"You grossly wrinkled pile of bones, don't you know this is an invasion of privacy and personal space?" Iota threw another syringe, lodging it in her neck. Upon seeing her entirety focused on peeling the tattoo upon Spring's Stigma, he took the chance and threw syringes one after another.
Aieee!
The old lady screeched in pain, only coming to a realisation once she felt weak all over, unable to move her fingers that were working on peeling off the tattoo. Her knees gave out as she collapsed to the floor, trembling like a drug addict.
Even now, all her attention was focused on the small portion of the Stigma that had been revealed.
By now, the oppressive force she released had grown weak enough for Iota to move freely as he arrived before her and grabbed a syringe, observing the fluid within.
A gentle golden stream leaked from the plunger and mixed into the murky black blood within, inciting a mild chemical reaction. It was unknown as to what was happening as Iota could only collect the syringes that were filled with the old lady's blood.
Due to a lack of blood, her body failed to function as she intended. But despite losing enough blood that would have killed a person, she was still alive, surprising Iota. 'There's plenty I'm unaware about this world.'
'Well, I can take my time studying it.' Thinking as such, he first intended to pull the old lady away, grabbing her hand to relax her hold on Spring's wrist, surprised, 'She has an iron grip!'
Grrrahhh!
The old lady let out guttural screeches like a feral creature, one fearsome enough to frighten a person. Well, Iota's emotional parameters were on a vacation, so all he could release was a fake mimicry of fear. The acting was cringe at best, but as there were no spectators, he couldn't receive feedback, which was how things always went for him.
It took a minute before Iota managed to pry the old lady away from Spring, observing the latter to see that she was sleeping like a log, "This dumbass's danger sense is null."
"How she hasn't been kidnapped to this day is a mystery…or not, we're poor." He figured out the answer right away, "There are richer targets out there."
"Maybe if she were ten times prettier, she might have been kidnapped once or twice." Muttering blatant nonsense, Iota pressed on her wrist, easing up the part of the tattoo that had been peeled off, stick it back to cover the Stigma, "Off you go, don't reveal yourself, yucky skeleton face."
The moment the tattoo was covered, the old lady seemed to have regained her clarity of mind as she blinked in surprise, "What the heck was I doing?"
She stared at the figure of Iota looking at her, realising only a beat later that she was employing her power. Immediately, she glared at Iota, "What the heck have you done to me? Who are you?"
She no longer treated the two as guests meant to curb her loneliness, getting up with a start as she erected some distance between herself and Iota, alarmed upon feeling the sense of weakness in her body.
She became aware that the moment she deactivated her power, she would faint, and possibly lose her life too.
'What happened to me? I can hardly feel any strength in my body.' She frowned in worry, feeling pain all over as if she had been stabbed by many needles. Well, that indeed happened though. Had she gazed past Iota at the section of the bed beside Spring, she would see dozens of syringes full of her blood.
She glared at Iota, 'He must be the cause. Seems I've become overconfident in my strength over the years to make such a careless mistake. But still…'
'He barely exudes any threatening aura. There's just a mild trace of a Devil on his body, so I judged him to not be a threat. But just in case, I should subdue him first.' Thoughts clashed in her mind rapidly as the old lady clenched her fist and condensed a spiralling cloud of smoke that flickered with faint sparks.
Just as she intended to throw it at him, Iota condensed a syringe in his hand and held it like a knife, alert as his intention to retaliate was clear.
'I couldn't sense any aura in that!' The old lady was shocked at his actions, staring at the syringe in alarm, 'It's not a Divine or Devilish power!'
Countless thoughts clashed in the old lady's mind as she didn't wish to risk her life trying to face the unknown. Had she been the careless type, she wouldn't have survived this long. But, that didn't mean she could remain on the fence any longer. Iota could attack her at any moment. So, she had to take the initiative with an attack.
Contrary to her thoughts though, the swirling cloud flickered for a moment before dissipating. The old lady's face ashened in response, 'Dammit! How long have I been using my power?'
Her extended nails began to retreat while her bark-like skin gradually turned normal. The last she saw was Iota's figure leap toward her as she reverted to her original appearance and lost consciousness.
"Ugh!" It was unknown as to how long she had been asleep, but the old lady regained consciousness, feeling weak. She stared at her left arm, observing Iota inject a murky black fluid into a vein of her using his syringe.
Strength gradually returned to her as she gained clarity of mind. Of course, every few seconds, she was distracted as her head instinctively turned in Spring's direction. But as she was bound to a chair, she couldn't move.
"You…eat…my…words…" Iota spoke slowly, iterating the words that he made sense of based on the context of the situation until now. Well, it wasn't accurate though, confusing the old lady.
"You can…speak?" She registered the information a couple of seconds later, asking in fear, "Who are you? What's your motive for coming here?"
'Hmm, how do I communicate with her?' Iota tapped his cheek, 'As long as I torture her, the words she shouts should make sense. I can compare her emotions to my past victims and correlate the uttered words. That way, I can obtain a basic understanding of at least some words.'
'Still…' He thought, 'Spring reacted to this house. And considering the way the old lady's focus shifts to her Stigma every few seconds, I can gain some information. But, what's the fastest…way?'
His eyes lit up as he thought of a plan, took out the scroll from the cupboard, and drew some symbols on it. Basically, they were emojis. He drew the entire emoji set and pointed at the emoji with a zipped mouth, "Speak."
The old lady nodded in fear and stared at the prostrating emoji, "I will."
But yes, it was only to ease up conversation and not establish a perfect line of communication. After all…
"Did you try to kill me?"
"I ate well, thank you."
"Who are you?"
"I'll eat 'that creature' for breakfast."
It didn't make any sense for both sides.