Falling Upwards - Arknights

Chapter 14: The Chains and the Lock and Key

- Downtown Siracusa, 2008 hours \ Windy -

Mafiosos continued to trickle into the narrow alleyway where Mostima and Torrent are surrounded. Enemy casters as well as snipers aimed their weapons at the two while the melee fighters took the front. They glared Mostima and Torrent down in an attempt to make themselves scary.

Within minutes, the mobsters have completely encircled the two. However, none of them dared to make the first move.

"This is a bit of a plot twist in our story. We might've made a bright and noisy show for this large of a crowd to gather." Torrent chuckled as he stands side by side with Mostima.

"Heh, maybe." Mostima comments.

Just then, several large armored mobsters along with one who is about a foot taller than Torrent, equipped with more ornate armor emerged from the cluster of lesser mobsters, likely the figure leading them. He brandished what looks like a sledgehammer and shoulders it, seemingly attempting to look intimidating.

"You lil' ants have done enough to annoy the bosses. Just lemme tell ya that they ain't havin' none of it anymore." The ornate mobster tells them.

"That's kind of like our job, you know?" Mostima retorts with a smile.

"Enough! This ends tonight!" The large mobster yells, readying his sledgehammer for a brawl.

"Looks like these mooks caught up to me and even got the time to call their friends." Torrent glanced at Mostima. "Friends of yours?" He asks her, thinking that the mobsters are on her side. She chuckled in response.

"Ahah, you mean they caught up to us?" Mostima says to him, causing him to look at her curiously. "They were looking for me too after I blasted my way through one of their safehouses and stole some really important papers." She explains. Torrent goes into thinking for a moment after hearing that.

"Hm, that explains their numbers." Torrent comments, taking note on how many were there.

He and Mostima must have been chased by their respective pursuers. Their meeting and subsequent duel might have given them the chance to join forces and pursue them together.

That also meant that Mostima isn't affiliated with them, and that they share a common enemy now.

"Hey, Torrent-" Mostima calls to Torrent who looks at her. "Just like Sauin?" She asks him. Torrent smirks, knowing full well what she meant.

"Just like Sauin." Torrent replies.

They nod at each other and they prepared themselves for a fight against the mobsters. Mostima reactivated Black Lock and White Key as her powers spiked, causing the glyphs from earlier to reappear and her halo to take on a new form. Torrent infused himself with his Originium Arts, causing his loaned sword to emit a whirring sound and to faintly glow once more. Both of them had wicked smiles formed on their faces.

Needless to say, the sight of two powerful Arts users are more than enough to frighten the mobsters before them.

"We're not scared of you!" One of the mafiosos yells as he tried to act tough.

"Oh we don't want you to be scared~" Mostima taunts the mobsters. "If you are, then we wouldn't have such a large audience." She continued, clearly intent on not letting any of them escape.