The witch ( Owari no Seraph x oc)

Chapter 10

Time seems to have stopped, the moment the young man with the short black hair appeared from the shadow, glaring at Akito and Zaria with narrow eyes like he somehow knew that they didn't belong in the area while waiting for an answer.

Just the air of the situation made all the hair on Akito's less hairy body stand out while his skin crawls uncomfortably, something that only happened to him when something fishy was lingering in the air that his cat instinct could pick up.

"Well." The young man said, looking between Akito and Zaria with his eyes, his hand resting on the sword handle on his hip. " Who are you?."

Biting his bottom lip, Akito held back a hiss that had built up in his throat while glancing at Zaria, who stood calmly beside him, before bowing deeply, like she was the servant and the young man was the royal instead of her. A sight that was not acceptable in his eyes. She was a much higher rank than a low mortal human, but the only thing he could do was keeping his mouth shut and let Zaria do the talking. If she knew what to say, he didn't know for sure. But she had more experience than him how to talk in a different kind of conversation after years of being involved in royal meetings and affairs that couldn't go wrong in any way. Besides, if he opened his mouth, he knew he would blow their cover.

" Greeting Lieutenant Colonel Guren." She said with a calm voice and straightened herself up again with her arms behind her back.

" My name is Akari Ito, and this is my partner, who is in a bad mood at the moment." She glanced at Akito with a calm look and turned back to the young man.

" Akari Ito." Repeated the young man in a low whisper like he was testing the sound of the fake name while moving his hand away from the sword. Not breaking eye contact with Zaria. " What were you two doing out here?."

" A few of the surveillance cameras broke down a while ago," Zaria answered calmly, turning her head to the direction they came, to the building. " Thankfully, it wasn't anything serious they are all working now."

" And what was the cause of it?." The young man narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Zaria, waiting to hear an answer.

" Want to kill them, Guren?." A low voice whispered out of nowhere before a young girl with long purple hair, dressed in a sailor-school uniform, appeared behind the young man, floating in the air with a wicked smile on her lips. Her crimson red eyes stared at Zaria, amused before appearing beside Zaria, so close that her face was just an inch from Zaria. Akito stood frozen, watching with his eyes how the floating girl circled Zaria like an animal study its prey. While Zaria spoke to the young man, not showing any sign of knowing that something was right in front of her.

It was a disturbing sight for Akito, making him feel uncomfortable. If there were back in their world, something like this wouldn't disturb him so much. Ghosts, fairies, spirits, and many other creatures usually acted like that, but with much more life and humor behind their behavior. This girl was floating around Zaria with emptiness in her deep red eyes, no sign of having any emotions at all. An empty shell.

" Thankfully, it wasn't from an attack or function problem," Zaria said with a clear voice, looking around, pretending to look annoyed. " Somebody decided to play a prank."

The young man raised an eyebrow while a sound of laughter and howling from people having fun echo around them.

'Perfect timing.' Akito thought to himself, watching the young man glancing over his shoulder, sigh heavily. Just the sound of the people that were drunk and having fun was all they needed.

" Go back." The young man said firmly.

If he hadn't seen the floating girl, he would have thought that the young man had spoken to him and Zaria, telling them to go away. But the young man's eyes were glaring at Zaria, or more specifically on her shoulder where the girl had wrapped her arms around Zaria's neck, resting her chin on the shoulder, still smiling emotionless.

Zaria's eyes widen in surprise, glancing at Akito, who pretended to act surprised too, while the girl giggled before vanishing, leaving no trace that she had been there. The young man sighs, turning around without giving Akito and Zaria a single glance.

"It's almost morning. Get some rest, you two."

Akito narrows his eyes, watching the young man walk away, before letting out a deep hiss, trying to keep it as low as possible, fearing the young man would hear it.

"Let's go." He whispered with a hash voice to Zaria, not moving his eyes away from the young man's back. Even if he was farther away, Akito could still feel the crawling feeling under his skin, worse than it was before. If there was one thing he was sure of was that he never want to meet that human again, never.

But what happened next shocked him. At first, he didn't realize what had happened until he saw Zaria right behind the young man who walked calmly, not showing that he knew that she was behind him.

' What in the world is she doing?.' Akito asked himself, watching intensely.

From his point of view, it looked like Zaria was reaching for the hair of the back of the young man's head, a sight that made Akito's whole body froze in fear, with one of his hand on the back of his head.

'No, no!.'

He wished he could run-up to her, stopping her from doing. A giant mistake, but he couldn't, not in the human form he couldn't do anything.

' Zaria, don't.' He pleaded in his head, digging his nails on the back of his neck to stop himself from screaming at her. The only thing he could do was watch when she grabbed one of the hair strings and pulled.

Gold, the long shiny golden thread, came out from the back of the young man's head, flying in the air like there was no gravity around, while it became longer and longer for each second.

To Akitos, utterly astonished, the young man didn't show any sign of feeling anything happening behind him. He just kept walking as nothing happened, while the thread still grew longer.

' What the world?.' Akito loosened his grip on his neck, watched the string finally came to an end and flew up higher in the air before resting in Zaria's palm. Not a second later, Zaria put the golden thread in her pocket and ran back to Akito.

" Have you gone mad?." Akito growled at Zaria through his teeth after seeing the young man disappear into the darkness and glared at her angrily. " What if he felt the process of you doing that?."

" He will soon," Zaria answered with a low voice before grabbing Akitos's hand hard and pulled him down the opposite direction. " We better move before it happened."

" What in Griffin's beak are you talking about?."

She didn't answer him. She just pulled him further and further away from the spot they were in before stopping near what looked to be an old, abounded restaurant. And let go of his hand.

" Zaria, why did you do that?. The effect of that spell is very painful to those who are mortal. It could have blown up our cover."

" I had to take the chance," Zaria answered, putting on her gloves. " Listen, you felt it too that something was off with that guy. Besides that girl that appeared, there is something else that he is controlling something, dangerous." Her eyes wandered around their surrounding with narrow eyes. "Besides that, he knows something that can be very useful to us. That why I used the spell to get his memory."