"Pavela."
Alicia's voice echoed in her mind.
"Frederick and Reinhardt are already in position."
"What about Natasha and Katya?"
"The periter is clear. Nine sentries, all dealt with silently."
"Any casualties?"
"None."
Pavela nodded.
This was the benefit of infiltration.
Six people against an entire warehouse of ard personnel.
If they launched a frontal assault, they could certainly win.
But it would be troubleso.
Things would likely beco chaotic, failing to achieve the goal of team integration and building mutual trust.
"So," Alicia's voice held a hint of curiosity, "how do you plan to get them to leave the Archives?"
"Let them run out on their own."
"How will they run?"
"Give them a reason to run."
Pavela straightened her body from the wall, turned around, and faced it.
She flexed her wrists, her joints letting out soft clicking sounds.
Then her neck.
Then her shoulders.
Every joint groaned softly, like a beast being awakened.
She closed her eyes.
In the darkness, she could feel her heartbeat.
Steady, powerful, beat by beat.
Blood flowed through her vessels, carrying warm power to every part of her body.
Her breathing beca slow and deep.
She began to look inward.
Toward that gray wasteland of eternal haze.
Toward that black tower that was forever collapsing and forever being rebuilt.
Then, she suddenly opened her eyes.
A mass of crimson exploded like fire in her irises, swallowing all other colors in an instant.
The world was different.
The cracks in the wall lit up.
Weak points in the foundation manifested.
The skeleton of the entire building was exposed before her eyes as if seen through X-rays.
They were glowing.
A deep red light.
Like blood vessels, like spiderwebs, like a map waiting to be torn apart.
Pavela took a deep breath.
She raised her right fist.
In the silence, her fist traced an arc through the air, slowly swinging toward the wall in front of her.
A massive circular indentation instantly appeared on the wall.
The edges were smooth, nearly perfect.
Imdiately after, cracks began to spread.
From the center of the indentation outward, deep red lines diffused like a spiderweb.
They advanced along the wall's weak points, bypassing the core of the load-bearing structure, precisely severing the connections between every brick and stone.
Those red lines glowed in the darkness like so ancient runes, or like the building's own blood finally finding an outlet to flow.
And then, the entire building began to tremble.
...
Inside the warehouse, everyone looked up.
The young man who was still portioning explosives jerked his hand, nearly knocking over the container in front of him.
"What—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the floor beneath his feet let out an ominous creak.
Dust fell from the ceiling in a flurry.
At first, it was just fine dust, soft as falling snow.
Then ca fist-sized bricks.
Then entire slabs of concrete.
"Earthquake!"
"No, it's not an earthquake—"
"Soone's ssing with us!"
"Who? Where?"
"Forget it! Just run, damn it!"
Chaos erupted in an instant.
A dozen people fled in different directions; so knocked over wooden crates, so tripped their companions, so scread, and so cursed.
The young man clutched the Nitroglycerin to his chest, his face pale, his mind a complete blank.
He saw a load-bearing beam crack down the middle without warning.
But it didn't crash down directly.
It seed to be held up by so force, tilting slowly and elegantly, leaving enough ti for everyone to escape.
This was too abnormal.
But at this mont, no one had the leisure to ponder such abnormality.
The young man was grabbed by a companion and began to sprint toward the outside of the building.
They only knew they had to leave this building that was about to collapse.
Now.
Imdiately.
Right away.
...
anwhile, Pavela passed through the first wall.
The wall cracked open on its own before her.
Bricks separated along those glowing lines in her vision, bowing to her and clearing a path.
She walked very slowly.
One step, two steps, three steps.
With every step she took, new cracks appeared on the ground beneath her feet, extending forward, spreading to both sides, and then collapsing.
The entire building fell apart beneath her, yet with a strange sense of order.
Load-bearing pillars would not hit the fleeing people.
Beams would only snap at the last second.
The floor would provide a landing spot for every panicked footstep.
Pavela walked amidst the destruction, and destruction followed behind her like a docile hound.
"Three people are approaching you," Alicia's voice sounded.
"Direction?"
"Corridor directly ahead, contact in twelve seconds."
"Copy that."
Pavela continued walking forward.
Twelve seconds.
Eleven seconds.
Ten seconds.
She counted, every second feeling like a countdown to so inevitable event.
Five seconds.
Four seconds.
Three figures burst out from the dust ahead.
Black coats, weapons tucked into their waists.
The leader was even holding a revolver, aiming it in Pavela's direction.
"Stop! Who the hell are—"
Pavela raised her hand.
The movent was very light, like painting a stroke in the air.
The floor beneath the leader's feet instantly cracked, decomposing into six fragnts of varying sizes along six precise lines.
His left foot stepped on a fragnt tilting downward, his right foot missed its footing, and he lost his balance entirely.
A shot rang out.
The bullet flew three inches past Pavela's ear, grazing her short silver hair and hitting the wall behind her.
She didn't even blink.
Because she had seen it long ago—the angle of the man's wrist was off before he fired.
Even though it was off by less than two degrees.
It was enough.
That trajectory appeared in her eyes like a glowing line, clearly telling her: it won't hit.
"Poor skill," she said.
Then she moved; her right foot suddenly kicked off the ground, and she shot forward like an arrow from a bow toward the falling leader.
The leader hadn't even hit the ground yet.
His body was struggling in mid-air, arms instinctively spreading to both sides, trying to regain balance.
His eyes were wide.
Fear.
Confusion.
And a hint of 'this is impossible' disbelief.
Under his terrified gaze.
The tip of Pavela's foot had already stepped onto his right shoulder.
A light tap.
Her body traced an arc in the air, soaring over the leader's head, and while knocking the first man unconscious with a kick, she lunged toward the second person, the one of Short Stature among the three.
The second person's reaction was not slow at all.
Without mourning the first man's fall for even a second, he had already lowered his center of gravity and clenched his fists, adopting a close-combat stance the mont Pavela jumped.
He even managed to take half a step back to create distance, waiting for the opening when Pavela landed.
But Pavela didn't land.
She adjusted her posture in mid-air.
Leaning her upper body back, she exerted force from her core and swung her legs forward like scissors.
Her right heel slamd precisely into the Short Stature's chin.
"Thud."
A dull impact.
The Short Stature's head snapped back, and he flew backward as if hit by a sledgehamr.
His eyes rolled back, a spray of bloody foam erupted from his mouth, and he had already lost consciousness before hitting the ground.
Using the counterforce from that kick, Pavela completed a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree flip in the air.
Her feet landed steadily on the ground.
No wasted movent, no pause.
The mont she landed, her body had already turned toward the third person.
The third person's dagger was already unsheathed.
He hadn't stood there stupidly watching Pavela perform.
The mont Pavela jumped, he had pulled out the dagger hidden under his coat and rushed toward the spot where she would land.
His timing was impeccable.
The mont Pavela landed was her most vulnerable; her feet had just touched the ground, her center of gravity wasn't stable yet, and she shouldn't have been able to make any reaction in ti.
His dagger thrust toward Pavela's waist.
The blade glead with a cold light.
The angle was tricky.
The speed was fast.
For an ordinary person, this one strike would have been enough.
Unfortunately, Pavela was no ordinary person.
Her body seed to have anticipated this strike, twisting to the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) left as she landed.
Exerting force from her waist, her shoulders turned with it, and her entire upper body, like a tightened spring, avoided the incoming blade.
The dagger barely grazed past her waist, the tip less than an inch from her skin.
Then her left hand moved, five fingers spreading like an eagle's claws, precisely gripping the man's wrist.
Palm pressed against the wrist bone, thumb pressing on the pulse point, the other four fingers locking the joint.
"Crack."
A crisp sound.
The wrist was twisted ninety degrees in the opposite direction.
Dislocated.
The man's face instantly contorted.
Pain made him open his mouth, but he couldn't make a sound.
The dagger slipped from his powerless fingers.
Pavela's right hand caught the dagger.
The dagger spun half a circle in her hand, hilt facing outward.
"Thwack."
The hilt slamd into the man's temple.
Not heavy.
Just enough force to make soone lose consciousness.
The man's eyes rolled back, and his body slumped down.
In less than four seconds, the three n were lying neatly on the ground.
Pavela shook her wrist, feeling that she was in good form today.
Her fully repaired body was stronger, more agile, and more precise than before.
Even her control over the Return Power had beco more refined.
"Pavela."
Alicia's voice sounded again.
"Twelve people are moving toward your position this ti."
"sequence?"
"Three sequence i, one Sequence II, the rest are ordinary people."
"Copy that."
Pavela looked toward the dust-shrouded corridor ahead.
She would show rcy to ordinary people.
As for Ferryn... she would also show rcy.
Just a little bit less.
She continued walking forward.
Passing through one wall after another that cracked open on its own before her.
Behind her, the building was disintegrating piece by piece.
In front of her, more people fell before her, or fled screaming.
But no one died.
This was the result of her control.
The essence of the Path of the Tower was indeed destruction, but destruction did not necessarily an death.
At least, it didn't have to be death today.
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