Dressed in her usual Princess of Death attire—dark coat brushing her boots, mask shadowing her features—Lili stood atop one of the city’s silent rooftops, the wind tugging at the edges of her clothes like unseen fingers. The night air was crisp, heavy with the weight of recent decisions and secrets still unspoken.
Notori arrived moments later, flames faintly flickering along his fingertips as he landed opposite her. His expression was unreadable, but there was a noticeable tension in his stance—a mix of relief, caution, and something that might have been gratitude.
He offered a brief nod. “You kept your word.”
She didn’t nod back. “That won’t happen often. So make sure it counts.”
Notori stepped closer, the soft glow of his flames fading as he folded his arms. “He’s safe. Off the grid, like I promised. He won’t be a problem.”
“He better not be,” Lili replied, her voice flat behind the mask. “Because if he is, I’ll consider your leash just as short as his was.”
A beat passed in silence. Then Notori spoke, his voice lower than before. “The first thing I want you to remember is to stay on your guard. The shadows aren’t the only problem…”
“You’re talking about the bullets,” Lili said, cutting in.
Notori gave a small nod. “So, it’s true. You’ve heard about them. Helena and Ofo both mentioned you asking questions. I needed to confirm it for myself.”
“I’ve heard a thing or two,” Lili admitted. “But what I don’t know is what actually happens when you get hit by one. What does it do to you?”
Notori didn’t answer right away. His expression grew darker as he watched the city beneath them. The flames in his palm flickered once and died.
“You’re as good as dead,”he finally said, voice stripped of emotion. “But not right away. That’s the worst part. First, you hear things—voices in your head that aren’t yours, pushing you, asking for violence. Then you start coughing up blood. It’s thick, almost black. You feel weaker every day. Like something is rotting you from the inside out.”
Lili remained silent, listening, absorbing every word.
“Eventually,” he continued, “you start to lose control over your powers. Not just like it’s harder to summon—it turns against you. It breaks the connection between your Gift and your will. When that happens… you’re no longer in control. Of your powers or yourself.”
“And then you die?” she asked quietly.
“Most do,” he said grimly. “Some disappear before it finishes. But anyone hit by those bullets is already living on borrowed time.”
Lili’s hand curled slightly at her side. She didn’t respond right away. When she finally spoke, her voice was low and calm.
“Then it’s true,” she murmured. “This is more than just a hunt. It’s a purge.”
“Yes,” Notori agreed, his voice steady but carrying a weight of urgency. “The moment I saw you weren’t blindly loyal to your mafia’s successes, I realized you could actually help me.” He looked at her with rare honesty. “Especially after they attacked us both. We’re marked—targets on their list. It only makes sense that we do everything we can to watch each other’s backs, avoid those cursed bullets and their shadow strikes, and while we survive, hit back.”
Lili bit her lip beneath her mask, her fingers twitching slightly as if struggling against an invisible tension. The weight of the truth settled over her like a heavy shadow. Time was slipping away faster than she dared admit—but she vowed to fight with everything she had. And if luck was on her side, maybe she could even find a cure.
“Very well,” she said quietly, still reeling from everything Notori had revealed about the bullet’s aftermath. Her voice was steady, but beneath it lay a flicker of urgency. “Tell me—do you have a target for tonight?”
Notori’s eyes narrowed under the moonlight, his flame flickering faintly in one hand. “There’s a new shipment coming through—a cache of those bullets. If we intercept it, we cut off their supply and slow them down. But it won’t be easy. The location is heavily guarded, and shadows will be waiting.”
Lili’s gaze hardened. “Then we hit them before they know what’s coming.”
He gave a curt nod. “Agreed.”
A flicker of something like anticipation danced behind her eyes, and though her face remained hidden, there was unmistakable amusement in her voice. “I’m the best in the shadows,” she said with a low, playful edge. “Let’s see if they can keep up.”
Notori smirked faintly, the fire in his palm flaring in response.
***
The air near the docks was thick with fog and salt, veiling the rusted containers and idle cranes in a cloak of gray. The moon offered little light, and what it did only made the shadows deeper.
Lili silently moved along the rooftops overlooking the loading bays. Her blade floated a few paces behind her—silent, obedient, and poised to strike. On the far side, barely visible through the swirling mist, she caught sight of Notori’s faint silhouette weaving between stacked crates.
Everything was quiet. Too quiet.
The moment stretched, sharp and brittle, when a movement came from Lili’s right. Her breath caught. A figure had dropped from the shadows near Notori. It reached toward Notori’s back. Notori turned just a second too late. But Lili was already there. Her floating sword flashed through the fog and carved cleanly across the attacker’s chest. Shadow burst like smoke from the wound as the creature staggered backward, limbs unraveling into mist before it crumpled to the ground—silent and no longer whole.
Notori spun, eyes wide for a heartbeat, then gave a tight nod. “Close,” he muttered, voice low.
Lili didn’t respond. She was already fading back into the fog, her blade following in her wake. The hunt continued—and the docks held their breath.
The fog thickened as the minutes crawled by, cloaking the docks in silence and shadows. Each second closer to the ship’s arrival tightened the air with tension, and every wrong breath felt like it could set the entire trap ablaze.
Lili moved between the crates and steel scaffolding. Each target she found was dealt with silently. One slice through the throat, one precise stab into the spine. No scream. No sound. Only darkness swallowing them.
Across the port, Notori used overheated pipes and loosened bolts to his advantage—snapping structures onto unsuspecting enemies or burning them from within before they could strike.
Lili watched him nearly get spotted once again—one of the enemies looked too long in his direction, sensing heat or movement. But Notori melted into the shadows, crouched and silent, just as Lili silently slid behind the distracted figure and drew her blade across his neck. The body slumped. Gone before it touched the ground.
More shadows shifted near the docking platform. Lili dropped low behind a rusted barrel, her fingers curling in anticipation. Her eyes flicked toward Notori—just visible in the mist, watching the platform too. They were thinning the numbers, but not fast enough.
She touched the earpiece they’d synchronized earlier. “Four more by the docking cranes. Move on my signal.”
She didn’t wait for confirmation. The next guard barely had time to blink before she struck. Her blade sliced through his throat. Across the dock, Notori moved in tandem, flames flickering briefly as he dispatched another target.
They were closing in. The water lapped gently against the pier below like it hadn’t noticed the blood being spilled above it.
And then—
“You’re making a mistake.”
The voice slid into her mind like a toxin, cold and cunning. Lili froze for a fraction of a second, her pulse skipping. Her vision blurred, and that familiar sense of dread twisted inside her.
Her shoulder—
Agony erupted there, as if the wound had been freshly torn open by invisible claws. The pain was so sudden, so violent, it stole the breath from her lungs.
Lili gasped, her legs buckling as she fell to one knee. Her hand flew to her right shoulder, now slick and warm with blood. It burned—not just from the injury, but from within, like something was crawling through her veins, burrowing deeper with each pulse of her heartbeat.
From the shadows ahead, three cloaked figures stepped into view, moving in eerie unison. Their forms shimmered at the edges, veiled in tendrils of darkness that pulsed and swayed like they were alive—like they were watching her, listening to her fear.
Then came the voice again. “You’re weakening. Let me take control. Let me end them. If you don’t, they’ll take control of you. Their shadows are already inside—spreading, sinking deeper. The longer you stay close, the faster you lose yourself.”
Lili clenched her jaw, teeth grinding. Her breathing was ragged. Her skin felt too tight, her head too loud.
“No,” she hissed under her breath. “Not like this.”
She summoned the blade without thinking. The steel sprang into the air beside her, slicing with a shriek of metal through the thick tension of the night. One of the shadowed attackers lunged—too fast, too smooth—but her blade caught it mid-strike, cleaving through the darkness.
The creature staggered back, smoke trailing from the wound, as if it had been scorched from the inside.
From the corner of her eye, she caught motion—Notori turning toward her, his expression a mix of shock and urgency.
“Death!” he shouted, breaking their silent coordination.
He’d seen her fall. But not the wound. Not the blood. He couldn’t know. He mustn’t know.
Lili forced herself upright. Her knees trembled and her shoulder screamed, blood seeping into the fabric of her coat. Every breath was a battle. But her sharp, glinting eyes held.
“You want to dance with death?” she growled at the figures, her voice low and laced with fury. “Let’s dance.”
The shadows flinched. For the first time, they hesitated. She moved—blurring forward with her blade slicing through the dark like moonlight through fog. Notori joined her a moment later, launching into the fray with a snarl of fire in his hands.
And yet, even as the enemies fell, Lili felt it.
The burning.
The spreading.
The whispering in her mind that hadn’t stopped.
The battle at the docks was just a glimpse of what was coming. And deep down, she knew—she wasn’t just fighting shadows. She was fighting time. And time was already bleeding out.
Notori turned just in time to torch another shadowed figure lunging at Lili, his flames roaring across its form until it dissolved in a hiss of darkness. Only one enemy remained.
“I’ll take care of the l—” he started, but the last shadow had already leapt for him.
Lili’s blade cut through the air, slicing the creature in half before it reached him. The pieces hit the ground with a quiet thud, smoke rising in their wake.
They both paused, breathless. Then—movement in the distance. The ship. Cutting through the dark waves.
Lili narrowed her gaze. She could feel the ache spreading from her shoulder, tendrils of heat and sickness curling through her veins, but she kept her posture straight, her voice firm. “Can you blow it up while it’s still sailing?” she asked, doing her best to keep the weakness from bleeding into her tone.
Notori glanced at her, then looked back at the ship. He hesitated.
“I could,” he said carefully. “But we’ll contaminate the bay. Whatever’s in that ship—it’ll poison the water.”
Lili’s patience snapped. Her eyes blazed red. “Fuck the water!” she snarled, her voice rising with raw fury.
Notori’s expression twisted. His voice rose to meet hers. “You’re really one of them,” he snapped. “One of those mafia scum who doesn’t give a damn about anything that isn’t right in front of your eyes!”
Her lips curled under the mask, and the sound that escaped her throat was close to a growl. “Who gives a damn about the water when the things on that ship are killing people?! You think the bay matters when we’re one mistake away from a full city purge?”
They stood there, facing off in the silence that followed. The waves rolled, black and indifferent, and the ship crept closer, unaware of the storm waiting for it.
Notori’s flames crackled faintly at his fingertips while Lili’s blade hovered beside her.
She was shaking—but not from fear. From fury. From pain. From time slipping through her fingers. And still, neither of them backed down.
“I won’t blow it up,” Notori said firmly, standing his ground. “I need to get at least one of those bullets—for Helena.”
Lili froze. Her anger twisted into something sharper. “And you couldn’t mention that before?!” she exploded. Her voice echoed off the metal containers stacked high around them. “I have one! I could’ve given it to you without all this stupid hero nonsense you’re trying to pull!”
Notori’s head snapped toward her, his expression unreadable—but the judgment in his eyes was clear. “Where did you get one?” he asked, low and suspicious.
Lili’s eyes burned red again. “It doesn’t matter!” she shouted, her voice almost cracking from the sheer force of her emotion.
Notori stepped closer, face tense. “It matters to me. Those bullets are death, and you’re saying you’ve been carrying one around?”
Lili’s hand twitched at her side. She could feel the ache in her shoulder pulse in response. She didn’t answer. Her silence said enough.
Notori’s expression darkened as realization began to bloom across his face—but she turned away before he could look too closely.
“The ship is almost here,” she said coldly. “Get your damn bullet. But if something goes wrong, I’m burning it down myself.”
And with that, she vanished into the shadows again—rage, pain, and secrets clinging to her like the blood soaking into her sleeve.
***
Inside the ship, one by one, the lights shattered. Sparks fizzled in the dark, casting brief flashes across the corridors before surrendering to shadow. She wanted cover. Darkness was her ally. If she was going to bleed tonight, she’d do it hidden.
A faint hum of generators echoed below deck, but above, everything grew dim. The sterile, metallic glow of the ship gave way to silence and gloom. Just the way she liked it.
Her breathing was steady now, controlled. Each step she took was calculated, her body low, shoulder stiff with pain but held with discipline. The shadows welcomed her like a familiar friend—and she vanished into them without a trace. Whatever was waiting aboard this ship… it wouldn’t see her coming.
“You should have waited for me,” Notori’s voice crackled through the earpiece with frustration.
Through the slits of darkness between the containers, Lili could already see him tearing through the top deck—flames erupting as enemies screamed and fell.
She rolled her eyes and whispered back. “I don’t have all night for your sanctimonious hero games.”
A low growl slipped through the line before she added, “The faster we finish this, the faster I can be free from your nonsense.”
She moved deeper into the ship, letting her blade slice clean through another guard who never saw her coming.
“Don’t slow me down. I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to end this.” She added.
Notori’s voice came back over the line, colder now. “And I’m not here to clean up the blood trail you leave behind, Death.” There was a beat, then: “If you keep charging in like this, that mask of yours won’t be enough to hide what’s happening to you.”
Lili froze mid-step.
“Tread carefully,” Notori warned, his voice quieter now, but sharper than ever. “Because if you fall before we finish this… I’ll have to finish it without you. And I don’t think either of us wants that.”
She clenched her jaw, not answering right away. The only sound was the hum of her floating blade and the thud of another body hitting the floor behind her.
“Firefreak, I’ll need you in six,” Lili muttered, voice low but sharp, as her boots echoed down the rusted metal stairs into the underbelly of the ship. The moment she stepped below deck, the air changed—thicker, heavier, and soaked in oil, salt, and something far worse.
The chamber stretched wide, cargo hold lined with crates. Row after row of them, stacked. But these weren’t filled with supplies. She knew it before even prying one open. Bullets. Dozens of crates. Maybe hundreds.
This was it—the heart of the operation. Her breath hitched behind the mask. And then, all at once, the shadows stirred.
Movement swept through the hold like a ripple over water. Darkness peeled itself from the corners of the room—six, no, seven figures stepping out from nothing, cloaked in pulsing void, their eyes glinting like coals in the dark.
“Now!” she screamed, her voice slicing through the air like her blade already had.
The ceiling above groaned—and then exploded downward in a blast of flame. Metal shrieked and buckled as Notori dropped through the collapsing roof, fire already coiling around his arms.
The first three shadows didn’t even scream as the fire consumed them, searing heat chasing them into nothing.
Lili’s blade spun beside her. It flew forward. Steel met smoke with a hiss, carving through a fourth figure. She lunged, ignoring the pain biting at her shoulder, slashing low, high—moving with cold fury and desperation.
A fifth shadow dropped from above toward her. She turned just in time, blade twisting midair to impale it before it landed.
One left. It rushed at Notori’s back.
“Down!” Lili screamed, and as he ducked, her blade spun a final arc.
The hold was quiet again. The air crackled with firelight and fading shadow.
And beneath it all, the crates waited—full of death, and answers.
Lili staggered slightly, her balance swaying for a heartbeat as the weight in her shoulder pulled harder than she wanted to admit. The pain was creeping faster now, whispering beneath her skin like a fire she couldn’t put out.
But then she felt it—Notori’s gaze. He was watching her with those sharp eyes that missed nothing.
Her spine stiffened instantly, tension locking her upright as if defiance alone could hold her together. “Are you gonna take your damn bullet or not!?” she snapped, voice echoing off the steel walls. The raw edge in her tone wasn’t just from pain—it was fury, exhaustion, fear.
Her glare burned through the mask. “Or do you want to stand there and judge me some more while the real threat keeps crawling closer?”
Notori didn’t bend to the sarcasm. He stared at her, eyes narrowing, firelight from his still-glowing hand flickering across his face.
“When did they hit you?” he asked.
Lili let out a dry laugh, cold and sharp. “Why? Thinking about the best time to cut me down?” she shot back.
The silence between them thickened. Somewhere above, the ship creaked, metal groaning beneath the shifting sea. The sound of distant shouting echoed from a few decks higher, but down here, it was only them—and the truth they hadn’t spoken yet.
“If I wanted to kill you, you’d be already dead,” Notori said flatly, but his voice wasn’t cruel. It was… tired. Weighted.
“Then stop staring at me like I’m already a corpse.” Lili growled. Her blade hovered closer to her side again, twitching slightly. Notori noticed—but didn’t flinch.
“You shouldn’t even be standing,” he muttered. “You’re bleeding through your coat.”
“Then don’t waste time,” she snapped back, turning her back to him as she staggered toward the shadows beyond the cargo. “Take your damn sample, and let’s burn this place to hell.”
But the moment her steps faltered again, she knew: she didn’t have many more nights like this left…
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