Chapter 20- In The Heart Of The Storm (Part 6)
During Victor's entire life as a hitman, he had naturally come across countless dangerous situations that threatened his life. In fact, he had reached near-death in many instances, and yet by some luck, and a whole lot of competency, Victor was able to survive every single time.
However, Victor was obviously not the only human to experience a near-death situation and he certainly wasn't the only one to experience it a few times in the line of work he was in. However, what made him different was the fact that he was able to learn from those experiences instead of simply getting the short end of the stick. In this case, the trauma and the fear that come from it.
Unlike others, with each experience, Victor honed his senses, and his mental prowess. He was able to see death as nothing but a possible outcome to each action he did and apparently, seeing death in such an apathetic point of view did wonders for him. That naturally led to one single thing: A monster in human flesh with basically no fears whatsoever.
However, that same monster was now crippled with fear as he stared at the two red eyes in the darkness. Just a mere glance at them had sent a chill down his spine and completely frozen his body. His brain went completely empty and his breathing turned erratic out of nowhere.
The darkness around Victor shifted to a more foggy, unassuming state. It was as if all his senses ignored the environment and focused on the mesmerizingly terrifying eyes staring back at him. In an instant, they became Victor's entire perspective. All that could be seen reflected in his pupils were those eyes.
'... I can't… Move…' He thought to himself as sweat dripped down his face.
Even when he tried to snap out of it, his body refused to make a single move. 'What… the hell?' Clenching his teeth, Victor bit his tongue, sending a jolt of pain up to his brain. Luckily, that seemed to do the job as he finally snapped out of the hypnotic state he was in.
However, that was all he could do, move a little back before the eyes caught up to him again and pressed him down to the ground again. The pressure was so horrible it almost felt as if he was being crushed by an actual heavy weight on his shoulders.
'What… is this power?! I can't move!'
As he struggled against the pressure with all his might, the two eyes started moving in the darkness as they tried to get closer to Victor.
"... Who is there?!" Victor clenched his teeth and lifted his arms rigidly.
The red eyes continued moving forward as the sound of bare feet on the wooden floor reached the boy's ears. With a difficult look on his face, he tried to keep whatever was left of his composure as he glared at whatever creature was closing up on him.
Seconds felt like minutes as the creature grew closer. However, when Victor expected to see something emerge from the darkness at any given second, the red eyes suddenly stopped. For a second, Victor could see a glimpse of hesitation in them.
'Huh?' Frowning, his eyes shifted slightly to peer through the darkness as much as he could. Even though it was very dim, the moment one of the lightning strikes hit outside, the sudden burst of light reflected through a small hole in the side of the ship.
That was when he saw it, very clearly. A glimpse of the creature, and a glimpse of whatever was stopping it from approaching him. Victor was stunned for a moment before he blinked and shook his head.
'A cage? A silver cage?'
On the other side of the room, there was a metallic cage that closed on the creature from all angles. Victor didn't know what material the cage was made of but the shiny silver color made him almost certain that it was silver or at least a material very close to that.
But, the cage only caught his attention for a split second. What truly captured his attention was the creature itself. Surprisingly, the red eyes didn't belong to a horrifying nightmare as he expected. Instead, all he saw was a girl, no older than him. She had a very pale white face covered in water, mud, and blood.
Her body was incredibly skinny, to the point where he could see the shape of her skeleton. Her long silver hair was dirty and messy, falling down to her waist. In a nutshell, the girl looked like a walking skeleton with no life in it.
The only thing that seemed to be lively in her were her eyes. Those red eyes were deep and mysterious, brimming with a desire to live far more profound than anything else Victor had ever seen before. As terrifying as they were, those eyes were gorgeous to an endless degree. Even someone like Victor who never cared about beauty in a general sense found himself staring at them, willingly or not.
'... This is a little unexpected.' He thought to himself as he shook his head. 'Is she caged in there? Uh, that's probably the case considering she cannot approach me. But, I still can't move at all… Is this some kind of mental attack?'
Victor was unfamiliar with many forms of power in this world and this one was certainly one of them. He felt like he was being strangled alive and yet he wasn't being touched. The only way that could happen is if those red eyes had such an effect on people.
Gulping down a mouthful of saliva, Victor finally spoke. "Who are you?"
Deep down, Victor didn't expect a response. Even if the girl looked human, there was too much about her that screamed that she wasn't. Her aura was the biggest one. In her weakened state, Victor still felt something weird about her.
An ethereal presence that he couldn't put into words. As if she was some kind of divine creature that descended on this world and all that was left of her heyday were a few embers of a special power.
'Divine, huh? The fact that was the first word that came to thought…' Feeling even more confused, he noticed that the girl had suddenly sat down. This entire time, she had been staring at him as he was staring at her and he could see a good amount of curiosity in her cold eyes.
"... Your name…" She opened her mouth and said in a hoarse, dry tone. Her cracked lips barely moved due to the sheer amount of blood seeping out of them.
"... I'm someone who coincidentally passed by this place. Who are you?" Victor replied as he squinted his eyes. He naturally wasn't going to say his name to this very obviously dangerous creature.
Even though his response was clearly not satisfactory, the girl didn't seem to care as she looked down tiredly. "I'm Nameless."
(A//N: Sorry for the late update, my internet has been out for a few days now so I couldn't write. Expect another chapter in two hours or so.)