PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

In the deep darkness of the night, the guards at the west gate of the city had to endure the cold and boredom. Except for a few very special cases, the amount of traffic passing at these times was zero, so one could understand their bad mood.

Barely a hundred meters away from the gate, a sports motorcycle could be seen moving forward at a leisurely pace. A female figure could be seen riding the motorcycle, apart from the motorcycle clothing and helmet, there was not much to say about the appearance of said figure.

The appearance of someone circulating at this hour of the morning would certainly have attracted the attention of the guards at the west entrance, that would be the case if they weren’t in the middle of shift change.

To avoid leaving the entrance unattended, during shift change one of the guards went looking for his replacement while the other stayed behind. Once the replacements led to the spot, the second guard left his post.

This would normally have been the case, but something happened right in the middle. While only one of the guards stayed behind to watch the gate, the motorcycle passed through the exit without any problem.

A closer look would reveal that the motorcycle slowed its progress as it passed the guard, before handing the man in question an Esper crystal as payment. There was no exchange of words between both parties, as soon as the crystal reached the guard’s hands he stopped worrying about what would happen next. As long as the person on the motorcycle left before the guards returned for the next shift; the guard didn’t care.

With its lights turned off to avoid attracting the attention of any lookouts atop the wall, the bike cruised smoothly out of town, flashing its lights and picking up speed after getting far enough away.

The person on the motorcycle took off her helmet, letting the wind hit her delicate face and ruffle her hair. The person was none other than Natalie, her fate? The city of Kars.

.....

(Green Seed, residential district. 5:00 Am)

Perhaps in the middle of summer, this would be a time when people began to wake up, to then prepare for their day-to-day; but with winter barely over, it was still very cold and the sunlight was nowhere to be seen.

Among the few and far between shadows of people wandering the streets, one of them was especially quiet and careful to be seen. Every move, the way she avoided places where she could be easily seen, this person seemed to have the training and a mission in mind.

Like a shadow, the person slipped unseen until she reached a small apartment building. Showing only a modicum of effort, the person approached from outside and jumped until she reached the balcony railing of a second-floor apartment.

In a second, the person had already ceased to be visible from the outside. Showing that she was familiar with the place, the person approached the sliding glass doors that lead to the window. On the index finger of the person’s right hand rested an intricately designed ring, from which came an incredibly faint reddish glow; a second later the figure opened the door as if it had always been open.

Keeping as quiet as possible, the person removed the hood she was wearing as she began to remove small items from the backpack she was carrying. Dark hair that reached her chin, hazel eyes, and a cute face decorated with a somewhat cold expression; It was Yulei.

As if Yulei’s appearance and her subsequent break-in of this apartment weren’t curious enough; the items she took out of her backpack had the word “Suspect” written all over them.

Yulei hurriedly placed all the necessary evidence on the table in the room before hiding some additional pieces in other corners of the room. It was tedious work, especially when she had to be done in complete silence, but Yulei’s training proved quite effective.

When almost everything was ready, the little beauty, this flower raised to serve her master, took out three brick-shaped objects from her backpack. With a knife that she took from her calf, Yulei opened the object in the middle and ended up cutting off one end of it. From inside the plastic cover, a white powder spilled onto the table.

Almost mechanically, Yulei scooped up some of the material with a spoon she brought from the kitchen, which she began to heat with a lighter. Within seconds, the material finished melting into a clear liquid, releasing foul-smelling vapor every second.

As soon as the material finished melting, Yulei put the lighter away and brought a syringe she brought with her. Placing the tip of the syringe into the liquid, Yulei drew out the entire contents, filling the small syringe halfway.

Now with a filled syringe in her right hand, Yulei approached the main room without making a single sound. The way she walked, almost like a cat, the subtlety and control over her movements; if Desmond saw her at this moment he would be very proud of her. At least she tried to comfort herself with that thought of hers as she tried not to think about what she would do next.

With another reddish flash that came from her right hand, the door to the main room opened on its own. Maintaining the same calm and stealth, Yulei approached the sleeping person. Apart from the movements given naturally while he breathed, the man barely moved; unaware that someone was watching him while he slept.

There was a brief, almost insignificant moment when doubt flickered in Yulei’s eyes, a gleam that was soon swallowed by the loyalty and devotion of someone committed to a cause. In the end, that doubt was as insignificant as it seemed, as Yulei no longer felt anything as she looked at the person she was about to kill.

In just half a second, Yulei plunged the needle straight into the veins of the sleeping man’s right arm. The pain of the sting certainly woke the man up, but before he reacted, Yulei reached for the man’s face with her right hand silencing anything he tried to get out of his lips. At the same time, with her left hand, Yulei made sure to pour the entire contents of the syringe into the person’s veins.

The man’s pathetic and helpless struggle lasted no more than four seconds, during which time Yulei met his eyes without a hint of pity or guilt. To fulfill the wishes of her Master, to be useful to him, and to be able to pay for even a little of everything she has received; this person’s life meant nothing.

As soon as the person finished struggling, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body began to convulse with force as foam came out of his mouth. Taking advantage of the moment when the man was succumbing to the overdose she had just given him, Yulei dragged the man into the living room.

As she dragged him to the living room, on the floor of the main room lay what the man was wearing before going to bed, it seemed that he was not a very organized person. Military uniform of the intelligence section, from the amount of insignia on the shoulder, this person had a rank equivalent to a second-grade lieutenant. This one belonged to the normal military division; there was no insignia identifying him as part of the esper fighting force.

As the man’s life was extinguished after suffering a heart attack, Yulei mercilessly manipulated his body to fix the scene of his accidental overdose death. By the time the body finally finished moving, Yulei had already brought it into the living table and placed a rubber band around his arm. She also made sure that the man’s prints were on all the instruments and materials on the table.

When finished, Yulei returned to the main room and arranged everything so that it seemed in order, without any trace of the brief fight that the poor man made. Besides planting some additional pieces of evidence hidden in the room, Yulei left the place the same way she had entered.

Before leaving the apartment, Yulei turned on the stove and put a pan on the fire. After putting some sausages in the pan, Yulei left things like that and left. This way if someone else didn’t find the body naturally, someone would call to report the smoke coming out of the apartment, and even if that didn’t happen, she could make that same call anonymously.

Having slipped a couple of blocks away, Yulei looked at the watch on her wrist (5:25 Am). Since she had to wait to ensure the body was found, Yulei did not stray too far from the area and instead went to the previously planned spot to function as a lookout point. Already in the lookout position, Yulei turned on the communication device she carried with her and spoke.

“Lily, the seeds have been planted, waiting for them to bloom.”

A couple of seconds later, she got a reply back. “Aware, Rose is reaching her destination. The owner of the garden is about to visit the ice princess.”