Arriving back at the hotel, Angelica and Ignis caught sight of the prince. He was standing right outside of the entrance with his arms crossed. When he saw his friends approaching, he moved his hands to his hips.

"There you are. Iris is getting supper ready. Angel, you feeling okay?"

She knew he must've been worried about her disappearance. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "Just taking a walk."

"Indeed," Ignis agreed, knowing the girl didn't want to tell Noctis about what transpired at the outlook. "Now, to see if Iris requires a hand."

The three turned to head inside when Angelica got a bad feeling. She froze, her eyes widening. The two men paused and looked back at her questioningly.

"Angel?" the prince said. "Something wro-"

"Shh!" she shushed, her ears listening closely.

Noctis fell silent, he and his advisor glancing around. Angelica suddenly heard a noise - the sound of something whizzing threw the air. She focused on it, and in the blink of an eye, her hand shot out, catching an arrow that had been heading straight for Noctis. The prince stared in shock at the arrow head inches from his face.

"The hell?!"

He and Ignis both summoned their weapons. Angelica looked at the arrow before tossing it to the ground. She then summoned her daggers and turned to face the dark street, her eyes scanning the shadows. She noticed a couple of people who had been sitting by the fountain fleeing the area after noticing the possible fight about to take place.

"Show yourself!" the girl shouted. "Who dares to attack my friend?!"

A low chuckle reverberated through the darkness. "Not the prince's shield," a low, masculine voice said. "But excellent reflexes."

Angelica pinpointed the source of the voice and caught sight of a silhouette on one of the rooftops. She slung one of her daggers at them, but the person jumped up, avoiding her dagger and landing on the street below. Now within the dim lighting of the street, Angelica could tell it was a man with a bow in hand, a quiver of arrows on his back, and a mask covering his face. The mask was oddly painted to look like the face of a gigantoad.

"How do you know me?" the prince inquired suspiciously.

The man chuckled again. "It would be pretty difficult to carry out my job if I didn't know what my target looked like."

Angelica resummoned her other dagger. "You're an assassin, then. I didn't think there were any of you left."

"There's not as many of us as there used to be," he admitted. "What about you? No ordinary person's ever caught one of my arrows."

"That's none of your business," she replied. "You sure talk a lot for an assassin."

The man shrugged. "Bad habit, I suppose. But that's why I don't go on jobs alone."

The girl's eyes widened slightly. "To your left!" Ignis warned.

Right as Angelica turned, Ignis jumped in front of her and clashed with another masked man. This man wielded a katana and had a mask painted like a midgardsormr. Ignis repelled the attack, giving Angelica the chance to counter. She lunged past the advisor, slashing at the man. He dodged and went over to the other masked man's side.

"Why are you standing here talking, Brother?" the newcomer asked his companion. "And who's the girl? I wasn't aware of any protectors of the target other than the shield and chamberlain."

"That's what intrigued me," his brother responded.

"Hey!" Angelica yelled, catching their attention. "We gonna fight or what?!"

"I propose a dual," the katana user said. "You and me. Your skill has caught our interest, I'd like to see what you can do. Meet us outside the western side of town in twenty minutes. Run away, and we'll hunt you down."

The redhead narrowed her eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be there."

The two men nodded and leapt up to the rooftop, disappearing from sight. Everyone's weapons dispersed. Angelica was stunned to have met other assassins. Is that what my mom was like? Is that how I'd have been if she'd never left her village? She was actually looking forward to the duel. She wanted to see how her power compared to those of full-fledged assassins.

Ignis suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look back at him. "Angel, are you certain you wish to do this?"

She smiled slightly. "Yes. I've got this."

"We should all go though," Noctis added, "just in case."

"Fine," the girl answered with a sigh. "I've gotta get ready."

She walked past the two men. They quickly followed her back up to their room. The others were there with Iris fixing supper. Noctis and Ignis began explaining what was going on while Angelica went to the bathroom, changing into her combat outfit she'd brought from home, which she now mostly wore to sleep in or for times like those. She walked out, tying her hair up into a bun.

The boys all insisted on going with her while making Iris, Talcott, and Jared wait there. The five exited Lestallum, following the road west. Not far from the town, the two assassins waited, standing beside the road in the dark. While people normally avoided travel outside of outposts and rest areas at night, the two men didn't seem the least bit afraid of running into daemons. Of course, Angelica wasn't scared either, knowing she could take on any daemons daring to attack her.

With the boys standing by, Angelica and the katana wielder began circling each other with their weapons in hand. "By the way, I suppose it's only right I give you my name," the man said. "I'm Acri. My little bro over there's Felix." He nodded toward his brother on the sidelines.

"You can call me Angelica. Now, you ready to duel?"

Instead of answering, Acri charged at her. Angelica ducked under his first sword swing and fought back with her daggers. Angelica was always relentless in her assaults, but Acri was too. Must be an assassin trait, her friends guessed. Both of them were extremely fast and agile, blocking and dodging each other's attacks. But finally, Acri knocked one of her daggers out of her hand. Her blade flew through the air and disappeared into tiny crystals.

She then blocked his sword with her remaining dagger. But he overpowered her and pushed her to the ground. He hovered right over her, his katana slowly forcing her dagger closer to her own face. Noctis and Ignis were both getting ready to jump in and help her. But when Felix noticed them inching closer toward the battle, he fired an arrow at their feet as a warning.

"No interferences," he told them.

They were forced to watch with unease, hoping that their friend would win. Angelica finally managed to gather up her strength and knock Acri's sword from his hand, sending it onto the ground next to them. But as soon as he was disarmed, he snatched her wrist that held her dagger while the other grabbed her throat. She quickly resummoned her other dagger in her free hand while letting the other disperse. In an instant, she plunged her knife into his arm that went for her neck. Acri let out a low groan of pain while releasing her to grasp his arm.

Angelica took the opportunity to bring her foot up and kick him in the face. The heel of her boot collided into the well-crafted mask he wore, cracking and shattering half of it, revealing the man's face underneath. She then kicked him off of her and jumped on him, pinning him down this time. She was met by a shining green eye staring up at her. Acri also had short, brown hair slicked back out of his face and stubble along his jawline.

"Brother!" Felix cried.

Angelica raised her dagger, ready to plunge it into her opponent's heart. She knew that for assassins, it was kill or be killed. Acri gazed up at her fearfully, now recognizing her skills and appearance. Before Angelica could stab him, Felix fired an arrow that pierced the girl's shoulder. Angelica let out a shriek, feeling an instant, painful numbness in her skin. With her weapon disappearing and her hand shooting up to her left shoulder, Acri took the chance to shove her off.

Acri covered the exposed half of his face and scrambled to retrieve his katana. "Felix, she's a Solani!"

"WHAT?!"

They both looked back at the girl on the ground, now being surrounded by her friends. "Just look at that crimson hair, and her combat ability proves it."

"W-We have to tell the boss about this!" Felix exclaimed. "Clan Solani lives!"

The two men swiftly disappeared into the night. Angelica weakly ripped the arrow from her skin, examining the tip before dropping it. "Angel, you okay?!" Noctis asked.

She could tell her entire left arm was unusable as she sat up. "Yeah, except I can't feel my arm. I think there was some kind of paralyzing toxin on that arrow."

"You sure kicked ass tonight," Gladio said. "You deserve some well earned R&R."

"Indeed," Ignis agreed, helping the girl up a bit.

"Don't worry, Angel," Prompto added. "We'll get you back to the hotel."

The girl struggled to her feet, feeling her legs beginning to go numb as well. In the end, Ignis simply lifted her into his arms and carried her. Angelica kept looking out into the darkness, angry at not getting to kill those two. But then she started to wonder about what they said. They knew my last name. They recognized my clan. But who's the boss they mentioned? The chief of their village? Though she learned a little of the assassins from her mother, there was still much she was clueless about. She was definitely going to have a lot on her mind for a while.