Chapter : 49

  "That is a risk I am willing to take," Ken joked, giving her a zy salute.

  Grandmaster Finy stepped forward, his massive frame casting a long shadow over the courtyard. "Enough talking. The mission is set. You are seven Servants, but you carry the pride of the 13th Princess. You will go to the industrial sector. You will find Vane. You will end his cursed operation and secure the twenty points. Do not fail."

  Sayma, Naomi, Zinia, Laxmi, Ira, and Luna all drew their weapons. They looked fierce, determined, and completely ready to prove themselves to the entire Empire. They were not going to let the other Royal families look down on them anymore.

  "Let's move out," Sayma commanded.

  The elite girls marched out of the courtyard, heading toward the transport vehicles waiting outside the estate gates. Princess Iris followed closely behind them, pulling a dark hood over her silver hair to hide her identity.

  Ken Eliot was the st one to leave. He dragged his cheap shoes across the stone floor. Scuff. Scuff. Scuff. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny, squished chocote pastry he had stolen from the fancy cafeteria earlier. He popped it into his mouth, chewing happily.

  He looked exactly like a zy farm boy going for a boring walk. But beneath the slouch, beneath the crooked tie, and beneath the sleepy eyes, the Sovereign was fully prepared to break every rule in the book to keep his new, understaffed family alive.

  "Time to go to work," Ken mumbled zily, shuffling out of the gates to join the rest of the team.

  ----

  "Are we there yet?" Ken compined, letting out a loud, highly dramatic groan that echoed off the brick walls of the industrial sector. "My feet are killing me. These shoes were on sale for a reason. There is zero arch support. Can we just call a taxi?"

  Laxmi, the hot-headed fire magic user, turned around and gred at him. She had a small fme bouncing between her fingers like a tennis ball. "Ken, if you compin one more time, I am going to roast your cheap shoes to a crisp. We are on a B-rank mission, not a school field trip. Keep your voice down."

  "I am just saying," Ken mumbled, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and dragging his feet. "Walking all the way to a train yard to meet a gang boss sounds like a lot of unnecessary cardio."

  The 13th Unit was moving through the dusty, abandoned streets of the industrial sector. Following the information they had squeezed out of the terrified drug dealer back in the slums, Sayma had tracked down the next link in the chain. They were looking for a man named Akij. He was a mid-level gang boss who managed the daily operations for the Curse Organization. The pn was simple: walk into his territory, capture him quietly, and force him to tell them exactly where Vane was hiding.

  Princess Iris was walking safely in the middle of the group, her face hidden beneath a dark hood. Grandmaster Finy was back at the estate, leaving the seven Servants to handle the combat.

  Sayma suddenly held up her hand, signaling the team to stop. She pushed her thick gsses up the bridge of her nose and stared straight ahead. Right in front of them was a massive, open train yard filled with rusty shipping containers and old train cars. It looked completely empty and totally silent.

  "Something is wrong," Sayma said quietly, her voice totally professional. Her eyes scanned the rusty metal boxes. "There are no guards at the entrance. The gate is wide open."

  Naomi pulled her dagger out, the metal making a soft clicking sound. "Maybe the drug dealer was lying to us. Maybe nobody is home."

  "No, he wasn't lying," Sayma replied, her eyes narrowing. "Do you feel that? The air is too heavy. There is a lingering trace of mana around the perimeter. The dealer’s capture must have triggered an automatic magical arm the moment we broke his iron door."

  "Wait, so they know we are coming?" Ken asked, his eyes going wide. He took a very quick step backward, hiding completely behind Zinia's broad shoulders. "If they know we are coming, that means the quiet capture pn is canceled, right? We should probably go home and reschedule. Next Tuesday works great for me."

  "Nobody is going home," Zinia said firmly, cracking her knuckles. As the earth magic user, she always felt most comfortable when her feet were pnted on solid ground. "If they want a fight, we will give them one. Keep your eyes open, everyone."

  The team slowly stepped through the broken wire gates and entered the open train yard. The ground was covered in gravel that crunched loudly under their combat boots. They walked right into the center of the yard, surrounded by towering walls of old, stacked shipping containers.

  Suddenly, a loud, slow cpping sound echoed from above.

  Cp. Cp. Cp.

  Everyone looked up. Standing on top of a red shipping container, looking down at them with a nasty, arrogant smirk, was a man in a heavy bck trench coat. He had a metal baseball bat resting zily on his shoulder. He was chewing a piece of gum, looking completely rexed.

  "Well, well, well," the man called out, his voice echoing across the train yard. "Look what the stray cats dragged in. I heard some little girls in fancy uniforms smashed up my distribution hub in the slums. I expected the Imperial Police. I didn't expect a bunch of Royal maids."

  Naomi pointed her dagger right at him. "You must be Akij. You have about five seconds to surrender before I drag you down from that box by your hair."

  Akij threw his head back and ughed loudly. It was a harsh, ugly sound. "Surrender? To you? Do you know where you are, little girl? You just walked into my house."

  He snapped his fingers.

  In a split second, the quiet train yard erupted into total chaos. The metal doors of the shipping containers around them violently kicked open. Men poured out from every direction. There were dozens of them. They were heavily armed gang members, holding everything from glowing magical staffs to nasty-looking swords and heavy crossbows.

  More thugs popped up on the rooftops of the old train cars and the high containers. They had high-powered magic sniper rifles aimed directly down at the 13th Unit. The team was completely surrounded in an instant. It was a massive, perfectly pnned ambush.

  "Kill them all!" Akij screamed, pointing his metal bat at the team. "Show these Royals what happens when they mess with the Curse Organization!"

  "Incoming!" Sayma yelled.

  A dozen magical sniper shots fired from the rooftops all at once. Bright streaks of red and purple energy rained down toward the team like deadly shooting stars.

  Zinia did not hesitate for a microsecond. She smmed both of her hands ft onto the gravel ground. "Earth Wall!" she roared.