Search : Faceless Killer

In the busy cities, it is usual to see bustling crowds in the midst of a normal afternoon but the town Shade lived in was not a very crowded place.

There were only a few people that roamed out during such time because of various purposes thus there were not many people who would eye the pair that was walking alongside one another.

Huff

Shade could still recall the trauma from yesterday.

His legs were still in pain after, the sun still shone brightly yet none of those could come close to the real reason for his discomfort.

A gust of wind passed by them, to protect his eyes, he lowered his gaze and stared at the hand he was holding.

Beside him the helm of a beige dress fluttered lightly by the gust.

He was walking along with Irina while holding her hand.

The mix of beige and white coloured dress fit her perfectly, her hairstyle could only add in more points to the perfection.

If only I didn't know about her personality. I would have really enjoyed this moment.

And yet he felt nothing except discomfort walking together with her.

"Is holding hands really important?"

"By yesterday's promise, this is supposed to be a date." She looked at him with a proud smile as if she accomplished something great.

Damnit, I should have seen this coming.

He cursed inwardly.

"Can you at least leave my hand, my palms get sweaty really quick."

"It's fine, I don't really mind."

No, but I do…

He trailed off in his thoughts of rebellion.

From a passerby's perspective, they looked like a young couple in the middle of enjoying a stroll. Though the truth couldn't have been further apart from it.

Contrary to their appearance, Shade was being kidnapped.

Around 15 minutes ago, Irina told Shade to accompany him somewhere in disguise for a date.

Since he was promised to get an answer, he complied easily at first.

That was until Shade came to the realisation, she was suddenly taking him to an unknown place.

As the time went on with their steps, they passed by the places Shade knew to the places he hadn't ever seen before.

He was cautious the instant he realised the situation and slowly the cautiousness reached its peak until it snapped and disappeared after his rationality brought forth the reality.

What can I do?

Even if he would be using all his senses not like he can do anything to her.

Irina has a supernatural ability that could knock him down or potentially kill him without leaving any traces behind.

And if he did strike her before she could use her ability, then he would land a free spot in prison for himself.

"Shade, I know I look good but you can stare at me all you want when we return home." 

I looked at her for too long. 

"Yeah, I'll do that." And he looked ahead while shrugging off her comment.

"Most probably you were thinking of how dangerous I am, right?" 

Also, she can read minds. 

He had no choice but accept the collar.

Which made Irina find this situation equally amusing.

From Irina's perspective, Shade felt like an untamed pet who was too small to do any damage yet rebellious enough to not follow obediently.

~•~

After walking for a while they entered a cafe and Irina walked to a table with two men and a woman already sitting there already.

Shade followed behind her without any questions.

"Sorry, I'm a little late." Irina started speaking first.

"No it-" The man who was replying to Irina, got a stunned look on his face as he saw Shade. 

Following him, the other two expressed a dumbfounded face as they saw Shade.

Excuse me, am I wearing my shirt inside out again? 

He subconsciously touched his shirt's buttons.

"What do you want?!" One of the men stood up and yelled. 

The man looked completely enraged and he clenched his fists like he was ready to throw a punch at Shade.

What was more surprising to Shade was the lack of reactions from the staff there, the place was nearly empty and the scream was quite loud but the staff behaved as if they couldn't hear or see them.

"Calm down, it is not that scenario. This person is Shade Lucifer, someone who was close to Author." 

That scenario…

No one calmed down hearing her and the woman asked -

"Why is he here?"

"It is a long story."

Saying that, Shade and Irina sat with them and Irina started explaining the events of two days ago. 

She started from suddenly receiving a message from Author to perform a certain request and meet him on the 25th when she found out he had actually died, how after meeting Shade she started living in his house and finally that Author was leading him into something big. 

Despite noticing it, Shade didn't interrupt their discussion on how they referred Chandler as Author.

Irina's tone had also changed completely.

She used a sweet gentle tone in front of his family, her vocals felt like a sweet soft pudding. But to him, she usually talked in a roundabout, annoying tone as if she was playing a game with him.

Now it was obviously different, her words lacked emotions, it was authoritative and delivered in a cold and direct voice. 

"And he is also the first user of Relic of Fate." 

In the middle of his analysis, he heard something weird.

"Wait, the same Relic that Author told us about?"

Relic? Like the one she used to that night.

"Yes, that is the case."

She talked about him but not once did she turn her head to look at him.

Meanwhile all sorts of speculations came into Shade's mind as he munched on the food that was already ordered beforehand.

According to Irina's rude explanation, Relics gave people supernatural powers. If that was the case, could Shade now use something as well?

"Yes, Author had actually known about Shade for years but he waited for his death and asked me to make Shade meet with the Executives." Irina answered. 

"This may not be the most suitable time but there is also something we wanted to show you about the Hunter's case." - Guy 2

"Is it related to the recent uproar in public?"

"You should see this." saying that Guy 1 passed his phone to Irina.

Since both Shade and Irina were sitting next to each other, it was easy for him to glance at the phone.

The video was a normal live blog of a small streamer when suddenly the camera focused on the man sitting in the background and from out of nowhere a metal wire floated and wrapped around that man's neck. 

Rest of the video was quite violent as the man struggles to remove it until chokes to his death but…

*Thud*

Before the video ended, Irina slammed the phone down to cover it.

This reaction was very unexpected from Irina but Shade lets it pass because of the atmosphere alongside something more concerning.

Why…?

It may have been just a coincidence but he had already seen this video before, this video was included in an online article that his friend sent him a few days ago.

At that time he thought this was a well edited fake video but now it seems otherwise. 

He didn't remember the video at all until now, to the point he thought he forgot to see it.

Yet now he could remember every word of it, even the full video.

The man was strangled to death and only a few people alongside the cameraman noticed this. 

"This video was released alongside an article on 24th, the videos and articles related to similar cases were soon deleted from all over the internet platforms by Order, the people who had seen it before should forget it by now."

*Thud*

All four of them look at the source of the sudden sound.

While Shade just sat there shocked.

He wanted to ask more about it, what do they mean by forgetting about it?

But soon Irina resumed their discussion.

Still having many questions that he wanted to ask, Shade stops because of the hand of Irina that gripped around his wrist beneath the table.

It was a signal to stop from asking any questions or even getting involved in it at all.

Meanwhile Irina looked really angry, her eyebrows were lowered and she glared ahead with a cold and annoyed expression attached to her beautiful face as if she would burst any second now. 

He calmed his curiosity and silently heard their conversation about these cases. 

Their conversation went on a little longer where they talked about some sort of financial plans for a group and a complicated rivalry between a few groups. 

There was no reward in getting involved in their business and he was already unaware of what's going on.

Sitting there, between this serious talk, he calmly fed himself with their information and food.

The less I know the less I'll think about it. 

After they completed their discussion, all five of them silently left as if we had never met each other before. 

"I am sorry, I could not answer your question."

"It was a deal to do whatever you wanted on this date."

"That- I guess then, I'll answer your question now."

"To start off, I saw the article along with the video once before."

"I see, you must have been really confused since you forgot about it until now."

"Is that also because of a Relic?"

"Yes, there are a lot of Relics with all sorts of weird powers even the dice you received from Chandler is a Relic."

"Irina, what was up with that wire video?"

"Since you showed me your yesterday's findings, I shall answer your question."

She paused for a second.

"There is someone who is killing people with their Relics in public, that is also the reason that now I don't want you to get involved any further."

"Then Chandler?!"

"No, I doubt that is similar to the murders."

"Ok…" Her quick reply left him no place to ask another question.

And seeing her, asking another question shamelessly felt wrong. 

Her face still had a strict poker face but for some reason she seemed excessively sad.

Because of the depressing mood, they walked together while maintaining some distance with each other.

It was completely opposite to before and if somebody were to see them like this, Shade would have definitely been accused of upsetting her.

But of course, their emotions weren't the most important thing currently.

He was going to get involved with it.

Shade's intuition had been continuously screaming it since the sudden development.