Dragon Raja

45 - Imperium

"This girl is a danger to society and to your people. See to it that she returns to my students and I will guarantee you a bountiful reward,"

"For the one who brings her into our custody, I will offer 1 billion U.S. dollars. That is the price in which she must pay for her crimes,"

"And, at this point, I will take her—dead or alive,"

-

"He put a bounty over my head..."

The words rippled through her head like a stone endlessly dropping to the bottom of a still lake. Like countless reminders that she was nothing more than a means to an end. A tool for the greater good of the world.

Anjou made it very clear that was all he viewed her as.

"He—he put a bounty over my head—"

Like a pathetic reminder as her own face flashed across screens and billboards that she would only ever amount to a tool.

A knife through her back as her eyes stuck like glue on the bountiful number displayed on top of her head. Like mockery, it must have been a pleasure for Anjou to know this action would bring Y/N humiliation and shame.

"Y/N, we had no idea—" Caesar eased gently.

Johann stretched his hand out carefully, his fingertips had only lightly grazed the back of her shoulder before she flinched like a wild animal being hunted.

"Don't touch me!" She had screamed.

But the noise brought forth the attention of the onlookers who had all but completely stepped out of their homes. Y/N frantically looked upon them and their flashing phone lights, their incessant, annoying chatter, like wolves having cornered a rabbit. She could hear their heartbeats. The shakiness of their breaths. The excitement in their veins thinking about what they'd do with that much money.

Y/N realized she was surrounded by people who would only hurt her.

The Ace Team, long forgotten. No one dared to try and touch her yet, but their voices fell on deaf ears. Y/N was only listening to all these other people who wanted to get involved in deciding her fate.

Chisei Gen and his men stood warily on standby, but even with their weapons pointed at Y/N she could not comprehend the level of stress going through her entire being. She could not focus on just one thing, nor could she focus her hearing on just one person.

Her heart raced as she watched the people's feet inch closer to her. Closer. Closer. Closer. Backing her into a wall to take her head and serve it on a silver platter to a man that decided he got everything he wanted.

She could hardly hear her own voice, let alone the ones warning the strangers not to get too close to her.

Chisei Gen tried to push them away, and the Ace Team could only give their warning, but still, in a harsh and cruel reality, this situation only made Y/N realize how disgustingly greedy humans could be.

And if that was how humans were to be, then she'd have no part of it.

"Imperium."

And for a second, the world stopped.

And the ground cracked beneath her feet. It roared like a beast as it tore apart the earth.

The tower in front of her crumpled to the ground leaving dust in its place, covering everyone's bodies in a thick coat of gray as dull as the sky.

The people who dared to try and take her head had fallen to their knees, heads to the ground in what looked like a most excruciating pain.

The Ace Team collapsed to the ground and though they had their mouths agape, Y/N could only hear a constant ringing in her ears.