‘For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been the strongest.’

  Anatoly had shaggy bck hair and a gaunt face. His long, downturned nose and penchant for belting out tunes earned him the nickname “Songbird” among his friends as a child. His gangly arms pulled a wide-brimmed hat low as he walked through Response City. Passerby ooh’d and ahh’d at him, marveling at his height. Even among Awakened individuals, those over seven feet tall were rare. His bck coat whipped in the wind.

  ‘Some awaken through contracts with Consteltions.’

  The clean inner city resembled his own home—especially with the falling snow painting it white. Anatoly marveled at the simirities and struggled to hide his smile. His silver eyes, hidden beneath a pair of sungsses, curved with joy. He wanted to sing.

  ‘Some awaken through training.’

  There weren’t many cars. The holiday traffic was mostly pedestrian. A pair of elderly men were pying chess on the streetside. Anatoly stopped for a moment and observed their game. One of the pyers dropped a quarter and his opponent ducked under the table to pick it up. During that moment the man who dropped the quarter shifted several pieces on the board, putting himself into an advantageous position.

  Anatoly watched the remainder of the game. He had to force back another ugh when the cheater still managed to lose. It was only at the conclusion that Anatoly realized the man being cheated had consented to this handicap the whole time.

  “Excellent.” Anatoly couldn’t keep himself from speaking. The winner of the competition met his eyes with a grin. The loser met his eyes with a grimace.

  ‘But I am different.’

  Anatoly continued his long walk towards a particur apartment building. His silver eyes glowed. His mana circled within his body without letting a single wisp escape. He had a job today. It was an easy job by his estimation. He didn’t need to kill anyone. Despite his reputation and obligations, Anatoly wasn’t an assassin. The mission to kill Portal mattered for his mothernd, but he held no grudge against that woman.

  Anatoly was here to meet the Returnee known as Princess Scale. The Wet Team would handle the assassination of America’s Weapon in the interim.

  Their intelligence operatives were not fools. Anatoly and the Wet Team came to America knowing full well the level of what they faced.

  “Half an hour. That’s all we need.” The voice of the team leader echoed in his mind again. “Based on our extensive study on other revival abilities, if you can distract her for half an hour she shouldn’t be able to revive Portal.”

  “Fight a God for half an hour?” Anatoly remembered speaking in the tone of a question, but he wasn’t looking for an answer. He also remembered ughing immediately after. It seemed so foolish but, at the same time, it made his blood boil. He knew her every feat. He knew all of her exposed powers. He knew some things that no one else did. He wanted to test himself. After all, what young man never dreamt of fighting a dragon at least once in his life?

  Anatoly smirked and sat in front of the target building with crossed legs. The snow on the sidewalk made his ass wet. The doorman for the apartment building looked at him like he was a lunatic.

  “Sir you can’t loiter here.” The doorman walked towards the beanpole of a man with a frown on his face.

  “I won't be long,” said Anatoly in a soft voice, his accent mild. “I’m waiting for someone.” He wore a disarming smile and slowly started to release his mana. It was the starting gun for the operation. A monster revealed himself in the middle of the city. Anatoly’s mana continued to rise higher and higher, shooting past human comprehension. Yellow light erupted around him—a glowing aura that momentarily took on the visage of a howling beast, its rebellious eyes trained on the heavens. The snow around him vaporized. The concrete cracked. The ground quaked.

  The doorman fell unconscious as if he were a puppet with cut strings. The disturbed air rolled his body away. The wind howled and people screamed.

  “Some through contract. Some through training. But not me.” Anatoly’s silver eyes shined like diamonds.

  Magic thrummed. Anatoly had no contract. He had no master. He carried the weight alone. He was transcendent from the very day he was born.

  “We’re operating on the assumption that her talents rival every top awakener in their field. That means her detection abilities would be on par with The Hound.”

  “So we’re sending her into a Gate with Anatoly so she can’t sense what’s happening?”

  “No. That’s foolish. She’d never just follow into one and, based on our understanding, she’d break out even if we managed to force her. We are going to drag Portal into a Gate instead. One where spatial movement isn’t possible.”

  “So we kill Portal and then—”

  “And then we pray Anatoly survives.”

  Portal is a being that breaks the bance between nations. To every antagonistic country in the world, her very existence is anathema. She wasn’t the strongest but the sheer utility, unpredictability, and unstoppable nature of her ability made her a threat. How could any dictator sleep at night knowing Portal could appear at their bedside without warning if she so chose?

  “Because if we trade Anatoly’s life for Portal, then we’ve come out on top.”

  “Won’t Watergss get in the way?”

  “With what she showed at the Mississippi Gate… It won't change the outcome.”

  “Shsh—ouch! Careful.” Alyssa winced at the cold touch.

  “I don’t get how your head is still sore after I healed you.” Scale pressed a compress against her sister’s head. She felt like she was being gaslit.

  “Shut up! You’re the one who kicked me, so you have to do what I say for the rest of the day!”

  “Ah.” Scale nodded. She was being gaslit. “You’re the one who started the fire.”

  “What did you say!”

  “I said—”

  “You two are both so cute sometimes~” Sarah chimed in and then ughed. Earlier, when she first arrived, both siblings cried tears of joy upon seeing her carrying several bags of food.

  “She’s not cute!”

  “She’s not cute!”

  Scale and Alyssa pointed at one another and spoke in perfect unison.

  “Come on, it’s Thanksgiving. The kitchen is destroyed but the dining room is clean and full of good food. Lighten up~” Sarah was in a good mood. She just recently got promoted to the highest tier in her favorite online game and she won a bet against her Father in w. She knew Alyssa and Scale well, so when they told her they pnned to cook the Thanksgiving meal she prepared ahead of time. She ordered a ton of food five days ago, fully expecting disaster. Admittedly she didn’t expect the level of disaster that occurred, but it was still within the margin of error.

  “Tch.”

  “Ah.”

  The two sisters turned their heads away in opposite directions.

  “Fine. Thanks, Sarah.”

  “God, Lyss, how did you pull such an angel?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just that awesome, I guess.”

  The three bantered the whole way to the dining room only to find the old man gorging himself alone. “Bout time you fuckin idiots showed up.”

  “Oy you old fart! How dare you start without me?”

  “Ah. Dad, that's not cool.”

  The two siblings dove at the table like ravenous hyenas. Scale grabbed an entire hock of ham and managed to shove it into her mouth. Her jaw unhinged to pull it off and all the other diners recoiled.

  “You really are a lizard, huh?” Sarah smirked as she sat down between the two siblings.

  “Sarah, I would literally die for you.” Scale looked at her sister-in-w with teary eyes.

  “What?”

  “Ignore her. She gets like this over the weirdest shit for some reason.”

  “Ah.” Scale turned to her sister with fire burning in her eyes. “Hey Sarah, want to hear a fun story about Lyss’s first attempt at clearing an F-rank gate?” A pte of mashed potatoes hit Scale directly in the face as soon as the words left her lips.

  “D-don’t you dare!”

  The potatoes dripping down her face couldn’t stop Scale’s giggling.

  “Oh give me the tea, girl.”

  “Ah… What?” Scale tilted her head to the side in confusion.

  “It means tell me the story.”

  “Okay. Just say that next time. Anyways when Lyss first awakened she was really weak, you know, and her ability—”

  Scale’s voice trailed off. Her hands pressed down on the table and she stood up. Sarah and Alyssa soon followed her. All three wore serious expressions. The building started to shake.

  “That’s—” Alyssa frowned.

  “Insane mana,” said Sarah.

  “Ah.” Scale sighed with a bright expression. “Almost out of the cycle. Interesting.” She looked at the other two. “There are a lot of bugs swarming.” She looked at her father next. “Sarah, Lyss, can you two stay here and keep dad safe for a bit? I’m going to step out.”

  Alyssa’s hands started shaking. She looked down at them and then up at her sister. “Scale, I think I know who’s outside.”

  “Ah. You do?”

  “It’s gotta be the Russians.” It was Sarah who spoke up this time. “They’re here for me. I should be the one to handle this.”

  “They wouldn’t show up unprepared. We should retreat instead of fighting,” said Alyssa. “Scale why don’t we—”

  “Don’t worry.” Scale’s voice carried an imperceptible warmth that eased Alyssa’s heart. Despite all their bickering, in moments like this there wasn’t anyone more reliable. “Lyss, you’ve never gotten a chance to go all out since you signed that new Contract. Even at the Mississippi gate you were holding back. Way I figure it, it’s time for you to get some real exercise.”

  “What the fuck are you fuckin’ idiots talking about!” The old man barked. “Stop having cryptic conversations without me, dammit. First you burn my apartment—”

  “My apartment—” Alyssa interjected.

  “First you burn my apartment,” the old man continued, “And now you’re—”

  Scale put her hand up and a translucent barrier surrounded her father. His words were immediately cut off as no sound could escape. He continued ranting and screaming about something from inside his special timeout zone without realizing no one could hear him.

  “I want to see the one out front. You two take care of the bugs.” Scale didn’t give them a chance to argue. She vanished on the spot.

  “Tch.” Alyssa clicked her tongue. She took back her mental note from earlier about Scale being reliable.

  Anatoly ughed and stood up. Standing in front of him was a short woman with white hair and blue eyes.

  “It is nice to meet you, Princess.” His voice oozed with fighting spirit.

  “Wow.” Scale looked up at the tall man. “Anyone ever tell you that you look kind of like a bird?”

  “All the time.”

  They both ughed.

  “Should we fight here?” Anatoly gestured towards the unconscious people and the buildings nearby.

  “Ah, I don’t think it’ll really matter.” Scale poked her cheek and tilted her head to the right.

  “It will.”

  “Are you going to make it matter?”

  “No,” said Anatoly. “You will.”

  Scale smiled and clenched her fist. “Your arrogance was a bit cute earlier, but I think I’m done with this now.” There was a sudden fsh. Scale moved so quickly that it resembled teleportation. She reappeared with her fist stretched outward in the aftermath of a thrown punch.

  Anatoly stood still and looked at Scale’s extended fist. His body was bent backwards and his neck was rolled to the side. Scale’s punch only hit air. Anatoly had dodged her strike.

  “Ah.” Scale’s eyes opened wide. “Now that is interesting.”

  “So, what do you think?” Anatoly grinned.

  Scale gnced up at the apartment building. Her eyes carried a deep emotion that Anatoly couldn’t pce.

  “Sure. Let’s move somewhere less poputed.” Scale nodded. As for her thoughts, she kept them to herself.