"You weren't listening to me, were you? In that case, I'll just take over everything from now on," Venus's spine-chilling voice, enraged and furious, rings in her ears.
Darkness swept over the place once more.
Everything faded out of sight, only leaving her and Hal in the vast empty space. This time, her uneasiness doubled since Hal was now unwillingly involved.
She regretted not breaking free from his arms as soon as possible. She was naïve for not seeing this coming. She hated herself for dragging him in this mess after everything he did for her.
Above all, she felt like strangling Venus at this very instant.
Her train of thoughts that was just about to get murderous was interrupted by the mirrors appearing again, but their once polished surfaces are now tainted with red blemishes that seem to resemble blood.
Loud cracking noises filled the place as the glasses fractured one by one.
Veering lines formed on the fragile planes and caused their reflections to appear distorted. Not too long, the mirrors shattered into pieces, causing an explosive sound of piercing crackles to echo all around them.
Eli's heart dropped at the sight of a flurry of deadly shards of glasses coming their way.
She might've imagined hearing the trumpets of heaven when they're about to rain over them like arrows in a battlefield. Closing her eyes shut, she readied herself to be impaled and feel the gush of pain, but they never came.
All she felt was the cold ground beneath her.
Confounded, she immediately opened her eyes, only to see an astonishing sight.
Before her, Hal's visage illuminated like the scintillating sun.
Luminous dusts of golden hue hover his body as soon as the light faded out, revealing a boy in a flowing black coat, draped over his shoulders, with intricately embroidered gold and silver ornate designs on the edges and gold aiguillettes that serve as clasps in the middle.
He's also wearing a black admiral hat with a gold emblem of a dragon on the middle and silver strings along the front seam. On his right hand, a lustrous small handgun, resembling a revolver with a metallic silver back strap and grip, gleams an unparalleled brilliance bright enough to light up the blackest sky.
Like a legendary hero, Hal stood there in all his glorious transformation with glass splinters scattered all around him on the floor, perplexing the already befuddled girl.
At this point, Eli was speechless and unmoving. Eyeing his back intently, she suddenly recalled a similar image and began drifting into another bottomless hole of indecipherable thoughts.
Like a strike of lightning, the main protagonist in the Book of Metis flashed through her mind.
But before she could conclude what that meant, she felt an excruciating pang in her head, making her collapse and lose consciousness.
In the midst of chaos, Hal, on the other hand, looked around to find a safe spot to escape to.
Once he laid eyes on an unaffected area, he gathered Eli's unconscious body on the floor and sprinted over there. With inexhaustible agility, he dodged scraps of glasses that flew in their direction. The broken fragments continued to shower over their path like a howling blizzard, purposefully narrowing their escape route.
After minutes of darting around, he was able to reach the place easily without breaking a sweat.
Upon noticing Eli's stiff body, he panicked and slightly bent down to check her breathing.
He was taken aback when she suddenly pulled him to a tight embrace. Her icy cold hands were draped over his warm nape while she nuzzled the crook of his neck. The gesture holds no affection, however.
More likely, it resembles a python encircling its prey.
With hooded eyes glistening with mischief, Eli moved to his ear and whispered, "Such a foolish boy."
Hal had little time to react as she suddenly shoved herself away from his grasp, landing on her feet and raising her arm upward in a commanding manner.
In the blink of an eye, an army of glass shards made a comeback through a series of onslaughts.
Hal quickly counterattacked, pulling out his weapon and firing at huge chunks of fragments while avoiding the rest. In every pull of his trigger, a shiny, silver bullet flies through the air, hitting its target with impeccable accuracy.
The booming sounds of metal hitting glasses combined with crackling noises filled the place as the incursion stretched on.
"How wonderful... I'm already hitting two birds with one stone. These children are truly as naïve as ever. Now, I only have to get to the others and finish this as soon as possible," Eli mumbled to herself, smirking heinously.
Out of nowhere, a strong gust of wind blew from behind her, silky grey hair briskly waving at the sudden movement.
At that moment, Hal has his gun pointed at the back of her head, yet she remained apathetic and unconcerned. It seemed like the blitz already ended without her noticing, much to her dismay.
"So, you're the one behind this series of disturbances. Glad to see you finally show up, villain," he firmly muttered in derision, eyes narrowing in contempt.
"My, you missed me that much? How flattering... But, pointing that dangerous object to a lady is quite unbecoming, you know," Eli softly replied with a somewhat voluptuous expression, much to his bewilderment.
"Why don't you stand back now, boy?"
At this, his eyes went as wide as an owl's, jaw slightly dropping.
His short frame almost staggered for he was completely caught off guard.
Seconds ticked by, he began to sweatdrop. As she slowly turned around, recognition finally dawned on his face.
He knew that there's only one person who'd call him that – someone who's definitely not from this world.
"Venus?" he voiced out in disbelief.
"It is indeed I, your beloved predecessor, Empress of Aristia. A pleasure to see you again, Harrison Louen ," she greeted ominously, rosy lips curling into a sickeningly sweet smile and mischievous grey eyes grinning with amusement.