The red-haired lady sighed in relief. She got ready to run as well but as she took her first step, she felt a sensation she never felt in her whole life── pain. She was hit with a powerful blow from the enraged Samid that sent her flying to the wall.
She fell on all fours, opened her mouth and tried to purge as if trying to expel the pain she's feeling. "What's happening", she thought to herself as she looked at her shaking hands.
As she wondered to herself, Samid brought her up by pulling her hair. She tried to prevent herself from squealing but as soon as Samid saw her face, he immediately flexed his leg and thrusted his knee to her gut.
She was already at her limit and almost dropped to the ground for the second time but Samid wasn't through with her yet. He pulled again and this time with more force as if he was trying to tear her hair off.
The dignified lady that was fighting with all grace and fluidity moments ago was no more. At the back of their minds, the three men wondered that if it was the same girl, she would have easily avoided Samid's first attack but no one was more at loss than the red-haired lady herself. She couldn't think of anything how all of this was happening to her.
"Do you know what you just did?! Huh?!" Samid asked as he shook the girl's head through her hair.
The red-haired lady tried to grab Samid's arm and break free but her efforts were in vain. She closed her eyes and muttered words that the three couldn't hear but still, nothing happened.
"What are you doing?!" Samid mocked as he and his crew laughed at the girl's agony.
"Maybe she's begging for forgiveness, boss"
"Shut up you useless pieces of trash!!"
"She was THIS weak yet she was able to toy with you dogs!"
"But boss… it was you who let the other one go."
Samid asked both of his men to come closer. When they walked within his free hand's reach, he wittingly slashed his dagger to their torsos leaving stains of blood in its trail.
"You dare mock me? You slaves!!"
As slaves themselves, they weren't allowed any emotion. Their lives always played in the hands of their master. Even though they received such treatment, their case was still better compared to the others under Samid. They even lost count of how many of Samid's slaves died by his hands only because he felt like doing it. Yes, probably for them, death wasn't an unexpected guest anymore. It was something they wanted to come the sooner time possible. They even hated it how it never once knocked to their doors.
The two men standing side by side waited for the other to fall but no one did. Both of their cuts weren't deep enough. As they wore their straight faces, deep inside, they hated how death missed them yet again.
Samid scowled at the emotionless faces of his men. He wanted to see their hopeless faces but he'd save that for some other time. He already lost one "merchandise" that day. He couldn't afford to lose more.
"Forget her! I have something better!"
Samid slammed the lady she was harassing towards the wall.
"Someone of your caliber would still sell for quite a sum even if you'd be messed up to some extent.
Samid wore his disgusting sardonic smile and proceeded to groping one the red-haired lady's breasts.
He then moved his face closer to her neck and traced up to her cheeks using his wet tongue. As he drew closer to her eyes, he noticed how the girl she was molesting stared straight in his eyes. The superiority complex within him couldn't permit such pride in front of him.
"I'll mess you up real good!!" He said as he slapped the red-haired lady.
At exactly the moment Samid was about to start violating the fair maiden's lips, the two men who were watching saw a shadowed silhouette of a man appearing in the other end of the alley and then── a resounding "Bang!" was heard.
It was followed by the sound of rustling papers as if a bird struggling to take flight. Samid averted his gaze away from the lady to look behind him.
The red-haired lady followed the object that apparently hit Samid in the head to the ground. It was a book! And it landed with the spine facing up. The cover read, "Angelus Votum".
By the time she lifted her head, all the other people that was with her were already staring heavily at a young man with golden blonde hair standing at the other side of the alley.
"Burish as ever, Samid…"
It was Iris! He was now grubby from working at a construction site in the upper districts.
Who would have thought that Samid's already enraged face could offer more. The corner of his mouth curled upwards as he turned tomato-red.
Samid then let go the red-haired lady and simply roared, pointing his dagger towards Iris.
"You… FILTHY RAAAAAAAT!"
Iris leisurely crossed his arms and then touched his chin with his hand as if just a pedestrian randomly evaluating goods in a bazaar.
"My… my…" Iris said as he mockingly turned his head side to side while raising his flexed arms. "You certainly swooped down even lower from being a scum. I don't know what to call you anymore."
After hearing Iris' remarks, Samid charged towards Iris in full speed with the intent of thrust the dagger deep in his chest. It was apparent how he wanted to kill Iris so bad.
Iris watched attentively how the Samid rushed towards him with a blinding speed that one wouldn't expect from a man of his size.
Iris immediately stepped to the side to dodge the upcoming weapon but it was just a fluke. With years of experience, Samid managed to execute a convincing fake and skillfully swung his bladed
weapon to the side were Iris was.
Still, skillful he may really be, Iris was worlds better. Iris secured Samid's hand that was holding the dagger, grasped his opponent's collarbone. Then, while still holding Samid's wrist, pulled his hand to the side of his ear and extended his supporting leg to the outer side of Samid bringing his opponent to his side. At the same time, he bent the same leg from the knee at pulled a little to tilt Samid.
His movements were really fast! He reaped Samid's leg bringing him to afloat and then smashed him to the ground.
The sight of a man doing a large outer reap to a person double his size was simply astonishing.
The technique itself didn't hurt but it was enough to buy sometime as Samid lay on the ground. Iris
stood up as if nothing amazing happened but Samid wasn't through yet.
After Iris let go of his hand, he hurriedly tried to stab Iris' nearest foot. Nevertheless, Iris was prepared. He swiftly stepped on Samid's wrist putting his attempt along with his pride to dust. Iris pressed harder and broke few ligaments.
Samid writhed in agony. He tried to pull his hand from beneath Iris' foot but he can't.
"What are you doing?! You're going to break it! STOP!"
Iris' calm expression shifted to a more serious one. He looked down the pleading man as if he was being irritated by an insignificant insect.
"You wouldn't want to pull my strings further, Samid…"
Iris took a deep breath and shifted back to his calm demeanor. He thought children during the day, did manual labor for hours after, now, just threw a big man to the ground. He was definitely tired.
He looked at the other two stunned men who stood near the red-haired girls. They looked like people who could move swiftly. He didn't know how much more he could keep up if he would also engage with them.
"Look… It's been a really long day so why won't you just leave the poor girl alone?"
Iris tried reasoning with them but Samid didn't want to admit defeat.
"Stop him you fools!!"
The two men readied their daggers as Samid commanded.
"I guess I have no choice then…"
Iris stepped on Samid's wrist one last time and used it to start sprinting. He ran towards the red-haired lady and grabbed her hand. He wasn't foolish enough to fight three men while they had a hostage.
Iris dragged the red-haired lady and headed to the other side of the alley but they were blocked by the two armed men.
Iris pressed one foot on the sandy ground and then spurt sand in the air blinding the people in front of him. He then proceeded to tackling them to set aside and victoriously coming out of the dark alley and into the busy streets of the bazaar.
It was funny how, even though there might have been many people who could have seen the incident in the alley, no one cared to help two helpless ladies.
The two continued to run, squeezing their way through the crowd. Iris didn't want to be lenient. He suspected that Samid might have a few more men on the look-out. Still, he was confident that he knew the streets better than anyone.
The red-haired lady became more confused and exhausted. She can't keep up with the chain of events anymore. Her vision became hazy. As she painstakingly struggled to stay conscious, she realized something she didn't notice before; she saw an abundance of black miasma in the air that appeared and disappeared in her field of vision with every heartbeat.
"Where am I?" The red-haired lady asked herself. "With this much miasma, it feels like as if I'm in… HELL?"
As she wondered, the crowd around Iris moved away with a loud thud. The red-haired lady fell unconscious to ground.
Iris tried calling her, "Miss… miss… miss…"
The red-haired lady slightly opened her eyes after a few shrugs.
"What's wrong? Where do you live?" Iris asked as he panicked alone while the people around them didn't care a thing and continued with their own lives. "What's your name?"
"Senna…" She answered.
As she tried to stay awake, she looked at her savior's face. While reminiscing his scary and calm face in the alley, she wondered what kind of person could leave even a man like Samid dumbfounded.
Was his character like of a demon or an angel's?
Before she completely lost consciousness, she tried to imagine herself before she found herself in these unfamiliar grounds. Yes, thinking more clearly, she was one── a creature with majestic white wings: An ANGEL!