Lillian continued to watch, absentmindedly waving his small flag under her mother's and Millis's glances, which she completely ignored. They shouldn't really be judging her. After all, she was just doing something normal.
'Eh... I think they could also be using this as a way to tease.'
Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to the match. She couldn't help but sigh as she watched Marionette's teammates get ambushed and taken out.
Of course, not without going out without a fight...
... Which she completely forgot in the span of a few seconds.
But that didn't matter, for the main event was about to come up. She fidgeted in her seat, becoming increasingly more excited as she watched the two men feed the Assassin information about the enemy.
Was Marionette really going to eliminate the entire team by herself? With just a handgun, no less?
'The handgun isn't weak by any means... But its restrictions are quite limiting, considering it has only a number of bullets before running out. After that, you'll be left nothing to fight with.'
Even the elements and abilities of the user were restricted to just support. Any form of breach of this rule would unleash a powerful force on the shooter's body, depending on what body part they were attacking.
Lillian paused her flag-waving and held her chin with a thoughtful expression. Does Marionette know about this?
"Pfft..."
She hadn't really told her much about the handgun. She was sure the Assassin could figure out the rest while playing around during the event.
She then paused again, this time her expression morphing into one of confusion.
Why hadn't Marionette gone and destroyed their crystal already? If she remembered correctly, it should be like a constant reminder inside the participant's mind to tell them where it was in the city.
She couldn't possibly somehow get lost, right? It's like a mental tracker. Nobody can get lost with a tracker now, right?
She shook her head, eliminating the possibility.
'Marionette isn't that daft and incapable of directions, is she? She's an assassin, for Gods sake!'
She immediately broke out of her thoughts as she saw Marionette push herself up from the ground.
'Finally! It's been like... 30 minutes!'
Lillian leaned forward, resumed her waving, and pushed all her attention towards the black-haired woman on the screen.
Marionette was finally making her move.
***
[Marionette's POV]
'Jericko Von Blade, Hubert Yogurt, Rex Crimson.' Marionette silently repeated in her mind with an interested expression. From what information she could get from her teammates, they were formidable.
Their details explained that a man with long black hair, ocean blue eyes, and dressed in a robe that made him appear as a Daoist was the strongest out of the three.
They had said that his ability revolved around blades and sharp, steel swords. Even going on to say that they appear out of thin air and move like a hasty, sentient bullet.
They even went on to say that the man could possibly be in the second tier and that he had another ability besides summoning swords.
Marionette gave a low and interested hum as she walked on the road that split into three separate ones, forming a cross. She glanced towards the side, finding the sign of the road that spelt out, 'Devy Roads'.
She paid the sign no further attention and returned back to her thoughts.
She had already made a considerable distance between her and her crystal, roughly a mile away. She had left behind her teammates, keeping them as defenders if the enemy were to somehow escape her.
As she walked, she continued glancing around, keeping her guard up.
She then... After a few minutes of walking, she stopped dead in her tracks.
She felt something was... Off.
Looking around, she couldn't help but discover her current location was...
'An alleyway?'
Smooth brick walls on either side of her and trash bins strewn across the floor. It was also dark, unlike that, which was much of an issue for someone like her.
But, that begged the question, how did she somehow stumble into here? She was sure she was following the tracker.
She then pulled her attention back to the tracker, now finding that the direction of the crystal was towards the left.
Figuring that out, she turned towards the wall on her left.
Her eyes traced over its surface before raising, calculating the height and narrowing on the edge of the roof, which was about 10 metres off the ground.
Turning her eyes back down, she pulled back on the hammer of the gun and aimed at the wall, firing.
Click. Bang!
Marionette shot one out of her five rounds into the wall, watching as it pierced through without any issue and even leaving behind a hole big enough to fit a basketball through.
As she was about to morph her body into darkness and slip through the hole and into the building—
SWIP!
—Something shot through the hole she had created, almost as though it was instantaneously triggered by her vandalisation.
She quickly tilted her head to the side, narrowly dodging the object, which she could only call a slim sword with no handguard.
She heard it pierce into the wall behind her, embedding herself in it with an intimidating chill. Any second later, she would've lost her life.
Marionette raised her hand to her cheek, feeling something warm drip down it. Pulling her fingers to where her eyes could see, she was able to make out a red dye on it.
She blinked at her fingers and sighed.
She was getting too rusty in her skills. To think she would get injured back-to-back in the span of two days. It was... Pathetic.
'Perhaps, I need to fight someone other than my Lillian for a while.'
She raised her attention back towards the hole, finding a figure beyond it, who had an entire arsenal of blades levitating behind his back.
"..."
Marionette quickly shot her hand towards the sword behind her, grabbing onto its handle before pulling herself up and leveraging herself on top of it.
As she was doing this, the barrage of swords that was behind the man had already made themselves towards her, shattering through the wall that stood between them.