Chapter 19 An Unpleasant Encounter

If the mystic moonlight is the reoccurring symbol of the night, then toward what established fact is this moonlight trying to reflect? Is it the lively assassins? Or the Black Reaper? In fact, who else would come out in this time of the day?

What shouldn't one be in bed in this chilly night?

Perhaps that is what the noble girl is thinking at the very moment, because the smooth winds are gradually beginning to pick up on her meager clothes.

However, before she can go to sleep…

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

The bloody black whip is currently dancing around the young boy's unprotected body like a beast enjoying its delayed dinner.

SMACK!

"Ughr…" Enduring the last lash of the night, he finally utters a small sound of pain from his drying throat.

"How boring… you are not even reacting…" touching her left cheek with her free hand, the noble girl sighs listlessly at Tatsumi, "the other pets are decidedly more fun to play with…"

"Other… Others?"

Suddenly, an image of the emotionless Hei catches itself in the long lines of Tatsumi's thoughts. Where is that man? Did Aria capture him as well? Or did he slip off at just the right time to avoid this fate?

From the short interactions with Hei just not many hours ago, Tatsumi is fairly certain that Hei is not the type of person who would be fooled by the trickery of this blond demon in front of him. If Hei was there, he would probably see the lies behind that façade as soon as she started speaking.

Does that mean Hei just left Tatsumi alone in the dark? Most definitely. Considering his options, the innocent boy suddenly feels as if he is the most unfortunate person in the world. Being robbed, tricked, imprisoned, and beaten like a dog on just the first day in the capital. The only friend he had abandoned him on the side of the street… well, okay, Hei did not think of them as friends…

Is he really going to be tortured until his death by this sick family?

…

"Please… help me… I can't endure this anymore…"

Walking inside the warehouse, this is not the first time for some unfortunate soul to ask Hei for desperate help. Evaluating the conditions of these prisoners, they have been subjects of inhumane torture methods. Extreme measures of beating, whipping, piercing, and cutting can be reflected through the bruises, blood stains, and knife marks on their bodies. In addition, the conditions of several prisoners can be described as the works of the last stages of lethal contagious diseases.

Eyeing the victim hopelessly approaching him on the ground, Hei slowly walked toward the moving individual, and kneels down on his right knee. Tenderly calming the dying man by placing his right hand on the side of his neck, Hei advances to make an obvious gesture by pressing his left index finger against his own lips, or rather, the lip of his white mask, in order to convince the frightened man to keep quiet. Subsequently –

ZAP.

Holding the lifeless body in his right hand, Hei carefully lies the man onto the cold floor, just like the many bodies before him.

"Potential targets of obstructing operation, eliminated. Reaction of the crowd can attract unwanted attention."

The electric shock has been quick, and the death has been delivered with smoothness and the minimum quantity of pain possible. This is not kindness, well, at least not in Hei's eyes. The only reason for Hei to do so to every victim he has encountered is because he wanted no disturbance during his assassination. Prisoners can potentially draw the attention of the guards, and that would be problematic.

Standing up from his kneeling position, Hei glances at the last room in the building, the room of which his target has been kept.

As soon as he takes his first step toward the final room, something caused him to turn around in the middle of the all the corpses he produced just now.

No one can understand what the young man is thinking under the mask, but after a few seconds, a mechanical voice eventually makes its way out to the ambience.

"The human way of concluding my actions should be tested to further understand the subject of humanity; therefore –"

Making sure that his voice cannot be heard by the individuals in the last room, Hei eyes the victims of the implacable tortures one last time before proceeding onto his next step.

"Rest in peace."

…

Even though Tatsumi has been hoping for someone to discover him, even though Tatsumi has been asking for the end of the torture, even though Tatsumi has been praying silently to whomever he believes about his salvation…

He did not want THIS to happen.

"Who… who… are you?!" The blond maiden has been completely traumatized by the person in the black robe. Whoever he is, he is wearing a mask that looks like the massager of demons. Tatsumi himself has lost the strength to make a comment about this sudden intruder since the intense whipping ended a few minutes ago.

In fact, he is so frightened that he could not even murmur a single word.

ZAP.

And she fell.

Right in front of him.

The devil that had been whipping him to death a few minutes earlier.

Seeing the masked man placing the lifeless girl onto the frigid ground, an inauspicious feeling comes to his own mind.

"What… what… do you want?"

The man is clearly ignoring Tatsumi's shaking voice. Approaching him with steady footsteps, each sound of contact with the floor can be viewed as the final countdown for the clock of Tatsumi's life.

Stretching his right arm toward Tatsumi, a destined perception of fear overcomes the young boy's final mental barrier.

Closing his eyes, Tatsumi is getting ready to receive his final moment.

…

But that second did not come.

…

Something has caused Hei to stop at the last instinct. Something has caused Hei's superhuman mind to pause at the last step of his own operation.

Something dangerous.

Something exceptional.

Something… familiar?

"?!"

…

Slowly rotating his head, the view of a person comes to the edge of Hei's range of sight.

A pair of crimson eyes.