It was noon, a typical day in Alter City, businessmen walked down the streets, traffic and hover cars obnoxiously honking their horns. In a flash appeared a swordsman wearing a metallic mask equipped with aerobic high tech armor. He quickly unsheathed his sword, in an attempt to attack his target. His sword thrusted forward then, ‘CLANG!’ a loud metallic sound resonated through the streets. His sword had hit a shield, that shield being held by a teenage boy. As the boy’s feet sank and dug into the sidewalk causing cracks on the concrete from the impact. Upon the sound, there was a shock wave caused from the sword’s impact on the shield, it sent the swordsman flying backwards screaming in pain, as he harshly slid across the ground. The shield’s blast from it guarding his attack caused the arm he wielded the sword with to break, with the bones in his forearm shattering. He then laid there on the ground groaning in pain in a sad attempt to stand back up. Subsequently, the boy had fallen to his knees with his shield in hand as the shield’s blast had slightly injured him as well. The pedestrians all scurried away from the scene in panic, and all the moving cars on the road came to a complete stop. 

Then, two young girls emerged from an alleyway, going onto the sidewalk near the injured boy. Both girls were wearing high tech armor, one girl with glowing orange accents and the other with light blue accents. The girl in the orange ran towards the injured boy and dragged him away from the area into an alley. She took out a healing device from her armor’s waistband, turned it on, and placed it on the boy's chest to aid him. The girl in the light blue began to approach the injured swordsman.

“Remove your mask,” the girl ordered.

The man laid on the ground, quietly breathing.

“Remove your mask or I’ll kill you,” said the girl.

The man proceeded to slowly stand up, as he struggled with just one arm. The girl readied herself to attack, and held her hands near her hips. She had two Cryo-infused Kama blades on each of her thighs, that were magnetically connected to two holsters. The man stood up and took a quick look at her. He grabbed his sword and then swiftly slit the side of his neck, instantly killing himself. As his body collapsed towards the ground a faint smile could be seen on his face. The girl scoffed upon the man’s death. The girl then proceeded to search the swordsman's corpse in an attempt to find any clues on who he was or who he was related to. 

The teenage boy, after being aided, walked towards the girl and told her, “Just give it up, from the looks of it this guy’s just some random assassin, probably commissioned to kill us”.

“Yeah, right…yeah you’re probably right, he seemed pretty weak.”

The girl in the orange remained silent. With a puzzled look on her face.

A day had passed after the events. The three young individuals were resting at their base.

“ACPD is still investigating the attempted attack near the city’s park. A body was found at the scene. The identity of one the four individuals at the scene has been discovered. The man is identified as Xiao, a 22 year old man. An assassin that was last seen 4 months ago, being first seen roaming the rooftops of multiple apartment buildings and jumping between them effortlessly. ACPD is still under investigation on who hired the man-,” the TV was turned off. 

“Damn, turns out he really was just some assassin. Not even worth our time…”

“Hey Yu, how’s your shield? That dude’s sword hit it pretty bad.”

“Oh, that sword guy’s name’s Xiao,” said Yu.

“Huh? How’d you find out.”

“ I just saw it on the news, apparently some detectives or cops or whatever found out the guy’s identity.”

“...wow, well… man offed himself so I guess there’s no real need to worry. Anyways, Imma go with Shima, see ya.”

Jino went outside the base into the training area, where she saw Shima practicing her aim with her bow.

“Hey Shima, where’s the training blades, I can’t find em,”

Shima pointed to her right, indicating to Jino where her blades were. “Oh..thanks.”

Inside the base Yu began to do some research, he was curious and wanted to find out why that Assassin had jumped him specifically. Yu proceeded to look into some Alter logs from the past month to try and find any information on Xiao. As it turns out, he couldn’t find anything whatsoever aside from what was mentioned on the news. He took a moment to sit and think. Then he recalled the fact that there was a beetle shaped insignia on Xiao’s sword. He had seen it for a brief second per Xiao’s assault, but nevertheless he clearly remembers the insignia. Later that day, as Jino and Shima finished their training Yu asked the both of them if they knew of the Insignia.

“Hey you two, have either of you seen some sort of beetle-like symbol anywhere. I think it might be linked to that Assassin,”

Shima lightly shook her head.

“Nope. Man, you for real lookin’ into this guy huh...” said Jino.

“Yep, saw the symbol on his sword’s pommel. So–I was thinking we could go out tomorrow and scout around the city. I just wanna see if I recall what I saw correctly. 

“....Eh fine, we haven’t been commissioned for any jobs lately so why not”

Shima remained silent.

The three individuals were later known as “The Qishi” or “Knights” by the citizens after the events had gone out to the public due to the armor the knights were wearing in the images from the news. The Knights went out in the evening the next day, equipped with boots capable of giving them a secondary jump or a propulsive jump; they jumped between alleyways and buildings in search of this “beetle shaped” insignia Yu had mentioned.

“Sooooo are you sure that it’s even worth taking this much time on something you’re unsure about..?”said Jino, exhausted from the search.

“Yeah.. so far we haven’t found anything at all. I wanna keep searching for a little longer,” Yu responded, determined to finish the search. 

The three Knights continued their search, and then something came up. Shima went in front of both Jino and Yu, signaling and pointing to her left, urging them to go. She took the lead, whilst Jino and Yu followed, as they were both puzzled by what it is she wanted. They had ended up down by a warehouse, deeply hidden by the city’s shores. The warehouse had a holographic banner, marked with a beetle symbol as seen on the sword.

“Damn, Shima, you got some real good eyesight,”

Shima gave Yu a thumbs up, with a faint smile on her face. Yu then began to make a plan on how to get into the warehouse analyzing the building

“Kay, so here’s the plan. Shima, go on top of the warehouse and on the roof, scout around for any kind of people who could walk into the warehouse. Make sure to keep your bow at the ready and give us your distress signal in case anything happens. Jino, you’re coming in through the side panels of the warehouse. There are loose panels you can get in from on the leftmost side of the warehouse, attack anyone with your blades if they seem like a problem. I’ll be going in through the roof. There’s a skylight up top and I’ll peer down. Make sure your armor is currently turned off, the sun’s quickly setting. Plan’s risky but it’ll do.”

“Dang, you really came up with a plan that quickly?...Whatevs I’ll go.” Jino responded. She was beginning to get annoyed by Yu.

“Maaaan what is HE thinking? He’s getting way too involved in this just cuz of some assassin. He better not get us killed,” Jino thought to herself.

Shima remained silent and went on to her designated position. Meanwhile, Yu went up on the roof towards the skylight.

 *Click* 

“K, comms’ active you two. Jino you at your place?,” Yu asked.
“Mhm..,” responded Jino.

“Shima and you?”

*Beep*, a single beep came from her microphone signaling a Yes. 

The three Knights then laid there waiting, as Yu peered inside the Warehouse looking for any possible security cameras or guards. He’d infiltrated warehouses like this before, but this one appeared to be unusually empty making him uneasy and cautious. He kept on waiting for a few minutes, whilst the other two remained silent. *BANG*, suddenly, a loud gunshot was heard, that of a shotgun. It came from the left side of the warehouse. 

*Click*

“Hey! What was that, everyone alright?” Yu asked in a panicked voice.

*Beep*, Shima responded.

There was no response from Jino.

“Jino? Hey, you there!?” 

All of a sudden there was another gunshot, this time that of a sniper. 

*Click*

“Shima..you there? Shima? Hello?” Yu asked, now distressed.

There was no response.

“Damn it, alright I’m going in,” fretful of the sounds, Yu grabbed his shield from his back, activated it, and proceeded to bash against the skylight until it broke. He fell down into the warehouse and landed on his shield breaking his fall. He activated his armor and looked around trying to find the gunmen. Faint footsteps were heard, they increasingly got faster and faster. Yu swiftly turned around, put his shield up and *CLANG*. A man swiftly slashed at his shield. Yu’s shield then fell apart, crumbling down towards the ground and ultimately shattering. The sword was a bright blazing red, the blade had a laser-like appearance. Yu glanced upwards and to his surprise this swordwielder was none other than Xiao. He was in seemingly perfect condition, unscathed from their last encounter. 

“I presume you thought I’d passed. I knew you’d come here. Now, your allies have fallen, and so will you. Your foolishness and carelessness got you here,” Xiao said.

 Then, in an instant, Xiao ran forwards, piercing Yu’s body, and causing him to fall to his knees. Yu stood there, without a breath.

“For you to consider my death an option during an assassination as something I’d let happen without even giving it a second thought….got you killed, you’re a fool.” 

Yu heard these words as his body had split into two with a diagonal slash across his torso and his body fell to the ground. Jino and Shima lay rest with bullets lodged into both their foreheads without a single sign of life. 

After that day the city remained silent, without notion or remembrance for the Qishi. They were nothing but another passing event in Alter, as their corpses remained still at that warehouse.