The night of the auction arrived with deceptive splendor. The opera house where the event was held was a masterpiece of classical architecture, with towering marble pillars, ceilings painted with mythological scenes, and a giant crystal chandelier that sparkled like a constellation of stars captured indoors. The air was filled with the soft strains of an orchestra, the clinking of champagne glasses, and the polite murmur of the city's elite—politicians, CEOs, and celebrities, all dressed in their finest. It was a perfect facade of luxury, a beautiful mask to hide the corruption and rot that lurked beneath. I recognized a few faces from police case files, and my stomach churned.
I stood on a private balcony overlooking the main hall, right beside Ryukyu. I had shed my tactical gear for a hastily rented black suit. It felt strange, like I was in disguise. Ryukyu, on the other hand, looked perfectly natural. She wore an elegant sapphire blue evening gown, her blonde hair styled in a graceful updo. She could have easily been mistaken for one of the honored guests, if not for the aura of power and vigilance that radiated from her. We were pretending to be a wealthy philanthropist and her young assistant.
"Stay calm," Ryukyu whispered from behind her hand fan, her eyes continuously scanning the crowd below. "You look like you're about to jump out of your skin. Remember, we're part of the scenery. Don't draw attention."
"It's hard to relax when you know half the guests here should be in prison," I retorted in a low voice, "and the other half might get murdered tonight by a supernatural assassin."
She gave me a sharp look. "That's precisely why we're here. Focus."
In my ear, the hidden communicator hissed softly. "Motion sensors on the back doors and service routes are set, Ryukyu-san," reported Uraraka's voice, who was disguised as one of the catering staff. "All clear for now."
"Nothing unusual on the roof," chimed in Nejire's voice, who was hovering high above the building. "Just a lot of rich people showing off their fancy cars. Oh, is that a free caviar stand in the garden? I wonder if it really tastes like..."
"Nejire, focus," Ryukyu cut in with a sharp yet patient tone.
"Right, right! Focusing!" Nejire replied cheerfully.
I took a deep breath, trying to follow Ryukyu's instructions. I closed my eyes, ignoring the noise and luxury around me. I began to extend my senses, using the meditative method she had taught me. I tried to feel the "echo" amidst this sea of energy, searching for one cold, sharp frequency among the thousands of others. It was like looking for a single dissonant note in a giant orchestra.
The auction began. An ugly abstract painting sold for a price that could feed a small village for a year. A gleaming antique sports car was paraded and fought over by two CEOs. Time crawled by slowly, and the tension began to build. Every moving shadow, every new guest who entered, put me on edge. But there was nothing. The echo I was searching for remained silent. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she wasn't coming.
"Anything?" Ryukyu whispered after nearly an hour had passed.
"Nothing," I replied, frustration beginning to creep in. "It's quiet. Too quiet."
And then, I felt it.
It wasn't a strong sensation. It was a flicker. A very faint disturbance at the edge of my perception, like a tiny ripple in a calm pond. But it was there. It was cold, sharp, and filled with a hidden intent.
"Contact," I whispered instantly, my eyes flying open.
Ryukyu immediately tensed. "Where?"
I tried to focus, to track the source of the ripple. "I don't know exactly. Far. On the outer perimeter. She hasn't entered yet. She's... she's observing, just like us."
The chess game began. For the next hour, the sensation would appear and disappear. First, I felt it on the west side of the opera house complex. I reported it, and I heard Ryukyu calmly order her team to shift their surveillance focus there. Fifteen minutes later, the echo vanished from the west and reappeared in the south, closer this time. She was moving, circling us, testing our defenses from every angle. She was a shark circling its prey, looking for the weakest point. I continued to report her movements, becoming the hub of our defensive network. The entire operation depended on my strange perception, and the pressure was immense.
"She's very patient," Ryukyu murmured, her eyes never stopping their movement. "She knows this is a trap. She's looking for a gap, or maybe... looking for something else." She glanced at me briefly, and I knew what she was thinking. She might be looking for me.
Outside, on the roof of an apartment building across the street, Akame crouched in the shadows. She had sensed the heroes' presence from the beginning. This trap was so obvious it felt like an insult. But she didn't care about the heroes. She felt something else. The echo. The same draconic energy she had felt a few nights ago. The echo was inside the opera house, acting as the center of the heroes' spiderweb. She knew that her primary target tonight wasn't the corrupt officials partying inside. Her primary target was the source of that echo. She wasn't going to go in through the front door or try to sneak in. This trap required a bolder approach. She smiled faintly in the darkness. It was time to create some chaos.
Inside, the auction was reaching its peak. The main item of the night was being presented: a ridiculously gaudy diamond-encrusted phoenix statue. The host of the event, a portly man named Kageyama whom I recognized as one of the most influential Yakuza bosses, took the stage to present it. He was one of the main potential targets on our list.
Suddenly, the echo of Akame that I had been following on the perimeter vanished completely. Not faded, but just gone, as if a switch had been flipped.
"She's gone," I reported to Ryukyu, my heart starting to pound. "I can't feel her anymore."
"What do you mean gone? Did she leave?" Ryukyu asked, her voice tense.
"No... this feels different. It's like she's deliberately hiding herself completely. This is the quiet before..."
I didn't get to finish my sentence.
The giant crystal chandelier above us flickered violently. The orchestra stopped playing. And then, the entire opera house was plunged into total darkness. The power was out. Screams of panic and confusion erupted from the crowd below. Dim emergency lights flickered on, casting long, eerie shadows throughout the hall.
"Damn it!" Ryukyu cursed. In my ear, the communicator exploded with chaotic reports.
"Power's out for the whole block! This is professional sabotage!"
"Civilians are panicking! We're trying to form an evacuation perimeter!"
"The target on stage... Kageyama... he's gone!"
In the midst of the chaos, Ryukyu remained calm. "Nejire, light up the main hall now!" she commanded.
A moment later, a brilliant blue light flooded the hall from above, as Nejire released a controlled wave of energy that illuminated the scene below. People were pushing each other, running for the exits, a scene of mass panic. The main stage was completely empty. Kageyama had vanished in the darkness.
And in the middle of all the commotion, I felt it again. The echo. But this time, it was no longer faint or distant. It was a sharp, intense stab in my consciousness. It was no longer outside. It was inside. And it was moving quickly through the panicking crowd.
I grabbed Ryukyu's arm. "She's inside," I said, my voice barely a whisper. I scanned the sea of people below, trying to find its source. Then I realized it. The echo wasn't moving toward the stage or the exits.
It was moving straight for the balcony where we were standing.
I swallowed, a cold dread creeping up my spine as I relayed the terrifying realization through my hidden communicator, my voice trembling with adrenaline.
"She's not after the target. She's... she's coming for me."