and five per t of the low-ine shopkeepers.”

  “Fug useless. How many resources have I given you so far, for only twenty per t trol? Do you even have anyone on the higher yers?”

  “I do! I’ve mao get twenty people on the fifth yer of the district!” Vagrant argues, his brow creased into a frown.

  “That’s passable I guess,” Fox sighs, starting to turn back to the tent’s frorance.

  “At least I’m staying at my post,” Vagrant grumbles, pulling Fox’s attention back as she fixes him with a chilling gaze, making even Emily shiver slightly as she watches through a spider.

  “What are you saying?”

  Vagrant flinches back, sweat starting to fall from his brow.

  “I had some of my informants watg, and they’ve seen Lurker straying into my territain. My territory’s nowhere near her posts so she’s clearly disobeying orders,” he scrambles to expin in panic.

  “What did I tell you about spying ohers?”

  “Don’t do it. It just draws more attention to us and makes me a oint.” Vagrant gulps, stepping back.

  “Oh? So, I have told you. That’s good!” Fox’s face melts into a warm smile as she stands up and approaches the c Vagrant.

  “So, tell me then -” she grabs him by the throat, digging her nails into his skin, “Why are you still doing it?”

  “I’m sorry,” he chokes through her grip. “I’ll kill all the informants with Lurker’s description and stop. I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again!”

  “Good,” Fox says, releasing her hand and patting his cheek. “We wouldn’t want to find out what happens when you disobey orders a third time, now would we?”

  Vagrant shakes his head, sighing in relief and massaging his lightly bleeding neck as Fox returns to her seat.

  “Since you already know where she is, go tell Lurker to report in so I switch her posts and question why she’s disobeying orders as well. Now, get out of my sight.”

  Vagrant doesn’t waste any time before turning and walking out of the tent.

  Jackpot! Time to find the st member.

  Emily stands up, dropping her e with her scouts and following Vagrant out. He heads across the market before dug into a stairwell. Emily follows him up, the potion in her system deadening her footsteps. She slips out through the door behind him as he steps out into the sunlight again.

  Vagras off through the city, headiowards the tre. Emily shadows him, notig the number of slum dwellers aowledging Vagrant with greetings as he passes.

  These must be his informants.

  He keeps walking for a while and Emily is forced to down several more vials of the shimmering bck potion to remain pletely hidden from the keen-eyed middle-aged maually, after entering into a better-developed residential sector, Vagraers a building. It’s a dingy-looking pub, with a chipped dark blue painted metal exterior and ached sign saying ‘The Broken Keg’ above the worn, dark wooden door.

  Emily keeps close to him, entering the door close behind, careful not to touch him and break the potion’s effect. Vagrant gives the bartender a silent nod before turning to a booth in the er and marg over. He drops in, gng around once before turning to the current inhabitant.

  Emily stands beside the table looking at the pin-looking woman sitting there. She seems to be about thirty years old, with short blonde hair and dark brown eyes.

  “What do you want, Vagrant?” Lurker hums in a low, gravelly tone.

  Emily tunes out their versation, pulling out The Clock as she watches them.

  Looks like I have all my targets lined up.

  The day rewinds o time.

  ***

  Emily heads straight dowairs into the market, making her way towards Barbarian. She quickly arrives at the food stand he uses as cover and spots him sitting in pce, hood up, watg her approach. She doesn’t spare him more than a ger firming his presence, simply walking past him with her mana uncealed.

  As Emily expects, he stands up to follow her after she passes. With a smug grin, Emily leads him to the edge of the market before dug into a secluded alley. The moment she leaves his line of sight, she s her heart in dense maa, cealing her mana signature, and waits in the shadows behind a rge boiler attached to the side of a building.

  A few moments ter, Barbarian steps around the er into the alley and looks for her. Seeing nothing, he steps further iing closer to Emily. The sed he steps a foot past the boiler, Emily slides out with a smooth, practised motion, slipping a to the side of his ned closing her hand around his throat, holding the bde in pce. Lightning courses from her fingers, log his body in pce as she pulls him closer.

  “You like being the ones hidden in the dark, right?” Emily whispers into his ear, never letting him see beh her hood.

  “Thehout knowing why.” She releases her grip on his ned rips her Cw forward, tearing out his throat and spttering the walls with blood.

  Barbarian drops motioo the ground, red gushing from his throat and painting the floor. Emily crouches o him, pig his inhibition powder and maion crystal out of his pockets before standing up again. She steps over him, calmly walking out of the alley while casting se and removing all signs of the crime from her body.

  One down.

  Emily turns towards Stray as off across the market again, her magice more cealed. She quickly arrives at the girl’s hiding spot and steps into the dark alley. She slowly walks forward, approag where Stray was tucked into a er before.

  Seems she doesn’t want to make herself known.

  Ag as if she doesn’t know better, Emily steps into the line of sight of the figure pressed flush against the wall, trying to go unnoticed. Her arm whips out sideways without warning, g the killer’s face.

  Emily’s palm lights up in a burning white and e before exploding with heat. Fire pours out, ing Stray’s head in a silent inferno. Stray doesn’t eve a ce to scream, the intense heat wiping out her sciousness as she feels the searing pain of her nerves melting.

  Emily takes Stray’s magical possessions from her pockets before droppio the floor with enough ma in the fmes to turn her head to ash.

  Two down.

  She turns to leave, quickly checks The Clootes that she has time before Vagrant arrives at The Crystal Skull’s tent, and heads towards the arms dealer. It doesn’t take long to arrive at the small store. The owner is still sleeping on his ter, so Emily calmly walks over and pnts one of the Cws into the back of his head.

  She takes the keys off the corpse’s belt and opens the door behind him. She finds a small ste room through the door behind the ter, with ten barrels of bck powder set up along the floor and shelves of products surrounding them.

  A small smile parts Emily’s lips as she looks around.

  “A dead man ’t miss his goods,” she mutters while passing spatial mana over the whole room, sending everything not bolted down into her utility belt.

  Within seds, the room is stripped bare, and Emily turns on her heel to leave. She leaves the ste room hanging open, with the keys still in the door, and steps back out onto the street.

  Three down.

  Emily finally starts weaving through the market towards the tent. She uses the short route Barbarian kindly showed her and quickly arrives at the frorao the tent. Before entering, Emily reaches for her thigh and unholsters the Spitter uhe cover of her robes. She summons its silencer into her other hand and screws it on before pushing opeent’s fp and stepping in.

  “Hello there. How I help you?” Fox asks with a smile.

  Emily doesn’t answer, silently knog her hood bad watg surprise and amusement cross Fox’s face.

  “Well hello again, cutie. It’s not often someone escapes me, and none of them were dumb enough to return. Did your escape give you the fideo e back?”

  “It did! Did killing so many es give you the fideet me?” Emily responds with a fident smirk.

  “Ha. You’re nothing special, honey. You were lucky to get away the first time. Why did you return?”

  Emily notices Fox’s eyes shifting towards the entrance behind her, her brow flickering in annoyance.

  “Looking for someone following me?” Emily asks, her smirk only growing. “Sorry. But your associates won’t be ing to help you.”

  Fox’s eyes narrow.

  “Who says I hem? What you even do in here?” She gowards her burning inse as she speaks, clearly unnerved by Emily’s fidence.

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Barbarian? Or maybe Lurker. Though, you don’t seem to like them rant, so maybe you’ll ask Stray instead?” Emily teases.

  A look of horror forms on Fox’s face, but before she think to respond to Emily’s provocation, a high-pitched hiss sounds off as Emily squeezes the trigger of the Spitter. A bullet silently bores a hole through Fox’s chest, straight through her heart.

  “Sorry, but if I gave you time to process that you’d probably crack that tooth. I don’t pn oing any of you go on your own terms,” Emily says with sadistic glee.

  Fox gasps breathlessly, looking down at her chest and the crimson flood slowly painting her clothes. She reaches up a hand and presses it to her chest while looking up at Emily again with intense, seething rage.

  “Don’t bme me,” Emily says spitefully, raising her gun out of her robes. “You targeted me first.”

  Lightning flickers in Emily’s eyes as she pces a bullet between Fox’s.

  Four down.

  Fox’s brain sptters onto the tent behind her before her head drops lifelessly onto the table in front of her. Blood leaks from her skull, pooling around the colle of crests, mirr their bloody in.

  Emily takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes, reining in her anger. After regaining her calm, Emily walks around the table and pulls out the chair from under Fox’s body, which drops to the floor, before sitting down fag the hidderao wait frant’s arrival.

  Sitting alone in silence, Emily's eyes eventually drift over to the corpse beside her, and a small frown creases her brow.

  I just killed four people without batting an eye.

  “I even e,” she mutters in fusion.

  I swear I should have more of a problem with murder. Have I desensitised myself by killing people during frozen time? I mean, I didn’t really have any problems letting people die on the expedition, but I haven’t actually killed a person permaly yet myself. Wait… Have I?

  She quickly opens her system notifications and flicks back to the start.

  ˉˉˉˉˉ

  gratutions on your first kill!

  [Reward granted]

  Sub-system unlocked: Progression

  _____

  I got rewarded for my first kill, but I reset time after that and never killed anyone else before the end of that loop. Does it not follow the same rules because it was a system reward, not a quest? Or had I actually already killed someone? I did leave a few people in very bad states before Dad took me in. Now that I think about it, I never firmed if they lived or died.

  Emily’s frown deepens.

  Logically, most of them tried to kill me. But, realistically, I say the arms dealer deserved death? He didn’t actively try to kill me, just seowards those who would. Should I not have killed him?

  The thought of mercy makes Emily’s skin crawl, her stomach twisting into a knot. She shakes her head and leans ba her chair, rexing and shutting her eyes to focus o and cold danana and maa through her body, letting it soothe her mind and calm her emotions.

  A few mier, a whistle es from the partment before her. Emily silently raises the Spitter, her eyes still shut, and fires a shot. She opens her eyes to see Vagrant’s body drop against the fabric, parting the entrand falling into view with a hole through his right eye and out the back of his head.

  “Blood for blood,” she whispers a phrase she heard a lot in the slums, feeling it resoh her core and calm the disfort within. She lets a smile creep onto her lips again: “I guess I’m just a murderer.”