the era of calamities

As soon as the first bullet flew, I fired a second one as fast as my fingers could pull the trigger, both bullets soaring at a speed beyond human perception. I had run this scenario through my mind countless times to ensure its feasibility. The first bullet would pass through a building, slowing down just enough for the second one to catch up right before it hit Iris. Their collision should create the illusion that she had been struck, erasing any doubt that could be cast upon her. All that remained was to fabricate evidence supporting her testimony. With the mayor and the city's officials dead, this improvised lie would become an undeniable truth. But if I miscalculated even slightly… Best not to think about it.

I crossed my toes, since my fingers were still on the trigger. In the blink of an eye, Iris was on the ground. From this distance, I couldn't determine her condition. I hoped she was fine. Mmmh… A tingling sensation crawled up my spine. This feeling… Am I going to die? When you spend enough time near death, you develop a sense for it. It didn't take long for me to realize I had been spotted.

Looking through the rifle's scope, I felt an eerie sensation—as if I was the one being watched, despite my cover. I had underestimated them. I never thought they would locate me this quickly, with such precision. Grégoire bent his knees, the ground beneath him cracking, before launching himself toward me. Meanwhile, the other Executors were already working to calm the panic my shot had caused. The crowd stood frozen under an invisible pressure. At this point, were they even human anymore? Was this the extent of the powers possessed by those who had cheated death?

This wasn't the time to be awed by such displays. I needed to move. A straight kilometer separated us, but he still had to weave through the crowd and—

Wait. What am I seeing? What kind of movement is that? I can't even see him properly—only electric sparks marking his path. At this rate, he'll reach me in a minute. That guy… he's faster than a cheetah. I need to get the hell out of here. I have no choice but to leave the mayor to Iris. I would've preferred to handle it myself, ensuring he wouldn't spill any information under interrogation, but time was no longer on my side. Did Lucy manage to cover her tracks?

I grabbed a random corpse—stolen from the morgue—and placed it where I had been. I rigged it with a small bomb, not powerful enough to cause much damage but sufficient to reduce a body to ashes, making identification impossible. Someone had to take the fall. I didn't know who this person was, but even in death, they wouldn't find rest.

I had no luxury of retracing my steps.

When you gotta go, you gotta go. I crossed my fingers, took a deep breath, pinched my nose, triggered the bomb, and jumped off the rooftop toward a secluded parking lot, hoping to land on my feet. Moments like these made me wish I were a cat. Unfortunately, I wasn't—but I did manage to fall straight into an open manhole. Been a while since I'd pulled this stunt. The second I closed the cover behind me, I heard thunder strike. That was close.

Now, I just had to regroup with the others. But first, I dragged myself out of the murky water, slumped against a wall, and collapsed onto the ground. It hadn't been long—no more than fifteen minutes since we had split up. But just because the operation was short didn't mean the pressure we endured wasn't suffocating. On the contrary, we had pushed ourselves beyond our limits in a matter of moments. One mistake…

Iris must have controlled her every move with near-perfect precision. Her tears, her trembling, her hesitations—every single action and word was a lie. Normally, illusions were easier to craft when sprinkled with a bit of truth. Improvising a performance like that, in front of such an audience, without leaving a single crack—now that was something else.

Lucy had to get close enough to the scene without drawing attention, exploiting the chaos to free a condemned man right under everyone's noses, leaving no trace behind.

Only when the adrenaline faded did I realize… This was a plan only madmen would dare to execute.

Once I had regained some strength, I resumed my path. Let's hope Iris's intuition was worth it. Otherwise…