Dance of the Gods

Within a moment her next shot sounded, then another and another. She shot six times one after another, until the only bullet left in the chamber was the one with the white casing, the Speed Bullet.

She didn't exactly know what to expect, but the name explained it quite well.

The shot resounded louder than the others. It was probably twice as fast, which meant it packed an even bigger punch, especially since the revolver was an Ethereal Weapon, which further increased its power.

Even then only a small tremble went through her arm, like she didn't even feel the recoil.

On her face a small grimace of pain appeared, but she made sure it was gone by the time Michael stood next to her. He was staring at the target with an impressed expression.

"Nice, you properly wrecked the target, now they will have to replace that one again!" He spoke with a smile, while taking glances at Veronica.

She just placed the firearm on the counter and looked at the target with satisfaction. She aimed each bullet at a specific place.

The six bullets made a line along the middle part of the target's neck and the last shot, which was the most powerful went straight between the eyes. The power of the last and the previous shots weakened its structure making the target lose its head.

"How often do you have to replace those targets?" She asked curiously, but she already guessed the answer.

"About every other day. People like shooting at heads and that means they lose it quite often." He answered, then turned to her and held out his hand. She looked at it suspiciously for a moment, but eventually gently placed her hand in his.

He slowly shook it while speaking. "Good job with the shooting. Seems like this was it for today. I will be sure to bring a few new bullets for you to learn tomorrow!"

He released her hand and placed his top hat back on his head. Before walking up the stairs, he turned around and pointed his metal cane at her.

"Don't get into any trouble Miss Navarro!" He said with a smile, which caused Veronica to giggle.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" She answered, but he didn't believe her lie at all, still he didn't say anything just laughed and went away.

Veronica stood a bit longer in the shooting range looking at the place where Michael had disappeared to. The smile was still persistently on her face, but she didn't care about it.

She just took a deep breath, looked at the target one more time. After she made another satisfactory nod, she left the gun shop and went away to do something possibly illegal!

...

Veronica walked inside the inn. It was packed full of customers, but sadly she had no chance to help out.

As she went towards the basement, James smiled and gave her a small nod of acknowledgment, which she returned.

Down in the basement Alex had managed to sober up to some degree. He looked somewhat normal and his breath only smelt a little like alcohol, not like it mattered. The place where they were headed had much worse smells.

"Are you ready?" She asked with a badly hidden concern. He smiled a bit with melancholy. "Yes... Also, sorry about the morning... I'm a bit cranky after I wake up."

Veronica was hundred percent certain that it wasn't caused by waking up. He probably haven't even slept the whole night, but she showed no contempt and instead gave him a supporting smile.

It would've achieved nothing if she made him embarrassed or mad. She was just happy that he got better since yesterday. It would've sucked to ask around with a depressed alcoholic!

After talking through her divination again, they ventured outside and got onto a public carriage. It was full of people for some reason, which possibly had something to do with the protests.

She haven't been close to the Court Square, but even then she heard the rumors... It was only getting worse...

The public carriages only ventured to the outskirts of the Dirt District. It was a bit discriminative, but Veronica knew the truth. In the past they tried to have some lines go deeper inside, but after some of the horses got stolen or eaten, the city council decided to eliminate the lines.

It angered Veronica. They had clear signs of the unhappiness in the lowest class of citizens, but they had done nothing to appease the masses and even now they try to keep them in the dirt!

With her smoldering thoughts time passed quickly and soon she could finally get off the packed carriage, that smelled awful. Sadly when she tried to take a breath of fresh air, it took most of her willpower not to vomit from disgust.

The Dirt District was just breathtaking, in the way that you would be better off not breathing.

Next to her Alex looked towards the large shanty town with crumbling buildings and grimaced. After another few seconds they began walking towards it.

"You will get used to the smell." He whispered while they walked, but Veronica had already forgotten all about that. Her eyes were now on the people.

The Dirt District was a very fitting name. The people living here all looked dirty, like they haven't taken a shower or a bath in a long time, if ever.

The houses were really close to breaking. Some were made of actual wood that still held, but others looked to be rotting. The worst ones were just haphazardly put together shanties, which didn't even keep the chilly autumn air properly out.

Her mind instantly went to the approaching winter. How many people will die because of the cold?... How many men, women and children?... How many have to die before people start to care?

The answer was quite obvious for Veronica and it angered her further... Too many!

With these thoughts keeping her company they went further inside. In the divination Veronica had seen a few surrounding buildings. They looked so bad that they definitely weren't located at the edge of the Dirt District.

The two of them walked in silence. There were a few street urchins that tried to pickpocket them, but regular humans had no chance against ascended reflexes.

When a boy reached out his arm to grab the Dancer's Rose's chain, Veronica quickly turned around and caught his hand before he even realized it.

The boy of about 8 years looked terrified, but also in awe. Veronica was clean and beautiful, which made her look very out of place in this environment.

She smiled down at him, then opened his palm and pressed one eura in it. The boy looked bewildered, he couldn't even thank her from the surprise. Veronica still held onto his hand firmly, this was a great opportunity to ask for directions!

"Hello there! How familiar are you with the inner part of the Dirt District?" She asked in a warm, calming voice. It melted any remnant protest the kid had.

"Ve'y Ma'am! Wha' place da lady look fo'?" His voice sounded strange, hard to understand, like a person who haven't heard proper talk before.

Keeping the smile on her face Veronica gambled a bit and let go of the boy's hand. His eyes instantly turned frantic, but unlike her expectation, he didn't run away.

"We are looking for a creepy, old house. It is large and located at a dead-end street, but that's all we know. Also..." She leaned in a bit closer which made the skittish kid back away a step. "...At night demonic cackling comes out of the building!"

The boy looked around with terror, this was all the clue Veronica needed. He knew exactly what place she was talking about, which meant she needed him to help them find it!

"If you help us get to it I will give you four more eura!" The boys fearful eyes changed to greedy. There was a battle going down inside his mind, but eventually avarice had won and he silently nodded.

Alex watched this whole interaction with great interest and a proud smile. He definitely wouldn't have been able to talk some street urchin to be their guide. He was simply way less charismatic, but Veronica had no such problem.

Just by looking at this, Alex knew that she will grow up into a great ascended, she just needs a bit more experience with the supernatural world, and as they arrived to the house he had a feeling that she would very soon acquire a lot more, than she had bargained for.

After giving the money to the kid, he ran of without looking back. She just stared at his back with a sad smile. She had hoped he would use the money smartly, but she also had a feeling that someone stronger will take it from him.

Her fists closed and turned white from anger. This action was starting to turn into a habit.

She stared at the change in the color for a while longer, before turning back to the house which looked even creepier in real life.

It took them a while to get here since the Dirt District was quite large. They also asked dozens of people for help, but most just went away without saying a word. Even when they offered money they seemed to be scared of them.

Veronica didn't blame them, but it was really annoying.

Currently the Sun was making its way to the western horizon, illuminating the sky in a purplish glow. They had to take care of this fast, the Dirt District was especially dangerous at night, even for ascended.

Alex and Veronica looked at each other, then the pair made a small nod and walked towards the rickety door of the wooden structure.