Chapter 50 One Long Night#14
A few moments earlier…
Annabeth was running with an unconscious Elizabeth in her arms in a hurried manner. She tried to increase as much distance from Zero as possible cause…
'That kid... he is a monster… the way he killed...no, the way he destroyed that demon inside that dimension… and here I thought I would never see anything more dangerous than that demon in my life…' thought Anna as she ran away from the demon.
When she entered that dimension, she saw that demon immediately and fearstrucken by the power of that demon, she instinctively hid herself behind a rock. She didn't know how to get out of there but still kept thinking of a way while her heart was beating furiously because of the horrifying situation she was in.
Though… just as she began losing hope… he came. Reaper was it? That guy just spoke something like,'Blood Sacrifice: Second Moon' before his aura changed completely in an instant.
From that point onwards, it was that demon who looked pitiful in front of that kid… that monster.
Annabeth was scared of Reaper but then he started explaining what transpired outside… what Viscardi had said and hearing his words, she realised that the kid wasn't an enemy… but an ally. However, for obvious reasons, it didn't calm her. Instead, it made her think about why Reaper would help her and Elizabeth…
Soon, Reaper killed the demon effortlessly, and she was brought out of that dimension. She saw Elizabeth moving to attack Reaper and it shook her to the core just thinking about the consequences they might have to face going against Reaper.
She immediately knocked Elle unconscious and didn't forget to thank Reaper before running away from there. Now, all she was searching for was a place where she could rest and regain her strength.
-Bam!
However, as she was running, she somehow ended up colliding against another person who was also going somewhere in a hurried manner.
Annabeth fell and she ended up dropping Elle down as well. She caressed her forehead gently and looked at the lady in front, also doing the same with a really irritated look on her face. However, the irritation of that lady wearing the red-white dress vanished, as she looked at Elle who was lying unconscious there.
Dusting her red hair, which was a bit dirty about waist level, she immediately moved towards Elle and looked at her with a worried expression as she spoke,"Did I end up killing an innocent, with a bump?!!"
"What?!" ridiculed by her sentence Anna looked at that lady's shaken black eyes which were searching for signs of life in the body of Elizabeth and only after she confirmed that she was alive, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She then turned to Annabeth and spoke with an apologetic expression as she spoke,"I am so so so sorry! Really, I should have been watching where I was going," she even grabbed Annabeth's hand as she apologised.
Looking at her innocent apologetic face, Anna couldn't help but feel embarrassed herself.
"It's okay. Even we should have been watching where we were going," Anna spoke with a similar apologetic face however…
"Ah! No. If you say that, I will feel even more guilty. I have to…no.. I must do something to repay you or else, I would never be able to free myself from guilt," that girl spoke with a really worried yet determined tone as she reached closer to Annabeth's face with an expression which said that she won't take 'no' for an answer.
"But.." Annabeth tried to deny her, however that girl spoke, cutting her words," no buts. Come with me. My house is not that far from here."
Annabeth then looked at that girl calling a taxi and in another few moments a taxi was already waiting to take them to the girl's home. Pondering over the pros and cons, she decided to go with that red-haired girl. It will give her time to relax and get back her strength before she could contact her grandfather. Right now, she did not know whom to trust and whom not to.
"Hey! Come here, what are you doing?!" that girl waved at Annabeth as she called her. Annabeth took Elizabeth in her arms and moved towards that girl.
"I am Lucia, by the way. Lucia Scarlet. Nice to meet you!" Lucia said with a smile as she opened the door of the taxi to let the sisters enter. Annabeth looked at Lucia and said,"I am Annabeth Rose and she is Elizabeth Rose, nice to meet you too, Lucia."
Lucia waited for the sisters to sit comfortably and then her eyes drifted to a certain black-haired, white masked man running in this direction. She smiled at him before getting inside the taxi and left from there as she began chatting with the sisters with a jolly expression on her face.
...
In a lavish room, two men were sitting on a chair, watching the news on a big screen placed on the wall opposite to the office table.
The news was about the number of organisation caught by the security department while also about the dead bodies found near the Bryxton's Lake. There was also news about people who were thought to be lost about a few months ago, to be returning to their homes.
-Click
The door opened and a white-haired, white-eyed kid entered the room with a smile on his face as he looked at the news before looking at those two men.
Those two men stood up instinctively as they watched that kid entering the room. The kid first looked at the younger man and spoke,"Mr. Edward, right? I suppose Clair has told you about the deal?"
Edward nodded at that kid, Zero, and looked at him with an analysing gaze. However, no matter what he tried, he couldn't even see a dust's worth of information through Zero.
"Nice to meet you again, Lare," Zero spoke as he smiled at the other man, Lare, who looked at Zero with a complicated smile. His eyes seemed to be shouting 'what the heck are you?' but he didn't speak a single word.
"Well… since you both aren't speaking, I will get directly to the point. I will be attending today's auction and I need a Black Entry Card for that auction. What you will be getting in return is that I will be leaving only your organisation in Bryxton. With the lack of any more competition, you should be able to thrive in this city," Zero spoke with a serious expression and Edward looked at him before looking at Lare, whose eyes were saying that he doesn't want to do anything with this kid.
Edward then turned to Zero, mustered some courage and said,"are you threatening me?"
Zero tilted his head a little as he looked at that man with a slightly confused look as he spoke,"what are you talking about? I am threatening you?! Did I fail to express my feelings with my actions?"
-Thud
Edward fell down as he realised what Zero's words meant. It looked to them as if the devil himself had appeared in front of them. They didn't notice but Zero's eyes were red at this moment… and looking at it Edward had already peed his pants out of fear.
Hurriedly, Edward took out the card and threw it at Zero, which he caught and checked before nodding as he spoke,"you should have done this from the beginning."
Zero then proceeded to move out of the room without wasting any time.
-Thud
The door closed and Zero immediately ran towards the auction with as much haste as he could. He couldn't afford to miss this chance, so he used a bit of extra energy to run towards the venue. With the fact he can't be seen anyway, he chose to run over taking a taxi. Getting a car out of nowhere is also near impossible at the moment.
While he ran, he moved near a dark alley, took out his black suit and immediately changed from his casual clothes. Then he took out a dye and re-coloured his white hair into black, before wearing a plain white mask.
After that, he spoke,"spirit magic" and started using the spirit magic before applying mana into his legs and he dashed even faster than before. He observed the area around him as he ran and chose the most optimum path towards his destination.
-Swish
-Swish
He ran towards the auction. He couldn't afford to be seen going towards the auction as the more people find out about him, the more chances that the people he saved will be in danger.
....
Rheo looked at the screen filled with one of the strongest people in the world. There was Mark Leeway and his daughter, along with the other members of the family. There were even the direct subordinates of Mark Leeway standing there.
"Report," spoke Mark Leeway and Rheo immediately began explaining about the events that transpired in Bryxton without hiding even a single information. It took about half an hour to reach the conclusion and a bit before he finished, everyone except Mark Leeway on the screen had a flabbergasted look on their faces.
"Did you just say… that guy cured the Red Gem Demon's curse?" one of the people asked with a shocked face and Rheo nodded while Mark spoke,"I saw it on the screen before it was deleted. He cured Williamson's granddaughter right in front of Rheo."
Hearing this, most of the people gasped as they knew the meaning of these words. One of them was about to speak something, but then Mark Leeway spoke,"If anyone even touches him. I will make sure to kill that person personally, even if he is my family member."
There was a threat in Mark's words at which everyone turned their heads down except one woman who spoke," but he is-"
"I had a deal with him before," Mark Leeway said, cutting off the woman's words and everyone looked at Mark with a slightly amazed face, wondering what the deal was about.
"He said that he will cure Bernette's curse within a few months," Mark said and this time a pin drop silence enveloped the room while the others looked like they didn't quite catch what he said.
Bernette, who was the most shocked among them, looked at Mark and said,"Father! What did you just say?!" 𝙛𝐫e𝚎wℯ𝗯𝒏𝗼ѵ𝙚l.𝒄o𝚖
The others after hearing her words looked at Mark as they too wanted to confirm that what they heard was the truth.
"I said that he made a deal with me, that he will cure Bernette's curse," Mark Leeway spoke with a small smile as he looked at his daughter. The other family members were really shocked at his words, but a few moments later everyone present started smiling as they looked at Bernette, whose smile was the brightest among the people there. Though, that smile all of a sudden turned to worry as she spoke,
"But… what if he is lying?"
This had happened many times when people tried to cheat Mark Leeway, saying that they could treat his daughter. However, no one was able to fulfil their promise as they gave up as soon as they saw the curse with their own two eyes.
"Then he will die. He has signed a mana contract, he has no way of getting out of it. Though… he feels different from the others…" Mark Leeway spoke as he recalled the time Zero threatened him despite the clear difference in their power level. Recalling that actually made him smile, as he found it interesting that someone like Zero exists.
"Different?" Bernette worriedly questioned her father's words and not hiding anything from her Mark answered,"that kid… rather than begging me or currying favour with me… threatened me to sign the contract."
"What?!" Bernette, as well as everyone present in the room, once again had their eyes wide open as they heard Mark's words. They couldn't help but praise the guts which Zero had…
And at this point, everyone in Mark Leeway's family couldn't help but look forward to meeting this kid… Zero, also known as Reaper.