First Class Killer?

"Be able to what? To fight you? Don't make me laugh... With those amateur moves from you, don't think for a Tick that you can match up to me!" I shouted as I tightened the grip on the man's neck.

As the bartender started choking, he ineffectively tried to use the machete on me. I scoffed, used my other hand to steal the machete away from him, and released his neck, only to use the blade diagonally to slash his torso.

Blood splattered everywhere and on my face, but I couldn't be bothered with such trifles. VK and Vincent were still shocked at what had unfolded right in front of them. I swung the blade to eliminate the excess blood and crouched down to grab Kabi's chin.

Then, while lightly moving his chin, I leaned forward and whispered in his ears.

"I'm not as powerful as those seasoned Mages on the field... And yet, you can't defend yourself against a simple attack. You may have the higher moral ground of being a human, but you are nowhere close to me. In my previous life or now... The result of our duel would be the same."

"You will forever be at the losing end. But because VK recommended you as a good fighter against the strongest of the Four Symbols, I will allow you to live on if you lower your ego and apologize to me... Or else," I threatened, smiling while jabbing my hand into Kabi's chest.

The man quickly nodded as I chose a Healing Spell within my arsenal to heal the man. Bright streams of golden Elemental Energy danced from my fingers and tended to Kabi's wound. I stood up and smiled as we both nodded, extending a hand to Kabi.

"Well, nice to meet you. My name is Elizabeth Einzfield, and I am the First Seat of the Swordsman Pillars of the Ark. Let's hope we can work together in this upcoming task," I said as Kabi begrudgingly took my hand and drew up to full height.

As I captured a complete picture of his face, my vision glitched again, causing me to flinch and look away. There was another image of the same man I had seen for the past few weeks. Now the man was facing me, showing me a young man with blood-red eyes and a pale face.

A tear-dropped shaped amulet lay on the middle of his forehead. The man smiled and extended his arm. He wanted to say something, but I couldn't hear any sound.

One look away should have made the bug disappear, but for some reason, my vision was now distorted, like a computer freezing on a crash with pixelated colored frames. Or, as my friend would've called it, looking at the bathroom mosaic wall.

"Lizzie! What's wrong?" asked Vincent as he rushed towards me.

Vania, I need you to debug my vision now! Why can't I go back to the home screen?!

"Notice. The person you are looking at is trying to establish video communication with you by bypassing my firewalls. Please, while I-"

Forget it! I'm knocking myself out if he keeps doing this! But as I was about to do the deed, the picture disappeared, and I was back with my standard screen with Vania double-checking my Skills and Elements.

"It's nothing... Something was trying to hack Vania, but we've solved it... Sorry for the scare, but I promise I'm alright now. Now, Kabi will help us with this section of the quest, but how would you do this?" I asked, stabilizing myself.

"Hm... That's an excellent question... I'm unsure if I will do this solo, or do you have other men to spare? Because if we are heading in without backup, I prefer to seek out the followers on my own," asked Kabi.

"Nope, I don't plan to waste any more lives with these Four Symbols..."

"Great, so it's only the three of us... I had a plan, but I'm worried about what those followers are doing with their crimes..." I explained as I pointed at the Albion Domain.

"VK, can you get me a map of the entire Albion Domain?" I requested while VK went back to the bookshelves.

"What's going on? What did you find?" asked Vincent.

"I've collected the followers' data, and their crimes were all the same but in different places. And with all seven of them doing the specific crimes simultaneously, it becomes a symbol on a map. So join the dots to create your picture."

"I'm not sure if it's a summoning circle, but it wouldn't make sense since the Azure Dragon is already here. The most plausible thing would be a massive spell that will engulf the people of Albion, which I hope we can stop before the circle truly activates."