Dex, Tanya, and Renzo entered the mall located at the center of the district. It was bright and flamboyant, containing numerous neon lights that caught the interest of anyone walking right up the mall that stood before them.

All of them gazed their eyes upon the unforgettable sight that is to see, the intense holographic imagery that was placed on all sides of the mall, they seemed to have blocked off a portion of the pathway, but that wasn’t too much of a problem as they were able to be phased through, only serving as a harmless distraction to the people visiting there.

“Look at that one! It’s so big!”

Said Tanya, who gasped in utter shock after seeing the hologram that moved around the mall, pretending to stomp on the people who were walking around, but they were phasing through his body like it was nothing.

Renzo on the other hand, sat down at the porch of the mall, putting on the black shogun mask on his face to prevent anyone from seeing his true identity, whilst inspecting the area for anyone whom he deemed suspicious.

Dex was standing beside him, fixing his outfit to stand out from the crowd of civilians wearing minimalistic wear, with metallic-looking clothing and holographic glasses that almost everyone in the crowd of people wore.

“Sometimes, less is more, right Renzo?”

Said Dex, who thought that the modernistic outfits that people wore nowadays were getting quite stale and that they were quite boring and didn’t feel like any effort was put into them. Renzo couldn’t help but agree, he saw that there was little to no originality with the outlaws, and almost everyone in the mall looked like miniature clones of each other.

“Yeah, I can definitely see that… I guess the ‘City of Fashion’ isn’t really all that much.”

Renzo replied, he tasked himself with scouting the area for anyone whom he thought would be likely to attack the group, mainly looking for people who appeared to look like hitmen or bounty hunters, constantly looking at them when they were out of sight.

“Is there anything wrong? You’ve been looking around for so damn long, just chill out for a moment.”

Dex told Renzo, asking him to calm down and enjoy the mall’s atmosphere while no bounty hunter or Intergalactic was aware of their presence. However, he still couldn’t get his doubts off his head.

“We can’t let our guard down in a place like this… I’m anticipating that a group of people will be sent to hunt us down, and ambush us when we least expect it.”

Renzo kept having worries in his head, but Dex assured him that no one was going to hunt them down, especially in a crowded place like the mall where attacking meant notifying the Intergalactic Federation, who were armed to the bone with railguns and murderous drones that could decimate everything in sight.

Thankfully, Renzo managed to calm himself down, and Tanya was curiously staring at the large department store located on the second floor of the mall.

“We should definitely explore that store over there!”

Yelled out Tanya, who pointed her finger at the department store of the mall. Renzo and Dex were already exhausted from all the walking that they had to endure to get there, and desperately needed a break before going there.

“Give me a break, I’m already exhausted with all the walking that we had to do,” said Renzo, who couldn’t spend any more energy that he could use for fighting opponents if there were any who planned to attack them from behind.

“I mean, just a little walking won’t hurt…”

Dex replied, scrolling through his phone and watching videos on SpaceTube to pass the time. Tanya couldn’t bear any more waiting and let out a surge of lightning due to her irritation.

Renzo instantly stood up and held both of Tanya’s shoulders in an attempt to calm her down, trying to prevent any damage from occurring.

“Control your emotions for once, will you?” Renzo expressed in an irritated yet relieved tone.

After a few minutes of waiting, the crew finally arrived at the department store. Tanya was filled with excitement and enthusiasm, Dex was impressed with how massive the store was, and how many products were crammed into one single area of the mall, while Renzo’s energy was fully depleted from his encounter earlier with Tanya, walking with his back hunched in an uncomfortable position.

“We’re finally here!” said Tanya with a voice filled with pure joy.

“Let me have a rest… I can’t do this anymore…”

Renzo replied, pausing for a moment and relaxing himself on a fancy chair, while the two left him behind to look for any fashion clothing that they preferred.

Dex and Tanya went downstairs from the escalator, looking down at all the different kinds of styles of clothing all around the store. There was modernistic clothing filled with holograms and light, metallic textures, minimalist clothing with smooth colors and little to no design, and finally, streetwear clothing with dark accents and grunge influence that the two preferred the most over the others.

“Look at that one Dex! I didn’t know they had clothing similar to ours!”

Tanya yelled out in anticipation, while Dex was eager to try out the clothing in that specific aisle located in the upper right corner of the store.

The two swiftly dashed to the area with streetwear clothing and looked for any outfits to try out.

Tanya grabbed a few shirts and skirts, all of them bearing the same dark colors and grunge influence that she always preferred when picking outfits. Dex also grabbed a few overcoats and black slacks, anything that could complement his black shirt with the logo of his favorite rap artist.

“You sure you’re gonna buy all that?”

Dex questioned Tanya, who grabbed an abnormally large amount of clothing with her to the fitting room, where she would try out the outfits one by one.

“I mean, can’t we just steal it? We’re outlaws, of course!” said Tanya in a slightly sarcastic tone, but still meant what she said.

“Professionals have standards. If it’s something that costs hundreds of thousands of Myrid, I’d absolutely steal that… But something as cheap as this? Nah, I’m fine with spending my own money–”

Dex replied, looking at the price tag of the clothes that he grabbed in the men’s fashion section.

Long Black Overcoat

Ṁ 500,000

Black Slacks
Ṁ 250,000

Upon realizing the hefty price that these clothing had, he was absolutely stunned by how unnecessarily expensive these pieces of clothing were, and to make it even worse, they weren’t even the highest quality of materials, making it a complete waste of money.

“Never mind, forget what I just said…” said Dex in an underwhelming tone.

However, he realized that Tanya had already disappeared from his sight, and she was in the fitting room trying out all the outfits, finding the perfect one that she preferred the most. He was quite skeptical about what her outfit would be if she got out of there, but he went into the fitting room himself to try out the outfit that he grabbed earlier.

Renzo was finally back to his former self again, regaining his energy in the form of a short nap that only took a few minutes. He went down the escalator where he briefly saw Dex for a moment entering the fitting room and returning with an outfit that caught his interest.

He slowly walked into the aisle where all the clothes were held, and saw Dex wearing an elegant outfit that reminded him of the fashion styles in the year 1950.

“You look like a grandpa with an outfit like that, but it does look good though.” Renzo slightly teased Dex, who just returned from the fitting room.

“I just tried this thing out… After looking at the price, I feel like stealing it…” said Dex, who was still overwhelmed by the overpriced clothing that he wore.

“Well, I could try some clothing out—”

Renzo spoke but was suddenly interrupted when he sensed the pull of a trigger of a sniper rifle that seemed to be a warning shot, caused by a band of hitmen from above gazing their sharp eyes at him. The hitmen had dangerous weapons, such as railguns, sniper rifles, and a lightsaber that made it clear that they were there to kill them without any signs of mercy.

“Now, we’re talking!” Renzo expressed in an excited tone, unsheathing the katana that was given to him by his grandfather, passed from generation to generation, and finally took off his mask, revealing a malicious grin to the band of hitmen.

The band of hitmen were quite stunned upon the realization of the masked swordsman’s true identity, knowing that he was a strategist who could create multiple scenarios in his mind that could destabilize their plan in a matter of seconds, they themselves were aware that they wouldn’t be escaping the battlefield without sustaining a serious injury in one way or another.