A ghastly sensation trickled across his arms and towards his cold-blooded palms, Noah gulped. Where was the bloodlust coming from?
All these years of honing his skills be it from the nasty of places, the underworld of society. He hadn't felt such a distasteful bloodlust oozing from a person's body.
'He is playing with cogs. What type of strategy is this?' This mysterious figure was sitting by next to the front windows of the tavern. Not just that, he was playing with cogs.
They then tapped the table four times, clicked their fingers once.
'Is this a code or cryptic message?!' Noah was in a mind disarray, he couldn't comprehend such a message.
But before Noah had the time to analyse further, the mysterious figure positioned the cog in line with the sun blinding Noah.
It momentarily flashed his eyes, but that didn't stop his other senses from being used.
Be it the silent wind brushing across the city square, he was equipped with a body capable enough to handle these types of situations.
However, the strangeness of the situation deepen. The mysterious figure did absolutely nothing.
'Does he have accomplices? Does he have some hidden gadgets? Readers? Recorders? Is this a way to disorientate my next set of actions?!'
Feeling heavy with the overwhelming silence, a treatment far worse than a wife ignoring their husband as she continues washing the dishes, Noah couldn't do anything rash with information disadvantage.
'Who is this individual? Is he after my bounty?!' Rattling his mind within a cascade of memories, he was trying to grasp information on certain features, demeanour, posture, bloodlust, cloak shade, and sitting position.
To his demise, he couldn't. Drowning in the tensed mood, Noah scanned his vicinity with meticulous care.
'No one seems to be lurking nearby.'
Darting his eyes back and forth in the midst of crowd, he couldn't put a nail onto an individual who could be labelled as an accomplice.
'Perhaps there are more…'
At this present moment, Noah took many things into consideration.
'Doesn't look like he is aiming for anyone else here.'
Noah concluded this by understanding that at any point of moment, this individual could've have targeted someone like Celia with ease. First, Noah sensed the foreign bloodlust being leaked once he tried stepping outside the door. Two, someone like Victor who was strong enough to warrant Noah's attention had done absolutely nothing. He showed no twitching, no flinching but had showed calmness and composure. This made the situation the more odd.
'What is happening?'
'Is Victor acting purposefully calm or perhaps this bloodlust was solely directed to me?'
It was a sickening and unnerving situation, it was something out of a horror movie with a C4 attached to the main character's body with a fast timer on it.
His pores spew increasingly more sweat.
Noah continued to maintain his poker facade.
Showing weakness was akin to killing oneself.
However, within this eerily creeping moment, Noah wanted to know more and overcome like he had always done.
'You wanna play my games huh?' Unknowingly, the smile crept up on his face.
Immediately, Noah dashed outside the tavern catching the many onlookers attention.
With fluid-like steps, he manoeuvred across pedestrians with swiftness.
There was a momentary uproar, some quickly fled the scene while others turn around to see what was happening.
With each person Noah passes through, a gust of wind would stir past.
As he hurried towards an alleyway, he was met with multiple steel caltrops scattered across the front. Jumping towards the walls, he latched his steel capped leather boots upon the wooden surface.
Gripping the wood with his finger tips, he manages to leave himself hanging on the side.
'What's next? Some wires?' Noah observed his surroundings at a heightened level, he was capable enough to discern the internal structure of the building in which he was surrounded by.
On top of that, there were thin metallic wires as thin as hair strands. These were placed with the understanding of human athleticism, flexibility and that humans had the inability to fly.
'Did they know that I was going through this alleyway?' Pondering for a bit, Noah raised his brows whilst breathing out a sigh.
'Someone must've leaked the information about me.'
Within the realm of possibilities, Noah could understand someone being able to know his route. But there was one thing he had to confirm.
'How did they create this masterpiece?!'
Noah was absorbed at the intricate traps that were layed out like an intricate network of schemes.
Grabbing his dagger hidden beneath his black cloak, he bit onto it.
Then, a spring of action, he leaps in between the wires utilising every single piece of surface he could apply friction upon.
There were obstacles that were far too difficult to traverse through without the help of his dagger.
While he couldn't cut these thin wires, he could push them to give room for his manoeuvre.
The metallic screech resonates between the dagger and the wires, the light flickers as the wires wobble back to its original spot barring its vicious and bright glint.
It's sharpness can cut the bones of its victims if they put even a smidgen of force.
Absorbed in the heat of the moment, Noah seemingly dodges two incoming daggers aiming at his head and his ankles. He twists his body like he was bending water, dislocating his shoulders mid jump.
Focus levels continue to soar. A life and death situation like non other. The threat looms around him like the many riflemen aiming for the kill.
As he makes his way to the exit, he happened to see a piece of paper hanging by a thread.
It was truly perplexing, it truly caught him off guard. Within that split second of delayed reaction, Noah had grazed a part of his legs against a wire, falling towards the safe part of the alleyway, the very back.
'A paper! A drawing of a black cat caught me off guard?!' Gritting his teeth, Noah quickly wrapped his pained leg with white bandages.
As fast as the wind, a masked individual appears with a pair of daggers on both hands. His crimson eyes stare brazenly upon the injured figure resting upon the back of an alleyway. He wears a black tank top, black track pants and black jikatabi as if he was a dark knight acting out as a ninja.
"C-Rank loser." A masked, monotone voice that carries a hint of authority oozes out from the tip of his lips.