Athelei gave no reaction to the question posed by the rich lady. He did however wonder, 'Was I discovered... or are there presences I haven't been able to sense?'
"Show yourselves!" The lady demanded, and Athelei saw that it was his second assumption that was correct.
The shadows shifted and twitched, and Athelei was astonished to see a grey fog flow from the darkest shadows as it slowly formed into humanoid figures. The figures were faceless and much more solid-looking than Athelei's body.
'Nightwalkers,' Athelei thought, 'But I am unfamiliar with the ability to assimilate with the shadows...'
"...Exiled?" The lady asked with a wary tone.
One of the grey figures chuckled, inducing its body to move like one large vibrating speaker.
"Correct," it answered and sat down on one of the couches. The figures' two companions did the same. "Please, sit."
The lady was hesitant for a moment but decided to sit down on the fourth and last couch available. She glanced at her glass of spirits but decided against savouring its flavours.
Seeing that the lady had settled herself down, the same Nightwalker who chuckled spoke up,
"Good evening, madame Irene. I would like to apologise for my late introduction. I am simply known as Ace. The one on my right is Love, and the one on my left is Jail." Ace gestured elegantly as he spoke.
"We're here to discuss a few things with you."
Hearing her name spoken so confidently, Irene relaxedly took her mask and hood off to display a head of long, golden hair and a beautiful face. Her gold eyes shimmered with both caution and vague irritation.
"I have no desire to make deals with devils," Irene answered, placing the sacrificial dagger on the table. "They know you're here."
Ace sniffed and spoke slowly, "As expected of the fourteen eyes... But that won't matter, for you cannot kill us, but we can kill you. We can keep coming back, every single night."
"What makes you so sure that I cannot kill you?" Irene spoke as a fierce, golden aura leaked out of her skin. It writhed and bubbled as if it was being boiled, lighting up the dim room and making the temperature jump between hot and cold.
"We're but manifestations of our minds. A consciousness. If you shatter my current form, I will have a headache, and that's it. Unless you can somehow find me and slay me then, you will never, ever be able to kill me." Ace answered with nonchalance, taking a 'sip' of the Absinthe that sat on the table.
It poured into what should've been his face and then dissolved into the fog.
'They can do that?' Athelei was pleasantly surprised, desiring similar abilities. Whenever he tried consuming anything, it would always pass through his fog-body.
Irene squinted before reeling in her Tangible Will.
"What do you want?" She asked, forbidding any emotion to show on her face.
"The Spirit Lotus." Ace answered.
"Impossible."
"Come on, madame Irene. It's a trade." Ace laughed, "At least hear out what we have to offer."
"I don't care." Irene answered, "I will never trade the Spirit Lotus away."
"Then, would you like Aren City to be destroyed like Mist Pine? Are you willing to pay the price of every life in this city?" Ace asked. "Trading with us will at least earn you something. We don't have to resort to such gruesome violence, madame."
"No means no. I'm surprised you have the confidence to destroy THE Aren City. I'm actually willing to see you try."
Ace leaned forward, and irritation laced his tone, "Very well. Then how about I tear the Spirit Lotus out of you right now? I'll show you my confidence."
Three ominous presences erupted in full force at that moment and the walls were painted in thick shadows.
Hummmmmm!
The world around Irene shook, and her pupils dilated in shock. A sinister chill ran up her spine as she watched the shadows swirl around her ankles as they climbed up her legs. The shadows glued her to the floor, and Irene saw Ace approach her, stepping right through the table between them.
Ace laughed, "We're stronger than you think, little girl."
Irene then found her Tangible Will somehow sealed. She glanced to her right and saw the one called Jail with threads of gold wrapped around his body. 'Did he seal my strength? How?' she asked herself as she rapidly approached desperation.
'Where are the fourteen eyes? Did they somehow isolate the room? What's happening?'
Irene's face had gone pale as she gazed at Ace's foggy figure simply standing in front of her.
"Are you regretting everything now?" Ace laughed, "Unfortunately you denied such a simple deal. I mean, at least it was a deal, right? Why does it have to be robbery and murder instead?"
"Damn... blasphemer!" Irene croaked out, surprised that even her voice was being sapped away from what she was capable of doing.
"Pft!" Ace almost did a spit-take as he held in his laugher, "Don't you theists ever find better insults? Of all the things you could call us all over the world, it's the same two words!"
Ace then placed his hands on Irene's shoulders before sliding them down and giving the lady's chest a good, heartful squeeze. He then mumbled to himself, "If I'm correct, the ritual to extract the Spirit Lotus requires me to pull out her beating heart... And that's an entire extra ritual by itself."
Ace chuckled, as he reached behind him, "...I love how the fourteen eyes use sacrificial knives in their special code. Although it's somewhat blunt, at least it's a knife."
Love and Jail, who were channelling their abilities behind Ace, glanced at each other. The way their nonexistent eyes met seemed to say, 'Here he goes again...'
"You...bas...tard..." Irene was practically paralyzed by the shadows that were painting her skin an unfathomable black. She could do nothing to the groping, nor to the knife that now sought to carve her heart out.
Ace's fog body shifted, "Just so you know, madame Irene, I actually hate women's breasts..." he spoke, giving Irene's voluminous chest another squeeze, "The way energy has to flow changes for different women because of it. You have no idea how much that overcomplicates things for me. It's the same with men who have gigantic chest muscles! If only I can rip off all of those stone-like abominations, my life would be easier!"
"Urgh..." Irene's eyes flashed between disgust and horror. 'This person is batshit crazy!'
"Sometimes, I just want to do exactly that—rip off all the extra fat or muscle these people have—but I can't. When cutting out a person's heart for these rituals, there is a certain technique for the knife's entry. If I mess up even one blood pathway, I mess up the energy flow by a good, figurative inch." Ace continued talking, as he seemed to analyse the vessels of blood that he would have to consider in his calculations.
This went on for five minutes, and Irene was utterly helpless. Her initial disgust had disappeared; replaced by terror. The way Ace was touching her bare skin had an air of professionalism to it. And that gave her chills that were different from the way some cocky noble would look at her pervertedly.
It was as if a doctor was trying to look for what kind of sickness was ailing her.
But this time, the doctor wanted to do the exact opposite of curing her.
After Ace gave Irene's naked chest area a thorough examination, he pushed his fist into the air and laughed, "Finally! HAHA!"
He then slammed his leg into Irene's stomach, forcing her back into her chair. "I bet my real body is sweating with how much I had to think. Damn it, madame Irene. I wasn't expecting to have this much difficulty..."
Ace took a few deep breaths, before saying, "At least I'm done. Love, Jail, time to get to work."
"Can I join you?" A voice asked.
"Sure. Just follow my instructions... and... you'll be..." A chill ran through Ace's fog-body. That voice was unfamiliar.
Love and Jail hurriedly glanced around, but they had no idea where the voice had come from.
A child's laughter then echoed throughout the room without a care in the world.
"What... is... happening...?" Ace could swear cold sweat was dripping down his back. Something seemed to have grasped his entire being.
He was unable to move his fog-body, and as he tried and tried, that was when he realised the presence of a cold feeling that wrapped around him.
Irene, who was still paralysed on the chair, also felt chills deep in her bones just by watching by the side.
A A A A A A A A A A H !! !! !!
Three blood-curdling screams shook the shadows, and Irene watched as the three Nightwalkers were instantly shattered.
Yes, shattered.
Torn apart.
Atomized.
Blown to smithereens.
"Tasty," The voice spoke in the same childish manner it had and then giggled, saying, "Goodbye forever, my brothers."
Irene then watched as a grey fog rapidly condensed into the figure of what looked to be another Nightwalker. But this time, it had a pair of wings on its back.
She watched as the childlike, winged Nightwalker take its seat in front of her and grab at the glass of Absinthe.
"Hello, Irene."
Irene saw lips appear on the faceless figure. Just lips. No eyes, no nose, not even a mouth and teeth.
Just lips.
"Nice to meet you~"
And it was smiling at her.