I Die to Rise: Resurrection System-Chapter 48: Bye-bye Loot Houses! [Part 2]

<No. 7 Void King>

They materialized in her hands, weapons that resembled Berettas and she fired once after aiming at the lock on the door.

The bullet didn’t explode or shatter. Rather, it erased. A perfectly circular hole appeared where the lock had been, the metal simply ceasing to exist.

Emma kicked the door open and stepped inside.

The guards barely had time to react before she was on them. She fired again, and a guard’s rifle had a gaping hole where the trigger should have been, leaving him holding a worthless piece of junk.

Another shot opened a fist-sized hole through a man’s shoulder, clean and bloodless, like reality itself had been carved away.

"Anyone else?" Emma called out with a cold voice.

The remaining guards dropped their weapons and ran. At least they were smart enough to realize what would happen if they continued.

"Tch," Emma clicked her tongue then holstered her guns, smirking. "Didn’t think so."

She turned toward the back rooms, then paused. One guard remained. He was young, maybe eighteen, pressed against the wall with his hands up.

"Please," he stammered. "I just started last week. I didn’t even want—"

"Save it." Emma walked past him toward the loot. "You’ve got ten seconds to run. After that, the building’s not my problem anymore." She lit a makeshift Molotov cocktail and tossed it to the wall.

The kid didn’t need to be told twice and He bolted, the building already filling up with smoke.

Emma began loading crates, methodical and efficient even through the fire that was slowly spreading.

When the truck was full, she lit a cigarette, leaned against the driver’s door, and watched the kid disappear around a corner.

"Dumbass," she muttered, then drove off like someone who hated the road, tires screeching as she steered the huge wheel with a smirk on her face.

From the rearview mirror, she watched as the small fire she lit inside finally spread into an inferno that erupted all over the building.

Nearby, in the very same city, Cassandra approached her target alone, her breath visible in the cold night air.

The guards were inside, unaware. Cassandra placed her hand against the door, and frost spread across the metal in intricate patterns, freezing the lock solid, then shattering with a single touch.

She stepped inside, and the temperature dropped immediately. The guards scrambled for their essence enhanced weapons, but ice already crept across the floor, locking their boots in place.

Cassandra raised her hand, and jagged spears of ice erupted from the ground, pinning them against the walls without piercing flesh. They screamed, struggling, but the ice held firm.

"Stay quiet," Cassandra said coldly. "Or the next ones go through."

She moved deeper into the building, her eyes scanning the interior until she found it. A small wooden box, half-hidden beneath a pile of stolen goods.

She opened it carefully, and inside was a crystal necklace, delicate and glowing with faint blue light.

Cassandra’s hand trembled as she lifted it, her expression softening for just a moment. "There you are," she whispered.

She tucked it into her pocket, then turned and began hauling crates toward the truck outside.

When the building was empty, she stepped back, raised her hand, and exhaled.

The entire structure froze solid, ice spreading across every surface, and then it collapsed inward with a deafening crack.

Cassandra climbed into the truck afterwards and drove off without looking back.

In the D-rank district, Kurt strolled up to his target, hands casually tucked into his pockets. The loot house was tucked into a narrow side street, a nondescript building with barred windows and a heavy metal door. Two guards stood outside, smoking and talking in low voices. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Kurt stopped at the corner, flicked his cigarette to the ground, and cracked his knuckles. "Right then. Let’s make this quick."

Spoof!

One moment he was standing at the corner. The next, he was inside the loot house, surrounded by Silver Tail goons with rifles.

"I don’t suppose you all want to go grab a drink?"

"Intruder!" One of the guards screamed and they all pointed their guns at him. Those who could mold essence, already unleashing bolts of energy towards his position.

"So it’s a no on the drinks then?" Kurt muttered and vanished again, avoiding the shots as he repeared behind a guard, connecting the side of his palm to his nape and knocking him out in one strike.

The rest of the goons closed in and Kurt vanished again, reappearing beside another and grabbed his arm.

Spoof!

He appeared outside the loot house, Sixty feet above ground with the guard and himself falling through the air as he let gravity do its work.

Spoof!

He teleported again mid-fall, reappearing directly behind one of them that aimed bolts of energy frantically. He tapped his shoulder, and when the guard turned, his fist connected with the man’s face, and he was launched into a wooden crate.

"Bollocks!" Kurt shook his arm after that punch, flexing his fingers. Unfortunately, there was no time to take a breather or lose guard.

The next guard spun around, but Kurt was already gone, reappearing above him and grabbing him by the collar then teleported again, this time even higher, Eighty feet straight up.

He let go and the guard screamed as he fell, then Kurt teleported back to the ground, watching as the man hit the pavement with a sickening crunch.

"Bloody efficient, that," Kurt muttered, lighting a cigarette.

He stepped inside the building, teleporting from room to room in flashes of nothing, disarming and incapacitating anyone he found. Within minutes, the place was cleared.

With both hands rested on his knees, he took a moment to catch his breath before loading the loot into a truck. The smell of gasoline sharp in his nose as he doused the building. He struck a match, tossed it, and drove off as flames devoured the structure behind him.

***

They returned to the guild just before dawn, trucks loaded with crates of cores, weapons, gold, and essence-infused items. The guild erupted in cheers as they unloaded everything, members swarming to help.

Kurt leaned against his truck, cigarette in hand, watching the chaos with a faint smile. They’d actually pulled it off. No casualties, no one left behind.

Lizzie bounded over, still clutching her gun. "Kurt! KURT! Did you see what this thing does?! It’s AMAZING! I named her Betty!"

"You said you’d figure it out later," Kurt said, amused.

"I figured it out!" Lizzie beamed.

Emma walked past, hauling a crate. She caught Kurt’s eye and gave him a slight nod and Kurt nodded back.

Cassandra stood apart from the celebration, one hand in her coat pocket where the necklace rested. Sam noticed and walked over quietly, not saying anything, just standing beside her.

After a moment, Cassandra’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

The cheers grew louder in the background and Rook raised his hand for silence, grinning. "Tomorrow, we throw Sam a proper welcome party. All out. No holding back."

Sam’s face lit up and she cheered along with the rest of the guild, already laughing and bonding with the members around her.

***

Miles away, in the Silver Tail headquarters, Braun Ironside stood in his office, his fists clenched so tight in anger. The scent of expensive cigars hung in the air, but he hadn’t smoked one all night.

On his desk lay six reports. Six locations. Six total losses.

"They destroyed them," he said quietly, his voice trembling with rage. "They destroyed all of them."

He picked up one report—the B-rank location. His most secure, gone, and the page crumpled in his fist.

Across from him was Eli in his usual attire that made him look like a butler, Braun’s second lieutenant, and his expression was calm.

"What are your orders, sir?" Eli asked.

With eyes blazing, Braun responded. "Assemble the lieutenants. All of them."

In the corner of the room, a dark-skinned man with a low-cut silver hair and leaned against the wall, arms loosely crossed. Joshua, the first lieutenant, barely glanced up. He had a bored expression that suggested he’d already mentally checked out of the entire conversation.

He let out a slow, tired exhale through his nose.

"Wake me when you guys have actually found them," he mumbled, like even speaking took too much effort.

Braun’s fist slammed onto the desk hard enough to rattle the reports. "Joshua! We need to deal with this before it sends the wrong message about Silver Tail."

But Joshua didn’t flinch. He just blinked slowly, once, as if the outburst had floated right past him. "Yeah... sure."

He scratched the side of his neck absently.

"Look, those three have been sent to discover their location. No use yelling about it. When they do, give me a shout. Or don’t. Either way works."

He pushed off the wall with all the urgency of someone who’d rather be on a bed or couch. His shoulders slouched, steps dragging just enough to make it clear he was only moving because biology demanded it.

"Till then... I’m gonna go lie down." He gave a half-hearted two-finger wave over his shoulder without looking back, then shuffled toward the door like a man who’d already decided the rest of the night wasn’t worth staying awake for.

Eli, however, bowed with a grin on his face. "It will be done."

He turned and left the room seconds after Joshua, and Braun stood alone, staring out at the city, his rage simmering just beneath the surface.

If it wasn’t official, it was now. War had been declared.