"I'll be damned…" Lucian muttered in slight disbelief.
The girl gazed at him with a cold and detached stare, her features etched with a seriousness that was nothing short of terrifying. It was as though her face was completely blank and devoid of any emotion whatsoever. But soon after, he began to notice other things as well, like the cherry pink of her lips and the perfect point of her nose…
However, none of that seemed to matter when he met her gaze. In that very moment, it seemed the world around them crumbled to nothing but an irrelevant background, for him it felt as though only two of them existed. He couldn't discern the exact color of her eyes; streaks of amethyst, gold, and blue could be seen in their captivating depths.
'What is happening to me?'
Lucian could not understand why he couldn't look away or think rationally.
"Put the mask back on before he starts drooling," Ash instructed the girl, who silently obliged, taking the mask and putting it back over her face.
Lucian regained his senses immediately after. He was certain he could not be wooed by any ordinary means, especially not by some strange girl, and what had just happened to him was far more than being captivated by beauty.
So it begged the question…
"What the hell was that?"
Ash seemed to be amused by the situation, perhaps at the fact she had watched the well-guarded Lucian be forced into a moment of weakness.
"That's one of the many abilities of dear Iralis here, although this one isn't really something she can control… After her third awakening, it became impossible for most to think straight after looking at her face… her eyes especially."
Lucian shook his head, as though still trying to dispel the scrambling static that filled his mind in place of thoughts as he stared at her.
"So the only control for it is the mask?"
"Precisely," Ash confirmed.
Following this, a silence settled between the three, one that quickly grew awkward as tension lingered.
"I feel there's an elephant in the room," Ash turned to Lucian, who looked back at her confused.
"What?" He squeezed his face in an intentional show of annoyance as he turned to the girl. "You want an apology? You want me to say 'I'm sorry I should not have sold you'? I could, but we all know I'm not sorry. I did what I needed to survive, and put in the same position, I'd do it again."
Iralis raised her head, looking at Lucian.
"You're right, I was naive and a fool those years ago, and if I had thought less like you, perhaps things would have gone differently. But it doesn't matter now. Like you said, we do what is needed to survive."
The girl's voice was sharp and intimidating, yet strangely soft and soothing.
"Great understanding," Lucian nodded his head as he rubbed his chin as if he were a wise old man. "Such things are in the past, water under the bridge. It is freeing to forgive and forget."
Iralis shook her head in disagreement to Lucian's words.
"You misunderstand. Each breath I let you take through your lungs is solely because I am not authorized to kill you. There is no forgiveness here, Lucian… Staying my hand right now, is me doing what I need to survive."
Her words dug deep, and it didn't take long for Lucian to understand what she meant. She was just like him; she wasn't working for these people by choice, but most likely also implanted with the nanoparticles. She had no choice but to take orders, one of which was not killing him, and that made Lucian wonder… could she?
"Enough of that, listen close." Ash stood from the chair where she had sat entertained by their squabble and walked closer to the large screens that lined the walls.
"Your joint training is going to begin in 100 hours. Utilizing the research facility's interplanetary gateway, you will be transported to a fallen world."
As she spoke, the screen showed satellite images of barren land, overrun with numerous demons. As the satellite images switched from place to place across the planet, all that could be seen were demons—demons, and even more demons.
"A fallen world is a planet that was unable to contain the opening of hellgates and became eventually overrun by Hell's militants. Now, because sending you both to any layer of Hell at your level is a suicide mission, this would be the method of your training—clearing hellgates one fallen world at a time, with the gates increasing in difficulty."
Lucian raised his hand, gesturing to ask a question. Ash pointed to him.
"Yes?"
"So, if I'm with you, you're saying in 100 hours you'll send me to a world full of demons to defeat them?"
"Exactly, yes," Ash nodded.
"I'm sorry, could you be crazy by any chance?"
"The better question is: could you be scared?" Ash shot back swiftly.
"No, I just have common sense. Did you forget how I got here in the first place? Losing completely to one demon, and you want me to go fight that many of them as training?"
Ash grinned as Lucian laid out his valid concern. She had wanted to see if he was too proud to speak and would just go with the flow.
"Well, three things: First, you will undertake an operation before then that will prep you. Second, the demon you encountered back then is far stronger than you realize. And lastly, you are quite different than you were four years ago."
"How different?" The edge of Lucian's lips curled slightly as he spoke, wondering what improvement the Nano Tech offered.
"Why don't we go down to the training hall and find out?" Ash said, sharing a wide grin with Lucian.