SECOND-CLASS SAINT

Full Circle (V)

Much of the day's luster had faded.

Shadows grew long and the landscape was blanketed in a fiery golden hue, one that slowly faded by the minute as its source drifted across the sky. Within the hour, that fearsome glow too, will have sunk beyond the horizon.

After wandering from store to store on foot, Cyril and Angelica somehow found themselves near the station platform where they had first arrived in District Four. It was an area he was familiar with, so it wasn't very hard for him to plot such a loop-like route.

GROWWWWLLLLL

Cyril's midriff churned as it bellowed the unearthly rumble.

The boy's shoulders jerked in response. Luckily for him, the time-of-day was miraculously in his favor seeing as there weren't many people moving alongside them as they approached the nearby crosswalk.

The crowds were already ahead of them, slowly developing into larger clumps as the pedestrians gathered, patiently waiting for the stoplights to switch in their favor.

"Teheheh~ it's fine, I don't mind it Cyril. Truth be told, I wouldn't mind getting something to eat right around now." said Angelica, her spry voice sounding from behind him.

"O-Oh, right, I think we can find somewhere good nearby." He replied without so much as a peek over his shoulders as they melded into the onlooking crowd, a pitiful attempt at hiding the ripening red color on his cheeks.

Their steps lacked any sense of urgency as they crossed the double-lane roads. Though the stoplights overhead glowed in their favor, it wasn't the reason—they were simply carried along by the flow of the crowd.

On the other side, a massive multi-level mall loomed, its inviting ground-level entrance spilling out a steady stream of people moving in their direction. The establishment catered to a variety of needs—everything from coffee shops to convenience stores—each highlighted by brilliantly illuminated signs that bathed the area in vibrant shades of light.

Cyril sent a few glances over his shoulder as they walked, his eyes—which seemed unusually luminous for some reason— scanned their surroundings intently as if they were regularly checking for something.

He felt a slight tug on his sleeve, prompting him to lower his gaze. There, a few centimeters below his eye-level, he locked eyes with Angelica who was now pouting for some reason.

"I'm not a child you know, I'm not so naive that I would end up getting lost in a place like this."

The weight behind her sentence —paired with a set of puffing cheeks alongside her ever-determined glare — was enough to tear Cyril's predatory gaze away from the curious sight in the distance.

"Oh, no, I wasn't checking to see if you got lost...well no, I was checking for that too but something else caught my eye in the crowd."

"Cyril, that answer isn't helping your case as much as you think," Angelica shot back instinctively.

"It's the truth. You probably didn't notice because you were too focused on food."

Color rushed to her face.

"Wha—no, of course not! A little hunger isn't enough to—"

Angelica was mere moments from stepping forward to challenge his gaze again, but just as she opened her mouth to fire back, the thick crowd parted. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a familiar store sign—its red and white colors glowing flawlessly, as if beckoning them closer.

Her lips hung open, the words that were due for release had been surmounted by fantastical shock—that was how it was for her, anyway.

Noticing her delayed response, obvious amongst the sifting crowd of passersby's, Cyril turned his head to the right at an elevated angle. There, he saw it, a few flights up was the signpost that belonged to a famous fast-food chain widely known across the country, which naturally meant that its influence was no less popular outside the walls of Babylon.

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"So that's it." He said, dramatically shrugging to himself.

Angelica's eyes lit up with brilliant sparkles as the excitement surged through her chest, he already expected it, but with hardly any build up to her spontaneity, the girl turned to him beaming with an earnestness no human could refuse.

"C-Cyril!" She called and pointed a quivering finger to the side.

"I thought you weren't a child." Cyril commented, his tone cunning to a fault.

"I-I'm not! It's just… I've never tried it before. The chefs back home refuse to make this, no matter how many times I ask, and I could never sneak off to buy it with Yelena around—Ah!"

Angelica clamped both hands over her mouth, eyes widening at her own guilty admission. Abashed, she turned away, muttering something under her breath.

"I've still got some time left before I need to return to the condo, so if you don't mind, I'd like to try it...if that's okay with you...."

Now that it had come to this, he was bound to relent. Cyril exchanged glances between the noble-turned-timid and the bustling fast-food restaurant. The speedy customer service was one of the major reasons why this chain managed to garner such a solid reputation across the country in only a matter of a few years.

Currently, there was no line, only patrons waiting to receive their order and even if there had been one, it would have all but vanished by the time they made their way up to the third floor.

After glancing around thrice, a quick scan of their surroundings revealed no traces of Angelica's retainer.

"It's not that late, so I think we can make it."

"Really!?" Her eagerness burned brighter.

"You want to try it don't you—those burgers, I mean. So long as Yelena doesn't find out, I'm all for it."

"She won't." said Angelica, earnestly curling a small fist to her chest. "I can promise you that on the Regis name."

Cyril chuckled, amused by the sudden shift in her demeanor.

"You don't have to take it so seriously; we're just going to get some burgers. It's not something nobles need to stake their clan names on, right?"

"Hardly. I'm not being flippant about it—this is just a habit of mine, something I do whenever I get serious."

Once again, Cyril took the lead, saying: "I really hope it lives up to your expectations." as he passed her by. Angelica puffed her chest and nodded eagerly as she walked after him. Their paces synced in no time, and as the elevator drew closer, Yelena's words spontaneously drifted through his mind.

"Please be mindful of the locations you introduce to the young miss."

Compared to all the shady stores they'd visited a while ago, Vulcanus included, this was on the lighter side of the spectrum.

Yelena...I may have gone a bit overboard.

Their destination was two floors up—a well-known fast-food chain infamous for its red-and-white color scheme.

>>>>-------<<<<<<<

"This is amazing~" Angelica admitted with a hand to her cheek, her face turning mellow as the spicy flavors spread across her tongue. In her hands was a half-eaten burger, held a bit awkwardly by her odd finger placements.

Without a doubt, she clearly wasn't very used to this.

There was virtually no wait time for them to place and order, which only served to fuel the girl's excitement. With a trembling hand, she placed a few bills in the cashier's palm and daintily walked away once she'd gotten her money's worth.

Being on the third floor of a multi-story mall had its perks, one of which was offering customers open-air seating, like the patio where they chose to stop. It wasn't anything fancy—just a ten-meter-wide space with a few benches, each seating two people on either side. But the elevated view, paired with the sunset scenery, transformed their otherwise mundane experience into something far more memorable.

Cyril, sipping on a can of coffee he'd purchased from a vending machine, observed her reactions with genuine interest. He made to giggle at the sight of a noble looking so fulfilled from fast food that even he wasn't a big fan of but ultimately decided to settle his amusement for the time being.

"Um, Cyril, are you sure that's all you want?" she asked, cocking her head at his oddly satisfied expression.

"This will do for now. I've still got to work up a sweat in a bit after all."

Brows still scrunched; Angelica made to take another bite from her burger when suddenly—

Boom

It sounded like the air split apart.

Angelica let out a soft squeal as she lifted her head in surprise. In general, the eyes of a deviant granted them far greater perceptive acuity than that of regular humans, but even Angelica who was amongst those at the very top of that supernatural hierarchy could barely make out the source of the explosion that occurred thousands of feet above ground level.

From what she could tell, the shockwaves origin was an aircraft several times the size of a typical fighter jet. That was the closest comparison she could draw, but in truth, an ordinary fighter jet stood no chance of competing with that technological marvel.

It was in a class of its own, reigning at the helm of Babylon's efforts in Magical Integration.