Tina ran out of the ruinous building. Her eyes were shaking with uncertainty.

Why?

Why?!

Whywhywhy?!

Tina’s emotion manifested as intense confusion.

Tina wished that this was only a cruel joke laid on her by heaven.

The familiar voice calling out to her brought her back into reality.

“Wait!”

Noah closed the distance between them in seconds.

“Did you think you can run away just like this? Tina!”

“—!”

Tina continued running while biting her own lips.

It’s only a matter of time before he catches up to her.

Tina tossed three orbs.

Buzz buzz buzz

The orbs had an eye-like structure embedded in them as they flew away.

“That’s…”

He recognized the distinct humming sound

She deployed these things during the sniping incident back then and just now.

These scouting devices appeared to be very technologically advanced, they flew on an automated basis without any apparent input from Tina. She must be controlling them somehow. These objects are probably the reason behind her insane sniping skills.

Noah is very convinced that these objects allowed her to snipe with deadly precision over a kilometer.

“So she used these objects to achieve that level of accuracy, huh?”

Noah’s question will go unanswered for now.

The three scout orbs flew towards Noah at neck-breaking speed.

Noah lifted his pistol, he wanted to gun them down when he saw timer on the orbs. With a few more ticks, the orbs exploded.

Flames and smoke shrouded Noah. The ensuing wind blew the surrounding rubble and stones away.

Tina’s haste slowed down but she charged forward nonetheless.

The game of cat-and-mouse is already over.

Swish

Like a meteor streaking across the sky, a figure clad in smoke and flames leaped over Tina.

Her vision blurred and Noah who was a bit charred from the detonation appeared in her vision.

Noah stood there with a firm look.

His look was all it took to inform Tina that she had some explaining to do and no one is going to leave until she fesses up.

Tina who is already trying hard to escape reality hysterically yelled at him.

“Get out of my way!”

Tina took out a knife as she charged at Noah.

He stood there without taking any action.

Tina frantically stabbed at Noah with her knife.

Even when the knife is coming for his head, he continued watching like it’s nothing.

In that instant, the distance between the two closed.

Twang

A knife twirled through the air as it landed somewhere in the ruins.

“Uguh-”

Tina’s hand felt numb after having the knife slapped away from her grip. It was like she tried to attack a rock, she staggered backward.

Clack

Before Tina can react, a gun was already pointed at her glabella.

Tina froze up.

With less than 5 centimeters between the barrel of the gun and her head, she was in no position to continue attacking.

Not even a cursed child can dodge a bullet fired at such a close range. This applied to conventional firearms.

Moreover, Noah was holding a modified gun that was custom-made to deal the maximum amount of damage.

This is the end of the line for her.

She slumped down after seeing a gun pointed at her, she lost all her strength. She smiled faintly with a ghastly-white expression.

“As expected, Onii-san is incredible.”

Her sentence brought out the question in his mind. He sighed and he looked into her eyes.

“Why did you try to kill Seitenshi?”

This is the true question that would determine the relationship between them, the other questions can be left for another time.

“Because…”

Tina gave up, her smile was as bitter as they can get.

“Because it was my master’s order.”

“Your master’s order?”

Noah tightened on the stock of his gun, he looked at Tina who was limp in front of him.

“Right, I never truly introduced myself to Onii-san.”

Like a nocturnal hunter, her expression was sharp in contrast with her attitude during the day.

“I am an Owl-type initiator, a mechanized fighter, my IP ranking is 98, Tina Sprout.”

Her introduction carried a wealth of information within.

An owl-type initiator, a hybrid mechanized soldier, IP ranking of 98.

These told tales about her past.

Noah reckoned that this fell within estimates for someone who stood in the inhuman top 100 of the ranking.

He is not too sure about what Hybrid meant but he is very aware of the existence of mechanized soldiers, the result of cruel procedures that jammed Varanium into the human body, a gross body modification project envisioned to create soldiers that can fight against Gastrea. Kagetani is an infamous mechanical soldier.

She possessed mechanical soldier ability in addition to her powers as a cursed child.

No wonder she can attain a spot in the top 100 of the IP ranking.

This also told Noah that he might not be able to get the answer he wants.

“Onii-san looks like he understands what I am talking about. I tried to kill Seitenshi because my master told me to do it. I can’t divulge who told my master to do this because I am not aware of the material facts. I am only a tool in this affair.”

Tina lowered her head and she continued with a hollow voice.

“Please, Onii-san, kill me.”

The scene became silent.

Speechless, he pulled the trigger after seeing Tina’s vacant look.

Bang

The gunshot echoed throughout the sky.