Unnamed

The large, empty park was bathed in midday sunlight. The city's towering structures loomed in the distance, their glass surfaces reflecting the clear sky. At the center of the park, a woman stood confidently, her sharp gaze fixed on the man before her.

"You're quite handsome," she said, her voice smooth but cold. "Unfortunately, someone wants you dead. The price was too high to refuse."

Without hesitation, she moved. Her twin blades flashed under the sunlight, cutting through the air with lethal precision. Orin didn't evade. In an instant, his head was severed, his body collapsing to the ground.

The woman exhaled and slid her blades back into their sheaths. Turning to leave, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head, an intense wave of confusion.

"How…? I cut him down..there's no way I missed!"

A voice, calm and almost amused, reached her ears.

"Oh, where are my manners? I shouldn't have moved at the last moment." Orin stood a few steps away, completely unharmed, his expression relaxed. "How about we try again? But it's not fair—I have no armor, so maybe I should just run away."

The woman tensed and reached for her blades again, but before she could react, Orin turned and sprinted. His speed was unnatural, his steps light and effortless.

"After him!" she ordered, breaking into a chase.

Orin weaved through the streets, slipping between alleys and leaping over obstacles with ease. The woman pursued relentlessly, her agility keeping her close, but she couldn't close the distance. They passed through the outer districts, where fewer people roamed, until they left the city behind.

Ahead, an open plain stretched toward an abandoned structure, an old metal tower, its rusted surface reflecting the harsh sunlight.

Four figures emerged from the dry landscape, waiting near the tower's entrance. The woman landed beside them, her breathing steady despite the chase.

"Don't let him run again," she ordered.

The assassins wore lightweight armor, designed for speed rather than defense. Their weapons—short swords, daggers, and firearms—were suited for quick, efficient kills. The leader, a man with a scar running across his cheek, frowned.

"Didn't they say he was a Level 2 hunter? Why the hell is he this fast?"

The woman's brows furrowed. "I don't know anymore. The bounty was high, but this is turning into more than we expected."

Another assassin adjusted the strap of his gauntlet. "We shouldn't split up. Something's not right about him."

She hesitated, recalling the moment she had seen his head severed—yet here he was, standing, running, leading them somewhere.

"Fine. We move together."

They entered the tower. The air inside was stale, thick with dust. The metal walls, once smooth, were now corroded, streaked with rust. Overhead, pipes lined the ceiling, some dripping with condensation. The passage was narrow, forcing them into a single-file formation.

The woman checked a tracking device, but the screen flickered with interference. "It's not working," she muttered.

They continued forward, moving deeper inside. At the end of the corridor, they found Orin waiting in a large open chamber. The walls were reinforced metal, the floor scratched and worn. There was no exit—only the entrance they had come through.

Orin sat against a metal column, arms resting on his knees. He looked at them with a half-smile.

"Oops," he said, his voice echoing slightly. "Looks like I'm trapped. I was hoping you'd split up, but this place didn't have many passages. Maybe I'm just unlucky." He sighed. "Well, let's get this over with."

—

Meanwhile, back in the park, three city guards stood in the sunlight, their heavy armor gleaming. Before them, two armored hunters observed the area. Their equipment stood out, one carried a core-powered laser cannon, the other held a high-tech bow. Their silver badges marked their authority.

"You're saying there was a fight here?" one hunter asked, looking at the faint traces on the ground. "It doesn't seem too serious."

One of the guards, holding a data tablet, nodded. "Sir, I saw it myself. A woman—clearly an assassin. She cut the boy's head off in one move." He hesitated, his hands gripping the device tightly. "But that's not what's strange."

The hunter raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

The guard swallowed. "He didn't die. He stood back up and ran away before she could strike again."

A brief silence. The two hunters exchanged glances.

"That's… interesting," one murmured.

The other pulled out a scanning device. "Let's track the movement trails. If he really survived decapitation, I'd like to see that for myself."

He activated the device. A faint glowing path appeared, revealing footprints leading away from the park. Without another word, they followed the trail.

—

Inside the tower, the two hunters stepped into a gruesome scene. The large chamber was filled with bodies—five assassins, their corpses mangled.

The woman's chest had been pierced straight through, her core missing. Two others had shattered limbs, their armor crushed. One lay against the wall, his body impaled. The last was embedded into the metal itself, a deep dent in the wall marking where he had been slammed with overwhelming force.

The first hunter exhaled sharply. "What the hell happened here?"

His partner knelt beside one of the corpses, noticing a gray badge on the body. "They're from the Assassin's Temple," he said.

The guards looked confused, but the other hunter clarified. "The Assassin's Temple is a global organization, structured similarly to the MHU. Their ranking system is strict, white, gray, and black bbadges equivalent to bronze, silver and golden. These guys had gray badges with stars. That's the equivalent of a silver badge in our ranks. "

The first hunter narrowed his eyes. "But why would assassins of this level come all the way here from kaelis prime for one boy ?" He pulled out his scanning device and swept it over the room. Apart from the assassin's and boy ,a sixth presence had been detected, but there was no body left behind. Then, another reading appeared on the screen.

______________

Material Analysis:

Level 5 Metal Alloy

Bare-Handed Punch Strength: 143,000 Units

______________

Silence fell over the group.

The hunter holding the device whispered, "Bare-handed…? That's impossible. No one without a core-empowered suit should have that kind of strength."

His partner exhaled slowly. "We need to report this. This is far beyond our level."

The guards stood frozen. Five elite assassins had been butchered, and whoever did it was walking free. Even the two silver-ranked hunters wouldn't stand a chance against that kind of power.

The first hunter took out his communicator. "Inspector Marko… You're not going to believe what we found."

—

At the MHU headquarters, an airship descended onto the landing platform. Its metallic frame gleamed under the bright sunlight. The boarding ramp lowered, and a white-haired young man stepped forward.

He wore baggy military pants and large boots, his expression calm as he walked up the stairs into the ship.

"Welcome aboard," a mechanical voice announced. "Please take your seat. The flight to Hunter's Hut No. 1, Mist Valley, will take approximately three hours."