The Story of Aria and the Slayer

Chapter 21

The next month came in the blink of an eye. Then it passed, and still the Slayer had not brought her out of the building. Every time Aria had questioned him about it, he'd avoided the subject. Consequently, she grew suspicious of his intentions. And finally, she'd come to ask him, “Are you worried about me?”

He paused midway through sheathing his sword. “What?”

“Is the reason we haven't gone on another outing because you're concerned something like last time will happen again?” Aria replied, changing her weapon into its lesser form with a flash of light. She shoved the dagger in the leather sheath strapped around her leg. “Because I assure you I'll think through my actions this time.”

“Who's worrying about who now?” White taunted, turning swiftly and exiting the training facility. Sighing, she rushed after him, keeping her gaze determined. He glanced back at her. “You really wish to go?”

She nodded without a second thought. She'd already known before then that he'd be leaving with or without her. Otherwise she would've simply let him forget all about his terrible outings. But because of the circumstances, she couldn't do that.

“Fine,” he muttered in compliance, “if you're so adamant on going, then I suppose it can't really be helped.”

She let out a breath of relief. Then she remembered something. “Oh, by the way, I never mentioned the fact that someone may or may not have seen me without my hood.”

The Slayer's expression hadn't shifted with the statement. He only shrugged. “I heard. Your description is already out. Soon enough they'll figure out what you are. Unfortunately, I knew something like that would happen eventually. But it's no matter, you can forget about hiding your identity. If they know, they know. They'll still have quite a difficult time tracking you down anyway.”

Aria thought he'd be much more angered by the news, but he hadn't seemed too ticked off. “When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

The next day would mark her eighth trip of ‘saving’ people from death. Truth be told, Aria hadn't expected that the Slayer would let it go on for so long. Then again, he seemed to have become much more tolerant around her over the previous months. Their past conversation from over a month ago, when he'd finally told her the truth about who he was and what he'd done, was what had especially convinced her that something had changed. It was surprising, but at the same time, it was something she hoped to become familiar with. 

On the other hand, when ‘tomorrow’ came, Aria became both grateful and regretful of her insistence to leave. 

The moment they'd arrived at the location, they'd realized what was wrong. She wasn't exactly taken aback by what they saw. Similarly, White hadn't seemed all that shocked as they walked between the abandoned pieces of architecture. An empty base. Aria figured it was only a matter of time before one of their ‘targets’ received a lucky warning ahead of their visit.

Though what she hadn't expected was to sense a single other person in the midst of the situation. And they weren't any normal ranker. It had come out of nowhere, but as soon as she felt the presence, her steps faltered. Then the being spoke in a tone she couldn't quite decipher as either masculine or feminine.

“I've been waiting for the day I'd get to face you like this, Slayer White.”

A loud, thundering sound shook her to her bones as the high ranker landed before them. A male, she could finally conclude. One with long, almost unkempt hair—dark grey with a tinge of green. A single jagged streak of silver ran down the side of his face. Somehow, she couldn't tell whether it was a scar or some sort of marking. Probably the strangest part about him was the power that seemed to leak from his body.