The band of hitmen, sent by the last remaining Sandstorm members, quickly roamed the City of Fashion's buildings and skyscrapers. Multiple citizens walking on the flashy, neon-lit sidewalks saw the hitmen jumping through the bright, tall buildings,  and making a scene across the entire district.

All of the citizens were quite confused as to why there was a sudden group of people that had supernatural abilities, with them being able to climb up the walls of massive buildings and skyscrapers with relative ease and dash through the skies, capable of walking on the air wherein a normal person with no knowledge of Essence couldn’t possibly do, and many more.

“How can they walk on air?” wondered the people from below, who were curious about the ways they managed to obtain such an ability.

This specific technique known as the Light Step, an instinctive universal technique that all Essence Users are capable of doing by instinct, giving them the ability to walk on air and dash at blazing fast speeds.

The band of hitmen was sent out to hunt the three outlaws responsible for the collapse of the criminal organization, with the Sandstorm members eagerly waiting for the deaths of those who turned their organization into a shell of its former self.

After a short while, the leader of the band of hitmen stood idly before a building that was near a mall, and the other hitmen followed in his tracks. He looked from side to side, inspecting the area for any Intergalactic activity that might interfere with their task.

“We’ll have to wait for the right time to strike… I’m guessing that the three will enter the mall a few minutes from now, we just have to be patient, and attack when they least expect it.”

Said the leader of the band of hitmen, who held his lightsaber tightly, while his three comrades sat down, anticipating for the right time to strike when their targets had successfully entered the mall located at the center of the district.

“Those three seem dangerous… Especially the one with that black bandana over there in the middle, that’s probably their captain from my point of view.”

Said one of the members of the band of hitmen, aiming his sniper rifle at the three outlaws who were their targets, looking through the scope and scouting them at a distance far enough for them to not notice anything suspicious about their surroundings.

“Yeah, that’s also what I’ve been thinking ever since I’ve seen those three walk around on the sidewalks…  Maybe it would be a good idea to deal with him first, am I right?”

Another member of the band of hitmen replied to his crew member, flickering his weapon around his finger whilst he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike the three targets down.

“Right, that seems like the most strategic way to go… But I’m more worried about that masked swordsman… He seems like he’s the wisest and most knowledgeable out of the three.”

The leader spoke about his worries, he was worried that the masked swordsman, Renzo, could mean more trouble to the crew than Dex, who had little to no knowledge about Essence, but he was still recognized by the hitmen for his potential and his unpredictable style of fighting, which proves to cause a lot of trouble for his opponents.

They waited and waited, with one of the hitmen taking a sip from a cup of coffee that he had taken from a nearby building earlier, and another hitman was having a bite out of some toasted bread that he bought earlier from a store near the mall.

“You guys should stop eating whenever we’re on a mission… Makes me feel like wanting to grab a quick bite of some bread from that store over there…”

Said the leader of the band of hitmen, whose stomach growled at the sight of two of his crew members taking a bite out of some bread and sipping on a cup of coffee from the store way downtown.

“Yeah, it’s quite distracting… But we’re gonna need to have our stomachs full before we partake in a mission like this… You never know if that’s going to be your last meal or not.”

Said another member of the band of hitmen who wore dark glasses to conceal his identity, and held an ominous scroll with him, with even his crew members having no idea what that scroll was used for, and why he was always bringing it to missions.

“What does that scroll even do? You’ve been holding onto that ever since we started this mission?”

One of the crew members curiously asked, attempting to take the scroll from his right hand, with his curiosity piqued on what that scroll was capable of doing.

However, the member who had ownership of the scroll grabbed his hand and put it away from the precious scroll, whom he protected with his life, willing to sacrifice everything just to prevent it from being seen by anyone.

“Don’t touch that scroll! That’s our trump card in case things go bad for us!”

The hitman shouted to his partner, the scroll seemed to be important for later on, used in a situation where the odds wouldn’t be in their favor, and if they ever needed to gain an advantage in battle.

“Sorry about that, I just wanted to see what that thing was capable of doing…”

The hitman who intended to take the scroll apologized, bowing down at his partner as a sign of respect. The other two hitmen scouted the surroundings, mainly gazing at the three targets who were walking down the sidewalk intending to enter the mall.

Meanwhile, the outlaws, Dex, Tanya, and Renzo, walked through the flamboyant sidewalks of the City of Fashion, looking up at the colorful billboards that were strategically placed on the tall buildings of the district.

“Look at that one, Renzo! That hologram looks just as ugly as you!”

Tanya pointed her finger at the hologram on the top of one of the buildings that was covered in a bright neon with accents of a pink and bluish tint. The hologram looked quite unappealing to the eye, and its appearance was an abomination compared to the modernistic, beautiful artworks that were scattered all around the city.

Renzo seemed silent and seemed to ignore Tanya like she never even existed, minding his own business, and holding his mask that he always wore to conceal his true identity as an outlaw.

“Maybe you guys should try disguising yourselves… With the technology that the Intergalactic Federation has, it won’t take long until you guys will eventually get caught by them.”

Renzo warned the two, who didn’t even try to look like normal people who were exploring the city’s culture and fashion sense.

“To be honest, wearing that mask makes you look even more suspicious…”

Dex replied, that his mask was a shogun mask that those of high ranking mainly wore in the olden days, it was passed from one generation to the next, and it was now at the hands of Renzo, who swore to keep the mask until the end of his life.

“I could take this off if it’s necessary.”

Renzo took off the mask, putting it on his right waist wherein he protected it from any thieves or pickpockets that dared to take the mask, which was valued to be worth millions of Myrid since it belonged to a legendary shogun from the Edo period, someone that came from Renzo’s ancestry.

“There ya go! Now you can show off your handsome face to the ladies in the crowd!”

Tanya teased Renzo once again, and it seemed like Renzo ignored her from the face of the earth, causing her to become irritated and let out a surge of lightning from the sidewalk, which would’ve caused serious harm to the civilians walking around if this ever continued.

“Hey, chill out! All I did was to just ignore you!”

Renzo patted Tanya on the back, laughing along the way as he managed to calm her down, the surge of lightning surrounding her entire body slowly vanished, and she was back to normal again.

“Don’t ignore me next time, or I’m blowing this entire place up.”

Tanya expressed in an irritated tone, crossing her arms as they walked towards the mall of the City of Fashion, which was littered with all kinds of advertisements promoting their products, and the flashy display of neon lights from all around the mall.

“Dang, this mall is huge! I’ve never seen something like this before!”

Renzo exclaimed in excitement, gasping in utter shock as the three looked at the vast expanse of the mall, which was larger than anything that they’d ever seen before. It had hundreds of designer clothing brands scattered all around the mall and expensive five-star restaurants that people could only dream of going into.

However, the hitmen finally noticed the three planning to enter the mall, to which they stood up from the rooftops, and they all watched as their targets entered. The real mission has just begun.