Mall and Shopping center… .

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[Your party has entered combat!]

"Why isn't she healing?" Ruri exclaimed . They were safely behind a wall, while someone shot at them . The thousands of surrounding terrified humans thankfully provided the cover they needed to carry Matsume off to safety .

"Shhh," Alice hissed, "Just do as I told you . "

Ruri concentrated, sniffing for it, until at last, a scent that wasn't blood, but of silver and gunpowder just barely made its way into her nostrils . It took some effort, but the h.e.l.lhound managed to pull out the bullet . Immediately, Alice's healing took effect .

[Alice activated Pulsar Heal . ]

With her hand on top of the wound, the blonde flooded Matsume with healing energy . Seconds later, the woman coughed a few times, but awoke . Ruri pulled her into an embrace . Sure, it wasn't the h.e.l.lhound way, they were warriors, but she didn't give a d.a.m.n . The older h.e.l.lhound smiled .

"It'd take more than just silver to kill me," she said . "Now if you don't mind, princess, I need to pay this coward back . "

"I can smell the gunner and no stress . Definitely compulsion . " Ruri said, placing full faith in her servant, whose power level was higher, anyway .

"Can anyone undo compulsion?" Matsume said .

"I don't think even my All Calm ability can do so," Alice said . "Harumi's the only one I know who could probably pull it off, but I don't want to risk it . "

"She's a soul sister," Ruri said . "I'm…not sure if her kind is as affected by silver as us . "

"I'll take support," Alice said . "Ruri and Matsume, sniff her out and show that human what happens when you f.u.c.k with Team Stone . "

Matsume grinned, allowing her dark red aura to show a bit . Ruri searched for the scent . For an a.s.sa.s.sin, the gunner wasn't that good at it . Attacking without first learning about the query . Then maybe she would've found some way to magically hide her scent .

"Someone's taken a liking to Clyde and Kitome's language," Matsume said .

Alice blushed .

"Still trying it out on your tongue?" Ruri said, pinching her friend's cheek .

"Oh, shove it . Get moving," Alice said .

"Aye-aye, captain," Matsume said, but Ruri could tell the half-demoness didn't get the jive . Ah well, can't win them all .

Following her nose, Ruri peeked around the corner . The person shooting at them hid somewhere, not that hiding would save her . The scent never lied .

Matsume wasn't subtle . She aimed a hand at the spot .

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[Matsume activated Flame burst . ]

The a.s.sa.s.sin started running before the magic reached her . She met Ruri's shoe to her face . The h.e.l.lhound's spin-kicked her to the ground, unconscious .

"I can hear approaching sirens," Matsume said . "Let's just tie her up with a note telling the cops to check her pockets for the weapon . "

"And to check the security footage for proof," Ruri said . Alice sighed .

"We don't have that much time, hurry, get it done and go . And…" Alice checked the a.s.sa.s.sin's wallet and found her driver's license . Matsume s.n.a.t.c.hed the money out of it .

"That will pay for my would-be medical treatment," she said .

"You're taking money that you don't need," Ruri said, giving her a blank stare . "Because you know, we've got plenty of it . "

"So?"

Ruri shrugged .

"Well, she did try to kill us, even if compel—"

"Look," Alice interrupted . She revealed a card with a cross on it .

Rage swelled on Matsume's face .

"Crusaders…" she said softly, as if barely containing a scream .

"Let's get the h.e.l.l out of here," Ruri said . "The cops coming may turn out to be phonies . "

Alice nodded and they were off . Ruri sent the news into Team Stone's group chat . Matsume tossed the empty wallet back onto the unconscious woman .

[Battle completed . Victory!]

Matsuko hovered A few dozen feet above the city, looking down .

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"You can't hide from me forever, Ms . Reddy . " She squared up and began to raise her aura output . Yelling helped convert anger and rage into power . "Ahhh!" The fallen angel looked like a crimson red daytime star . The aura doubled, then tripled, quadrupled . "You know you can sense me . Come out . "

She held the output for twelve minutes, but nothing happened . She felt nothing . Saw nothing . Frustrated, she yelled, "YOU COWARD!"

Someone from the ground yelled,

"Hey, shut the f.u.c.k up! I'm trying to sleep . "

"Oh sorry—wait—why you," she sighed . "Stupid humans . "

She aimed two hands at a random building, but stopped, something interesting catching her senses . She felt her remaining Blood Hand fighting with…she closed her eyes, picturing them . Military gifted . And they were strong, especially the girl with the short silver hair . Why did she look so happy? The psychotic, idiotic nut . Someone gave them her hotel's location… But who? Melody? No, there was no way that girl could've found that out . Hades? No, that family's done for . Ashfall? No and f.u.c.k them . There was nothing better to do, she supposed . Dispose a few, maybe some torture .

On the other hand, she could just leave the Blood Hand to kill off the intruders and grab herself some sake . Mmm, sake . He Who Paints the Night would arrive—at least she hoped he'd answer her call . The demon G.o.d had less f.u.c.ks to give than she did and that was saying a lot . Still, he was her only chance to be free .

In the end, she decided to exercise her magic .

Clyde's house…

Clyde bolted through the door, the genie chasing him, Toru and Ashard shaking their heads as they entered . He dove into Harumi's room, quietly closing and locking it . He sighed . Sazuki stared at him, frozen and half-way changed . The pink-haired girl dropped her measuring tape .

He held up a hand .

"Sorry . Now before you flip out, we've got an immediate team meeting . Also, no need to go red-faced, just pretend I'm not here . I will calmly leave out and everything . Nice work on your toning and figure by the way . "

Clyde sidestepped Sazuki's punch and bolted out the door . "I said I was sorry . "

[Your relations.h.i.+p with Sazuki has decreased from friend level 10-endearment to friend level 9-endearment . Relations.h.i.+p negative status alignment: Wary of pervert . ]

[You will not be able to increase your friends.h.i.+p level with Sazuki until you get rid of the negative status alignment . It will eventually go away on its own and she'll forgive you . Just don't do anything to screw it up . ]

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[Tip from system: Sazuki secretly likes apology gifts . Try asking Harumi or Airi what she likes . ]

Clyde stored that note in the back of his mind, although he was starting to get annoyed with the walk-in-the-room-while-changing cliché . Why does Sazuki keep changing at his house? And where is…He accidentally b.u.mped into Kiko .

"Whoops, sorry," Clyde said . "A lot's happening at once and my mind's spinning like a wheel . " He tried to move past her, but she blocked the way .

"Team leader," Kiko said, smiling predatorily . "You rescued me and yet, I never got the chance to get to know you . "

"It's—"

Kiko held up a hand .

"We've been training to join Team Stone, while you let that genie on with no problem . And even Ashard's an honorary member, trusted to scout, despite not knowing anything about him . This is not the start you should be giving true members . "

Clyde blinked .

"You've got a point . "

System, could you lock the Date all female members quest? I really don't feel like adding any more women to the roster .

[Cannot comply . It is recommended to add the vampire and her sister to your harem . ]

I will not, Clyde thought . I will not have someone drinking my blood . That's where I draw the line .

[Responding error 69 . ]

System! Clyde thought .

[She is capable of getting her own food, as she is doing now . Which by the way, is human food . You vampires only require a single sip of blood per month but can go up to three months . Just as she said, you should take the time to get to know her, desu . ]

"Ashard has fighting experience and is immensely strong in magic, which is why Natalia summoned him," Clyde explained . "He's working for her, not me . " He held up a hand to forestall the vampire girl . "The reason why you're going through the training is because we f.u.c.ked up plenty of times to know what not to do . And we'll probably continue to do so . Training is preparing you to take on literal horrors with the knowledge to overcome them beat into your head . If we send you to fight a monster with a power level of one hundred, you'll get murdered . Or worse, freeze up and then die . " He placed a hand on Kiko's shoulder . "What we do is not a game . It's not fun, which is why anyone is welcomed to back out or even take a break when they've had enough . You may be a vampire, but your strength wont saved you against trained enemies, even crusaders . "

Kiko's mouth opened then closed .

"Fine, but I still want to get to know you," she said . "I want to belong . "

"Keep training," Clyde said, "and feel free to come to any of us with questions . "

He walked past her before she could speak another word . He was the team leader, with important matters on hand . The young man couldn't realistically attend to everyone's needs . Not with all the s.h.i.+t going on .

Besides, he had just three dates left before completing the quest . Ruri, Yuki, and Tear . All of the dates were…the women were so d.a.m.n interesting . And not because some of them were from another species—but they tended to open up more when alone with him . He thought back on his date with Ming . She actually had a sense of humor . And well, she was both a mangaka and writer . Although he hoped the jive about drawing him naked was a joke . He'd strengthen the wards on his door the next time she came over . Alice, Harumi, Chika, Kitome . Natalia's date sucked at the start—the loli's troll game going way too far . They did end with some kind of understanding, but her trolling never ceased .

[Kiko has become very determined . She decided to no longer be ignored . Remember, she cannot fully control the urges caused by the Supreme's influence . ]

Well f.u.c.k, Clyde thought, speeding up . He felt her energy, but made it to the boardroom where the teary genie awaited . He gestured for her to stay seated before she could wrap herself around his waist . Getting her to let go was nearly impossible, although the women made it look easy . The same went for—he dodged a sneak attack from the loli herself .

"Oh come on!" Natalia said .

Clyde smirked .

"Your rudimentary attacks won't work on me . "

The genie but on a Toru-approved blank stare for the loli . Natalia seemed oblivious as she played her handheld .

The others eventually filed in to take their seats . Yusuke didn't bring Undine this time . Airi showed, convincing him that he should at least try to make a case for her to join before she left for home on Friday . The purple-haired adventurer somehow grown on him over the past week, but who couldn't appreciate beauty and immense strength . So many secrets she held . The number one adventurer . The Legend Twenty-Seven . He'd never stop referencing that for the super druid . How many adventurers would be jealous if they found out he took her virg—the young man dropped the unnecessary thought . No wonder why Natalia called him pervy-nii .

Just then, he received a text from…Hiros.h.i.+ of all people .

"This better not be a last-minute attempt at recruitment," Clyde muttered . He was still trying to puzzle out the f.u.c.king a.s.sa.s.sination attempt on his life mate's group . Maybe paint the city with crusader blood?

"Could be a…what'd she call it…a booty call," Natalia said, as if testing the words for the first time .

Clyde materialized an energy paper fan, tossed it to Alice, who sat by her, and watched as she delivered judgment . It may be one whack on the head, but somehow that ended troublemaking before things got worse .

The text message turned out to be another unexpected circ.u.mstance . The military fought the Blood Hand—catching small groups of them and individuals off guard, taking out as many as possible . The numbers however got them in a pinch . The Blood Hand were too strong . They needed urgent help . Fortunately, the efficient military officer gave him a location .

"f.u.c.k, everyone, they're fighting the Blood Hand," Clyde said . "Tear, can you Jump us to this location . "

"I…can feel Matsuko's aura radiation," Melody said . "I think she's gotten serious . "

Natalia hopped on Clyde's back . Nina rolled her eyes .

"We're still not done with this a.s.sa.s.sination s.h.i.+t, but let's go help them out," Clyde said .

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