Five years ago, 1538 according to the Star Calendar.
"...We've just gained a new member," said a man wearing a flap cap in relief as he entered the dimly lit room.
The nine members stood up and stared at the blond-haired, dark gray-eyed man who was the group's newest member.
"Oh? Another man, is he a Receivers?" asked a blond-haired man with eyes as blue as the sea.
"Yes," replied their leader, the one who had recruited the blond-haired man.
Seeing the hopeful expressions of his companions, he added, "I hope you all get along with him quickly, and we'll make more money while recruiting even more members."
"Alright, boss," replied a cheerful man. "Hey, what's your name?" he asked, carefully studying the blond-haired man.
"..."
There was no answer, so one of the dark-haired women with gray eyes approached and said softly, "Nice to meet you. I hope you'll feel comfortable in this group."
"..."
There was still no answer, but the blond-haired man, with his weary eyes, observed everyone standing before him.
Their leader immediately stepped in to avoid any misunderstanding. "His name is Aaron Kwok. He..."
The sentence was interrupted when a brown-haired, blue-eyed man exclaimed in surprise, "Aaron Kwok? The one whose name is on the wanted list?"
Their leader answered without hesitation, "Yes, of course. He's very lonely, and I felt sorry for him. He also misunderstood me and thought I was an enemy, and he said he didn't have any friends."
The black-haired, gray-eyed woman asked, "Is Boss Aldera certain about this decision?"
Another man with dark brown eyes replied, "Is it because Boss Smith is a wanted criminal just like him?"
"Yes," their boss answered without the slightest hesitation.
Aldera Smith. A wanted criminal with a bounty of 1,000 Pace on public posters, but in reality, there was a reward of 10,000 Pace on his head, a figure that increased every day or every week.
Aldera Smith's reason for recruiting Aaron Kwok was simple, with two goals in mind: recruiting outlaws like himself and gathering as much money as possible to find the faction that had placed him on the wanted list.
Considering there were hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of fugitives out there along the border between GreyHeaven and Ninesorals, he had only found a few recruitment syndicates.
Naseka Yashiki, a man whose existence was shrouded in mystery, with some even claiming he was already dead.
Firaya Yevaya, a woman who refused to join him and whose whereabouts became unknown after that rejection.
Some said she was dead, while others claimed she was working with Naseka Yashiki, but Aldera Smith certainly didn't know the truth.
In the end, Aldera Smith sought out Aaron Kwok, his final recruitment attempt, and the plan succeeded exactly as intended.
After being recruited, Aaron Kwok and Aldera Smith developed strong chemistry, causing their group to frequently be labeled an evil faction. Some even sought to hunt them down, until the group was eventually destroyed because of the actions of one member.
Aaron Kwok's massacre was not simply a slaughter born from his own will.
"He" had been forced by Aldera Smith to kill all nine of them, including himself, among them two women and seven men, so they would not fall under the control of demons and Resse, whose desire to awaken had already become too strong.
Holding back his tears from breaking free, after spending several months with them, Aaron, wearing his somewhat apathetic expression, forcibly expelled the demons and Resse that were of the same kind as himself, ensuring the deaths of those nine people as their souls were dragged away by those two creatures.
Ironically, Celina, who had just been surrounded by enemies far from their location on the outskirts of Rottecan in GreyHeaven, witnessed Aaron Kwok slaughtering his own companions without mercy, causing some of them to scream and foam at the mouth.
"Aaron...? What are you doing?" she asked, her lips trembling violently.
With her own eyes, she saw that Aaron Kwok was not only slaughtering them but also eating them.
Blood stained the area around his mouth. Aaron turned around, his expression grim, and said in a near whisper, "C-Celina? Leave... That's an order."
But Celina did not listen. Consumed by rage, she rushed toward Aaron, drew a dagger purchased from the black market, and pointed it at him.
Aaron Kwok dodged, and Celina could not catch him because he was incredibly fast and merged into the shadows of the surrounding trees.
Celina fell to her knees, witnessing the horrifying scene before her. Crying, she said, "I will hunt you down and torture you before dragging you into hell."
From that day onward, she joined the "Intersection Society" and became one of its prime candidates for revenge, as the order also turned her into a Receivers of Transmitter at the first stage, Controller.
By carrying out several simple rituals and fulfilling the three conditions required to become a Receivers of that ability, she became a true Receivers and was ready for the advancement ritual.
....
As that painful memory replayed itself once more, Celina gripped her dress, her chest rising and falling while her jaw clenched tightly.
"Bastard... how dare you control her?"
The man smiled, raised his index finger, and made Nitta leap to the right, where Celina stood on the rooftop.
There was no wind. Celina waved her hand, creating a cloud of black smoke in an instant.
The black smoke vanished as Nitta swiftly positioned herself beneath it, while pale white threads shrouded in pitch-black darkness stretched and tightened behind her.
Celina ran and hid behind the black smoke, observing the thin threads.
'I can see those threads?'
Although they were extremely thin and not as clear as before, Celina knew what she had to do.
However, the plan would not work without additional help.
'Damn it, do I have to find them?'
She focused her gaze ahead, moving from one rooftop to another while occasionally glancing at Nitta as she advanced toward her, with the man following from behind.
'I know that's his weakness.'
With a wave of her hand, she released more black smoke to distract the man.
However, Nitta successfully dispersed the smoke, exactly as Celina had intended.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
Their shoes scraped against the rooftops as the two of them drew closer to Celina.
'I'll free you. Just wait.'
She kept thinking about Nitta, who clearly did not want to be controlled by that man.
'Damn, damn, damn. This man is already giving me trouble. How am I supposed to defeat Aaron Kwok?'
Even in such a critical situation, Celina still found herself thinking about Aaron, who was currently lying in his room waiting for Zavi Actitus to return.
The black smoke thinned, allowing Celina to straighten her arm and jump down.
The stench of blood and a rotten odor hung in the middle of the street where she landed and took a step forward.
The blood of the man's ritual victims and the blood of Celina's two fallen companions.
"Come on. You must have come because the threads forming the spider web have disappeared."
She watched as Nitta and the man landed and walked along the same street.
The man looked her up and down.
"Where's that confidence you had before? Instead of fighting, you keep running away. Aren't you worried about your friend, the one who said she wanted to kill me?"
Those words made Celina's chest burn while the man grinned.
"Bastard," she muttered with her head lowered.
The man shrugged and blinked.
"...Did you just say something?"
Celina's chest felt lighter than before as she slowly raised her head, looked at the man, and smiled.
"No," she replied calmly. "You're just a coward," she shouted in a heavy voice.
The man's pupils widened.
"What did you say?"
Celina tilted her head slightly and said indifferently, "You're stupid, useless, a bastard, the trash of society, a coward, and the only word that truly describes you is garbage."
Instead of getting angry, the man laughed.
Celina didn't know how to react.
After his laughter subsided, he raised his middle finger and ring finger, causing the corpses that had previously been trapped within the spider web and were now lying across the street to be pulled toward him by the thin threads.
Sret... Krek...
Ten corpses, each connected to pale white threads coated in pitch-black darkness spreading around the man, were now under his control.
Celina was faced with two difficult choices: kill the man or kill Nitta.
'Damn it.'
She drew her pistol and raised it as purple and black aura spread across the weapon.
Calmly, Celina pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The bullet, already infused with magnetism and silence, tore through the air and flew straight toward the man.
'Where is she now?'
The man panicked. After firing, Celina had vanished completely, as if her existence had been concealed by something.
'Did she run away, or is she still nearby?'
Of course, the man did not conclude that she had fled, considering her friend remained under his control.
"Want to play hide-and-seek? Fine."
The man raised his index finger, releasing the ten corpses from his control while strands of thin threads filled the streets like a spider web.
Celina, who had hidden her presence with black smoke, clearly observed those threads.
'A Receivers of Puppeteer, huh? What stage is he at?'
Trying to figure out how his ability worked, she fired another shot, completely unafraid of revealing her position since the streetlights could not illuminate the rooftop where she stood.
Furthermore, Controller allowed bullets to pierce through obstacles and behave as though equipped with silencers, making them as quiet as the void itself.
Bang!
Crack...
The bullet briefly pierced through and destroyed several thin threads before slowing down and crumbling into ash.
Celina was skilled at altering and redirecting bullets at will, allowing the man to determine that she was somewhere to his right.
Sret...
The pale white threads wrapped in dense black aura shot forward like lightning, smashing into the building on his right.
The man rushed over, bringing Nitta with him as a shield to check whether Celina was there.
Bang!
The bullets were repeatedly blocked by the thin threads, slowing down and turning to ash before vanishing into the night wind.
The man moved toward his left, across the street. There was no one there, only his own thin threads surrounding him.
The cycle repeated itself again and again, making the man feel that something was off about Celina's actions.
He never once considered that he had already stepped into her trap, and several minutes later, she successfully lured him into the darkness further down the street.
In the darkness, Celina was stronger. The thin threads stretched around the man, but their reactions were slower than before, and Celina realized this after drawing him there.
Bang! Bang!
None of the bullets were caught by the thin threads, making the man even more puzzled.
The bullets came from behind him, their sounds somewhat muffled as they shattered the streetlights one after another.
Realizing he had been tricked, he hurried to leave the dimly lit street that had become dark because of his own actions. Thin threads pulled the corpses along, smashing the remaining streetlights before dragging them back toward him.
When he arrived, he was left speechless by Celina's move.
"Checkmate."
"Huh?"
The man was stunned. In the blink of an eye, the thin threads controlling Nitta were destroyed by two bullets and snapped apart as Nitta's body collapsed onto the stone-paved street.
She lost consciousness, but she was finally free from his control.
Satisfied, Celina descended with the help of black smoke and stood before the man who had lost half of his strength.
'No wonder he avoided the darkness earlier when Nitta and I were chasing him.'
Yes, although she knew the power and speed of those thin threads could not be underestimated, Celina could now attack him because she understood that his vision was limited in darkness.
Bang!
The moment the shot was fired, the pistol slipped from her hand and was carried away by the black smoke swirling around her body.
Celina appeared behind the man and launched a kick wrapped in black smoke.
"Ah..."
The unavoidable attack sent the man flying several meters before he crashed heavily into an iron fence.
Ting...
Not satisfied yet, Celina appeared beside him and delivered a punch shrouded in black smoke.
The man was launched upward, and Celina followed with the aid of her black smoke. However, the man was also supported by pale white threads coated in dense black aura.
Celina remained suspended in the air, surveying the scene below.
'Damn it, he ran away. That really suits a piece of trash like him!'
She quickly descended, rushed over to Nitta, and carried her back to the others.