[Alan Peccator POV, Destroyed City of Aror.]
As Elijah had entered the city, he went with the normal route he took to his home, well…there wasn’t exactly a road to speak of.
Everything in the city had been destroyed, only a few or so buildings had been left unscathed.
Elijah followed the path he knew from memory, aside from the destruction, there was nothing of note.
However, things changed soon enough, in the path I caught sight of a large number of trucks, with children standing in lines in front of them.
‘Ah.’
Those were probably the orphans who had suffered because of the incident in the city. Their parents or guardians., either normal people or awakened, had most likely died or were either MIA(Missing in Action). They would probably be transferred to an orphanage managed by the government.
Yet, even though I knew it was managed and authorized by either the union or the world government…I cannot help but feel as if something is wrong.
‘Meh, it’s probably nothing.’
I dismissed it, finding nothing of importance among the children and staff in the area, However, Elijah was not the same.
He tried to pray for them, looking from afar…
Just as I was about to sigh…I spotted something.
‘Wait a minute…that’s…’
Me and Samantha.
Or more accurately, Aranus and Samantha. I could see two children, one in a wheelchair that was too big for her and a boy, about the age of 10 or 11 pushing that wheelchair from behind with a downtrodden expression.
The boy’s facial features matched mine, almost everything was the same other than the fact that he seemed like a younger version of me with black hair and black eyes.
“…”
At that moment, I realized. The Aror city destruction incident was where it all began. Where Aranus’s Parents were killed, where Samantha was crippled and cursed…and where the Abyss started to focus on Aranus after a particular event.
I do not know what that event was, but I don’t wanna find out.
“Hey, Didn’t I tell you to stop crying?!”
The loud, mana enhanced voice of the man in charge hurt my ears…
Does he not know he is screaming and grieving children?
I thought, and it seems Elijah was the same, he was already drawing his sword out and a foul expression was present on his face.
I followed too when I noticed who he was yelling at…It was Samantha!
‘Oi, you bastard she’s a fucking child!’
A child suffering from the pain of a malicious curse and having lost her parents you dipshit!
I was so angry I wanted Elijah to go there and beat his ass.
The man was about to yell again, and it was the last straw. Elijah couldn’t watch it any longer and I supported his actions, even cheering him on.
The man is yelling at children, who just lost their family…he deserves this. Heck, he deserves to be tortured for a hundred years for yelling at Samantha.
The man opened his mouth, and his mana enhanced voice rang out again.
“Shut u-?!”
But then, something interrupted it. It was not a voice or a physical action of sorts…
It was a gaze, a gaze filled with malicious intent. 𝘪.𝘤𝑜𝘮
And it came from Aranus…
At that moment, due to the sheer terror from that gaze, It was as if Elijah and I had become one, both of us reacted and pulled out a sword. I finally was able to feel something!
But all I felt was terror.
A malicious stare, emanating from his pair of eyes, had the power to send shivers down mine and Elijah’s spine and make our hearts ache with a sense of impending dread.
“Agh!”
It was as if it was so powerful, so filled with killing intent that our throats were being clogged, our chest felt heavy and our heart was on fire, continuously beating.
Thump!Thump!
The gaze was piercing, as if it could see through our thoughts and secrets, leaving us exposed and vulnerable. It was if…it was alive. His pupils appear dilated, as if focusing on some prey which was quite obviously the man who had screamed at Samantha.
‘Guh!’
The tightening feeling in my chest became greater and greater, it felt as if an invisible force was gripping my throat with all its power…
It was sickening…it was terrifying. Elijah fell to his knees and I could not blame it. Even if I was in my own body I could have done nothing against it but fall helplessly to the ground. Shaking in fear, like Elijah was right now.
The color of those malicious eyes possessed a dark, chilling quality, like pools of abyssal darkness, making it feel as though I was being drawn into an endless void of malevolence. The gaze is unwavering, holding my attention captive and leaving myself with a sense of powerlessness and discomfort.
I could not fathom…how the eyes of a child could emit such a dreadful gaze…a gaze filled with malicious intentions and a desire to rip apart everything that dared threaten it.
That gaze…which was as deep as the abyss and filled as much wrath as possible.
A child…at the age of 10 or 11 was emitting such a gaze…
[You have cleared the floor. Congratulations]
[Transporting to the next floor.]
Immediately after the notifications appeared, the tightening feeling in my chest and the grip on my throat disappeared, and I could finally breathe again, free from the terror.
Honestly…I was thanking the tower, if not for its timely appearance I may have been devoured by those eyes.
Only now did I realize that Aranus was truly on a different level…a level where I couldn’t even compete with him when he was just a child. Just his gaze was so terrifyingly powerful that both Elijah and I couldn’t help but tremble in fear.
It was frightening…I truly felt as if that gaze would tear me apart had the tower not intervened.
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