Inside a large village, the damp air engulfed the place as an oppresive silence took over the atmosphere, while the group of men that were standing inside stared with fear in their eyes at the dark skinned muscular man in the middle.

The dark skinned man grunted, his scarred eyes looking over the group of men infront one by one, "...It looks like were still missing some people."

No one replied. The atmosphere tensed as an oppresive silence took place. Eventually, one man responded with a fear stricken voice, "P-pablo...and Jeremy are still in the woods..!"

"Tsk, then we're going to return without them." Dallas shook his head as he clicked his tongue in annoyance. He pointed at one of men as he ordered, "Go prepare the teleporting ritual. Leave those bastards be."

"Aye' on it!" The man immediately responded without much of a fight.

Behind the shattered walls of the village, a blond haired man with serene black eyes peeked over at the small hole. His eyes looking over each and every person, observing their features and appearance intently.

Beside him, a black haired man with a mature face narrowed his eyes as he asked, "So? How many are they?"

"I'm afraid we're outnumbered," The blonde haired man replied as he shook his head, "Several Rank C's and some minor Rank D's."

"Tsk, this mission is going above my paycheck..." Ciel muttered as he clicked his tounge in annoyance. Granted, he could easily fight off a couple of Rank C Miracle Invokers, however several of them are simply too much for him.

"So, what's your plan?" Rio, asked while leaning at the wall. He ended up leading the man directly to the base.

'Why did you accept it anyway? You could have just ignored him.' A rough voice suddenly echoed within Rio's mind, it scoffed as it continued, 'Don't tell me you were scared of his threat?'

'No, not at all.' Rio denied as he shook his head slightly. It wasn't because he was scared of the agent, nor was it because the agent overpowered him. If they were to fight, while he might not be able to defeat the man, he was confident that he wasn't going to lose either.

'I was curious of what he wanted to do...' Rio replied to the voice in his mind. Truthfully, it wasn't just as shallow as mere curiosity, what he really wanted when he volunteered to help with the mission was the agent's favor.

Ciel was an important side character in the novel connected to the TAOJ, or Truth Agency of Justice, a large organization focused on maintaining the internal affairs of the kingdom.

The Truth Agency of Justice were the one's assigned to deal with Miracle Invokers that gone the wrong path by using their powers to conduct illegal activities and commit crimes. For reference, the organization was like the FBI from modern earth, albeit more powerful and magical.

So getting an agents favor was beneficial to him in the long run. If he wanted to get some information about someone, or would he want help on something, the favor would help him considerably as the power the TAOJ held was vast.

"Well, I can't beat them all alone." Ciel replied as his eyes turned over to Rio.

"Are you proposing for us to team up?" Rio asked as his eyes widened in suprise, "Why not just leave this mission be?"

"I can't..." Ciel shook his head. He was forced by the organization to accept it. If he abandoned it midway, they would kick him out of the place.

Rio tilted his head in confusion as he stared at Ciel. Why not? The situation was more than they could handle, the opposing group had too many people in it. That was not yet accounting their leader. In any case, the situation was far too dangerous and risky to his liking.

"Look, I can't explain it to you but—" Ciel continued, before pausing as Rio's voice intervened.

"No need." Rio shook his head, his eyes closed as he pondered for a moment before deciding on his next move. He opened his eyes, staring at Ciel as he turned his back, "Our deal ends here. The deal was only to show you at their place."

"...I can't blame you for that," Ciel muttered as he looked at the blonde haired man's back. He raised his voice before turning his back, "If I survive, then just find me for the favor you asked."

Rio stopped for a moment before continuing on walking. He would have considered teaming up if the situation was not that dangerous, recklessly charging in to fight a group of that size was just suicidal.

While he wasn't scared of death, that doesn't mean he wanted to die. Besides, he helped the man enough. And if the novel was partly accurate, the man shouldn't die prematurely as he was essential to the main characters in the future.

There was also his secrets that he had to consider. While the man was admittedly a good person behind the cynical personality of his. Rio still wasn't reassured to share his skills, whether or not he was in a fake identity or not.

Ciel gazed at the entrance of the village and nodded. It was time to do the impossible. It wasn't like it was something he had never done before. Granted, this situation was almost beyond impossible, if there was anything beyond that of course.

Before initiating the plan, he turned his head to look at where his blonde companion walked out to. However, there was no figure on the side anymore, reminding him that he was alone against the large sized group.

"Alright..." He muttered as his body vanished, blending in with the shadows in the village.

—historical

Inside the village, in the corners of the wall a figure abruptly appeared, on it's hands were two silver stilleto daggers that shone in the dark.

The figure waved his hand, using a skill as he masterfully manipulated magic. Instantly, a dark translucent energy conjured in the blades of the dagger.

Grasping it tightly, Ciel looked over the area as he searched for the seperated one's. The first lesson he learned when fighting a large group was to first kill off the few one's on the backline.

'There.'

Ciel thought as he looked at a person holding a long wooden staff. A sorcerer. He stepped forward as he vanished within the shadows, abruptly reappearing behind the person's back.

Ciel raised his hand to cover the person's mouth. The sorcerer suddenly jumped in suprise as panic took over his mind, he tried to scream however only muffled sounds came out.

Swoosh—!

The dark figure grabbed a stilleto dagger and stabbed it at the sorcerer's throat without hesitation. The sorcerers eyes went wide open in pain, he tried to scream however the grasp pver his mouth was too tight. He looked over his back in the moments of his death, yet he saw nothing but plain darkness in his back.

"One..." Ciel muttered as he slowly let the corpse fall beneath his figure. Without rest, he once again vanished in the darkness as he searched for another prey to kill.

"Over here!" A voice resounded in the corner as footsteps echoed. Two people arrived, instantly noticing their dead companion.

"Someone is attacking us!" The other man shouted, his head turning towards his other companion, "Go tell the b—"

Before he could finish his words, a sharp dagger was stabbed in his throat, piercing through his fleshly skin as blood oozed out from the sharp wound.

The man' companion stood still, shock speechless as he gazed at the corpse of the man he arrived with. His eyes turned towards the dark figure holding a dagger. He took a step back as he grasped the staff in his hand tightly, "...S-step..back!"

"How about," Ciel spoke as he brandished the daggers. He waved his hands as he looked at the sorcerer infront of him. He continued, "A no?"

Suddenly, a fiery spell was blasted from the staff as the man used a skill. However, the fire hit nothing but air as the demonic shadow already vanished.

The Sorcerer panicked, he turned his back intending to quickly run away. Instantly, before he could even move, a large foot came into his chin as he flew up in the air from the force.

"?Protect?" The Sorcercer commanded as a bluish barried covered his body.

Ciel stared at the body in the air, he raised the daggers in his hand as he swung it in a vertical motion. Translucent black energy suddenly raged when the dagger came in contact with barrier, piercing it throughly as it stabbed the back of the man.

"Three..." Ciel counted as he waved his daggers, removing the blood from the tip as the corpse fell down in his back. However, just as he was going to vanish once more,

Swoosh—!

A large heavy sword suddenly cleaved towards his body. Ciel dodged, instantly vanishing from the shadows. He raised his head to look who was the one that attacked.

A dark skinned man with a large scar in his eye smirked at him, Dallas chuckled, "Well, well, well. As if the gods don't love me enough, they give me an extra prey for the quota."